Cool Hunting

EcoForms
Though East Coasters are currently experiencing a strangely warm winter, we're already fantasizing about spring planting. For an eco-friendly alternative to plastic with a no-frills look, EcoForms are made from compressed grain husks with natural, water-soluble binding agents. No pollutants are used in the manufacturing process, all byproducts are recycled and at the end of their five-year lifespan, EcoForms will biodegrade completely. Made to...

Vienna Design Week 2008: Pure Austrian Design's In The City
Meeting with Julia and Andrés Fredes, founders of Pure Austrian Design (as well as their own studio Juland), last week was a great introduction to the Austrian design scene, including Vienna's second annual design week and their pop-up installation, " In The City." The showcase of Austrian-designed furniture was housed in a giant bubble smack dab in the middle of the Museum Quarter (a...

Designed For Kids: A Complete Sourcebook
by Rebecca Odes The recent explosion of high-design kids gear has been hard to ignore and "Designed for Kids: A Complete Sourcebook," by Phyllis Richardson, culls the greatest hits of the modern kids marketplace into one hefty hardcover package. With its textbook-ish format, the book seems aimed at design professionals rather than consumers but for anyone on the hunt for smart kids stuff it's...

Outside Of Sorts
Opening today at Character in Manhattan, the group exhibition Outside Of Sorts inaugurates The American Design Club, a new NYC-based organization spearheaded by the young, local designer Kiel Mead. The show takes on the idea of the outdoors and includes everything from pillow covered in remnant "Sunbrella" fabric with interior nipples to eyeglasses that simulate freckles. We're so excited about their goal of bringing...

POC Sports Protective Gear
Designed specifically for alpine sports, Swedish outfitters POC Sports makes some of the most advanced and unique protective gear available. By working closely with injury and safety specialists including doctors of all trades, POC utilizes the latest high-tech materials to design helmets, body armor, goggles and other soft goods making it a bit safer to huck those 1080s in the back country. Optimizing your...

Dimension One Spas
Committed to design innovation and quality, there's a reason why Dimension One is known as the Rolls Royce of hot tub-makers. Their award-winning products consider art, science and technology, reflecting over 30 years in the business and an excess of 30 patents. When D-1 invited me out to California for a visit to their showroom and factory earlier this year (see images below), these...