If you were led to a department store’s make-up and perfume floor blindfolded, would you know where you are when the blindfold came off? What store, what city, what country? Probably not, as one looks just like the other. Unimaginative, predictable, boring. Not so at Berlin’s 100-plus year-old Kaufhaus des Westens, one singular store known by Berliners as KaDeWe. Specializing in luxury, style and indulgence, KaDeWe has never shied away from swanky design or striking displays. This time, they’ve allowed Hamburg-based Bilen & Born GbR to create two radically different areas on the ground-floor perfume department. One is a white space-agey multi-label area inspired by the act of breathing in fragrances, where spirals and rounded shapes draw the visitor in. The other is a baroque-inspired space with a contemporary twist. With its glass mosaic floor, studded pillars and ceiling with more than 8,000 Swarovski crystals, these surroundings are memorable even if the brands are the same as everywhere else. By Tuija Seipell
Yeo Choong,
from Brisbane, Australia is smart. I say this not because he is the
mastermind behind Yeo and The Fresh Goods, or because he makes music
with mathematical precision.
I say it because he is a 21 year
old Masters student in Audiology and because his debut album 'Trouble
Being Yourself' sounds like a nerdier version of N.E.R.D. Indeed, the
production on his standout track 'Two Sides Of A Door' would make
Pharrell proud.
But Yeo isn't just in the mood for making funk
rock and singing in a slight falsetto. He jumps and jerks between
genres, sometimes in the same song.
The reggae-pop intro of
'Fishin' With Aidan' melds into a salsa infused party jam, all the
while mixing the ska-delivery of Sublime and the 'Thank You' message
from Dido's long-forgotten hit of the same name.
From his sneaky
horns to his hand-claps and Super Mario samples, Yeo recorded, mixed
and produced the entire album. It's catchy, cheeky good fun.
For all you sneaker addicts - here's two new crazy styles that have just been released. Arriving in Dover
Street Market (London) on 15th May – the Pierre Hardy special limited
edition ‘Cruzeiro’ in metallic calfskin (above) and below, the must-have terry toweling inspired sneaker by Japanese brand realMadHectic -
the Pile.
The work of Belgium’s Rotor Group is popping up in more and more visible places. Rotor covers a wide range of projects, from basic design, branding and packaging, to events, lighting planning, interiors, showrooms, products, trade shows and art. We especially like the work they have done with Belgian lighting firm Modular Lighting Instruments creating events, showrooms and surroundings that defy definition. A great example is Rotor Designer Toon Stockman’s retro-futuristic showroom for Modular that pays homage to Modular’s Beam Squad and consists of six enormous cages supported by a skeleton of fluorescent tubing. The wild narrative for this installation — a typical Rotor tale — tells of life-destroying peril but luckily, all will be well and in about 2069, lighting will be manufactured in peace again. By Tuija Seipell
The MINI Chateau, based on the MINI Clubman S, made its world debut at the recent Top Marques show in Monaco. It will be limited to just 12 units and radiates exclusivity and luxury with its wood trims and a miniature, shock-absorbent wine cellar (room for 6 bottles and chalices) in the trunk.
The MINI Chateau is painted in changeable pearly brown, matched with sandy/gold metallic paint for the roof, bumpers and some details. But what really stands out, is the use of precious wood, both on the inside and outside of the car. Inside Aznom fitted the upholstery with gaucho leather and Alcantara to create a warm, vintage atmosphere.
The car rides on 18-inch TSW 'Pace' alloy wheels wrapped in 205/40 Yokohama S-Drive rubber. The Mini Chateau’s 12 limited-edition exclusive samples will each display a numbered label with the name of the lucky owner. By Tuija Seipell.
It is tough to make an impression in New York, but Google is not afraid
to try. To celebrate the official launch (finally!) of its new artist themes for iGoogle,
it held a candle-lit media bash at One Little West 12 (a club located
at 1 Little W 12th St. in the Meatpacking District) and then let San
Francisco’s Obscura Digital loose outside with a three-night
illumination gallery.
At the hub of the district, the
intersection of Little West 12th, Ninth Avenue and Gansevoort, Obscura
projected moving images of the iGoogle artwork onto the facades of
buildings for three nights from 10 pm to 2 am. The facades of St. Hotel
Gansevoort, Pastis, Theory and Inn LW12 were the canvases for work by
Jeff Koons, Michael Graves, Yves Behar and others. At a white tent
sporting a Google logo at Gansevoort Square, passers-by could play with
the images a battery of computer stations.
At the media bash, a
panel of the iGoogle contributors consisting of architect Michael
Graves, photographer Anne Geddes, artist Jeff Koons, Marc Ecko, and New
Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff discussed their views of how the
Internet is changing their industry. Other luminaries whose designs are
available at iGoogle include Dolce & Cabbana, Diane von
Furstenberg, Philippe Starck,Oscar de la Renta, Tory Burch and Ivana
Helsinki. By Tuija Seipell
Camping out a music festival need no longer be a boggy, muddy affair thanks to this smart-as-a-whip innovation dubbed Myhab.
Essentially it's a temporary, waterproof, completely recyclable tent
made from durable recycled plastic and and waterproof cardboard. The
tent is fixed on a raised platform to stop it from slipping into a
muddy bog in the case of rain.
Myhab was created by a student
and there are plans to for "myhab" villages at all of the UK's major
music festivals. by Lisa Evanns (via Springwise)
With its rich, red interior, Le Rouge restaurant
in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan (Old Town) is a delicious fusion of a
maharaja’s tent, red-light-district boudoir and aristocratic grandeur.
It is not called Moulin Rouge, but it could be. The entire concept is
dramatic with lush drapery, ornamental tableware and lighting fixtures
oozing with bling and tassels.
Le Rouge is the latest addition
to the F12 restaurant empire owned by two chefs, Melker Andersson and
Danyel Couet. The chefs interpret classic French and Italian cuisine in
Le Rouge using fresh Swedish ingredients. The 125–seat Le Rouge
occupies two adjacent buildings, spreads over three-stories and 1,200
square-metres, and includes a dining room, bar, lounge and private
rooms. The concept comes from the talented masters of Gothenburg’s Stylt
Trampoli AB who were using storytelling as a tool to create and
stage-direct restaurants, hotels and resorts long before storytelling
became a design cliché. By Tuija Seipell
Berlin’s Magma Architecture won several awards for its entry in the JETZT | NOW series of temporary installations at the Berlinische Galerie, Museum for Contemporary Art, Photography and Architecture. Magma’s installation, 11th in the series, was called fittingly “head-in | im kopf” and its concept is based on exploring the properties of materials, form, color and light.
The main feature of the installation is an alarmingly orange flexible fabric (polyamide-elastan mix) stretched between the walls, ceiling and floor. The fabric is the most visible part of the exhibit, yet it is also the tool with which the viewers can focus on smaller details.
Visitors bend down under the fabric into which openings were cut. Through these holes, visitors pop their heads up into the orange space to view drawings, models and photographs suspended from wires. These items are from Magma’s work and include representations of the revitalization of the former GDR Radio Centre (Berlin, Nalepastrasse, 2007), a bridge over the Landwehrkanal river in Berlin (competition entry in 2006), the new Nexus Productions headquarters in London, and the exhibition Trial & Error in London (2003). Luckily, we have images to show how it all worked as the full effect of the experience is quite impossible to describe in mere words.
The project team for head-in | im kopf included Anke Noske, Hendrik Bohle, Dominik Jörg, Lena Kleinheine, Ksenia Kagler, Yohko Mizushima, Lena Kleinheinz, Martin Ostermann and Ben Reynolds.
Magma was established in 2003 by Martin Ostermann and Lena Kleinheinz. The Ohio native Ostermann is a former senior architect at Studio Daniel Libeskind. The Denmark-born Kleinheinz is an exhibition designer. Magma is known for its inventive, experimental and experiential approaches to architectural work. By Tuija Seipell
We do our best to seek out exceptional design from all corners of the globe, and on Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands off the north west coast of Africa, we found an extraordinary architectural example in timber, glass and concrete. The House in Tenerife was built into the cliffs nearly 1000 ft. above a black sand beach.
The entrance to the house leads to the upper tier of the double-height living room. And descending the concrete staircase, the minimalist interior becomes second nature against the surrounding backdrop – where the blues of the sky and the sea appear vertically in formation. Before long, the sensory experiences from the natural world envelope the built form, and the house’s relevance in its surroundings are revealed.
The layout places living areas of the home on the shorter end of the L-shaped form, while both bedrooms and bathrooms sit along the longer side. Both living and sleeping spaces open out to a wooden deck and pool that spills into nature.
The heaviness of the concrete double-story living room allows glass panels to sit effortlessly on the deck. The room’s only furniture, le Corbuiser’s chaise and Mies’ Barcelona chair face out, away from a small fireplace that meets a wall of two-storey shelving.
The sleeping spaces both open to the deck and pool as well. Each has its own bathroom – and from the master, the owners can sleep and bathe in the same space looking out at the same view, as the sink and the concrete tub sit at the foot of the bed.
The house even contains a basement where a home gym looks through a glass wall into the side of the pool. We couldn’t really think of anything else we would want from a home on a Spanish island – except great wine storage, we’d be doing plenty of entertaining. By Andrew J Wiener.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology merges the concepts of lighting and art with this spectacular 3D LED piece, dubbed NOVA. Created for the institute's 150th anniversary, the display is made up of 25000 lightballs.
Incredibly
it can display 16 million colors per second. The behemoth, which
weighs 3.3 tonnes, is currently displayed at the Zurich train stations
main hall, where it will live until September 2009. By Lisa Evans
After three and a half years
spreading the latest word on cool, the online portal thecoolhunter.net
is excited to announce a new industry arm of the award-winning site.
Brands,
marketeers and agencies across the globe now have an opportunity to tap
into the vision of the site’s founder Bill Tikos and his hand-picked
international team of dynamic thinkers who have turned Cool Hunting
into an art.
WHO ARE WE?
We don’t talk marketing-speak. In fact, we loathe it and its superfluous jargon.
None
of our team has a background in this area. Hailing instead from the
worlds of fashion, book publishing, newspaper journalism, glossy
magazines, photography, graphic design, product design and other
creative disciplines, The Cool Hunter Platinum team offers a unique
view into the world of Cool Culture.
We specialize in developing ideas to help your brand move into the new, niche Cool Age.
ENTER THE COOL-AGE
The
official launch of The Cool Hunter Platinum comes after a period of
organic growth, which has seen international brands around the world –
from New York to Buenos Aries, Moscow to Sydney – seek out The Cool
Hunter in myriad ways, including:
* Seminars and trend briefings * Speeches at international launches/events * Photo-research on advertising pitches * Consulting with advertising agencies; generating ideas and concepts * Consultation on hotel interior design/decoration and concepts * The Cool Hunter branded music/cultural events * Consultation and development of TV concepts
And
there’s much more to come. But before we reveal additional ways we can
collaborate with you, a word on why your brand needs The Cool Hunter
Platinum.
The hunt for Cool Culture’s newest buzzword.
Cool
is fast becoming the new frontier in a niche-mad world, which has major
implications for all culture and consumer industries, from marketing,
advertising and media, right through to retail and hospitality. The
Cool Age has begun.
Cool has become a concept, denoting a kind
of elusive X-factor that makes something exceptional. Individual.
Covetable. Inspiring. Independent. Thoughtful. Limited. Pioneering.
Exclusive. Innovative. Original.
Cool has become shorthand for anything “interesting,” used by everyone – from Boomers through to Generation Y.
Whatever
its manifestation, cool gives a brand, person, product, place or
service a supernatural power to rise above the noise. To stand out in
an ocean of “stuff” and make people remark to themselves:
“I want that.”
“I love that.”
“I’m going to tell my friends about that.”
Led
by the founders of thecoolhunter.net, The Cool Hunter Platinum offers
clients, agencies and marketeers an opportunity to de-code the concept
of cool, to help successfully usher their product or brand into the
Cool Age.
THE COOL HUNTER COLLABORATIVE SERVICES
Custom subject-specific trend reports and presentations From
the world’s hottest trends in packaging and retail interior design,
through to cutting-edge trends in fashion, pop culture and gadgetry –
the cool hunter Platinum creates reports which zone in on your
industry.
Event concepts/product launch concepts The
Cool Hunter has covered some of the world’s most original concepts in
events and launches. Let us help you ensure that yours won’t be
forgotten.
Online concepts, online strategy and web design As
one of the most successful culture sites in the world,
thecoolhunter.net knows a thing or two about creating websites that hit
the pulse and pageviews. If you want to increase your brand’s presence
on the web and reach a whole new online audience, The Cool Hunter
Platinum offers innovative ideas to make it happen.
Advertising/creative agency consultation Are
you an agency pitching for a large fashion/lifestyle client? Working
with The Cool Hunter can give the essential edge needed to rise
above the rest. Our unique view into the Cool World can
enrich your own creative team through participating in brainstorming
sessions, providing background or “inspiration-presentations” which
reveal a snapshot of what innovators around the world are doing. Brand revival and strategic associations Does
your brand need an overhaul? Access the cool hunter’s little black book
and let us assemble a team of the world’s best creatives who will help
transform your image. Do your stores need a redesign? Do you want to
enter into strategic collaborations with designers? Let us work our
contacts and help facilitate your transformation.
Product development and innovation Through
ideas and inspiration, the cool hunter team can help give your new
product or service the elusive C-factor – whether it’s a lifestyle
product or techno-gadget.
Project consultancy Are you
a property developer/hotelier and looking for inspiration on design and
decoration? The Cool Hunter team can help refine your vision and hook
you up with some of the world’s hottest design and architecture firms.
Media concepts Production
companies around the world have already come to The Cool Hunter to help
them create new TV/Film ideas. If you’re putting together a series with
a lifestyle/design/travel bent, we can help you refine the concept and
ensure you’re featuring the “right” people and places.
To find out more contact
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