On Paper

They’re made of cardboard, but there’s nothing boxy about Joel Stearns’ furniture designs. His pieces have a soft, sculptural look.

Stearns, founder of New City Furniture in Venice, says his work “has a purity of form, design and material.”

Stearns, who has a background in printmaking and is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, has always loved architecture and design. He cuts his pieces from several templates, then sands in the curves.

The textures on the furniture, such as the Lounge One ($1,600) and the Anderson ($350), one of Stearns’ most popular pieces, develop naturally with help from the sanding.

The furniture is strong enough to hold even the most generous of bodies.

“Weight isn’t a problem,” Stearns says.

For information, call Stearns at (310) 822-0818. Stearns will show his works at the studio by appointment only.

Bright Bytes

You can even do it in the dark.

Texas Instruments’ personal organizers now have Indiglo night-light so you can compile your addresses, grocery lists and other personal notes in low or no light.

The organizers have one-touch scan keys and reminder alarms. They also have been designed to connect with IBM-compatible PCs, so you can import or export, copy or modify entries and back up and restore the organizer information.

Organizers with the Indiglo feature start around $70. The package that includes the organizer, connectivity kit, software and 256K of memory is $150.

For the nearest dealer, call (800) 842-2737.

Ever Ready

Battery changes will almost be a thing of the past with the Lifesaver Gold smoke detector, which is equipped with a long-lasting lithium battery.

The lithium battery has a life of 10 years, so it alleviates the problem of smoke detectors failing because of inoperable batteries.

The Lifesaver Gold (about $25) also has a test button, a low-battery indicator and a tamper-proof locking pin to deter theft.

It will be available at Home Base stores in about two weeks. For the nearest store, call (800) 654-7665.