A top finisher in I.D. Magazine’s 2007 “New+Notable” issue in the seating category was Tom Dixon’s 2nd Cycle line for Alvar Aalto’s furniture company Artek. Dixon and Co. went out and repurchased worn and weathered originals of Aalto’s iconic 1935 stool and chairs from anywhere they could find them—factories, shipyards, flea markets, even sanitariums—and are reselling them as collectibles. Since they are made now just the way they were then, damaged legs and backrests are simple to replace. The seating retains its original Artek maker’s mark, but gains a microchip used by big box retailers like Wal Mart to track inventory, so that the second cycle of these seats will form a traceable network across the globe. More here. As Lewis Hyde says, “when gifts circulate within a group, their commerce leaves a series of interconnected relationships in its wake.”