The process of making cognac is a combination of art, science, experience, devotion and genius. In keeping with the passion and vision that goes behind each bottle, cognac connoisseur Rémy Martin has teamed up with visionary artists from the world of art, design, photography and architecture on various projects.

An ideal match for the luxury brand, Rémy Martin asked French industrial designer Christophe Pillet to create a limited-edition set to accompany Louis XIII cognac. The contemporary set includes a silver illuminated serving platter, a crystal glass and candleholder and a display case. A protégé of Philippe Starck, Christophe has worked independently since 1993 designing products for some of the best brands in the world including Capellini, Shu Uemura, Driade and the interior architecture of the Hôtel Sezz in Paris. The set is available upon request on the Louis XIII website.

Another brilliant collaboration, Rémy Martin also recently launched a book by Matthew Rolston, "beautyLIGHT", a showcase of some of Matthew Rolston's best photographs from the past 20 years. Discovered by Andy Warhol at an early age, in addition to Interview Magazine, Matthew has shot iconic covers for numerous publications like Rolling Stone and BlackBook, as well as directed music videos for Madonna, Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz and more. Be one of 600 to pick up the collector's edition, which includes a signed print.

You can purchase the collector's edition or the standard form from teNeues.

The Como group, official distributor of the Smart brand in Paris and Île-de-France, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary at the Grand Palais with a limited edition offering of ten Smart cars produced in ten stunning colors, all specially upholstered by Hermès.

The Fortwo Toile H edition features a saddle-stitched leather steering wheel and gear lever, Toile H covered compartments and coachwork, luxuriously detailed pockets and even sports a rear umbrella stay. At 38,000€ for the coupé, the Toile H edition will cost you roughly four times the 2008 standard edition, but this is Hermès we're talking about.

Check out a host of images at Dezeen.

The brainchild of LA-based Frenchman Christophe Loiron, Mister Freedom is a denim clothing line produced by Toyo Enterprises (of Sugar Cane and Buzz Rickson fame) that sticks to an overarching Naval theme. Like the first line, the new winter collection imagines the tailored clothing of a merchant Navy sailor as he travels the seven seas. This time around, we find our sailor in the Southern Indian Ocean on his last cruise after 10 years in the service. Now an "old salt" in mariner's parlance, the clothes are weathered and faded by the extremes of sun, ocean water and use.

Titled "The Last Cruise, Salty Years," the collection focuses on extreme weather gear. With cuts and designs from early 20th century military wardrobes, the pieces use durable denim and authentic vintage flourishes. The Denim Pea Coat follows the 1910 Navy pattern and uses 14oz dark indigo selvedge denim made from a 50/50 blend of sugar cane fiber and cotton. The Foul Weather Coat is made of a blue "jungle cloth" used by the Navy from the 1920s to 1950s. A material known for being sturdy and weatherproof, while remaining comfortable to wear. It uses an exact replica of the 1930s "hookless" zipper and is fully lined with a naval wool blanket. Other items include a pair of Modified Type 7161 denim jeans, a wool/cotton sweater, a Denim CPO Overshirt, a Wool Watch Cap, a Jungle Cloth and Chambray Rain Hat and three different t-shirts.

One particularly interesting stylistic touch is the "Liberty Cuff." In the 1920s, it was common for enlisted men to have local tailors add multicolored stitching to the inside of sleeves. That way, it wouldn't be visible to their superiors while on the job, but they could fold up the sleeves to impress the locals while on shore leave. The mermaid design (pictured above) can be found in the Pea Coat and serves as both an attractive design element and interesting historical note.

Mister Freedom can be purchased through CH favorites Self Edge. Kiya Babzani, the San Francisco shop's proprietor, went so far as to call Mister Freedom "maybe the most important line being produced in the world right now." And that's high praise, considering the source.

Back in Utah in the summer of 2005 two gents, bored with the look of standard chunkier shoes (i.e. Vans, Chucks, etc.) and looking for something slimmer, lighter weight and just a bit different than what was readily available, decided to start a little company called Zuriick. The Ake was their first design, in which they chose bright colors and a contrasting purple sole to set them apart from anything else being done at that time. That first foray has now expanded into a full line of stylish and affordable men's and women's footwear that yesterday saw the launch of another two colors of their popular Beata model.

As the holiday decor and requisite complaints about it begin, it's also time to turn to resources like the good people at OZOlife, the online magazine and daily email about smart, sustainable living, who are offering a gift pack that will be sure to please even the fussiest friend.

Each gift pack includes seven essential items designed to ease your eco-conscience, daily life and wallet—from the classic Sigg bottle to a toothbrush made from recycled plastic yogurt containers.

At $105, you can purchase the gift pack today from OZOlife. Keep an eye out for it along with other great gift options in the Cool Hunting gift guide come Thanksgiving or check out last year's to get a jump start on the brainstorming.

Ever the fashion pundits, the French have extended their obsession for what is très chic by asking design legend and man behind the house of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, to design the 2009 issue of "Le Petit Larousse Illustrè." Translated in English as "Larousse Small Illustrated Dictionary," besides lending his artistic talents, Lagerfeld himself is included in the book's encyclopedia of proper names along with the likes of Brad Pitt and acclaimed French actress Marion Cotillard.

A realistic sketch of Lagerfeld graces the limited-edition box cover, next to the phrase habillé par Karl Lagerfeld (or "dressed by Karl Lagerfeld") and on the dictionary's front cover itself, La Semeuse blows the seeds of knowledge wearing nothing but blue evening gloves.

Released earlier this month, the book is available for €50 on French Amazon.

I announced Freehands a little over a month ago and am happy to post an update that our inventory is now in and orders are being filled! In case you missed the previous post, Freehands, the gloves that let you keep in touch, feature fold-back thumb and index finger tips to expose the fingers you need to use a touch screen, keyboard, MP3 player, PSP or simply to pull something out of your wallet. Small magnets keep the folded back tips from flopping around when they're folded back.

For our first season we wanted to keep things simple. We created three unisex styles: Fleece, Stretch and Leather available in sizes extra small to extra large. We decided to only make them in one color: black. Perhaps the best part, they're $20 (Fleece), $30 (Stretch) and $40 (Leather).

Buy before Saturday and enter the promotion code COOLHUNTING at checkout to get a 20% discount.

Herbert Baglione is one of Brazil's most provocative exports, currently bringing his humanistic paintings to a new show in London. Baglione got his start as a street artist, painting huge figures onto the sidewalks and intersections of São Paulo throughout the '90s, but has since taken only to the galleries drawing on his street background.

His latest work, "Two Broken Knees," projects extreme human figures in a style influenced by cave paintings. The show is comprised of twenty paintings that bring to life urban textures and typography in the medium of acrylics and enamel. To Baglione, the show is a ritual in search of lost faith in urban settings throughout the world. Check out a video of Balione at work, below.

Two Broken Knees
21 November-20 December 2008
Lazarides Gallery
8 Greek Street
Soho, London
England map
tel. +44 (0)203 214 0055

Trained architect Matt Duffin's sparse illustrations of symbolically loaded objects, anthropomorphic donkeys, and children's toys, are full of dark and blank spaces that make their subjects seem isolated and alone to the point of dread. Extreme sources of light up the drama of Duffin's images, and despite the storybook-ish quality of his wax drawings, they convey a sense of impending doom.

In a world becoming more advanced every minute, with everything from virtual reality pinball machines to the common smart phone, it's difficult to make sense of it all. U.K. design studio (and CH heroes) Troika (check out Troika on CH Video here) does just that with their recent book, "Digital By Design," a complete survey of the most innovative digital products and works of art today. Way more than your standard coffee-table book, "Digital By Design" assesses the relationships between technology, product design, immersive environments and human interaction from a standpoint of how they relate to our daily lives. Commissioned by renowned art publisher Thames and Hudson and featuring a foreword by MoMA's design curator Paola Antonelli, Troika explores intelligent design and the designers behind the objects extensively and with an objective perspective.

Graduates of the Royal College of Art, the trio behind Troika are particularly well-suited for the project, drawing on their backgrounds in graphics, communication, art, product design and engineering to create works that toy with technology's role and capabilities, most notably their recent digital sculpture, "Cloud," at Heathrow airport (see our 2006 video for examples).

The book is available at Borders and Amazon.

A collaboration between brothers Matt and Justin Kleiner, the Protist is a music, art and design hybrid based out of Santa Barbara. Their latest project is a series of paintings that are meant to correspond with a soundtrack of original compositions. Images take traditional Japanese archetypes and couple them with more contemporary graphics and word fragments. Songs are brooding electronic soundscapes that take cues from electronic acts like Modeselektor and more recent Radiohead, a band who's song "Reckoner" they remix for the project.

The project's conceptual underpinnings use nature to illustrate different cycles, like life and death, or night and day. Following the same theme, the music tends to vacillate between lighter and darker moods.

You can view paintings and listen to the corresponding music on the Protist's website. Music, the clothing and other merchandise (also of their design) is available as well.

Screaming for ice cream is easier than ever with Ice Cream Keeper, an insulated foam-core container than keeps your ice cream frozen while in transit. From Zak Designs, a leader in dinnerware and lunch kits made from melamine, a very durable thermosetting plastic. In combination with the insulation is the keeper's screw-off lid with freezable gel insert, which helps keep ice cream cold for up to an hour and a half. Available in four colors and large enough to hold a pint-sized container, the Ice Cream Keeper is great for taking ice cream home from the grocery or as dessert to a dinner party.

While the patent is still pending, the keeper should be ready just in time for summer enjoyment.

This trio of retro digital watches comes courtesy of a collaboration between Raised by Wolves and Furni (who worked with CH on the ever-popular Farmer Watch last year). This time around, our friends from the north opted for three color options to reflect a 3D theme (Black, Red and Cyan) and a 1980s-style LCD screen. Water-resistant and bound with a sturdy PVC strap, the watch has an Indiglo-style lighting system and bears an engraving perfectly suited for the Canadian winter. Other features include a phone book, stop watch, countdown timer and multiple alarms with variable melodies.

The watches can be purchased in the Furni shop for $28 each, or as a two-watch combo for $58. To sweeten the deal, the first 50 combo sets come with a free 3D book titled "You, Me and 3D: Workstations in Different Places." The book (pictured above, conveniently opened to the Cool Hunting page) shows the workplaces used by dozens of artists, editors, designers and all-around awesome people, as chosen by Furni and Raised by Wolves.

There's a lot of buzz around Aston Martin these days and deservedly so. You might have heard about the new Aston One-77 (it's been around the blogs) and if you've seen the "Quantum of Solace" Bond flick then you've glimpsed the new Aston Martin DBS. While both are attractive and presumably provide a great driving experience, we're more captivated with the Aston One-77 because of its customization possibilities, high-quality craftsmanship and low volume production run—only 77 were made (hence the name) and all have already sold for £1.2 million each.

With the new One-77, the Aston Martin brand has carved out a level of luxury rarely available to even the wealthiest. The low volume production of 77 vehicles gives Aston Martin the freedom to approach the design and manufacturing process in a different way. By doing so, they pretty much skip mass production techniques, handcrafting each exterior panel of the One-77. Featuring a carbon fiber body structure, the engineers will even customize the paddle shifts according to your preference—some like them heavier or lighter feeling. The car boasts a 700hp, 7.3 L, v12, six-speed manual transmission engine and is said to accelerate dramatically in any gear at any speed. "It almost feels as if you're doing something wrong," comments the design director Marek Reichman.

Check out the two videos produced by Aston Martin above to learn more about the One-77 and the Aston Martin brand (part one at top, part two at middle).

Unity Peg's unconventional graphics of conventional domestic products printed on tea towels and tablecloths are an easy way to liven up kitchens with modern graphic flair. The brainchild of an Australian husband-and-wife duo, their goal with Unity Peg it to explore visual ideas and carry them out on textiles, making the mundane household item modern and relevant again.

Beginning with the "Wash Up" series, furniture designer Jane Atfield and artist Robert Shepherd created a range of tea towels which boast bold colors and simple outlines of items like cleaning supplies and plumbing. Their acute sense for captivating color schemes and interesting compositions is apparent from their initial series to their latest, which features playful graphics of various weather elements. Included in their collection is a customizable tea towel, offering the important date of your choice in large block numbers.

Designed to evoke emotion, the tablecloth "Picnic" encourages people to dine together outside or to bring about a sense of nature indoors if used as a wall hanging. Even more curious though are Utility Peg's self adhesive wall stickers, a collection of high quality cut-outs that range from animals to musical instruments. Easy to apply to a variety of smooth surfaces, they are great for decorating a child's room or adding a bit of character to a lackluster wall, the perfect example below in which Unity Peg was commissioned to brighten up the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Unity Peg products are available on their website, where you can also see their list of upcoming exhibitions and shows.

In an abandoned apartment in the south of the city, Roger Hiorns turned the idea of sculpture inside out, covering the walls of a room with copper sulphate solution which, after a few weeks, transformed into bright blue copper sulphate crystals. Whether there's any political message in covering a room in crystals in Elephant and Castle, certainly one of London's less affluent neighborhoods, has been left open to debate.

Florida-based artist, Andy Espinoza, studies at the Ringling College of Art and Design, majoring in Illustration. His paintings are beautifully conceptualized, rich in narrative and technically impressive. Of his work, he says, "I see each human figure as a unique challenge. I am coaxed to find the unique relationship between the shapes and tones that give the particular subject its subtle appeal and unrepeatable vitality. My paintings are not photographic representations of my subjects, but rather are my elaboration of what I find to be of value in them."

Currently on view at Lehmann Maupin in New York, Japanese artist and Kaikai Kiki collaborator Mr. is presenting his first foray into film with "Nobody Dies," a 35-minute short about a group of adolescent Japanese girls who partake in a paintball riddled war game of capture-the-flag.

Carefully toeing the line between perversion and commentary, the film is a continuation of the artist's investigation into the Otaku subculture and its fetishization of kawaii, or cuteness. Roughly half the film documents the everyday lives of these young girls while the second act features the group costumed in neon camo-garb (also designed by Mr.) and taking their game a little too literally. Throughout the film, the camera lingers suggestively on the girls, like the eyes of a shut-in comic geek, making for an altogether uncomfortable viewing. Which is likely the point.

"Nobody Dies," which was inspired by Mr.'s 2007 painting "It hurts when it hits bare skin," is supported by works on paper, the large-scale painting "Gothca-Gotcha" (above, click for detail), and his first works in photography (top). The monumental "Gothca-Gotcha" is a delight to behold, its multi-colored surface calling to mind a giant gumball machine. Perhaps this sentiment is not too far off the mark. The painting, as the press materials explain, "reflects a pastime of Japanese misfits. Crowds gather in the Akihabara (Akiba) neighborhood around toy dispensers similar to those found in American supermarkets in hopes of winning coveted prizes. Never knowing exactly what item will emerge, they cheer “gotcha-gotcha”, the sound that the machine makes as it is dispensing the toy."

Nobody Dies
Through 21 February 2009
Lehmann Maupin
201 Chrystie Street
New York, NY 10002 map
tel +1 212 254 0054

Full caption info after the jump.

For the inner composer in you, Sonoma Wire Works created a new iPhone application that allows you to record music anywhere. The process is as easy as sliding the record button to the right, belting out lyrics and hitting the stop button. With its clever interface, the four-track recorder allows you to execute a full harmony by recording one track while listening to the other three, and the WiFi compatibility makes it so you to upload your jam to any computer in WAV format in just about five minutes. Revolutionizing portable music production, FourTrack is a guaranteed hit.

You can purchase the application through the iTunes store for $10.

by Russ Lowe

Emerging from a veritable seedbed of interesting architectural endeavors, one of Portland's latest and most compelling building projects is as much a study in anatomy as it is in design. A community-focused and environmentally conscious new development, Clinton Condominiums unites spectacular design with ergonomic construction.

The sophomore release from celebrated mixed-use developer Randy Rapaport takes its name from one of the Southeast quadrant's most beloved neighborhoods, where one can meander a one-block tract and find everything from foreign cult films to offbeat wine-bars.

Designed by Portland-based Holst Architecture, the building is clad in an already oxidized Cor-ten steel hull that grows stronger as it seasons and inlaid with a facade of air-colored glass monoliths, the structure is redolent of some hulking organic ark. The sparse interior combines black walnut, svelte steel fixtures and vast amounts of natural light for a sort of newfangled urban sanctum.

Retail proprietors were quick to snatch up the ground-level, currently occupied by a gourmet bakery and an acclaimed family yoga studio, coincidentally positioned squarely at the heart of the building.

Residential units range from sub-1000 square foot one bed/one bath studios priced in the mid-200s, to nearly 1500 square foot two bed/two bath condos that squeak in under 500K.

A biennial of a slightly different sort, Electrohype is an exhibition of computer-based art featuring 10 artists from six countries.

The fifth such exhibit in a decade, this year's theme touches upon the rhythmic aesthetic of machines working toward a singular purpose. There promises a lot of whirring, buzzing with lights flashing in a way that seeks to challenge how we perceive time and space.

“We have chosen works that in a unique way are complex in their own small universes—and makes us think about what we often takes as given,” says exhibit director Anna Kindvall, an artist in her own right.

Electrohype 2008
Through 25 January 2008
Drottninggatan 6A
212 11 Malmö
Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)40 18 26 90

Sol LeWitt's final triumph opened today at the MASS MoCA. Conceived by the artist before his death last year, he developed the idea with the Yale University Art Gallery, and then partnered with the MASS MOCA and the Williams College Museum of Art to create it. The 27,000 sq foot installation of his Wall Drawings comfortably lives on three floors in the newly renovated Building #7 at the MASS MoCA campus. The 105 large scale drawings are installed in a space renovated to LeWitt's specifications—and you'll probably discover that he was as gifted with spatial relationships as he was with painting. He chose this building—expertly renovated by Cambridge-based Bruner/Cott & Associates Architects and Planners—because of its many windows and the courtyard between it and one of the main buildings because he believed Building #7 would best accommodate his works.

I'll let the following images speak for themselves, but I will highly recommend an overnight or weekend trip to the North Adams/Williamstown area to see the retrospective. It's incredibly moving, and since it will be around for the next 25 years you have plenty of time to plan a trip.

In addition to its excellent website featuring views of the installation by grid or floorplan, you can also download a full series of Podcasts on the installation from iTunes.

The installation is also the inspiration for two new books: "Sol LeWitt: 100 Views," a catalog of the exhibition published by MASS MoCA and Yale University Press, which will be available in March 2009; and a three-volume Catalogue Raisonné published by the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale University Press and due out in 2010. For more information or to preorder, contact jjoseph [at] massmoca [dot] org.

The nearby Williams College Museum of Art has a parallel show, The ABCDs of Sol LeWitt, featuring works from his private collection. On view from today through 17 May 2009.

Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective at the MASS MoCA
1040 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247 USA
Tel: +1 413.662.2111
Open now through 2033

Many more images after the jump.

Tomorrow multi-talented Hungarian-American artist Rita Ackermann celebrates the release of "Under Pressure from 2006 - 2007," a new collection of her collages and installation work. With an extensive curriculum of projects and exhibitions (if you've been to the NYC bar Max Fish, you've seen some of her work in the stained-glass windows), the book itself is a forty-page, full-color, over-sized publication of her mixed media installations incorporating magazine and newspaper cut-outs, text, drawings, painting and plexiglass, which have become part of Ackermann's uninhibited signature style.

The new book is available online from Printed Matter and Amazon.

Under Pressure from 2006-2007
Book Launch: 15 November 2008, 5-7pm
Printed Matter, Inc.
195 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
+1.212.925.0325

In L.A. this weekend artist and professional skateboarder Ed Templeton will be signing his new book, "Deformer." Filled with over thirty years worth of material, Templeton has been working on the book for the past eleven years and will present it in conjunction with his exhibition, Map of the Inner War. A scrapbook of his California upbringing in suburban Orange County, this beautifully-designed volume is entirely art-directed by Templeton himself and gives a sun-drenched glimpse of what it's like to be young and alive in what he refers to as "the suburban domestic incubator."

"Deformer" intertwines photographs, paintings, drawings, sketchbook pages, disciplinary letters from his grandfather and religious notes from his mother into a magnificent narrative of teenage isolation and social criticism.

If you can't make it to the show, you can buy the book online at Amazon or from Alibris.

Map of the Inner War
Opening reception: 15November 2008, 7-9:30pm
15 November–13 December
Roberts & Tilton
5801 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232
tel. +1 323 549 0223

Newly arrived to the Cool Hunting office (and soon to adorn our walls), Portland, OR-based graphics studio MWM's new 2009 calendar features a calming mandala design. Titled Cycles & Seasons, the burst of color and sharp design is a welcome addition to any wall and fun to look at all year long. You can order the set of quarterly calendars online for $85.