a visual collective outlet of inspiration
ateliers d’embellie’s portuer bicycle has been released, bringing to us a truly unique masterpiece. the bike’s entirely handmade with vintage NOS parts and high quality leather and mixes leather craft, street fashion and luxury. the color scheme is a classic vintage grey, highlighted with brown leather, chrome and copper touches. i particularly love the flask clip under the seat. by kl
design
Faust Vinyl
faust’s first album 1971, surely a collectors item now, was originally printed on clear vinyl in a clear sleeve with a silk screen of an x-ray of a human fist on the sleeve. very cool to have clear vinyl especially for the time. by dd
Kenzo/Hakkin: what do you know?
the new perfume from kenzo, i discovered, was designed by japanese designer kenya hara. hara indeed used a bottle he had previously designed for hakkin sake as a basis for this. he describes the process of designing the bottle, and i must say i relate to so much of what he says:
“i designed a very simple bottle for sake called hakkin. and i realized what i was expected to do here. what i had in my mind may have been an image of design for 720ml. by changing the size, the liquor bottle can become that of perfume or vice versa without altering the shape or design.
“the bottle was beginning to form its shape but we then needed to work on the package. perfume is usually displayed on the shelf in accumulated manner so the boxes needed some creativity without over doing them. after consideration, we decided to make the box with a slight angle of inclination toward the top. by doing so, there creates some space for lights to come in from above when the boxes are displayed together. this very minor change created a tremendous effect to the box and the display, i persuaded strongly to use this idea for the box. It actually turned out to be a bit difficult to make this box with inclination but it came out nicely at the end thanks to the package manufacturer’s efforts. the package may look simply plain, but we carefully planned every detail such as paper which was chosen by its touch and texture. for the paper, we decided to use something with special features which i created in the past. this paper is unique in a way that letters become dented and semitransparent after printing. we wanted to use this paper for the box and found something of similarity in european market.”
“kenzo is a brand of colors, but i only use colors when necessary because i am a designer of “emptiness”. of course i use colors as communication method such as using red for fire extinguisher or for essential buttons on machines, but i minimize the usage as much as possible for other purposes such as design. if i am to use metal, i will use its original metallic color. when using the glass, paper or whatever the material would be, i will use their original colors. upon printing words on the product, t will use black prints without any question. as I am always piling up simple ideas as such for my designs, the design that i presented for this project too was not colorful.” by dd
øya festival’s club night
posters for the øya festival’s club night. mind-blowing stuff!by kv
review of the nixon masterblaster headphones
first off we went after this particular nixon headset for its fabulous looks. we received our advance copy in its considerable box last week and have been putting it to the test. a few observations: the exterior of the box reflects the unit and is simple and clean, a mix of a clock work orange meets ipod. we like the name nixon but the unit name and slogans “master blaster” and “bring the noise” seem off target and pretty lame! they belong to pioneer not nixon! inside you’ll find a modern darth vader helmet case which again is at odds with the retro inspired audiophile cans, but one can see why they tried to avoid a fully retro kit.
the unit itself is rather beautiful and well made. designed by yves behar they sport premium leather ear cups, large volume knob, aluminum cans with a ball/pivot that is ingeniously engineered to fit, at least my head perfectly. like all high-end headphones the cord is detachable and i simply love the choice of this particular cable. it makes the whole piece come together, yet unlike the retro fabric cords the 3.5mm stereo plug at the end is delicate avoiding the cumbersome look of the old cans. the pivot joint and the cable where truly the first two details i noticed. one disappointing detail is the logo/pajama style printed fabric used inside the ear cups. who made that decission? gladly noone will see it but you.
the sound on the nixon master blaster is not as high end as its great looks, but the sound is ‘good’ and well above average for its price range of just under $200 (vs. say $450 for the AKG 701 that we reviewed). the headphones at 95 db are not super sensitive and will probably sound their best using headphone amps like headroom or other brands. but on its own the sound is rather neutral with a leniency towards a heaviness in the bass. i would have liked to see more detail in the mid range, and easier on the bass, but i always say that no matter what i listen to unless they are magnapan speakers (which i once owned, but with those you then loose the bass! the MG20.1 seem to have addressed the issue at $4,000/pair). all in all the nixons are great fun, good looks, decent sound, quite affordable, with details to awe over. we used the nixons at a recent event and we had 2 people asking us about them and where to buy them, now no one ever asked me about my AKGs… so they do indeed turn a few heads. by dd
nagra: Analog candy
the nagra IV-S portable audio/sound recorder
call me crazy but I always wanted to get one of these units for my home use for playback of music ever since the film industry went digital on me. where is cassavetes? the professional audio field recorders by nagra where simply too expensive in the day, but now… used ones can be fetched up for a measly $2,000.
these audio recorder/playback decks are simply amazing not only in how they sound but also in how they are made. originally designed by a polish inventor by the name of stefan kudelski and built in cheseaux-sur-lausanne, in switzerland, their built and finish are to die for. they remind me of my old minox spy camera that my father gave me except they are swiss made. silver. slick. and rugged. of course there is a cool little story to the name… the name nagra is actually based on the polish slang meaning “it’ll record”. well, it did more than that indeed.
the swiss manufacturer of course has recently come up with a whole line of consumer audio equipment but the marketing reeks badly and the desperate jump to audiophile markets is simply not in style with old nagra. i have a strong feeling either the company was sold or took over by people who are looking to make a fast swiss frank. by dd
louis vuitton by zaha hadid: the ups and downs
zaha hadid bag for louis vuitton comes with a table, or maybe it’s the other way round, but i doubt the trash bag comes with something inside… by pp’
chanel car: look who’s rolling down the runway
no comment! by kv
Audio video mobile architecture
redesigning your stogy office? that penthouse apt you just bought at half the price? well the idea in trak-kit can change the entire way we interact with technology. the possibilities seem rather endless when you consider how this can apply not only to television screens and computer screens which have dominated our offices and homes, but how walls and elements can become modular and movable. trak-kit could have only been the brain child of a new york city architect who is aware of the limited spaces we have, and an aesthetic from a city that sets the standard for the rest of the world. the exclusivity and the price tags may contain trak-kit to the uber lux apartments, high-end hotels, state of the art tele conference rooms, and designer corporate offices for now, but with time and its expansion it will surely become available for everyone. architecture and rendering by shadi and company. by av
rick owen: horny
love the chairs that designer rick owen designed and realized for his studio/showroom/home in paris. the mix of minimalism and nature work just perfectly. i love the fact that a designer can bring his own universe on every kind of things he do. and on top of that if you happen to see those chairs for real, they just look so hand-made that you can imagine mr owen with his saw… by pp’
Malcolm Sayer: the designer of C and D type Jaguar cars
the XJ13 with a V12 engine. this is an exceptionally lovely view of the car. now that is an amazing piece of aerodynamic art designed by malcolm sayer (1916-1970). the original 1960’s prototype of the XJ13 is worth an estimated £14 million (about $27 million or €18 million)
sayer was the designer of jaguar cars and one of the first engineers to apply principles of aerodynamics to car design. his designs included the now famous jaguar C-type (also called XK120-C, due to its being based on the jaguar XK120) Jaguar D-type jaguar e-type jaguar XJS (although the car launched several years after sayer’s death). by dd
clearaudio turntable
“this fellow, made of wood and aluminum, weights in at 770-pound and has a magnetically driven sub platter that eliminates contact with the main platter and a nifty real time speed control.”… and cost 125,000$US! at NYLVI by pp’
