*notcot - 03.20.16 , 12:40 -

First Day of Spring Google Doodles

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Happy first day of Spring! Though weirdly it actually got cooler and cloudier here in LA today. Today’s adorable Google Doodles are too cute not to share!

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… and those in the southern hemisphere! fallgoog.gif

*notcot - , 10:12 -

Inside the Perfume Magazine Insert that sprays!

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A flat spray perfume magazine insert! You can press it kind of like a perfume bottle for a few sprays. While they have apparently been around since 2010 (at least), when i came across this one in Bazaar, i had to take it apart. Sadly while testing it out, totally sprayed my whole arm and now stink while writing this up. It’s an interesting concept though - instead of the usual peel the page or peel the sample - you pull the tab (watch out it might spray straight up!) and squeeze it! Basically when you pull the tab you expose the hole, and when squeezing you force the air/perfume out. See details on the next page!

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*notcot - 02.16.16 , 00:01 -

Made by NOTCOT: Nextbit Robin Press Kit

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You know you’re a designer when… watching people unbox something you MADE is even more of a thrill than unboxing incredible packaging and designs? Those following along the last decade already know that i love unboxing great products in great packaging - especially mind blowing press kits! So, NOTCOT has jumped to the other side (again) and we put all that press kit love to work for Nextbit!

Shawn and I are so excited to finally share the Nextbit Robin Press Kits we designed and built! You’ve seen the teasers and making-of post… now see the actual press kit, delivery, and a peek at some of them in the wild! Made of wood, foam, SF Fog paint, and a piece of elastic, these boxes present the stunning phone, sheep mascot vinyl toy (which we unboxed earlier), charger/cable, and sometimes cases to prominent media outlets. The beautiful design and branding of Nexbit set the bar high - just where we like it. Ready to see all the details? To the next page!

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*notcot - 02.06.16 , 18:07 -

Eliza Frye “Fight Like A Girl” Pins

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On fun packages to arrive - Eliza Frye is making lapel pins! And i love that - being the amazing illustrator that she is - it’s not just a pin on a card. It’s a collectible pin on a piece of her artwork - in a cute little box - complete with acrylic display stand! First up is a trio of pins in the “Fight Like A Girl” Pin Set. The enamel lapel pin trend is making quite the nostalgic comeback - and i love that artists are getting in on it. It’s such a fun way to wear and share a little piece of art! Take a peek at the details of the She-Ra inspired Fabulous Secrets Pin on the next page!

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*notcot - 02.01.16 , 16:30 -

Made by NOTCOT: Teaser

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Patience has never been my strong suit - especially when i’m REALLY REALLY excited. Even Bucky is far better at it than i am (see him up there literally watching the paint dry?) Soooooooo… while i can’t show you the super exciting project we just finished YET… i CAN show you snippets of the making-of process that has been slipping out on the @NOTlabs Instagram and a few more from our phones that don’t give it all away.

Rest assured - as soon as i can share all the lovely details and final product with you i will!!! But for now - take a look at a bit of what we’ve been up to the last few weeks! There’s a bit of milling (on the awesome Roland CNC!) and some lasering (on our Rabbit!) and some SF Fog painting and some walnut and… well, you’ll see.

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*notcot - 01.07.16 , 16:15 -

CES 2016: Audi Booth

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Just in via iMessage + FaceTime… a closer looks at the Audi booth at CES this year. As usual - it’s a trippy view that pulls you in… and it’s pretty over the top, yet so precisely designed. Remember the one with all the lights in 2012 (my all time favorite!) or the insanely glowing white booth that pulls you in like a moth in 2011? Well this one looks like 3D grids of chrome/mirrored square posts that pressure you to stare upwards (as cool as the cars may be below)… and the lights changing colors from red to white to blue are a bit intense. Check out some of details on the next page.

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*notcot - 01.06.16 , 14:40 -

Aleph Geddis for Filson, Seattle

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Wow! Aleph Geddis has hand carved an incredible wooden totem for the new Filson flagship store (in the same building as their HQ) that opened in Nov 2015 in Seattle. I first discovered his work when stumbling upon his stunning chairs in Totokaelo in 2013, and then met him at Mercado Sagrado last year. Since that first 2013 encounter, Aleph Geddis has been fascinating to follow on Instagram… and over the last few months, i’ve been getting glimpses of the process of this stunning totem!

The totem towers over you at 25.25”x25.25”x18.5’. Yes… 18 feet tall! It’s made from western red Canadian cedar, and carved with traditional European tools, primarily gauges, bull nosed chisels, traditional northwest coast bent knives, and a few Japanese tools. Amongst the carvings you can find a wolf, owl, raccoon, falcon, and bobcat.

Take a peek on the next page at the making of as well as the final piece in the Filson store at 1741 First Avenue South, Seattle WA!

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*notcot - 11.18.15 , 11:00 -

NOTlabs: Making-of Glasses/Phone Stands

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Want one? We made 10 special NOTCOT Maple stands (no David Kind logo, just a little NOTCOT one instead) If you’re interested, contact me for details! Anything we make from these maple stands will go towards making the larger swing/shelf!

The NOTCOT for David Kind Glasses Stands are now out in the wild! See our official photos of the finished product here… but for those curious about how they came to be - from ideation to design to prototypes to milling tests to revisions to outsourcing experiments to learning about wood to laser jigging to sanding and felting and all the adventures in between… i’ve rounded up the progress that was shown on the @NOTlabs Instagram and filled in a few more of the gaps along the way for you on the next page!

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*notcot - , 02:35 -

Gift Guide: Coffee Roaster Merch

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Thinking about genres that are inspiring beautiful graphics and branding… i keep finding myself fascinated by the merch when we pop in to super hip coffee spots… particularly coffee roasters! Sooooo here’s a Coffee Roaster Merch Gift Guide!

I thought about opening it up to all/anything coffee related… but by then you have every coffee shop in the world to comb through, as well as coffee mugs in general, coffee related paraphernalia, tools, gadgets, and the list will go on and on. You might as well add in the world of tea at that point. So coffee roaster merch focus it is! Not that that is even an easy feat. Also the world of coffee packaging is an amazing thing to dive into as well! From beautiful labels to unique packaging to amazing names for special editions… so that isn’t really included here either. But I digress…

This Coffee Roaster Merch Gift Guide is a good go to for your coffee loving friends who are incredibly picky about where their coffee comes from, how it was roasted, AND loves great design. Think gift sets, mugs, apparel, totes, coins, and more. When looking at coffee roaster merch - you will find more old school diner mugs, enamelware camping mugs, and NotNeutral Lino Mugs, and KeepCups than you imagined possible, but the further you look, the more surprises you find too! So far the list is mostly North American, but hey - it’s 2am! - so feel free to suggest more i should check out in the comments, and i might keep growing this guide!

Ready to dive in? Check it out on the next page!

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*notcot - 11.17.15 , 11:04 -

NOTCOT for David Kind Glasses Stands

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Want one? We made 10 special NOTCOT Maple stands (no David Kind logo, just a little NOTCOT one instead) If you’re interested, contact me for details! Anything we make from these maple stands will go towards making the larger swing/shelf!

So excited to share our NOTCOT for David Kind Glasses Stands with you! Beautiful eyewear deserves a beautiful place to be displayed when not in use. Milled from Maple, Walnut, and Zebra woods with a felt base and 3d printed inserts that can be rotated (or removed) to accommodate just about any set of glasses (but they do look especially good with David Kind eyewear!) - which will be cantilevered over the woody mountains and valleys perfectly! Added bonus… you can also use it to hold your phone, or any other little items on your desk, bedside table, counter, etc. And even when empty (i might be biased!) they are mesmerizing to stare at - the topographic lines that emerged as we milled the wood grain are just beautiful, and each one is so different from the others!

These stands were designed, prototyped, (some) milled, lasered, 3D printed and finished all in-house here at NOTlabs, Los Angeles. See the full making-of here! In fact, we didn’t even set out to design glasses stands, but while prototyping our swing/shelf project, Dave Barton of David Kind happened to visit, and while showing us glasses, our prototype happened to be on the table, and the perfect fit for them! And just like that, the idea for wooden glasses stands was born, and we had to make them a reality.

Ready to see them all? See the product shots and details on the next page. And if you want to see them in person - we hear that sometime this week they will be available at Deus Ex Machina in Venice! But for now… to the pictures!

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*notcot - 11.10.15 , 17:45 -

The Honest Kitchen: Scratch & Sniff for Dogs

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The Honest Kitchen has launched a holiday scratch & sniff story… for dogs! The free storybook packed with samples, Is that my dinner?, does not actually have scratch & sniff DOG FOOD (like i initially would have guessed)… but rather scents you can find around the holidays… and people food! After all, The Honest Kitchen is all about people quality food for dogs. The agency behind this cute holiday story is RTO+P, according to Adweek.

Take a peek at the promotional holiday storybook up close on the next page as i let Bucky flip through it… the hard part was keeping him from trying to jump right to the ending.

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*notcot - 10.25.15 , 11:02 -

Unboxing: Parabo Press Engineer Prints

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Parabo Press recently launched from the folks at Photojojo, and of course the whole experience has the same fun, happy vibe. Through an app on your phone, Parabo Press lets you pick phone/instagram photos to turn into things like engineer prints (the big black and white architectural floor plan type pages), risograph prints, newsprint, accordion zines, shaped prints and more. So far my favorite thing to turn phone pics into have been Social Print Studio’s Tiny Books, and with Parabo Press’ unique offerings of larger, lower res prints combined with magnetic wood poster rails, i had to try it! They were nice enough to offer me a $30 coupon, and i just wanted to make something HUGE to see how it all comes out… so found my favorite pic of the NOTFZJ with roof top tent popped open on its first camping trip and turned it into a 3’x4’ engineer print paired with wooden rails.

As for the experience - the app is pretty straight forward (though not as robust as Social Print Studio… yet?) and about 2 weeks after ordering, a fedex arrived direct from Mumbai with print and rails! In those anxious two weeks - i finally told Shawn what i ordered (his inner architecture student came out and reminded me that those are the types of prints we could make easily and quickly!) and i saw far too many DIY Engineer Print options… basically you can get a 3’x4’ engineer print at Staples for about $7! And while doing so much milling and playing with wood while waiting… once they arrived, we were instantly dreaming up other variations of magnetic wood poster rails we could make even from the gorgeous hardwood scraps and lots of rare earth magnets lying around NOTlabs! So all in all - fine, it probably would have been cheaper and faster to DIY for a similar outcome - but it was still fun to have Parabo Press send me down an internet rabbit hole about Engineer Prints and Wooden Rails… and for a customized gift, it’s a nice set up! See all the details and unboxing on the next page!

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*notcot - 10.13.15 , 21:10 -

Brendan Monroe (+ Expedition) Field Notes

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I have been far to obsessed and giddy about Brendan Monroe’s black and white 3D looking landscapes - they are magical as huge murals, mesmerizing online… and when i saw the limited edition 2015 XOXOfest Field Notes with his work on the covers, i couldn’t resist! For less than 10$, you get three amazing little pieces… and i love them all so much, after writing this post i’m off to find the staple remover so i can frame them up!

While ordering that set, i also gave in to the waterproof Expedition Edition too! How can you resist the ” hi-visibility “Antarctic Survey Orange” front cover and “Polar Night Black” back cover, with a subtle varnish effect featuring a topographic map of Antarctica.” And who doesn’t need a notebook made of Yupo Synthetic paper which is water- and tear-proof paper extruded from polypropylene pellets in Chesapeake, Virginia. So perfect for NOTFZJ adventures! And they even threw in their signature Clic Pen and the Field Notes Band of Rubber fits perfectly around a single notebook. So fun! See al the details up close on the next page…

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*notcot - 09.24.15 , 14:10 -

Multiplex: Tom Dixon x Wallpaper x Selfridges

dixon00.jpg Here’s the latest from London-based editor and resident zoologist, Justine Aw as she explores London Design Week 2015!

One of the new highlights of this year’s London Design Festival is Multiplex at the Old Selfridges Hotel, a fun pop-up “immersive, multi-sensory department store” from Tom Dixon and Wallpaper. The entrance can be found just behind the Selfridges food hall. You can’t miss his signature lights through out the space! The pop-up will be up even after LDF finishes; it is set to close up shop on the 15th of October. Take a peek inside the Multiplex on the next page!

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*notcot - , 11:35 -

KIWI by Agnieszka Tomalczyk

kiwi1.jpg Here’s the latest from London-based editor and resident zoologist, Justine Aw as she explores London Design Week 2015!

Scanning through Justine’s photos coming in - KIWIS!!! These lovely, faceted, geometric porcelain figurines are Agnieszka Tomalczyk’s KIWI project. Designed for Ćmielów Design Studio, “the project was developed in several stages, including: paper use, plaster and 3D printing. The final figures were created in porcelain, which then was hand-painted and glazed.” It even won 1st place in the 2014 Młodzi na Start! competition by ELLE Decor Poland. See the KIWIs up close on the next page!

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