the Cool Collector

the Cool Collector moved

2011-09-23T17:37:00.000+02:00

Dear followers,

I have been a litlle absent last weeks. But with good reasons! I am proud to announce my new website/blog: www.thecoolcollector.net

A brand new site with more info, more bloggers and more inspiration! Better navigation and much more insights in the world of cool!

I'd like to thank all the visitors that enjoyed this blog and hope you will enjoy the new blog as much as I do!

I would like to welcome you here!

Sweet meat

2011-08-15T09:52:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Food Files

The way food looks and the way it tastes are two entirely different things when you look at these images. To seperate taste and looks of food in a extreme way seems to be a trend amongst food stylists right now.The sweets on these pictures look like sweets made out of meat, but there’s no meat in it at all! Really love the visual effect of it, though it are cakes and ice creams, I don’t really feel like eating them! It looks like something that evil Vampire Russel from true blood would serve. The sweets are photographed by German artist and photographer Jasmin Schuller.

the Smart Watch: I’m Watch

2011-08-15T09:37:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Gadget Files

Addicted to your smartphone? This gadget may come in handy to cover your addiction! The i'm Watch is the next smart gadget that synchronizes with your smartphone. Browse through your social network, music and other apps while it looks your just watching (and toutching) your watch. Available in some pretty nice colors and materials. The shipping starts at the end of November, but you can pre-order the watch here.

The Cool Collector is on Holiday!

2011-07-14T13:50:00.000+02:00

Dear readers,

The last posts where the last for the coming two or three weeks. I'm going out for a holiday, but with some exciting news: There's a new website coming! With more news, new bloggers, better design and better navigation! We hope to launch the new site before september! For now, have a great summer and we will be back on august the 8^th!

All you can get!

2011-07-14T13:36:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Editorial Files

The debut issue of VIRGINE Magazine is now out, featuring this ‘All You Can Get’ editorial by Ryan Yoon. Styling by Hissa Igarash. Really love it! Less is just not more!

animated tattoo

2011-07-14T13:28:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Technology Files

How cool is this! A hidden code in your tattoo, scan the code and your tattoo transforms into a animated figure! Pretty amazing!

QR codes have been starting to pop up everywhere, including as art objects and as serialized literature. So it’s only makes sense that someone would take it a step further and actually get one of them tattooed on their body. Paris tattoo artist K.A.R.L. has purportedly tattooed the very first QR Code onto a person that when scanned, produces an animated version of it on YouTube. It features a singing, floating head appearing out of the flower design of the tattoo.

The entire process was live streamed on Facebook via Ballantine whiskey’s “Leave the Impression” campaign. People were not only able to watch the tattooing in real time but were also able to share thoughts and interact with the artist in what he called the “Human API”.

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2011/07/qr-code-tattoo-makes-your-heart-sing.html#ixzz1S4sqUqFv

Now some know-it-all criticized this article on psfk because he says this code isn't a QR code but a EZ code, so in case you thought the same... don't bother.... I already know!

The worlds first videocoat

2011-07-14T13:20:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Technology Files

This is the worlds first video coat worn by Inventor David Forbes. A gadget/clothing item that allows him to display videos right on his body. On this inventor it still looks a bit like a invention by a pretty geeky professor. It's a little too complex to actually wear but it's a start towards the future! The Video Coat is a color TV set built into a lab coat. It is a 160x120 pixel color LED display, built on flex boards. This television set displays regular NTSC video. He designed and built it for Burning Man. Click here for David Forbes explanation about the technique and all other geeky stuff that's just too boring to explain for me!

Riots in a jam jar

2011-07-14T13:09:00.001+02:00

Cool Collector # Art Files

Riot's seem to be everywhere lately when you watch the news. Not the most fun events, but they are pretty inspiring! James Cauty also has a big fascinatation for Riots and Protests, his series A Riot inJam Jar proves that! The series contain a big amount of jars with miniature riots. Which riots it are isn't really clear to me, but it really triggers your imagenation. After finishing this small scaled riot world Cauty makes pretty movies from the jar which remind you of a carousel. Pretty impressive! It rejects on the actuality and contributes to the small-scaled-trend. Check out his work here!

hot in China: radioactive-looking frogs

2011-07-14T12:44:00.001+02:00

Cool Collector # Animal Files

Here a pretty bizarre trend from China, just for the record, I do not support this trend but it does fascinate me!

Just like tattooed gold fish and live turtles sealed in keychains, artificially dyed frogs have been sold in China for a few years now, despite complaints from animal activists and warnings from animal welfare experts.

It seems regular frogs weren’t cheerful-looking enough for some people, so they decided to add a bit more color to mother nature’s design, through modern technology. Using various devices and techniques, including lasers and bombarding the poor amphibians with large amounts of industrial chemicals which are absorbed by their skin, they create what is known as colored frogs. The colors are vibrant and apparently last for up to 4-5 years.

For some reason, many Chinese seem to like these radioactive-looking frogs, and they are in very high demand at aquariums and ponds across the country. Some even buy them as pets for their children, and vendors say people “like the bright colors because they are so cheerful”. Unfortunately, few of them understand that the high doses of chemicals are lethal as indicated by signs like “Not for human consumption” on the side of their tanks. Experts say thousands of tropical frogs could die as a result of this colored frog trend.

Via

Amazing Papercrafts by Zim and Zou

2011-07-14T12:36:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Art Files

Above images from the 'Back to Basic' project by French designersZim And Zou. Pretty amazing! It seems this is free and non commercial work, but that doesn't make it less impressive! For more paper-inspiration you should really check out their site for some very impressive detailed paper creations!

L’île Aux Ashby ‘Cosmopolitan Beau’ Collection

2011-07-14T12:24:00.002+02:00

Cool Collector # Accessory Files

L’ île aux Ashby is a stunning accessory line out of Singapore. I'm pretty fascinated over the new line by Designer Rayson Tan. A bold and colorful amalgam of colors and shapes he describes as follows:

A mish mash of architecture, art deco, geometry and pop culture. It celebrates individualism and cohesion. Everyone is made up of unique details; and everyone ought to embrace diversity in this cosmopolitan world today. In essence, Cosmopolitan Beau can be anybody’s state of the mind and heart.

Neostitch your phonecase!

2011-07-14T12:16:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Gadget Files

In the Korean online store Connect design they offer a phonecase which you can costumize yourself by 'neostitching'. The case will be delivered with needles, thread and several fun and cool patterns. But off course you can also design your own pattern. Love the way this concept combines modern gadgets with old fashioned crafting and triggers consumers to be creative!

Shopping Bike

2011-07-14T12:01:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Mobility Files

Not revolutionary, but quite funny and handy! Personally I would like to see a version with a more girly bike, but it's a cool alternative for the cargo bike! Too bad there are no drive-through-supermarkets yet!

If you want to DIY your own shopping bike, check out how on this site!

via www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.

the Cool Collector in Viva

2011-07-07T13:32:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Cool Collector Files

Because Dutch designer Bas Kosters will design a special collection for the Dutch low budget store Zeeman it appears Zeeman has lost its cheapy image. Dutch Magazine Viva devoded a article to this subject and asked us some questions about Zeeman. Download the images above to read the article. Unfortunatly our English readers can't read it because it is in Dutch.

hair issues by Veerle Evens

2011-07-07T13:04:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Trend Files

Our natural consciousness has been expressing itself for quite some time by the frequent use of natural materials, with wood as a big favourite. Structures and colours serve as inspiration and get imitated in design perspectives from interior design to fashion.

The sources of inspiration from nature are now sought even closer to the humankind, and are more literally than ever before. Although many people show resistance to these natural materials, a lot designers are busy experimenting with human hair and skin. The natural contribute of human to the cosmos.

This can be done by using skin and hair, like Lore Langendries does with her chain of ‘springbok’ leather. And Kobi Perez is bringing us back to our primitive roots with his ‘Harry’ jewellery, by mimicking the use of hair in the first jewellery and accessories of this world.

Combining the form, structures and colours is the superlative degree of this. How this can be done is shown by Noortje Zijlstra. She made a stunning fashion collection by combining silhouettes, colours and the structures of beards, and pulls them out of their context by applying them on women.

The world of interior and design seems to be ahead when it comes to using natural materials and textures. But the daring natural materials that make human and animal are more often seen in the fashion industry, where rebelling against ‘the normal’ always played a bigger role than in interior and design. Phoebe English for example, recently graduated from Central Saint Martins, created a whole collection with hair. For Maison Martin Margiela, hair isn’t a new material either.I would be excited to see the worlds of interior and fashion merging in the future, and exchanging these genres and principles. Think about it, a couch made from cat’s hair, or a dress with bark structures, how cool would that be? Some designers are already experimenting with this! Take a look at ‘Hair Cradle’, made by Culdesac & Studio Marisol. It’s made from human hair.

A contribution by Veerle Evens

project squadt

2011-07-07T12:30:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Toy Files

How awesome are these little creatures? They are designs from the very alianating project squadt!
PROJECT SQUADT IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN FERG AND THREEZERO, BROUGHT TO YOU BY JAMUNGO.

THE SQUADT STORY:
Earth. All that remains is a shell of what the humans once called home. They are all gone now. Wiped out by a violent plague of some sort.. The cause? Who fucking knows…that’s not the point of this story. The point is how the hell the Squadts came to call our planet home. I will tell you. The powers that be, on the Squadts mother planet, thought it would be a good idea to purge their prisons and cleanse their lands of the dregs of society.
They loaded them up by the thousands, into a massive, interstellar, incarceration transporter (a huge fucking prison ship). Earth would be the final destination. It would now serve as a prison planet for the unruly Squadt masses. They would be left to their own devices, but monitored closely by the powerful Squadt overseers back home. A violent social experiment of the grandest scale…but of course shit went wrong.

Upon entering the earths atmosphere the massive prison ship had a major entry sequence malfunction. The landing was successful, but not without extensive casualties and complete decimation of the home planet communication and monitoring systems.
The surviving Squadts took right to their new home, adopting leftover human technology as if it was their own. And Because of their inherent violent and deviant nature, they instinctively divided into opposing gangs. Many battles would be fought. This is the story of the Squadts.~

Custom made pet nose necklaces

2011-07-07T11:32:00.001+02:00

Cool Collector # Accessoiry Files

Pets are getting more popular each day! If you want to express your love for your little pet friends this custom pet nose print necklaces from uncommongoods.com might be something for you!

Product story:

Your pet is one of a kind. You know its every silly quirk and habit by heart, and yet it still manages to make you laugh with surprise.

Here’s a special way to pay tribute to your pet’s special charms – with a custom made, sterling silver pendant, cast from your pet’s cute little nose. Each animal nose is as individual as a human fingerprint, so this pendant will be as unique as your love for your furry friend.

Order a large or small pendant, to suit your dog or cat, and you will receive a special kit with the materials and instructions for making a mold of your pet’s nose. All components are non-toxic, and the process is simple and safe. You then mail that mold to the artist, who casts the pendant for you. Rather than using pewter, silver plate, or other lower quality materials, the final piece is finely crafted, solid sterling silver, and can be engraved on the back with your pet’s name (up to 12 characters).

You will receive a mold kit with detailed instructions in order to complete the molds of your prints.

simply sharing: headphone splitter

2011-07-07T11:21:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Media Files

Letting someone listen to your favourite songs or sharing your music has never been so easy! I really do not understand why this device wasn't on the market earlier! With this music branch headphone splitter.

Availble in three colors at Kikkerland. To find the nearest store check out their site!

always look on the bright side of life: 100 smiles

2011-06-24T09:47:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Art Files

The future is insecure, when you turn on the news you instantly get tired and annoyed and all fun things and securities seem to be disappearing one after another. So here something to chear you up, a project by a very positive person. According to Juan Astasio a dose of happiness can be found anywhere, as long as you look with an open mind. He is demonstrating this philosophy with his project titled 100 Smiles. Using a camera, Astasio set out to find “smiles” in his surroundings and photographed each one. All photographs were then compiled into a website that plays Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle, as you browse. Guess we need to be reminded of that spirit a lot in the coming months.

New life after death

2011-06-24T09:46:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Gardening Files

Here a pretty cool idea by Spanish designer Martin Azua. He has come up with the idea of a mortuary urn containing the seed of a tree. Bios Urn is made from biodegradable materials including coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose. Once the ashes have been placed and the urn planted, the seed inside starts to germinate and will eventually grow into a tree. You can choose different types of tree or plant seeds depending on their suitability for the area you wish to plant it. I really love the idea, it's quite romantic! You can also literally dig into your family roots!

via Big Think

Choco Shot

2011-06-24T09:39:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Food Files

Austrian chocolate maker Zotter offers products that are organic, fair trade, and very creative. Choco Shots are available on their website; syringes full of chocolatey liquid that comes in packaging designed to look like it’s real medicine. These strange but inventive chocolates come in seven different varieties including Raspberry Brandy, Mandarin, Whisky and Almond. Each is presented in a 12ml syringe and they are €2.50, with worldwide delivery. An imaginative novelty gift, along the lines of the “emergency chocolates”, for when you’re in desperate need of a cocoa fix.

viaPSFK

The Cosby Sweater project

2011-06-24T09:38:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Style Files

When I was little a was a big fan of the Cosby show, just like almost everybody else in the eighties.

Kelly Tucker is probably a big fan too! She devoted a whole project to the Huxtables, or to their sweaters to be precisely. On her blog the Cosby Sweater Project she documents the crème de la crème of Huxtable fashions through the show’s eight seasons. By showing little pictures and a drawing she's creating a wonderful spot of inspiration for 80's lovers. Visit her blog here! Enjoy!

Anti Nuclear Wear

2011-06-14T10:22:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Editorial Files

This is by far the coolest editorial I’ve seen the last months! It responds to the actuality and looks pretty amazing to! The styling in the editorial, Yes we care!, could best be describes as a rehashing of new wave style accorging to Mad Jac. Jac Jagaciak and Zombie Boy (Rick Genest) raise their voices with fellow protesters for a call to action for clean energy in Fashion Poland’s summer issue. Lensed by Zuza Krajewska and Bartek Wieczorek, stylist Andrzej Sobolewsi’s wardrobe is both colorful and irreverently cool in these dynamic images.

via

The Playroom: Kids and Media

2011-06-14T10:13:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Art Files

How kids are reacting to the media ?! A lot of studies show that children are overcome by major current events and headlines of our time. In this ‘In The Playroom’ series by Canadian photographer Jonathan Hobin, utilizing only kids props, created a metaphor for the impossibility of a protective space safe from the reach of modern media.

Events such as 9/11, hurricane Katrina, the north Korean missiles, Princess Diana’s death and the Jonbenét Ramsey trials are represented here in a very disturbing way.

Maybe it is disturbing, but the men has a point! By confronting the watcher with 'possibility’s' he makes you think!

via

Diamond in the Roughage

2011-06-14T10:02:00.000+02:00

Cool Collector # Editorial Files

This editorial takes 'Flower Arranging' to a whole other level and makes fashion very contemporary!

This editorial 'Diamond in the Roughage' was photographed by Richard Burbridge and styled by one of my favorite stylists of the planet Robbie Spencer. You can find it in the summer issue of T Magazine 2011.

via