Gear

via Tamar Mogendorff

Loving these mobiles from artist Tamar Mogendorff. The little orange octopus is great.

It's such a relief to see that there's hope for intelligent design in the world of children's wares. I've been scrolling through dozens of baby sites and am generally horrified by the cartoonishness of it all.

Why is so much of the stuff so ugly!? My friend V. has been teasing me since we were teenagers because I once insisted I'd dress my children exclusively in linen and let them play with nothing but sticks.

Of course, I understand that children like bright colors and that I may eventually have to buy a hideous Transformers backpack for the little one (or face certain meltdown.) Until then, my theory is if you cannot speak, you do not get interior design/fashion input.

via Tea Collection

Etsy.com via Oh The Lovely Things

The good news is that there are plenty of fantastic artisans and clothing creators making lovely toys and ensembles that aren't plastered with cartoon dogs or Disney characters or slogans like "Mommy's Little Helper."

So I might stray from the stick rule and get the boy an ivory play teepee.