Designed to wow and created to last, these heirlooms-in-waiting are an antidote to throwaway consumerism in this era of disposable goods.
Alexis Bittar's goldplated Klimt extra-large cuff ($255) and coral hoop earrings ($245) are American-made.
alexisbittar.com
Inspired by complex 18th-century French snuff boxes, Asymptote Architecture designed the Mnemos 03 jewelry box ($46,000) for Meta. It’s made in an English atelier from gold
vermeil and satinwood.
madebymeta.com
California-based, Murano-trained glassblower Caleb Siemon makes the 9.5-inch-tall, $440 Happy Cylinder vase in six colors, including lime green, aubergine, and steel gray (shown).
unitedglassblowing.com
The $220 Best Made pearline ax--forged in Maine, polished and painted in New York--is crafted from fine-grain steel and hickory.
bestmadeco.com
Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance designed the $1,300 Corvo chair for Bernhardt in direct response to the excess he saw at the Milan Furniture Fair. The only way to justify even more product, he believes, is to create an object that is truly special, hence the Corvo, handcrafted in North Carolina.
bernhardtdesign.com
Artisans in Nepal weave Odegard's Navaratna--Sanskrit for "nine gems" ($120 per square foot). The not-for-profit GoodWeave certifies that no child labor was used in the rug's creation.
odegardinc.com
The name of the Thuthu stool--a collaboration between Canadian designer Patty Johnson and the Botswana-based manufacturer Mabeo Furniture--comes from the Setswana word for "mushroom." The pattern of stripes, left to each painter's whim, differs on every $650 stool.
mabeofurniture.com
Alberto Santos-Dumont, for whom Cartier's Santos Dumont Skeleton XL ($44,000) is named, helped popularize the wristwatch at a time when nearly all men used pocket watches.
cartier.com
The $615 Paperbag tote from Proenza Schouler may look like dead trees, but it's actually very thin, supersoft leather.
proenzaschouler.com
This $75 four-piece desk set, from Indonesia's Singgih Kartono, is constructed of sustainable mahogany and sonokeling woods.
areaware.com
The Victor desk ($6,225), with its oak frame and lacquered top, was designed for Lema by Roberto Lazzeroni, who lives and works in his hometown of Pisa, Italy.
theconranshop.com
The Mayuhana asymmetric lamp ($1,280), by Toyo Ito for Yamagiwa of Japan, is crafted from a yarn of fiberglass and resin.
yamagiwausa.com
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed a special wooden cover for the limited, signed "art edition" of his Complete Works: 1985--2010, published by Taschen ($1,000).
taschen.com
Cartography meets textile in this New York quilt ($2,400) from Haptic Lab, a studio started by architect Emily Fischer. Haptic Lab will custom-make a quilt for any client and any city; the basic map is machine stitched, while landmarks are added by hand.
Helle Damkjaer's sleek glass-and-stainless steel cocktail set for Denmark's Georg Jensen includes a carafe ($230), champagne cooler ($210), ice bucket ($230), and tongs ($35).
georgjensen.com
