Raul de Sorôa's Itaúba Submarine

A spectacular find from Brazilian artist Raul de Sorôa. 'Submarino' is carved from Itaúba, a Brazilian hardwood, and features characterful nautical, automotive and also aeronautical forms. Equally interesting are Raul's other works which combine Airfix style assembly kit panels with his signature organic outlines.

Christian Candy 1 : Great Gatsby 0

Watching Baz Luhrmann's the Great Gatsby this weekend [Curzon Mayfair], I couldn't help but be enthralled by the some 42 epic Catherine Martin designed sets. Particularly Jay Gatsby's double-height master bedroom with galleried open wardrobes [below]; taking cues of course from Design Trawler.

Reminding me of Christian Candy's masculine, deco-inspired bedroom in the £199m Belle Epoque in Monaco [pictured], which man about town has the better bedroom? While both make use of reflective fabrics, upholstered walls, high gloss and architectural carpets, Gatsby's galleried wardrobe gets trumped by a palladium trim bed and an elegance that's much more restrained. Judge for yourself below.

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Gym Stars & Monkey Bars

Somewhere between Simon Khachadourian's Pullman Gallery; the ultimate den of high-end design icons, antique Vuitton trunks, racing posters and Alfred Dunhill table lighters; and an Abercrombie & Fitch themed home and furniture store [yes please], is K Loan in Brussels.

A new firm favourite on the Design Directory, the store has a focus on vintage gymnasium, athletic and salvage items. think wooden gym bars transformed in to freestanding shelves, vintage leather rugby balls and black and white canvasses of boxing stars. Coupled with contemporary art, industrial furniture and customers taking leopard print cats for a walk, check out the photos below, and K Loan's catalogue online.

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If White Cube did Reindeer

If invisible cooking isn't for you, [or you simply have a designer-meat shaped hole in your life], leave it to Swiss delicatessen Hatecke to delight. From their website, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Hatecke is a contemporary art gallery; their stores in St. Moritz, Zernes and Scuol too bathe in a White Cube aesthetic.

Elevating the business of drying and curing meat to an art form, Hatecke's alpine beef, lamp and deer jerky dried-sculpture should be essential additions to any man's Christmas and/or BBQ list. Buy here.

Invisible Heat - Visibly Cool

What do smartphones and cooktops have in common? While you could probably fry an egg on the surface of an iPhone on a hot day, I'm talking about invisible interfaces - The way that on many handsets, it isn't apparent where the screen starts and finishes while switched off.

The British designed and made CR600 by Stoves, as pictured [genuinely, with no Photoshop trickery], vanishes in to the work surface when not in use. It's as if the entire counter is a gigantic smartphone; the chunky chrome knobs the only clue that you can fry an egg without invaliating your Apple warranty.

In Bed with Boateng

There was something that always bothered me about the Saville Row inspired bedding that I had made up a little while ago. Yes, the pinstripe Super 120's wool & cashmere cloth makes for an excellent ornamental pillow, and yes the fact that bedding can 'always bother me' is cause enough to hand in my Man-licence, but I've finally cracked it! Any suit worth it's salt, needs silk.

Be it a bright Ozwald Boateng lining or burnished Hermès cravate, the addition of these burnt orange herringbone bolsters not only increases the pillow count to a luxuriously inpractical seven, but delivers the much needed punch of satorial bedtime power dressing [£510 Hermes Faubourg pillow-case optional].

Undesign - The Monster in the Closet

From one beast to another. Rather than roaming the plains of Africa, this brightly coloured Korean mask sits hidden away in the utility cupboard. A tongue-in-cheek memento bestowed upon me from our scout in Japan, almost certainly because it is the antithesis of cool, understated design [thanks James!]

So stuffed by the water tank it was, and has been, for years. This is 'undesign'. Not planned, not masterfully considered, but enduring. Sometimes endearing; as in the case of the Korean mask, sometimes practical; keeping the sugar next to the Nespresso machine, but sometimes also, misguided.

Ask yourself, is your living room furniture arranged in the same layout as the previous owner's? If so, the ugly multicoloured head of undesign may have crept out of your own closet without you knowing.

King of Coffee Tables

King of the Elephants, Babar is an iconic and enduring character from the golden age of colonial, Tin Tin-esque adventure [and indeed, the young reporter's favourite flea market on the Place du Jeu de Balle in Brussels ranks amongst the best when it comes to big game design hunting].

In a world of conceited, over-sized and under-read coffee table monoliths, this first english edition, first in the series storybook from 1933 is my new favourite page turner. Beautifully worn, expect 'propper' books like these to soon replace Tom Ford retrospectives and anything from the 'Hip Hotels' stable.

Design Safari - The Flamant Rhino

On a recent design safari, bounding across the plains of Europe in search of wild designlife, I spotted the rare and magnificent Flamant Rhino. Part of a family of refined barware, the Flamant Rhino is bred from solid rosewood and highly valued for it's two brass tusks. When threatened, it is able to quickly dismantle under the protection of eight Glencairn whisky tumblers in to a set of fine coasters. On this occasion, the beast got away, but can be yours for €99 from your nearest Flamant game reserve.

A Machine for Sitting

Godfather of modernism, Le Corbusier, in creating his Villa Savoye sought to achieve the 'machine a habiter' or, machine for living - from its modular design [echoing virtruvian principles of human-sized scale and proportion], to its white facades with no ornament or decoration.

That makes his self titled LC-1 chair very much the 'machine a asseoir' [sitting] - designed from turned and polished tubular steel, the modest frame supports a pivoting back rest and two leather armrest belts. The smallest, most comfortable chair you've ever sat in, and part of MoMa's permanent collection, Le Corbusier's 'machine for sitting' is made that little bit less mechanical with a Cowhide colourway.

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.

Design as Metaphor - Under the Sea

I've mentioned the concept of design as metaphor before - when one object, in the right setting as another, takes on the qualities of the second object. Useful for turning sideboards in to metaphorical grand pianos and such.

Recently, I returned home to find the monitors on my desk glowing with the underwater hues of the aurora screen saver. Clearly it's not an aquarium, but in a setting where a Bond-villain shark tank wouldn't look out of place, the displays create a cool, and somewhat foreboding ambiance.

Design Hobby or Folly?

I'm not sure if it's post Olympic nostalgia, or a global gymnastic conspiracy, but vintage hobby horses seem to be trending at the moment. First spotted in Lloyds Antiques in Tokyo, next at the Brussels Design Market and now even Liberty of London is offering up the athletic props.

Don't get me wrong, faded tan leather and classroom nostalgia are all well and good, but I haven't yet found an answer as to how to use them. Too tall for a chair and too uneven for a display surface - the conclusion seems to be that they're pure folly. If you have the space to swing multiple cats [or a penchant for handstands], then a hobby horse is the trophy to prove it... alongside your matching actual trophies.

A Smart and Stelthy Massacre

I've been meaning to massacre a Louis Vuitton belt for a while now. While the check daimer design is subtle and synonymous with dodgy markt stalls purveyors of fine steamer trunks, the LV monogram buckle is as understated as a wall of Cristal champagne labels.

Browsing in Gieves and Hawkes this weekend it struck me. The team at #1 Saville Row now carry a range of superb shoe laces in a variety of colours. A quick chop of the luxurious leather and a bow stolen from a brogue is enough to make two smart and stealthy curtain tie-backs.

Tabletop Fun for the Red Trousered

I've long maintained male-orientated design involves more than a beer fridge, 42 inch television and foosball table. While there are many [#1 #2 #3] a designer shish-kebab tabletop soccer game on the market [yes, I do realise that my flippant referral to football as soccer, and then likening it to a foodstuff suitable only for drunken students, is likely to result in the declaration of some kind of Yorkie Bar war] - the proper way to hurtle ping pong balls across a pint sized pitch, is to put down the pint, and pick up a flute. Expect this brilliant Veuve Clicquot folly at a red-trousered sporting event near you soon!