Coup de cœur pour Motoi Yamamoto, un artiste japonais qui a inventé des labyrinthes construit uniquement à base de sel. Un travail de titan pour un rendu d’une beauté incroyable, actuellement exposé comme une installation au Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art à Charleston. Plus d’images à découvrir dans la suite.
A ceramic overhaul to the classic kitchen grinder
A lot of ingenuity is required to rework a classic. Swiss company Kuhn Rikon recently had in-house designer Philipp Beyeler take on the iconic pepper grinder to create a fun design object informed by contemporary materials and ergonomics. The ratchet mechanism is more intelligent than a traditional twist grinder, and there’s something to be said for a design that brings an element of playfulness to the mundane task of cracking pepper.
The grinder’s personality resembles that of a small creature—a detail that’s enhanced by the ratchet’s chirping sound. We received a green one, which offers a nice pop of color and feels contemporary, but there are more classic colors available to fit any kitchen’s scheme. Made from high-grade ceramic, the grinder can withstand the salt and moisture that erode a metal grinder over time. Ceramic also allows for high precision grinding from powdered dust to coarse chunks.
The Kuhn Rikon Ratchet Grinder is available from Amazon for $20.
Purveyors of a Portland float center turn us on to salt water meditation
Ever since seeing “Altered States” back in the day, we’ve held off on trying sensory deprivation tanks. Watching Willam Hurt’s character devolve into a primitive man through repeated psychedelic experiments seemed like a red flag for curious newcomers. A recent trip to Portland’s Float On has changed all that. The supremely chilled-out center invites visitors to come and enjoy the health benefits of a good float, which run from dopamine rushes to skin rejuvenation.
With four tanks, Float On holds the distinction of being the largest tank center on the West Coast. We opted to try one of the two “ocean” tanks, which are built with six feet of head room for anyone with claustrophobic tendencies. The team behind the center, Quinn Zepeda, Graham Talley and Christopher Messer have created a haven of calm with an inclusive ethos—cash-strapped customers may work shifts to earn float time, and artists are allowed to float free of charge.
After stripping down and showering, you enter the tank, where the water is warmed to match the ambient air at 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The 40% salt content makes the water extremely buoyant, keeping you afloat in a mere 14 inches of water. The environment is pitch black and silent, thanks to wax over-ear earplugs. You are encouraged to lay in whatever position feels most comfortable for the 90-minute sessions and, if the tank isn’t booked, they’ll let you stay in for as long as you please.
After a little more than an hour in suspended gravity—which they claim releases enough pressure on your spine to lengthen your body by an inch—the mind gives over to theta brainwaves, oscillating between consciousness and unconsciousness. It is in this state that practitioners report mental breakthroughs of a creative and psychedelic nature due to decreased level of cortisol, the chemical in the brain that causes stress. Once the initial “What the hell am I doing?” feeling passes, all sense of time and environment gives over to pleasant calm as the loss of sensation shuts down most survival-related brain functions. Sensory deprivation makes the body lose track of time, too, so the float seems to last just a few minutes.
The session ends when music pipes into the tank to wake you if you’ve fallen asleep (I didn’t), although you are encouraged to take your time when re-entering reality. While I didn’t have what I would call a mental breakthrough during the float, it seemed to clear the way for my creativity to take a jump in the days to follow.
Float On
4530 Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97215
Clever storage and dispensing solutions by Flip & Tumble
Known for their their eco-friendly ripstop nylon shopping bags, Eva Bauer and Hetal Jariwala—the industrious duo behind Flip & Tumble—keep themselves busy working on a multitude of projects. Two that caught our eye—the wall-mounted hooknook storage solution and the quirky but sleek salt and pepper shakers dubbed “squeezers.”
The cylindrical hooknook has a slightly retro look—think ’70s-era school cubbies in miniature form—that belies the serious utility of its built-in storage. A perfect fit for the entryway or over a countertop, the multi-tasking unit hangs, holds and hides phones, keys, bags and all the other random stuff you’re either grabbing or dropping as you come and go. Over in the dining area, the tennis ball-like squeezers put their own spin on the design of our mundane items and how we use them, making the task of dispensing salt and pepper just a little more joyful.
The squeezers ($12) and hooknook ($24) are available in Flip & Tumble’s online shop.
Chuao packs their new chocolate bar with crispy potato chip bits
Combining milk chocolate with all-natural, kettle-cooked potato chips, Chuao Chocolatier‘s latest highbrow-meets-lowbrow goodie is the slightly crunchy Potato Chips in Chocolate bar. This latest concoction is an easy way to get that sweet-and-savory fix without immersing yourself in a messy cooking project.
Handmade in San Diego, CA, the bars are made by first crushing the lightly-salted chips by hand into bite-sized pieces. The chips are then mixed into Chuao’s custom blend of 41% milk chocolate (from Venezuelan and other Latin American beans) and then hand-scooped into molds.
While the texture resembles other wafer-filled crispy chocolate bars, the potato chips provide a surprising punch of salty flavor and crunch that crispy rice can’t deliver. Though we tend to veer for the darker end of the chocolate spectrum, we like Chuao’s not-too-rich milky blend.
Potato Chips in Chocolate is currently available at Chuao Cafés and on the Chuao website, three for $18 or 12 for $65. You’ll start seeing it at some chains, including Whole Foods and Ralph’s, in fall 2011.
Also on Cool Hunting: Chuao Chocopods
Made in California with a French twist, Le Caramel slow cooks their confections using a traditional recipe from the region of Isigny sur Mer. The Normandy town is as well known for its creamy dairy products as it is for its salted butter—the magic ingredient for complimenting the candy’s sugary base.
The husband-and-wife team handmake each batch of their caramel topping, cream, syrup and classic candies in their San Diego outpost, where they cook the caramel in copper kettles imported from France.
Le Caramel’s distinctly delicious goods sell online from their website, as well as from Amazon starting at $10.
Cultivated in an island biosphere reserve off the Korean coast, The Salt, a natural solar sea salt, is the upshot of a UNESCO-protected area laden with ample tidal flats. With climate as one of the most important factors in sea salt production, the sun- and wind-washed flats make an ideal reservoir for seawater to evaporate.
Richer in magnesium, potassium and calcium thanks to its unique geographic location (like all sea salts), The Salt makes a healthier alternative to industrial (table) salt, naturally aiding digestion and nerve function. The brand also distinguishes itself from other producers by bagging and wrapping the salt immediately after gathering to cut down on chances for contamination.
As a result, the product’s purity shows in both its intense flavor that still offers hints of the ocean, and in its distinct crystalline structure.
Traditionally used in kimchee, The Salt also works perfectly as a rub or in soups. It sells at Korean markets around the U.S. and worldwide, as well as online starting at about $5 for a bottle.
Après le packaging Pepper Cell, voici un design qui peut sembler perturbant pour ces salières de table, disponibles en rouge et blanc. Elles sont en effet volontairement inspirées de la cagoule blanche pointue du Ku Klux Klan. Un look décalé et une réalisation du studio russe Oldshoes.
Site du studio.
Découverte de ce packaging minimaliste avec deux piles alcaline en guise de salière et poivrière. Conçues par Antrepo Design Industry, un studio en provenance de Turquie, elles sont disponibles en rouge et turquoise, ou noir et blanc.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
