The Post Office gets its design on

One wouldn't ordinarily expect such a thing, but apparently there is a little patch of hipness somewhere in the depths of the navy blue monolith that is the U.S. Postal Service. Behold, the "Pioneers of Industrial Design" stamps. Dreyfus, Loewy, Wright . . . they're all here. Well, at least twelve of them are here. And these are Forever stamps. That means that much like the designs featured upon them, these stamps will never go stale. So send a letter to your grandma, or write a thank you note. Then you'll have a reason to go pick up a sheet or two of these beauties. They'll be available in July, which by my clock will be here in about 17 minutes. Saddle up. Or click here and order them directly:

http://tinyurl.com/industrial-design-stamps

What's in the antique stores this week.

I was in town with some time to kill earlier this week, so thought I would make the rounds.



Urban Suburban is in the former Crestwood Antiques location, in the shopping center on the corner of Crestwood Blvd. and 56th St. The folks inside tell me that the mod items their dealers get in tend to sell and get gone pretty quickly (as I would expect for Crestwood, the nerve center of hipness in the 'ham). So this is a place to pop into with some regularity.

First, this amazing china cabinet. With an amazing low price (under $300). It might not be there anymore.



How fun would these be for a summer picnic? I'm just not sure where to get the tiny cartons of milk:



Other goodies:















Then over to Fifth Avenue Antiques. How about this funky hifi?












And finally to Hanna Antiques, one of my favorite haunts, and where the mister and I had a booth back in the day:

LOVE this sideboard:





And these little patio lamps:



And there are seven -- SEVEN -- of these chairs. The upholstery is unspeakable, but that can be fixed:

























Go forth and shop!