Panda Bear New Era Cap Giveaway

by Seth Brau

When The Fader recently went about putting together a series of ultra-limited New Eras designed by artists who had been in the magazine, the first artist that came to mind was one Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear. I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fans of fitted hats myself, but I do love listening to the musical creations of Panda Bear. Being that Panda has been known to rep his Maryland roots via headwear for a while now, it makes perfect sense that he has incorporated not only the MD flag into his custom lid but also the throwback style of the early '90s Orioles.

Well, we've got our hands on one of these limited caps (only 80 exist) and we're giving it away to one lucky reader. Just send an email to pandabearfaderhatcontest [at] gmail [dot] com with "Cool Hunting" as the subject, include your hat size and we will randomly pick a winner by 13 February 2008, 11:59pm EST.

Dense Records

by Lost At E Minor

One of the best record stores I've visited in recent times is the centrally located music store, Dense, in Berlin. Their selection is impeccable, their staff friendly and they know their music. I've visited my share of music stores around the world—including Ameoba in L.A., Tower in Tokyo, Kim's in New York, and the recently dissolved Smallfish in London—and I have to say Dense is definitely up there. Their electronic section is very well sourced, they have great vinyl and they don't stock any commercial music. If you ever find yourself in Berlin, make sure you head to this store for music you've probably never heard of.

FutureFashion 2008

by Letizia Rossi

If Earth Pledge's latest FutureFashion event, a gala production that helped kick off NY's fall shows last week, is any indication, the fashion world seems to finally be keeping pace with the eco-minded cause. Sponsored by Lexus, this year 28 of the biggest names in fashion worked with Earth Pledge to create garments from renewable, reusable, non-polluting fabrics. Materials include organic cotton, wool and bamboo, as well as some exotic fabrics like Abaca, a fiber that comes from a banana species native to the Philippines, Lyocell a man-made fiber made from wood pulp cellulose, piña made from pineapple and Peace silk, a kind of silk that allows silkworms to live out their full life-cycle.

Among our favorite pieces of the evening, Moschino's organic silk dress printed with natural vegetable dye (above left) was accessorized with a heart-shaped necklace of resin and cotton cord with stones and wood and modeled by Liya Kedebe. Jessica Stam wore the Rodarte cocktail dress made from a blend of abaca/cotton/silk with piña cobweb (above right). A double layer chemise of organic wool/Peace silk with hemp and a silk underlayer by Behnaz Sarafpour was modeled by Irina Lazareanu (at left).

Presented on a winding beautiful runway made from Kumbuc wood (which will be made into furniture), every effort was made to reduce the carbon footprint of the event. We hope FutureFashion's stunning mix of high fashion and eco-chic is a signal that the future has finally arrived.

Images via Style.com

Fire Table

by Doug Black

The brainchild of Dutch designers Ward Huting and Gerard de Hoop, the Fire Table aims to bring the physical and social warmth of a campfire into the living room. Its squat, round design looks vaguely like a UFO and would seem right at home in a mid-century American den.

Although serving the same function as your average coffee table, it features a built-in candle at its center. While casting a cozy glow around the room, it also has the utilitarian purpose of heating your pots of fondue and tea or even the occasional marshmallow.

Huting and De Hoop have a handful of other furniture designs and architecture projects, all of which can be found on their website. See a more technical rendering after the jump.

Also on Cool Hunting: Six Out-of-the-Hearth Fireplaces

Bongoût Gallery: Ghana Movie Posters

by Letizia Rossi

For their premiere show, the new Bongoût Gallery in Berlin presents a show of '80s movie posters from Ghana opening tonight, Wednesday, 6 February 2008. Painted in oil on potato sacks, the paintings feature fantastic renderings of popular films which were shown in public screenings in homes, schools, social clubs and outdoors. Often the work of artists that may have not actually seen the films, the posters represent a skewed but optimistic interpretation of the content. Over time and after repeat showings of the films, the originals take on even more of a distinct character from hanging in the sun, being nailed at odd angles and hung on precarious frames.

A compilation of the posters is also being released in conjunction with the exhibition. It features text in English and French and is available for €10 from Bongoût.

Ghana Movie Posters
Opening Reception: 6 February 2008, 7pm
6 February-1 March 2008
Bongoût Gallery
Torstrasse 110
10119 Berlin
Germany map

Gus Powell

by Jonah Samson

The midday meanderings of New Yorkers on their lunch breaks, famously captured by Frank O'Hara in his 1964 collection "Lunch Poems," are the inspiration for "Manhattan Noon," the first large-scale New York presentation of works from Gus Powell.

When writing his book, Frank O'Hara would step out of his mid-town office at lunch time and walk his way to the Olivetti typewriter showroom where he would quickly write a poem about "the noisy splintered glare of a Manhattan noon." Powell took to leaving his own midtown office where he was working a full-time job to make photographs of the seemingly insignificant moments that he encountered on the street.

"Some days I had a few hours and other days I had fifteen minutes...but each day I wanted to make something. This meant that my sensitivity was turned up...whatever that tick it is that one feels which inspires them to raise up the camera...it had to be sensitive to far less of an 'event' than it would have been if I had all day to go out and make pictures. This directly led me to try and make pictures that were really of nothing at all. Where a “narrative event” might usually be something to want to point the camera at...a “light event” or “color event” might be all that the sidewalk would offer that day...and it would have to be enough."

"Manhattan Noon" is on view at the Museum of the City of New York through 16 March 2008. Even better, on Saturday, 9 February, you can spend your lunch hour with Gus Powell at the museum where he will lead a gallery tour of his work.

A book of his work entitled "The Company of Strangers" has been published by J&L Books. Limited to an edition of 2,000 copies, it's available through their website for $25.