*notcot - 10.23.07 , 18:53 -

Hendrick’s Gin

hendricksnew1.jpgI wrote about Hendrick’s Gin back in April of 06… back before i even tasted it, but came across their ad in BusinessWeek and fell for the playful design of their site and bottle… i love their old style that has a very Monty Python feel to it at times. And without even tasting, i showed you their Unusual Times which was quite funny and well put together. Well since then, i’ve hunted it down ~ first in Oxford at a random bar my sister took me to, and then finally found it in LA as well… and as a non-gin lover, Hendrick’s is my gin of choice… because its the least gin-tasting… its got a wonderfully delicious infusion of cucumbers and Bulgarian rose… my favorite is having it in a gin & tonic with slices of cucumber, but will definitely have to explore more of the mixes soon…

Anyhow, new news from them ~ they are launching a new campaign, and its fun to see how they’ve grown since then… and staying true to their branding, the new ads and point of sale pieces were so fun i had to share! They describe themselves as “A brand that embraces the unusual with odd and inventive advertisements that feature collages of absurd images with playful intelligence.” And i couldn’t agree more. Well, go see the pics and vids below ~ more fun tidbits of info about them mixed in as well.

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*notcot - 10.22.07 , 15:42 -

Flip and Tumble

fipandtumble.jpgOk so when i get on a reusable bag trend… and try to stop… it’s hard! Because now everyone who finds new reusable shopping bags is sending them over, and i just have to share one more with you. Kristopher Dukes just had these Flip and Tumble bags show up in her inbox, and seeing as they’re not exactly couture… she’s passed them on to add to my growing list of reusable options. From a design perspective i needed to post these because linhchi and i were just thinking the other day… wouldn’t it be easiest just to have an attached pouch? just cram the whole bag in it? Like a Popple! And then here we have Flip and Tumble doing just that… they describe it as a sock ball… i think of it as a Popple bag. And for those who are either so old they forgot what a Popple is, or those *gasp* who are too young to know about them… i dug up an original 80’s Popple advert on youtube that’s embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

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*notcot - , 13:46 -

Method Give Greener

methodbag.jpgI know, i know, you must be near reusable bag overdose… but its EVERYWHERE. So since we’ve started, i’m just tracking them all when they seem interesting. Latest that got sent in (you can also see more and more reader finds in comments on the various posts as well as over at .org) ~ Method (yes the beautifully packaged, omop, etc guys) has gotten in on the action with their use of GiveGreener.com. You spend 20$ on Method Products, and you can write/email in to receive a free not so subtle tote… in fact they even say “Get Greener: BE SEEN BEING GREEN with method’s reusable market tote”. So is it really about saving the environment some waste, broadcasting that you’re doing it, or both? Their version has been designed by “eco-lifestyle expert Danny Seo” ~ with playful retro typography ~ and 16 ways to look good and feel better on the back. It even zips up into a light blue pouch.

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*notcot - 10.20.07 , 21:38 -

Corporate Re-Bags

newrebagmain.jpgI guess you could say i have a preoccupation with the state of reusable grocery bags, and while i was out tonight i couldn’t help myself, and gave in and purchased a 99 cent Target zip up bag, as well as the new insulated Whole Foods bag for $2.99. Also thrown in for comparison is the standard Whole Foods 99 cent bag (the matching version at target was around $1.49 i think - and i’ve also seen variations of these same ones from various grocers). The other one from the same manufacturer that i have at home is the 6 wine bottle version (basically the standard with braces to hold your bottles apart). So, from a shoppers perspective it looks like Green Bag has got quite a hold on the corporate reusable shopping bag market. And they are great! Just not quite as pocketable as the Baggus and Envirosax we were discussing earlier. One of the nicest things about these other than the super reasonable price points ~ these are the reusable’s equivalent to a standard paperbag ~ a bit sturdier, and love that they have a plastic insert to keep the bottoms strong. These are great in the back of my car and for odd shaped items. As for the target one, i couldn’t resist the adorable bird on a target tree design they had. Isn’t it cute? And the tag reads: Reusable Shopping Bag “Reuse to Reduce”. Due to the zip up nature of the bag, no sturdy flat bottom for this one, and not quite tiny enough i’d want to keep it in my purse.

An observation on the difference of the corporate check out culture between Target and Whole Foods. When i was at Target and purchasing the bag, she just throws it into a PLASTIC bag and hands it all to me… doesn’t even think to put my stuff in the bag. When at Whole Foods, the insulated bag i was buying was in the cart… and she asks me whether i brought my own, or i’m buying that one ~ and proceeds to load my groceries into my reusable bags. [I’d link you to places to purchase these online, but i can’t find links!]

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*notcot - 10.15.07 , 15:28 -

Mori Ex Cacao

skullchoc.jpgThe most tempting thing to grace my screen this morning is the D.L. & Co’s Mori Ex Cacao Skulls… Particularly this black Curious Chili “An eccentric blend of chilies and spices immersed in smooth chocolate ganache, generating a warmth that rises to an almost deadly heat, before leaving you spent, yet craving more.” Take a look at the other two skulls as well as the gift box trio below! In Bitter White Brandied Cherry and Scorched Caramel, how can you resist?

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*notcot - 10.14.07 , 13:36 -

Vino de GlueGlue

orangeglass.jpgGlue Glue Design has two projects that are part of Vindesign 2007 i couldn’t resist. First, above is the brilliant idea of turning your citrus fruit into your wine glass! Can you imagine how nice your sangria could be in a glass like that? And talk about biodegradable… I wonder if something like pomegranate would work… And below, check out their interesting take on the Cork. With their reusable stopper you can actually use the original cork to help add leverage to pull it out… or you can just pull with your finger in the loop…

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*notcot - 10.12.07 , 13:19 -

Sub-Zero Wine Campaign

subzerowine.jpgI have such a love hate relationship with advertising ~ i have always admired and loved beautiful creative ads. And then i started off despising them on websites, and was completely torn when it came time to integrate them into my sites in an attempt to have this fun side project carry its own weight. And now? Apparently, now i can get *jealous* over cool ads that *other* sites get. So any designers and media buyers out there ~ if you’re ever feeling extra nice, help us get brilliantly designed campaigns to show off (and entertain our readers)! I must even admit there’s a tiny part of me that wants to even start putting up ads that i think are gorgeous ~ just b/c its nice to see them on the site… (even if they aren’t campaigns we landed) ~ silly isn’t it?

Ok rant done. It’s a weird friday. BUT here is the campaign i’m loving that triggered that little rant. I grew up with Sub Zero fridges, they always seemed larger than life when i was little… and it’s great to see this playful microsite they created for their Sub Zero wine storage systems. They have some great animated imagery of the Enemies of Wine ~ 1. Heat 2. Light 3. Vibration 4. Humidity. See close ups below. And on interesting new “conversational marketing” ideas, nice to see a company like them embracing the blogging medium with their Sub Zero Wine Blog of “insights and advice on all things wine” featuring experts giving their tips.

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*notcot - 10.10.07 , 23:46 -

Inside Out Martini

martiniamt.jpgI could really use an Inside Out Martini right now ~ i’m sure you’re all quite familiar with Alissia Melka-Teichroew’s Inside Out Glasses ~ the champagne flutes have made the rounds on the design blogs quite a bit… but until she emailed me, i hadn’t noticed this great martini glass! [Huge congrats to the AMT Inc team on finding a manufacturer for the collection!!! I can’t wait to see these in all the design/home stores.] Other reasons she may seem familiar to you? The now classic “diamond rings” made out of acrylic (and also reinvented into some of the cutest stirrers) - images below if you need some catching up.

Oh, and the main reason she emailed? To share some really cool shopping bags for a store in The Netherlands (called Kwantum) that she designed with Jan Habraken from WATdesign, which are larger reusable grocery bags that sell for 1.50… similar to those Multistorey Re-Bag bags i posted, in that they are bags, with graphics of bags printed on them ~ and they even designed a few others with double handles! Check out the pics she sent over below.

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*notcot - 10.05.07 , 22:39 -

Late Night Snack

TasteSpotting #4501TasteSpotting #4505TasteSpotting #4524TasteSpotting #4531TasteSpotting #4498TasteSpotting #4495TasteSpotting #4473TasteSpotting #4470TasteSpotting #4461TasteSpotting #4453You know the drill, click the pics to see more! Munchies? I’ve been getting in this terrible habit of finding myself at TasteSpotting when i get late night snack cravings… so instead of indulging tonight, just rounding up some of the fun enticing food options! Sweet dreams.

*notcot - 10.01.07 , 21:11 -

Walteria Living and WSPA

endangeredchocmain.jpgChocolate combined with beautifully sculpted animals AND proceeds to aid WSPA, the world society for the protection of animals? That fits what we’re all about pretty perfectly. Walteria Living’s Endangered Species Chocolates designed by Kathleen Walsh and Anita Mothersbaugh are part of their new HMS (her majesty’s ship) Collection. Each box contains a Pygmy Hippopotamus, Mountain Gorilla, and Koala Bear. The series makes reference to consumption with an emphasis on conservation education. See close ups below for the incredible attention to detail in these chocolates, as much as i may love chocolate, these may just be too beautiful to consume.

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*notcot - 09.30.07 , 23:27 -

TasteSpotting Roundup

TasteSpotting #4345TasteSpotting #4343TasteSpotting #4348TasteSpotting #4361TasteSpotting #4353TasteSpotting #4340TasteSpotting #4333TasteSpotting #4318TasteSpotting #4298TasteSpotting #4288Click the images to see more!. Mmmmmm. Cinnamon Rolls. Ok this weeks roundup ~ i wanted to give you guys a little insight on how hard editing submissions can sometimes become. When i started TasteSpotting, the vision was to create a gorgeously drool worthy space filled with delectable delights… and we were excited to have ANY submissions at all. But as with all things, evolution is inevitable… and scaling, necessary. So as the visual/designy side of the site (and yes, we all know i’m quite the newbie when it comes to food)… trends have become even more apparent on TasteSpotting than any of the others lately, and it’s put editing in a hard place. For example… this week, EVERYONE seems to be cooking delicious cinnamon rolls! 5 of the posts are up there, and even more were in submissions that didn’t make it up… this is where it is no longer a problem about whether the image and post are things we love, but whether it is interesting and stand out enough as a Cinnamon Roll post. Because as you can imagine, a front page of 30 cinnamon roll pictures isn’t exactly what people come to TasteSpotting to see. Other trends? Last week mooncakes were showing up in full force. Then there was the heirloom tomato trend before that. Pomegranates have been popular lately too. Basically when a trend organically appears, we try not to let it take over the site TOO much, and the standards tend to raise on that theme. Anyhow, i just wanted to let you all know, and see whether people had any ideas or opinions on how we should handle this. Our goal is to showcase some of the most beautiful and interesting selections of links daily to whet your palate… how do we handle the possibility of having TOO MANY posts a day? Is there such a thing?

*notcot - 09.26.07 , 12:54 -

Oooold Whisky

wrinklewhiskey.jpgAlso part of the OPOS.it 2007 exhibition tackling the concept of “old” ~ this is Oooh! Design’s Ooold Whisky Wrinkle Bottle. Also, you have to visit their website to hear their Ooooooh! sound effect as the page loads. Made me smile. But, back to the bottle. We all know that when it comes to alcohol and waters, the packaging really is 90% of things. (Yes yes, taste matters too, but once you’ve found your selection of great tastes, what makes you pick the bottle off the shelf? Exactly.) This bottle design manages to add so much character to the whisky itself through its “aged” wrinkles. Can’t you envision a full line of these with various degrees of wrinkling depending on age? Or that botox’d LA bottle that confuses you a bit? (Tastes like a 40 year old, bottle looks like 18?).

“Wrinkle Bottle is a packaging project that dramatically highlight an intrinsic peculiarity of high quality spirits: the aging. The realistic reproduction of human wrinkles engraved on the bottle, ironically puts up the long years that make precious a spirit. It’s at the same time object decoration and information about the product. It’s a way to emphasize the quality of the spirit and a fine object with strong decorative valence, ideal for high level products.”

*notcot - 09.14.07 , 08:40 -

Drinks & Sweets

TasteSpotting #3992TasteSpotting #3991TasteSpotting #3989TasteSpotting #3972TasteSpotting #3971TasteSpotting #3939TasteSpotting #3935TasteSpotting #3866TasteSpotting #3930TasteSpotting #3794Click the images to see more! Inspired by that post on the bottom right ~ TasteSpotting #3794 described as “Liquor + Cake! An entire 5 course tasting menu of mini cupcakes and coordinating cocktails.” Here is a selection of delicious sweets and drinks to kick off your friday.

*notcot - 09.13.07 , 08:48 -

Evian Palace Bottle

newevian.jpg“Inspired by the purity of Evian water, and the beauty of the french alps, the exquisite Evian Palace Bottle is available in restaurants and brings a heightened level of luxury to fine dining occasions.” More interesting than the fact that evian is fighting the anti-bottled water world (and all those fine dining establishments that will now offer you triple filtered tap water, etc) ~ are these interesting details… there is a pourer built into the cap! And a sleek coaster to catch the condensation! Also similar to the giant glass bottle that showed up last year, the Holiday 2007 bottle (last time with a hot pink top) is back in glistening gold.

*notcot - 09.08.07 , 22:55 -

Narguile by Nedda El-Asmar

hookah1.jpgThere are hookahs/shishas and then there is the Narguile by Nedda El-Asmar for Parisian Airdiem. I can’t imagine a more enticing hookah for the design set… it screams luxe, and the minimalist shape is just beautiful… also the details like the black and white tubes, interchangeable mouth pieces, brown carrying case, and even special tweezers for the coals.

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