House Blend

Add some international intrigue to your desk with Rad and Hungry, which aims to take lovers of interesting office supplies on a "world tour of limited-edition goods with lo-fi style, pushing design through travel and travel through design." Founded by globetrotters Hen Chung and Sam Alston, the Philadelphia-based company assembles an ever-changing selection of country-themed kits stocked with imported pens, pencils, stationery and other exotic desk goodies, all beautifully packaged. A Rad and Hungry subscription (available on a quarterly or monthly basis) is the perfect gift for the design lover who has everything...except a ruler from Turkey.

In need of a last minute Mother's Day gift? Tell her the monkey is in the mail. Husband-and-wife design duo Robert and Cortney Novogratz looked to Brazil as the inspiration for their new collection of furnishings and homegoods for CB2, and a standout is the Luli Lamp ($129), a polyresin monkey topped with a grey linen shade. "Our home in Brazil is literally in the middle of the jungle with amazing plants, flowers, and wildlife," say the Novogratzes. "Recently, a monkey came right into our home and climbed up onto our wine rack. We named him Luli, our daughter Tallulah's nickname."

Just when we thought our sturdy Maglite represented the apex of flashlight evolution comes the Grip LED Torchlight from PRAXIS. Designed by London-based Alexander Taylor, who has developed furniture and lighting for the likes of Established & Sons and Alexander McQueen, the flashlight is encased in hand-friendly silicone rubber -- a nod to the familiar form of the BMW bicycle grip. At $30 from neo-utility, it's a practical yet bright idea for a Mother's Day gift. The hardest part is choosing among the five available colors.

Still crunching numbers for your tax return? Make math a lot more pleasant with a Draw It Yourself Calculator ($12.99 from Perpetual Kid). The solar-powered gizmo arrives resembling a blank sheet of looseleaf paper. Grab some Sharpies and sketch in your very own versions of numerals (Roman?), operations (x or *?) and other button functions (what does "MR" do again?). Follow the included template to avoid calculation confusion.

We love classic Post-It notes, developed by a 3M researcher who saw opportunity in a chemist colleague's flimsy adhesive, but they're no good for larger tasks -- sticky signs, charts, long lists, bookmarks for giant books. 3M has come to the rescue with Post-It Big Pads, a new line of jumbo sticky notes that top out at a comically large 22 inches square. Part conversation piece, part makeshift whiteboard, these supersized pads are sure to surprise and delight at home and at the office, or wherever a lot of stick–to–itiveness is required.

Nurture a chromo-prodidgy by supplementing the usual numbers and letters flash card regimes with this newly released set from the color authorities at Pantone. Illustrated by Andrew Gibbs, the oversized cards each feature a solid color -- say "Duckling Yellow" (Pantone 1215) -- on one side; the reverse reveals additional tones of the color in the context of a pattern and challenges the child to pick out the Duckling Yellow in the mix. The colorful fun continues through tonal variations in the nine basic colors, including "Lollipop Purple," "Starfish Orange" and "Grasshopper Green."