It's A Pantone Party! More Pantone Inspired Products

A ways back I showed you some of the fun products that are either made by Pantone or inspired by the Pantone Matching System (PMS colors, the universal numerical system for matching color inks).

After scouring the net, there are a few more new products from Pantone Universe as well as some unusual piece of art, shoes and more inspired by pantone. Check these out.

Brand new!! Pantone eyewear!




With several new collections that include optical metal, optical semi-rimless, sun metal, sun acetate, and sun sport all are customizable with ArmOne (removable pantone color temple arms).


Arm One lets you pick your own color arms for the glasses!






See all the eyewear collections here.

Pantone paints for home office and more:

Need to find the perfect shade of paint for your design project or home? Simply scroll through Pantone's virtual palette and immerse yourself in over 3,000 designer paint colors to select the one you desire. Whether searching by PANTONE® number or by color family, you can fins a sahde to match anything and everything you want.


Pantone Matched Carpeting: Now that your paint is perfect, then how about carpet?
The Mohawk Group has partnered with Pantone to provide quality carpet in pantone shades:

Dowload a pdf about Mohawk Carpets here.

Pantone Stationery products:

Pantone notebooks, card cases and more. Available here.

The Pantone Flight Stool:
The amazing British design team, Barber Osgerby, pays tribute to Pantone by producing a multi-dimensional chip!

These birch stools from Isokon Plus are available in a range of colors from the warmer end of the spectrum--Yellow, Pink, Red and Orange.

Above: The Stools at a London exhibit

Lawrence Herbert, founder and innovator of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® will sign 20 of this limited edition... 50 total!
Get them while they’re still available!

Above: From Sakai designs comes the Yoko single sofa. Initially designed for Tokyo nightclubs and cafes, it is now available in six limited edition pantone colors.
Buy it here.

Pantone Sheepskin Rugs!

The patagonian sheep skin rugs dyed in 3 pantone shades come in cool blues (pantone Rug I) and warm reds and yellows (pantone Rug II). Made in Argentina by the Gerscovich Brothers, produced by Sundayland and are available for purchase here.

Colorcalm™ “Skies,” the first in a series of unique, color DVD’s produced by Atmos in association with Pantone, Inc. enhances your surroundings and improves your well-being.

It is a continuous display of clouds with 28 color backgrounds and audio variations. It is designed to soothe your senses.

jetBlue Airways will have a Colorcalm channel on their fleets with DVD capaibilities. From the first of the year through the end of March, you can control your environment, even in the air! See and Buy Colorcalm here.

Pantone Flash drives:
Express your personality and store your creations in style. These durable, aluminum design thumb drives allow you to store your digital photos, music files, business documents, and more on an ultra-small Hi-speed USB flash drive.

Available in 14 PANTONE Colors, these compact and portable external drives are Mac and PC compatible and feature a lifetime warranty and downloadable security software.
For corporate orders requiring company logo engraving, please call us at 888-PANTONE (726-8663) Get them here.

Pantone Toys:
The japanese toy company, Medicom, produced a series of Pantone Kubricks in various colors and styles...if you can find them:



See what's available here at Yellow Spiral.
Or Rotofugi.
Or the Medicom store.

Pantone Russian Nesting Dolls:
Still looking for a manufacturer are designer Yar Rassadin's totally cool Pantone Matryoshka (the russian nesting dolls):



Pantone tea mugs, coffee mugs, espresso cups and dinnerware:

Choose from ten different mug colors here.

Buy the dinnerware and mugs here.




Buy the 4 pantone espresso cups or 4 tea mugs here.


Suck UK's My Cuppa has been a popular product in the UK and is catching on here in the US. Available in tea or coffee styles, the clever cup has pantone chips representing different degrees of brews:


Buy them here.


UNIQLO's pantone Cashmere Sweaters and T-shirts:


the PANTONE Cashmere Collection, is offered in 20 official PANTONE Colors and comes in three styles, including a crewneck, Henley-neck and v-neck.

Last fall, in conjunction with the UNIQLO London store opening in November, UNIQLO has teamed up with Pantone, world-renowned authority on color, for the second time, for a special collection of PANTONE-inspired cashmere. The PANTONE Color Collection of 100% cashmere sweaters offers two styles for men including a crewneck and a cardigan, and for women there is a deep v-neck. All styles are offered in a palette of 20 official PANTONE Colors. The PANTONE Cashmere Collection sweaters will retail at the affordable price of $129.50 and will be sold exclusively at the UNIQLO New York Flagship, the UT store, and UNIQLO Japan. UNIQLO’s first collaboration with Pantone was the launch of a line of PANTONE T-shirts earlier this year.


Even better, get 20% off your sweater here!

Above: The pantone T-shirts and their fun packaging

Knit Caps:
Pantone Universe and CA4LA in Japan present some of the hottest caps in the most trend worthy colors. Available at CA4LA stores in Japan

soon available here!

Nike's Pantone Dunks:
Need some kicks to match your sweater and Tees? Nike quietly release a series of Dunks inspired by Pantone color chips. The colors released include this Paradise Aqua, Flamingo Pink, a University Blue, a Pine Green and a Red version. These are amazing with the color-blocking, cool pantone chips insole and the gum outsole:



Buy them here.

The Gopher is an innovative golf accessory designed to provide a single convenient location for your golf ball, divot repair tool, ball marker and two tees. The compact body is made of durable plastic and can be molded in any pantone color!

Order it here.

Softbank's Pantone Phones in japan:

Company most commonly known as Vodafone (but Softbank in Japan) has released a line of Technicolor mobile phones. Offered: are the SoftBank 812SH Sharp: in different shades, based on the Pantone color chart.

see them here.

Mango and Pantone, the PANTONE bag:




This fabulous bag comes in 12 tones for 7 days a week: sand, yellow, chewing gum, chocolate, emerald, pink, green, magenta, peach, azure, steel, jeans.
Buy your Mango pantone bag here!

Pantone Art:
Daniel Eatock's Pantone Pen prints:

Daniel Eatock sets his latest pen print experiment in the second ALSO* commission of The Aram Gallery.

Curator Daniel Charny describes the work:

Eatock’s predictive construct removes the artist’s hand from the pen, reverses the role of the paper, and allows its characteristics and positioning to become the most influential aspect of the work. Balanced on their nibs each of a set of 288 felt tip pens releases ink that expands into the layers of a ream of paper, making each layer of this multi-print different. This predicted variety is translated into a gambling tension for the consumer that chooses to purchase an unknown result on an unseen layer.

Dimensions: SRA1 640 x 900mm Edition Size: 73 original prints

The artist's site.

Appleblueseagreen's Pantone Chips on Canvas:


from AppleBlueSeaGreen.

Associate Art Director Jamie Prokell for Blueprint, the shelter magazine that tried to bring the Martha Stewart lifestyle to a younger market( and ceased regular publication with its January/February 2008 issue) created this fabulous pantone wrapping paper for a baby shower:

I wish it were available for purchase!

A Pantone Manet masterpiece:
Tim Fraser Brown created a reproduction of Édouard Manet's 'Bar at the Folies Bergere' made entirely of old Pantone chips.
Over 5,000 unused chips were painstakingly colour matched and and stuck down over four long nights, and acted as centre piece for a boozey party in their design studio.





The best kept secret?
The previous collection of pantone bags, backpacks, passport holders, travel kits and more (see below) are all on clearance now!






In addition to all this fun stuff, Pantone has many books, tools and even a social network.
Check them out at the following links:
Pantone
Pantone Colorstrology
Pantone Universe

UPDATE: More new collaborations available here.
And the Gap Pantone Pop Up Shop here.

Lights That Will Turn You On. And Vice Versa.

From Droog Design to Martin Guixé, I've found several unsual and beautiful ways to add light to your home. Above are 30 examples, click on each picture for more information.

See more of my over 70 lamps, lightshades and links on Lighten Up! The Best Lighting Out There list at ThisNext.

Product Pick Of The Week: Demarkersvan Lace Fence

Lace Fence designed by the young Dutch firm Demakersvan and produced by IDFence in Bangalore, India, the craftily patterned fencing has sparked interest with art gallery owners, retailers, and architecture firms, not to mention design blogs.



Made from a high-end flexible metal fabric, in addition to being a functional fence its design prevents climbing and can enhance the surroundings.



for more info contact their sales office at info@lacefence.eu
credits: Lace Fence 'product of the month' Architectural record
material: metal fabric, coated steel wire.
photos courtesy of DEMAKERSVAN

Levi's 501 Project Connects With Consumers

This online design project , a component of Levi's and Bravo's Project Runway co-op marketing plan, was an inventive promotion that ended up exceeding Levi's expectations.

The Jan. 23 episode of Project Runway, according to the Nielsen Co., drew 3.2 million viewers, including 410,000 women ages 18 to 24.

Levi's was the first brand partner on the show to drive viewers to a separate online contest focused on a challenge that would resonate with target consumers.

The site received 500 submissions in three days. Sharon Greenwood, Avenue A/Razorfish's creative director on the campaign said " In all, it attracted more than 20,000 registrants — two-thirds women — and 2,500 designs".

The contest was promoted with ads on some online fashion blogs, some gossip blogs and social shopping network sites.

Greenwood's team also incorporated a feature allowing designers to embed their submissions on their own Web pages, blogs and social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

This placed a 'badge" with a Levi's logo and invitations for viewers to vote on the design at Levi's "Project Runway" site.

See an example of the "badge" below:

The feature put the badge before about 30,000 viewers, about half of whom clicked through to Levi's "Project Runway" site, Greenwood said.

In the weeks following the "Project Runway" episode, Levi's nontraditional styles, normally not among its top sellers, took over the top 10 women's styles on its retail site.

By the way, the winners were announced last month and here they are :
First Place:

Above: The first place winner, Jehan.
His/her design will be produced and sold by the Levi’s® brand and sold on levi.com, plus a $501 gift certificate on levi.com.

Levi’s says..."Love the turn back cuff on the sleeve. Cool asymmetrical opening and nice clean tailor details. This design reinvents the trucker jacket with a feminine flare."

Second place winner:

Submitted by Sharpietattoo. Description: Girly pleating gives a softer appeal to this military-inspired dress. Along with Levi’s buttons and rivets, the dress also has the hand pockets from the Trucker Jacket. Gold bodice stitching and a 50’s inspired neckline keep the hip look classic and clean. Zip back, with a functional back button.

Levi’s says...

This is a classy, vintage 50s look, with flattering neckline. Like the back seaming, reminiscent of a trucker vest. The buttons really tie this product back to the 501® Jean in a fresh contemporary way.

Third place winner:

Submitted by Claire
Description: The GOLD RUSH DRESS, comes in dark blue denim with gold metallic top stitched flat felled seams, OR light blue denim with silver metallic topstitching. The Levi's Button lace-up bodice can be worn with the attached modesty panel under the lacing, or flip the panel back under and show some skin.

Levi’s says...
The gold trim and modesty panel are lovely. Really like how this brings the heritage of the Levi's Brand to a flirty new fit.

Second place winner, sharpietattoo, gets a $501 gift certificate for levi.com, and third place winner, Claire gets a $250 gift certificate for levi.com.

So, Congratulations to not only the winners, but also Avenue A/Razorfish, Levi's and Bravo!

The Polish Pavilion Building Design For Shanghai's 2010 Expo

Above: First prize in the competition for concept architectural design of the Polish Pavilion for EXPO 2010 in Shanghai


The victorious design entry for the Polish Pavilion in Shanghai's 2010 Expo is an unusual building resembling a giant paper cut out. To learn more about the contest, the jurors and the rewards, please go here.


Designed by a team of architects which is made up of Wojciech Kakowski, Natalia Paszkowska, and Marcin Mostafa, they describe the winning design as such:

Due to the nature of the exhibition the object must also aesthetically characterise its country of origin, forming a recognisable and stylistically strong cultural landmark. In our basic proposition the essential theme for cultural communication is that of the folklore cut-out. The subject will be presented in a contemporary architectural design. The design will fulfill two goals. Firstly we hope to avoid literal traditionalism and the mechanical repetition of canonical forms. The design of the object is intended to link with tradition, but also to be contemporary, a stylised reinterpretation, creatively connecting to today and inspired by the past, yet not followed it rigidly.

Secondly, a major concern is that the pavilion is a self contained structure, in a purely architectural sense: a calling card of Polish architectural achievement. It must be an attraction and an object which is distinguishable externally, among the backdrop of the other EXPO buildings in daytime – also being lit up outside – at night, it must also make a strong impression internally, by an interwoven design so that the sunlight forms space beneath vaulted arches. The shape of the mass, with many acute surfaces, on one hand fulfills and suggests a folded cut-out card, while on the other hand creates a geometrically interesting interior, which is also an elastic space, that can be creatively divided into interior sections, divided into functional areas for expositions, concerts and domestic needs.

Above: the design team


Above: the totally cool entry ticket, designed in keeping with the look of the pavilion.


Above: Two of the three members of the design team with their winning entry.



Above: the pavilion as it would appear lit at night

To see more sketches, elevations and learn more about the design process, go here. Congratulations guys! It's beautiful. I can't wait to see it in person.You can congratulate them too. Right here.

M•A•C & Fafi's Colorful Collaboration

In the US we are all aware of M•A•C Cosmetics. Highly publicized has been their latest collaboration, a line of make up products, scarves, t-shirts, dolls and makeup cases by French artist Fafi.



But who the heck is Fafi?


Above: french artist Fafi and below, her profile from her own site:

Born and raised in Toulouse France, Fafi's strong presence in the graffiti and fine arts scene was first witnessed on her hometown walls in 1994. Back then, as she was painting and hustling, her sexy, funny, and sometimes aggressive girl characters made the whole world look and help kick-start a whole new graphic language; by exploring feminity through stereotypes,and using it to her advantage, she drew enormous attention and thus started to travel the world with thousands of Fafinettes in her brushes and paint cans. Europe, USA, Japan, Hong-Kong, the planet is a playground. And it's only started.

Soon enough Sony would ask her to design a six-character toy set for the Time Capsules collection, an almost natural move for her three-dimensional measures. Other successful figurines would follow, as well as numerous expositions and collaborations with Colette, Adidas, LeSportSac, Coca-Cola and countless press stories in the most prestigious magazines (ie. Vogue, Elle, The Face, XLR8R, Yen etc...).

The animation world started to eyeblink her vision in Mark Ronson video featuring a Fafi-ed Lily Allen. Her multi-faceted work was all documented in her books GIRLS ROCK (2003) and LOVE AND FAFINESS 2006), both being also succesful prints in museum libraries and selected shops.

As for 2007, Fafi entered a new phase. Having become a mother and moving to Paris made her introduce a new depth to her creations. Now not only the Fafinettes are fly girls, they also run a whole universe of creatures, homes and vehicles. It's called The Carmine Vault. It's a dreamy and peculiar place.

Not only are the products' packaging fun to look at and like little art collectibles, but the colors are nice and springlike without being too bold.
See many of them below.




Highly sought after in particular seem to be her little figurines, Eriko, Monoka and Ermine, which sell for 9$ a piece:



The M•A•C FAFI microsite is not only filled with the whimsical product line but is a delight to click through, with lots of multimedia and interactive fun:





Below are some examples of Fafi's sketches for M•A•C:



Read an interview with the MAC creative director about the collaboration here.




The Artist's site.

The MAC Fafi shopping site.