Cool Hunting
| 21 February 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Rubik Florence Rey
by Ami Kealoha
From his sneakers to more recent skateboard decks, CH has been following the work of the French artist Space Invader for awhile now. His latest work takes his pixelated aesthetics to the next level by using Rubik's cubes to create large-scale, relatively detailed portraits (like "Rubik Florence Rey" of the imprisoned revolutionary/killer), images of 9/11 and other similarly subversive images. The process shot gives a clue as to how Invader makes these pieces—is solving a Rubik's cube easier than creating a specific pattern with it?
Also on Cool Hunting: Rubikcubism
via Weekly 7
Charlemagne Chocolates
by Ami Kealoha
Belgian chocolatier Charlemagne makes a line of chocolates notable for their flavors (such as Hemp, Ginger and Green Tea) and their long thin bar shape. Using a patented process, owner Denise Courant Bellefroid infuses essences from fruits, flowers, coffee, tea and spices into the cocoa in the renovated farmhouse (where the company's namesake was born) that houses the business.
We sampled two bars from Charlemagne's organic line, which (like many Belgian chocolates) sources cocoa beans from Africa. The Hemp milk chocolate, which had a unmistakable cannabis flavor complementing the high-quality creaminess of the chocolate—a heady mix. Also creamy but more traditional, the dark chocolate with "a blend of mountain coffees" has a mild coffee bite, more akin to an Americano than an Espresso. In both cases the thickness of the bar (about 1/4 inch) was perfectly suited for breaking off bite-size pieces.
A selection of Charlemagne chocolates (not including the Hemp flavor unfortunately) are available online from Chocolate Source and Chelsea Market Baskets (who do sell the Hemp bar in the store).
Barouche Hotel Appliances
by Tim Yu
Barouche has a range of appliances and electronics with a retro-futuristic look that will soon be greeting you at boutique hotels around the world. You may have seen these before, but as an example of design that successfully serves a specific purpose—in this case for appliances to go unnoticed within the space—they deserve a closer look. What's more, features of the intelligent interactive design makes tasks like calling room-service a cinch—an act that seems simple until bad design gets in your way. The only downside is that the appliances are so discrete and linear that we should remind you not to get the phone (left) mixed with the hair dryer (center), or even worse, the iron (right).
Barouche homewares are now available in white or dark brown for your home. Visit Barouche for more info and to see the complete range of appliances.
via Arena UK
Tinariwen: Aman Iman
by Leonora Oppenheim
If you like your music bluesy, soulful and electric, you’ll want to check out Tinariwen. Like the Toureg band’s last album Amassakoul, you won’t want to miss their third album, Aman Iman: Water is Life. Only released a couple of weeks ago, this album is already being hailed as one of the highlights of 2007.
Tinariwen are legendary in their own country of Mali not only for their rocking desert blues, but also for their role as Toureg rebel fighters for Ghadaffi in the 1980s. The extraordinary image that this history created of Kalashnikov-toting, Stratocaster-playing nomads caught the world music industry’s imagination with their last album. Now with Aman Iman they are set to raise their international profile even higher.
As music critic Barney Hoskyns from Uncut magazine puts it, "this extraordinary band are clearly pushing for more than cult world-music status. They fully merit it." Produced by Robert Plant’s guitarist and North African music connoisseur Justin Adams, the album talks of Tinariwen’s fighting days and their exile in Libya, but also of nomadic life in the Sahara, love and loss. Tinariwen have said they would like to dedicate Aman Iman to, "peace, tolerance and development in the Sahara and in the world of the oppressed." The album is now out on the Independiente/VITAL label in the U.K. and the EMMA/AZ/Universal label in France. It is due to be released in the U.S. on World Village in March.
Michael Costiff for World Archive
by Tim Yu
Designer and photographer Michael Costiff designed these t-shirts for World Archive. An eclectic collection of artifacts and symbols from around the world tweaked with a twist of wit and pressed onto cotton, the t-shirts are an irreverent take on idolatry. It looks as if he took a t-shirt of Karl Marx and pressed it onto another t-shirt, wrinkles and all (pictured).
This t-shirt and others can be found for £65 at the Dover Street Market in London.
