Hooked On Walls: A Site As Beautiful As The Wallpaper They Make

Obviously I surf the net. A lot. And come across a plethora of wonderfully designed products. But every once in awhile (not often, mind you), the site is as beautiful to look at as the products it's selling and in this case, Hooked On Walls is one of those sites. A company launched in january of this year, Hooked OnWalls is part of the Arte International Collection of fabrics and textiles. The website was designed by the uber talented Group94.

Now, I'm not saying it's beautifully 'designed'. That would imply that the navigation is intuitive, that the menu is clear and that finding what, where and how to purchase is easy. This is not the case here, but rather the images and photography are so compelling that it's a nice a site to sell a photographer's work as it is to showcase these amazing wallpapers. Now, I have contacted them in an attempt to learn who the photographer is but to no avail. If any of my readers know, by all means tell me so I can credit them!

They have four collections, all with edgy names; Jealous Walls, Stolen Diamonds, Hysterical Glamour and Belgian Graffiti.









Each of the collections above has many matching solid colored wallpapers to accompany the patterns, too.

Now take a look at just some of the beautiful photography from the site:
(click on each image to enlarge)













Download some of their lovely wallpapers for your computer, such as the ones shown below, here.




Contact information:

HOOKEDONWALLS
Industriezone‘De Waerde’
Senator A. Jeurissenlaan 1210
B–3520 Zonhoven
Tel. B. +32 11 81 93 10
Fax B. +32 11 81 93 11
sales.export@hookedonwalls.com

Plushdepartment Gives PC's A Modern Makeover With PURE* Computers

Plushdepartment (there is no space between the words) is an Amsterdam company that was formed based on the idea that computers are fantastic machines that enhance our capability to communicate, work, play, keep us informed, enable us to have control over the information, data and media we use like no other machine before... only they didn't look aesthetically pleasing.

They asked themselves "Where were the computers that enhance our living space? Where were the computers that have shape and colour and feel?"

The folks at Plushdepartment started the search for beautiful, colorful, designed computers and found none. So, PURE* Computers was born.




They combined the power of computers with living, organic and beautiful materials. They added color, style and pattern and line to what used to be a boring square box. Inside the PURE*lineup they put balanced high end components. Each selected part is chosen for its excellence in its field. Some parts even had to be developed, like the PSU, which is designed by the electrical engineer of ichbinleise.de.

The ceramic glazed PC housing comes in 10 different colors including natural, terracotta, sky blue, lime and some, like the white and black, come in either a matte finish or a glossy finish. An accompanying 5.1 amplifier is available as well.



They also have this metallic bronze option:


They also have a Gold PC with matching Gold Amplifier:
PURE*GOLD PC Amplifier 5.1



In addition to the solid matte, glossy and metallic colors, they have PURE *Art designs especially created for them by various artisans, like these two fabulous examples:

Delft Blue Series:




Above: The Delft Blue series will be available in a limited amount and with numbered certificate from Royal Delft, Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles anno 1653.

And this fun one by Dutch Graffiti artist Zender:




Above: Zender is a well known Dutch artist working for exibitions, events and graphic design. You can find more of his work here.

Designer Piet Boon will be making one for them in concrete and expect one from designer Edward van Vliet in January.

What's inside:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo; this CPU is very powerful yet very energy efficient.
Motherboard: Kontron; a industrial quality high tech board of superb quality.
Grafik card: ATI 4650 chip with 512MB DDR RAM/ DVI/VGA/HDMI
Hard disk: 1000 Gigabyte with very fast SATA II interface.
Memory: 2 x 2048MB highend Dual Channel RAM 800MHz dual channel.
Sound: 7.1ch HDA / AC-97
Network: 2 x Gigabit LAN connections plus 1 x wifi connection.
USB / Firewire: 8x USB 2.0, 4x RS232C, 2x IEEE1394 (Firewire).

All this makes the PURE*computers very powerfull and reliable and enables you to work fast, enjoy emerging graphics, store thousands of files, MP3's, data, photos or movies and you can easily connect to other computers.

PURE* computers contain the same technology that you find in the ikbenstil.nl computers. Ikbenstil uses the best available cooling technology to create extremely silent high end computers. At the same time those computers are very stable, energy efficient and fast. Because of this technology it is possible to use Plushdepartment computers in every living or working space.



The Plushdepartment Store
Dukdalfweg 30
1041BE Amsterdam
The Netherlands
E-mail: info@plushdepartment.com
Telephone +31-20-3301345

The Pantone Party Continues With More & New Products!

I did a huge post on all things Pantone (the universal color matching system also known as PMS) a ways back and since then there have been some new additions to the market. For those Pantone-loving peeps, here they are!



SeaVees, Purveyors of California Casual, has announced an exclusive collaboration with Pantone, the world-renowned authority on color. True to their inspiration, each SeaVees style is named to honor an influential date in 1960's California-cool history.



With the creation of the 09/63, SeaVees celebrates the founding of Pantone, and the release of the first PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM in September 1963. For the first time in their 45 year history, Pantone has allowed an external design team into their hallowed archives. SeaVees has selected seven vintage colors from the original Pantone color guide.




The palette, chosen from the only authentic guide known to exist, epitomizes the cool, casual style of California in 1963. The series production has been restricted to 1,963 pairs. Each par costs 140.00 USD and will ship in February of 2009. www.seavees.com



Limited edition collection of cuff links and key rings by Sonia Spencer



Inspired by the PANTONE FASHION + HOMES system, Sonia Spencer introduces a striking new collection of contemporary cufflinks and key rings for the modern man and woman. All the items are made from stainless steel for everlasting wear and feature coloured enamel in seasonal PANTONE colors. Each piece comes in a high gloss beautiful black signature box with white leather interior and a PANTONE leaflet showing the colours in that seasonal collection.

Rectangular Chip-shaped Cufflinks:

above: PANTONE cufflinks designed to resemble the iconic PANTONE chip are made from stainless steel for everlasting wear and feature coloured enamel in seasonal PANTONE colors.
The round ones feature a clever design with one color way combination on one side and one on the other, PANTONE reversible cufflinks give two great looks in one beautiful cufflink set. Made from stainless steel and enamel featuring seasonal PANTONE colors

Chip-shaped Keyring:

Above: PANTONE key rings designed to resemble the iconic PANTONE chips are made from stainless steel for everlasting wear and feature coloured enamel in seasonal PANTONE colors.
Buy the above shown Sonia Spencer collection here.

NEW PANTONE Color Splash Drives


Each Color Splash drive is a one-of-kind design. The coloring process produces a random design that is unique to each drive. Drives are a metallic black with a design in one of six colors. These durable, aluminum thumb drives allow you to store your digital photos, music files, business documents, and more on an ultra-small Hi-speed USB flash drive. Please note, these drives can not be personalized. Buy them here

W2 (the people who make the pantone mugs) have some new additions as well:






Above: Beautiful generous messenger bag, available in above colors shown, lots of useful interior pockets and bright colored interior lining. Sling it over your shoulder, great for carrying laptops. (Unfortunately they only ship this product within the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, CH The USA and Canada)


Above: Witty set of 4 espresso cups in differing tones of brown to suit your coffee strength and tastes. Comes in glossy brown packaging, it will make the best present for the design-conscious coffee lover.


Above: New 4 pack espresso cups, in lovely colours.
PAPRIKA 179 C , MUSTARD 130 C, GRAPE 520 C, TURQUOISE 3272 C.


Above is sold as a set and includes Pantone® references for the mugs are as follows: Red 186C, Spearmint 3395C, Royal Blue 286C, Lime Green 388C, Pale Blue 549C, Lilac 2583C, Olive Green 5757C, Black 4C, Orange 021C, Process YellowC.


Above: New for spring 2008, an additional set of 10 colored mugs to compliment the original primary ones. Pantone references for the mugs are as follows: PAPRIKA 179 C, BABY BLUE 292 C, LAGOON BLUE 3025 C, DUCK EGG BLUE 337 C, PEA GREEN 363 C, GRAY (cool gray) 10 C, CHOCOLATE 732 C, MUSTARD 130 C, GRAPE 520 C, TURQUOISE 3272 C.

All the above products can be bought online here.

The item below, the "Rubitone", a Rubik's cube made with pantone colors is only a concept, but I'm sure if it were produced, it would sell.



Be sure to see Pantone Eyewear, carpeting, clothes, toys, shoes, art and more here. And tons of Pantone items for the kitchen here.