Friday, July 10, 2009

strip for me baby




this is out of order, i know i need to blog about what a HUGE success the pop-up shop party was last night. give me a day or two to decompress and i will blog about that. i'm also now allowed to blog about my exciting fragrance! i'll blog that this weekend as well. you can read the cool article on timeout here.

the nooka message has evolved from an ethos most simply expressed by the not so marketing/sexy attitude of "question everything" and "explore alternative systems" to a more elegantly articulated theme of "universal language". universal language is a key tool for strengthening global culture and insuring greater cooperation for even greater innovations from our society in the future. i truly believe that fashion is as much a universal language as math and music, and in that sense, i like to think of nooka as a futurist brand. it is easy to see these themes in the nooka time pieces which for the most part do not need any written language skills to use and they're designed with a glam future aesthetic, and would be understandable if sent to another planet as a gift. and i am now proud to announce the release of the nooka strip™ [the NS], our very first belt!

belts originated in the bronze age, in leather form, between 3500 & 1200 BC. the bronze age saw the creation of knives, axes, pottery that were more durable than those previously created in the stone age. In these times, interestingly enough, primarily men wore them, and they were used for a decorative purpose. it was considered rare for a female to be seen wearing a belt.

starting in the 1920s, as fashion changed, so did the function of belts. instead of being for show, men needed something to hold up their pants! no longer was it just military men wearing them [suspenders were more commonly used to hold mens pants up before this change in trend] .

Today, there is a variety of belts - police officers use them to hold their equipment, women wear them with a high waisted skirt to provide some oomph, and plumbers...still don't wear them. There are different colors, different sizes, different materials, different types of belt buckles. It has become one of those things that can 'make an outfit'.

but with all the options for belts out there, i still felt something was missing both functionally and in terms of form and color. so i came up with the NS™. the closure is something i developed with my design team to offer easy adjustment throughout the day [i never found the perfect hole in a traditional belt, and it's really socially awkward to readjust a traditional belt in a restaurant!] which is the functional innovation. the innovation in look-and-feel is apparent – you can do the dreaded "matchy-matchy" look with our belts and zubs!

it looks so good you'll have no problem getting people interested in looking at your crotch, and the mechanism is so slick, your pants can come off faster than they went on. this is why i came up with the product name "strip" [strip of material for form as well, so it's really a pure expression of form follows function]. seriously, belts up until now were too concerned with holding your pants up, and a belt equally concerned with getting-off is truly an innovation.

nooka strip available at den, 330 east 11th street until august 16th, DDC lab in NYC [currently west 14th street location] and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nooka on twitter.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

wow wow nymag article online!


what amazing photographs thanks to melissa hom of new york magazine. frank nan's design translates more than seemlessly in these images [thanks to the production coordination of shinya nakamura and my dedicated staff! thanks guys!] so definitely check out the slideshow in the article available here.

nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

the build-up and build-out and the nooka boys


one thing people sometimes mention when they visit the nooka lab is how handsome all the guys are [and how pretty the girls are too]. yes, it's possible that they're just saying that to be nice, but seriously, we have a disproportionate number of hotties working here – which is well illustrated by these fotos of the nooka team working on the build out of the pop-up shop at den.

top left is frank, our architect who calls the interior treatment "the Nth dimension" – giving a physical form to the nooka journey to the future! working in no particular order is alex, product designer, paul, product and graphic design, our swedish intern david [shirtless so he wouldn't get paint on his clothes even though everyone was told in advance of painting day] and my PA intern, michael. not pictured is yours truly and shinya nakamura [former full time employee and artist/fabricator extraordinaire] who is overseeing the build-out of the shop.

i think some men's fashion magazine should use the nooka lab staff as models for a story....any creative directors reading my blog?

nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.

Monday, July 6, 2009

pop up shop soon!


as you can see from the image: i can keep it a secret no longer: BELTS [nooka strip, NS™], nooka wallet system [asset organizer, AO™] and super secret launch, our precious essence of nooka in a bottle debut at our pop-up shop at den.

the space is tiny so a guest list is being tightly maintained [not by me] for the opening so make sure to RSVP if you want to go to that or are press and need a special earlier time. otherwise, shop is open for 6 full weeks!

i will do a post a bit later about the design of the shop and the buildout process as well as insights on the new products. it's very exciting.

nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

building momentum and ready to explode






monday and tuesday we held exclusive press interviews for our upcoming secret product launch. it was so exciting to meet the actual editors for this new category nooka is entering, and also to have a unique space dedicated to showcase all my designs. it was unfortunate i had laryngitis the whole time but all went well as i articulated how my design philosophy of universal communication and utopian futurism relates to the new products. this is all leading up to our very first US pop-up shop at den on east 11th street opening july 10th [i'll blog about that soon]. look forward to posts on our upcoming belts [nooka NS] and noo approach to wallets [AO assets organizer] as well as the product line my PR people wont let me blog about just yet. seriously, sooooo much going on at once it's going to all come together like a supernova!

nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

more nooka and BMX: zack yankush


direct from bmx star, zack zankush:

Hey dudes!!

Just got back from round one of the Dew Tour. It was the first ever BMX only stop so it was action packed all weekend. It was held in downtown Chicago right in Grant park. The city skyline was the backdrop for the first big BMX contest of the year and it ruled. Here are a couple pics of me running my mouth for Fuel TV. You will be able to check out all the footage on Fuel TV’s Weekly Update with Boost Mobile all week long. Be sure to check out the snazzy Zenh SP. Thanks Nooka!!!!

the sky pyramid nooka zack is wearing is available fine stores and here! follow nooka on twitter: nookaNOW look for posts from matthew waldman on spacecollective.com/NOOKANYC

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

nooka sightings: dorian via complex blog


this is from a fashion-on-the-street entry on the complex blog:
"What do chicks dig about your style? They like my Nooka watch and think my look is fresh and appealing."

see full post here.

nooka is available at other fine stores and here! follow nooka on twitter: nookaNOW look for posts from matthew waldman on spacecollective.com/NOOKANYC