Freitag's New Zurich Flasghip

by Jacob Resneck

The Freitag bag has become somewhat of a phenomenon. Similar to Zo or Timbuk2 bags developed by bike messengers in San Francisco, Freitag bags were inspired by the heavy tarpaulin-covered trucks that brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag would see cruising down the Autobahn. As the company has grown, so has their line, which now includes items we've covered on CH in the past, like wallets, named after the spoiled-rotten characters Brandon, Dylan and Brenda from TV's 90210 series, and laptop cases. More recently, they've debuted patriotic footballs in honor of the World Cup, which like all of their output, are made from recycled truck tarps. But the repurposing doesn't end with their products, the brothers' newest flagship store's 26-meter tall "skyscraper" in Zurich is also made from recycled materials—in this case, 17 stacked shipping containers. Welcome to the cult of Freitag.

Andy Howell: Art, Skateboarding and Life

by Ted Cahill

"Since I was a boy I have have dreamt of flying..." exclaims Andy Howell in the intro to his new multimedia masterwork Art, Skateboarding and Life. Through the help of his imagination which he names his "flying machine[...], an old winged paint box with Indy trucks and soft urethane wheels and homemade wings" he fully achieves his dream as he takes you on an exhilarating journey through the origins of DIY, movements in arts and action sports, and nascent youth cultures. This limited first edition hardcover, hand painted by the artist, has over 300 pages of gorgeous visuals, contributions from Tony Hawk, Shepard Fairey, Patricia Arquette, Ed Templeton, and David Choe, among others, and also comes with two DVDs that feature fascinating scenes of Howell's work in action on the deck and as an artist.

The limited Artist's edition with the hand painted art on the cover is available from Untitled Publishing. The regular edition is available from You Work For Them and Gingko sometime in August 2006.

Jeremiah Palecek

by Ami Kealoha

Jeremiah Palecek can't help dreaming of video games. He believes that the dreaming world and the gaming world are incredibly close. The Prague-based artist is not only an avid gamer, but also creates oil paintings inspired by scenes from video games, most directly lifted from his dreams. He recently set out to create a new work everyday and sells all of it on his blog.

Palecek began his training in classical painting at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Connecticut before transferring to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he started thinking conceptually about his work and began painting scenes from video games and television.

He recently illustrated a book titled Poems I Wrote While Watching TV, comprised of images scoured from television and accompanied by Travis Jeppesen's irreverent poetry. He is currently working on an installation piece based on avatars. The exhibit will include sculptures and paintings of objects from various video games, framed and displayed in a traditional, museum-like style. The installation will include a video game station, natch.

by Stephan Paschalides

Next: A Primer on Urban Painting

by Wendy Dembo

Finally! I have been waiting since January when Next: A Primer on Urban Painting premiered in Rotterdam to see it on the big screen. Pablo Aravena started making this documentary about five years ago. For the next four years he went around the world and interviewed some great graffiti artists. And in the time since they were filmed, many of them, like artists Os Gemeos, Delta, Kami, Sasu, Mode 2, and Dzine have broken out of the street art scene and moved into the gallery scene.

I have only seen the trailer, but I know that Aravena included interviews with art critics, collectors, DJs and other hustlers of culture to give this film more breadth and depth. Can't wait to see it.

The Next U.S. premiere will be at the Urbanworld Vibe Film Festival on 22 June 2006 at 10pm and 23 June 2006 at 12:15pm at the Loews on 34th and 8th, NYC.

Also on Cool Hunting: Graffiti Brazil, On the Graffiti Tip, Ginga

New from Social Suicide

by Josh Rubin

Favorite fashion activists Social Suicide (originally shown here) have been hard at work on a few new additions to their line. Most noteworthy are Shark (above left, click to zoom) and Tat2 (above right, click to zoom). A gray woolen flannel suit with subtle pink gills on either side, Shark is cunning, gorgeous and a bit more understated than some of their earlier concepts. Tat2, an item that definitely belongs on Needled, is a bespoke suit with an embroidered recreation of your own tattoos in the same size, color and placement as the real thing. If you want one made you'll have to head to their bell tower studio in London's Shoreditch for a photo session of your tats, selection of materials and recording of measurements.

RISD Studio: Designing the CH Store

by Josh Rubin

As a final assignment for his Spring 2006 Interior Architecture class, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Professor Jeffrey Katz asked his students to translate Cool Hunting into a physical store. We were very excited to hear about all this and agreed to participate with a little guidance and critique. This video highlights some of the student projects and our reaction to them. Thanks again to Jeffrey and his class—this has made us really eager to open a store one day.

Watch now: Podcast (or in our Flash player on the sidebar of the site)