While i seldom do party pics, i'm fascinated by Absolut and the way they brand experiences so nicely... This was their big 30th Anniversary Party for the Art Collection... and the lighting in the giant black cube they constructed for the party next to the Lydmar Hotel was this ominous mysterious structure that popped up while we were staying there, and they wouldn't let us peek in until the event itself... so once in there with such cool lighting and visualizations and bands/djs playing... the pictures of the bar, the bottles and glasses, the scene, and the straws even! I just had to share! The colors came out so beautifully!

Also ~ i ran out tonight (day after the party) but was a bit too late to get black cube pics, however did get some very cool mid-deconstruction pics! If you see the pics on the next page, just imagine that covered in black...

TO PAGE 2 of "Absolut Black Cube Party"! ----->

Tags: absolut - architecture - events - party - stockholm - travel

Ryan McGinness Studios is throwing 50 Parties. 50 Themes. 50 Weeks. In a row. In the studio. No sponsors. No strangers. My favorite part? NO STRANGERS! Unfortunately i'm pretty sure i'm a stranger. BUT those magical invite cards are "valid for card holder +1". Do you have one? Can i be your +1 someday?

All in all its such a lovely concept, and so similar to salon/intellectuallly playful get togethers i've been tossing around with friends... yes, i know. McGinness DID IT. I have not. But someday i hope to organize, or find help to organize enough to do some too! Here's how he explains it, "In New York City, there has never been a shortage of parties. Parties celebrating a new product or publication or development have been rampant. Those celebrating or nurturing a meaningful social exchange, on the other hand, have been noticeably absent." So far Party 00 was the Practice Party, and coming up is the Whit Trash BBQ. Yes, you read that right. The 50 Parties project has its own blog, Twitter, and YouTube feed. Not that any of those should surprise you at all. See more pics of the goodness on the next page...

p.s.
i've been a huge McGinness fan long before i started NOTCOT... so jealous to hear about friends who have been getting invites already!

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Tags: art - new york - party

So i took a bit of an internet break the last few days (blame the Sands motel in Bird Rock ~ but the relaxation and beachiness was awesome)... so unlike most die-hard comic-con-ers, we just popped by for a few hours on thursday - then went to the zoo for a few hours, and then found ourselves at the G4 + StrangeCo party for the new "Wonder Women of America" book which featured a few hundred photographs of the cosplay women of comic-con 2007... and many were present! They also had Nerdcore performances, and the place was a madhouse! But what grabbed me that you'll definitely want to see... the boys of Polite in Public, have come a long way since we last saw/talked to them. (Catch up here for their back story and to see the old set up.)

So what's new with this young revolutionary photobooth company, Polite in Public? With their impressive hollywood and technical backgrounds - they have taken their glossy, gorgeous imagery filled with props and sets and real prints on the fly! - to a whole new level. Instead of laptops, screens, printers, and more set up on a desk, we were amazed by their new set up with one large sleek machine that took the pictures, processed them from original form to the glossified form, and had a nice interface for their photobooth attendants to quickly browse and print from. It seemed like a large simple UI, and i was dying to run up and poke it, if only they weren't SO busy! Also, from only being a small 2-3 man operation, sounds like they are expanding quite a bit, since on the same night as the San Diego event, they were also doing events in SF, NY, and LA! I got a few pics of the crazy scene - and some video of their impressive automated photoshop like filtering on the fly to give you a feel for how incredible their process is - check it all out on the next page!

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Tags: comics - events - party - photography - san diego - technology - travel

Freshly back from the Veuve Clicquot Los Angeles launch of the Globalight designed by Karim Rashid ~ and many a glass of bubbly later, i'm excited to share some fun pics of the Globalight up close and personal with you! As for the event ~ it was held at the W in Westwood, and it really brought me back to freshman year of college days... it was Thurs, so all the frat parties were in full swing, although driving over, it seems like one had a bit of a disaster quite early, with 3 fire engines and 4 cop cars and a sidewalks' worth of overdressed college kids anxiously waiting... and when we arrived at the party on the terrace of the W, it seems like much of the same crowd had overflowed... from the girl manning the door list to the many guests we asked about what they thought of the Globalight and the party... the crowd was a very clueless LA mix of so called actors, musicians, real estate agents, male models, and even biochem profs ~ all who seemed taken aback by being asked what they thought of the event, and quickly came to explain that a friend of a friend brought them or fwded them an invite... the best rumor of the night - (heard second/third hand) apparently word from the guy who represented the product - the Globalight will be produced with speakers built in soon, and a special stand, so you can simply tilt the Globalight itself to pour it... i guess we will wait and see!

Also, in the main bar downstairs, we saw a crew setting lights in the backroom in the lounge before popping up to the Veuve party... and stopping by on the way down, we found it was because Sunsilk was shooting a documentary on DJ Tatiana ~ a model turned international DJ, who not only is the music director for Bebe, but also runs her own music studio now...

See pics of all the maddness on the next page, including a youtube vid of DJ Tatiana and her Sunsilk winning vid...

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Tags: events - luxury - music - party - veuve clicquot

Tast.es: Disposable Elements For Catering - firstly, awesome use of the .es domain - secondly, the Conran ROJO launch was incredible, and i have still yet to do a proper post on it, there was so much, it's all coming out in pieces... strangely enough i actually indulged in some of the various catering finger foods coming around simply so i could poke at the beautifully designed mini dishes they were served in! How cute is this soup bowl/shot glass? It looked so strange and possibly uncomfortable to sip from, but honestly its curvature was perfect to put your lips up to and have the soup slide right in (no embarrassing dribbles or anything of that sort). I even had the url on the bottom of it emailed to me as soon as i finished drinking it so i wouldn't forget to see what else they have... and low and behold, there is more awesome catering ware from Tast.es! So see larger images of the whole collection on the next page, and someday when we throw a party, i will definitely have to look these guys up.

TO PAGE 2 of "Tast.es Catering"! ----->

Tags: drinks - food - icff - kitchen - party - spain

On Thursday night i stopped by FORDBRADY's cocktail party for Dwell Magazine, "Los Angeles meet Dwell" where they announced the Dwell on Design Los Angeles Conference and Exhibition event in Los Angeles as well as launch the new look, "environmentally friendlier" Dwell magazine. On June 5th and 6th, it looks like Dwell is looking to start some friendly competition with CA Boom.

What was truly fascinating about the event was the incredible space that FORDBRADY occupies. Their downtown showroom (and home to Willard Ford, his fashion designer wife, Michelle Yu, and teenage son) is set in the historical Chinatown Kim Sing Theatre ~ which was built in 1926 as a vaudeville house, and served as a cinema from the 40's until '86 when it was abandoned... only over years of work, and with the help of Xten Architecture, they've turned it into an incredible loft/gallery space, with a gorgeous courtyard... really an unexpected modern oasis in Chinatown once you step under the original marquee and through the brilliantly orange entry tunnel. Check out their Interior Design Magazine feature for more details and images.

After the jump see many pictures of the incredible space as i viewed it at the party!

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Tags: dwell - events - fordbrady - furniture - party - theatre

WOW. My head is spinning, i haven't stopped since 4am PST... basically SFO-JFK flight, getting into the city, checking in, running by a very cool sample sale, walking to grab some delicious dinner at Rickshaw quickly, rushing over to the Design Blogfest... and a few adventures later and after meeting many incredible people... here i am back in the hotel trying to pop a quick post out for those who didn't make it out.

Big props to Harry Wakefield from MocoLoco and the generous folks at The Apt... and Lockhart Steele over at Curbed/Gawker... they pulled off an insane party... short story? 2500 people RSVP'd (their space holds about 200), i showed up at 6:15, and we barely fit... but 6:30 they were barely letting anyone in (see pictures of hardcore bouncers below)... pseudo-VIP party migrates down a few doors to Gawker HQ (very fun space! sorry i was too busy bouncing around chatting with folks to take pics there), so check out some pictures of the main party at The Apt here. Going to try and catch a little sleep before roaming ICFF tomorrow and huge thanks to everyone who made it out.

update: just saw these pics over at Sellsius Real Estate - poor guys didn't even get all the way in! but pics of the insane lines...

Apparently Funfurde was there too!

Core77 Pics from the party

MoCo Loco Pics! - check out the awesome cotton candy?

Design Notes was there! Check out his Flickr pics

LVHRD.ORG has some more pics!

MediaBistro's two cents

Met up with Sally of SallyTV and MocoLoco - and she has some great pics

So does the brilliant Caroline McCarthy of CNet - gawker flickr set

Tags: party