Kreiss is a nominee the Luxist Award category of best in furniture.

Since its founding more than 70 years ago, Kreiss has been family-owned and operated. The company is credited with pioneering the "California Look" with its stylish use of natural materials and casual yet elegant and comfortable designs.

Each Kreiss piece is an impressive combination of originality and master craftsmanship. They are made with all natural materials including pure, artfully woven fabrics. Every design is an original, inspired by the lives and travels of the Kreiss family while created by craftspeople whose skills in hand-detailing and hand-finishing is unrivaled. Indeed, everything made by Kreiss is "done by hand", from being handmade, hand-carved, hand-finished and hand-stuffed to hand-packed and hand-delivered.

The Kreiss Collection of furniture, offers hundreds of combinations, encompasses California Casual as well as European Formal, Spanish Mediterranean and other classic styles. This diverse selection allows a versatility to create living spaces that suites homeowners' unique personalities and lifestyles. From a coffee table with a polished travertine top, to an armoire finished with French wax, a bed of hand welded iron or the look of hand distressed wood, the Kreiss Collection offers fine furnishings and accessories for a life of casual elegance.

First available only to the trade, the Kreiss Collection has now grown to 20 retail/trade Kreiss showrooms across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company has a loyal following of clients, ranging from international celebrities, to captains of industry, to a cross section of discerning homeowners.

The entire Kreiss Collection is designed and manufactured at the company's San Diego headquarters.

The Nairobi Drum Table by Kreiss has been one of the trademarks of Kreiss' "exotic" look since it was introduced more than 15 years ago. An exotic colonial English-style piece, the table works just as well in a traditional as it does in a contemporary setting. The shell of the 140 pound table is tiled with treated coconut shells that were hand-applied into a mosaic pattern giving the piece a unique look. The table has cast bronze animal feet while the surface of the table has a medallion insert that has been etched to obtain an antique texture. The table, which measures 38 1/2 inches in diameter and 20 inches in height, retails for $4,650. It can be ordered directly from Kreiss at (800) KREISS1 or (800) 573-4771.

Are you ready for this watch novelty from Azimuth? A few years ago Girard Perregaux released its working slot machine watch, and around the same time Daniel Roth had announced his dice playing watch. The theme of gambling watches continues now with the Roulette watch from Azimuth which features a working roulette wheel. Press in the die shaped crown and the small white ball on the roulette wheel begins to spin - randomly stopping on one of the numbers. How cool is that?

Aside from the roulette function, the watch clearly tells the time via easy to read partially skeletonized hands and a spinning roulette wheel's spinning handle that serves as the seconds hand. The case is uniquely cut in a very angular design probably meant to look like a roulette table. As whimsical novelty watches go, this is up there on "well done" list. Inside the watch is a modified ETA 2824-2 automatic mechanical movement. The stainless steel watch case is 45mm x 34mm and is ergonomically designed to fit snugly on the wrist. The rear of the watch reads "BEAT THE CASINO" optimistically, as the face of the watch is fitted with sapphire crystal as well as a balance wheel porthole on the rear of the watch.

5000 Azimuth Roulette watches will be available starting at the end of 2009, when they will be released to celebrate the "grandest' Casio in Asia's opening in Singapore. No doubt this is an apt watch for the occassion.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

For $10,000 you can get a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture crafted from the gearbox of Ferrari's F2000 Formula 1 racecar. At the end of the 2000 racing season, the complete 7-speed gearbox was signed by Ferrari's championship-winning driver Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari Executive Director Jean Todt and Ferrari CEO Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo. It was mounted to a 18"x18" carbon wall plaque with an authentic Ferrari fender shield mounted in the middle. Performance furniture firm RaceChairs is now offering it for $10,000 with the option of having a custom lamp or table (above) completed showcasing the gearbox. RaceChairs notes that due to the espionage problems with rival teams, Scuderia Ferrari is no longer releasing these kinds of pieces to private collectors, so this is your last chance.

[RaceChairs via BornRich]

The other day we profiled a boutique line of furniture inspired by the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. Which got me thinking about another quirky furniture maker, Clubhouse Design, whose golf-themed tables, chairs and accessories evoke a certain midcentury-modern cool.

Take the L.A.-based company's Classic Table ($200, pictured above). Its clear glass surface sits atop three legs of artfully bent steel that look like clubs from the Hogan and Snead era, complete with rubber grips and persimmon heads. The chrome-finished Wine Rack ($240) consists of 12 circular sleeves supported by four aluminum-headed clubs. The Classic Barstool ($470) features a contoured cherry wood seat and a back composed of six club handles, each bearing an actual Lamkin grip that almost begs golfers to wrap their fingers around it.

To check out or purchase these and other pieces from the collection, a take a swing through the company's web site, clubhousedesign.com.

I'm somebody who loves to switch things up pretty regularly, but with most furniture there's only so much you can do, like put it on the left side of the room or the right, under the window or across from it, etc. The swiTCh Table & Chair by Ellen Ectors, however, opens up a whole new world of function and design possibilities. Created to serve the multi-purpose needs of today's modern consumer, swiTCh can be a table, a chair, or a table and a chair at the same time. It combines cube and sphere with hard and soft to be a truly versatile and interesting addition to a room. Each set is 100% Belgian, 100% handmade, and numbered to be 100% individual.

Via cut 'n' paste weblog

The Gorenje SmarTable: It's a sleek, albeit fairly plain, dining table that turns into an all-inclusive wine and dessert mini-bar at the press of a button.

Awesome.

I think this is the perfect furniture/gadget for a sleek outdoor gathering on the patio -- after dinner is finished and everybody is relaxed but too lazy to get up you can have a cool glass of wine ready with just the flick of a finger. And clean-up, at least for that moment, is as easy as pressing a button and closing it all up again!

I want one.

£1000

Heckler Design calls it "The Last Desk You'll Ever Own."

This minimalist desk, the OneLessDesk, is simple, chic, and clearly designed with Mac in mind.

It looks so beautiful, but could you really run your life with no hard copies of anything? Maybe it should be called OneLessDesk-OneMoreNearbyFileCabinet.

It comes in white or silver, and when you nestle the lower part in? It's about one foot deep. Just a foot! That's probably less space than your side table!

And, there's more that you don't see. The top shelf there is hollow, so there's a place for any usb and wifi ports you may need. Very smart design, Heckler. We approve.

The Rowland Ripple Series is a set of beautiful tables that are a nice balance of smooth contemporary styling and creative design. Designed by Lee J. Rowland each of the Ripple Series tables is an optical illusion of the movement of ripples in water created by a mix of polished aluminum, clear polyester resin, and aerospace engineering technology (to help it all come together).

This large rectangle would make a beautiful and cutting edge conversation piece in an office, or one of the smaller versions could make a dramatic statement in a modern decor home. $45,000+/-

Via Dvice

First off let me say that decorating your home with large, artificial gems is a delicate task that is really hard to pull off. That being said, though, used sparingly and in the right ways artificial diamonds can be a great way to satisfy (somewhat) your craving for sparkly gemstones and add a touch of glamor to your decor. Chiasso offers diamond sculptures in a couple different ways, miniature ones (above) and a large paperweight version if you're really looking to make a statement.

Via Wists

Few things say 'summer' more than a picnic outside with goodies like fresh watermelon and grilled sweet corn, but few things can ruin that fun faster than a gust of wind blowing the tablecloth up, over, and off -- taking with it any unfortunately placed beverages and paper plates. But you can avoid that whole nasty scenario with these very simple but really pretty looking tablecloth clips from Nuance. Made of stainless steel they'll fit right in with all kinds of decor and tablecloth patterns, and keep your fun summer meal from turning into a disaster story. Set of 4 clips for $98.

Via Wists

Being the peak of summer it's also the peak of surfing season in most places, and for those who love the sport and just can't seem to get enough the answer might be to bring a surfboard into the house with you in the form of a coffee table. The "Endless Wave" is a table made of a real surfboard perched on top of a wave-shaped pedestal. It does, perhaps a little surprisingly, come across looking very classy and stylish. There are several color options available (or they can custom color one for you) and two different styles to choose from -- the Malibu and the Waikiki. $1800

Via Forbes

Cittadini, founded 18 years ago, specializes in high-end, luxury linens. Made in the region of Florence, Italy, the styles are detailed and feature much embroidery. You can order custom bed or table linens, as well as towels. Select from 10 flange styles, 50 towel colors, 100 sateen colors, and 200 embroideries (0 up charges). If you're in the NYC or Long Island area, there's a showroom on Fifth Avenue (by appointment) and a boutique in Manhasset. For more info and prices, contact the company.

Bring the woodsy outdoors charm into your home with this limited edition unique find. It's called the Meteor Table, it's made by Christa and it's an actual teak tree root that's been coated with bronze. Definitely a conversation starter in any home! I guess you can't rush such a ginormous and heavy package (750 pounds) via mail so it takes 6 months to arrive. Tree tables don't come cheap, this purchase will set you back $55,000! Of course I'm trying to figure out how I can start making these things! It's available on vivre.com, a very cool decor site.

Talk about a limited edition: if you don't get in on this table in time there will literally be nothing left. It's called This Table Will Self-Destruct and each time the table is made a "pixel" is removed. The table top is basically a big grid that's slowly getting holes in it, with the "limited edition" meaning they'll keep making them until it's no longer usable.

So far the table is missing 25 pixels, and there's a grid on the website so you can see exactly where they've been removed. If you want one don't wait too long! $980

Via Daily Dose