If Iron Man did Laundry

Ever the reliable and well informed consumer service, Design Trawler presents you with it's guide on the best laundry appliances on the market today. Should you opt for a stand-alone washing machine? or a washer-dryer combination? How about drum size? energy efficiency? or synthetic pre-wash soaking delay cycles with built-in cotton baby quick-wash rinse mode? All very valid and sound considerations.

Or... you could chose an appliance that is POWERED BY IRON MAN! That's right, Tony Starck's very own Arc Reactor sits at the core of Samsung's top of the range washer-dryer. Frankly, the fact that the machine features a near silent digital motor and can dry-clean your vicuña undies, are all added bonuses. That's another machine added to the list that my cleaner is banned from using then.

Welcome Winter Blues

While summer a distant memory, anything to make the cold, grey and miserable mornings that little but brighter is very welcome. Short of jumping abroad on a Mustang to the Med [always a welcome antidote to winter blues], Design Trawler has found an inexpensive alternative if you can't fly south for the winter.

The scent of Volcano from Capri Blue is quite remarkable. Imagine sitting on an alfresco terrace of your Portofino hideout overlooking the harbour. The scent of vibrant greens and sweet citrus blowing in the warm air. Volcano has red berry, pomegranate, grapefruit and lime in its punchy signature that only Aqua di Parma's Blu Mediterraneo range comes close to replicating. Absolutely intoxicating.

Miniature Monuments to Luxury

Every now and again whilst Design Trawling you'll chance upon a most unexpected discovery. State-side purveyor of fine taste West Elm served up that most pleasing of finds this weekend. On an unassuming teak sideboard sat a single cube of while marble that couldn't escape my attention.

The pictured caddy in shimmering white stone is capped with a lid featuring a sculptural brass handle reminiscent of Brancusi's birds in space or Philippe Stark's Asahi building in Tokyo. The combination of cool monolitihic marble and rich fluid brass is almost ethereal - I'm not sure it it's more appropriate fill it with bath salts, or the cremated ashes of a beloved household pet [you have to admit, there is something curiously Mormon temple about it]. Either way, the material combination is certainly one to remember. Just don't mix up your bath salts with the remains of Constantin the hamster.

MamSam Miso Mugs

Ever since visiting the Warsaw museum dedicated to Polish Cold War Neon, I've become rather hooked on graphic typography and enigmatic shiny symbols. Just as well, as there seems to be no shortage of design objects in the city that put the neon vernacular to good use.

These ceramic cups [or miso mugs as I like to call them] from MamSam mix an interesting range of type and logotype with luxurious gold and black lacquer detailing. Far from the austere or nonchalantly hip, they look menacingly luxurious on the carrara worktops of the Ultraloft.

Foothills of Mount Fuji

As the seasons begin to change, I begin also, to turn my attentions to the next room renovation in Ultraloft. The guest bathroom will be a light, clean, and natural space inspired by the paired back Japanese aesthetic... Primarily, so that I can install a Toto washlet, and surprise guests with a high-tech toilet.

Until the buldozers and pricey porcelain arrive however, I'm evoking an eastern spirit with these wall mounted planters. Selecting fern, pine and bamboo as suitably reflective of the zen-line shrubbery likely to line the foothills of Mount Fuji, the boxes from Concoral also double up as shelves; perfect for Marks & Web mandarin salts, and metallic flames from Tom Dixon.

Calling Time on Taxidermy

Monochromatic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld famously said that "trendy is the last stage before tacky". Well, taxidermy has certainly been trendy for a while, and whatever your opinion of plywood deer heads on gastropub walls, this homage from Maison & Objet in Paris made me chuckle.

Perfectly straddling the lines between trendy and tacky, the Jean Paul Gaultier inspired mâché walrus bust is topped off with a kitch cap from the French Naval Marines [complete with obligatory red pom pom]. Mounted on an equally J.P.G. striped background, I'm not sure it'll be featuring in forthcoming artist's Barbican retrospective. That said, animal forms have an enduring and iconic place in design. So, is taxidermy dead? By definition, it always was. And it isn't going anywhere soon.

Prophecy of Pattern at Topps Boutique

As housing markets continue to heat up, as predicted, bold patterns and grand materials are now the indicators of hot property. Gone are the traditional associations of tile being little more than a functional necessity of bathrooms. What started with the 'metro tile' absolutely owning kitchen renovations post 2010 [the bubble will burst]... is graduating to both contemporary, almost 'graphically designed' pigmented designs in cement [pictured] and more subtle, purposefully mismatched mosaics like the excellent Batik and La Dolce Vita ranges from Topps Boutique.

The new format of especially curated high street stores bring the best of this brave new world of ceramics out of dusty retail park locations, and will quite probably ruin your plans for anything hardwood, glass splashbacked, or "white and as cheap as possible" for the visitors loo. Thankfully.

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Lexon Flow - An Audio Carriage

The boys at Lexon continue to impress with their well turned out portable tuners. Brother to the previously featured Mini Dolemen, and still giving Uncle Bose a run for it's money in the design department, Lexon's Flow radio is brilliantly designed by Philip Wong. With it's glassy casing and clean, uncluttered narrative, the Flow would look superb on a mantle a'la carriage for the New Year.

Turning Walls Upside Down

Back in the days before Eames recliners and under floor heating, man had the clever idea of surrounding himself with walls. Clever because walls protected him from wind and sabre-tooth tigers, and especially clever because several thousand years later they provide ample opportunity for hanging Damien Hists, erecting great shelves filled with books and installing roaring fireplaces.

So walls are great, but unless you live in the Barcelona Pavilion, they also have a pesky tendency to block out light. But what if rather than blocking out the light, walls provided a internal source of light? That's the approach rAndom International have done with guest rooms at the W Taipei. Backlighting the very fabric of a room is blissfully simple and something I'd love to see upscaled in the design of an entire home.

Smart Toilets - Bottom of UK's List

Regular visitors to Japan will be familiar with the discretely positioned control panels in water closets across the country. While in the UK we're wirelessly streaming music around the house, operating heating from tablet and opening curtains with smartphones... we happily endure chilly loo seats.

But it's not for Japan's want of trying. Premier league toilet seat manufacturer Toto has had it's showroom in London's Clerkenwell for some years now, and even Samsung offer a remote control heating, washing and drying solution for under £200 (wireless streaming is of course, um, entirely optional).

Bull Market Reflections

While cost-conscious consumers have been spurred on by the 'innocent smoothie' approach to quiet design and paired-down home crafts, the ultra wealthy have been charting new territories with taller, bigger and more innovative interiors than ever before. True of Moscow, like many global capitals, this Minotaur Mirror sits in the city's excellent DesignBoom store.

With the head of a bull, and body of... whoever happens to be gazing in to it, the functional/sculptural work is similar to the superb mirrored sculptures by Chelsea based artist Arran Gregory.

Design as Metaphor - Yachtside

We can't be lounging poolside or by the Wallypower all the time -  but the innovative hand blown shade of Shikai Tseng and Hansei Chen's Ripple Lamp recreates the magical reflections conjured by the vida del mar on your mantle. Spotted at London Design week and manufactured by Austrian firm Lobmeyer.

Max Lennaárd's Modular Flames

Swinging by the Formex design exhibition in Stockholm, where the number of dead animals rivalled even the Man Cave [#1 #2 #3], I spotted an outstanding set of modular candle holders by Max Lennaárd.

Nominated as one of the 'Formex Formidable' 20 best in show, the precise CNC machine-milled forms allow owners to live like Brancusi and create their own unlimited forms in the metal of the moment.

Designer Handyman L:A Bruket

Thinking about London's Cornwall Terrace townhouses which each feature three kitchens; one for boiling an egg at a dinner party, one for the caterers, and one for the rest of the staff; a £40m home should probably also have multiple utility rooms. In fact, all homes should probably have multiple utility rooms.

The meticulously presented 'master utility', for when owners wish to personally fetch another man candle or box of bathing seaweed, should be outfitted by Swedish firm L:A Bruket [pictured]. From said edible bath treatments, to [less edible] lime & mint dog shampoo; all far too smart to be stored in the staff utility.

Tell Me More... Actually, Don't.

Unless your vanilla is Madagascan and organic, harvested under a full moon by a pack of native tribesman, and transported by carbon neutral means, I don't want to know. Or at least that's what many brands seem to think we expect when it comes to product and their descriptions. Particularly when it comes to scent.

Swedish firm Tell Me More's candles are numbered one through nine and have a corresponding fragrance ranging from ginger & lime [one] through to amber [nine]. So if your guests ever ask if that's ylang ylang in the bathroom, tell them that it's an invigorating blend of the number five, and to stop being so pedestrian.

If Kevin McCloud did Goldfish Bowls

It's hard to think of a pet more iconic than a goldfish in a simple glass goldfish bowl. I previously mentioned that artifacts, plants and animals lend a powerful 'anti-design' balance to an interior and those 'down' with their feng shui would agree - goldfish symbolise wealth and prosperity in ancient Chinese culture.

While companies such as Biorb have attembeted to bring the humble goldfish bowl up to date (with a not-so-humble price tag), Canadian designer Teddy Luong's Fish Hotel is a home that any prosperous goldfish would approve of. Upscaled with aquarium lighting, black bauhaus cladding and located in the kitchen for super-quick goldfish sashimi.

Designer Bubble Bath for Blokes

Admittedly, bubble bath for blokes is a bit of a hard sell - there isn't an immediate resonation with the Mancave locker room coolness. Nonetheless, I recently spotted this £30 masculine brown glass bottle on the shelf of Sir Terence's Marylebone hangout and was instantly hooked.

The scent of prehistoric amber is described as warm, musky, rich and honey-like. While true, I think the scent of, what is essentially an expensive rock, conjures up images of teak, brass and crisp £50's in vintage leather. Also available in eau de toilette, home fragrances and a variety of other formats.

Mini Dolmen Grows Up

One of the first items on Design Trawler, the Mini Dolmen by Lexon is a soap-sized utilitarian field radio [pictured, rear] that sits nearly in the bathroom broadcasting news every morning. Three years on, and it's been challenged by the Goliath that is the Bose Soundlink.

A bluetooth behemoth in the bathroom may sound like overkill, but the bassy true-audio stream from any device means a greater variety of morning music. In particular, the Monocle 24 digital radio stream replaces utilitarian breakfast news with rich, curated commentary and current affairs.

At five times the price of the Lexon radio, the Bose is in a different league all together - But from a design point of view the Mini Dolmen exudes charm with it's circular speaker and telescopic aerial. Bluetooth or not, it would have been nice to see more character behind the [otherwise excellent] Soundlink design.

Strike a Match - Save a Beard

So you've got the aforementioned pepe nero man candle and need something equally attractive to set said armoas alight. In the absence of a vintage table top lighter, silver, and in the shape of leaping jaguar, naturally; an old fashioned box of matches will do the trick. These unique designs available for a couple of coins at the Conran Shop do the trick perfectly.

A little twee perhaps, with the decidedly Stella Artois vintage designs; there is something satisfying, iconic even, about striking a vesta against the side of a cardboard box. Of course, real men have designer stubble for such uses... or kitchen blow torches.

Introducing the Man Candle

Scented candles are about as masculine as scatter cushions, but as proved by Cape Henley, the man cushion does exist, and therefore the same must be said for the 'man candle'. Well, it's taken a little while, but Design Trawler has pinned it down [and while you can get a suitably masculine black pepper candle from the admirable Molton Brown, that's far too easy].

This suitably 'grrr' flame bearer comes from Erbario in Italy. Based in Tuscany, the firm produces innovative scents including citrus and cinnamon, wine and also olive oil. I particularly like the brick-like form, hearty paper packaging and shoelace finishing. It's not tested on animals so it'll please sensitive sorts, or at least provide a fitting excuse to vegan other halves with kittens.