Designer Approved

Bruce Mau

Office: Five-Star notebook

About $5

"The single most necessary device for me is a notebook. What I try to do is just write down everything that I'm thinking about. Eventually, I'll make sense of it all. I just plow through notebooks. I'm not picky about the brand. I guess I should be more aesthetic about them, but I'm not."

Home: Segway Human Transporter

$2,995 and up
www.segway.com

"It's like the first car ever made -- not a new design of a car, but a new vehicle class. It's also just magical to ride. We're getting one because my 10-year-old daughter is totally obsessed with it. She wants to move around this way. It's more or less silent. And it doesn't pollute. People say it doesn't do this and that. But it's the first one, and it's going to be improved. You have to take the long view on these things. Look at what it represents."

Road: Solio solar charger for cell phones

$99
www.solio.com

"I'm forever having my cell phone be a useless piece of plastic and silicone. I never remember to charge the bloody thing until I need it. With this, you take energy right from the sun and do it in real time. What's quite brilliant is that it has a hole that you put a pencil through to prop it up and aim it at the sun. There's no stand piece. And the little three-part fan design collapses into a small package. So it's easy to carry."

Claudia Kotchka

Home: Fiskars Pruning Stik Tree Pruner

$65.99
www.fiskars.com

"It's one of those 'Wow!' things you tell your friends about. It's lightweight, with a very long pole and a little pivoting head that can go in all kinds of directions. I used to hate to prune. I used to use either clippers and a ladder or my husband. Now I go looking for things to prune."

Office: Manolo Blahnik shoes

$237 and way, way up
Too chic to have a Web site

"I went to talk to Tom Ford about design, and there I was, standing in very comfortable and boring plain black shoes. I decided I had to get better shoes. So I got these, and they're as comfortable as a pair of flats. They make your feet look great. Honestly, I can wear these shoes every day. I have, like, eight pairs."

Road: Nonprescription reading glasses from A.J. Morgan Eyewear

$19.99 to $39.99
www.ajmorganeyewear.com

"I am obsessed with these things, because they're lightweight, like air. I can sit on a plane trip to Europe and read and work, and they don't leave a mark on my nose. And they're cheap. I am passionate about them."