Here’s the latest from London-based editor and resident zoologist, Justine Aw!

Last night I got a sneak preview of this year’s Kinetica Art Fair, celebrating the intersection of science and design and an incredible showcase of innovative sculptures and installations. More photos of the vast array of some of the optical illusions and playful kinetic sculptures that toy with light and design on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Kinetica Art Fair 2013"! ----->

Tags: art - events - exhibition - gallery - london - robot - sculpture

The latest from London-based editor and resident zoologist, Justine Aw as we begin our coverage of London Design Festival 2012.

To kick off London Design Festival 2012 we caught up with the talented natural history inspired illustrator Kristjana S Williams, whom we featured earlier for her work with Zubrowka. Her latest exhibition, Anachroquarianism, is housed in the gorgeous Shapero Rare Books, a gem of a store specializing in antiquarian prints, rare books and other treasures located on Saint George Street just off Hanover Square. We loved the bookshop setting and the way Williams’ beautiful illustrations worked with the backdrop of antiquarian collectibles and natural history prints and illustrations from the 19th century.

The exhibition opened to the public on September 14th and will run until the 22nd as a part of the London Design Festival 2012 and Williams’ limited editions prints will be available both at the exhibition and online from Outline Editions. See more photos of the press preview and some of our favorite pieces next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Anachroquarianism by Kristjana S Williams"! ----->

Tags: art - exhibition - illustration - london - nature - print - prints

The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw.

Last night we had an incredible evening at the Tate Modern, exploring the surrealism galleries in the dark, experiencing the art of the Tate in an entirely new light (literally!). It was the first of a season of Tate Blackouts during which the gallery will dim the lights and invite visitors to explore and experience the surrealism galleries by the illumination of their own Little Sun.

The Little Sun is designed by Olafur Eliasson (who was also behind the Tate’s Weather Project) in collaboration with engineer Frederik Ottesen. The Little Sun can provide light to the 1.6 billion people worldwide who have no access to mains electricity. Safer and cleaner than kerosene lamps, the Little Sun is solar powered, turning 5 hours of natural light into 5 hours of Little Sun light, and with a 3 year battery life.

I loved the idea of bringing the Little Sun inside an art museum, and the fact that the object is simultaneously a resource for developing nations and itself an art object used to illuminate and experience modern art in a city like London! Playing with Little Suns inside a blacked out Tate Modern, meant beautiful light graffiti! More photos of the Tate’s surrealism galleries experienced by the light of the Little Sun on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "TATE Blackout: Little Sun"! ----->

Tags: art - events - exhibition - gallery - london - museum

The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw.

This morning, we got a sneak peek at ‘Designed to Win’, the new exhibition that opens to the public tomorrow at London’s Design Museum. The exhibition celebrates design in sport, created in association with Oakley focusing on the the relationship between design and performance and function, looking at how new materials, fashions and technologies have transformed sporting equipment. The exhibition wasn’t quite finished yet and you can see the finishing touches going up in our photos, but it should all be up and running for the big launch tomorrow! More photos on the next page.

TO PAGE 2 of "Designed to Win at the Design Museum"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - london - museum - oakley - sport

The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw.

Yesterday, I had a chance to preview the new exhibition Designing 007 - Fifty Years of Bond Style at the Barbican Centre celebrating the 50th anniversary of 007 (and the 30th of the Barbican!). Spanning from from 1962’s Dr No to this year’s Skyfall, the exhibition celebrates 007’s slick style and as curator Bronwyn Cosgrave said, it is one of the few times that Bond himself takes the back seat. It’s not about the man, but about the world behind 007, from complex sets, elaborate costumes, crafty villains and futuristic gadgetry that make up his world. The exhibition runs from July 6th - September 5th, so definitely one to check out if you’re in London, and as it’s set to travel after September, you might be lucky enough to catch it elsewhere! More photos of this incredible gadget-filled retrospective on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - london - movie - museum

Lítill terrariums are the star of Jette and Fabrik, Lauren Coleman’s latest exhibition opened at Direktorenhaus Berlin on the 1st of June.

The exhibition consists of two rooms, Jette and Fabrik. Jette suspends a catcus in a terrarium in the room with the help of a freely drifting helium-inflated weather balloon. In Fabrik, stalactite like structures descend from the ceiling as if they are dripping the hand blown glass terrariums from the ceiling to the floor below. See more pictures of this stunning exhibition (that i wish i could see in person!) on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Lítill In Berlin"! ----->

Tags: art - exhibition - gallery - glass - plants - succulents

The latest dose of natural inspiration from our resident zoologist and London-based editor, Justine Aw.

As soon as we heard about a new exhibition that would bring Body Worlds to animals, I knew we had to see what the fuss was all about. This morning we had our chance to check out Animal Inside Out, the awesome new temporary exhibit at the Waterhouse Gallery of the Natural History Museum in London that gives visitors a look beneath the skin of some of nature’s most spectacular animals. The exhibition is adapted from Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds and jointly presented by Body Worlds and the Natural History Museum. More photos of the exhibit and more details on how plastination works on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Animal Inside Out at the NHM with Body Worlds"! ----->

Tags: animals - exhibition - london - museum - nature - science

The latest from our resident zoologist and London-based editor, Justine Aw, who super awesomely went to check out this Muji event on her birthday! (Happy Birthday, Justine!)

Product Fitness 80 asks the questions “What would happen if we used 20% less materials and energy to make products?”. The clever exhibition pushes Muji craftsmen to develop products that use fewer materials and processing. You can catch the exhibition at London’s Design Museum from tomorrow, the 9th of March until next Sunday, March 18th. In the meantime, see more more photos on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Muji's Product fitness 80 at the Design Museum"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - shopping

From our London based editor, Justine Aw…

Some fun highlights from this year’s Experimental Food Society Spectacular exhibition housed in Brick Lane’s Old Truman Brewery! How could we not check out an event that boasted “an awe‐inspiring assemblage of jellymongers, sonic food artists, one‐of‐a‐kind dining conceptualists, cake sculptors, food landscape artists and food magicians”? There were some amazing cakes (including a dodo!), beautiful pieces created from chocolate as well as incredible quail egg cakes (made both from and in the eggs!) and medicinal marshmallows. See more photos of these delicious designs on the next page.

TO PAGE 2 of "The Experimental Food Society Spectacular"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - food - gallery - installation

Our London-based editor Justine catches up with the latest action from the London Design Festival!

Another unexpected discovery of the festival, was the work of Christopher Jarratt. Some of you may remember Christopher Jarratt’s previous slingshots from NOTCOT.org, but to see them in person and what can be done with these elegant pieces is something different altogether. Jarratt’s ‘Take a Shot’ exhibition at the YCN shop and library on Rivington Street is filled with these beautiful, colorful and playful slingshots. The slingshots are both works of art in their own right as well as a means of making art. See the next page for more photos of the slingshots and photos of them in action!

TO PAGE 2 of "'Take a shot' by Christopher Jarratt"! ----->

Tags: art - exhibition - gallery - installation - store

Our London-based editor Justine catches up with the latest action from the London Design Festival!

Yesterday was a preview filled day with so much inspiring design and beautiful exhibition spaces! One of the most exciting press previews was that of Designersblock at the Farmiloe Building (which we also visited recently during Clerkenwell Design Week). The press preview was full of unexpected touches, including elaborate and bizarre costumes and interpretive performances and the stunning Victorian building again played host to some stunning products and installations. More photos on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Designersblock at LDF2011"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - london

Our London-based editor Justine catches up with the latest action from the London Design Festival!

Beautifully refreshing, I was blown away by the setting of this wonderful showcase of Swedish Design. Hemma, which means ‘home’ in Swedish, is one of two exhibitions of Swedish Design Goes to London and is appropriately hosted in the Swedish Ambassador’s Residence, a beautiful 18th century house.

The beauty and elegance of the house works incredibly well with the clean, contemporary designs showcased in Hemma and the venue is a stunning and welcome addition to this year’s design festival. For example, love the contrast between the chandeliers and the vibrant purples of Sara Reinholtz’s Pixtel Shapes. More photos of this stunning exhibition on the next page.

TO PAGE 2 of "Hemma - Swedish Design Goes London"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - home - installation - london - sweden

By far the coolest display i found after trekking out to the farthest hall of all at Frankfurt Auto Show, was BMW’s 7 robot arm displays. Think apple like glossy white and wood and plexi displays with the blue led glow… housing 7 robotic arms and touch screens waiting for you to poke and prod and stare in wonder as they demonstrated their various technologies. Granted, most were being poked by everyone from kids to adults and few had any idea what was being demonstrated, but everyone was trying to see what they could do to get the arms moving… SO beautiful, i have lots of pics and videos of them in action for you on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "BMW IAA 2012 Robots"! ----->

Tags: bmw - cars - exhibition - robot - technology

The Design Museum, London is celebrating Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel with his first UK retrospective. Crouwel is renowned for his bold typographic designs that captured the essence of emerging technologies during the 1960s. The exhibit opened on March 30th and runs until July 3rd. You can find out more about the exhibit at the Design Museum’s site for the exhibit: ‘Wim Crouwel - A graphic odyssey’ and see more images of the exhibit below.

TO PAGE 2 of "Wim Crouwel at the Design Museum"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - museum - typography

This CES content is sponsored by BestBuyOn.com. Thanks, Best Buy!!!

Ok, firstly. OMG. CES is absolute madness as always. Vegas is, well, Vegas. And as you’ve seen in previous years, CES coverage NOTCOT style is a smattering of eye catching design in real life! So first things that tend to grab me (we see the products so early often!) is booth design! First one to just literally suck me in and leave me in awe not wanting to leave… Audi. Wow. In a sea of show floor visual chaos, tucked behind the digital health (i.e. fitness ipad apps and adjustable beds), there is this looming large box of a space, that literally glows… and you just HAVE to walk in… and once in, there’s something almost magical (yet so surreal like you stepped into a scifi in between space) that is SO glowingly white from all sides, geometric facets all around, from the floor and ceiling and walls to the furniture and installations. Showing off their new electric and hyper linked systems, the display was filled with grown men and women with that 5 year old look of wonder. While their keynote promised a dreamy future of technology in automotive… from AR HUDs and e-tron spyder concepts, to autonomously driven Audi TTS… while still stressing that while they want more technology to assist the driver, they don’t want to take away driving from the driver. I can’t deny there is a definite draw to the clean glowing simplicity of their “booth”! See it on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Audi at CES 2011"! ----->

Tags: audi - cars - CES - exhibition - technology

An amazing gallery exhibition opened up in NY and since i couldn’t make it over ~ my awesome friend, Anna Corpron of Sub-Studio was willing to go be my eyes over there! She’s back with incredible pics of the Gagosian Gallery’s ‘Transport’ a thematic exhibition by Marc Newson that brings together all of his major designs and realized products for transport and human locomotion since 1999 for the first time in one space! Absolutely incredible images from cars to shoes to planes to boats and more! (Thanks, Anna!!!) ~ check it all out on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Marc Newson: Transport"! ----->

Tags: airplane - boats - cars - exhibition - gallery - new york - sub-studio

Being a food focused kind of day with Tasteologie launch ~ seemed only appropriate to share some fun food related inspiration! And as far as inspiring kitchen design goes, The Museum of Modern Art’s Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen exhibition ~ is incredible! It “examines the kitchen and its continual redesign as a barometer of changing aesthetics, technologies, and ideologies… exploring the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen and highlights MoMA’s recent acquisition of an unusually complete example of the iconic “Frankfurt Kitchen,” designed in 1926-27 by the architect Grete Schütte-Lihotzky. Featured alongside the Frankfurt Kitchen is a 1968 mobile fold-out unit manufactured by the Italian company Snaidero. These two complete kitchens are complemented by a wide variety of design objects, architectural plans, posters, archival photographs, and selected artworks, all drawn from MoMA’s collection.” They are truly stunning, and the design objects to be found within them can’t be missed! See previews of the exhibition on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen"! ----->

Tags: exhibition - home - kitchen - museum

Latest Dear NOTCOT post fresh in from Julie Wolfson who was just exploring Shanghai for the 2010 expo! Absolutely awesome pics of the larger than life Louis Vuitton Suitcase… and the incredible exhibition within! Thanks for sharing, Julie!

Louis Vuitton Paris 1867- Shanghai 2010 - In Shanghai just down Nanjing Road from where I was staying as a guest of the Portman Ritz-Carlton, I found a building sized Louis Vuitton suitcase at Plaza 66. Seeing a major LV display on the outside is a sure sign that there will be something amazing to see inside. (I found that out last year when I saw a Murakami designed facade in Tokyo.)

On the bottom floor of Plaza 66, a customized luggage workshop filled a section of the LV store on the 4th floor of Plaza 66, the Paris 1867- Shanghai 2010 exhibit at Shanghai Plaza 66 celebrates the company’s participation in world exhibitions. Almost a century and a half ago the Louis Vuitton company was introduced to the world stage at the Paris World Exhibition of 1867. To enter the show Paris Shanghai show I walked through a giant red three-dimensional red book. Inside more red books open to reveal white cutout resembling children’s pop up books. Each display tells the history of Louis Vuitton’s luggage. From the wardrobe trunk made in 1911 to the Amiens Fitted Suitcase with toiletry containers from 1931, each case is made with incredible detail. Peering close up to one of the latches or handles reveals how LV luggage design has defined the art of travel. I’d be happy to have just one LV suitcase. It really would make any trip feel more glamourous.

Plaza 66 is located at 1266 Nanjing Road in Jing’an just down the street from The Portman Ritz-Carlton. The show is open on the 4th floor of Plaza 66 until October 31, 2010. For now see loads more pics on the next page!

TO PAGE 2 of "Louis Vuitton Retrospective Shanghai"! ----->

Tags: Dear NOTCOT - exhibition - luxury - travel

So much i want to share with you from the last week or so, and as usual having trouble catching up ~ sensory overload! Inspiration OD? So i'm just going through pictures and will share pieces with you as they get me all giddy again. Firstly, being invited out to Sweden for the Absolut Art Collection celebration is a dream come true on so many levels ~ Absolut Ads were one of my earliest obsessions of where advertising met art, the ads were on my walls, i had the books and museum/art collection cds (totally need to find that when i get home), postcards in my notebooks, i probably even discovered a few artists through them (imagine 10 year old me?)... and over the years i've definitely grown up following the art they've enabled in so many mediums as i've also progressed further into the tech/art/ux/online/new media worlds... It's incredible that this weekend was celebrating 30 years of Absolut's creative collaborations! And the talks with their global marketing heads about the history and philosophies of the brand as well as the panel discussion with artists who have worked with them in the past on "Commissioned Art - Career boost or selling out?" was inspiring and thought-provoking for sure... but before we even delve into all of that... you know i fixate on the visual... and i had to show you the brilliantly simple portable/modular panel set up they popped up inside the Lydmar Hotel Restaurant!

Basically it is a series of two layered panels ~ lots of hinges... striped, in the front, had openings to expose the pink layer behind and also served as a frame for the flat panel TV behind. The A shaped stools were close didn't perfectly match the Absolut A, but the designer did say that it could be said it was inspired by the Absolut A (with a wink). Also adorable was that the stools also apparently make great little tables while the Absolut team had lunch perched on the audience set up of a rainbow of Starck's Kartell Ghost chairs... Apologies for being too mesmerized and immersed in conversation to take pics while they were taking it down, but it was impressive how quickly they collapsed it all before dinner! Take a closer peek at the set up on the next page...

p.s.
aren't the A's a little sesame street? I kept thinking, and today is sponsored by the letter A! (and A is for Absolut?)

TO PAGE 2 of "Absolut Flexible Panel Design"! ----->

Tags: absolut - events - exhibition - furniture - home

Finally, an alternative to paint chips and paint swatches to help you decide what paint to go with... at the Hardcore: New Finnish Design Exhibition in the Meatpacking District (i think this was the best exhibition i saw this trip), i was introduced to the work of Finnish group, Pentagon Design, and their great "Touching" Exhibition concept for presenting paint textures for Tikkurila Paints. It was hard not to go straight over to the large farm animals in various colors/glosses/etc... and impossible not to play with the magnets on the magnetically painted horse!

From the Pentagon Design press release: "Who can resist the urge to touch these near-life-size domestic animals, reined into modeling the diverse selection of Tikkurila paint coatings? Horses, pigs, cows, and calves have been given makeovers with surfaces to match their natures. You can feel the character of the coatings in your fingertips as you pet and stroke the nostalgic mammalian models. Beneath the feeling lie hard facts: the various options for covering a resin surface not only look different, they feel different. There's magnetic paint, textured coating, tinted light putty and chalkboard paint, oil putty, alkyd paint. There are pearl and silver glazes, done in a lace pattern. This urban petting zoo for the design world is amazingly illustrative, both tactilely and visually."

More images on the next page! (From both the Hardcore exhibition as well as their press images.)

TO PAGE 2 of "Touching by Tikkurila & Pentagon Design"! ----->

Tags: animals - exhibition - nature