A new app for kids, Peekaboo Forest, brings the storybook quality of illustrator Charley Harper to the small screen. Constructed around the passing of seasons, the narrative features animals emerging from the bush and hiding in the dark of night, delighting toddlers with its roster of real animal sounds...

A 1914 Dodge Type 30 was the initial inspiration for the Louwman Collection of classic cars and automotive art housed in the newly-constructed National Automobile Museum of the Netherlands in the Hague. Located near the Queen's Palace, the collection dates back to 1934 when a Dutch car importer happened...

With an eye toward sustainability, Jaguar is making a distinct effort to refresh its old English image with the introduction of the 2011 XJ, the luxury carmaker's flagship model. Constructed from 50 percent recycled aluminum, the XJ is something of a lightweight compared to previous iterations. Its riveted and...

Seizing on the vinyl record as emblematic of music's evolution in the 20th century, the forthcoming exhibition "The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl" at the Nasher Museum of Art explores the relationship of sound, artistry and vinyl through the works of 41 artists dating back to 1960. Dario Robleto...

The sleek presentation of Bang & Olufsen's BeoVision 10 shows that there's plenty of room for making the modern television more refined, powerful and sophisticated. The LCD panel looks more like a decorative piece melding with interiors—a lesson in the Danish aesthetic. Designed by the native Englishman David Lewis...

Atlanta's High Museum of Art explores the bespoke car as a work of art in the exhibit "The Allure of the Automobile" that opened this past weekend. Known for its strong decorative arts content, the museum celebrates the one-of-a-kind European and American cars of the 20th century for their fine...

For the past decade NYC-based Bonetti/Kozerski Design Studio have been building an impressive portfolio of work centered on the relationship between the interior and the exterior as one fluid continuum. Founded by Enrico Bonetti and Dominic Kozerski, the duo work together to develop effortless spaces, blending the fundamentals of...

As a mother who walks regularly, Brooklynite Micaela Birmingham discovered a design problem when going out with her child. "When my first daughter was a newborn, I proudly stepped out with my fancy stroller for our first walk to the park and was devastated that the sun was in...

As collectives go, the loosely-organized, street art-focused Barnstormers stand out as much for a global scope—they count chapters in New York and Tokyo—as for a growing roster that reads like a who's who of the genre. The group exhibit opening this Thursday, 18 March 2010 at Joshua Liner Gallery...

From fashion week festivities to parties at the Met, Sweet Jewels have been a recent hit on the NYC scene. New Yorker Julie Le whips up the multi-layered treats by blending cake with frosting, dipping them in chocolate and hand-rolling them in coconut. Le—a librarian at the Metropolitan Museum...

Neither live concert nor art exhibit, Transverse Temporal Gyrus is a site-specific sonic installation featuring Baltimore-hailing band Animal Collective and experimental artist Danny Perez as part of the Guggenheim Museum's 50th anniversary celebration. Through sound and video projection, the environment of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building becomes psychedelic, distorted...

A lesson in balanced, immaculate design, the new Aston Martin Rapide sportscar is a sleek, four-door wonder. To match the tone of the gem-like sedan, Aston Martin chose Valencia-based jewelery atelier Trinidad Gracia as its launch site, locking away the keys to the first test drives in the boutique's...

Opening its doors in 1963, Stonehill & Taylor built its prestigious reputation sculpting the face of large scale hospitals and universities. In recent years, the New York-based architecture and design firm moved toward more contemporary settings putting their signature on the Ace Hotel and The Crosby Street Hotel, as...

Eric Haze operates at the intersection of art and design, exploring how the application of lines and shapes communicates and influences culture. "New Abstracts and Icons," which opened last week, represents the evolution of the New York artist and designer's work on canvas, in sculptural form and in drawings....

Andy Warhol understood the power of immediacy, and the Polaroid Big Shot camera he purchased in 1970 became his favorite tool to capture the heat of the momentous life he lived. The exhibition Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University features nearly...

Color functions as language in Kenji Hirata’s bountiful universe with shapes and hues that converge in beautiful cataclysms on canvas. The Japanese-born, Brooklyn-based artist's solo exhibition "The Way Out is the Way In," opens at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City“ this week. New Laughter Mode” and “New...

Long a critical part in spreading the look, attitude and emotion of a burgeoning culture to the masses, the new book "Who Shot Rock 'n' Roll" helps define rock photography as a genre of it’s own. Historian and author Gail Buckland captures the depth and breadth of the field’s...

Porsche's new four-door Zentrum made for a flash of contemporary zing in contrast to the vintage cars on display at the Pebble Beach Concourse D'elegance earlier this month. As the feature marquee at the annual classic car show, car enthusiasts could test drive the new 2010 Porsche Panamera, the...

Paying tribute to iconic French designer Madeleine Vionnet—almost as famous for such phrases as "Death to copyists!" as she was for her exquisite innovations—the upcoming book and current exhibition in Paris tells a story of intense dedication and true mastery. The couturier, responsible for such fashion heirs as Valentino...

In fashion and art circles alike, the palpable buzz for the September release of " Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture" comes from the French brand's pairing of their coveted insignia with artistic sensibilities. Best embodied in the art handbag, couture collectors continue to hunt for limited editions of...

A beautiful car deserves a beautiful garage, and Holger Schubert’s minimalist 1200-square-foot carport for Maserati's Design Driven competition is exactly that. Overlooking western Los Angeles, Schubert's winning design has a setting more akin to an art gallery than a garage. Accessed by a separate driveway bridge, the sustainable structure...

Brooklyn-based artist Sofia Maldonado sees the world from the point of a 32-inch deck on four wheels, exploring the counter culture surrounding skateboards in much of her work. The muralist and painter transforms abandoned swimming pools into fantastical oases that serve as bowls for masterful tricks and reconfigures banal...

Longtime studio mates Crash and Daze join forces for a collaborative show of new work opening this Friday, 15 May 2009, at AdHoc Art in Brooklyn through next month. The exhibition is a juxtaposition of two close knit painters that have forged stellar careers with corresponding trajectories. Both share...

With a discerning eye Carlos “Mare139” Rodriguez deconstructs the kinesthetic of the b-boy in a new series of work on display at the 58 Gallery in New Jersey through this month. (See details below.) The show is a play on contrasts, featuring striking array of stark black-and-white drawings and...

"Valentina: American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity," currently at the Museum of the City of New York, is the first exhibition to showcase the rare gowns, accessories, photographs and printed materials of the legendary couturier. To commemorate the event, design historian and curator Kohle Yohannan authored a book...

Taking the temporary retail concept to a mobile level, Jay-Z recently collaborated with architect David Ashen of D-ash on a tricked-out trailer to house the Rocawear line. While Jay-Z handles the music, D-ash's RocPopShop is all about taking the Rocawear label to new levels—the pop up shop's upscale interior...

With contributions from Laura NeilsonAutos, art and transit collide when Robin Rhode's painting made using BMWs as paintbrushes and four of BMW's iconic "Art Cars" are put on show at Grand Central Terminal starting tomorrow. The project dates back to 1975 when French race car driver and art collector...

If the best work comes from life experience, then Michel Auder married well. Or at least he married intriguing people—Viva, a Warhol superstar and photographer Cindy Sherman—who added color to his already vibrant life story. The Paris-born artist and filmmaker has done just about everything interesting in the past...

It all started with a trusty 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D. Out of innocent emissions, Further Soap was born, the first bio-diesel soap to come to the market. The result is a light, lingering product that disinfects and softens overworked hands&mdash perfect for cleansing after tinkering with a fuel tank or...

Four hundred years after the Dutch first staked their claim on a patch of land east of the Hudson River under the guidance of Henry Hudson, they're returning to New York City in the form of the New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion to commemorate the event. Designed by Dutch...

In 2008, green officially made the transition from hue to lifestyle in style, transportation and construction. As environmentalism becomes increasing a part of every day life, several eco-minded designs stood out from the pack and are destined to take consumers mindfully through 2009 and beyond. Nau Relaunch Down to...

All good things come to an end—but they don't need to be forgotten. Such is the logic behind Gestalten Temporary, the German publisher’s pop-up store in Berlin where books documenting visual culture are abundant. With over 250 provocative titles documenting visual culture on its roster, there’s something for every...

In 1989 Chinese students protested in Tiananmen Square, Yo MTV Raps! made its debut and the original Reebok Pump hit the basketball courts. The first of its kind, the iconic sneaker has come a long way since it was sported famously by Woody Harrelson in “White Man Can’t Jump."...

For those of you not paying attention to recent pop culture news, New York artist KAWS' fantastical cover art montage—a cartoon-like image in red, purple pink and shades of blue swallowing up musical/sartorial/blogger sensation Kanye West—may prove to be more of a hit than the forthcoming album itself. Converging...

by Tamara Warren Fresno, CA-born photographer Tony Stamolis’ new book "Frezno" examines life in California’s sixth largest city with vivid, stark and honest imagery. Stamolis captures his hometown, once a beacon of booming surburbia, with a seedy, fluorescent pallor. The cover shot—two shirtless youths wearing KISS-inspired makeup and black...

With big, black bold sinuous lines, artist Eric Haze's interpretation of the Lotus Exige seemed to reverberate above the music on the platform where it was unveiled at the Manhattan Classic Car Club last week. The occasion was Jeff Staple's Downshift 08, an event bringing together gaming and cars,...

by Tamara Warren With a watchful eye, Nicaraguan-born artist Chris Mendoza draws on folkloric influences and contemporary pop culture, bridging indigenous traditions with his experiences living in NYC. His latest work is a series of 20 riveting ink drawings carved on Masonite and handmade paper. Called "Daily Habits," it's...

by Tamara Warren British contemporary furniture designer Max Lamb brings the essence of the outdoors to American turf with his solo exhibit at the Johnson Trading Gallery in New York City. Sturdy and stalwart, Lamb's work has a primal, natural and organic feel. Several of his newly commissioned pieces are...

by Tamara Warren The Monster, originally released in 1993, is one of Ducati's more classic and successful models. Bart Janssen-Groesbeek was a Project Leader on the new Ducati Monster 696 (pictured) released this past April, and has already proved popular. During the upcoming Motorcycle Show in Cologne opening 8...

by Tamara Warren Grand Army Plaza, the main entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park, sprawls across 11 acres in a landscaped oval. With regal statues and a sparkling fountain, it's majestic and — its function as a busy traffic circle separates the cultural landmark from the surrounding pedestrian sidewalks —...

by Tamara Warren It takes a fairytale to capture the imagination in Miami's over-blown hotel district. Hence, "Sleeping Beauty" stirs 4 December 2008 when the Mondrian South Beach Hotel Residences opens it doors. Conceived by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, who nicknamed the property "Sleeping Beauty's castle," the one and...

by Tamara Warren Zaha Hadid, the first woman recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, designed a door handle a couple years back that was manufactured by Italian hardware company Valli & Valli and it is finally on sale now. In a collaboration with Woody Yao, the handle, which is...

by Tamara Warren This season, Dutch luxury automaker Spyker expands its automotive aesthetic to apparel, accessories and fine art prints with the Spyker Collection. And what an aesthetic it is. In 1898, coachbuilders Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker crafted their first car in Amsterdam, laying the foundation for Spyker, the...

by Tamara Warren Set against a clean white backdrop, a running blue figure pumps its arms wildly. The athlete shatters into geometric pieces that morph into the figure of an equestrian, a dribbling basketball player, then a cellular phone, until finally settling into the Olympic rings. The spot is...

The classic filing cabinet has the admirable function of safely storing documents, but leaves something to be desired when it comes to form. (Think square, metal, heavy and bulky.) Addressing the problem, Herman Miller wisely brought in designers Birsel + Seck to conceive their Teneo line. The storage system...

One of three original works created for the now-iconic poster that Shepard Fairey created in support of Obama is a mixed media stencil collage on a 4 x 6 foot cotton rag paper. Fairey donated this piece to Russell Simmons’s Art for Life Auction, with proceeds going toward a...

Independence Day extravaganzas, election hoopla and Olympic action—'tis the season for Americana and celebration. Joining designers from Milan to Middle America who are touting the red, white and blue as the aesthetic of the moment on and off the runway, Pommery's Pop America Champagne in pint-size packaging makes for...