The Cool Hunter, Roaming the globe so you're in the know
Hot Pick
June 25 2010
The dark, gamine profile of this chair channels black-and-white photographs of prim Scandinavian living rooms of the early-to-mid 60s. Mother in a dress and pearls, Dad holding a pipe and wearing a cardigan knitted by Mother. Children in neckties and hair bows. Shiny and skinny-legged teak table surrounded by equally slim, dark-wood chairs.
This delicate chair is not named Bambi but DC09, which, in turn, reminds us of Alvar Aalto’s Artek and his product numbering. The chair’s thin seat and straight, slim legs disguise a deer-like strength and agility, allowing the wood to hug the body and the chair, elegantly, to take up minimum visual space.
DC09 comes from Milan-based Inoda+Sveje Design Studio, established in Copenhagen in 2000 by Osaka-born Kyoko Inoda and Danish Nils Sveje. Japanese Miyazaki Isu manufactures this chair in teak, ash or Indonesian rose wood. - Tuija Seipel
June 22 2010
This little blue boat may be beyond our budget but some powerboat collectors will take advantage of the opportunity to bid on RAL5105 on July 20, when it will be auctioned off at Hôtel Hermitage in Monte-Carlo by the Parisian Artcurial.
RAL5105 is estimated to fetch 180 000 - 220 000 Euros. The “monochrome nautical sculpture” is the latest masterpiece of Parisian multidisciplinary artist Xavier Veilhan (born in 1963) whose work we’ve featured before. John Dodelande invited Veilhan to think about creating a boat, and after accepting, Veilhan worked with the 80-year-old Frauscher shipyard of Gmuden, Austria, to make it a reality.
Potential buyers had a chance to view it in Paris at Hôtel Marcel Dassault in Paris till June 14th. From there, it moved on to Saint Tropez (June 15 to July 12) and then to Monte Carlo on July 20th.
As the 6.9 meter, eight-person blue beauty is equipped with a MerCruiser 220 HP motor, the owner will most likely want to actually drive this boat, not just look at it. - Tuija Seipell
June 20 2010
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There’s not much about American muscle cars that scream hot pink, but the 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 manages to elegantly blend the strength of the form of the iconic design with the unexpectedness of the bold fuchsia color. The limited edition ‘Plum Crazy’ model comes with a matching seat-stripe insert, and holding true to the Challenger heritage, the hood has a raised center, black stripes and functional dual scoops. Of course purists can choose from more standard colors, but we all know the more vibrant option certainly caught our eye.
The philosophy “race inspired, street legal” underpins all Dodge models with Street and Racing Technology (SRT), and the Challenger is no exception. Muscle car enthusiasts can expect high performance in a car ready to tear up the streets – so anyone behind the wheel can look bad-ass – even in fuchsia. - Andrew J Weiner.
June 3 2010
A year in the making, the new TCH marketing agency ACCESS AGENCY has been busy talking to global brands in every major city. We are setting up to unveil our latest creation for innovative brands -- the indoor drive-in cinema.
It is a super-charged, branded experience unveiled throughout the year in different cities with a unique mix of brands collaborating in each city.
In some cities, it will be branded Mini to unveil a new model (the Crossover). In others, it will be film studios launching the latest cinematic 3D release, or toy, electronics and beverage brands introducing their coolest, hottest innovations.
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Each event will be completely custom-branded with its unique mix of participating brands and each experience will be completely unique to the audience.
We’re unveiling it here now for TCH readers so that you can get a preview of what it will look like.
This branded experience, and many others we have created, are our response to what we see as a mind-numbing sameness across the brands that we encounter. We are approached daily by global brands who want exposure on TCH, yet they seldom offer anything that would make you stop.
Today’s branded world is global, demanding and ruthlessly honest about what is -- and especially what is not – new, extraordinary, different, unique, surprising, bold, cool. Ordinary, bland experiences don’t cut it. They turn into YouTube parodies, or worse, are ignored completely. We tell brands to not waste their money on “creating” what has already been created. We’ve seen most of it somewhere already. As have our readers.
TCH’s reason for being has always been based on our passion for innovation, and for sharing with the world the real, exciting ideas we find as we sift through the masses of ideas we encounter – from design, architecture, travel and any other area. Over the years, we have developed a clear sense of what works and what doesn’t. We have understood that ideas are only as good as the execution, which is why we have gathered a global team of creative talent to not only come up with new branded ideas but to execute them with professionalism and finesse. That’s what ACCESS is all about.
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We created it to meet the need that we encounter every day – the need to stand out in the sea of sameness. We know it is not easy. We know it is not common. And we know it is possible.
Brands wanting ACCESS experienc- get in touch
Here’s a glimpse at what we are working on.
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June 2 2010
The first OHWOW Book Club has opened its doors in a tiny 150 square-foot space in New York’s Greenwich Village. The retail space is located below street level in a historic brownstone on Waverly Place.
The black-and-white tiled floor and the turquoise walls create a decidedly aquatic mood although the designer, Rafael de Cárdenas, was thinking less of marine habitats and more of a classic pre-war NYC water closet when he themed the space.
Experience designer/architect Rafael de Cárdenas of Architecture At Large is a master of creating moods. In OHWOW Book Club, he has explored not only the sensations of disorientation and floating through neon lighting and random wall color patterns and placement of shelves, but also the feel of direction through the Navajo carpet-like tile pattern of the floor.
All of these themes are evident also in OHWOW’s Miami exhibition space at NW 7 Avenue, that de Cárdenas designed in 2008 and to which the Miami Art Basel crowd took right away.
OHWOW (Our House West of Wynwood) is a collaborative creative enterprise conceived by New York’s event impresario Aaron Bondaroff and Miami art and publishing powerhouse Al Moran. - Tuija Seipell
June 1 2010
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Genius idea - Dutch Football Federation - 2010 FIFA World Cup T-shirt.
Advertising School: Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Creatives: Bas van de Poel, Daan van Dam
May 31 2010
Elite, exclusive, private - Soho House Group’s properties continue to exude an air of privilege and luxury that entices members and non-members with its exclusive, members-only spaces, hotel suites, several restaurant brands and the Cowshed spa brand.
The newest property, Soho House Berlin is Soho House Group’s first outside-UK European property and its largest so far.
It is a private members club and 40-room hotel located on eight floors of a 1928 late-Bauhaus building on Torstrasse in Berlin’s famous Mitte district.
The hotel rooms offer the typical upscale fare: custom beds, rainforest showers, Samsung flatscreens and in-house Cowshed spa products. Some even have restored vintage record players and vinyl LPs to evoke a retro industrial feel also reinforced by exposed concrete and dark paneling.
Soho House Berlin’s hotel rooms are a delightfully mad yet subtle mix of this hard, angular visual language with a padded-velvet lush and prissy 1930s glamour. Soho House’s cool interiors are the work of in-house designer Susie Atkinson and London-based Michaelis Boyd Associates.
Following the concept of Soho Houses in London and West Hollywood, a Cecconi’s restaurant will open in Berlin’s Soho House this fall.
Soho House Group operates five Soho House clubs and hotels in the UK and one in each of New York, West Hollywood and now Berlin. The next property, Soho Beach House Miami will open this fall in Mid-Beach, Miami, in the historic Sovereign hotel. - Tuija Seipell
May 27 2010
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May 26 2010
Fitzroy High School has a long history in Melbourne, Australia. The government school closed in 1992 but it re-opened in 2004, after an 11-year campaign by parents and residents. In 2009, its senior students gained an exciting new building, designed by Melbourne-based McBride Charles Ryan who we have featured previously.
The school’s philosophy of innovation in education is reflected in the striking new building that connects with a cluster of older school buildings, some more than 100 years old. The new building’s exterior walls are deliciously wavy and painted in stripes of secondary colors, all of which helps the building both blend in and stand out.
Inside, the studio spaces had to remain extremely flexible and their configurations had to be easy to change by staff. The solution is deceptively simple: Bright-colored drapes and splashes of color that define a space. The school brought McBride Charles Ryan the 2010 Grand Prix at the Dulux Color Awards while the interior won in the Commercial Interior category. - Tuija Seipell
For a comprehensive visual presentation of schools/universities with thousands of visuals to excite you, contact TCH Platinum. Schools wanting to see ideas and concepts in how to design super cool educational environments effectively, contact our marketing agency, ACCESS AGENCY.
May 23 2010
Great, aesthetically pleasing design needn't be limited to traditional architectural forms such as houses and public buildings.
Utilitarian spaces, such as car parks, present architects and designers with a unique opportunity to bring beauty and harmony to the everyday functional spaces that are normally ignored by great design minds.
We're excited to report that the tide is changing, evidenced by these good-looking car parks.
Modern design is all about "experience" and these car parks pictured acknowledge that one's experience of a private or public place begins the minute they pull up in their car. Innovative developers and designers are recognising just how crucial this is - it's almost too late by the time the consumer arrives at the front door. The "experience" of good design starts well before that.
Our agency ACCESS is currently working with a few developers/city councils globally in creating the ultimate public car park and we're on the hunt for architects/designers who already have created in this space. In the know? Get in touch. Seen any other interesting car parks we should know about - send us tips - Bill Tikos
