a visual collective outlet of inspiration
there’s something charming about using a pencil over pen. like a rotary phone over mobile or temperamental film over digital photos. you can find the perfect pencil at graf von faber-castell, which is made from fine california cedar, has a replaceable eraser, and extender with integrated sharpener in silver or platinum. by kl
objects
the big blue: Wittelsbach-Graff blue Diamond
not a fan of jewelry in any way, especially the the overtly expensive ones, but i can see the desire of owning the rarest in any thing… it surely gives you the illusion of being special, perhaps even when you aren’t.
laurence graff paid more than $25,000,000 for this gem attaching his name to the original: “i’ve been privileged over the years to own some of the world’s most important and famous diamonds, but i would say that the wittelsbach diamond is the most valuable and the most beautiful. i had the opportunity to examine and value it in my own offices, and i came to the conclusion it was one of the rarest stones i’d ever seen. i knew it was a stone we had to have,”
initially valued at around $15,000,000, graff paid more than $25,000,000. in a controversial move he had it re-cut and polished, reducing it from 35.5 carats to little over 31 carats. critics say the act compromised the historical integrity of the stone, but mr. graff disagrees.
“every diamond that was ever mined, every diamond that was ever polished and cut, is still with us. who knows the story that this stone will tell in a thousand years time.” got a point the buddy. but 25 million dollars is a lot to make a point. by dd
acne furniture
acne launched their first incursion into furniture this week by upholstering carl malmsten’s new berlin sofa in denim and distorting it. thoughts? i kind of love the pastels. by kv
kevin krumnikl stereo deck
berlin based designer kevin kurmnikl is producing a lot of very cool stuffs… but this stereo table is really over the top. i’m a bit jealous of a berlin loft space where i could display this kind of lovely work instead of my nyc rat hole, where even the “none-the-less-lovely ” joey roth speakers (below), plugged into an ipod nano can’t fit… well, how about if mister krumnikl would design a new stereo deck including the joey roth speakers in a single piece? 😉 by pp’
Levenger fountain pen ink
nice color, nice bottle, however rather bad typography for a pen and ink manufacturer. shame. been looking for a classic bottle shape that can replace my mont blanc bottle. by dd
one laptop per child: version 3
we had promised our selves not to post any more sexy pix after being flagged by google but what the hell. our pals at fuse project are at it again. the OLPC version 3 has launched, and the new design features an all plastic durable tablet screen and like the original version it can be viewed in blasting Sahara sunlight and boosts new features like full-touch keyboard and back facing camera. now can someone please fix the damn operating system on this baby? by dd
brinell hard drives: German hard drives with a bit of french finish
the german manufacturer brinell is offering something more than the usual half-a-terabyte of storage in a grey plastic case. the 1.8in Purestorage XS series comes in options of macassar wood and leather, each material set against chrome trim. the drives are entirely USB powered and are available with a 160GB raw capacity. the larger, 2.5″ products measure 109 x 74 x 13mm, weigh 180g and contain a 500GB drive. a bit over priced (around £200) and a little too late perhaps given the cloud computing trend ahead but why not? by zz
from the shop
as cool as it gets, the business cards case from monocle X ettinger… well almost, the other alternative is to go to smithson but it’s not the same price… the monocle is £60 which is more like $100. by ‘pp
Damien Hirst: skateboard decks for supreme new york
xmas is upon us and i was looking for two boards for two of my favorite girls in the world, now this may not be a girls dream but i think its pretty close as far as boards get. hirst and supreme have a long standing relationship and these are bound to be limited in their edition at supreme. try, if you can to get one… they are being collected, one of each by avid fans (fans of hirst more than supreme i would guess), saw a friend with 2 and he said its the only two he “didn’t” have. good luck. a set is already available on ebay for $1,849.99. by dd
macbook air knock off $260: what will be next?
only a few millimeters thicker than the official air
this is rather hilarious! as if the knock off vuitton and hermés bags weren’t enough, our grand financiers and palls in china have made replica macbook airs to flood the market. I mean guys, how are we supposed to pay you back all those trillions of loans if you keep knocking off our stuff?
unlike the bags your valuables inside could be erased or lost in an event of failure of its chinese craftsmanship (itself an oxymoron). while we can at times understand why some savvy people would buy a plastic (gum coated canvas) goyard bag for $100 instead of the official over rated $2000+ a mac book air is actually worth its price for its innovation and craftsmanship if not for the support of a great company. as an added bonus on this clone you will note that a classical chinese intro song has replaced the mac start up sound. funny. definitely not a recommended purchase. by cd
tragically hip: nikon pistol grip
not to shoot down hermes or anything… just a pic from our friends at “it’s very hip”. this image stood out for me, a throw back into the days of john zorn and super 8 but reverse engineered, if you know what I mean. p.s. guns generally suck in our opinion, of course unless they’re made by nikon. by dd
leica + hermes: o-la-la
leica has announced a very special limited edition of its classic 35mm rangefinder system camera: the leica M7 edition hermès. these are off course very limited edition and for most of us we will have to do with just this picture. but just so you know, it comes in silver chrome with a choice of toe calfskin leather finishes, either orange and étoupe obviously supplied by hermès. go ahead – drool! by kv
