HomeCollections
Collection
Clever Desk Accessories
A desk accumulates cables and mugs and then, if someone is paying attention, one object that makes the rest of it look chosen. That object should survive being seen every day.
This set stays on the surface: a pen that hangs in the air, a pen that was built for orbit, a bottle of magnetic liquid, a maze in a sphere, a glass mushroom, a tank of imitation jellyfish. The work still gets done. The corner of the desk does not.
Why these
- Each one can stay out. A desk gift that has to be stored is a drawer gift.
- Movement, hover, or a maze gives the object a second job besides looking considered.
- The pens are the practical end. The ferrofluid and the floating planter are the other end.
Amazon links are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Everything else opens the shop that sells it.
From the future · No. 13
Hoverpen
A pen that hangs at 23.5 degrees on a magnetic stand, the same tilt as the Earth's axis, and still writes.
Oddity 
Gift for: designers, desk dwellers, partners
Surprisingly useful · No. 09
Fisher Space Pen
A pressurized brass bullet pen that writes upside down, in the cold, and in the conditions it was actually built for.
Oddity
Gift for: writers, engineers, travelers
Has everything · No. 04
Ferrofluid Sculpture
A sealed bottle of black magnetic liquid that spikes into a tiny landscape when a magnet comes near.
Oddity
Gift for: engineers, scientists, fidgeters
From the future · No. 15
Ferrofluid Kit
A sealed display of magnetic liquid and two magnets, so someone can pull spikes out of a black puddle without a cleanup.
Oddity
Gift for: scientists, makers, coworkers
From the future · No. 14
Levitating Planter
A small pot that hangs in midair and turns, meant for an air plant because you cannot really water a floating pot.
Oddity
Gift for: gardeners, designers, partners
Has everything · No. 06
Perplexus Original
A clear sphere with a three-dimensional maze inside. You tilt the whole world to move one small ball.
Oddity
Gift for: fidgeters, coworkers, travelers
Shouldn't exist · No. 03
Glass Mushroom Lamp
A hand-blown glass toadstool with wavy stripes, dimmable, that glows like something found on a night walk.
Oddity
Gift for: designers, partners, hosts
Shouldn't exist · No. 02
Jellyfish Lamp
A tabletop tank of imitation jellyfish that drift on a quiet current, with no animals to feed.
Oddity
Gift for: partners, designers, desk dwellers
From the future · No. 19
Crookes Radiometer
A glass bulb with black-and-white vanes that spin when light hits them, and sit still in the dark. No battery, no motor.
Oddity
Gift for: scientists, desk dwellers, coworkers
Shouldn't exist · No. 20
Mirascope
Two parabolic mirrors that project a small object so it appears to sit on top of the dish. A finger goes through it.
Oddity
Gift for: fidgeters, designers, coworkers
From the future · No. 25
Tensegrity Stand
A small wooden platform that hangs in the air on chains, tense enough to hold a plant, with no post underneath it.
Oddity
Gift for: designers, desk dwellers, gardeners
Has everything · No. 28
Shashibo Puzzle Cube
A palm-sized magnetic cube that folds into more than seventy shapes. This one is the Solar finish, yellow and red and holographic.
Oddity
Gift for: fidgeters, designers, desk dwellers
Under $25 · No. 29
Color-Mixing Cube
A two-inch acrylic cube with cyan, magenta, and yellow faces. Turn it and the overlaps become red, green, and blue.
Oddity
Gift for: designers, scientists, desk dwellers
Has everything · No. 35
Speks Geode
Twelve reversible triangles with rotating magnets, transparent on one side and pink-orange on the other. They click into a pyramid, a star, or something less obedient.
Oddity
Gift for: fidgeters, designers, desk dwellers