Tired of clawing at books crammed tightly into your shelves? Struggle no longer: a solution by the name of “P-hook” has been proposed by Kansai-based designer Junji Itosaki of
pyloneer. Each box contains a stack of twelve P-shaped hooks. At first sight, their purpose may be elusive, but insert the hooked portion from the top of the spine, and voila! It even makes a great bookmark!
According to
the entry on P-hooks in the Japanese stationery weblog
Bungu de tanoshii hitotoki (pen-info.jp), Itosaki made a point of creating an environmentally friendly product that’s specifically connected to the Kansai region. The packaging is literally a matchbox, matchbox production being a local business of Himeji, Hyogo, and the sturdy plastic-like hooks are actually made of paper processed in Osaka. Both the packaging and the hooks themselves use recycled paper.
Although the hooks shown here are in black, there are also boxes of multicolored sets, as seen via
vivo.va bookstore (who take orders for the product online but seem to only have information in Japanese).
One caveat: P-hooks are apparently only available in the Kansai region. The pyloneer website names just four retailers in Osaka and Kobe, but I have seen them in two different stores in Kyoto as well. If you have any plans to travel there, make sure to pick some up!
(Re-Edited from 2007-9-5 - CB)
We're a bit of a late adopter when it comes to social media; even our nearly 50-year-old boss had a Facebook profile long before we did. But though we have a hard time remembering to check for updates, we did manage to stumble across some nice interiors. Who knew social media was good for design inspiration?
Our favorite find is the home of Jason O'Malley and J.R. Craigmile, who own greeting card line Handsome Devil Press. We adore their bright, fun living/dining area and only wish there were more photos of the rest of their home to share with you. House tour, guys?
We also love Lorraine Antonacchio's liberal use of lucite; Jesse Wallace's art glass; Tamara Smith's cool blues and greens; Joe Dziurzynski's 70's pottery collection; Evan Paul's softly lit lounge and Joseph Gielniak's photo wall.
To get inspiration or add photos of your own, join the Mid-Century Modern Facebook group right 
We love trays, and have found endless uses for them around our house - from serving snacks to storing makeup and jewelry, holding mail and keys as part of our landing strip, holding remotes on the coffee table - we could go on but you probably get the idea. These colorful bamboo trays would be perfect for all of the above.
