Cool Hunting
| 23 March 2006view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Ministry of Sound's Minibar
by SummerSeventySix
Fifteen years since the original club opened in London's Elephant and Castle, Ministry of Sound has evolved beyond all recognition into a truly global brand. These days, it doesn't just sell dance music of all shades, but also the audio equipment to listen to it on, and even clubbing holidays to places like Egypt.
Ministry's latest off-shoot is the Minibar, which aims to be the "ultimate bar concept" that will "revolutionize the high street." Whether or not the pun in the name immediately marks the place down is up to you, but the rest of the spiel is quite intriguing. Minibar will be split into four zones, and will include hot-tub seating (pictured right), a diary room and video rooms for some "web cam excitement." Aside from the ideas obviously inspired by watching too much Big Brother, there'll also be the requisite cocktail and shot bars, and a dancefloor coupled with a decent sound system.
Surprisingly, the first Minibar opens in the relatively small North-of-England town of Harrogate (it's about the same size as Kansas City) next Friday, 31 March 2006. With such high hopes for it though, you won't be surprised to hear that Ministry intends to eventually roll out the brand in every major U.K. city.
Minibar
Unit 1
The Royal Pavilion
Parliament Square
Harrogate
North Yorkshire HG1 2RR
United Kingdom
ABC Stools
by Evan Orensten
Dutch designer and technorati pioneer Esther Ermers has developed the first three dimensional alphabet. By rendering our two dimensional Latin alphabet into three dimensional shapes, she has brought the written word into the third dimension.
Once we go paperless and immerse ourselves in a realtime digitally enhanced environment, we'll have a need for three dimensional letters. And until then? Well, we'll just have to sit on this innovation. Literally. Esther has contracted a master carpenter to meld her invention into a set of stools to rest our weary posteriors on, Esther is offering a set of stools based on one of her 26 alphabet shapes that are custom built by a woodturner.
Stroke's Striped Socks
by Wendy Dembo
I heart stripes.
A surprisingly large part of my wardrobe is striped. I especially love striped socks. Saturday night I was at a party and I was talking to this art boy, who had the best green and blue striped socks on. Admittedly, I am pretty bold, so I told him that I liked his socks. Imagine my pleasure and surprise when he told me that he had designed them himself. If I recall correctly (it was rather late...) he was frustrated at the lack of good socks in the world, so he started to make his own. His DJ name is J. Stroke, and the socks are called Stroke's Striped Socks.
Sunday, I went on the internet and ordered three pairs. It was pretty hard to chose as all the socks are brightly colored and fun. I got a pair called "Tickle Me," in pinks, "Super Sunset," with oranges and reds, and "Manufacturer's Mishap" in more pinks. They came in the mail yesterday and I am already wearing the "mishaps." I think they could be my faves.
SXSW 3: Music
by m ss ng p eces
In episode 25 Cool Hunting Video presents an eclectic mash up of the sights and sounds of SXSW 2006. Featured artists include Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Jose Gonzalez, Xiu Xiu, Belle and Sebastian, Animal Collective, Smoosh, Elliot Lipp, Real Ones, Talk Demonic, The Juan Maclean, Refugee All-Stars and Afrirampo.
Cool Hunting Video - SXSW 3: Music
by Josh Rubin
Jin Patisserie
by Evan Orensten
Tucked behind a modern cement facade, Jin Patisserie is a garden oasis in a sea of eclectic store fronts. Kristy Choo, a Singaporian woman who was inspired by her regular trips to Japan as a flight attendant, moved to San Francisco and studied pastry at the California Culinary Academy. Now she reigns over her intimate tearoom among the trend setting shops on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, CA, where "cakes and chocolates have become her primary means of expression."
A light lunch and afternoon tea are part of the small menu, but the desserts are the main attraction. Designed as small jewel-like cakes with some intricate lattice work atop and names like passion, splendor and desire (which consists of chocolate from madagascar and vanilla crème brulée) you won't be able to resist trying more than one. My favorite is the Louvre, a milk chocolate pyramid cake of cream and ginger custard with ginger sprinkled on top. It’s a sublime spicy-sweet taste sensation when paired with the Sam Bodhi F.O.P. black tea.
The chocolate truffles include exotic flavors like mango kalamansi, thé des concubine, café rum and earl grey feuilletine and come in paper or silk boxes. Chocolate bars, cookies (try the Ye-Yak, a shortbread made from a family recipe, and the chunky cornflake) and French macaroons are also outstanding. Can't make it to Venice? Many items are available to order online.
1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
+1.310.399.8801
Contributed by Michael Kucmeroski
Anthony Lister
by Lost At E Minor
26-year-old Brisbane artist Anthony Lister takes the edgiest elements of contemporary pop culture and marries them with unstructured representations of his urban environment to create artworks which are surreal in their imagery but strangely familiar in terms of their thematic base. After graduating from the Queensland College of The Art in 2001, Lister did a mentorship under Max Grimblett in New York and has since been a part of nine solo shows in Australia, Europe and America.
Stua Stories
by Ami Kealoha
Stua drafted the video artist Javier Guerrero to create a series of short film installations that evoke the mood and tone of Stua's designs. The six stories, designed to run on four screens simultaneously, are open narratives that range from a diver's decision ("The Choice," pictured) to the suspenseful roadside burial of a corpse, aptly titled "Hitchcock revisited." Premiering at last year's Milan furniture fair, the collection is one of many collaborations with artists that Stua's undertaken in recent years, an approach that's in keeping with their commitment to high level aesthetics.
