How’s this for some afternoon excitement: Get grabbed by a dwarfing metal hand, travel via Victorian elevator, and wind up at a client presentation where a Japanese hipster will show you some great* print and commercial work done for a long list of desirable clients like Adidas and Scion. You won’t understand the work — unless you speak Japanese — but hey, fear is universal, so you’ll still get something out of the experience. You can even keep the fun going by getting your friends involved, and maybe start a nice debate about whether the agency’s site takes from, or adds to, the strength of its work. I think extra stimulation can impress and depress simultaneously, so I’m on the fence about that one, but then again, an agency really has to battle to impress their clients these days…so A for effort, TBWA Hakuhodo, I’m sure you know what’s what (and, judging from your location, probably five years before I do). Rock on.

*I don’t speak Japanese. It’s possible that these ads actually suck — who knows.

It’s hard for me to admit this, but there’s been a void in my life. I love to sit on piles of stuffed animals, and I love to sit on chairs. But there’s never been a chair made of stuffed animals…until now.

From Fernando and Humberto Campana, Brazilian design extraordinaires, comes a truly strange collection of “banquet chairs.” The seats and backs of the chairs are made of stuffed animals (mostly endangered), and the legs are metal. They are jagged-edged and odd looking, but absolutely eye-catching and original. The chairs are available exclusively from Moss and production is limited to 25, which pretty much guarantees that you’ll be the only person in the neighborhood with an alligator banquet chair. My personal favorite, though, is the panda version; they always looked like they’d be good to sit on. Is this what God meant when he gave us dominion over animals?

–Dan Steckenberg

Micro-lending has been in the news a lot lately, since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in the field and wrote a book about it, called Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. I’m no expert, but the idea seems simple: people below poverty lines don’t just need more food rations dropped from helicopters; they need a way to produce and buy food for themselves. Micro-loans are small amounts of money given to burgeoning entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them start or expand successful businesses. A successful business — in theory at least — being the end of that individual’s poverty and the start of a viable economy in his or her area. It’s a way to circumvent the often bureaucratic and ineffective foreign aid packages that most developed nations favor and to help poor people directly.

Now here’s where Kiva.org comes in. Kiva takes the micro-lending idea and combines it with the democratizing power of the internet to allow you (or me, or the guy reading this over your shoulder) to connect with entrepreneurs in the third world and give them a loan. You can search Kiva’s website to find a businessman or woman that you want to support, and, as time goes by, you can see the impact that your loan has made on your business partner’s life. Your $25 might do more than buy food for a week. It could supply someone with a lifelong profession. Learn more about Kiva in the New York Times, Newsweek (last item) and NPR.

–Dan Steckenberg

I’m not sure if I’ll be getting my hands on anything from Silas & Maria’s Autumn/Winter 2007 collection this year (the company is apparently concentrating their sales and distribution in the Far East right now, dang them), but they definitely have done a good job distracting me from my feelings of rejection with their latest website. If you can get over the fact that this season’s male model looks like he’s about 14, you’ll find that both the men and women’s collections are both beautiful and wearable (…and is it just me, or does their clothing look incredibly comfortable, too?). Silas & Maria sort of have a history of domination in regard to their art direction, so click on over for some kaleidoscopic fun, then feel free to hunt down some overseas dealers — and report back, please!

Dr. Alex Hughes is an orthopedic surgeon at UCLA in the morning and in the afternoon, he is the president of Function Drinks. You may have heard of Function Drinks (their first drink, Urban Detox, is a popular remedy for nasty hangovers), which is a fusion of clinical science and all natural, tasty beverages, and we've been fortunate enough to have the chance to try their three new functional platforms currently being launched into the market. The new drinks, entitled House Call (also dubbed as “Dr. McDrinky” on the bottle), Vacation and Light Weight are yummy to say the least. House Call is a pleasant honey green tea flavor that makes you think twice because of its complexities. Vacation, which improves your mood, is a tropical getaway in a bottle due to its pleasant pacific coconut flavor (and those magical scientific ingredients). Light Weight has a sophisticated combination of active ingredients to get your metabolism going and burn calories, including red wine extract. We can't decide which of the three Light Weight flavors is the best: Acai Pom, Dragonfruit or Pink Grapefruit, so you're going to have to try them yourself. Just 8oz of Function Drinks will make you feel like a better person, so keep an eye out for this drink, which definitely earns its name.

In January of 2006, after eight years as an art director and stylist, Maria Vettese was finally ready to chase down her dream of the hands-on creative pursuit for which she was truly passionate. After transitioning from city life to a quieter one in Portland, Maine, Maria turned to her background in small book publishing and typography and began Port 2 Port Press, a small letterpress studio specializing in small-batch, one time only prints. Maria’s unique artistic interpretations of the beauty in everyday life provide the inspiration for the charming stationary that she prints by hand, and her focus on keeping the company small allows her time to work on custom orders for her dedicated fans. Port 2 Port’s latest development is the photographs & prints project, a pairing of one idea, five photographs, and one letterpress print into monthly offerings of limited edition sets that Maria sells via her Etsy boutique. You can grab a set of three of her cards for $12 — a great price for letterpress stationary — and if you find yourself wanting more, you can even join The Card Society, a two-a-month subscription club that will keep you in pretty correspondence for up to a year.

Via design*sponge