Lifting the mask was about the worst thing we could have done, under the circumstances.

He shone. I mean, he was somehow confected…caramelian…slick, sticky, and powdery, with golden sugar dusting his lashes that shook loose into motes as he fluttered awake, fluttered and fixed us with a liquid look.

And we looked back, which was perhaps our second mistake. That shell-chocolate masklet, perched on heated brow, began to wilt, and so, for a moment, did our determination. But we remembered our hunger, and drew strength from it as we chose our knives, and the boy began to struggle.

Johan 2 [Minnaloushe on Flickr]

Apparently this latest plastic creation from Italian designer Plust is a modern take on the garden gnome. Which I probably wouldn’t have guessed had they ruined my dreams of Lovecraftian lawn adornments and squid-like kitsch. But this, my friends, is gnome in name only, especially when it comes to the sickly green shade in which these glow-in-the-dark dwarves come. Perhaps with a bit of chthonic elbow grease these pint-sized Godlings will be just the thing we need to spruce up the dirt and dead animals that currently constitutes the Ectomo HQ garden.

Plust [Trends Now : NotCot]

It makes my heart glad to see that someone is finally considering the chainsaw artist when it comes to carting around one’s tools of the trade. Violinists have the iconic image of an open case littered with change. Cellists are known for annoying the everliving shit out of people with obnoxiously large cases. But the Chainsawist? Wholly ignored by the casing industry, which when you stop to think about it is a less than bright move on their part.

Be you lumberjack or dismemberment fetishist, now anywhere you go with your chainsaw you go in style.

Etui pour une Tronçoneusse [Wim Delvoye : NotCot

Neat idea isn’t it? A seemingly useless bit of waste transformed into something useful and (depending on your personal aesthetic) attractive. Some junk-artist must’ve had a particularly good idea from which we can all now benefit, right? Wrong. Instead, “industrial designer” Sergio Silva did what meth-fiends have been doing for years, going one step further by sticking some oil, a wick, and a magnet into the improvised crank-pipe. All of which somehow justifies its $650 price tag. Yes that’s right, six hundred and fifty dollars for a light bulb dripping with what I can only describe as concentrated design genius.

This bit of divine inspiration made the rounds a few weeks ago, and while irked at the blatant insanity displayed by the designer I simply moved on; deciding that the people paying $650 for an afternoon crafts project probably deserved exactly what they were getting. But Sergio has really outdone himself with his latest creation, and earned my ire anew.

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I’ll spare you all the usual rant on the constant consternation I endure at the hands of conceptual designs. Suffice it to say if wishes were pennies my dreams of realized concepts would have made me a millionaire many times over. But this…this is simply too much for even me to endure.

This concept by Laura Jaeger is the distillation of my affinity for obnoxiously large hoods, superfluous strapping, and modular design. It’s as if Ms. Jaeger had a direct line into my most obscene fashionisto fantasies, and I’d like to take this opportunity to formally apologize for those things I did with Margaret Thatcher. No one should have to witness that.

The model really doesn’t do the piece justice, but below the jump is a more clear cut indication of how the piece is supposed to work; essentially functioning as a messenger bag when not in use as a monstrous hood. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to track down any further information on the Hood Air or Laura Jaeger, so whether this is actually in production or just an incredibly good idea is unknown. If any of know more about this wondrous design please contact me immediately so that I might spread the gospel of obnoxious hoods.

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In my quest to adorn my home in the manner of a mad minimalist I frequently find delightful items that don’t necessarily merit their own spotlight. Yet rather than deprive you of my finds I’ve taken the liberty of cleaning out my link-dumping grounds and cobbling together Ecthomo’s first closet cleaning.

Moho Design’s Cellula rug reminds me of the walls inside of a living spaceship. For this reason alone I must have it.

Hit the jump for more items from the Ecthomo link closet.

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A fierce adoration for well designed lighting is part and parcel of my ponderous proclivity for letting out warbling shrieks at the latest bits of interior kitsch. Perhaps it is my own lone floor lamp that inspires my illuminatory histrionics; a sad castoff, plain as the day is long, that I’ve attempted to spruce up with only empty spray paint cans and frustration as an end result.

The rat bastards (and I say that with all due respect) at Studio Lilica in L.A. have introduced me to the younger, prettier model to replace my old, stalwart hand-me-down. Their strange, cocoon-like wall light sculpture tickles the place deep inside me that wants nothing more than to live out my days on a sentient, insectoid space-ship. Yet the studio’s Internautical presence bears the mark that men such as I have learned to fear, “Contact Us for pricing”.

I know your game, and I’m having none of it. Perhaps it is time to take up hammer and nail, sheer nylon and wire, glue and post-glue-snack emetic, in an attempt at bastardizing the creative vision of Lilica with my own hands.

Studio Lilica [cribcandy]

Having been raised amongst a tribe of mad Arabs, it was deemed normal that I be introduced to the invigorating effects of Turkish coffee at an age which would likely constitute child abuse in any other culture. Just why my family decided that allowing packs of predatory children to dose themselves on massive amounts of caffeine was a good idea I will never know, but it was a jetpack fueled blast at the time and now I have an indelible taste for the stuff.

Sadly, coffee of all kinds now makes me ill; so when I do indulge — bracing myself for the unpleasantness to follow — I like to do so with as much eclat and pomp as possible. Eclat and pomp I appear to have found in the modernized version of Turkish coffee claptrap. A surprisingly beguiling design, it really is a necessity for those of us that must occasionally soldier through the slings and arrows of inevitable coffee catalysis.

Mest Turkish Coffee Set [cribcandy : Design Awards]

I’m currently recovering from another of my ridiculous purge-fugues in which all non-essentials are discarded with a vengeance. As such, I’m in the market for antiques and oddities, neither of which are particularly inexpensive on average. Imagine my delight at discovering a repository of not only strange, but incredibly reasonably priced light boxes adorned with all manner of strange imagery.

In addition to printed light boxes there are hand-crafted coffin cabinets available printed with Nosferatu silhouettes for those with a diableristic bent. It is highly recommended that you purchase with urgency, as these fine wares will be unavailable in a few weeks, having been spirited off to Horror cons at which you can be sure they will sell out rapidly.

Morbid Decor [Etsy : Gothmag]

I abhor novelty t-shirts. I realize that some people like them, but over the years I’ve learned that displaying your wit or preference in media on your chest is a less than desirable fashion trait. Yet in spite of years of turning my nose up at such offerings I’m finding it hard to resist the siren song of the novelty t-shirts at Atomic Tarantula.

These radioactive arachnids have found the weakness in my casual clothing defenses; attacking the front lines with a barrage of “old school” science fiction references while flanking with an elite squad of well designed hitmen. There is nothing to do now but lock myself in my high tower of fashion snobbery and await my seemingly inevitable defeat.

Thanks, Bjorn!

As a child I always wondered why adults were content with the boring dishware that seemed to fill each and every one of their kitchen cabinets. Slurping soup I’d imagine the poorly painted pilgrims dotting the rim of my mother’s dish set engaged in bloody battle with savage natives.

Soup time was always a little weird with my family.

Thankfully, artist Laura Zindel has everything you’ll need to inject a little oddity into your own murder-fantasy/dinnertime. A wide array of bug, bird, and beast adorned crockery is available on her site, which while not featuring any Octopi that I could spy, do have a healthy selection of bee-based works to appease our wrathful Octobee.

Zindel Ceramics [Laura Zindel : cribcandy]

I’ve featured my fair share of unobtainable designs here on Ectomo, loudly preaching the gospel of DIY approaches to the prohibitively expensive (or simply non-existent) designs of which I’m so fond. Sadly, not everyone has access to the tools, materials, and workspace required to give form to their dream creations. That time is over my friends.

A Parisian art collective calling themselves Le Cartonnistes utilize cardboard to create all manner of furniture, ranging from simple shelves to beds to entire room sets. While it may seem a questionable load-bearing source material, the technique used to form the structures that will eventually become furniture insures the stability of the creation — to a reasonable point of course.

The technique requires a bit of trial and error as well as accuracy within millimeters, but the oaths with which you’ll purple the air as you make mistakes (and learn valuable lessons) are all worth it when the TV box covered in a sheet being used as a coffee table actually becomes a coffee table, and a damn fine one at that.

I highly encourage each and every one of you to try your hand at this. The only limits to your swank boudoir now are the bounds of your own imagination.

Cardboard Furniture [Apartment Therapy]

Gisli Ari Hafsteinsson is the winner of this years Coiffure Awards, an event held in the Netherlands for the last six years which has somehow escaped my notice until now. The galleries from prior years are well worth navigating the inscrutable moonspeak of which the site appears to be composed. Random clicking is highly encouraged as interesting cuts and inspiration lurk beneath strange links composed of a language only twins speak.

Coiffure Awards 2008 - Avante Garde [Gisliari : Coiffure Awards : NotCot]

About a year ago the ‘tubes were atwitter over a fine selection of handcrafted watches by Japanese designer Haruo Suekichi. As with all things that pass before our eyes that we can’t live without the majority of the watches were, of course, not for sale.

Thankfully (although this description is open to debate) Haruo Suekichi is selling a select few of his watches via the Chief Mag store. Only two of each design (the second of which can be viewed below the jump) have been made by Suekichi and they’re not what you’d call affordable. The above design, apparently the “male” watch, is selling for $1200 while the “female” version is going for a cool $800.

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There is no argument among Ecthomites that the classic weaponized jewlery of yore is gorgeous. Yet owing to its antiquated nature, bits and bobs of the destructive ilk can be both difficult to acquire and fragile (once the former issue is overcome).

Jewelers Digby and Iona seek to skirt this problematic issue with their Fall line featuring the above piece. While inoperable as a weapon of elegant destruction the ring is none the less a fearsome addition to any finger.

If digit-weaponization isn’t your thing Digby and Iona also have a moustache pendant available (among other quaintly curious adornments) for all your moustache emergencies.

Digby and Iona [Catbird : CoolHunting]