Latest articles on Kids by The Cool Hunter - for more checkout www.thecoolhunter.net http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:38:56 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk Latest articles on Kids by The Cool Hunter - for more checkout www.thecoolhunter.net http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1433&Itemid=50 One of the easiest ways to make a boring space more vibrant is to use colour. However, as so many of us can remember, obvious opportunities to do this have been missed for decades in schools, universities and hundreds of other places where young people are more or less stuck for long periods. Luckily, today’s kids have better luck — at least in the schools where Amsterdam’s i29 (http://www.i29.nl/) has had its say. i29 Interior Architects consists of two interior designers — Jaspar Jansen and Jeroen Dellensen — and is known for clear, bold solutions. A good example of this is their custom furniture project for a Het Veer. It is a public school in Almere, a city located 25 kilometers east of Amsterdam and often referred to as the most modern city in Europe. Het Veer is a school for children with learning and concentration difficulties and the objective of i29’s work was to express and entice concentration, playfulness and movement. Their eight different white and red tube furniture pieces can be mixed and matched creating various formations. They play off the Buzz Wire science game that teaches about electric circuits and is based on concentration and hand coordination. At the Caland Lyseum in Amsterdam, 1,500 students work in a sport-centric environment where they receive coaching for their specific sport and in academic topics. i29 was asked to envision the public spaces — including the main hall, staff room, library and computer/media room — for the new Bos Partners architects-designed building with its gray brick, glass walls and unusual floor plans. They used large images of the school’s famous sports hero alumni and then custom-created multi-functional tables, benches and signage, plus a color scheme for the common areas. The award-winning solution matches the dynamic and multicultural life of the school yet lets the buildings features dominate. - Tuija Seipell Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:36:02 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1432&Itemid=50 These cool images are from the fabulous Kinderdentist in Berlin. Designed by Brad Pitt’s favourite architecture firm, the super-creative and multi-functional GRAFT (http://www.graftlab.com/), this is the kind of place that makes us want to be kids again. Never thought we’d say that about a dental office, (http://www.thecoolhunter.net/design/KU64---The-worlds-coolest-dental-clinic/) but what can we do? And why exactly is it that adults’ dental offices don’t look like this? Kinderdentist (http://kinderdentist.com/) is an underwater world of play and adventure with a 12-foot visual wave drawing the guests into to world of blue hues and pixilated schools of fish. You feel as if you were under water, in a submarine, just waiting for exciting things to happen. And yes, kids’ teeth get fixed there, too. Originally established in 1998 in Los Angeles by German architects, Lars Krückeberg and Wolfram Putz, Graft expanded in 2001 when third partner, Thomas Willemeit, opened the Berlin office, and fourth partner, Gregor Hoheisel, established Graft in Beijing. Now perhaps best known for its collaboration with Brad Pitt, Graft has always pushed the boundaries of mere architecture and is known for an enormous breath of projects. Architecture, interior design and art concepts, urban design, “eventing,” film and video projects, music, car design, commercials and exhibitions are just some of the things the prolific team has completed globally. Its architecture and interior design practice extends the breath of the field as well from furniture schemes to concept design of hotels, restaurants, clubs, offices, institutions, residences. In the media, Graft is often labeled as something other than a “global architecture firm” — including a rock band, a hippie commune and a bunch of eccentrics — and it seems that this is exactly what the partners like to hear. Willemeit has been quoted as saying that “In L.A. we’re these crazy German guys and in Berlin we are not accepted into the Berlin architecture mafia — we’re cowboys. - Tuija Seipell Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:34:28 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1383&Itemid=50 We've officially entered the age of the babester - where anything and everything to do with babies has undergone a designer revolution. Just like mum and dad, babesters can now enjoy design from head-to-toe and beyond; skinny leg jeans just like dads and an organic meal eaten from a glamorous designer high chair. The newest babester brand to hit the kiddie shelves is Quinny, (http://www.quinnydesign.com/) designed by edgy Danish fashion designer Henrik Vibskov. (http://www.henrikvibskov.com/) The designer demonstrates his mutli-dicilpinary skills in the range, which consists of graphic print baby hardware and accessories including strollers, bags and sunglasses. With so much to look at, a walk in the park for baby will never be the same again. - Lisa Evans Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:19:01 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1321&Itemid=50 To many of us it seems like advancements in technology are moving at an extremely accelerated pace, but to those who are following in our footsteps, the rate of change could not be fast enough. For some school children in Camden outside of London, Gollifer Langston’s (http://www.gollifer.co.uk/) prototype transportable Classrooms of the Future will deliver information and communication technology (ICT) on a flatbed truck in the form of an oblong gray pod capable of providing a sufficient ICT facility that many schools are unable to install within their own environments.The mobile classroom will move from school to school, and is designed to hold 15 students at a time. Once the pod is delivered, a set of hydraulics expands the unit wider, and creates an entrance as well as a stage and a small-cinema-sized screen for presentations and performances. The work space will provide mainly high school students a place to explore music and filmmaking. The Classroom of the Future will have capabilities of adapting for additional needs as technology races beyond what even the next generation can predict. By Andrew J Wiener Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:22:20 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1317&Itemid=50 The Carpenter Centre for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the only major Le Corbusier-designed building in North America. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of this building some time ago, a crazy-looking temporary puppet theater (http://www.mos-office.net/) was constructed within its sunken courtyard. Apparently, great engineering and technical features held this odd little theatre together, but we are much more fascinated by its appearance. The theatre resembles an alien mega-crawley, some sort of an animal -- perhaps subterranean or even submarine -- that managed to disguise itself with AstroTurf as a benign being but was in fact, a voracious, people-eating igloo. It lurks under the overhang, waiting to devour unsuspecting keeners of puppetry. French conceptual artist Pierre Huyghe and Harvard assistant professor of architecture, Michael Meredith, collaborated on the structure using the help of computer technology and a team of GSD students. For them, metaphorical identities for the structure included an egg, a seed, a tumor, an alien spacecraft, and Le Corbusier’s brain. The structure was built with 500 white polycarbonate panels – each unique in shape -- held together by 2,000 bolts to form a rigid frame covered in real moss, not its plastic imitation. Regardless, we think it is a live creature as emphasized by the entrance, which is a soft, flexible, mouth-like opening built so that it appeared to frame a tree when viewed from the innards. The puppet opera performance told the story of the Carpenter Centre with Corbu himself appearing in marionette form. The performance was created by Huyghe who works with many media forms, from film to puppetry to “public interventions.” In 2002, he won the the Guggenheim Museum's biennial $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize, (http://www.hugobossprize.com/Main.html) one of the premier juried prizes of the contemporary art world. By Tuija Seipell Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:40:55 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1287&Itemid=50 Yummy! Wow! Ooops! The playful, colorful and juicy Taka-Tuka-Land kindergarten in Berlin evokes a rambunctious reaction. You hear the kids at play. You see the bright colors. You sense the kids are happy. So it is no wonder that the students who designed and created this funhouse call their approach “sensuous architecture.”Baupiloten (http://www.baupiloten.com/)is a group of architecture students who during their studies at Faculty VI, Institute for Architecture at Berlin Technical University (Technische Universität Berlin) develop their own projects from concept to implementation under professional guidance. Architect Susanne Hoffmann founded Baupiloten (Bau=build, Piloten=pilot) in 2003 and has headed it since 2004.The Taka-Tuka-Land kindergarten was originally erected as a temporary solution, but with the fantastic Baupiloten approach to the refurbishment, it has become a permanent place for children. The Taka-Tuka-Land is part of the Pippi Longstocking lore created by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi in Taka-Tuka Country is a movie based on one of her novels. The children at the kindergarten and their teachers created collages, models, drawings and ideas based on Taka-Tuka Land with bridges, huts, merry-go-rounds made of blossoms and thrones made of seashells. The Baupiloten students then spent several days with the children observing their daily routines, their schedules and their ways of communication.From this extensive groundwork, the design story for the space was developed. The building itself is Pippi’s old oak tree that contains a lemonade factory. The lemonade breaks through the bark of the tree and flows outside creating padded play areas. The story of the building is a trip through the seven stages of the lemon tree, each facilitating a different activity: The lemonade tree, Glittering lemonade in the sun, Lemonade drops, The lemonade island, Waiting for the parents, Lemonade gallery, The bark breaks open, and Delving into lemonade. Pippi’s most likely verdict would be “Jätte god!” By Tuija Seipell. Mon, 05 May 2008 06:02:33 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1254&Itemid=50 We don’t care if it’s winter or summer, these European baby sleeping baggies are just too cute to keep to ourselves. We also don’t care that we happen to have no babies around, we bought these just to adore and to play dress-up with our teddy bears.But for the rest of you who actually like to buy these for real babies, we have good news. They are now available to purchase through us.With winter just around the corner, we thought it best to offer these to you now. Available in black only. And two sizes: 3 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months. Price: $225, includes delivery - orders through bill@thecoolhunter.com.au (bill@thecoolhunter.net).(Our online store will be up and running in June but we had to offer these now as the demand has been high) Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:21:51 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1255&Itemid=50 We don’t care if it’s winter or summer, these European baby sleeping baggies are just too cute to keep to ourselves. We also don’t care that we happen to have no babies around, we bought these just to adore and to play dress-up with our teddy bears.But for the rest of you who actually like to buy these for real babies, we have good news. They are now available to purchase through us.With winter just around the corner, we thought it best to offer these to you now. Available in black only. And two sizes: 3 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months. Price: £115, includes delivery. By Tuija Seipell - orders through bill@thecoolhunter.co.uk (bill@thecoolhunter.co.uk) Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:12:34 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1229&Itemid=50 It is tough not to adore much of the wonderfull, yet often high-priced,kiddie fashion and baby stuff offered at designer shops. Of course, atthe other end of the spectrum, there are the truly hideous knitted andcrocheted craft-fair rejects that also pose as “cute for kids.”Somewhere in the middle are a few companies that select items that arehand-made — or at least look it — and cute, yet manage to be fun andfashionable, too. One of these is blabla (http://www.blablakids.com/backpacks.html)in Atlanta, Georgia. We love their international animal tees and thecolorful Peruvian knits but the one item that we are ordering inmultiples, is the knitted cotton backpack. That there isn’t a kid inour team here, is beside the point. It says “ages 3 AND UP” on theorder page, does it not? By Tuija Seipell Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:25:48 +0100 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1222&Itemid=50 Aspiring mini-chefs take note: now there’s no excuse not to get the kids involved in the kitchen with this sweet range of kids cookware made specially for little fingers. Created by Melbourne based brand, Little Kitchen, (http://www.littlekitchen.com.au/shop2/index.php) the range will inspire little people everywhere to help mum with dinner. The innovative brand also runs a kids' cooking school from their North Fitzroy retail store in Melbourne, Australia. The space features a custom-built kitchen designed specially for children where kids can learn basic cooking techniques and the joys of cooking with fresh, organic produce. They also hold cooking parties; a great choice for parents looking for interesting (and healthy!) ways to celebrate their little one’s birthday. By Lisa Evans Little Kitchen 371 St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:19:08 +0100