artmusicdesign

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TCHNikki Farquharson 2-5

Jeff Nishinaka 6-7Music 8-9

La Roux 10-11Tom Ford 12-13

Get fashion 14-15Kotori 16

Mr. Pixel 18-19Cruising in style 20-21D’espresso NY 22-23Gabriel Dawe 24-25Bonnie Nail 26-27

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Nikki Fa

rquharso

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We Have a hunch we will

be seeing much more of the work by the young, London-based graphic

designer and illustrator, Nikki Farquharson. Her ongoing project, Mixed Media Girls, gives the

viewer a lot to look at. The collages appear innocent and sweet but at the same time exude sharp, pent-up

energy that does not feel altogether safe. The title of the work is also wonderfully suggestive – or not, depending on how the reader wishes to understand it. Farquharson’s work extends from the one-dimensional world to book projects and 3D pieces in which she often ponders and twists the meaning of words and proverbs, spies on conversations,

and questions established truths. In 2007, she started the website Random Got Beautiful that is open for

anyone to submit images focused on a specific color. - Tuija Seipell

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Jeff NishinakaThe paper genius

The stunning elegance of Jeff Nishinaka’s paper art calls for a new definition of pa-per. His meticulous sculptural 3D work appears to have been created from marble or extremely fine sand or vanilla ice cream or thick foam — definitely of something other than “just” paper. The Los Angeles-born artist works mainly with white, which makes the exquisite play of light and shad-

ow a large part of the appeal of his work.

One might assume that there is very little demand for work that uses one medium and one color. Not so. Nishinaka’s work pops up everywhere in the most unexpected places, from medical illustrations of the structure of the eye, to private portrait commissions,

to a life-size garden for a hotel.

He has a prolific career working in adver-tising, fashion and fine art, and also creat-ing some larger installations. His commer-cial work includes commissions for fashion catalogues for Bloomingdales and Galeries Lafayette, advertising work for Visa, Coca Cola, Playboy, American Airlines, Toyota and Mattel. Even the colourful characters of Disney’s Lion King — Pumbaa, Timon, Rafiki et.al. — look absolutely stunning in Nishinaka’s white paper world (image be-low). If you want to see a lot of Nishina-ka’s work in one place, you need to talk to his personal friend, actor Jackie Chan, the owner of the largest Nishinaka collection. -

Tuija Seipell.

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the 2010 album forecastThe Cool Hunter looks ahead to the feast of new music on the horizon, bringing you

what look like some of the early standout releases for 2010.

Having pitched a seriously beguiling curveball with their fourth record, 2008’s ambigu-

ous Seventh Tree, UK electronic boffins Goldfrapp have seemingly stepped back onto the dancefloor for new LP, March’s Head First. From the first taste of the album, coming in the form of new sin-gle Rocket, the band have rediscovered

their love of electro, festooning the ra-dio jam with neon-embossed hooks and

Atari-aping synths. We like this a lot.

With every music sheet in the world teetering on the verge of delirium over The Drums and

the surf-pop resurrection found on their de-but EP, Summertime, from last year, the band were an easy shoe-in for this list. But beyond the deafening buzz that The Drums are stir-ring up as they march ahead to their first full

length the group manage to back it all up, de-livering lean and polished indie-rock tunes with

style, accessibility and intelligence.

Bursting onto the electro scene with over-sexed raps and over-dosed electro beats courtesy of the Ed Banger crew, Miami-via-Paris MC Uffie seemed poised to take a lofty position as the middle ground between Peaches and M.I.A., but, uh, she just never really released

anything. That’s going to change when she fi-nally drops the delightfully titled Sex Dreams &

Denim Jeans LP next year. With hook ups from Mr Oizo, SebastiAn and Mirwais she’s definitely in

good company, but time may’ve passed her by. What-ever the result, we’ll definitely be listening.

Having brought afro-leaning indie sensibili-ties and boat shoes back into the mainstream with their irrepressible debut album way back in 2008, New York prepsters Vampire Week-

end essentially set themselves up as the poster boys of the difficult second album.

Just like our album forecasts, good things come in twos, right? It’s therefore fitting that the

indie nerd’s dream-come-true collabo-ration of Merge stalwart M Ward and Zooey Deschanel as She & Him would return for a second round of twee-pop loveliness. Set for a staggered March/April release, Volume Two will pick up

where the duo left off, namely making boys and girls in cardigans swoon.

goldfrapp - head first

the drums - tba

uffie - sex, dreams & denim Jeans

Vampire Weekend - contra

she & him - Volume tWo

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“Yeah, it’s very weird in a way.I never expected us to do well on the pop charts like we have done, but yeah, it’s nice anyway”

Speaking to Elly Jackson, the flame-haired singer and focal point of UK duo La Roux, on the eve of her ascent into the realms of pop-stardom - that being the pinnacle reaches of the pop charts - is interesting in that it’s an incredible achievement for an electro duo, who regardless of their enormous potential don’t fit the mold of conventional chart-dar-lings, and also because Jackson doesn’t see

herself popstar yet.

“Yeah, it’s very weird in a way. I never ex-pected us to do well on the pop charts like we have done, but yeah, it’s nice anyway,” Elly says, referring to La Roux’s two most recent singles, In For The Kill and Bullet-proof, hitting number 2 and 1 on the UK pop charts. “When In For The Kill first en-tered the charts we were chuffed about it, but then it started to climb and it reached num-ber 2, so we were sharing space with genuine pop stars,” she explains from the back of La Roux’s tour van. “I was just happy because it meant that people were listening to our mu-

sic. That’s the important thing.”

But despite the double-act’s runaway suc-cess La Roux aren’t a flash in the pan, as Elly states emphatically. “A lot of people think that we’ve just kind of appeared over night, but that’s not the case at all. We’ve been do-ing this for years. It took a couple of years of recording and writing together to find out what we liked and what we didn’t like, and then last year we started taking that around to labels and people who wanted to work with. It’s been a long time coming for us, so if people think we’ve just sprung up out of

nowhere, they’re wrong.”

As Elly suggests, the La Roux project has been developing and gestating for a number of years before taking off. The singer explains that the years leading up to their self titled al-bum were spent “struggling” with songs.“But our songs weren’t working. It was difficult for us. Like, the songs were good, but there was just something that wasn’t 100% right. a lot of synthpop and stuff. Ben ,the other side of La Roux) and I got together again and de-cided to try things out with some electronic sounds, and it just clicked. The songs finally

made sense.”

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Guess who’s back?

TOM FORD

Tom Ford’s comeback to womenswear after six years— with a show achieved in spectacular style in New York on September 12— is fashion meganews, not that he’s been sharing it with just anyone. The newly elusive former idol and inciter of the sexed- up Gucci- YSL nineties is doing things differently this time. He objects to the way the Internet eats up fashion images before the clothes can be bought. He despises sections of the press. Private and formal are terms he favors now. And he’d rather people didn’t “Tom” him anymore. At 49, he lets it be known he prefers “Mr. Ford.”

And here he is, being photographed by Steven Meisel the morning after he delivered the anti-publicity coup that threw bloggers, Twitterers, and reporters into a quagmire of frustration. His plans for his debut were so secret, even Julianne Moore, his close friend and star of his movie A Single Man, didn’t really know what she was letting herself in for when she turned up at his men’s store on Madison Avenue. “He asked me to do this six months ago, but I thought we’d just all be standing around at a cock-tail or something. So when I got there and he said we had to walk, I said, ‘Holy cow!’ ”

Ford’s most glamorous women friends and acquain-tances, spanning Hollywood, music, society, and high fashion, had all dropped everything to fly in and model for him, no questions asked. With 100 guests seated expectantly, Ford stood by a mantel-piece, in black tie, with a mic, and introduced his cast as “many of the world’s most inspirational women,” proceeding to read out what they were wearing. “La-dies and gentlemen,” he declared, in old style–camp diction: “Please welcome . . . Miss Lauren Hutton, Miss Liya Kebede, Miss Rinko Kikuchi, Miss Rachel Feinstein, Miss Lisa Eisner, Miss Beyoncé Knowles, Miss Marisa Berenson, Miss Stella Tennant, Miss Amber Valletta, Miss Natalia Vodianova, Miss Kar-en Elson, Miss Lakshmi Menon, Miss Karlie Kloss, Miss Abbey Lee Kershaw, Miss . . . Julianne Moore!” By the time “Miss Rita Wilson” wiggled out, turned, and threw a lingeringly saucy, head-back, hands-on-hip pose in a “corseted fil coupe dress with thigh-high lace boots and black seamed stockings,” the atmosphere was “getting a little giddy!” she says, laughing. “I sensed people really enjoyed it.”

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When you think Italian fashion design, Armani, Valentino and Versace spring to mind, having paved the way for strong, bold aesthetics. Quality and tailoring is also intrinsic to the Italian sensibility. A new label that epitomises both has emerged from a 20-year strong lineage. Italian company “Paoloni Group”

launched a new label “MSGM” recently with strong acceptance domestically and internationally with the likes of Harvey Nichols, Joyce, Lane Crawford, Matches and Browns plus being named as one of the best

new emerging designers for Vogue Talents.

Created by and for a youthful demographic of under 35, the label has both a men’s and women’s collec-tion. Blending comfort and function with a distinctly Italian preppy edge, the Men’s collection is fresh

and modern yet combines achingly simple pieces together. The Women’s is more fashion focused with an emphasis on print and staying current to the season. Either way, this is one label to watch as they make

their mark on the international fashion scene.

Get Fashion

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Kotori HeadpHonesIf you cannot find a pair of headphones that visually meets your needs from Kotori’s more than 100 variations,

you may have more serious problems than just the lack of cool audiowear.

However, if you just don’t like any of the suggested color combinations, you can easily design your own by select-ing the color of each of the 10 components, or just hit shuffle and see what happens randomly.

With the technology of the Japanese Fostex, supplier of recording and speaker gear for professionals, Kotori headphones should meet your needs also in audio quality.

These headphones will likely add a few problems to your life, though: They are so cool that you will forever be telling everyone where you got them AND you will have to keep a close eye on your Kotoris as your design-hun-

gry friends will want to borrow them.

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Mr. PixelChristianZuzunaga

Spanish born designer Cristian Zuzunaga has zoomed in on colour, literally, to create a fresh perspective on print design. The Royal College of Art graduate works with pixel concepts, applying designs to fabrics used in furniture upholstery. In-spired by architecture and the urban environment, Zuzunaga combined his graphic design skills and knowledge of printing techniques to devise his signature style based on squares and rectangles. He first burst onto the design scene with his pixel sofa, which was produced by Danish manufactur-er, Kvadrat and sold through Moroso. He has now added more pixel-inspired designs to his portfolio

including chairs and artworks.

It is strange to think that not too long ago there were no such things as pixels. Before the invention of photography, artificial pixels (short for PICture ELements)simply did not exist. It wasn’t until the per-sonal computer hit the mainstream did the word “pixel” become widely known outside of geeks, video/photographers and the CIA. Now that several generations of designers have never known a world with-out pixels, it was expected that this single common component of an image would find its way onto non traditional objects. Cristian Zuzunaga, a graduate from the UK’s Royal College of Arts, has designed this Pixel Couch that will be produced by Danish manufacturer Kvadrat and sold through Moroso. I wonder

what it would look like from far away.

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Cruising in style

The company has been designing and distributing bi-cycles from their Florida location since 2001. From what I understand they mostly created bicycles for other companies at that time. Republic Bike’s shared design concept was launched in 2009. Focusing on unique design, quality and value, this model has made a name for them and gained popularity through a col-laboration with Urban Outfitters.

A bit of story

Right now they only ship to the US and Canada. Don’t worry if you are in the market for a new fixie and you want something local. I have some awesome bike stuff coming that’s be-

ing build right here in Flanders.

Not so long ago I discovered Republic Bike. This company outfitted Google with a fleet of bikes that Googlers use to cruise from build-ing to building at the Googleplex in Moun-tain View, California. Republic Bike allows everyday consumers to take part in building a custom bike based on a shared design. You decide what happens with the design, by se-lecting its colors and components. After that Republic builds, boxes and ships your cus-tom bike to your home address. They hook in on the fixie trend that is becoming more and more popular.

Republic Bike assembles custom bicycles based on shared design. We develop designs and offer components curated for quaity, value and aesthetics. You pick, choose, swap and decide, and we’ll build it, box it, and ship it out. Built by us & you. quality, design & value We offer a rotating mix of af-fordable, custom designs to get you the bike you need with the feel you want. Mix it up or tone it down, however you like it. We try to keep it bold & simple, clean & colorful, whimsical & elegant.Fix or free - you decide. Fix or free - you decide. For details and specifications or to build a cus-tom.

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D’EspressoNY

The new D’Espresso on Madison Avenue (at 42nd) in New York has received more media attention than is generally awarded to a tiny coffee shop in this world of millions of new coffee shops.

The reason for the attention is the fun design by the Man-hattan-based nemaworkshop, a team of designers and ar-chitects that has created numerous cool retail and hospi-tality concepts. Founder Anurag Nema took the idea of a coffee shop that looks like a library – giving a nod to the nearby New York Public Library’s Bryant park branch – and turned it on its side. The walls are not lined with books but the floors and ceiling are. Except that it is all an illusion, a life-size image of books printed on custom tiles. Pendant lighting does not hang from the ceiling; it sticks out from the walls.

The concept for the design is straightfor-ward, bold and receptive to future loca-tions: take the ordinary and turn it on its side. Drawing from the nearby New York Public Library in Bryant Park, the space is lined in a sepia-toned full size photograph of books printed on tiles. The custom tiles run along the floor, up the 15’ foot wall and across the ceiling. The frosted glass wall behind the ser-vice counter illuminates the space and the wall directly opposite is clad in rich brown herringbone. The thrust of this concept finds expression in the lighting and materiality, and ultimately the space gives definition to the emerging brand.

A new experience

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Gabriel Dawe

Installation Artist

It’s The Cool Hunter logo as an art installation. Gabriel Dawe’s colourful ‘Plex-us installation is currently showing at the Dallas Contemporary in Texas.

The construction is made out of gütermann thread, wood and nails attached at either end to blocks of wood, the effect is like a real-world version of com-

puter generated imagery.

Gabriel Dawe was born in Mexico City where he grew up surrounded by the intensity and color of Mexican culture. After working as a graph-ic designer, he moved to Montreal, Canada in 2000 following a desire to explore foreign land. In search for creative freedom he started experi-menting and creating artwork, which eventually led him to explore textiles and embroidery—ac-tivities traditionally associated with women and which were forbidden for a boy growing up in Mexico. Because of this, his work is subversive of notions of masculinity and machismo that are so ingrained in his culture.

By working with thread and textiles, Dawe’s work has evolved into creating large-scale in-stallations with thread, creating environments that deal with notions of social constructions and their relation to evolutionary theory and the self-organizing force of nature.

After seven years of living in Canada and gain-ing dual citizenship as a Mexican-Canadian, Ga-briel moved to Texas to pursue graduate school at the University of Texas at Dallas where he is presently a candidate for an MFA in Arts and Technology. His work has been exhibited in Dal-las, Houston, Montreal, Toronto and Barcelona

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bonnie & neil

Bonnie and neil was created by Bonnie Ashley and Neil Downie, who work out of their Coburg studio.

They are compulsive hoarders – Bonnie of vintage fabrics and Neil of timber. bonnie and neil creates functional and decorative pieces that combine Bonnie’s background in textile design and printing and Neil’s skills as a designer and maker of furniture.

bonnie and neil products are handmade and hand-printed using water-based inks mixed onsite at the studio.

Bonnie and Neil reclaimed:shadow boxes are hand-made from Tasmanian oak reclaimed from houses across Victoria. The beauty of each box comes through in its dents and imperfections. Boxes come in two siz-es, printed in botanical and geometric designs, and can be stacked on mantles, used as bedside tables, under patios as shelves, or however you see them working.

Handmade with eco-plywood. Each prod-uct is designed and made in Melbourne with an emphasis on sustainability, and fea-tures a striking photographic print.Each piece has its own character, seen in the variations of the print and in the texture of the timber. Mix and match designs – they’re perfect for dining tables, outdoor entertain-ing, or just under the toaster …

Playwood cubes are functional and visually striking. They are designed and made in Melbourne with an emphasis on sustainability. Bold photographic prints reference the everyday and Australian nature.

Sold as set of six as, Use them any way you need: stacked high as a bookcase, and added to as your col-lection grows, pushed together as a coffee table, bed-side tables, or screwed into the wall as floating shelves.

textiles are made with natural based fabrics and water-based inks. Each piece is hand-printed, resulting in the subtle variations that make every bonnie and neil product unique.

Tea Towels100% linenhand screen printed in small batchesPrinted in Australia