Shadowy Side Chair

  What's striking about this aluminum side chair by French designer Bertrand Pincemin is its simplicity. Straight lines and straightforward design set off the split aluminum chair back, letting optical tricks played there be the star of the show.

Pincemin showed at this year at Il Salone's Satellite exhibitions and Inside Design Amsterdam.

Pleasant Under Glass

Whether it's under the Top of the Rock in New York City or Art Basel in Miami Beach, Swooning under Swarovski is turning into a hot new craze.

Crystal gazer in repose under chandelier by Michael Gabellini.

Thanks to The New York Times Interactive.

Modern Bridges

Ideal for loft spaces and anywhere you want to dial in the creative, the Bridge Series from Andrew James is bold, colorful and fresh.

The Bridge cocktail table, desk and shelf are constructed of a 3" I-Beam, complimented by solid stainless steel, and customized to your specifications. A furniture design and manufacturing company based in Los Angeles, Andrew James pieces are not massed produced -- allowing you to choose the size, color and details.

The striking symmetry of the solid metal and clean lines are only enhanced by the one-inch thick glass that covers the structures.

Canvassing for Gifts? How About Art Photos!

Snapshots of yourself and family members help personalize your space, but 4x6 photos don't make for particularly interesting wall decor. And unless you're a pro photographer, the pictures probably wouldn't be considered exactly "art" either.

Yet if you are long on concept and short on execution -- and have a hankering to create  your own focal point -- take heart. Photofiddle.com (Warning: instant sound) is a new photo processing and print resource that is different from the  Shutterflies and Kodaks of the world. Sure, the big guys can allow you to make poster sized prints of "baby's first steps" or even put last year's family Christmas photo on a coaster, but neither of them will turn Jimmy's school pictures into an oil-paint portrait worthy of the Louvre.

Photofiddle lets you not only enlarge photos, but it can process a photo to mimic anything from oil paintings to sketches to Impressionist-style Impasto paintings. The illusion becomes

even more real when the results are on artist-quality canvas wrapped on stretchers in sizes from tiny 8x8 to subway-poster size.

The process from image upload to finished product is pretty easy – no serious photo editing skills are necessary. The online site processes the effects for you, from the aforementioned sketch to something called "modern art" to even creating a collage for you. While the effects are nice, it takes a good eye to know what pictures will work with the various effects – looking at the site's examples gives the impression they were created using cheap Photoshop effects, and the heart collage is decidedly tacky.

Where Photofiddle best succeeds appears to be its service. The turnaround from web submission to final product is often less than a week, and a premium service offers designers to work with you to create or restore photos. Though we are still waiting our final results, reviews at PC Magazine and the Washington Post tout impressive final results.

Prices for prints range from archival photo paper prints starting at $14.95 and rolled canvas prints starting at $22.95. Stretched canvas starts at $44.95 for a 12x12 print. Professional framing tacks on roughly 10-20 percent. It's not cheap, but it is pretty reasonable considering what you get. Our favorite trick was taking our worst snapshot screw-ups and putting them through the various filters to create some surprisingly dazzling abstract art.

Above: Photo of Fallsview Casino, Niagara Falls, Ontario. Right: Photofiddle effect.

Twisted

As declared by Dwell as "the Legos of the lighting world," Glide's TwistTogether Lights can be mounted to walls, hung from ceilings, assembled on tables and shelves or left free-standing on the floor.

Manufactured from hand-cast resin blocks and illuminated by eco-friendly LEDs (Light Emitting Diode - a device that emits monochromatic light of various colors), one set can yield multiple configurations. Added bonus -- the mood lights consume less power than the standard night light.

Conceived from the desire to create a fresh way to interact with light, all exposed elements illuminate and the brightest glow are cast from the screen in the center.

The Limited Edition lights are available in Candy – bright orange, yellow, purple, red, green and blue – or Chocolate with muted browns and white.

Modern Menorah in Metal

Love this hand-cast menorah from metalsmith artist Lisa Slovis!

Nine individual holders in pewter and bronze nestle together in endless combinations. Or, embrace the modularity and display these sculptural pieces all year long in smaller groupings.

The metal is hand-finished with sand paper to texturize it, letting reflection of the flames dance on the surface.

"I think of this menorah as a little village of pieces, all interacting with each other," Slovis told us. "Because of my background, I think of this as a menorah, but I have sold several of them to non-Jewish clients as candelabras."

MIO Culture

They call it Responsible Design. You'll call it great.

MIO Culture, the design firm out of Philadelphia, focuses on the needs and wants of contemporary design consumers -- paying special attention to recyclable materials, product durability and their effect on the environment.

Constructed from 100% molded urban waste paper, their V2 and Flow 3D Wallpaper will liven up any room and jump off your walls - literally. Sold in 12 x 12 square tiles that adhere to walls, you can create your own design and paint them to match any decor. And for less that $20 for twelve tiles they will fit any budget.

Il-Lumen-ating

Look no further than Elsewares for the truly modern, minimalist Christmas tree.

Designed by Brooklyn artist Adam Frank, the dramatic Lumen shadow projector is made of acid-etched stainless steel and attached oil lamp. Casting a luminous tree shadow on the wall, Lumen comes with two odorless, clean-burning 17 hour fuel cells.

float glassware

Individually made by master glassblowers in the Czech Republic from pure, borosilicate German glass, Molo’s float collection beautifully blends form and function into tea, wine and martini glassware.

With a suspended bowl to house either hot or cold liquid, the glassware is not only heat resistant but places condensation far above the table – eliminating the need for coasters.

PURE CONTEMPORARY Contest

Hmmm. Have you found the treasure in our Holiday Treasure Hunt?