Cool Hunting
Creators of the facet-design Marks & Spencer cafe, London firm Kiwi & Pom recently teamed up with another British establishment, collaborating with London's renowned karaoke bar Lucky Voice to create the Party Pod. Tagged as the world's most sophisticated and portable karaoke experience, they designed the aptly named "Party Pod" for paramount user experience. A toy-like unit houses the computer used to store the songs, as well as the audio equipment needed to connect to the microphone, speaker and TV. The Party Pod’s technical configurations synch monthly song updates directly from a computer into the machine’s system and an integrated touch-screen interface makes for a modern yet friendly song selection process. For those who prefer not to own a karaoke machine, hiring the Lucky Voice Pop-Up Party experience delivers a bespoke Lucky Voice touchscreen unit containing thousands of songs, a plasma screen to display the lyrics and a sleek Bose sound system with two wireless mics to your door. The system is available for hire worldwide. For information and rates visit the Lucky Voice website.

|
previous entry Paperfinger Calligraphy and Hand-Drawn Design |
next entry FullyVisual Metal Toys |
We were just in London on the bus thinking the classic vehicle needed an update. Good thing premier luxury car producer Aston Martin and prominent architectural firm Foster + Partners recently teamed up to give a new spin on the classic London behemoth. The collaboration was prompted by London mayor Boris Johnson, who launched a "Design a Bus" competition last year. The AM/F+P model...
We were able to chat with Lars Amhoff of the German-based Kinkyform, which has been collaborating with artists to produce furniture and objects that meld art with a functional purpose or "Usable Art." In Amhoff's latest creation, the Neo Gramophone, he updates a familiar form with iTunes digital streaming and a high-end subwoofer and speakers. Unlike the original gramophones comprised of a player and a...
A collaboration between brothers Matt and Justin Kleiner, the Protist is a music, art and design hybrid based out of Santa Barbara. Their latest project is a series of paintings that are meant to correspond with a soundtrack of original compositions. Images take traditional Japanese archetypes and couple them with more contemporary graphics and word fragments. Songs are brooding electronic soundscapes that take cues...
A collaboration between Italian designer Luigi "Allergic to Straight Lines" Colani and German piano-makers Schimmel in the late 1990s, the Pegasus grand piano looks like something you'd see on a Star Trek set. Updates to the classic form include a slightly curved, ergonomic keyboard (eliminating any need for the player to move their body), an electrically-controlled hydraulic lid (to control projection) and a fully...
Being a London girl myself who is away from home a lot, I like to keep up with what's happening in my home town while I am on the move. CH has been appreciating London's creativity a lot this year. Famously innovative, eclectic and eccentric, London is still staking its claim on the world style map. These five inspiring women are proving the point...
Harry Beck's iconic map of the London Underground is one of the most recognisable examples of design to come out of the U.K., but that hasn't stopped people from messing about with it to great success. Not least artist Simon Patterson in his 1992 work Great Bear, which swapped the station names with those of famous people. Now, The Guardian's Dorian Lynskey has distilled...
