Cool Hunting

Erwin Hauer
In the 1950s Erwin Hauer designed and built architectural screens that perfectly complimented the furniture, interiors and structures of that era. He created simple patterns out of complex sculpture that simultaneously sooth and challenge the eye. Continuity and potential infinity have been at the very center of my sculpture from early on. I derived the notion of a continuous surface primarily from my studies...

Nature Wallpaper
Swedish designer Camilla Diedrich aims to add uniquely natural elements into her mass-produced products. Her goal for Nature Wallpaper was to inject an intrinsic luminance using a single color. Or as she succinctly explains, "I have been searching for light without light." Her efforts resulted in repeating patterns of vaguely organic forms, which are cast in vibrant hues and resemble some sort of luminous...

Priests and Twins
Priests and Twins are a series of haunting figurines created by the multi-disciplinary designer Kristin Victoria Barron, principal of the design studio Kreist. While visiting The Future Perfect some weeks ago, I found a small gathering of the Priests huddled on a Jaime Hayon sofa and was compelled to learn their backstory. After seeing a Jungian analyst many years ago, Kristin started making dolls...

Skate Study House
Paris-born skateboarder-turned-entrepreneur Pierre-André Senizergues, whose company developed skate shoes like Etnies, teamed up with interior designer Gil Le Bon de LaPointe, a fellow skater, to create the Skate Study House, an exhibit that pays homage to both the skateboard and modern design. A play on Los Angeles' famed Case Study Houses project that tasked architects and designers with building and furnishing model homes, SSH...

Philippe Starck's Walter Wayle Wall Clock
Philippe Starck, designer of half-a-million dollar Richard Mille watches as well as the mass produced models for Fossil, created this wall clock for Alessi in 1989 and it's part of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) Design Collection. Two propeller/flipper style hands tell hours and minutes....

David Adjaye: Monoforms
Monumental. There really is no other word for them. The first furniture series from British architect David Adjaye awed the crowds when London's Albion Gallery debuted it at Design Miami last week. Like his acclaimed buildings these forms, hewn from Green Hassam Egyptian granite and solid American walnut, are serious and imposing while also beautiful and tactile. They serve to further erode any remaining...