Cccheck Ooout Ttthe Cccrazy Ccchairs. The design of the Ssstoell chair (no, I don’t have a stutter – that’s what it’s called!) by Voortman & Girod is like looking at a cubist painters interpretation of a chair. I doubt it’ll ever be the most comfortable chair to sit on, but as an object in it’s own right, I think it’s cool.

See more work by Studio Voortman & Girod Interior Architects.

Roll up, roll up, for 48 hours only, free money and art! Last month, during the Frieze Art Fair, the British artists Jake & Dinos Chapman took money from visitors and “defaced and improved” the money before handing it back to them.

Visitors queued in large numbers for the opportunity to have their hard-earned money scribbled on by brothers Chapman, but if you missed out, don’t worry because Jake and Dinos Chapman would like to offer everyone who visits both the BBC’s Imagine website a free and exclusive piece of art in the form of imaginary banknotes created by the artists. The images will be available until 22.35pm on Thursday 22nd November 2007 – so if you want your free money and art, you better be quick!

Get your free money and art here.

Black is the new..err…black. I absolutely love the New York City The Black Apartment created by The Apartment for Cindy Gallop, chairwoman of advertising giant BBH. Gallop gave The Apartment a simple brief stating: “at night, i want to feel like i’m in a shanghai nightclub…”

I’m always impressed when people are clever enough to pull off the black look in interior design, it’s one of those things that can look either luxurious and seductive (as The Apartment have managed to achieve), or claustraphobic and gloomy. It’s a risk to take, but the rewards, as in the case of The Black Apartment, are worth it.

See more work by The Apartment.

Ghostly apparitions in furniture. There’s something really ephemeral and intangible about the Ghost Chair by Drift (as it’s a flash site, I can’t link to the chair directly – sorry!). It’s a strange ghostly figure encased in a plexiglass material, and marks the first time this manufacturing technique has been used in this way.

See more images of the Ghost Chair and more work by Drift.

Don’t take your caravan to the country, let the caravan bring the country to you. Caravan by Kevin Van Braak is customised caravan that opens out to provide a grassy area of calm to wherever it’s situated. With our environment becoming increasingly more concrete and green spaces disappearing rapidly, Caravan can bring a touch of country living to anywhere it’s needed.

See more work by Kevin Van Braak.

Great stuff by &Made. I’ve long been a fan of &Made’s quirky design aesthetic, and I really love the understated (for them, anyway) design of the Greta sideboard they’ve created for Isos Collection. The clean lines of the wooden sideboard are interrupted by the more ostentatious gloss lacquered legs. It’s an almost classic modern look with a cheeky post-modern addition.

See more work by &Made.

Designer housing for the modern bird. Rob from UglyBogus informed us about The Modern Bird Exhibition after the recent post on religious bird houses. ‘The Modern Bird’ is “an exhibition of designer birdhouses created by more than 20 of the top artists and design studios worldwide”, which “will show how far contemporary visionaries have taken the traditional wooden birdhouse.”

See more photos at Flickr.

I tried to avoid mentioning the iPhone, but now I’ve failed. It seems like every blog on the internet has mentioned Apple’s iPhone, even if the blog has seemingly nothing to do with technology based subjects – so, even though I’m a complete Apple fanboy, I’ve avoided talking about it. But I can’t hold it in any longer.

I’m undeniably excited about today’s UK launch of the iPhone on the O2 network. Available from Apple, O2 and CarphoneWarehouse stores from 6:02pm (geddit? 6:02pm on the 02 network?!!), there are bound to be load of freaky Apple nerds queuing up down the streets to get their hands on one the moment they’re released. But if you’re too cool for crowds, then hop over to the CarphoneWarehouse website which promises to be taking orders online from the 6:02pm launch time, as does O2.

I’m looking forward to updating Things of Random Coolness via my iPhone. Hopefully, it’ll increase my post frequency, which has been unbeleivably dire lately (sorry!)

Guns + Umbrellas = Cool. It’s been a while since I saw something that I thought was just stupidly cool, but Alex Woolley has created two things that I’m dying to play with.

Firstly, he’s created a Musical Instrument/Ruler Desk, which is “an Instrument based on childhood boredom and the escape to music as a form of entertainment.” Basically, it’s a bunch of plastic rulers shoved in a desk at different lengths to produce different notes. If you never did this as a kid, you probably won’t get it – but if you did, you’re probably aching to hear that school days twanging ruler sound!

Secondly, Alex has created an Umbrella for Encouraging Adults to Play in the Rain – the “unique, funnel shaped umbrella harnesses the flow of rainwater down into its handle, a water pistol. The user can fire at will, maintaining a constant flow of water as long as rain continues to fall!” Turning dull days of crap weather into a water pistol fight is something to be applauded.

See more work by Alex Woolley.

The children! Won’t somebody think of the children? Industrial Designer, Alain Gilles has developed an exciting prospective playground concept for urban cities in 2015. He explains, “Young children acquire most of their social behaviors through playing with others. So, what they play with greatly matters. In large urban cities, the playground is often one of the few outside place children have free access to. Too often, playgrounds are seen as boring and are deserted after a while. Hence, the idea to have a solid structures allowing for different games to be rotated between playgrounds, or even within every playground itself.” The various different designed structures are intended to “foster the acquisition of some values needed to live in a community. So some of games will in a way highlight some social behaviors and encourage communication, independence, self-esteem, respect for other and for what belongs to the community, but also encourage the need to behave as the majority, as well as encourage young children to find their own path and venture out.” Check out the various designed elements and their intended influence on young mind:

Urban Jungle – Hanging or walking between rubber vines. Playing hide and seek with their peers. Young children need to learn to go beyond their fears, to step into unknown territories.

Antzzz – Open, closed or linked structures replicate everyday social behaviors. Encouraging communication and/or confinement, especially when passing over a bridge.
Antzzz – The piece follows a modular logic. Parts are made to be easily disassembled, transported and allow multiple configurations. The bubbles are made of two identical double-skin rotomolded elements.

Cosmosphere – sunlight can shine through tiny holes made into the sphere and give an inner image of a sky full of stars. Children, while still being accessible, can hide away from their parents thus learne to become more independent.

Culbuto – Leat all that positive energy out, as children need to unleash once in a while. Up to four kids can shake that tree like structure and reap the benefits of their effort.
Boulo Modulo – Big memory foam balls in whichchildren can leave their imprints for a little while. By leaving their marks
in, they will make the playground their, and be tempted to respect it a lot more.

Follow that Frog – Society is a lot about behaving like other, and in a way following other people in their footsteps. Children can jump on one green lotus after the other as they light up the path taken by a virtual frog. Computer controlled LEDs are lit via bluetooth sensors thus defining a random path.

See more work by Alain Gilles.