FAN-tastic

Fans’ function remain the same, but now they can circulate the air while matching your home’s décor, looking like animals or sporting your favorite college logo. In fact, Deco Breeze, a leading manufacturer of decorative floor and tabletop fans, is introducing a first-of-its-kind collection of figurine fans in at least eight designs, including cat, dog, rooster, owl, frog, flowers, turtle and snail.

A fan that looks like a snail?

“Our new collection makes its debut at the January 2009 Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market,” said Jeff Amon, vice president of sales at the San Diego, Calif.-based company. “They are beautifully sculpted and stand 23-inches tall. Each one is priced around $85, has a 20-watt copper-spun motor and is perfect for any desk, vanity, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom or other personal space.”

Amon has likened his product’s development to lighting.

“At one time,” he said, “lighting was purely functional. It was meant to light up a room. That’s all. But now decorative lighting is a multibillion dollar industry and no lamp is just a lamp anymore. It has decorative qualities and that’s what we’re now applying to fans.”

Amon said many studies have concluded that circulating air has healthy benefits. There are many who cannot sleep without a fan and discover the Deco Breeze a nicer addition to the bedroom décor instead of the basic plastic or black metal model.

Deco Breeze, which can be found in upscale gift and home boutique stores, also has moved onto campus with six university logo fans: Auburn, Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. They retail for about $70 and, no, Amon doesn’t know when University of Nevada, Las Vegas will be added to the list.

The Hunter Fan Co. has taken the fan into the future and created the Solo2 Personal Space Air Cleaner that plugs into almost any computer’s USB port. Basically, you monitor it from your desktop console.

“This fan is an air purifier specifically designed to clean the air around your immediate area,” said Gary Feder, Hunter’s vice president of home comfort. “There’s a need for air purification in the workplace as well as inside the home office. Our challenge was to create a highly compact product that could have an impact on a concentrated area while also giving it some technological twists and turns.”

On the other hand, if your garage is your office, Hunter has a fan for you. According to Jim Barrett, senior vice president of circulating and ventilating fans, there are more than 65 million garages in the U.S. and homeowners are turning them into a variety of all-purpose utility rooms. But one thing has consistently been a challenge: keeping the garage comfortably cool.

“The JetStream High Velocity Garage Fan plugs into the garage door opener’s power outlet and can detach itself from the ceiling mount for operation as a floor fan,” said Barrett. “Its graphite frame and turbine-style grille give it a rugged look and the 18-inch fan delivers a powerful gust of wind thanks to a 120-volt, three-speed motor. And if all that isn’t enough, JetStream also features a 50-watt integrated directional light to illuminate a normally poorly lit environment.”

I’ll take it as long as it doesn’t look like a snail.