Cool Hunting

Sharing a love for '80s grids and layouts as well as a penchant for cool toys and gadgets, I tracked down Ben Wise, one of the guys behind the site Antenna Trade Digest. Proclaiming to catalog all “publicly available goods of significant substance,” I asked him about the project.

How did the idea for Antenna come about?
My inspiration for the site was finding an "Argos" (run-of-the-mill U.K. wholesale shop) catalog from 1984. (see image.) In the old days before web, this type of thing was the only source of information. I wanted to try and recreate that feel.

Who is involved in it’s production?
Me, my friends and a couple of droids.

How long have you been around and how long do you plan to be around?
Well it launched earlier this year. I had run other sites before, but this was a purely commercial spin-off project. I don't plan to delete it, particularly as it's more about other people's work than my own. Some other projects are gestating too.

What do you mean by "this was a purely commercial spin-off project"?
Well the Antenna started out as an arts project, The Antenna Project, and I'm hoping to do a printed research publication at some point, but the "Trade Digest'"centers around promotion and potentially it could generate some form of revenue in the future.

Why did you see the need for another website?
Hmm, good question. A lot of friends had projects coming out and had asked me where to publicize them. It's a very eclectic site with a most likely small demographic – it's not trying to emulate/compete with Cool Hunting or the big design sites. Hopefully, it will find it's own niche penumbra of malcontents.

Do you have day jobs?
I'm a web designer at Kleber, the U.K.'s best intrapipe plumbers, where I've had the good fortune to work for such luminaries as Matt Pyke and Mike Place.

Check out the Antenna for your dose of significant substance today.