At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Sorapot is a piece of elegant apparatus for some scientific experiment. Indeed, a great deal of science went into its design and manufacture. (The stainless steel body is sculpted using the same procedure that is used to craft jet turbine blades). Once you realize that you are dealing with a teapot, though, the Sorapot is, well, beautiful. Its shape is striking from any angle. From most of those angles it is impossible to see the tea leaf filter in front of the spout. What is easy to see are the tea leaves themselves. Unlike most tea pots which confine the tea leaves to cramped mesh spaces, the Sorapot allows the leaves to unfurl fully, naturally. So your tea won’t only look better in a Sorapot, it will taste better too.

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Some people look at a billboard see an advertisement. The people at the Polish company Front Architects looked at a billboard saw the potential for a utilitarian dwelling. From that vision sprang the 290 square feet (27 square meter) Single Hauz. At that size, the Single Hauz is too small for a permanent family home. But its light weight means that this Hauz can be built atop of a concrete pylon. And its thin profile means that it will fit into tight spaces. The result is the same Single Hauz design that can be replicated in a field or in a crowded urban space or even in the middle of a lake. Now THAT’S cool!

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We remember humidifiers from our childhood as those bulky, loud, ugly things over in the corner. There was perhaps no household appliance more in need of a design makeover. And there is perhaps no designer more up to the task than Naoto Fukasawa, a designer with over 40 awards whose work is widely credited with inspiring the best of Apple’s designs. So now your children can have as their humidifier a piece of elegant artwork on a self or bedside table. The Fukasawa Humidifier runs extremely quietly and has the option of adding aromas to the water vapor. It is sold almost exclusively in Japan, but thanks to the folks at the Japan Trend Shop it is available in Europe and North America too. US$319

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Sure, it looks cool. It also looks like it might be fragile and uncomfortable. It is neither! The spoon lounge from Vivavi is manufactured from soft vines, firm on the back but with enough give to feel luxurious. The vines themselves ares wrapped around steel wiring. The Spoon Lounge is one long-lasting piece for your home. And like everything Vivavi sells it is eco-friendly.

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From Fossil and designer Phillipe Starck comes the O-Ring Digi Watch. In a ring shaped display, the hours are displayed as numbers while the minutes are displayed in segments. As time goes by, the segments build making a complete ring every hour. The center is completely see through and the pushed is located on the case back to create this sleek styling. Comes in black and gray. $110

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One piece going on display at Artists Space in New York City this month especially caught our eye. Local River is more than a flowerpot-and-aquarium-in-one. It is a symbiotic system: the fish feed off the plants, and the plants drink the water nutrient-rich with fish waste, which in turns purifies the water for the fish. Designers Mathieu Lehanneur and Anthony van den Bossche were inspired by the Locavores movement that encourages locally sustainable lifestyles. We like that Local River eliminates the need for us to feed the fish or clean the fish tank. Catch it at Artists Space from 25 April to 21 June 2008.

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Beijing National Aquatic Center, known colloquially as “The Water Cube,” is open in time for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The walls are constructed of ETFE, a semi-transparent plastic, in a Weaire-Phelan structure. The result, from both the inside and out, is a structure that looks like it came from the set of Cocoon. The ecological properties of the building are striking as well — The Water Cube features solar power, rain water collection system and an air-conditioning system that uses recycled water.

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Hollandia International touts its “Sleep Engineering Center” and emphasizes the restful nature of its beds. We wonder how much sleep one would actually get in the shagalicious Sphere Bed. This Sphere of Love includes pillow-side champagne holder, vanity mirror and romantic LED lights in the canopy. Ensconced in this red velvety world, you and your special someone can lay back on a plush mattress and turn on massage system. Oh, behave!

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