Skimmer: Social Aggregation by Fallon and Sierra Bravo

by Josh Rubin

With so many ways to stay socially connected these days it's difficult to keep track of it all. The new Adobe AIR application Skimmer sorts this problem out with its clean, minimal interface that conveniently aggregates Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and Bebo activity in to a single list view while still allowing you expand each item to view the full details—all within the application. Skimmer also makes it easy to post status updates, Tweets, photos and videos to their respective sites.

Conceived and designed by the Minneapolis-based ad brains at Fallon and built by nerd friends at Sierra Bravo, Skimmer improves upon your day-to-day interaction by removing distractions and providing an in-depth experience that is particularly suited to multimedia content.

By the way, you can follow Cool Hunting on Twitter to get updated every time we post a new story.

Kenichi Yokono: New Work

by Brian Fichtner

Since our first mention of Kenichi Yokono in 2006, the Japanese artist has been working at a furious pace and garnering attention from gallerists and collectors alike. For the past three years, Mark Moore Gallery has been showing Yokono's work during the Pulse Contemporary Art Fairs, while in 2007 the gallery gave the artist his first solo show stateside. The forthcoming show at Mark Moore Gallery includes eight new pieces (click above for expanded views) in Yokono's signature woodblock print style, building upon discordant themes—like beauty and the grotesque, intricacy and alienation—inherent to his blood red-and-white layered compositions.

Kenichi Yokono
Opening reception: 4 April 2009, 5-7pm
4 April-16 May 2009
Mark Moore Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue, A-1
Santa Monica, CA 90404 map
tel. +1 310 453 3031

Lomography Gallery Store

by CH Contributor

by Laura Neilson

In January, the Lomographic Society opened its first NYC-based Lomography Gallery Store in Greenwich Village. Lomography fans, notorious for their fervent enthusiasm and camaraderie over this particular type of brand-based photography now have a clubhouse of sorts.

Not only is the store a retail center and gallery, the location is also the New York Lomography Embassy, serving as a venue for weekly workshops and guest speakers, as well as a meeting site for roaming "LomoJourneys" throughout the neighborhood, in which participants can test out loaner cameras. Lomography cameras are best known for imbuing an often imperfect beauty in even the most casual snapshots, as demonstrated by the spectrum of more than 35,000 hand-picked photos adorning the gallery's wall.

Though the Austrian-based company Lomographische AG was founded in 1991, Lomographic-style cameras can be traced back to Soviet-era Russia and even Japan, and maintain a cult-status worldwide. Other international stores-slash-embassies can be found in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Beijing, Seoul, Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Santiago de Chile and Vienna.

Lomography Gallery Store
41 West 8th Street
New York, NY 10011 map
tel. +1 212 529 4353

See an image of the store's stairwell photo installation after the jump.

Kanye West's Complex Cover

by Bailee Wolfson

Pushing the boundaries once again, this time Kanye West is inspiring the use of advanced imaging technology on the new cover of Complex magazine. The photograph is the result of a facial scan that gathers data from a camera that rotates around the object. A computer then stitched the images together to create an eerily detailed 2D photograph. Chris Milk, videographer and photographer behind the project, talks about the futuristic creation of the Complex photo shoot in an interview with Fast Company.

Georg Jensen x Brooks Saddles x Sögreni Wheels Bicycle

by Evan Orensten

We liked the Georg Jensen x Brooks Saddles x Sögreni Wheels bicycle collaboration when it was announced last fall. Now that we've had the opportunity to see one of the 14 limited edition fixed gear bicycles in person we really like it.

It makes sense that Georg Jensen reached out to Sögreni (both are Denmark-based). The bicycle is basically a Sögreni Classic with a customized, hand-hammered finish and hand-made sterling silver bell and features a Classic saddle and handles by Brooks. Each partner brings their unique skills to the table in this perfect collaboration.

At last count only a few of the 14 are still available (despite the $5,000 price tag.) Though Georg Jensen has stores all over, only a few select stores in the U.S., Taiwan, Australia and Denmark carry the bicycle. We found this one at their shop at Bal Harbour, Florida.

We love Sögreni's other concepts, too. Their Wooden bike is, well, made of wood. And the Mountaingoat looks like it belongs in the new "Where The Wild Things Are" movie.

Hunn Wai for Mein Studio Gallery: Ping-Pong Dining Table

by Evan Orensten

Shanghai-based (and Design Academy Eindhoven-trained) designer Hunn Wai's new Ping-Pong table for Mein Studio's Gallery space takes Ping Pong back to its Victorian roots as an after dinner game played in dining rooms. Made with Corian, the table top-cum-playing surface features a Rococo design routed from the material and filled with gold lacquer. Hand-lathed wood legs are a nod to the original. We asked Wai about his inspiration for the piece.

Cool Hunting: Do you play Ping Pong? How did you come up with the idea?
Hunn Wai: Yes, I do play Ping Pong and I did come up with the idea. I did some research on the beginnings of Ping Pong and it was a eureka moment when I found out the Victorians were playing on their dining tables back in the day an indoor version of tennis as after dinner amusement. I looked to how far the present day Ping Pong table had deviated from that. So as a reaction I wanted to design this table as how it should have evolved naturally from its Victorian ancestor, but with an updated material, DuPont Corian, and today's manufacturing techniques to really bring it into our time.

Cool Hunting: You recently made collaborated on a piece for Paul Smith that had similar aspects. Can you tell us about that?
Hunn Wai: Well the Paul Smith project was me using my role as a designer to "transfer" his brand's essence, in particular from a pair of sneakers of his I owned onto a flea-market find. While that was more of a piece for communication of an idea, a concept, this new work is actually for consumption, a product by itself, designed.

Cool Hunting: What's next for you?
Hunn Wai: At the moment I am also working on a project with my girlfriend Francesca Lanzavecchia, but I am unable to elaborate anything further on that.

All photos by Daniel Peh K.L.

More photos after the jump.