Cool Hunting
| 31 July 2006view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Urban Spectacles of Wood
by Evan Orensten
Scott Urban is a sculptor and designer of custom wood eyewear frames. Working with each customer, he designs a unique frame suited to their needs and desires. Customers choose from exotic woods sustainably grown and harvested in Brazil, including Coco Bola, Bloodwood, Padauk, Goncalo Alves, Snakewood and Purpleheart.
In addition to their eco chic credibility, wood frames offer antibacterial, form fitting and natural weather resistant properties, and are a great solution for people with metal allergies. Scott is also starting to explore designs from buffalo horn, shells and stone.
Check out Scott's site for more information: Urban Spectacles of Wood.
Waraku and Namitatsu
by Josh Rubin
Last week I stumbled upon Waraku and it instantly became my new favorite store in LA. Sneakers and T-shirts are imported directly from Japan with a focus on brands and styles not typically available in the US. I was able to grab a pair of Nike Sabaku slip-ons (below, left) and also learned about Namitatsu, the Japanese surf brand.
Namitatsu, which translates to "wave master," is a line of t-shirts and sneakers featuring modern interpretations of traditional Japanese imagery. The most exciting of which are Yakuza surfers with Irezumi style full body tattoos designed by artist Hideo Takeda. Canvas slip-ons, lace-ups and high tops (below, right) have these designs screened on to them. The Namitatsu site only seems to have t-shirts on it, but Waraku's online store has several styles for men and women.
Waraku
1225 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, Ca 90291
+1.310.452.5300
To Be Confirmed Spring/Summer 2007
by SummerSeventySix
Despite calling itself the UK's casualwear trade show, To Be Confirmed has 300 brands from across the world. Showing next year's collections to buyers and journalists in East London right now, I went for a look over the weekend and have narrowed things down to a handful of names (mostly) from the UK that caught my eye. I'll post every day this week on at least one of those brands, and first up, it's...
Worn By
As the name suggests, the t-shirts from Worn By have been seen before. People as varied as Muhammad Ali, Led Zeppelin and Debbie Harry have provided inspiration in the past, and from their fourth collection, "Fuck Art Lets Dance" was my favorite. It was originally pictured on the chest of keyboardist Desmond Brown from 2-Tone band The Selecter. Fairly obscure if you're not into the music, although the motto was coined by Madness which the band toured with in the late 1970s. Elsewhere, another example sported by Rolling Stone Keith Richards was plundered, while Worn By has also decided to branch out from tees and sweats to design a high-collared shirt just like one Jimi Hendrix would have had. Hopefully, it's fireproof.
Red Moto FONE
by Josh Rubin
Announced last week, the Motorola FONE promises to bring wireless telephony to the rest of the world. Beyond its emerging market focus the 9mm thick, seemingly simple device, will no doubt have a place in the hands of veteran wireless users as well. It's small and sexy, but made with cheap parts so it will be easy for anyone to get one. No one has seen screenshots of the interface yet, but I expect it to be rather simple. I did just find this picture of the FONE in red, a more stylish version of the simple black original. Expected availability is by this holiday season.
Carson Potter Fall Collection
by Carol T Chung
If you found yourself flipping through Elle this month while waiting in line at the grocery store or while doing some other mundane task, you may have come across the small feature on Carson Potter. Sariah Carson and Jaylin Potter (Parsons survivors by the way) are based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their work plays beatifully against the silhouette with exquisite attention to detail. While evocative of classic sentiments of femininity, it drops the puritan sense of modesty with its rich decadent textures. Carson Potter's fall collection will be available by mid September in a few select stores; Barneys Japan, Creature of Comforts (LA), Bark (NYC), Bird (NYC), and DV (LES) - the official site is a bit lacking, so I dug up this article about it on Refinery 29 from back in January. (~_^)
