Hasta La Ideas

Win our Jambox speaker, beginning with a launch party at our NYC pop up

When the Jawbone team stopped by Cool Hunting a few weeks back to show us their Bluetooth-compatible portable speaker—dubbed the Jambox—naturally we had initial reservations about just how powerful the tiny speaker system could really be. After a few listens, and learning more about how its clever technology is perfectly geared to seamlessly move from conference room to coffee table, we were hooked. So much so that we asked the designers (Yves Béhar’s Fuseproject studio) to create a limited-edition Jambox in Cool Hunting green to include in our collection of CH Editions for this holiday season.

While we’re not selling the diminutive device, you can enter to win one of the fantastic blasters in an upcoming series of giveaways. The first chance to get your hands on one will be tomorrow, 7 December 2010, at our Jambox DJ shopping event, where Saturdays Surf‘s Morgan Collett will be providing the tunes. To be eligible to win, you must attend the event and RSVP here.

Another way to scoop up a green Jambox is through our giveaway with Rcrd Lbl, who put together the playlist for our pop up with Gap. Have a listen to the 17-track playlist and sign up to win the speaker here.

What’s more, we’ll be giving away two Jambox speakers through contests featured on Cool Hunting, and finally you have another chance in an auction for charity later this month, powered by eBay and benefiting Animal Haven, a nonprofit organization that finds homes for abandoned cats and dogs.

Our pop up in NYC featuring locally-sourced goods

For the 2010 holiday season we’re proud to introduce our first-ever pop up store, bringing together products from independent companies based in the New York region. Set in Gap’s project space on 5th Avenue, the store is a Cool Hunting production from top to bottom. We hand-picked each item using the same principles—innovative design, artisan craftsmanship, social and environmental consciousness—that guide our editorial.

The resulting assortment ranges from Grado headphones to Amy Sedaris’ new book to exclusive one-offs by Jonathan Adler. We’ve also included a series of Cool Hunting collaborations, such as limited-edition Mast Brothers chocolate and an Outlier cycling cap, along with a mini-installation of our digital content.

To come up with a space for showing all these products, we assembled a cast of local partners. ByKenyan designed the interiors, which feature decorative painting by Evolving Image and After the Barn‘s wood reclaimed from barns upstate. RCRD LBL put together a soundtrack of New York bands and Matt Van Ekeren designed a graphic identity.

We’re excited to be working with Gap, a pioneering retailer that redefined American fashion on a global level, to give shoppers a truly unique, local experience.

The shop will be open seven days a week through January 2nd (except for Christmas day) and is located on 5th Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets. Keep an eye on coolhunting.com/gap for updates on in-store events and other details about the shop.

Fashion fantasies-come-true at Los Angeles Tron pop up

Disney continues to fan Tron fever with the release of several items of higher-end, wearable merchandise for men and women by designers like
Rousseau,
Hayden-Harnett and
Rotenier that will be available all in one place beginning 19 November 2010 at the Tron Pop-Up Shop inside Los Angeles’ Royal/T. The concept allows Tron fans to become as authentically part of it as Tron main character Kevin Flynn did when he entered his employer’s mainframe in the original film. We’ve put together our favorite pieces from the women’s couture collection here.

Among the dozens of retro-futuristic items available are jewelry pieces, like Rotenier’s sterling silver Lightcycle Cufflinks ($345).
Tom Tom’s Derez Earrings have blue topaz stone ($155) and match a Grid Escape Ring ($195) and Light Runner Cuff ($265)—both gunmetal plated with mirrored lucite. It also has a Legacy necklace made with antique bronze chain ($395), exclusive to the pop-up store.

Jerome Rousseau’s shiny Quorra Platform Sandal ($795) will perhaps be one of the most coveted items of them all, standing tall at five inches and unavailable outside of the pop up until February of next year.

Those looking for more practical accessories can choose between the various bags and clutches by Hayden-Harnett ($129-$478), with matching cuffs ($98-$110).

The shop closes on 23 December 2010, convenient for those in search of a last-minute gift for the holidays.

Levi’s launches a temporary space serving NYC’s photography community

Dial the clock back a few years and Levi’s was just another Big American Brand rapidly losing marketshare to other major labels and niche denim brands. Today (approximately one global financial crisis later) the San Francisco, CA-based clothier is mid-comeback with numbers to prove it and an unfolding multitiered campaign fueling the upswing. Of their various billboards, collaborations and promotions all under the banner “Ready to Work Go Forth™” the artistry-led workshops might not seem like such a big deal. But after visiting both the first S.F. printmaking installment earlier this year and the current photography version in NYC, I am hugely impressed by not just how well-executed they are but by the sense that there’s some real heart behind the project. To find out the backstory, we checked in with Levi’s head of Collaborations, Partnerships and Creative Concepts, Joshua Katz, who filled us in on what it’s like working with the brand, the power of community, and what drives the different identities of each workshop.

Where San Francisco’s event drew on the “precious objects” culture that makes printmaking thrive there, the ten-week-long NYC edition is more about the democratic nature of photography and how it’s “interwoven into everything” in the city. As such, there’s a little something for everyone in the massive space (formerly Deitch Gallery) with digital and vintage Leica cameras, other vintage camera brands, digital technicians, photo assistants, a printing center and light box, as well as exhibitions and installations. Collaborators include photographer and curator Tim Barber, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, master photographer Bruce Davidson, chef April Bloomfield, and photography publisher Hamburger Eyes. Launched last night with an event featuring droves of guests, a photobooth, lots of drinks, and DJ duo Chances with Wolves, Katz explains, “the reason a lot of brands don’t do this is because it’s hard, it’s tiring.”

The payoff of course is “if you make that extra effort, people can believe in it.” Or in other words, their success comes from embracing hard work and community as core values from the top down. “There are fundamental philosophies that don’t change,” says Katz. “The [brands] that stick around are people who recognize that they are part of a community.” In addition to opening its doors to artists, community groups and non-profits, all proceeds from sales of Levi’s goods (including the exclusive Trucker Jacket, pictured) and camera-related items will go to NYC-based charitable organizations Harvey Milk High School, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Edible Schoolyard New York.

Comparing his current job to his previous work with Quicksilver, Katz describes his own thinking on brands as having “a certain obligation to the people that wear them, to continue to solve their problems through products and be responsible members of their community.”

And as for Katz’ own role in that community? “I’m still a geek, I’m still a fan…photography is a way to ground me and remind me, capture some of those moments, and record what I do.” Where he’ll be documenting next as the project continues is still under wraps, though it shouldn’t come as any surprise that it will have something to do with music.

Until then, check out the calendar for a full list of NYC events (it runs through 18 December 2010) and see more of our images in the gallery below.