If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Musical Instruments For Your Eyes: Modern Pianos From Schimmel & Bosendorfer

Two of the most respected and renowned German piano makers have some amazing models with which you may not be familiar. Some are designed in conjunction with fine artists or Porsche Design and some are being hailed for their design in worldwide competitions. Schimmel and Bosendorfer are both well established, centuries old, family founded companies who make several lines of quality pianos. In addition to making traditional Grands and Uprights, they both manufacturer modern and unusual instruments that are as pleasing to the eye as the ear.

Take a look:

Schimmel Konzert Grand (The Glass Grand Concert Piano)
K 213 Glas, length: 213 cm | 7’0’’ inch

Schimmel Konzert Grand (The Pegasus Grand Concert Piano)
K 208 Pegasus, length: 208 cm | 6’10’’ inch

The Pegasus in white:

Schimmel Konzert Grand (The Concert Grand Piano by Artist Otmar Alt)
K 213 Otmar Alt, spezial colour, length: 213 cm | 7’0’’ inch

Schimmel Upright- C 116 M.

This new model Schimmel has just won one of the most renowned and challenging international design competitions, the "red dot award: product design 2008“.

Contact info:
Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik GmbH
Friedrich-Seele-Straße 20
38122 Braunschweig
Germany
Phone +49 (0)531/8018-0
Fax +49 (0)531/8018-163
info@schimmel-piano.de

The Bösendorfer EDGE – Design by Edelweiss Industrial Studio:

Design by F. A. Porsche for Bosendorfer:

The Bosendorfer Brüssel, Designed by Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Felsenstein, office Nobert Schlesinger:

above: Specially designed logo for Model Brüssel

Contact Info:
L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH
Graf Starhemberg-Gasse 14, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Bösendorferstraße 12, A-1010 Vienna, Austria
mail@boesendorfer.com, www.boesendorfer.com

Be sure to see Bosendorfer's latest collaboration with Audi designs here.

Multi Hip & Multifunctional: ]the MultiPot & the MultiBook

The MultiPot:

Article:	MultiPot
Family:	MultiPot
Year:	2005
Designer:	Dante Donegani - Giovanni Lauda

This belongs to a new generation of lighting objects and is the first of the Rotaliana products to combine lighting with other functions. This hybrid, multi functional lamp combines a LED ambient light with a multi socket, along with a space to tidy cables in the lamp’s vase.

MultiPot provides new comfort levels, both in the home and at work by catering for both old and new requirements: our habit of emptying keys and other personal items, from pockets into containers, with new requirements to manage our increased use of rechargeable multimedia equipment, home computers and the transformation of televisions into home theatres. With its familiar looks, lighting function and translucent finish (to filter the light while masking the electric cables), MultiPot is a picture of elegant functionality.

And now available in Glam colors:

Article:	MultiBook
Family:	MultiBook
Year:	2007
Designer:	Dante Donegani - Giovanni Lauda

The MultiBook:
A multifunctional lamp for use at home, on a table or desk, as a bedside lamp or while travelling … Its book shape combines different uses:
• Around 3 sides are 74 LEDs for a diffused
light;
• inside there is a 3-way multisocket and a
container for cables and transformers;
• the spine has a calendar and digital clock;
• the top cover has an illuminated label for your personal details.

With its book form and luminous performance, MultiBook is a technical object with a familiar face. It’s your personal toolkit to use in any situation: to light your desk, keep it tidy and free from the usual array of cables; to use as a clock in the bedroom, to recharge your mobile and MP3 batteries and when you travel, you can store the transformers for all your electrical equipment.

Made from plastic the MultiBook comes in 4 finishes: black, white, lacquer red and blue. The decoration is inspired by the ars illuminandi, or miniature illustrations that are found in medieval texts.

Where can you buy them?
Find the nearest dealer by checking out the manufacturer's site here.
Or from Ambiente Direct

The Masters Meet Ikea:
Koya Abe and his Digital Art:

Digital artist Koya Abe's Project: Display 3 is a series of large c-prints that combine the human subjects of traditional European Portraiture paintings with images of contemporary interiors, creating an unusual contrast that is virtually impossible to ignore.

the project as explained by the artist:
PROJECT: Digital Art Chapter 3:

Visual technology and installation systems have been developed to create displays for the ideas of perception and desire. Human beings seek ways to portray themselves within a social context. In such they will seek to use representations of common desires to represent the way in which they seek to be perceived. People aspire to have an ideal display of their life. Ironically, at the same time they to seek to find their ideal life within the display. Modern commercialism realized this strategy and engaged the method of display in the same way that traditional portrait painters had in the past.

This project explores two apparently different periods and art traditions. One area is the tradition of European portrait painting and the other is the “art” of modern commercial presentation. In this context, the paintings are historical masterpieces intended for an exclusive audience and the other is a commercial interior showroom for the mass market. These two image sources were created in different physical, historical and conceptual terms, the “high art” of the aristocracy and the “consumer art” of an Ikea showroom. However, they have one area of common ground; an idea that I refer to as “display.” This is a key concept for both of these visual sources and is an underlying concept for art and visual history.

Koya Abe is a Japanese artist who has resided in New York City since 1994. He currently teaches photography and digital imaging in the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University.

The NY Times said ..."Koya Abe is a Japanese-born artist with one eye on cultural stereotypes of the East and the other on the ''Wild West'' of Hollywood movies and tourist destinations. Using digital technology, he inserts Samurai warriors and other figures in traditional Japanese costume into re-enactments of American frontier gunfights and pioneer life. This cultural crossover is both amusing and disconcerting in its blend of mythologies."

Visit the artists site here.

Koya Abe

Buddha Bounty: All Things Buddha

More and more people seem to call themselves 'spiritual' in lieu of 'religious' these days. Although the above items are not for serious buddhists, who will scoff at the crass commercialism of their deity, they may appeal to those who like the look and symbolism of Buddha, be it siddhartha, Tibetan, or other. I've found 30 contemporary (and some super luxe) Buddha and Buddha-inspired items available for purchase.

My personal favorite? The 56 faceted real, earth-mine, completely hand cut and polished diamond in the shape of a Buddha from The Buddha Diamond Company. Now, that's what I call a religious experience.

Whether you are a real Buddhist or merely one of the spiritual folk who prefers to believes in karma than organized religion, here are a bunch of Buddha items to either rub, light, live with, eat, smoke from or display.
Just click on the pic above for more info and to purchase.

Also worth a mention:
Buddh-its, buddha shaped sticky notes