Six of the best gadgets and gizmos on a theme. This week: six of the best office essentials.
By Peter Jenkinson
If your workspace is dull and dreary, it'll never offer the inspiration you need to reinvent the wheel, create the best thing since sliced bread or even get those long-overdue reports done.
But forget about brightening up your desk by plastering it with fluorescent post-it notes - and a mouse mat emblazoned with amusing images is just not going to suffice.
This eye-catching collection of desktop kit offers some practical solutions and personal assistance to make your life just that little bit better while you toil. You might even break into a grin or two!
Stand and deliver - Morph Desk Buddy - £6.99 from www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk
The original Plasticine character lived in a wooden box on Tony Hart's desk and unleashed mayhem onto our TV screens as the 'claymation' star of Take Hart - this replica stands at 14cm high and is much calmer.
Stick reminders on his chest, flex his muscles and he'll hold your pens, or simply have him there for nostalgia's sake.
Pen central - Sharpener Desk Tidy - £14.99 from www.totally-funky.com
The reason there's never a writing implement at hand when you need one is that we carelessly leave them lying around, and others then feel compelled to take them.
Load all your Rollerballs and Biros into this giant-sized sharpener, which clearly marks them as yours - this is the only practical purpose the tidy serves and cannot sharpen pencils of any size.
Impressive illumination - Floodlamp - £69.99 from www.iwantoneofthose.com
This will most certainly put other desktop lamps completely in the shade - the highly-polished aluminium finish on this shrunken stadium light is brighter than most of their bulbs.
It'll attract attention on your desk even when the lights aren't flicked, and work colleagues may be tempted to stay on late to see the spectacle when you do switch it on.
Millimetre melody - Musical Ruler - £7.50 from www.suck.uk.com, available from mid-September
Music is often the inspiration for many while tackling difficult tasks, usually from a set of headphones or speakers, but imagine the powerful creativity that could be unleashed if you were making the music yourself.
Okay, perhaps a little distracting if anything, but this musical ruler comes complete with notes printed onto it and a guide to playing - all you need is the edge of a desk and you're away.
Must-read messages - Origami Sticky Note Pad- £2.00 from www.suck.uk.com and www.artbox.co.uk
If your sticky notes are in danger of being unread, whether by someone else or perhaps even you, these pads are hard to ignore.
Each contains instructions to assist you in creating one of 10 3D shapes in this ancient Oriental art. A little practice and you'll be able to impress around the water-cooler with your new talent.
Surface saver - Splat Stan Coaster - £6.99 from www.urbanjunkie.com
However bad your day gets, spare a thought for poor silicone-rubber Splat Stan, loaded daily with boiling hot beverages and sticky sweet drinks spilled over him.
He is, of course, an inanimate object, and thinking this way may be a little morose - but we do hope he'll offer an element of stress relief as you put your cuppa in place.
