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!