A day @ Freitag Headquarters
On late July I have been invited ( as Polkadot boss 
) with just a few handpicked European bloggers in the wonderful Zurich to visit the FREITAG headquarters including cutting our very own iPad sleeves and enjoying a night out with the FREITAG crew. It was an amazing experience, the guys @ Freitag are really super and we also had a chance to have a talk with Markus Freitag (one of the founders of the company). We will post the interview in the next few days.
For the few who should not know the brand, FREITAG has been manufacturing bags and accessories for women and men since 1993. Their materials are used, having seen service on the road. They are well-travelled truck tarpaulins, unraveled seat belts, bicycle inner tubes beyond repair and recycled airbags. Tough stuff – which makes their products tough, too. The swiss company apply their recycled materials in a totally new way, insisting on superlative design and functionality. Every FREITAG product is made from original tarpaulins of different colors, markings and contours. So every FREITAG product is a one-off.
Freitag have just launched their beautiful iPad sleeves, complete with a ‘one-pull’ strap system for easy access, a ‘velvety’ inner lining, and their iconic recycled tarpaulin outers. We have been able to cut some pieces, and once they will be sewn together and will get our desk, we will give them for free to our readers, so stay tuned.
Lacoste Legends – The Power of 12
To celebrate the launch of the LACOSTE Legends project, LACOSTE hosted a glamorous party at Berlin night-spot ‘Stadbad’. Located in a disused swimming baths in Berlin, the Stadtbad Oderberger was the perfect venue for the Legends event, and was totally transformed that evening into a LACOSTE haven, complete with ‘grass’ tennis court that acted as the dance floor. LACOSTE Legends brings together 12 legendary collaborators from the worlds of music, media, design and retail, to create an exclusive collection comprising 12 shoes.
Sharing the LACOSTE values of tenacity, authenticity, modernity and effortless style, together the 12 contributors are the LACOSTE Legends. The 12 designs reflect the broadly diverse personalities and creative talents of each of the contributors, and confirm their legendary status as the foremost trend-setters and opinion-leaders from across the globe.among them the iconic sneaker designer Ato Matsumoto, French music lothario Sebastian Tellier & legendary fashion & style magazine iD.
The 12 designs go on sale with selected global distribution on 12.12 – the 12th December 2010. All the news and updates on 24teeth.com.
Uniform Wares – updates
The updated 100 Series Wristwatch version 102 is now available in a Navy colourway limited to 200 pieces exclusively from the Uniform Wares webstore. The watch now features a machined aircraft grade 6061 aluminium case and 3ATM water resistance. Other new colours available are Battleship Grey, Teal, Swiss Red, Marigold Yellow and Racing Green.
New timepieces are also in development for release in the Autumn. The forthcoming 200 series features an aircraft grade stainless steel case in either PVD coated, brushed or polished finish, Italian calf leather strap and Swiss made 7 jewel, ETA calender movement. Stay tuned.
ikyaudio speakers
Audio speakers handmade from PVC pipes, each houses a 3 inch magnesium/aluminum alloy full range driver. Frequency response is 80-20,000. 3 way binding posts on back. The bass port is on the end of the 1-1/2 pipe/stand. Nice sound and a very good sound stage, lots of low end bass for a small speaker. Hand painted with a high gloss lacquer. Available here.
Schwood
Just two models at the moment for the Schwood Eyewear collection, but they rock ! Three-ply frame and two-ply temple construction, in-house, handcrafted manufacturing process, sustainably-harvested wood, sourced from authorized and supervised plantations in different African countries. Only 95$.
Stick With Me Baby
Pimp your Macbook with StickWithMeBaby: a collection of stickers designed to personalize the apple logo on your MacBook. It’s not for everyone.
Barceloneta
The Italian brand, Serralunga, in collaboration with designer Raffaella Mangiarotti (deepdesign) redesigned this classic piece, making it both innovative, comfortable and for the first time, practical to use outdoors. Serralunga’s revisioin makes the chair easy to stack, thus, a great space-saver, especially for contract use by substituting the quilted leather with the practicality of plastic while still keeping the ?capitonnè’ effect for the backrest. The allure of this classic piece was made possible through the use of plastic materials in a sophisticated rotating molding system, a technique in which the Biella company is the worldwide leader as furniture manufacturer.
BIKES – Crashing into love
A metaphorical short film about bikes, movement, freedom and love. Every day mind tries to get the better of heart. Space and time have always existed and we can’t stop them. Throught the movement we discover ourself. Speed is like curiosity. A crash between two bodies. To remember us that we are not alone. The video has been realised by Raoul Paulet between Montréal and London. It combines 2d and 3d motion graphics and video footages.
Holga D
It is just a project by the indian designer Saikat Biswas , but it looks amazing. Holga D is a digital camera inspired from the extremely popular cult Holga and other toy cameras of its kind. Even though it is a digital camera, it retains the qualities and simplicity of the original Holga camera and brings back the joy and delayed gratification associated with good old analog photography.
More deatails and pictures after the jump.
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Arcade Fire are releasing more and more news about the album that many are already saying will be the best album of 2010. Their their third album, The Suburbs, which is due in stores on August 3rd, is packed with 16 tracks: Ready to Start | Modern Man | Rococo | Empty Room | City With No Children | Half Light I | Half Light II (No Celebration) | Suburban War | Month of May | Wasted Hours | Deep Blue | We Used to Wait | Sprawl I (Flatland) | Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) | The Suburbs (Continued).
Click PLAY to listen the first official single Ready to Start.
Luca Laurenti a.k.a. mklane a.k.a. the R’n'R designer
Luca Laurenti works in the creative industry for a range of international clients in editorial, publishing & fashion trade, like illustrator, graphic designer and art director. Luca get’s inspired from everything around him, and his style is not defined but he can master several of different techniques. Ink, pen, water colour and pencil are combined with contemporary tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create his work.
He constantly develops his ideas, and continues to innovate his design language, in order to create for each customer a tailor made solution. He is always looking for new projects and challenges to be confronted, totally different from previous ones. His online portfolio has just been updated, filled with amazing works for clients as Bang Art, Bastard, Billboard, Busta, Rolling Stone, Sportswear International, Urban, XL (La Repubblica), Impure, Lascivious, Leitmotiv, Proof 7, Sympathy for the Unusual, Toy2r, Editori Laterza, Hulger, L’Oreal, Subdued.
Pantone Hotel
Anche se non sei un designer, non sai cosa vuol dire CYMK e non mastichi di DPI, apprezzerai il Pantone Hotel a Bruxelles. 59 stanze in 7 toni di colori diversi, “white minimal” all’apparenza, concepite dal designer Michel Penneman e l’architetto Olivier Hannaert. L’hotel rientra nel PANTONE UNIVERSE, un tentativo di allargare il famoso sistema di classificazione dei colori ad una linea di prodotti che stanno facendo gola ai design-addicted : mugs, cancelleria, sneakers, cosmetici e accessori per la cucina.
