Cool Hunting

Earlier this week Cool Hunting was invited to the First Exposure show in London. An intimate exhibition, there was a vast array of design talent hand-picked with great care by the cutting-edge communications agency Exposure. The small independent flavor of the brands was noticeable along with the multidisciplinary nature of the work. Music projects were next to men’s fashion wear, which were next to chic luggage, punky jewelery, cute minature pocket books and so on. The diversity was a reflection of the nature of the Exposure agency, which has offices in London, New York and San Francisco and specializes in brand collaborations and multimedia marketing.

The show was a nice mix introducing some stateside favorites to the London scene and some London favorites launching new projects in the U.K., as well as some Europeans thrown in for good measure. The First exposure team say that, “Each brand has been selected on the strength of its product, its promise to bring something new to the U.K. market, and its ability to create and innovate when it comes to marketing. Each label is in London to fly the flag of its hometown where it was born. From Nottingham to New York, Tokyo to Tehran, Helsinki to Houston.”

Lucky Londoners can be first in line to snap up some of these new designs at the temporary First Exposure Store, which has a selection of the 20 chosen brands on sale for the next two weeks through 20 July. For those of you further afield we will be posting some of our favorite finds here on CH, but first we have to shine the spotlight on First Exposure’s chosen music artist for their launch party. After the looking at the beautiful design work we were invited to dance to the smooth sounds of London soul/reggae singer Bobby Kray (pictured left). Keep an ear out for his debut album Tales From a Skinny White Boy, produced by reggae legend Dennis Bovell on V2 records, due for release in the U.K. at the end of August and in the meantime listen on his MySpace page.

First Exposure Store
3–4a Little Portland Street
London, W1W 8BU
tel. +44 (0) 207 907 7248