openers japan article november

my latest article for openers japan for november is up. as the theme is "new york city", i chose to expound on what it means to be a "new yorker". identity is an issue everyone deals with on some level everyday and writing this article made it painfully clear how difficult it is [to write about]! for example, i've always identified as a new yorker more strongly than as an american. i grew up with people who felt identifying as jewish or catholic was more important than other categorization. for me now, am i more designer or businessman? i think these are all very important things to self analyze, but my optimistic point of the article is that in a city like new york, the identity of "new yorker" has the power to transcend divisive traditional differences in larger global society. a bit naïve?

part 2 of this article will include short interviews with 3 people who are new yorkers born and raised somewhere else.

link to the article in japanese is here.

photo from my iphone this summer on the promenade at battery park city.

studio visitors: hiroki otsuka and ricky jackson

i'm posting this late, but thanksgiving and having family in town has eaten up as much time as i've eaten turkey and stuffing.

the wednesday before thanksgiving was a busy day at the nooka studio. first, my parents stopped by for lunch. then my favorite erotic manga artist, hiroki otsuka came to use our facilities while he was in the hood. later, ricky [of accessory designer twins dee and ricky] came by to talk shop. it was great to see hiroki's new artwork and it was also great to hear what ricky was up to with his biz. i'm really impressed with dee and ricky and hope they can maintain the momentum and leverage the current attention into a thriving business – something which feels like they are going to accomplish. they have great attitudes, drive, good-looks – which are three nice ingredients to have in one dish! the white zub looks great on ricky as well.

hiroki has a friend casting a skateboarder documentary tried to get ricky in on that, but i hear they went with an older skater to cover in the piece...oh well! also, notice the ephemeral art hiroki left on my wip-off board...also, if you're interested in the watch ricky is wearing, it's the white zen zub 20 available here.

i feel like a real fashion brand

i feel like a real fashion brand because we are having our very first sample sale!

noo from nooka, the zon

as seen on kanye west's blog earlier last week, here is my post for my newest design – the zon. i really must say, i am very happy with this design. it's our heaviest and largest time piece to date yet feels weightless on my wrist. i was skeptical about designing a butterfly clasp for one of my designs because it is more difficult to adjust than our previous models, but now i am sold – it has a nice glam appeal! here is some real press release ready copy:

the zon is a luxury digital world-time watch with an intuitive graphical interface as well as numeric display.

the unique graphical display gives an intuitive experience of the progression of with one minute blocks that fills the display every 12 hours. one can easily toggle to a standard numeric display in either 12-hour or 24-hour formats as well as get the time in 24 cities around the world.

the strap alignment allows both left handed and right handed individuals to achieve a perfect fit on their wrist. tool to change the alignment to flush left, flush right or center is included. buy yours here, or at fine nooka stockists.

the weight, size and flush alignment of the design is extremely comfortable for an oversized time piece.




leather models come with a stainless steel butterfly closure. the silver model has a standard metal mesh strap.

this will launch in december during art basel in miami, ddc lab in NYC and los angeles. i will update this blog with launch party details and a link on where to buy soon. SRP is $650.US buy yours here, or at fine nooka stockists.

read the great comments on kanye's blog here.

guilty pleasure: online communities

i have a confession: i am addicted to facebook. i resisted for quite a while enduring "i can't believe of all people that you are not on facebook" from my friend ilisa every time i saw her. even after i succumbed, i was resistant to it, ignoring most messages and the idiotic 'pokes' and 'karma points' etc., but slowly, i learned how to find the value in the site though i must say, i still ignore anything requiring me to download a useless app [thank goodness people aren't using 'funwall' anymore!].

that said, it is not the first community website i've joined. i've been on mixi in japan for a few years, and when i joined that it was far more sophisticated than facebook. now facebook has evolved and surpassed mixi and i find i can't tolerate the annoying layers of approval screens in mixi to post anything, even sending a message. i thought mixi was a great way to stay in touch with my friends in japan, but it seems everyone has grown tired of the lack of innovation in the site and i hardly log onto it anymore.

now, i do realize that part of the attraction is unhealthy – it's an addiction. like all addictions, it's part laziness, in this case, laziness to coordinate real socializing combined with an unhealthy need for attention [an inevitable condition from living in NYC].

having real time communication tools on one page is a value add and it seems like gmail is adding similar tools at a good speed to compete. if you haven't tried video chat on gmail yet, download the plug in RIGHT NOW – the video and sound quality bests skype – no reverb using the internal mic on my laptop!

i also found that there are nooka fan sites on both mixi and facebook! search for nooka on mixi and "love nooka" on facebook. i'm not the moderator, but perhaps one of my blog readers can be proactive with populating that group with posts. let's see if this post makes membership on those groups grow:) are there any others i don't know about?

photo: sydney fairy by matthew waldman, 2007. collection of john engelen, australia.

nooka nooka reminder

just a little visual reminder that a nooka nooka character is not only sooper dooper cute, it's a great way to keep your nooka watch collection from cluttering your desk and getting lost under dirty undies.

nooka nookas are limited edition, 500 of each color available here.

nooka sightings: new zealand

our friend in auckland took these quick shots of a passing bus with an advert for a popular sparkling wine – boy does birthday boy look happy! go orange zub!

available now!

hellz bellz and LTD collabs available now!

the hellz bellz model features a heavy metal mesh band giving it a lot of heft.

the LTD model [invisible warrior] features a semi-transluscent custom camo strap.

buy them from your fave nooka seller or here.

nooka fan mail: zachary yankush

sometimes i just have to share a fan mail with you verbatim.



"Robert and Matthew,

Just wanted to drop another HUGE thank you for all the love you and Nooka have given me. Here are a couple more screen captures from last weekend on CBS. I was hosting a show called the LG action sports world tour. I have a bunch more TV stuff coming up. I'll be sure to shoot you a schedule when I know it will air.

So stoked on Nooka!!!

Thanks again and have a great week!"

Zack

watch zack wears is the multi COTN camo model, available at fine shoppes and here.
zack's website here.

nooka sightings: school of seven bells

if you follow my posts, you know i'm a fan of school of seven bells and tag them as a band to watch from ghostly records. here is an interview with them where the interviewer talks at length on the nooka watches they're wearing, but unfortunately, doesn't mention nooka once! :( oh well! we know what they're talking about.

full interview here.

band site here. buy the album on itunes and cd shops worldwide!

fake gold and gold leather models they wear available here and fine retailers.

upcoming: nooka zon

again, this has somehow leaked before i could blog about it – our nooest nooka, the world-time nooka zon™

conceptually, the zon is closest to my concept of representing time as you experience it – the pixels fill up one minute at a time just as sunlight or fills and empties the sky through 12 hour cycles. it is also evocative of the hourglasses that fill with sand as time progresses. and as intuitive as it is, i doubt there will be many people who can glean the exact time from the display – so at the touch of a button: a standard analog digital display replaces the grid of pixels!

i personally engineered this watch to sit squarely on the top of the wrist no matter which are you choose. you will have to adjust the strap to flush right for your left arm and flush left for your right [or center if you prefer it that way]. a custom tool is included with the kit to accomplish this.

moreover, this is a world time watch with 24 cities pre-programmed for the world traveller like myself.

it has a weight to it that is new for our line and i hope you will lve it as much as i do.

-matthew waldman november 15th 2008

available soon!

matthew waldman on miho hatori's elle japan blog

[posting from puerto rico this week!] really cool blog by super artist miho hatori for elle magazine japan. miho really 'got' the philosophical underpinnings of my designs without any explanation from me – so nice to expand the mutual admiration society!

in japanese here.

you can buy the watch i'm sporting here.

photo by miho hatori.

nooka on karmaloop tv!

nooka zubs on karmaloop tv!

if the code isn't working right the link to their site is here.

a very busy thursday night

this past thursday was very busy indeed. first, the booka launch party for the new steven heller book, the design entrepreneur, in which there's a 2 page interview with me, and then the very glam opening party for the new ddc lab store on mercer street in soho! it was fun to have both uptown chic and downtown buzz in the same night! all the ddc brand ambassadors were sporting prototypes of the upcoming ddc lab + nooka collab with their ddc lab + new balance fashions. it seemed like everyone in the fashion world was there so i got to cram a lot of socializing into one evening [the redbull and vodkas certainly helped].

ilovedust + kidrobot

friend and fellow creative genius, mark graham, presented me with this AMAZING hand customized munny last night. i LOVE it. thanks mark! i decided to scan the figure this time and it looks like a space baby in the space station cloning lab.

ilovedust site here,
kidrobot here.

devilrobots urban vinyl

shinichiro kitai of devil robots and i have been members of each others mutual fan clubs from the very beginnings of each of our design studios. it's so exciting to to see his work evolve and grow over the years. here is a snapshot of some recent additions to my studio from his!

most figures shown available here.

zirc press: LUCKY magazine november 2008

very happy with this placement for the nooka zirc in lucky magazine's gift guide!

buy my favorite version of the zirc HERE!.

obama obama obama obama

i am so happy about the outcome of the election as of this writing [11:12 pm EST]. the nooka HQ will stay in NYC!

it does look like the gay marriage ban was voted-in in california and i hope people in the entertainment industry put their money where their hearts are and move production for all their shows out of california.

nooka + kidrobot = koolabooration

Nooka Inc. and Kidrobot have teamed up to produce a limited edition collaborative watch featuring the distinctive Kidrobot design figure. The collaboration utilizes the extremely popular Nooka Zub watch in black with the Zen-H style face along with the Kidrobot icon printed in white on the band. These watches will be sold in limited quantities both at Kidrobot locations and at Nooka retailers.

Kidrobot, founded by designer Paul Budnitz in 2002, is the world’s premier designer and retailer of limited edition art toys and apparel. Kidrobot merges urban street trends, fashion, and pop art to produce limited edition, collectible toys and apparel. Kidrobot products often feature unique collaborations with top international artists whose diverse backgrounds include graffiti, fine art, fashion, industrial design, graphic design, illustration, and music.

Nooka is a New York based design company founded by artist and designer Matthew Waldman. Nooka is most famously known for its line of innovative and unique digital wristwatches which take the concept of telling time into an entirely new realm.

Nooka and Kidrobot have a long-standing relationship, sharing very similar design ideals and often being featured in many of the same magazines and retailers, such as LTD and MoMA. With this collaboration, the Nooka and Kidrobot brands merge their unique concepts on design and fashion.

this edition is limited to 1000 numbered pieces!

available online and in kidrobot stores the week of november 10th and via nooka channels 2 weeks thereafter. pre-order yours here!

and the winner is...klaus nomi

here are some fotos from the ghostly halloween party.
pictured: the rapture dj as michael jackson, matthew dear/audion, winner of the costume contest, and a random lambchop character. you can buy your very own glow in the dark nooka zub here!

i am a huge fan of the rapture as well as matthew dear, so it was a fun night. the rapture is currently writing new material for an album to be released some time in 2009.