*NOTCOT in food+drink - 06.17.08 -

K Chocolatier by Diane Krön

kron0.jpgTwo of my favorite vices - dark chocolate and scotch… combined?!?!?! K Chocolatier by Diane Krön’s K HIBALLS filled with Blue Label Scotch and Ketel One Vodka - a more sophisticated variation of the recipes of chocolate once exclusive to Emperor Franz Josef of Austro-Hungary, that i’m sure the Emperor would adore were he alive today - will absolutely raise the bar for any chocolate/liquor experience. But first, let me fill you in on the background of the most delectable chocolates you may ever feast on. Food Network calls K Chocolatier by Diane Krön “the Rolls Royce of Chocolates”.

These chocolates have blown my mind since childhood, and i can’t believe i forgot about them the last few years! Thank goodness i rediscovered them today while wandering in Malibu… as far as things exclusively found in LA, this is one you absolutely must try. For a quick background on K Chocolatier by Diane Krön

“In 1973, Diane and Tom Krön established Krön Chocolatier in New York City based on recipes from Tom’s great grandfather, chocolate-maker to Emperor Franz Josef of Austro-Hungary. They soon became very famous for the quality and novelty of their chocolates (Tom invented the chocolate-covered strawberry) and opened many Krön stores across the U.S. Diane and Tom Krön sold Krön Chocolatier in 1983 and retired from the chocolate business to travel and raise their family. New management took over and the company went in other directions. Now Diane Krön is back ! Lured by the excitement of Beverly Hills, Diane decided to develop a new company, and in 2000, created a new brand of luxury chocolates with new combinations and more sophisticated recipes. K CHOCOLATIER is based on those secret Krön family formulations of cocoa powder ratio and viscosity, but with a difference: using as little sugar as possible.”

Still family run (we met one of the sons at the Malibu store) ~ they produce these chocolates locally in their Gardena factory, and create daily batches in limited quantities. They are available exclusively in their Beverly Hills and Malibu boutiques, and if you are anywhere near the area, stop in - even if just to try the samples - and luckily you can now also shop online with them, since they ship nearly everywhere See more images of the beautiful packaging, some other variations… and i couldn’t help it, so a little rant about my childhood memories of K Chocolatier by Diane Krön as well.

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*NOTCOT in tech -

Maintaining The Shiny Parts

shinyparts.jpgOn ridiculous, unexpected things that made me actually lol… my new Panasonic 42” plasma showed up yesterday, the amazon white glove guys set it up, took the box away, and left me with the bag of manuals, etc… and as i start setting things up, i’m flipping through what’s in there, and i see this boring looking technical page about “MAINTAINING THE SHINY PARTS”… and as you read on, it’s really quite sad? funny? i’m not sure, so i had to share it.

NOTICE: This unit has some shiny parts. Being shiny, these parts tend to show dust and fingerprints easily. Wiping these parts or rubbing them vigorously with a hard cloth may scratch their surfaces. When cleaning or otherwise maintaining these parts, use the cleaning cloth provided with the unit, and bear in mind the following points… you can click the image above to view larger… Is “Shiny Parts” now a technical term? How much fun did some guy have writing that?

And for your multilingual amusement, i’ve scanned the other languages on the next page!

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*NOTCOT in wearable -

Surfmonk

surfmonk.jpgFlipping through a free issue of Malibu magazine that i grabbed from our usual thai place… i noticed an ad for Surfmonk… and while i have managed to live in many a beachy cities/towns, i never did manage to get on a surfboard, but do feel most at home bumming out on the beach… (the TasteSpotting drama that has yet to die down has been tormenting me for about 2 months now… maybe that’s why i’m suddenly finding myself hunting for cozy, comfy, relaxing products/environments lately).

Anyhow, Surfmonk! A line of eco-friendly bamboo terry robes, cover-ups, blankets, and more for men, women, and even kids! They range from full length friar tuck/jedi robes to these shorter cover-up hoodies i’m coveting, and i love the way their cozy looking beach blanket has a padded shoulder strap… also check out the cute knee length fanny wrap and more close ups on the next page! So tempting, to grab some, a good book, and road trip down the coast stopping and laying out on the beaches all the way down…

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*NOTCOT in design - 06.16.08 -

Israel Environment Stamps

isstamps.jpgSpotted over at The Ministry of Type ~ gorgeous 1975 Israeli Stamps depicting three major environmental concerns - Air, Water, and Noise pollution. Design by Eliezer Weishoff. See larger images on the next page.

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*NOTCOT in design -

World’s First Internet Balloon Race

balloonrace.jpgFirstly ~ look down to the left corner! How cute is that little orange bouncy raccoon balloon? Secondly, this is not a paying advertiser of NOTCOT, yet i put it on all my sites for free… because i’m in love with the genius of this campaign.

Orange (the mobile phone guys in the UK) are launching the “World’s First Internet Balloon Race” in 6 days - and essentially it is kind of like their own stumble upon race… users register their “balloon” and they can race from site to site trying to get as “far” as possible to win a trip to Ibiza… as for where they go? Sites like this one, can register on their page and put up little balloons, so when people are racing, they go through your sites! (and who knows, some might come back later!)… SO, free advertising for the sites, which give free advertising for Orange, and fun exploring the internet for the users… AND super cute raccoon balloon flash 9 animation for me to have bouncing on my screen. On the next page, i’ve compiled all the info on what happens and how things work ~ and FYI my balloon is named NOTCOT, feel free to give it a boost and i’ll boost you back when the race starts.

So, take note advertisers, if you make it cool enough, you’ll definitely get around… and future advertisers, lets break out of the IAB ad boxes, i’d love to work with someone who wanted to sponsor the next little balloon or critter to hang out somewhere non intrusive and unexpected on our sites!

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*NOTCOT in food+drink - 06.15.08 -

ICFF: Dine On Design

dineondesign1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Ironically, this is an event i was actually super excited about cross posting to NOTCOT/TasteSpotting when i was planning for it… and now that i finally get it up… that whole TasteSpotting thing happens (will tell you guys more when i can, but for now, know that it had nothing to do with images/copyright/or any of the other bizarre rumors flying on the web)… but still an incredible experience mixing food and design so perfectly - i suggest you jump ahead and see all the pics then scroll back up and read!

Two words. Bread. Lamp. How could we not venture into williamsburg after party hopping through ICFF/NY Design Week to see what this mysterious Dine On Design dinner that promised an edible lamp made of bread and other “designed” foods?

Ok the first version of this post got a bit too rambly… so i’ve moved the full story to the next page with the TONS of pics to take you through the 8 course prix fixe Dine on Design dinner at Monkeytown in Willamsburg with us! It is an experience not to be missed. And it really was quite the experience… i must admit it did feel like a bit of an art school project - and we had a blast at the dinner, particularly in its contrast to all the usual ICFF parties, openings, and open bars we had passed through earlier in the night! We found ourselves in a square room on low futons, strapped in with bibs to our table, watching crazy video installation on all four walls of clips from old foreign foodie films, 60s and 70s snack/cereal commercials, footage of Julia Child chopping chickens and fish apart… all while eating some very interesting dishes… on some very interestingly designed dishes… SO, you have to see the pics!

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*NOTCOT in travel -

ICFF: Conran Shop’s ROJO

rojo1.jpgBefore i talk about the subject of this post… how fun is that pic above? I think it’s one of my favorites from ICFF this year ~ a kids perspective - laughing/clapping at bright red styrofoam feeling “expanded polypropelene” butts/crotches of ramon ubeda and otto canalda on a tord boontje/nani marquina rug with the jamie hayon showtime chair in the background… ahhhh, icff.

From the Conran Shop’s ROJO party, so far i’ve shown you - Foosball Tables - TAST.ES Catering pieces - Luis Eslava’s velcro pieces… well, since this was one of my favorite events while in NY, just wanted to give you a peek at some of the rest of the pics! So take a look on the next page to see what other red themed spanish designs were present!

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*NOTCOT in home+decor -

Luis Eslava’s use of Velcro

velcro1.jpgVelcro. We’ve all used it, but have you ever thought about what you can build out of it? After getting settled from all the traveling, and finally having some time in the midst of this TasteSpotting situation (which i’m sorry i can’t talk about yet, but will try to tell you what i can when possible)… i finally manage to wrangle my lost ICFF images out from Aperture (it kind of ate them in the midst of the madness) ~ so here i’ll be catching up on some of the fun stuff i wanted to share from ICFF 08.

Back to velcro, though, when at the Conran Shop’s ROJO Exhibition party curated by Nani Marquina and Luis Eslava ~ everything was red! And i was enamored by Luis Eslava’s Face to Face lamp constructed of velcro strips ~ as well as his velcro space dividers which were used in both white and red throughout the exhibition. See more images from the exhibition as well as close ups of the velcro on the next page! I’ve been really curious to go buy velcro strips and have fun with them for new office dividers lately…

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*NOTCOT in design - 06.14.08 -

Keeseh Studio

0612keeseh1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s another post from our friends at Sub-Studio!

Keeseh Studio is a design studio run by two talented RISD grads, Asher Dunn and Shane Richards. Both graduated this year - I was impressed by the quality of their student work and am looking forward to see what comes out of their studio this coming year.

Above is Asher’s Upholstered Chair - I love the bent laminate chair shell - how the back curves to form the rear legs and how it sandwiches the cushions together. Also shown is his Serving Utensil, a nice translation of a common household object.

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*NOTCOT in playful -

Emil Kozak and Kelly Slater

theboards.jpgOk, so i’ve obsessed about Emil Kozak’s work back in dec 2006 ~ as well as his wallpaper in the last post… but as i continued browsing his site, i remembered what brought me there in the first place ~ i was sent the link to check out his incredible Whale Surfboard collab with Kelly Slater ~ and there is also the amazing tree filled with action that i’d love to see up close someday! Kozak says on the site “Artwork for Kelly Slaters Pro models. Kelly and I came up with the tree-idea. I made the illustrations and Al Merrick at Channel Islands shaped them. Cross your fingers, that he will get his 9′th world title this year!”

*NOTCOT in home+decor -

Barok’n’roll Wallpaper

emilwp.jpgI just spent about a half hour staring at a full screen high res image of WALLPAPER. And no wallpaper has ever held my attention THAT long. I think i have found the wallpaper of my dreams… Emil Kozak’s Barok’n’roll Wallpaper for WallCollection - Here’s the clincher ~ it LOOKS like a pattern… and from a distance it is… but when you get up close with it, you just sit and find all these hilariously awesome little details that are worked in all over the place, from submarines and whales, to skulls and horses… from dangling people, to ships riding curves that only suddenly look like waves. I found this while browsing Emil Kozak’s site.

AND it comes it white on black, black on white, and white on red. I would love to hide this in the backs of bookshelves, in the bottoms of drawers, or filling a bathroom? Where would you put it? See more close ups and the various colors on the next page…

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*NOTCOT in design -

Carlos Ramos’ Natural History Museum

naturalhistory.jpgOooooh on things to look forward to, the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City will be showing Carlos Ramos’ “Natural History Museum Part I” with the opening on June 28th! It’s his first solo show! I’ve been looking forward to this show for a while, and Boing Boing posted a link to the preview ~ so i had to share after gushing over them for a bit…

For those who don’t know - he’s a Burbank native with a character animation degree from California Institute of the Arts, and has worked with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Walt Disney Studios… he was even an art director for one of my favorite cartoons EVER - Dexter’s Laboratory! Also worked on Chalkzone, Time Squad, and more… for the ultimate inspiration - check out his sketchbook on his site… on the next page are some of my favorites i’m looking forward to seeing at the show!

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*NOTCOT in food+drink - 06.12.08 -

Dinner World Placemat Pad

worlddinner.jpgThis might sound silly, but we were totally that “fun/education in every aspect” household as kids - and my sister and i grew up eating on various educational place mats, learning much of geography and planetary systems that way! So, when i saw this tablet of 50 paper placemats featuring city maps of London, Paris, Tokyo, and New York - i instantly imagined throwing a large dinner party with these! How fun would that be? Now if only they weren’t so wasteful and were made of tyvek or something more durable and reusable? Semi-closeups of some of the maps on the next page! Seletti’s World Map Paper Placemats

Actually, you know what would be even cooler? If the D!REKTRECYCLING Recycled Maps into envelopes people made recycled map placemats!

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*NOTCOT in food+drink -

Moët Rosé Indulgence Coffret

moetrose1.jpgI found myself browsing the Moët & Chandon site, and quickly pulled into their gorgeous section flying you through their heritage (fascinating stuff…) as well as the behind the scenes video of the new “be fabulous” campaign that was shot in NY by photographer, Roxanne Lowit. And then from a product perspective, i had to share the new Moët Rosé Indulgence Coffret ~ you know how i can’t resist the sleek glossy black lacquer… and although not usually a huge pink fan, i do like my Rosé, and there’s something so appealing about this “18th centure boudoir, a world of indulgence and richesse…” inspired coffret… nice touch having it under lock and key - complete with big pink tassel. More close ups on the next page…

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*NOTCOT in nature -

Catherine Ledner’s Animals

animalwp.jpgCatherine Ledner is known for her incredible animal portraiture that gorgeously paired with beautiful wallpapers and color palettes… in fact she’s even been featured twice on .org - her site as #4667 and her NYTimes Slideshow with images from her book “Animal House” as #7345. Now, i’m excited to announce that she’s created a new site Catherine’s Animals where you can order limited edition prints of these animal portraits!

Each image is available in 4 sizes - 100 of 11”x14” at $250, 20 of 16”x20” at $500, 20 of 20”x24” at $750, and 10 of 32”x40” at $1700. See more of my favorites on the next page!

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