Cool Hunting
| 12 February 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Norm: The Things
by Ami Kealoha
The project of Zurich-based design firm Norm (co-founded by Dimitri Bruni and Manuel Krebs), Norm: The Things is a book outlining the conceptual framework of their practice by breaking down shapes and fonts into their essential elements. Widely known for their typefaces (they recently designed one for the Swiss Watchmaker Omega), they also won the competition to design a new series of Swiss bills in 2005. The Thing's experimental graphics and text may be a little baffling to those (like me) who are unfamiliar with their theories, but the 2003 book is a great source for any font nerd or for those curious about the relationship between words and images.
More to the point is their Sign-generator, an online collaboration with fellow Swiss designer Jürg Lehni (known for his Mechanical Graffiti invention) that shows users all the available constructions that can be made from a set of lines defined by the user, which you can then print and export.
GoodShape Tees Preview
by Ami Kealoha
NYC-based GoodShape Design has a new crop of tees due out mid-March that they shared with CH in advance. Playing on band uniforms and clip art-style graphics, the elegant designs nicely balance retro elements with a very "now" feel. Each one (printed on American Apparel shirts) gets hand-washed and hung dry and will cost $30 when they come out next month. See more of the collection here. If you can't wait, check out the current selection available at GoodShape's online store.
Retainer Necklace
by Wendy Dembo
I never had a retainer when I was a teen and always wanted one. I was jealous of my friends, who used to spend the day flipping them in their mouths. It looked like so much fun. I used to pretend that I had a retainer by shoving fruit roll to the roof of my mouth. One friend recently told me that she used to unbend paper clips and put them around her teeth to look like she was wearing one. But with Pratt-alum Kiel Mead's 14k gold-plated retainer necklace, that's no longer necessary. Taking the idea of "jewelry for your teeth," Kiel cast his brother's retainer to create the life-size accessory that he says is meant to hang low. I wouldn’t suggest putting it your mouth and it probably won't straighten your teeth, but it's one of the more original if not creepy charms available.
Available at: Base, Miami Beach; Storyville Boutique, Austin; The Future Perfect, Brooklyn; The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York; Propeller, San Francisco; Show, Los Angeles and online.
le cool London
by SummerSeventySix
Everyday, Urban Junkies and Daily Candy drop in my inbox. Every week, Flavorpill arrives while I'll also have a flick through Time Out, or head over to Londonist. So why should I subscribe to le cool's new weekly London email? Two reasons: their guide to Barcelona is one the best travel guides ever committed to print, while their established weekly emails detailing what's going on in that city, as well as Madrid, Lisbon and Amsterdam, have a real knack of turning up the unexpected. I mean, they've even hired former Suede bassist Mat Osman (pictured) to edit in London.
Le cool London will start appearing in inboxes starting this Thursday, 15 February 2007.
Ruas de São Paulo
by Wendy Dembo
When most people think of Brazilian graffiti, they think of Os Gemeos, who've become well-known throughout the world for their prolific and whimsical style, but São Paulo has streets filled with great work. Jonathan Levine in association with São Paulo gallery Choque Cultural gallery presents "Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art." The group show features the abstracted bird shapes of Boleta (pictured above right), Fefe (who creates "typographical monsters" from letters cut out of street posters, pictured here), Highraff's mix of illustration, comics and organic forms, Kboco who paints totemic aboriginal forms, Onesto (pictured above left), Speto, Titi Freak, and Zezão who paints in sewers as well as on the streets. (Click images for larger size.)
A launch party takes place in New York this Thursday, 15 February 2007 to celebrate the arrival of the artists and the show opens Saturday, 17 February 2007. Ignacio Aronovich and Louise Chin, who worked on the recent book Graffiti Brasil and run Lost Art, a stunning street culture site from São Paulo, say, “We are happy to see more artists from Brazil getting recognized for their talents. It's really cool how most of the artists portrayed individually in Graffiti Brasil are really taking off.” Not only is this the first time some of these artists will show their work in the U.S., it the first time that some of them will leave Brazil. (Levine even held a fundraiser to bring the artists here and several U.S. artists donated clothes to keep the Brazilians warm during their stay in the wintery Northeast.)
Ruas de São Paulo Launch Party
15 February 2007
Hiro Ballroom
371 West 16th Street
New York, NY map
tel. +01 212 243 3822
Ruas de São Paulo
17 February-17 March 2007
Jonathan Levine Gallery
529 West 20th Street, 9E
New York, NY 10011 map
tel. +01 212 243 3822
