Photography | Kiss Cool

How amazing is this photograph? It's taken by Andy Barter, to view more in the series appropriately called "Kiss" click here.

Great Modular Housing Idea | South Africa

PLEASE NOTE: I DO NOT MAKE THESE HOUSES - I SIMPLY FEATURED THEM ON MY BLOG. PLEASE CONTACT INIZIO FOR MORE INFO.

It's no secret that there is a housing issue in SA. These Inizio houses first caught my eye design wise and when I saw the price I was shocked. They may not be a solution to all our housing issues but they are wonderfully clever and certainly have a place. R155000 for a fully equipped one bedroom unit! The person responsible for such coolness is South African Philip Nel. Why on earth are we not seeing more of them?!

They can also be used as an office.

Philip Nel. Follow Inizio on Facebook.

Motion Art Cool

Words not needed.

parkour motion reel by Suchablog

The Origin of Cool | Africa

Its obvious that I love all things cool. Someone that studies the concept Cool is Dr Lauren Gurrieri [AKA Dr Cool] she says the origin of Cool can be traced back to the Yoruba people of Africa and their word Itutu [great word]. Dr Gurrieri was recently interviewed by a radio station in Australia, this podcast is interesting listening if you are into that kind of thing. The first reference to cool in advertising was in a campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle in the 1950's called 'Think Small' [see Ad below]. There are other interesting facts [listen to the podcast] but the COOLEST BY FAR is the fact that the origin of 'cool' is African. No wonder I'm crazy about it. Coolness!

Above: A child from the West African Yoruba people.

1950's Ad created by Julian Koenig

Tech Innovation | AWESOMENESS | Photosynth

When I watched this amazing video on Photosynth in 2007 on TED Ideas Worth Spreading I was totally blow away. At the time I remember thinking this type of tech is years away from my hands. Since then lots has happened. For one, Microsoft gobbled up the small company that developed the technology and even better, its now available to the 'average joe', me. Visit the site or download the iphone app. It is truly amazing! Well done to Microsoft! [Never thought I would ever say that!]



When you have used the app it saves an example to your phone or you can share to other platforms like Facebook. This is a 'flat' photo example I took yesterday.

Also this post has a double edged cool. For those that love information, TED is worth checking out. There are some wonderful videos on there, it's been a source of inspiration to me for years.

iPad Housing Coolness

I WANT ONE of these. They are handmade by Germanmade and are amazing! You can even configure your own on their site.

There is even a video on how they are made:

Total niceness. If you want to order one visit their site, it appears they ship internationally.

Cool Stuff Posted on Twitter

I love Twitter. It's a great source of news and an interesting view into society. A few months ago a guy I follow on Twitter [in my personal capacity] tweeted an image of the Lunar Eclipse. I had to share it because it's awesome AND the guy, code named 'za5', is not even a professional photographer. He should be! Check it out, I added another moon close up as well. I'm a #moonlover.

Can you see the bunny? :)
To follow @za5 on Twitter click here.

Re-imagining Cape Town | Tsai Design Studio

Anyone that visits Cape Town would have noticed the freeway bridge that ends nowhere as you drive into the CBD. A competition run by Men About Town- a Cape Times newspaper column, saw Tsai Design Studio produce this incredible solution called 'Road to Nowhere – Highway Regeneration'. They were one of the winners of the competition. Its an amazing design that considers the environment and turns something awkward into something very clever. Well done to them, lets hope the design is used.

Future Shopping |Mobile| Innovation

How cool is this! I would enjoy grocery shopping so much more! Bring. It. On.

Ocado​.com has hit the high street, with an inno­v­a­tive new ‘vir­tual shop’. In a UK first, the online grocer’s inte­grated win­dow dis­play at One New Change shop­ping cen­tre in Lon­don allows shop­pers to pur­chase all their gro­cery essen­tials by scan­ning them with their mobile phones. The retail expe­ri­ence is live between August 25 and Sep­tem­ber 1 2011.

Source : Design You Trust.

Human Coolness | Society

This is just SUCH a great idea. Showing a deeper view into human behavior in society. Worth the watch. Wonder what would happen if we did this in SA? What would people say?

Music | Ben Howard

I love folksie music and Ben Howard is of that genre. His new album will be launched in October 2011, but is available in the UK iTunes store. Here is a preview.

Hair Space Coolness | Kymric Hall

I had to show you pics of Kymric Hall Hair & Beauty Salon ,the place I go to in Franschhoek for my hair doo's. It is really very, very cool for a tiny town in the wine country. Design wise very different in a retro sort of way. You lie down to wash your hair and the salon has a pool! Brigitte, the owner, fits into her surrounding perfectly as she is one funky chick.

So if you are a little 'hairsalon-phobic' [I was not fond of hair salons], this is the place for you. I really enjoy going there. It's just cool.

Cool Headspace | Helmets

These just cracked me up. Really. I would walk around with one on just for a laugh!
Designed by the Russian company Good, these will either get people talking or crashing - lets hope its not the latter!

There were are few more risque versions, but I'll let your imagination do its work there!

Pop Phone | Cool

My sister has just ordered a Pop Phone. Designed by the French designer David Turpin and they can fit any device. How Cool?! Not sure if you can get them here - if you can please share where, [my sister lives in America]. You can try by visiting Native Union and I see various other sites are selling.

Thanks Don for sharing your coolness :)

Mini Cool | Access Agency

The Access Agency has done something pretty cool for brand Mini. Pictures speak louder than words but this campaign is very clever and such fun. Its all about inflatables and play!

Blogger Coolness | Fashion | Luvette

In my cyber travels I can across this cool South African blog site. Sarah [the super cool blog author] records all her ensembles in such an authentic and creative way. I am simply addicted waiting for her next post. Follow her here. Look below for displays of her utter coolness.

The lovely author.

One funky dame.

The Cool that is the QR Code

I am amazed that some mobile phone mad South Africans have not heard of the QR code and its coolness. Ok geeks, stop rolling your eyes! This post is just to get those that haven't even heard of them to start investigating this cool two dimensional code for you or your business. It's much easier to scan one of these to collect relevant information than pass on a business card. In my investigation the best place to create one [yes you can do it yourself for free] is via Paperlinks, there are however, many other sites as well. Paperlinks allows one free personal code, then they charge but they offer a great set up. One or two tips on how to use it or making them pretty. Don't forget to download the app to your smart phone though otherwise you will not be able to scan anything. Hope this helps :).

The designs are pretty cool in an abstract sort of way. Great idea: Why not tattoo yourself with one! HA!

Dotty Art Awesomeness | Gavin Rain

This Cape Town pointilist/neo-pointilist artist has some serious cool going on. Gavin Rain's work is interesting from far away and close up. WOW! Really amazing stuff. Thanks to Zani for introducing me to his work.

Cool process of his work titled 'Katherine':

Title: City Pedestrians

Just amazing close ups of his paint application.

Go to his website for more examples of his work.