Established & Sons is a brand new British design and manufacturing company who are about to take the furniture world by storm. They use the latest crop of British talent to design mouthwatering designs and then use British manufacturing know how to produce the items. The idea behind this is that they will promote great design whilst reaffirming belief in British manufacturing.
Products
Tags: Design

Not only do one of the guys at Airside make-up half of Lemon Jelly, they also create some stunning creative. With an impressive client list and even more impressive work Airside Studios are one of the most talented design agencies out there. You can view their work for yourself here.
www.airside.co.uk
Tags: Design

Slammin Kicks of London Town are giving away a pair of these and I've only just noticed that the deadline was today 26 April. So if you want them you are going to have to beg for them to extend the closing date. Did I mention that they are signed by Jay Z?
www.slamminkicks.com
Tags: Trainers, Sneakers

Amazon are giving away free mp3s. For anyone who wants to check this out it is available here and includes the likes of Bloc Party, Air, Zero 7 and Thievery Corporation.
Tags: Music

This lunchtime I popped out for a quick field visit at the American Apparel store that has opened on Carnaby Street. The store has a subtle 80s feel to it gone are the ubiquitous LCD screens of most high streets and in their place we have early 80s looking monitors. The clothing is a minimal version of Gap - all the garments are made from cotton and have a real athletic summery feel to them. The cut of the garments seem to enhance the figure rather than engulf it as most American brands tend to do.

Not only great clothes but they have an ethical dimension too. All the clothes are made in the US and do not employ sweatshop labour. In addition, they stock a Sustainable range made from organic cotton.

American Apparel is a welcome addition to London's shopping and having booked my summer holiday I will be spending a good deal of money there to get fully kitted out.
www.americanapparel.net
Tags: Fashion

The biggest and best coolhunting blog has been revamped. Josh Rubin has given the sight a complete makeover and the results are pretty cool. The name of the site has also changed to just coolhunting. Keep up the good work Josh and team.
www.coolhunting.com
Tags: Trends

Offer some excellent do it yourself examples in order to recreate classic designs. The best of these is the set of Eames cards. Thwart Design offer a very simple explanation of how to do this using old photos.
www.thwartdesign.com
Tags: Design

George Logan creates gorgeous photographs and as a result he counts Orange, Yamaha and 7-up amongst his clients. This year he won the Association of Photographers Gold Award for a personal project that juxtaposed wild non-indigenous animals against typical British landscapes.
www.georgelogan.co.uk
Tags: Photo

An interesting and thoughtful blog all about advertising.

'Adliterate.com is dedicated to radical thinking about the future of advertising.

It is created in the belief that most people in this hugely conservative industry greet change either by sticking their heads in the sand or by giving up and wandering off to pastures new.'
www.adliterate.com
Tags: Marketing

Inspired by George Bush's ipod revelation, The Independent has recently run an article asking this very question. They asked a cross section of celebrity society including Sean Connery and Nitin Sawhney to play their ipods on random and see what came up.
Tags: Music

Today, April 20th, Nike will launch their new ad campaign for the Nike Free. Created by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam the ad will celebrate the freedom that training bare foot gives atheletes. I hope it's up to the usual Nike standard.
www.wk.com
Tags: Marketing

This site has some great advertising campaigns that appear to have more than inspired others. Maybe lightening does strike twice.
Tags: Marketing

Back in 2002 Nissan showed off its Cube II prototype. This was then released in Japan and caused something of a stir. It also provided some competition for the Toyota Scion XB.

The Nissan Cube's design team had four key themes of "naughty, relaxing, compact and agile" are embodied in the design. They sought a design with clear originality, functionality that provides "joy of use, and loyalty-inspiring appeal".

This seems to come across in the car which will hopefully see the light of day in the UK.
www.nissan.co.uk
www.toyota.com
Tags: Transport

The flickr blog is a great source of stunning photos taken by the likes of you and me. The lovely people at flickr trawl through the chaff and give us the wheat here. This lomography set really caught my eye.
flickr blog
Lomography
Tags: Photo

The Shotgun site gives you the opportunity to own gear from the hottest new designers and also pick up classic pieces. Featuring original Adidas garments (not rereleases), Umbro by Kim Jones, and Ziad Ghanem; Shotgun has a diverse and brilliant range of clothing. The one drawback is that to own this cutting edge clobber you have to become a member, which costs £10. Mind you that's not bad considering the quality on offer.
www.shotgun.tv
Tags: Fashion

R. Gardiner has set up this beautiful photo site and it is stocked full of wonderful black and white shots depicting both cities. Winter in New York is a particularly lovely photo set. However, the most stunning photos are on his blog. Walking the Circle Line shows absolutely stunning shots of London including a marvellous one of the Monument.
www.nyclondon.com
Tags: Design

I'm not obsessed or anything... honest! Another Marc Newson interview published on CNN.
The guy is talented though.
"I'm crazy about anything that's space-related," he said. "In fact the sneakers I designed for Nike were indirectly designed for some Russian cosmonauts. I was invited to a number of launches in Baikunor [cosmodrome] in Kazakhstan.
It's a very difficult industry, as you can imagine, to get involved in, but that's something that I'd love to do. I think there's some room for me to help out."
Tags: Design

Following hard on the heels of Motorola's RAZR comes the imaginatively named Nokia 8801. They are really pushing the fashion over function in the mobile phone world which has certainly raised the game when it comes to looks but how long until we get both form and function in a phone?
The 8801 looks very good, the screen acts as a slide down cover for the keypad and seems pretty slick. But the thing I really like about this phone is the packaging.
www.nokia.com
Tags: Technology

Fading Adverts is a photo site of very old adverts that have been allowed to fade naturally. Primarily focused on New York the site is a great showroom for some real treasures that we normally ignore or just don't see. www.frankjump.com
Tags: Design

Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, today unveiled the eight most directional color palettes for the home furnishings market for 2006.

"In 2006, home furnishings colors will show some interesting new directions, especially in very original, intricate, and not-at-all-formulaic combinations," explained Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "Among the eight palettes, there are three major pathways encompassing a sophisticated 'uptown' look, a fun and funky 'downtown' look, and other palettes that are heading 'out-of-town' to bucolic settings or more exotic destinations." via Dexigner
www.pantone.com
Tags: Design

Excellent and interesting interview with Philippe Starck. Includes tantalising hints about his future projects including a hydrogen car.
www.timesonline.co.uk
Tags: Design

A great idea is a great idea but these two are a little too similar in design. Can it just be coincidence?
Camper Wabi Somier Sol
Puma Starck Sandal
Incidentally they're both pretty cool.
Tags: Trainers, Sneakers

Fellow trend blog PSFK have started a global cool hunt using Flickr. It's been coming - first the post on the end of coolhunting, the rise of folksonomy and now this.
Anyway, to enter you need to take a photo of anything you think is cool and then post it to the PSFK GLOBAL COOL HUNT group on flickr. The guys initially want photos inspired by mycooljeans. Full details here
Happy hunting.
PS They've got some great prizes sourced from Josh Spear's cool hunting site.
Tags: Trends

Burj Dubai is about to become the most exclusive address in the world. It promises that "There are a select few who possess the vision, resources, and the opportunity to live in the world’s tallest building. If you have that opportunity, you are assured not just unparalleled luxury, but a place in history. And in Dubai’s future."
Inspired by the Hymenocallis, a Dubai flower, architect Adrian Smith incorporated patterns from traditional Islamic architecture into Burj Dubai. The building has been created as the most unique residence in the world and certainly looks inspiring. If you can afford to live there you are indeed unique, but I can't help thinking that you could create your own personal utopia for a fraction of the price.
www.burjdubai.com
Tags: Design

Is a simple strip of silver, complete with Hallmarks, which you bend around your wrist to create your very own, bespoke bracelet.
"It's delivered to you in a felt case and poses a dilemma: do you dare to bend the precious beauty of the material into a bracelet? Whoever dares has a home-made product by the Swiss/English designer Rolf Sachs." via MoCo Loco
www.chihapaura.com
Tags: Fashion

Minimal Gallery is a gorgeous website showcasing some great photos. The images are displayed as a large slide show and are under categories such as colors, feelings, light, motion, people, and shapes. You can also choose to view the photos as a random file. All really rather wonderful.
minimaldesign.net
Tags: Design

A report on the BBC website quotes Google co-founder Larry Page stating that they will very soon be launching a video blogger.
"In the next few days, we're actually going to start taking video submissions from people, and we're not quite sure what we're going to get, but we decided we'd try this experiment," said Mr Page.
www.bbc.co.uk
Tags: Technology

An article in this weeks Sunday Times highlights that New Yorkers are increasingly encouraging their children to speak Mandarin. Believing that China will be the economy of the 21st century they are trying to give their children the edge. In fact, certain New York schools are adding Mandarin to their curriculum.
Thanks Alexa
Tags: Trends

"stitch'T was born out of a fascination with all things vintage and authentic. What
was once a hobby of countless journeys to thrift shops accross the country and trips
down the aisles of secondhand stores quickly turned into a passion for preservation
and art.

A tribute to two american icons, stitch'T products blend the rich history of quilting
with a contemporary classic - the t-shirt.

Taking full advantage of the excesses in today's culture - and in keeping with the
traditional methods of quilting - stitch'T creates one-of-a-kind compositions from
authentic vintage t-shirts worked together by hand into an artistic design.

stitch'T specializes in designing and manufacturing handmade throws and duvet
covers in a wide spectrum of colors and a countless variety of themes. stitch'T will
also craft custom designed throws upon request using your own t-shirts."

A pretty excellent way of keeping your favourite garments going long after they're too worn out to wear. via Trendcentral
sticht.com
Tags: Design

These always look pretty cool (unless you're drinking out of them) and Wemakemoneynotart have found a great brown paper bag. Designer Paperbags are currently on display in Montreal design gallery 'Madam Edgar' and are available for auctions on eBay.
www.madamedgar.com
Tags: Design

The Guardian Online blog has an interesting post on folksonomies. Bobbie Johnson argues that as it stands, tagging is too much effort for most people and that they want content to be organised. Well that's a fair point but it does take away some of the joys of being part of a network. If you want to connect with like-minded people then the chances are you will use similar tags or even have your own exclusive networks tag. Part of the attraction of folksonomy is that you choose the category(ies) that you enter. However, I'm sure that soon there will be no need to tag and lazy people will be able to enjoy a watered down version of all that the world wide web has to offer. A good thing for companies trying to make some cash out of this growing trend.
Tags: Trends,Folksonomy