Cool Hunting

Hidebumi Yamaguchi: IMAnoWa
With all the press and buyers swarming around Milan's Salone del Mobile, I was so happy to wander into a seemingly inauspicious exhibition called "Shapes of Japanese Style." The group show was tucked into the gallery's basement and, like many exhibits of its kind, felt a little thin. That was until my eyes landed on Hidebumi Yamaguchi's IMAnoWa collection. The concept, to encourage users...

Limited Edition Alessi Wire Baskets from MoMA
Alessi's classic wire basket has graced the counters and tables of the terminally chic since its debut in 1951. At MoMA's request Alessi has developed a slight variation of these baskets, coating the stainless steel in brightly colored epoxy-polyester paint for the two limited edition styles. The Alessi square red wire basket ($110) and round yellow wire basket ($85) are available exclusively from the...

Three New MoMA Store Additions
The Museum of Modern Art's popular design store added some clever new items recently, all of which aimed to help you further personalize your personal space. The Exhibit Your Art Pad (pictured at right) is a stack of sticky note pages that feature a stylized blue frame on the border. As such, anything you write in the center—whether a doodle or detailed painting—is immediately...

Ineke Hans Bowls
If you're anything like me, eating breakfast doesn't stop you checking your email, answering your phone, and changing the T.V. channel all at the same time. These multi-task enabling soup/cereal bowls by Dutch designer Ineke Hans are ideal. They come with a built-in handle and a spoon that hooks snugly on top, making it a bit easier to free up up one hand if...

Interview with Maarten Baas
The most talked about exhibition during the Salone del Mobile was that by Maarten Baas. Set within the chaotic mess of a working auto garage in the Zona Tortona, the show covered works to date, along with a preview of new collections for Contrasts Gallery and Established & Sons Limited. The choice of space initially felt to me like a commentary on the hyper-produced...

Farm
Staged in an immaculate, white gabled space in the Navigli neighborhood in Milan, Studio Job recently previewed their latest monumental work in conjunction with the Eindhoven-based designhuis. The installation, called Farm, draws inspiration from traditional farming economies of the Dutch lowlands, and is composed of twenty-four cast bronze objects and six pieces of Palissander wood furniture. Continuing the leitmotif developed in last year's Homework...