There’s a new addition to the BUILD family and he might be our most challenging client yet. As any of you with kids know, going from a design conscious household to a design conscious household with a baby, tests out the modernist in the best of us. Because when it comes to industrial design for the wee ones, there’s an avalanche of cheap, poorly designed, aesthetically irritating, easily available, publicly accepted baby crap saturating every corner of the market. Outfitting your home for a little one AND sticking to your aesthetic sensibilities takes time, energy and budget priority. While changing a diaper with one eye open at 3am on a screaming infant, do you really care whether your changing table aligns with your philosophy of design? If you’re design conscious you do. You’re the type who spends more time in the MOMA gift shop than the museum itself, you’ll wait in line in the pouring rain for an hour to see Objectified, and you always keep the most recent issue of DWR on hand. You understand that the things you buy are not only a reflection of your aesthetic beliefs, but each and every purchase registers a vote on how you think the world should look and work. You can’t turn it off, even when it comes to baby stuff.
So we thought we’d post a range of well designed household items to satisfy the little person in addition to keeping mom and dad in tune with their visual standards. Don’t worry, we’re not going all baby on you, we’re not going to make a habit of baby stuff posts. There’s plenty of blogs already doing a much better job of covering products for the design savvy tot. It’s just that, when we’re changing a diaper with one eye open at 3am on a screaming infant, we tend to think about this stuff. And we like to share. So here goes.
Bloom Fresco highchair
The highchair may be the most visually prominent baby item in the entire household –even more so than the baby. You’re going to be staring at this thing ALL THE TIME. This is a good place to spend some dough and get a rocket of a highchair. The Bloom Fresco justifies its cost in that it can convert to a bassinet and accommodate the full age range of kiddos.
Custom built co-sleeper by SPD
We searched far and wide for a co-sleeper but everything on the market could be described with the same terms we might use to describe a full diaper. So we put pen to paper and spent some time down at our SPD cabinet shop until we came up with this little solution which stores bedding supplies below as the little one slumbers above –all within arms reach of momma.
Bloom Coco Stylewood Baby Bouncer
The true test of baby stuff is whether it looks good even without the kiddo. The Coco Stylewood Baby Bouncer looks so good you’ll wish it came in an adult size. It’s one slick lounger.
phil & tedsmetoo – Portable Highchair
Functional, minimal, packable and structurally sound. It’s also a great prop to explain the finer points of cantilevers to your dinner guests.
BOB Sport Utility Stroller
Just because it’s not made for the home, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider its impact on your household. While strollers, joggers and buggies are intended for everywhere but inside your pad, you’ll end up with one of these in your visual plane more often than you might think. Make sure it looks good. The Bob Sport Utility Stroller is a smart looking piece of equipment; it’s got some sculptural quality to it and, parked just right in the corner, it can blend in with your Eames Lounger and Noguchi coffee table.
Summer Contour Changing Pad
While it takes a bit more planning, we highly recommend the contour pad and bathroom cabinet combo. 36” extra inches of countertop space in the bathroom allows mom and dad to eighty-six the full changing table and gain back valuable real estate in the home. It keeps the visuals simple and is highly effective. A variety of covers from Carter’s cool it up.
Oeuf Classic Toddler Bed
Simple, clean and modern. That’s all we’re asking for.
Ikea POĂ„NG birch Rocking chair
You’d think that the proverbial rocking chair would offer up limitless options of clean, simple design, right? Wrong. For reasons as clear as diaper gravy, there are very few good looking rocking chairs on the market –Ikea actually makes one of the better models. It functions perfectly well without being over-designed.
Molly Moon Parker Pillow
Children are, inevitably, accompanied by pillows most of the time. And because the pillows wind up everywhere in the house, they might as well look good. At best, they should be the sort of pillows that look so cool they don’t need to accompany children, at worst they shouldn’t make your mod living room look like a daycare. Our favorite at the moment is the Molly Moon’s Parker Pillow.
Toys
Modernism isn’t just a look, it’s a philosophy. And if you’re going to enroll your little one in the tenets of forward-thinking-ness, the toys have to function as well as look good. For durable, non-plasticky, non-battery toys try Plan Toys for their solid wood construction and Froebel toys for their logistical skill building. When they’re scattered around the living room, at least you’ll look like a smart parent.
Let us know of your favorite baby stuff for the design conscious.
Cheers from team BUILD