Alessi Stefano Giovannoni Cordless DECT Telephone

If you’re looking for an excuse not to finally kill your landline and go all cellular, we think we’ve found it. Stefano Giovannoni’s Alessi cordless phone may just be one of the most attractive we’ve seen in a while – an example of what you can do with a phone when you don’t have to design it to fold down and fit in a pocket.

The two halves of the phone – base station and handset – fit together like two sides of an oyster shell when not in use, with a narrow porthole running through the middle, making the top half easier to pick up. Pulling them apart reveals a small 65,000-color OLED display and full-size, backlit keypad in the handset, which has been artfully angled to fit around the face.

Onboard, the phone has been customized with ringtones from musician Gak Sato, as well as wallpapers from Italian design house Giovannoni Design. And as a matter of practicality, the phone uses the common DECT wireless standard, which receives less RF interference from routers and other wireless devices than older standards.

British retailer Panik-Design sells the phone for £115.00 – about $182 USD. More information can be found at that site, as well as Giovannoni Design.