Tokyo Kamen

by Brian Fichtner

It’s hard to imagine Manhattan’s Upper East Side as a hotbed for contemporary design, but the museum shop at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is not only one of the best museum shops I’ve ever seen, it’s also one of the best destinations for great design in the city. Gregory Krum, the museum’s Director of Retail, has spent several years curating an impressive collection of accessories and books that rivals many of the more thrown about names in the business.

Among the several additions to the Cooper-Hewitt shop’s collection, the U.S. premiere of Tokyo Kamen is sure to be the crowd pleaser. Tokyo Kamen is a design project started in 2006 by Akihiko Ando and Eri Uchiyama. Taking the traditional masks (kamen) worn by “Noh” actors as its main influence, the project has blossomed into a series of textile-based products such as dolls, cushions, and bags. The Cooper-Hewitt shop will be debuting the entire collection of 54 unique, zany dolls, each hand-made by Uchiyama, next Friday, 17 May, to conveniently coincide with The International Contemporary Furniture Fair—always an important time for New York retailers to flaunt their latest acquisitions. The shop will only have one of each doll, available for $300 a pop, so interested parties are encouraged to arrive early.

The Shop at Cooper-Hewitt
Recent Acquisitions
Friday, May 16, 2008 from 6:30–8:30 p.m
2 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128 map
tel. +1 212 849 8355

Kent Rogowski: Love=Love at Jen Bekman and 20x200

by Letizia Rossi

"Love=Love," the amazing series of puzzle collages by Kent Rogowski we featured in January will be exhibited at the Jen Bekman gallery in New York City from 7 May to 14 June 2008. The show will display a selection of the original collages as well as six large scale photographic prints based on the altered puzzles. In association with the exhibit there will also be a limited edition print, "Untitled #9," available for sale from 20x200.

Rogowski's works are composites created from pieces of photographic puzzles which are cut from the same die but feature unrelated images. The result are surreal compositions which are beautiful yet disorienting. Gallerist Jen Bekman describes the work saying "the discordance that results from the recasting of these clean, bright, relentlessly happy representations of flora, blue skies and exotic lands quite literally fractures the over-saturated, hyper-real imagery that’s so characteristic of our modern mass culture; it takes the American obsession with order, newness and perfection, and recasts it as mayhem and unreality.”

We expect the limited edition prints at 20x200 to sell quick, so hustle over there now if you want any chance at it.

Love=Love
Opening reception 7 May 2008 6pm-8pm
7 May -14 June 2008
Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012 map
tel. +1 212 219 0166

Also on CH: Kent Rogowski

Interview with Scott Patt, Creative Director of Converse

by Doug Black

Scott Patt is the Creative Director at Converse. In addition to more than 11 years of design experience in commercial footwear and fashion, he also exhibits his artwork everywhere from San Francisco to Tokyo. He spearheaded 1HUND(RED), a collaboration with the (PRODUCT) RED initiative to fight AIDS in Africa in which Converse is releasing 100 exclusively designed shoes from artists around the world. Patt's contribution to the project is "100 Ripples of Hope" (pictured at right). We spoke to him about this project and his work with Converse.

You're the Global Creative Director of Converse. What responsibilities do you have?
As Creative Director I am responsible for the design vision and direction of all of the shoes Converse makes around the world and ensuring our product continues to represent the iconic and authentic nature of the brand. That being said, my job is a small part of an amazingly talented team that makes Converse what it is and truly brings it to life. I came here about three years ago to solely focus on the stewardship and design extension of the world’s most iconic footwear franchise: the Chuck Taylor All Star. I learned it’s not just a physical shoe, or even just an American/global icon, but almost a spiritual entity that throughout the last 100 years has been indelibly connected to sport, music, art and culture. It is a transcendent phenomenon in that it is the most democratic shoe in the world that everyone wears in their own way.

You spent eight years designing for Nike. What did you take out of that experience and why did it end?
The great thing about Nike Inc. is that it is truly a community and family. There was never a time in eight years in the different jobs that I was a part of that I did not encounter the same common goal of enriching the lives of people through sport. In its purest form, it’s beautiful and heroic.

I came to Converse not only for a new life challenge but also because it has the same authenticity. But Converse's authenticity really resonated for me in its birthright in basketball since the early 1900s and the brand's adoption into music and popular culture in the late '50s.

You're an accomplished studio artist as well. How does that work inform your commercial work? Or are they two separate disciplines?
They are very much related on many levels. Converse is THE art brand. Some of the greatest artists now and over the past 50 years have chosen Converse as their brand. Not to mention, the All Star itself is the greatest mobile blank canvas ever created, next to the classic white t-shirt. In regards to my studio work, it is inter-related with my commercial work in that they are both about solving or exploring problems and ultimately about connecting to others on some level. The biggest difference between the two is audience specificity, content and price. Those factors equate to accessibility.

Regardless of the boundaries between the commercial and studio work; great stories, ideas and concepts are what resonate the loudest either in a gallery or on the shelf. The blurring of the current creative class (or whatever you want to call it) makes for an exciting time in the evolution of both studio and commercial art. It's broadened the opportunities both ways for a lot of very smart people.

How did you get involved with the 1HUND(RED) project?
I had initially conceptualized 1HUND(RED) with Ben Edwards [who runs Converse (RED)] and a couple of others but it wasn't until an army of people got involved that the project became possible. Our main goal was to engage artists, illustrators, musicians, designers from around the world who love Converse and invite them to help make change in Africa through Converse (RED). We curated over 400 artists, ultimately narrowing it down to 100 commercially viable shoes. When we selected the shoes we did it blindly so we did not know which artists we were picking and did it solely on the power of the finished work. Much like a call for entries in a gallery show.

Are there any designs in the project you particularly enjoy?
Wow, that's tough. There are so many great pieces of art. To name a few out of the 100: Jeremyville, Camilla Engman and Megan Whitmarsh's designs are graphically beautiful. Dr. Romanelli and Tim Liles's designs are just plain smart! The most directly connected and impacting is definitely Michael White's tribute to his late brother Dondi White, a founding pioneer of graffiti writing from the late '70s and '80s.

But beauty is relative. Check them out for yourself.

Found My Animal Leashes

by Letizia Rossi

Found My Animal is a line of handmade "accessories for adopted animals and their people" with a mission to raise public awareness about the urgent need for animal adoption. Proceeds from the sale of each leash go to the Louis Animal Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing services and finding homes for animals.

Each leash is custom-made in New England from rope that has been "spliced" and "whipped" ( old nautical terms) for strength, but remaining smooth to the touch and comfortable in the hand. The durable rope serves as a luxurious alternative to leather. The custom-made ropes feature two adjustable brass O-rings and solid bronze clips, allowing them to be used in a variety of ways: as a simple hand-held leash with a variable length, around the waist and over the shoulder. They also easily clip to a post or fence without using a knot. Each comes with a unique numbered brass tag which serves as a reminder of how many animals have been helped.

Available at Earnest Sewn stores in Manhattan and online, Found My Animal leashes range from $50 for a 6mm rope to $56 for a 12mm rope. Custom orders are also available and FMA would love to provide leashes for alpacas and other exotic pets.

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Infinity Aquarium

by Tim Yu

Part of their Forever! series, BCXSY designed this polygonal aquarium so that fish endlessly swim around the geometrical shape. Similar to modern-day insane asylums, which are designed with connected lap-like hallways instead of dead end hallways, the fish can swim around in circles 'till their heart's content.

It's hand-crafted from hand-cut glass and you can find more info and a video at BCSXY

via Yanko

Also on Cool Hunting: Labyrinth Aquarium and BCSXY: Golden Glory