Father's Day Gift Guide

by Karen Day

Whether your father prefers tools or wine and cheese, he deserves some recognition. While you clearly know him best, we've put together a few ideas for the dad in your life for Father's Day.

For once, give your father something he might actually use. Although razors and tools may seem mundane and expected Wahl's Ion Trimmer and Labour & Wait's Small Screwdriver Set keep it compact and classy. Both are versatile and provide multiple uses.

If you dad commutes often (and you've got an extra $40k) you will want to keep him safe and stylish in a 2009 Audi A5. We were lucky enough to test out the vehicle some time ago and were expectedly pleased. Don't be fooled by its aggressive shape—a multitude of amenities, including a superior sound system by Bang & Olufsen, make this ride more luxury than sport. That is, until you step on the gas. If he's a man that spends more time in the air then BuiltNY's Travel Cargo Pack will keep his wires and electronics organized on the fly.

If he enjoys spending time in the kitchen, Mario Batali's Panini Grill and Wusthof's Knife Sharpener are two gadgets he shouldn't be without. Or just let him have the day off from cooking with a gift basket of exceptional cheese from Artisanal Cheese.

Davek's wind tunnel-tested umbrella will keep him dry on the back nine. However, if he prefers to watch it on TV, NuVision's new Lucidium FX5 Series provides the clarity and resolution to see every slope and twig on the course.

All of these products and more gift ideas can be found in the Cool Hunting Gift Guide.

With contributions by Ariston Anderson, Brian Fichtner, Evan Orensten and Tim Yu.

A Gorge in the City: Decadence in NYC

by Evan Orensten

Prepare yourself for a summer of eating and drinking in NYC with A Razor, A Shiny Knife's 24 hour cooking marathon, New York Botanical Garden's Edible Garden, and the Indy Spirits' liquor expo.

A Razor, A Shiny Knife

This culinary body dedicates themselves to fashioning unique "educational, social and theatrical" cooking experiences, as evidenced in their ludicrous, gluttonous and absolutely divine proposal: A 24 hour Ironman of consumption, composed of three eight-course meals prepared entirely from scratch. Participants help prepare the meals as well as enjoy them, and also can experience workshops in knife skills, butchering, cooking sous vide, and more. We say go for all three meals (and the wine and cocktail pairings), but you can participate in each meal individually. Menu highlights include Slow Poached Eggs with Crumpets and Tea, Soft Shell Crab Ban Mi, Lobster With Aji, Key Lime and Thai Basil. The event will be held this Saturday, 20 June 2009, with doors opening the night before at 10:00 p.m. at a secret location in Brooklyn disclosed only to confirmed participants. This is certainly an opportunity that doesn't present itself often, so check out A Razor, A Shiny Knife's site for more details and to sign up. All three meals is $300 per person, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Gimme Shelter campaign Photo by Steph Goralnick.

The New York Botanical Garden

Take a stroll through the Edible Garden to eat and learn about how to grow your own fresh produce. Complete with how-to walkthroughs and family friendly exhibitions, a visit to the New York Botanical Garden's June 17-September 13 project is the perfect outing for the weekend chef or foodie. Be sure to stop by during the two Festival Weekends (27-28 June 2009 and 12-13 September 2009), where visitors can experience Conservatory Kitchen Demonstrations and enhance their culinary skills. Tickets start at $20 and are available at the Edible Garden site.

Indy Spirits

The Indy Spirits Expo 2009 is a unique chance to sample meticulously crafted liquors from across the globe and meet the artisans that bring them to you. The Expo gathers those integral to this process, from distillation to distribution, to create a very personal experience. You probably haven't discovered many of these harder-to-find artisanal brands yet (highlights include Scorpion Mezcal, Cachaça Fazenda Mãe De Ouro and Square One's Organic Rye Vodka) and it's a great opportunity to discover them in one place. The Indy Spirits Expo is Wednesday 24 June 2009. General Admission and VIP tickets are available at $50 and $75 respectively at Indy Spirits.

Wave Books

by Doug Black

Wave Books is a poetry publisher clearly smitten with books as objects. Born from the ashes of Verse Press in 2005, the independent Seattle-based press consistently produces volumes that reflect the care and consideration given to the poems themselves. There's no clear thread running through their diverse catalog — Wave, instead, describes its aim as "publishing the best in American poetry by new and established authors." But even this line proves too strict, as a book by French poet Franck Anré Jamme and a collection of short stories by Pulitzer Prize-winner James Tate clearly break these broad parameters.

In addition to the widely-available softcover versions of their books, Wave offers a particularly attractive annual subscription series. Subscribers get a limited-edition, clothbound hardcover version of every book released that calendar year. Volumes are individually numbered, signed and come wrapped in exclusive two-color jackets designed completely independent of the softcover version.

Take the book "Poemland" by poet Chelsey Minnis. The limited hardcover version (above left) differs greatly from the far more common softcover edition (above right) which has a deliberately disorienting barcode motif reflected throughout the book (both designs come from the one-man design shop Quemadura). For Jamme's book "New Exercises" (pictured at top) Wave collaborated with the author on a limited edition box set of silk-screened reflective broadslides printed by Portland, Oregon's Seizure Palace.

Noelle Kocot's cover for "Sunny Wednesday" aptly reflects the tortured voice of its narration, while the glossy design of Mary Ruefle's diminutive book "A Little White Shadow" relies on large portions of deliberately whited-out text.

Combined with a stable of similarly dynamic poets, Wave's dedication to design predicts that it will be a force in book publishing as long as we're still publishing books. This fall, we can expect poetry collections from Rachel Zucker and Dara Weir, as well as "Bluets," a book of lyric prose by Maggie Nelson. For more information on their catalog, or to subscribe for the limited hardcover editions, visit the Wave Books site.

Images from the Book Cover Archive.

Ludwig Boutique

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Using fabric and accoutrements from vintage dead-stock, Ludwig offers streetwear apparel with a twist.

Ludwig's new L.A. store, located on the outskirts of Chinatown, features tastefully done pieces for men. Stocked with classics like well-constructed nylon parkas (pictured right) and plaid button-downs for the Ivy League set (pictured below), they also offer the obligatory graphic-inspired tees and caps. Among the more casual gear is the coveted collection of super-soft jersey shorts and tees created from Russell Athletic fabric (pictured below).

Created by Mike Dytri of Subfreakie apparel fame, Ludwig is part of the movement—alongside Generic Surplus, among many others—making streetwear more sophisticated for a generation that understands and appreciates the aesthetic value behind the chosen materials and adornments.

The label's namesake references Beethoven, represented by a drawing of the composer fused with Malcolm McDowell's famous character. Ninety-five percent of the clothes are union-made stateside. Find the line at Ludwig's brick-and-mortar shop and local boutiques like Fred Segal in L.A. and Reed Space in NYC.

Ludwig
720 North Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012 map
tel. +1 213 620 1066

Goodbye Detergent Scrubs

by Nathan Suberi

Environmentally-conscious designer Hiroki Hayashi is cleaning up the recycled-goods world with his new line of home scrubs dubbed Goodbye Detergent. The two main lines, Kitchen Cleaning Scrubs and Outdoor Scouring Pads, utilize the abrasive powers of recycled food remnants like ground peach pits, corn cobs and walnut shells to tackle household clean-up.

Indicative from their name, the earth-friendly scrubs are so effective that you won't need to apply detergent except on the most viscous grease—saving you money while lowering the amount of toxic chemicals introduced to the environment.

The cornerstone of the Kitchen Scrubs Line is the Spaghetti Scrub (pictured right). A loose and flexible sponge it's perfect for penetrating kitchen grime's deepest depths. For outside use, Goodbye Detergent's three types of outdoor scouring pads (below) are durable enough to vanquish tough stains on BBQ grills but gentle enough to clean patio furniture without leaving a mark.

Goodbye Detergent's products are 100% recycled and recyclable, and eliminating the need for detergent sets a new standard for green cleaning products. Hayashi's spaghetti scrubs and outdoor scouring pads will be available for $11 and $9 respectively from Roland Products.

A Clearing in the Streets

by Brian Fichtner

A ten-sided plywood structure surrounding a miniature meadow of indigenous vegetation, "A Clearing in the Streets" is a temporary landscape in downtown Manhattan's Collect Pond Park. The installation, commissioned by the Public Art Fund, reflects artists Julie Farris and Sarah Wayland-Smith interest in creating momentary organic interventions within the urban environment.

Their work arrives at a moment when both public demand and municipal support for greening the city appear to be at an all time high. Still, grand public projects, like the High Line, often take years to come to fruition. Without a doubt, landscape designers such as Farris and Wayland-Smith stand to play an immediate, increasing role in shaping the experience of city living through small-scale installations. Cool Hunting recently had the opportunity to ask the designers a few questions about their practice and their dreams for New York.

One of your interests lies in exploring ways to re-introduce nature into the dense urban environment. As the global populace moves more and more toward urban habitation, do you think we need to broaden our definition of nature itself? After all, isn't the built environment arguably a natural product of humankind?
Yes, I think we would agree that our collective urban vision is at a point where we need to broaden the definition of “nature" in the city. While there may not be many opportunities to build large-scale parks, there is tremendous potential for even very small landscapes or natural environments to have a strong impact on urban residents. Our work explores temporary landscapes, insertions of nature into the urban environment, that have the potential to change the way we think about nature and our relationship to it.

We are also interested in using innate processes in nature to help resolve some of the environmental problems of large cities. For instance, we can use vegetation to absorb rainwater and release it into the air, lowering urban temperatures. In this way, nature can become a construction material. Our meadow is a constructed slice of nature. We carved out a small space in a paved plaza and brought in topsoil and seedlings to create a context for this natural cycle of growth that takes place.

There are few opportunities within New York to introduce large-scale organic landscapes. Apart from haphazard attempts at "greening" the city by plunking down planters, how can the city respond with creativity to our need to stay connected to the "natural" world?

Interview continues with more images after the jump.

San Marco Concor Supercorsa x Bicycle Film Festival Limited Edition Saddles

by Doug Black

The New York leg of the ninth annual Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) kicks off today and with it comes a series of limited edition bike saddles from Italian manufacturer San Marco. An exclusive first look, the Concor Supercorsa comes in five different colors, each corresponding to one of the three dozen cities participating. The seats have a nabuk (a tyoe of ultrasuede) cover and come in blue (New York), black (London), green (Milan), yellow (Paris) and red (Tokyo), each labeled with its respective city and the BFF logo.

There will only be fifty saddles in each color available online for €95 when the festival opens in that city. More images after the jump.