It’s February again, probably the most celebrated month for lovebirds. Whoever said buying a Valentine’s Day present was all about flowers and chocolates? We say gifts with sensibility and exclusivity, triumph as the perfect formula to make the other heart flutter. Even if you have to squeeze through the Chinese New Year Bazaar to get to our humble pad, we’re quite sure your efforts will definitely be worth it!

WACKY WARES

Superheadz The latest addition to the Superheadz collection is this compact and slim 35mm camera with a 22mm wide lens. A recreation of the now legendary Vivitar UWS, it bears many of the unique design features of the Superheadz cameras. Now we have the Gold & Silver edition, coated in rubber for a perfect grip and certainly slim enough to fit in your back pocket. These darlings are not only the perfect camera to carry with you, but they’re also equipped with a truly remarkable lens which render superb images with all the colour, contrast and vignetting that you can only dream of. Although the Digital HarinezumI/Buchineko is not the most advanced digital movie cameras out there, but it might be the movie camera that films reality just as you remember it from your childhood memories or dreams. The creators at Superheadz have worked for over a year in fine-tuning this machine to render images in a way that will remind you of the breathtaking Super 8mm movies. It does not only make great movies, but can also take unique, colour boosted and highly contrasted photographs, in the best toy camera tradition. The live-view function has also been removed from its LC display so as to bring back the anticipation and unexpected results of analog photography.

By Invite Only By Invite Only is a collaboration between a local graphic designer and a budding jewellery designer who has a passion in jewellery making since she was 16. Largely inspired by 18th century circuses and its taste of nostalgia, both have tried to recreate jewellery items that encapsulate the era, yet are modern enough to wear. Banking on exclusivity, all jewellery comes in limited numbers but despite this, the items are affordable without compromising its pizzazz. The typewriter key rings and dictionary definition rings are available at Asylum. Made from laser-cut wood and 24k gold plated rings, the typewriter key rings are a favorite amongst those who identify with the era of typewriting and candle stamping! The dictionary definition rings on the other hand, are made from real vintage dictionary paper and 24k gold plated rings that come in Japanese or French.

See You Tomorrow - THE HEADTHING THE HEADTHING is an exploration on head decoration made of fabric, which was inspired by paper-cut and handicraft. Each piece is a juxtaposition of different shapes, prints and colours. Even though they are designed and made for the head, users can wear them in any angle or direction they like. If you’re adventurous enough, you may even turn them into neckpieces as well.

Journal that Lasts 6 Years (Sketch Edition) The ‘Journal that Lasts 6 Years’ contains a hundred and one note pages inspired by the Singapore parking coupon. The idea is a response towards our constant quest for self-reflection but not having the discipline to sustain it daily. Adopting the concept of the Singapore parking coupon, the journal makes room for a hundred and one reasons to discontinue and continue with the writing of the journal - of course, for a limited period of 6 years only. Can you imagine saving the hassle of buying a new one every year?

Cityscapes Audio Journals & CD Launched at the recent Singapore Design Festival 2009, Cityscapes is a synergism of two seemingly different, but not entirely separate cosmos, transpiring into a subtle recreation of the journeys undertaken by the visually impaired in Singapore through sound. In collaboration with the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH), Cityscapes offers fresh insights into the place-making projects of the visually impaired, opening up possibilities for redefining the relationship between sound and design. (Limited to 100 copies; 80% of the profits will be donated to SAVH)

Design Society T-shirts The Design Society is a Singapore registered, non-profit organization dedicated to the goals of raising the general standard of design in Singapore, and growing its reach internationally. It is focused on Applied Graphic Design and its contributions to Singapore’s visual culture and society in general. It seeks to inspire local designers and engage the public through greater understanding and appreciation for good design. Taking on The Design Society’s iconic logo, the design on the t-shirt translates as a medium for inspiration. Given its no-fuss appeal, the t-shirt presents itself as a blank canvas for creativity to take place and constantly reminds the wearer of the need for appreciation of good design.

OOM Lifestyle Book #011: We Love Bangkok! This hip travel guidebook promises a whole load of fun that will definitely elevate your next Bangkok trip to a new high! Packed with witty descriptions of the local culture and adorned with loads of vivid photographs, this guidebook certainly comes in handy for those travelling to the Land of Smiles. How can we not love Bangkok?

:phunk x G Shock Merging extreme sports, street culture, fashion, music and art, Casio G-Shock’s “SHOCK THE WORLD” promotional tour pays tribute to the legendary G-Shock timepiece. The globetrotting project has since visited 19 cities in 12 countries, celebrating the dynamism of the iconic timepiece. :phunk was invited to design the limited edition collaborative pieces which are only for sale at selected stockists around the island. Based on the notion that no idea is original anymore and that there are few true innovators around, :phunk’s design pays tribute to many great geniuses of street art, pop culture and the urbane lifestyle, and acknowledges that taking inspiration from other people’s work is an act of ingenuity. This watch is an absolute must-have for :phunk fanatics!

MUSIC

Amalgama Austin Benjamin Trio This is the debut album for the young jazz trio from Canberra, Australia featuring Evan Dorrian of Spartak fame. Full of group interplay and beautiful melodies, Amalgama is nine pieces of modern jazz that explores moods and textures inspired by nature. Amalgama is definitely catered for fans of Bill Evans, Band Of Five Names and Uri Caine alike.

In Bed We Trust Klumpes Ahmad Adrian Klumpes ('Be Still' - The Leaf Label and formerly of Triosk) and hellosQuare's Shoeb Ahmad come together as a duo tracing their way through minimal composition, bathed in electronic noise and analogue systems to bring us ten pieces of shimmering beauty, loop studies and kosmische drone.

Retold Nest 'Retold' is an apt title for this body of work, at times light and serene, other times dark, brooding and sinister - Nest is unquestionably an expert storyteller. Taking cues from film soundtracks and contemporary classical music, the story is woven using a myriad of instrumentation. Dulcet piano tones are backed by string and horn arrangements, unidentifiable plucked instruments and the sound of the Welsh harp; often heavily processed. Retold is an album that has as much in common with experimental electronic music as it does with modern classical composition.

Dustland The Gentleman Losers This is the second full-length by Finnish siblings Samu and Ville Kuukka aka The Gentleman Losers, the follow-up to their 2006 debut on the Büro label. The brothers have been making music since their early teens, and they both still revel in a sound that evokes tarnished grandeur - where decay and starry-eyed innocence rub shoulders with dusty strings and syrup-drenched instrumentation. If the band's debut was like a sneak-peak into their universe, Dustland breathes the air of more than confident self-assurance. More refined and more detailed, this album sounds like a ballroom orchestra recorded inside a snow globe.

You Will Never Know Why Sweet Trip What makes this album special is ‘Sophistication’, where its intelligent, understated lyrics are far from trite. This is not another clichéd, independently produced low budget pop record. The songs in the album are laden with groovy pulsing bass lines with added Bossa, Latin and post-punk feel to the songs. You Will Never Know Why is an auditory jigsaw puzzle - a collection of analog and digital pieces forming a soundscape that sympathizes with the human ability to cope when life splinters painfully upon itself. The album, however, sits on the right, featuring less chaos, more intimacy from the artists and clearer straight-forward instrumentation.

Airborne Aerosol Airborne is the 2nd album from Rasmus Rasmussen’s Aerosol project. Starting out as a member of the post-rock band Limp (Morr Music) with band mates Jonas Munk (manual), Jakob Skøtt (syntaks) and Jess Kahr, Rasmussen helped incubate a certain sound that the four of them have nurtured in each of their solo endeavours. Rasmussen's take on the sun-drenched post-shoegaze of the “post-limp collective” has a more defined sense of psychedelia and openness than his mates. This heightened sense of consciousness-expansion is all without ever being contrived, heavy handed or excessive. There is a self-awareness to Airborne that can be heard in spades on the aptly titled swirly slow-burn of “Psychedelic Coffee Buzz”. Every song in this album is a landscape and every one of those hazy landscapes has a story. You'll just need to get Airborne for the anecdote.

The Idea Book Contest

Having an idea is great, but winning money for it is even better! Interesting.org is giving away SGD 10,000 for the best pictures that symbolize an idea. So what does an idea look like? Express your thoughts and feelings on a double page of the Idea Book. It can be an illustration, a photo, a collage, a text, or anything you can think of. Be creative! Deadline: 31 December 2010. Find out more about the competition here.