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

Louis Vuitton's First Corporate Advertising Film. Ever.

From LVMH press release:
Louis Vuitton has produced the first corporate advertising film in the history of the brand, expressing its unique identity and values. The captivating film evokes travel as a discovery of the world and a process of self-discovery. The campaign broke on February 15, 2008.

Images and music combine to create an atmosphere of escape as the camera encounters landscapes and faces as if in a dream, accompanied by the captivating Gypsy guitar of composer Gustavo Santaolalla, who won Oscars for his scores of Babel and Brokeback Mountain.

Questions appear on the screen, asking viewers: "Where will life take you?", "What is a journey?", "Does the person create the journey, or does the journey create the person?"...

Above: Louis Vuitton's first corporate advertising film © Louis Vuitton

The new TV ad follows the Louis Vuitton's "Core Values" corporate campaign featuring Mikhail Gorbatchev, Catherine Deneuve, André Agassi and Steffi Graf. This Louis Vuitton's first corporate advertising presents travel as a personal journey, without recognizable stars or products, references to the brand or even recognizable places. The effect is a total and immediate immersion.

This first-ever on-screen corporate campaign by a luxury house has been translated into thirteen languages. It will be shown worldwide in selected movie theaters and on cable and satellite TV channels throughout 2008.

Film Director: Bruno Aveillan
Soundtrack: Gustavo Santaolalla
Creative Director: Christian Reuilly (Ogilvy&Mather)

Ten Good Reasons To Go To Next Month's ICFF

With hundreds of established and upcoming designers and products, this years show should be quite impressive. Below is a sneak peek at a very, very tiny selection of what you will find there.

Just 10 of the cool products to be shown at this years ICFF show:

Above: The Milk desk from Holmris Office, designed by Holmris Hansen

Above: The Bettylou lamp from mark mckenna

Above: Marcel Wanders new outdoor furniture, the Chubby, from Slide Design of Italy

Above: The Zephyr Rug by Kelly Wearstler for The Rug Company

Above: Central Saint Martins Wallpaper by eco for Graham & Brown

Above: the Gli Specchi di Dioniso mirror by Ettore Sottsass for GlasItalia

Above: The Arne Tub for Rapsel Spa

Above: The Wandregal one piece shelving from Atelier Alinea

Above: the Fibo mirror from Prealpi

Above: the beautiful silk tibetan and new zealand wool rugs of Amy Helfand

This years IFCC (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) will be May 15-20 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

2008 Bombay Sapphire Prize Gallery
Of Over 30 Finalists

UPDATE:
Live from Milan: the winners of the Bombay Sapphire Prize have been announced, with designers Annie Cattrell and Yuichi Higashionna sharing the £25,000 prize money. Today’s movie on Dezeen features interviews with judges Karim Rashid and Dan Klein who explain the winning pieces and why they won.

It's that time of year again.
The time when Bombay Sapphire announces the shortlisted finalists for their every growing Glass Competition, this year shown at The Milan Furniture fair.

What Is It?
Begun in 2001, The Bombay Sapphire Prize is now the largest worldwide glass design competition.

All entries submitted must have used glass as the primary material in a physical structure or object. Acceptable entries included products, artwork, buildings or part of a building and must exist as a tangible object or structure. Film and documentation were accepted only as part of an architectural submission. Glass must be essential to both the concept and the desired expression. Winner gets £20,000 and best newcomer, £5,000.

Who picked the finalists?
Judges included Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Nicole Fahri, Thomas Featherwick, Lesley Jackson, Dan Klein, Karim Rashid, and Nadja Swarovski.

Below is the gallery of over 30 finalists directly from Bombay Sapphire, to see the shortlisted 25, check over at Dezeen. And be sure to see their video diary of the competition here.