Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing

A lot of you have complimented Hugh on the wall system used for display.  You have excellent taste.

The Cado System was designed by Danish interior architect Poul Cadovius in the 1960s and is a modular series of cabinets and shelves that are mounted using a simple dowel system. It's really pretty ingenius in its simplicity and flexibility. This particular set consists of Brazilian rosewood cabinets and teak shelves, and came from the boardroom at the Detroit Institute of Arts. 

The boardroom was in the Gunnar Birkerts-designed northern wing of the museum (circa 1970), which was easy to dislike until the Michael Graves renovation was completed and you realized how great it really was.  An entirely new boardroom design was called for (it's dismally beige, by the way), and through the miracle of connections these pieces ended up in appreciative hands.

The original wall panels for the system were teak, but were thrown away in the demolition.  It's sad, but I guess if they knew what they had the system would never have ended up in Hugh for your enjoyment!

Hip Holidays

Sending holiday cards through the mail is pretty old school, but that's how things roll at Hugh.  And that's how you should roll too.  Just be cool about it.

Hugh exists to make sure you keep things cool, that's why we've got our exclusive holiday cards on sale.  Yes that's right, exclusive.  As in, only available at Hugh.

They are designed by Shag, the renowned artist and illustrator, and they cost $10 for a set of 10 cards.  And like I said, they're cool.

Electric Blue

If you're of a certain age, you remember those old cable boxes where you could play around with the dial and sort of get Skinemax or the Playboy Channel to show up.  Usually as a negative image.  You make do with what you can get when you're 13.  It's not like we had the internet back in 1982.

One program whose opening credits have been lodged in the back of my brain all this time was Electric Blue, a Playboy channel program.  I've been looking for evidence of that show for years, and I finally found it.  Well, highly-edited evidence, but this is a family blog.  Watch this completely safe-for-work version of the credits.  At least you can enjoy the amazing song, from the golden years of watch-at-home erotica.

Speaking of classic erotica, we're up to our ears in vintage Playboys at Hugh, with issues dating from 1964 to 1979.  At $7 a pop they're a fun way to enjoy a more innocent, almost charming, period in American bachelordom, and a vintage Playboy from someone's birth month makes a terrific gift.

The Easiest Gift to Give

If you are looking for an easy gift to give this year, it's at Hugh.  It's called the Wine Finer, and it's a 4-in-1 wine accessory that is an aerator, dripless pourer, filter and stopper.  And it's only $29.

There is video that shows the Wine Finer in action.  I had to swap the music for something more apropos to drinking wine - the original had some Cafe Ibiza-type new age tripe that literally put me to sleep (you can check it out here).  Watch our version instead.

You can give the Wine Finer to practically anyone and they will love it.  I promise.

Hugh may revive retail in Detroit!

There is a fantastic piece in the Detroit News today about the role temporary shops - Hugh being the first and only so far - could play in revitalizing the Detroit retail scene!  Click here to read it.

Today at Hugh

Vintage ice buckets are not only hipper than any made today, they're also really affordable.  Well most of them, that art deco one costs a bit more.   [West Bend Deco Ice Bucket $48, all others $12-$36]

Today at Hugh

The correct response to "nice lighter" is, "I know."

You'll be saying that a lot if you pull this solid brass beauty out at the bar [$89].  It's just one of the assortment of top drawer smoking accessories that are new at Hugh.

Hunting for Cool?

Then you need to take a look at Cool Hunting. It's a website that searches out cool things around the world.

Naturally they covered Hugh. Take a look!