Cool Hunting Guest Curates Etsy

by Ami Kealoha

On Etsy today, check out my not-just-for-Halloween picks to see a Hitchcock-inspired headband, jewelry made from snake bones, an ornate heart-shaped eye patch and more! We're excited to take part and thank Etsy for the opportunity.

Tumi Vapor: Polycarbonate Travel Bags

by Karen Day

Launching today, Tumi's new Vapor collection is an ensemble of ultra lightweight polycarbonate travel bags determined to defy airport impediments. The revered luggage label, already known for producing exceptionally durable suitcases, eclipses the competition with this triple-layered polycarbonate built to outlast even the toughest tumble.

Offered in three sizes—an international legal carry on, a medium-sized packing case and a large extended trip case—each boasts a fully-lined, spacious interior and an intuitive organization system. The vapor is ideal for outsmarting new airline luggage weight constraints and features such as rubber molded bumpers add to its damage resistance while the striated metallic surface cleverly hides scratches inevitably incurred over time.

Available now, prices range from $395-545. To purchase or for more images and technical information, visit the Tumi website.

Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids

by CH Contributor

by Tamara Warren

Andy Warhol understood the power of immediacy, and the Polaroid Big Shot camera he purchased in 1970 became his favorite tool to capture the heat of the momentous life he lived. The exhibition Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University features nearly 250 Polaroids and 75 black and white prints of the images taken by Warhol from 1970 to 1987.

Touching on how Warhol experimented with photography, the exhibit includes his films from the 1960s, in addition to thousands of Polaroids featuring celebrity confidantes such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Truman Capote, Dorothy Hamill, Bianca Jagger, Grace Jones, Jack Nicklaus and former Cars vocalist Rick Ocasek, which he used as studies for his silkscreen paintings.

Adding local context to the North Carolina-based exhibit are canvas portraits of Patsy, Andrea, Joan and Nancy Nasher, the wife and daughters of the late Raymond D. Nasher—the museum’s namesake—accompanied by corresponding Polaroid photos.

Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids
12 November - 21 February 2009
Nasher Museum of Art
2001 Campus Drive
Durham, North Carolina 27705 map
tel. +1 919 684 5135

Frank Hülsbömer: The Fiction Of Science

by Karen Day

Using photography as his medium, artist Frank Hülsbömer documents his love affair with objects. The upshot, beautifully-composed, abstract images of various items like colored paper and wire, star in his forthcoming book, The Fiction of Science, along with a detailed explanation of the Berlin-based photographer's both scientific and artistic approach to capturing each article.

A former contributor to Wallpaper Magazine, Hülsbömer made a name for himself photographing exteriors. Applying his studious method to interiors, the lyrical images in his book show how the shift brings an intense concentration on pure form to his work.

Described by curator Matthias Harder as "still lifes," Hülsbömer compositions exclude all signals of a human touch and any reference to landscapes, with minimal acknowledgment of the photographic element. His undoctored, multi-faceted photos make for, as he puts it, "a neutralisation of the senses."

The Fiction of Science is available now throughout Europe and Asia, comes out stateside 1 January 2010 and sells from Gestalten.

Lama Hourani Jewels

by CH Contributor

by Paolo Ferrarini of Future Concept Lab

Jordanian designer Lama Hourani beautifully fuses together materials and gems, past icons and present styles, Middle Eastern tradition and European taste for an elegantly ornate collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

Lama has been designing and producing jewelry since 2000, opening her first store—which doubles as an art gallery and a jewelry store—in 2004, in Amman, Jordan. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, two diplomas in jewelry design and gemology from GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) in addition to a Master’s degree in Product Design from Istituto Marangoni. “I have an artist's heart and a designer's eye. I try to combine them by making art to wear. It's a fun process," Lama explains to CH, regarding her role as both a designer and a fine artist.

Her jewels are mostly inspired by the nature and cultural landscape of Jordan, each collection deeply imbued with signs and symbols from civilizations past. Every piece turns to be a sort of modern amulet, celebrating both global shared heritage and contemporary diversity. Most details and decorations are inspired from archeological relics, old primitive etchings and drawings adorning walls and caves throughout Jordan’s desert regions. She combines precious and semi-precious stones with gold, silver, brass and copper creating both contrast and harmony.

The symbolic inscriptions on her creations feel familiar though they are inexplicable, a universal mysterious language that Lama’s intends “to convey free self-expression, peace and unity without any ethnic, cultural or religious barriers."

More images after the jump

Bits 'n Pieces Exhibition

by Karen Day

From fabric to furniture, advanced technology is quickly changing the face of design. The upcoming interactive traveling exhibition, Bits 'n Pieces, explores the evolution of the post-digital era with a display of objects found within the realms of graphic, product, furniture and jewelery design as well as architecture.

The objects are as aesthetically pleasing as they are technically astounding, each designer demonstrating the future of design is not filled with sterile, emotionless objects. For example, the shape of the Brainwave Sofa created by Unfold's Lucas Maassen and Dries Verbruggen utterly replicates the first three seconds of neural activity in Maassen's mind upon shutting his eyes. The result of the completely scientific process is a smoothly formed sofa in warm gray felt (pictured above).

Ilona Huvenaars and Willem Derks' Knitted Vase beautifully solves the problem of the perfectly sized flower vase, expanding and contracting depending on the amount of flowers it contains (pictured above). Alissia Melka-Teichroew's Jointed Jewelery (pictured below) is brilliant example of selective laser sintering technology. One seamless string of ball joints, it was before impossible to mold a ball joint in ceramics or plastics all in one go, without having to assemble individual pieces together.

Intended as an open dialogue, the collection on display at Material Connexion in NYC is part of an ever-evolving global tour that matures based on feedback provided at each location.

More images after the jump.

Bits 'n Pieces
4 November - 4 December 2009
Opening Reception 4 November 2009, 6-8:30pm
Material Connexion
60 Madison Avenue, 2nd floor NYC
New York, NY 10010 map
tel. +1 212 842 2050