Retail design website DesignStory has announced an exclusive deal with Finnish designer Eero Aarnio to sell his new Soap Chair, and several established pieces not previously available in the U.S. Aarnio is famous for creating the ubiquitous Ball Chair and the Bubble Chair. Aarnio takes his inspiration from the shapes around him and the Soap Chair, as Remodelista reports, was inspired by a hand-held bar of soap. A niche in the chair arm holds a remote or cell phone. It is being manufactured in the same factory in Finland that has made all of his other products over the past 40 years.

"We are honored to be the first, and only, retailer to offer Eero Aarnio's Soap Chair for its worldwide launch," said Mia Lewin, co-founder and chief executive officer, DesignStory. "Eero Aarnio was the anchor designer for the launch of DesignStory earlier this year, and we are thrilled to be working with him again to bring his new Soap Chair and other iconic products to US consumers."

DesignStory is offering consumers an early chance to win one of ten limited edition signature series chairs signed by the designer. The promotion will run through November 8, 2010. New users to DesignStory visit www.designstory.com and register to enter. Existing members will go to https://www.designstory.com/promo/soapchair. The chair goes on sale on November 9 through DesignStory. The retail value of the chair is $2,500 but DesignStory's limited-time introductory price is $1,850.

Online auction leader Charity Folks has teamed up with Jet Blue Airways for their "Bid for Good" online auction to benefit KaBOOM! and DoSomething.org for a new auction that includes more than 60 destination trips and other unique celebrity and sports experiences. As you might expect, every package includes airfare on Jet Blue.

The celebrity packages offer VIP access such as a meet-and-greet with Tim McGraw and tickets to one of his 2011 concerts; a set-visit in Los Angeles to "Chelsea Lately" and a meeting with Chelsea Handler; a pair of tickets to see Cher in Las Vegas and insider green room access at "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

The package that is receiving the most attention is a sports package with four tickets, a private tour and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park at a Boston Red Sox game. Other sports package are pit passes to the 2011 Daytona 500; playing in the David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic in a celebrity foursome in the exotic Dominican Republic and two Trophy Club tickets to the 2011 U.S. Open.

The travel package includes some of the most desired destinations including a trip to New York City for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and your own personal photo shoot; a trip to Bermuda's famous Fairmont Hotel; a tropical paradise visit to Barbados; a luxury stay at the Cotton Bay Village in Saint Lucia; a dinner and stay lakeside at the W Chicago and a lavish stay at the Atlantis Resort at Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The auction ends November 11 at 3:00 p.m.

If you didn't get a chance to check out the rare 31.06-carat flawless deep blue Wittelsbach-Graff diamond while it was hanging out with its blue cousin the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian you have another chance. The famous stone is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History until early next year.

The Wittelsbach-Graff bears the names of two of its owners. It was just the Wittelsbach, a 35.56 carat stone purchased in 2008 for $24.3 million by famed diamantaire Laurence Graff. The stone, now known as the Wittelsbach-Graff diamond has been recut to 31.06 carats to showcase the color and up the rating to internally flawless. type IIb, deep blue.

The stone has a long history dating back to 1664 when it was given by Philip IV of Spain to his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa, upon her engagement to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The stone was later passed to the Wittelsbach family, part of the ruling house of Bavaria and takes its name from them. The crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were sold at Christie's in 1931 but the blue diamond was not among them. It resurfaced in Belgium in 1951.

The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond will be on display at the American Museum of Natural History through January 2nd, 2011. Check out a video of the unveiling after the jump.

[via DNA Info]

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Over the past couple years we've seen wine auction prices in Hong Kong rise and rise. A new level was achieved this week when three bottles of Châteaux Lafite-Rothschild 1869 sold at a Hong Kong auction by Sotheby's for an astounding hammer price of $232,692 a bottle (a total of $698,076). That makes these the most expensive bottles of wine ever sold at auction. The entire sale of treasures direct from the legendary Chateau Lafite brought in a total of $8.4 million, tripling the pre-sale high estimate of $2.5 million. Every lot was sold, adding to the success of Sotheby's Hong Kong in maintaining the tenth consecutive 100%-sold wine auction in Asia in the last 18 months. It is only auction house to achieve this record.

The sale featured 284 lots of Lafite, as well as the other chateaux owned by Domaines Baron de Rothschild, all with direct-from-the-cellar perfect provenance. Before being shipped to Hong Kong, these bottles never left the cellars in which they were placed immediately after being made.

Baron Eric de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafite, said: "I am delighted that this unique auction brought Lafite to so many true connoisseurs and wine lovers. Our aim was to open our cellar doors to the friends of Chateau Lafite in Asia so that they could enjoy fabulous vintages in the best possible condition. We are very happy that Sotheby's took Lafite to new heights with this sale and we toast all those followers of Lafite who appreciate the passion with which we make it."

[via The Wealth Report]

November 1 marks the return of Marc Chagall's America Windows to the Art Institute of Chicago. The popular exhibit underwent conservation and research treatment the past five years. The stained- glass windows commemorate the American Bicentennial and first debuted at the Art Institute in 1977. They also appeared in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off.: The windows are now the centerpiece for a presentation of public art in the Rubloff Auditorium.

The Art Institute website tells the story of the windows. It began in the early 1970s, when Chagall came to the city as part of his work on the mosaic installed outside Chase Tower, The Four Seasons. He offered to create a set of stained-glass windows for the museum and worked on the six-panel work which celebrates the America as a place of cultural and religious freedom. He dedicated the work to Mayor Richard J. Daley. Admission to the institute is $18

[via Chicago Tribune]

Want to spend New Year's Eve in San Diego, California? You can celebrate in a big way at the Porto Vista Hotel in the Little Italy area. One night at the hotel is being auctioned off on eBay. The winner of the auction will have control of the entire hotel from noon on December 31, 2010 through noon on January 1, 2011.

The auction includes not just the hotel's 189 rooms and VIP suites but also the services of the Glass Door Restaurant with personal chef and customized menu for a meal for up to 50 VIP guests as well as a party on the Ripassi rooftop deck for 300 guests with a DJ, personalized menu, open bar and private luxury cabanas. The entire hotel staff will be at your disposal.

The "owner for a day" will also have his or her name displayed along the side of the hotel, receive customized business cards and employee uniforms will feature the owner's name. The package also comes with a personalized Web site landing page for guest reservations for New Year's Eve. The bidding ends November 26. Last time I looked there were no bids but the auction does have a Buy-It-Now price of $160,000.

[via USA Today]

The Wall Street Journal reported on another former athlete selling his Florida home. Retired Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Palmer spends most of his time in California so he is trying to unload his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The home slipped onto the market under our radar around a year ago for $3.4 million but is now listed for $2.85 million through Corcoran.

Palmer spent 19 years playing for the Baltimore Orioles. His wife Susan is an interior designer which explains the blandly perfect decor of the home. The pair purchased the 1940-built home in 2001 for $1.6 million and renovated it. The 4,100-square-foot, three bedroom home is about a block from the beach and also has a swimming pool in the back yard which is visible from the glass-surrounded family room.

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Swann Galleries' auction of Whistler and His Influence on Wednesday, October 27 offered approximately 150 prints by James A. M. Whistler and nearly 20 of these set world auction records, including the sale's top lot, a very early impression of Nocturne, etching and drypoint on Japan paper, 1879-80, which became the most expensive Whistler print ever sold at auction when it brought $282,000.

The moody etching, shown above, was likely one of the first that Whistler made after arriving in Venice. It was estimated to sell for $80,000 to $120,000 and bears his rare butterfly signature. Todd Weyman, Swann Vice President and Director of the Prints & Drawings Department, said, "Setting the record price for any Whistler print shows the quality and scarcity of the material we have been able to gather in the past few seasons."

Among the many other Whistlers that set records in the October 27 sale were a very scarce first state of Rotherhithe, 1860, etching and drypoint, $14,400; Little Smithfield, etching on Japan paper, which had not appeared at auction in the last 20 years, $18,000; Battersea: Dawn, drypoint, 1875, with soft, hazy tones and inky plate edges, $13,200; Fishing-Boats, Hastings, etching and drypoint on Japan paper, 1877, $15,600; Fulham, etching, 1879, one of three etchings Whistler made of the old Putney (or Fulham) toll bridge in 1879 before its destruction, $14,400; Exeter Street, etching, circa 1886-88, $22,800; and Rue des Bon Enfants, Tours, etching and drypoint, 1888, created while he was honeymooning in the Loire Valley, $21,600. The two day sale brought in a total of $2,527,512 with Buyer's Premium.

Nordstrom will be opening a unique store in Manhattan next year. The department store chain has announced that it will open a store that will turn over all its earnings to nonprofits. The Soho store will not be branded as a Nordstrom but will instead be another type of store with a name to be determined later. It won't sell used clothes like a Goodwill or other thrift store. Exactly what it is and what it will sell doesn't seem to be clear yet.

An article in the Seattle Times says that the Seattle-based company will open the store next fall at the base of a new 10-story residential building on West Broadway. The building is home to luxury full-floor residences. At just over 11,000 square feet, the new store will be much smaller than a Nordstrom or Nordstrom's Rack store.

Corporate spokeswoman Pamela Lopez told the Seattle Times that the intention is not to create a "mini-Nordstrom" but to come up with something new that will have its own identity. Lopez also revealed that the project is unique to New York, a one-off concept that won't be expanded to other cities. The chain still hopes to open a full-size Nordstrom in Manhattan and the project is one way to learn more about doing business in Manhattan (the brand also has a Nordstrom's Rack store in Union Square).

Be prepared to fall in love with Edward Hopper all over again. You might even have had a poster of one of his night scenes in your college dorm room. In the new show of his work and that of some 30 other Hopper contemporaries, Hopper (1882-1967) still emerges as one of the most compelling artists of the last century. "Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time" is at the Whitney which supposedly has some 3,000 Hopper works given by his wife Jo, also an art student and the model for most of the women in his paintings.

The show covers American realism from roughly 1900-1940 and documents the way Hopper and his "friends" rebelled against the academic art that dominated Europe. No more lovely scenes of parks and posh picnics along the Seine, Hopper and his contemporaries -- William Glackens, George Bellow, Thomas Hart Benton to name just a few whose works are on view --- painted everyday scenes. They were drawn to tugboats, bridges, railroad cars, the new skyscrapers. But unlike his contemporaries, Hopper disliked regionalism which made a caricature of America. He advocated an "American art that transcended national, local, and regional traits," according to the sumptuous show catalog.

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