CH Omakase 2017: Hickies Swarovkski Edition: Exclusive navy shoelace replacements in an edition of 100

CH Omakase 2017: Hickies Swarovkski Edition

Hickies—stretchy cords that replace traditional shoelaces—are not only convenient, they also provide slip-on comfort while keeping everything snuggly in place. For the 2017 holiday season the brand introduced their Swarkovski edition for an extra……

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Link About It: Jenga Ocean, a Game Made from Recycled Fishing Nets

Jenga Ocean, a Game Made from Recycled Fishing Nets


Taking eco-friendly to new heights, Jenga Ocean is the first-ever game made from recycled fishing nets. Each set is produced from 25 square feet of nets sourced via Bureo’s Net Positiva recycling program, and the results don’t sacrifice design—the……

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Interview: Adam Eastwood and Franco Wright of Scent Bar: The destination for independent and niche perfume shopping opens a new location in LA's new retail space the ROW

Interview: Adam Eastwood and Franco Wright of Scent Bar


Walking into Scent Bar, egg-shaped and gem-colored The House of Oud bottles draw the eye. The Oriza L Legrand bottles evoke a historic era and Fueguia 1833 features a more modern apothecary style. But it’s what is inside all of these vessels that captured……

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Link About It: The Necessity of Free Arts and Culture

The Necessity of Free Arts and Culture


Many people have been upset by the announcement from NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, wherein they instate an admission fee of $25 for out-of-state visitors. It’s easy to understand why. In a city filled with struggling artists—and every other type……

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CH Omakase 2017: Pansy Ass Ceramics Vessels: Several limited edition pieces from the subversive Toronto designers, one G-rated and some that are NSFW

CH Omakase 2017: Pansy Ass Ceramics Vessels


Toronto-based Pansy Ass Ceramics is a CH favorite for their humor, playfulness and quality creations. The company—made up of Kris Aaron and Andrew Walker—explores gay male identify and culture via ceramics that are oftentimes subversive, and always……

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CH Omakase 2017: Aurora Clock: A blacked-out update of the timepiece, handmade in an edition of 10

CH Omakase 2017: Aurora Clock


More than a standard reissue, our blacked-out Aurora Clocks for CH Omakase are the marriage of nostalgia and imagination. This type of magical clock illuminated the childhood homes of both CH founders Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten in its traditional……

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CH Omakase 2017: John Arsenault’s "FOR YOU!" Book + Exclusive Print: Two pieces of a photographic study on love between a couple, through flowers


John Arsenault is an accomplished photographer, creator, retailer and long time friend of CH. His latest book, “For You!” captures flower arrangements he makes for his husband, designer and retailer Raf Swiader. The photos, shot using an iPhone……

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Premiere: "Exquisite" by Holly Miranda feat. Kyp Malone: The TV on the Radio member directs a gently psychedelic music video for a collaborative track


One would be remiss to say that Holly Miranda’s greatest asset is her voice. Of course, the unearthly power it conveys can quickly capture a listener, but there’s always more at play behind it. Her forthcoming album, Mutual Horse out 23 February……

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CH Omakase 2017: Slow Factory Moon Selfie Bandana: Italian silk printed with a NASA image, in an edition of 48

CH Omakase 2017: Slow Factory Moon Selfie Bandana

Best known for printing high-resolution NASA images on the highest quality natural Italian silks, Slow Factory blends old-world luxury with new technology. Further, each collection they release explores stories about human rights and environmental……

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Shoppers encouraged to urinate on IKEA's latest advert

IKEA and Swedish design agency Åkestam Holst have created an advert that acts as a pregnancy test, revealing a special offer when it detects a positive result in a woman’s urine.

At first glance, the design – which featured in a Swedish women’s magazine – appears much like an ordinary IKEA advert promoting the brand’s Sundvick baby crib.

But further down the page, women are instructed to apply a sample of urine on a marked area. If they are pregnant, their urine will cause the advert to change, to show a special discount offer on the crib.

While it looks as though the advert is offering a discount to pregnant women, it is actually intended to advertise IKEA’s membership club IKEA Family.

“The whole ad is a pregnancy test that actually interacts with your potential pregnancy,” said Åkestam Holst, an ad agency based in Stockholm.

“Instead of a simple line indicating a positive result, IKEA presents you with a better price on a new baby crib if you’re pregnant. All in real time, right there in the ad.”

To create the advert’s interactive function, IKEA and Åkestam Holst partnered with materials research company Mercene Labs.

The starting point was a strip found inside pregnancy tests, which reacts to the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and causes a change in colour.

Across a period of four months, the team worked to scale up this standardised method so that it would work for an A4-sized printed advert.

“Mercene Labs used their experience in development of surface active materials for microfluidics and medical diagnostics,” explained the studio. “Careful selection of materials, together with a controlled capillary flow have been crucial for the success of this project.”

This isn’t the first time IKEA has applied a tongue-in-cheek approach to its advertising campaigns.

In 2017, the company released a spot-the-difference guide after its iconic blue tote bag was copied by fashion house Balenciaga, and also created a spoof instruction manual that shows how to make your own Game of Thrones cape from one of its rugs.

The Swedish flat-pack furniture giant, founded in 1926, topped Dezeen Hot List in 2017 for its vast range of initiatives over the past year.

These include the introduction of snap-together furnishings, which do away with fiddly Allen keys, and a collection of no-waste products.

The post Shoppers encouraged to urinate on IKEA’s latest advert appeared first on Dezeen.