If I Were A Baby, Here's How I'd Like To Roll. The Aston Martin X Silver Cross Surf Carriage.

Launching in April is one special, and pricey (£2000), baby carriage. The Surf Aston Martin Edition Pram, a collaboration between luxury sports car brand Aston Martin and high-end baby brand Silver Cross, will be issued in a strictly limited edition of 800 and sold exclusively through Harrod's.



For generations, Aston Martin and Silver Cross have represented the finest in British design, engineering, craftsmanship and luxury. Each combines a peerless heritage at the very forefront of their field with a commitment to innovation; a determination to uphold the greatest traditions of British engineering excellence in the contemporary age.






Now the legendary sports car marque and the company that invented the modern baby carriage have come together in a unique and unprecedented collaboration. Issued in a strictly limited edition of just 800 pieces, the Silver Cross Surf – Aston Martin Edition is a modern masterpiece. It marries prowess with luxury to create a truly exceptional environment for baby, perfect for parents who insist on giving them the very best from day one.







Each pram will come with its own certificate of authenticity and an engraved brushed chrome plaque to confirm that it is one of a limited edition.

Details:
• Surf – Aston Martin Edition chassis finished in anodised aluminium and magnesium alloy
• Surf – Aston Martin Edition seat unit finished in luxurious Alcantara® and leather
• Surf – Aston Martin Edition carrycot finished in Alcantara®, performance fabric and leather
• Alcantara® harness and buckle protector pads
• Performance fabric hood and apron
• Winter footmuff with windproof performance fabrics
• Sun shade and rain shield
• Folding detachable shopping basket
• Suitable from birth
• L98cm x W58cm x H92-100cm
• Chassis 7.5kg, Body 3.8kg

Price: £2000

The Surf Aston Martin Edition is exclusively available at Harrods (Regrettably, this product is non-exportable.)

It's A Scooter! It's A Stroller! It's The Roller Buggy!

Although I think it ought to be named the Scroller, The Roller Buggy is a multi-functional baby carriage transformable into a scooter designed by Valentin Vodev, a member of the design trio behind CIO, Creative Industrial Objects.



Through a simple pull of the lower body, it extends the normal baby carriage into a scooter, creating a more sportive and faster transportation on various terrains and giving both parties a good time.



For the development of the Roller Buggy, a great amount of design and market research was invested. At first, the combination of baby carriage and scooter was tested in numerous plans and models after which the best results were optimized in a 3D model.



After the 3D model was created, a prototype was built and tried out in a park by placing a life size dummy into a third-party seat with seat belts. As the security of the child has priority, two front brake disks are provided to enable speed reduction at any time.



Child safety- Roller Buggy has a specially-made hydraulic brake system with two disk brakes that allow to reduce the speed and to stop. There is also a safety belt on the child's seat. The child should be older than 1,5 years and the speed shouldn't be faster than 15 km/h.



For children 1.5 - 4 years
Materials: Aluminium, plastic and rubber
Characteristics: Easy to store away, multifunctional purpose
Usage: Alleys, parks, streets


above: designer Valentin Vodev

all images courtesy of the designer and pixstudio

Rock a Bye Deadly Baby: The Ne Zha Works of Shi Jinsong

The Ne Zha Baby Boutique By Shi Jinsong, 2006 - 2008

Na Zha (or Nezha), is a Chinese mythical creature, an impish trickster with supernatural powers and flamboyant fashion sense (legend has it his red silk trousers generated so much heat the sea began to boil, enraging the East Sea Dragon King). Na Zha's essential ferocity long since tamed in the Chinese psyche, he is now chiefly celebrated as a God of Lotteries and Gambling, a commodified totem of the new global economy.


above left; the exhibition catalog. above right; the artist Shi Jinsong

Through his razor-sharp sculptures and related works, Shi Jinsong initiates a dialogue, at once menacing and ironic, between the forms of mythic Chinese culture and modern day globalization. "Na Zha" is here recast as the brand name for an outrageously unsafe line of baby products.

Meticulously assembled in stainless steel from intricate mechanical drawings, they include a deadly Carriage; a sadistic Cradle; a sinister Walker; and a malicious, multi-part Toy complete with needle-tipped pacifiers and dismembering abacus. Baby Boutique confronts its "shopper" with a radically strange and seductive "product," lethal luxury designed to reveal the forces that dominate our lives in unimaginable ways. - above text courtesy of Absolute Arts

Various Ne Zha strollers by Shi Jinsong:






For his first exhibition at Chambers Fine Art in 2006, Shi Jinsong produced a range of articles for baby Ne Zha, consisting of cradles, strollers, rattles and a walker. Two years later, in the second showing of Ne Zha, the infant seems to have grown up into a toddler and Jinsong's works include miniature suits of armor, a rocking horse, roller blades, a scooter and a tricycle.

Images from the first show (2006) at Chambers Fine Art Gallery:

above: Na Zha Stroller, Stainless steel, 2005, 40 1/6 x 38 5/6 x 32 2/7 in (102 x 98.6 x 82 cm)


above: Na Zha Cradle, Stainless steel, 2005, 24 x 31 7/8 x 24 3/8 in (61 x 81 x 62 cm)


above: Na Zha Rattle, Stainless steel, 2005, 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 3 3/4 in (30 x 13.3 x 9.6 cm)


above: Na Zha Baby Bottle, Stainless steel, 2005, 3 x 5 x 5 in (7.6 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)


above: Na Zha Baby Toys, 2005, stainless steel




above: Na Zha Walker, 2005, stainless steel, 54 x 59 x 66 cm


Images from the second show (2008) of the Ne Zha Baby Boutique, 2008:

Above: baby suit of armor, stainless steel, 2008


above left, stainless steel baby armor and right, a stainless steel scooter, 2008


above: Full Armor-Mouse, Stainless steel, 2008, 31 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (80 x 30 x 20 cm)


above: Rocking Horse, Stainless steel, 2008, 26 x 34 x 15 3/8 in. (66 x 86.5 x 39 cm)


above: Rollerblades, Stainless steel, 2008, 14 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 8 1/2 in. (36 x 15 x 21.5 cm)


above: tricycle, stainless steel, 2008

Earlier this year, Shi Jinsong's Ne Zha works were part of a 'China - contemporary revival', exhibition at the Palazzo Reale, in Milan, Italy. The images below are from his works in that show, courtesy of Designboom.






about the artist:


Born in Danyang County, Hubei Province in 1969, Shi Jinsong enrolled at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, majoring in sculpture and mastering a gamut of traditional techniques. Under the influence of three powerful stimuli - radical socio-cultural change in China; a reading of Foucault's Madness and Civilization; and the birth of his first daughter - the artist began to investigate ideas of transformation and control.

The images in this post are courtesy of Chambers Fine Art, Saatchi Gallery, Marella Gallery, ArtNet