Hasta La Ideas

Calorie-free caffeine inhalers with more kick than a strong cup of Joe

In an age when medical marvels such as inhalable vaccines are becoming more widely available, it’s only logical that this convenient medium converges with the global energy drink boom. While increasingly smaller forms span shot-like bottles (R.I.P.
Nos) to
dissolving strips, Aeroshot’s inhalable caffeine has some notable advantages.

This new paradigm packs B vitamins and 100 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to that in a large cup of strong Joe, but without craft-level preparations, the calories of Starbucks or coffee breath. Designed to be temperature resistant as well as TSA-friendly for use on commercial flights, though we haven’t tasted it yet, the website claims it’s both fast and safe.

The brainchild of Harvard professor David Edwards whose culinary innovations include inhalable chocolate and many others, this latest commercial effort has some interesting applications for looping back into the medical community. Both less messy and easier to use than today’s nasal inhalable devices, Aeroshot could have some far-reaching potential for delivering vitamins, medicine, anti-viral shots and vaccines at more affordable price points.

Hitting stores in Boston and New York in about three months from now, a free sample is available for the first 500 people who apply for a promotional code.

Michela O'Connor Abrams, president of Dwell, poses with James Russell of Bloomberg Media.

Dwell has landed in New York City, and to announce its newly expanded East Coast office, the magazine staff held a coming out party Tuesday night. A constant stream of dazzling architects, designers, retailers and media floated into the private Greenwich Village townhouse where the party was held to congratulate the newest executives publisher Brenda Saget Darling and executive editor Amanda Dameron.

The modern architecture glossy had been based in San Francisco, with editors flying back and forth from both coasts for the past 12 years. Although it has always had a strong presence in Manhattan, Dwell has now moved into its new offices in Midtown. According to Dwell President Michela O’Connor Abrams, a New York move has always been in the stars for the designer glossy. The plan was shelved, however, with the company being no exception to the economic downturn of the past four years. But now, Abrams declared, “We’re here, and we’re ready.”

Dwell founder and owner Lara Deam flashes a smile.

Owner and founder Lara Deam (who looked stunning in her hard-to-miss Stella McCartney blouse and Marc Jacobs skirt) shared her excitement for this change with the same Dwell DNA, stating, “It was time to develop deep roots in this city and begin to grow real relationships.” The staff got a great start at the soiree, as they were in great company all throughout the night.

Guests including designer Thom Filicia, Don Weinreich, of architecture firm Ennead, the Rich Brilliant Willing trio, and Robert McGarry of GCAM toured the 8-story townhouse renovated by Eric Kohler.

While munching on hors d’oeurves and sipping on Ketel One vodka, champagne and wine, visitors gave their two cents about the magazine’s expansion. While McGarry called it a “good move,” Weinreich expressed “curiosity” about the publication’s goals.The guys at Rich, Brilliant, Willing were already excited for Dwell‘s upcoming events, as well as the glossy’s change in flavor.

More glamorous events are something New Yorkers can definitely look forward to, according to Dwell‘s newest digital accounts manager Ralston O’Neil. Congrats Dwell and welcome to the Big Apple!

More event pictures after the jump: continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New furniture designs and reissues by Brazil’s modern masters now on show in NYC

Celebrating many generations and over six decades of Brazil’s rich history of design is the new exhibition at Espasso, a NYC gallery that features Brazilian design. Starting today, 20 September 2011, the group show presents beautiful furniture design from the country’s top architects and designers to America, much of it for the first time. Uniting the designers—Arthur Casa, Dado Castello Branco, Isay Weinfeld, Jorge Zalszupin and others—is the brand their furniture is manufactured under, ETEL. At the forefront of contemporary furniture design in Brazil, ETEL produces with an emphasis on sustainable processes, and only uses wood certified for sustainability. Another common theme is its underlying simplified aesthetic.

The highlight of the exhibition is Jorge Zalszupin’s “Veronica” chair. His first design since the 1960s, the chair shows a beautiful balance of fine leather and dark wood proving that the 90 year old designer still has the touch. Also included in the show are a number of his reissued pieces that offer a physical history lesson of his designs.

Distributed around the gallery are pieces by Etel Carmona herself. From oversized circular ottomans to elegant credenzas, all of her pieces are created with an unparalleled level of detail that can be seen in the wooden lattice work and felt in the movement of each drawer.

The exhibition runs for a month, at which point the most prized pieces will become part of Espasso‘s permanent collection and transitioned to the historical gallery downstairs, where the pieces will take on a new role by telling the transitional tale of modern Brazilian design.

A series of experimental audio guides asks listeners to discern the truth about art

For their fifth annual fall festival, the French Institute Alliance Française turned the average museum audio tour into a mysterious game of fact or fiction. Made in collaboration with the conceptual sound collective Soundwalk, “Crossing the Line” leads listeners on an hour and a half tour of NYC’s Museum Mile along 5th Avenue, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Neue Gallerie, the Guggenheim and Central Park. The five remarkable writers narrating the tour devised authentic or imagined stories that ask the question “What do we rely on to determine the truth from fiction?”—this year’s festival theme.

Available in French and English, each of the five audio segments can be downloaded from the Soundwalk website and played individually if you’re only interested in a particular museum or played together as the full tour.

The tour begins at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with American writer and art historian Teju Cole and then the French novelist and poet Olivier Cadiot. With experimental sounds laying the backdrop to these intriguing stories, the listener becomes entranced with the tales, never knowing if they’re real or dreamed up. The tour continues at the the Neue Gallerie’s Cafe Sabarsky with writer and professor Phillippe Claudel, before moving on with writer Camille Laurens, who guides you through the Guggenheim. Finally, poet and performance artist John Giorno ends the tour with a collection of poems as you join him just inside Central Park at the reservoir.

Running through 16 October 2011, a full list of events for the fall festival is available from FIAF. The audio tour is available for download or to listen online at the Soundwalk site.

From newsprint walls to a city-based campaign, Aesop’s holistic design in their new NYC store

Since its inception in 1987, Australian skincare line Aesop has gone to great lengths to ensure quality. Everything from manufacturing to distribution, including of course their all-natural, socially-conscious products, is the result of a thoughtful, detail-oriented approach. When it comes to opening retail locations, the brand focuses on meshing seamlessly into its surroundings, drawing on elements from the locale to incorporate them into the space. In the case of their 40th standalone location, which opened 7 September 2011 in the Nolita neighborhood of New York City and is one of three opening in the city over the next few months, they applied the concept quite literally.

Designed by local architect Jeremy Barbour, he adopted the same solution as when he created Aesop’s Grand Central Station kiosk, constructing the wall displays and counter out of re-purposed editions of the New York Times. The material, layered to form what look like large paper bricks, gives the space unprecedented texture, creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Beyond the visual component, the soft, weathered feel of it compliments the product line nicely, as well as grounding it within the city and community. In a nod to Aesop’s appreciation of the arts, the store will screen Criterion Films on the paper walls, so customers can enjoy world-class cinema projected over years of the written word.

The new boutique also introduces the latest in their 30-day-long store opening series, Thirty Views of New York, in which I was recently one of thirty participants from the arts, publishing, fashion, and music. Each day through the 11th of October, a contributor will reveal a favorite (and possibly secret) location in NYC, including galleries, museums, restaurants, stores and other hidden gems. As part of Aesop’s ingenuity when entering a new space, the campaign allows consumers to learn about the hidden richness in a classic landscape.