Desmond Williams

Desmond Williams is a freelance writer and JUNO magazine columnist. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, is half of a mixed-race couple and father to a rambunctious, comedic, and inquisitive preschooler (all great fodder for parenting articles). His writing, with its injected wit and humor, tends to add a light touch to the general gravity of parenting. Desmond is currently working on a graphic novel for mixed-race parents titled ‘The Painted Man’.

Nurseryworks’ Hollis Crib Offers a Clear View to Sleeping Tots

by Desmond Williams, 06/16/11

With its broad slatted Lucite panels that render the streamlined structure nearly invisible, Nurseryworks’ Hollis Crib is a wonderfully magical piece of furniture. Okay, so one could argue that it resembles a fish tank… And I guess new parents may be scared silly when they awake, bleary-eyed, from their slumber to find their tot apparently floating atop a levitated mattress, but modern furniture will always face practical challenges. “Inspired by Charles Hollis Jones, a pioneer in acrylic furniture design, the Hollis crib is a unique and sophisticated sleeping spot for your little one,” explains the Nurseryworks website. The site also notes that the frame is made of “non-toxic and recyclable Lucite” in a patented design that allows for three mattress heights.

+ Hollis Crib $3,500

+ Nursery Works

Torpedo by Jerry Koza is the Sleekest New Ride On

by Desmond Williams, 06/14/11

What do you get when you place an aerodynamic luge on the deck of a high-end skateboard? As unlikely as it may seem, you get Jerry Koza‘s design for his children’s Torpedo ride-on toy. Sleek in form and function, the toys seem to be racing even when at a standstill, and feature racing stripes, custom detailing or bold, blocky numerals. At EUR 785, I assume the toys are intended to be heirloom pieces and though the pointy nose denotes danger, they’re meant for wobbly tots who want to graduate from cruising directly to jetting.

+ Torpedo EUR 785

+ Prague Art & Design

Andrea Petrachi Designs Himatic Robots from Recycled Electronics and Old Toy

by Desmond Williams, 06/13/11

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5 Kid-Friendly DIY Projects for Father’s Day

by Desmond Williams, 06/12/11

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Help Kids Calm Down With At-Home Massage

Five-year-olds don’t know their Vedas from their Asanas, yet it is believed that if you put them in a room full of adults doing cobras and downward dogs in yoga class, you will be amazed at how quickly most fall in line… most. Practitioners tout the positive effects of teaching kids relaxation techniques, but many parents of sprightly students, battling with the problem of helping them find their own place of stillness, know that introducing busybody kids to the peaceful sanctity of a yoga studio can be like setting a bull loose in a china shop. So how can you help active kids slow down? Eventually we realized the parental touch of massage can do wonders.

The Wrap-up on Holiday Wrapping Paper

You emailed your family and friends a link to Jill’s post on reusable wrapping paper alternatives. You wore your “Wrapping Paper Sucks!” pin everywhere you went for weeks before Christmas. Yet here you are, stuck with mounds of clawed, crushed and crumpled paper. Not to worry, below are 5 great ways to turn all that trash into shredded treasure.

Solar Beetle Electronics Charger Concept from the IIDA Contest

If this new cute, yet functional, concept by Bora Kim, Kimhyelyn and Park Jong Duck, makes it to production, it’s sure to get kids interested in the idea of alternative energy. Entered in the IIDA contest organized by designboom, the Solar Beetle “featuring small solar panels on its surface, is a way for nature lovers to recharge their electronic devices.” If I had this solar charger, I would run my iPhone battery to nil, then when my …

Kate’s Paperie 2011 Animal Calendars Live On After Time Passes

Kate’s Paperie has released a collection of 2-month calendars in 6 animal shapes that have purpose even after all the dates have been checked off. There’s a bunny (January / February), a cow (March / April), a bear (May / June), a horse (July / August), a goat (September / October) and, fittingly, a reindeer (November / December). Once the dates have passed, the obsolete calendar pages can be removed leaving decorative shapes for work or play….

Recycled Toy Art: Hideki Kuwajima’s Sculptures

Artist Hideki Kuwajima creates whimsical 3-dimensional collages from found children’s toys. Working mostly with neon plastics, the artist achieves amazing symmetry by working in pairs. A given sculpture may include water guns, flutes, bows, or any other assortment of lost novelty items. The result? Amazing eye-candy featuring every color of the rainbow — a piece of art that any child would want to pick apart, toy by toy. Expanding, Kuwajima has also recently been working in crystal …

5 Green-Themed TV Shows For Kids!

The general notion that there’s nothing good on television for kids has been a debate ever since the radio family hour yielded to the lure of the at-home moving image. And today, 71 years since the advent of commercial television, the debate continues: is TV programming generally bad for developing brains? The jury is still out, but with a crop of modern, educational children’s programs that feature environmental messaging, TV-haters are finding it more challenging to make their ‘bad TV’ blanket statement stick. Here are a few programs my son and I enjoy that I recommend for all green-minded parents and budding environmentalists.

The Amazing Results of Core 77′s Play-Doh Kicks! Design Contest

Playdoh kicks! from kyelee on Vimeo.

The time lapse video above doesn’t even begin to illustrate the effort individual contestants put into each of the many modeling dough rendered sneakers submitted for the recent Core 77 ‘Play-Doh Kicks’ 1-Hr Design Contest. Click through the pictorial below to see a few of the favorites (naturally the pair of tiny Tom’s tops our list).

via Core77

Spreading the Daddy Love with ‘Mommy’ Hormones

Prolactin and oxytocin, hormones thought only to be secreted by loving mothers, have recently turned up in a wildly unexpected place – the blood and saliva of new dads! A study recently published by Prof. Ruth Feldman (a psychologist and brain scientist at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University, and adjunct professor at the Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine) shows that the ‘love drugs’ moms regularly get high on (oxytocin is secreted during pregnancy, and prolactin later on to increase milk supply) work on dads too . . . albeit in a different way.

New PSA Likens Hamburgers to Heroin – What do you think?

This new controversial PSA by Precinct Studios (meant to bring awareness to the obesity concerns of many American families) likens the act of feeding junk food to your kids to the seemingly absurd idea of introducing them to recreational drugs. But there is some truth to the alarming visuals. According to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience “overconsumption of highly pleasurable food triggers addiction-like neuroadaptive responses in brain reward circuitries, driving the development of compulsive eating”. So will these sort of ads become the “This is your brain on drugs” PSAs (which oddly likened frying eggs to consuming smack) of our generation?
Check out the video above — hyperbolic, or spot-on? What do you think?

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Fisher-Price Announces Huge Product Recall

Product safety recalls are par the course for parenting. And in recent months we’ve seen products being recalled by smaller manufacturers such as Sorelle, Land of Nod and Zooper. But Fisher-Price has shot to the top of the list with yesterday’s announcement of a safety recall concerning 7 million trikes, 2.9 million infant toys, 1 million high chairs, and close to 100,000 Little People Rampways. Check the product models below to see if your child’s toy is due for a turn in.

Handmade and Pricey Lady Gaga ‘Doll,’ Meat Dress Not Included

I had fully expected Mattel to be first at co-opting the likeness of Lady Gaga for a miniature plasticized version of the already plasticized original. But it looks like Andrew Yang’s dolled-up likeness of the recycled-telephone-donning, tin-can-hairstyling, meat-dress-wearing/vegetarian-scaring diva, designed for the Alexander McQueen fashion house, is first to hit virtual store shelves (albeit sans aforementioned telephones, tin cans and meat).

FRAMEicariums: Living Ant Farm Art by Hugh Hayden & Katie Vitale

For those of us who live in big cities (i.e. most of the Inhabitots writers), nature can sometimes feel like a distant thing. Those of us grew up in rural/suburbia or who went camping frequently as children may have had plenty of experiences with ant colonies, but many kids living in cities today don't get this type of close encounter with nature anymore. If they do try to bring a messy pet or science project into their cramped city apartment, their parents aren't likely to be too thrilled. Happily, designers Hugh Hayden and Katie Vitale have attempted to solve this problem, by creating a wonderful series of ant farm artworks that merge a city parent's arty aesthetic with the nerdy science-fair goodness of an old-fashioned ant farm.

The ‘Safe Cuddling’ Suit by Helge Fischer

Intended to stir debate about child safety in public spaces, the Safe Cuddling romper suit designed by Helge Fischer (a recent Royal College of Art graduate) has set off an alarm across the Internet. “The ‘Safe Cuddling’ suit allows for the innocent cuddling of children by helping adults to maintain their integrity,” says Fischer via a statement posted on the popular Dezeen blog.

HOW TO: Make Ice Cube Tray Sushi

Since watching the End of the Line you may have sworn to stave your family off of fish. But with a little ingenuity (making a salmon/sweet potato substitution for example) and help from your sweetheart sushi chefs, this DIY recipe for Ice Cube Tray Sushi by former Cookie magazine editors, Pilar Guzmán, Jenny Rosentrach, and Alanna Stang from their new book Time For Dinner is sure to please tiny pallets.