I’d like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy New Year to all our loyal 3ringers. Most of you read my Thanksgiving Treasures, and while that article was a lot of fun, I decided to do this even better for New Years. In order to organize my picks for the best products of 2008, I'm going to tackle this in an organized fashion: from exterior to interior, top to bottom.

Starting with the outside, the Solar Roofing System is a revolutionary product that's easy to install-a roof and solar energy system in one package made to resemble cobalt blue barrel tiles. Finally, houses can go off the grid without sacrificing style. Another excellent green product for residential or commercial exteriors, UB Arts' Copper Sunshades create unique outdoor living areas using recycled copper. The thin sheets come stamped with various repeating patterns-everything from the botanical to the tribal (inspired by the artist's travels)-and they are thin enough to be shaped into archways, awnings, and outdoor walls. Besides being green and practical, UB Arts' Copper Sunshades play with natural light, diffusing it into dazzling triangles and leaves that dance in shadows.

UB Arts' Copper Sunshades.

Moving from the exterior to the interior, GKD Metal Fabrics work transitionally, capable of enough strength to compose a rigid balcony railing and of sufficient pliability to construct a sheer curtain. Using metal as a fabric is not a novel idea (remember chain mail?), but GKD offers such a range of thicknesses and patterns that you can integrate metal into any project. There is something quite striking about working against a material's expected applications, and GKD's Metal Fabrics do this again and again. I like their lightweight treatments as sheer fabrics against a great expanse of glass wall-its as beautiful and futuristic as Rachael in Blade Runner.

Mandarin, framed with bent fabric. Installed at Taku Restaurant in Cologne, Germany.

Turning to interiors, the Iconic Wall Panels have the ability to transform your walls. These laminate over carved wood panels come in standard sizes and can be applied to flat or textured walls, making them excellent alternatives to more traditional wall coverings. The diversity of options is another boon: from fleur-de-lis to scattered numbers, in matte or glossy finishes and a wide array of colors, the Iconic Wall Panels will please traditional, modern, avant-garde, and fanciful d©cor. To illuminate your walls, another product that juxtaposes expectation and application is Heavy Lights, pendant lights made of thin-walled concrete. The weight of concrete is transformed into lightness-in more ways than one, since the Heavy Lights are light and cast light. Heavy Lights play with reversal very consciously; they are part of designer Benjamin Hubert's Material Centric Line.

Hitchcock in Gloss White. Manufactured by B + N Industries.

Heavy Lights. Designed by Benjamin Hubert.

Now on to furniture. Even though some readers have objected to Graffititek's impracticality, I think it revolutionizes book storage, transforming the library from a stuffy repository of right angles and rigid lines to something much more playful. You probably can't rely on Graffititek for first editions or delicate volumes, but it will surely accommodate sturdier books. You may see a pattern forming here-I often favor design that removes us from our comfort zone of seeing past and thrusts us into a mode of rediscovery-of seeing into, if you will. So for seating, I have chosen the Rocking Cube, a fabulous piece that turns the cube into something rather fluid and takes leisure furniture to a whole new level. A baby rocked in this Cube will surely grow up to be an iconoclast.

Graffititek. Designed by Charles Kalpakian.

Rocking Cube. Designed by Jessica Nebel.

A few other products worth mentioning for this year: in the textile category, the curious creations of Anne Kyyro Quinn's Textiles; in the desk category, the sleek and well-thought-out Milk (ideal for Mac users); and in the bathroom/retreat category, the Urushi lacquer tub (which will surely reinvigorate that Victorian penchant for Orientalism).

MILK, desk. Designed Søren Kjær.

Urushi Lacquer Tub. Designed by Yikio Hashimoto. Manufactured by Furo.