Friday, January 29, 2010

nooka lab studio visit: ryan brett grant


ryan grant of the green bay packers stopped by the nooka lab this afternoon and left with a grey nooka strip [belt] and a gorgeous black zem with metal bracelet. ryan's a real nice guy! his profile on nfl.com here. i kinda like the candid shot i got in my camera. will post some of him rocking our wares when his agent send them our way. i'd love to write that we chatted about the superbowl, but i'd sound like an idiot if i tried to make-believe i know anything about football.

also, let's not forget about rebuilding haiti! In response to the tragic events in Haiti, Nooka Inc. will donate 10% of all online purchases* between January 21st and February 21st to Architecture for Humanity. Although food aid is important, it is a temporary solution. A better Haiti must be structurally prepared to weather another earthquake or hurricane.

Architecture for Humanity is a nonprofit design services firm founded in 1999. They are building a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. Recently, Architecture for Humanity launched a fund-raising appeal to support long term reconstruction efforts in Haiti. learn more about them or make a direct donation here.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

a better haiti through better design


In response to the tragic events in Haiti, Nooka Inc. will donate 10% of all online purchases* between January 21st and February 21st to Architecture for Humanity. Although food aid is important, it is a temporary solution. A better Haiti must be structurally prepared to weather another earthquake or hurricane.

Architecture for Humanity is a nonprofit design services firm founded in 1999. They are building a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. Recently, Architecture for Humanity launched a fund-raising appeal to support long term reconstruction efforts in Haiti. learn more about them or make a direct donation here.

buy your nooka products here.

*on www.nooka.com/buy shipping charges are not part of the calculation.
architecture for humanity is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization.

Friday, January 15, 2010

excited to the point of insomnia


i am in kick-start mode this week! i have kick started myself to finally finish a few blue-sky projects, one being an expansion on the concept that launched nooka – exploring the linguistics/nomenclature for expressing math. this is something a bit above my head in terms of trying to explain the application of the resulting system i've come up with, but i've never let my own mental limitations get in the way of inspired design! please contact me if you are a mathematician/physicist out there reading this who have an interest in test-driving my new number system [i have dozenal/base-12 ready to go!]. the great halo-effect of being obsessed once again is it helps kick-start and inspire my staff to put energy into new products and blue sky projects for the nooka lab. i'm not ready to leak any of those projects just yet, but i'm excited to the point of insomnia this whole week just thinking of all the things i need to design to show the potential for nooka applied to new product lines and concepts. it will all come together as a kick-ass presentation i'm planning for the end of the month as well as to solidify a framework for the nooka first 5/10 year book i want to produce.

now without straying from the subject, i found this great site this week: kickstarter! such a well executed concept for entrepreneur micro-finance!

now the plug: the mini nookanookas are now available on kidrobot! the matthew waldman edition, fuzzy like me, available here. mad toy, shin tanaka and i love dust versions also available here.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

nooka x gommi arcade



gommi arcade, the japanese anime-inspired lifestyle brand, is the latest to collaborate with nooka bringing you the limited edition, 'future-shock' zub timepiece. this unique piece is a twist on the time manipulation device worn by gommi in the 'future-shock' comic/manga, which is written by zak hoke for gommi arcade, inc.

the watch will feature signature 'gommi marvel' artwork and a blue zot face with a white polyurethane band.

the watch will be limited to 800 pieces and release this march, so be sure to be on the look out!

also, don't forget to vote for nooka at pulchra. the voting process may seem a bit tedious, but it is actually really simple. simply drag nooka to the number 1 spot, if that's your choice of course and choose the other 9 objects until you have completed your list. In order for your vote to be valid, you will need to complete the details form. remember you can only vote ONCE PER DAY, so make sure to log on the next day and do it all over again. link is here!

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Monday, January 4, 2010

w hotels exclusive for 2009



nooka has designed three new pieces being sold exclusively at the luxury boutique hotel, the w hotel for 2009 as part of their global glam collection! each watch was inspired by three of their global destinations: south beach, istanbul, and new york. all three models are limited to 500 pieces each and will be added to nooka’s spring 2010 collection, sold at the W and www.nooka.com/buy.

be sure to listen to young money's bedrock, as drake references the w hotel as well!

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new years wish list and some predictions


first, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone. i started the new year in a new apartment and with a huge party, and i plan on carrying that energy forward into this new and exciting decade.

nooka: i am always asked "what new for nooka next year?" but am constrained by the PR calender of my public relations people. what i can say is that 2010 is the year we re-launch the fragrance as production problems last year pretty much rendered the 2009 effort as money i could've easily flushed down the toilet! nooka fragrance got 4 stars from chandler burr of the new york times and i'm looking forward to seeing it in some great stores this year [bergdorf, barney's and nieman marcus – are you listening?]. that writ, we will have some exciting new additions to our nooka strip line [belts] and the AO wallet series. i think it's safe to leak that we will be producing a fairly innovative iphone cover. a totally new line of accessories will also launch 2010, but i'll keep that secret for now.

non-nooka predictions:
even without the release of the apple iSlate, i predict the death of the e-reader as a product category in 2012. this is solely based on my own experience. aside from battery usage issues [on the iphone], i haven't picked up my kindle since using the kindle app on my iphone. i believe the tablet computer apple releases will be the death knell of the current e-readers like the kindle and the nook – people will pay more for more features than they need. in the 1990s everyone was taking about convergent devices, and the iphone finally delivered. now let's see what's next!

i predict that google will eventually roll-out an advertising supported cell phone by 2012 and it's own network supported communication system by 2013. this will include a free global wifi system sending shutters throughout the telecommunications world. i myself will be dumping all of my telcomm stocks this year – their business models are more than overdue for a true free-market challenge. back to the nooka theme of universal communication, let's please have a global system already!

aaargh cables! this is more a wish than a prediction, but please, when will ALL electronic devices automatically communicate with each other the same way you link the iphone as a remote to your computer? there is nothing less attractive than the tangle of cables behind computers and TVs! the technology is there, someone suggest a universal standard and make it happen. one should never have to have the following conversation again: "honey, i need the HDMI cable, do you know where it is?" "is this it?" "no, that's DVI and only works with our old monitor, i need the one for the new one" "this one?" "no, but i do need that dvi to mini-dvi converter to connect the computer to the TV, so hold onto that til i need it"...

on air travel. i predict that airlines will still be utilizing mid-twentieth century technology for planes totally ignoring any innovation in airplane design that would cut down travel time. moreover, i forsee continued convoluted pricing schemes and business practices that make air travel more and more unpleasant each year. as a child, i was promised 3 hour flights between tokyo and NYC by the year 1985! since that is obviously not going to happen anytime soon, add this to the wish list: make an airline with all business class style seats and service for all flights over 5 hours and blend the cost to have a fixed price of between $1500 and $4000 RT. it may take a while to get popular, but trust me, a good portion of travelers would rather take fewer flights a year in comfort than many trips in pain. people are bigger and taller than they were when the current airplane standards were devised in the 1960s and also, we travel more and farther than 30+ years ago. people enjoy low fares, but really, a $700 RT between NYC/Tokyo is equally as ridiculous as the $10,000 RT for business class. obviously one is subsidizing the other.

colors. i feel that bright fire engine red is going to become a popular color towards the end of the year.

wildcard: nina hagen will release an electronica album produced by giorgio moroder.

nooka press: female magazine

text by michael a. traverzo

singapore's leading fashion and beauty magazine, female, features the nooka x spongebob collaborative watch, zub zenh 20 spongelevator! nooka is offering a holiday package that will include a spongebob dvd set with the purchase of one of the 3 limited edition spongebob watches. quantities are limited, so be sure to pick yours up now!

order online here!

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