May 13, 2009
Pac-Man Silicone Pot Holder: just arrived!
Apr 27, 2009
PRODUCT PROFILE: Ice Invaders Ice Tray
Apr 21, 2009
COMPANY PROFILE: Snooze City Designs
Snooze City Designs is a relatively new company that is filling a gap in the textiles market: fun pillowcases with big, bold graphics. Until we saw their pillowcases at a trade show, I never really thought about the fact that the pillows on my bed were (visually, at least) really just big boring blobs.
Snooze City flipped that idea right on it’s head- their pillowcases scream out at you, usually covered in huge, bright graphics. They design and pack all pillowcases in pairs so there are usually 2 different designs, one on each pillowcase. One of our best-selling products ever is their Guitar & Amp pillowcase set (pictured above). Apparently they sent some out to Gwen Stefani and she loved the design. That fact was covered in a magazine or 2 which probably exposed a lot of people to Snooze City for the first time. In addition to several music-themed styles, Snooze City makes gothic designs, funny designs and also now has branched out into licensed products. We have several of their licensed David & Goliath designs in stock.
Apr 18, 2009
PRODUCT PROFILE: Robot Egg Cup
You have no idea how hard it was for us to track down OXO Design to reorder these. We found them at a trade show but then OXO went through a name change and a location change as we ran out of our first shipment of Egg Cups, so when we finally got another order in, we made sure to get a bunch.
People love these cute, fun egg cups- I think it’s a combination of parents getting them for their kids, and then there’s the robot-obsessed Gen-X geeks like me who get all excited when we see some sort of plastic robot, no matter what the intended function of that robot. Of course, there’s nothing robotic about these plastic egg cups, per se, but they look cool so that’s what really matters. Plus they come with a cool see-thru spoon that the robot guy can hold in his hand.
It's one of those cool items that looks like a designer toy on a shelf but can also help you eat a healthy breakfast.
What more could you want?
Apr 17, 2009
COMPANY PROFILE: Koziol
Koziol is a German plastics manufacturer that has been in business way longer than I’ve been alive (est. 1927!) When we started Fun Housewares 4 years ago, Koziol products comprised the majority of our lineup. Each Koziol product is brightly colored and functional, yet many take on the shape of an animal or a little character that also makes the product fun to look at. This is the essence of our website: each product MUST be both functional and fun. Koziol nailed it on the head for us which is why we were and still are so taken with their design sensibilities. Some of our best sellers were Koziol’s Audrey tea strainers and Tim and Tweetie, both dish brushes. (All of those products are now sold out!)
Our most popular product ever was a little liquid soap dispenser shaped like an abstracted bird that Koziol called Salto. That particular product was installed in the kitchen of TV’s Alton Brown, which drove sales of the product through the roof. Regretfully 2 years ago, Koziol’s US distributor closed it’s doors and we lost the ability to easily order and reorder the Koziol products. We successfully ordered all of the remaining Saltos as our distributor was clearing out their CT warehouse, but those few hundred Saltos sold out pretty quickly. Now Salto has joined the growing ranks of discontinued Koziol products. Each Koziol product is phased out after a while so they remain collector’s items, unlike other household products which are usually just thrown out and forgotten about. Likewise for the differently colored plastics: Koziol seems to phase in differently colored plastics with the changing seasons, often releasing limited runs of their current products in more rare colors.
We still have dozens of different Koziol products in stock but our inventory is beginning to run low now, so if you have an interest in this fun line of housewares, please do take a peek at our website soon!
Apr 14, 2009
15% OFF: Coupon code TAX2EARTH15
Spring is a lovely time of year... the only aggravating thing about April, for us Americans anyway, is getting our taxes together.
Well, we here at Fun Housewares would like to take the sting out of that painful process. We are offering all customers 15% off any and all purchases made through Earth Day, April 22nd.
Just enter in the following coupon code during checkout:
TAX2EARTH15