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

Ototo's Balloon Doggy Bank Exclusive Sale- SOLD OUT

I will be selling some limited edition design items in very limited quantities that are very hard to find in the US.

I'm starting with this fabulous Doggy Bank by Ototo Design Studio of Israel.

This ceramic doggy bank is glazed in high polish gold and has a slot for coins with a removable plug on the bottom. It's a nice large size, 12.5" from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail and stands 8" tall, and looks wonderful on a mantel or shelf. Sculpted to resemble a Balloon dog, it makes a great gift for children or adults. It even has felt pads for the feet to protect any surface. Comes in the manufacturer's box, safely packaged.

Suggested retail is $74.00 and the least expensive I could find it was for $57.00 +$25.00 shipping here, so this is an excellent deal. The bank will ship priority mail (so no PO boxes) beginning Friday, December 5th and arrive in 2-3 days.

sorry, but these have sold out.

It's A Lamp. It's A Speaker. It's The Amplamp By Futuros

Is it a table lamp? Is it an audio speaker? The truth is that the amplamp is a unique combination of both. The amplamp is hand-crafted by Dominic Bromley, one of the UK's most successful lighting and ceramics designers - and the guy behind Scabetti.

what does it look like?
Available in black or white and with your choice of shade.

How does it work?

Amplamp delivers a unique sonic experience that easily compares to the most advanced consumer audio products. The sound combines tightly controlled deep bass with crystal clear presence, accuracy and precision.

By using a unique configuration of Airsound drivers and a transparent NXT panel speaker, the Amplamp is able to create a 360 degree spatial sound with realistic staging. The listener is enveloped in exquisite stereo sound, regardless of wherever they are in the room.

With the shade in place, the unit delivers above 20kHz, which is higher than you can hear - the domain of cats and bats. And at the same time it reaches down to less than 40Hz - lower than the lowest note on a bass guitar. So you really will not miss a thing.

Features include:

• On-board amplifier - 80 watts including sub woofer
• Spatial stereo from one amplamp
• NXT and Airsound technologies
• Optional docking station controls and charges your iPod

An exceptional speaker- The amplamp takes the speaker out of the conventional black box. An active speaker for an iPod, MP3 player or any other sound source, the amplamp uses cutting edge technology to produce a precision, room-filling stereo sound from a single unit.

The listener is enveloped in exquisite stereo sound, regardless of where they are in the room. A powerful, vertical-firing, bass sub woofer adds a depth and richness only found in larger, higher specification, hi-fi systems.

About NXT technology:

NXT's technologies are unique and based on harnessing the natural modes of vibration in a panel to reproduce sound. These technologies are derived from a profound understanding of bending wave physics and its applications to sound generation.

Traditional speakers act like a piston, pumping air with a rigid cone. NXT speakers are different. A transducer is used to excite a carefully designed panel, which vibrates, & converts the mechanical energy into sound pressure waves over the entire surface area. It is the same principle that makes an acoustic guitar or violin make its sound.

An additional characteristic is that the sound volume does not decay over distance like a standard speaker. This allows users to set a volume that is comfortable whilst they are sitting close to the unit while also being sufficient to fill the whole room with sound.

A powerful, vertical-firing, bass sub woofer adds a depth and richness only found in larger, high-specification, hi-fi systems.

About airsound technology:
It works by using small side firing speakers to reproduce spatial information contained within a stereo input signal. The resulting sound is used to interact with & modify the mono sound field generated by a forward facing NXT panel speaker.

Pre-order yours now here. Or call: +44 (0)1249 700 643
Read about Dominic and Frances Bromley of Scabetti here.

Other wild audio speakers worth checking out:

Ross Lovegrove's KEF Muon Speakers

Tons of unusual and amazing audio speakers

The G1 Giya speakers

the wireless Ferrari speakers

Symbio Design's Loud speakers

Artcoustic wall speakers

Mini-Gods speakers from Marka27

It's About Time Someone Created Hip Watch Winders: SwissKubiK.

Up until now, most of the automatic watch winders I've ever seen were very conservative and traditional in their styling. But now I've found SwissKubiK of Geneva, Switzerland who makes a much more youthful and hip, but equally functional, watch winder for those of you with automatic watches.

In addition to a large selection of colored anodized aluminum ones, wood ones and leather ones, they have a limited edition (200 of each) 'pop art' collection by artist Andrew McCarthy which features legendary actors and actresses like Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen printed upon leather:

Above: the "pop art" collection; legends on leather

The SwissKubiK watch winder has been entirely conceived and produced in Geneva, fully respecting Swiss quality tradition, in order to satisfy the most exacting requirements imposed by the highest-quality Swiss Watch Manufacturers.

The SwissKubiK watch winder distinguishes itself by its modern design, housed within the minimal space of a compact square cube 3.937 inches (10 cm), exclusively dedicated to the continuous rewinding of automatic mechanical timepieces.

The SwissKubiK watch winder is available in numerous colors and materials: - anodized aluminum, leather saddle style stitching, precious wood or stingray skinodized.

Versions of the watch winder are available for 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12 or 15 watches. You may add acrylic glass hinged 'window' to each watchwinder for dust protection if so desired.

The custom 'Python', created to hold 24 watches and clad in genuine python leather:

A very special limited edition, the Joker, contains over 3, 500 full cut diamonds and is housed in 18k white gold:

• Personalized special orders can also be accommodated with specific colors or materials or for a larger collection of watches.

• For antique watches, collection timepieces or watches with specific requirements recommended by the watch manufacturers, the SwissKubiK watch winder can be programmed using the optional USB computer interface cable.

• The SwissKubiK watch winder is guaranteed 3 years from the date of purchase.

Swiss KubiK SA was founded by Philippe Subilia in December of 1998 to create, design and manufacture watches and horological products.

57 Rue de Rhone
1204 Geneve
Tel + 41 22 310 79 19
Fax + 41 22 310 79 20

Steven Meisel's 'Patterns' Photographs Spawn A Limited Edition Jigsaw Puzzle

above: the cover of the editorial and the limited edition jigsaw puzzle

If you didn't catch Fashion photographer Steve Meisel's amazing photos for the 'Patterns' editorial in last Spring's Italian Vogue, take a look at them here (courtesy of art+commerce).

The creative folks at New York's LOLZ (a self described "Digital Whatever" agency) had some fun a few months back when Apple's Air Book was launched. They created a micro site touting the Air Poo (trademarked, of course), the most convenient way to surf the net while seated comfortably and enjoying surround sound, all while ridding yourself of excess waste.

If you didn't catch this Poonovation (their word) the first time it made the rounds, you can catch it here. It's well done, very humorous and... the sort of concept, that if every actually produced, probably would have longer waiting lists than the iPhone did.

See the mock site here.
See more of their fun and engaging work and learn about LOLZ LLC here

Artists & Designers Make Scents; Six of Them. Series One.

Six Scents
Curated by Joseph Quartana (Seven New York), Six Scents: Series One, is a collection of scents that were created by six renowned perfumers working with six celebrated designers.

These are not mainstream designers – they are all on the cutting edge, each with a unique vision. Each pairing created a fragrance that will be offered in a limited quantity of 2,000 units, with individually numbered, custom packaging.

Like the fashions these designers create, these fragrances are not geared for the mass market – each team worked with an artistic concept in mind – not a target demographic. A percent of the net proceeds will go towards awareness and funding for the Designers Against AIDS (DAA), International AIDS Awareness Education Center in Antwerp.

Series One
No.1 - Alexandre Herchcovitch & Joachim Correl: