The Design Crack Guide to Brand Crack
Mobile Record Players: Chrysler, God Bless Ya
If you were ever wondering how the car companies got into the mess that they are in to today, one only has to look at this particular innovation. At first glance, I thought this was ground breaking and sort of experimental in a good way. Then I thought about Chrysler’s inability to look [...]
mini rickshaw in beijing
DesignBoom is so good. They always point me towards where I want to go. Even if I didn’t know I wanted to go there. Today, they pointed me to the Mini Pedicab (DesignBoom calls it a rickshaw, but I always though rickshaws were pulled on foot). This is essentially a modified Mini Cooper [...]
Ikea Takes One Step Back
The New York Times reported on August 14th that Ikea has now embraced Chintz. Chintz defined is overly frilly and excessive decoration in design. It’s sort of the opposite of funtionalist where clean lines and no clutter rule. Now, Ikea has taken up the chintzy trend borrowing from the hotest current designers Jaime [...]
American Express: Membership Can Get You Laid
Equals
I’m a fashion addict. Being a fashion addict means I sign up for all the press releases to all the major fashion shows. Today I got one for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Smiw 2009 in Miami. The MBFW really does a fantastic job of making you feel like a million bucks especially if you have [...]
Paul Smith Spring 2008 Collection: Straight from a Wes Anderson Film
I’m one of those guys who wishes that Paul Smith was my best friend. Paul and I would hang out walking the streets of London looking for affected youth to star in his advertising campaigns. Every once in a while I would look over at Paul and say, ” Hey Paul, would it be possible [...]
B&B Italia’s Canasta Lounge Chair and Loveseat by Patricia Urquiola: Chair Caning to the Extreme
Back around the turn of the 19th century, one of the most common cafe chairs in the world featured bent wood and caning at the seat. This chair caning was a narrow hexagonal pattern that almost mimicked the delicacy of Moorish windows. I have a sof spot for this chair because my parents owned several [...]
Armani Casa: Classic Big Brand Design Perfection
I’ve made it a point to cover big, chunky fantastically fashionable brands over the next few weeks, and today is one of my favorites: Armani Casa. Armani Casa is like the stage set for a highly stylized 1940s noir film with a good budget. Each piece evokes one of two feelings in me. Armani [...]
Ten Luxury Holiday Gifts That Will More Than Impress
This past year has been so much fun at Design Crack. Over the last year, I’ve featured several hundred products from the insanely clever to the fabulously opulent. Today, I’ve decided to focus on the opulent ones and pull out ten from the archives that just made my jaw drop when I saw these. Seriously, [...]
Dior rekindles a Japanese flair with their Samourai 1947 handbag
This bag is soooo old news. However, The Dior Samourai 1947 handbag is still one of my favorites even though Dior has probably gone on to market bigger and better pieces. This handmade gem by Dior is nothing less than a work of art. The handbag comes in a variety of colors, but I like [...]
Funky Shoe: Peu by Camper
I only include this shoe on the site for Camper’s design innovation concerning it’s shoe string. The name of the shoe is Peu and it has that characteristic Camper look. But the shoe is just so much easier to put on with its one elastic shoe string, that it makes me wonder why shoes have [...]
Ephemera Collecting: A Graphic Designer’s Dream Inspiration
by Roadside Pictures
I found this along with a number of design resources that will inspire any graphic designer. This inspiration came to me through the chain of Coudal Partners, via DDC. I’m a long time Flickr user, but my mind is being blown again by yet another resource on Flickr, their ephemera collection. If you [...]
Ultraluxe- The Verailles Lighter by S.T. Dupont
Recently, Kaboodle asked me to write a weekly post for the Fab Finds column of the Kaboodle Blog. I was, of course, ecstatic at the chance to work for one of my favorite shopping sites. So when Kaboodle approached me, I decided that I wanted to write an extra-special, over-the-top weekly column which I will [...]
Park Fifth: Greasy Living Coming to Los Angeles
I was reading BLDG BLOG this evening when I came across a post that intrigued me about a new condominium Tower in Los Angeles called Park Fifth. BLDG BLOG gave a brilliant description of the perks given when a buyer moves in to this project including a membership to the MOCA, the local contemporary art [...]
Sunday Styles Watch: July 15, 2007
I read New York Times’ Sunday Styles each week, and I thought I might try an experiment where I feature all the advertised products in one monthly post. I almost always love every product that is advertised here, so why not consolidate this information into one brief post? Also, I’ll be able to see which [...]
Bling H2O: Design Crack at its Worst
I just happened to notice this on Yahoo today, and I could not help but to put it on the blog. I present Bling H2O- the next best thing to selling luxury air is luxury water. The water is the brainchild of Kevin G. Boyd who is a Hollywood writer and producer (I’ll get to [...]
Brand Crack: Frank Gehry Fold Ring for Tiffany
Mr. Gehry! Why did you not take up ring design before I got married? I really have no reason to buy one of the Frank Gehry designed rings by Tiffany. I only need one. I’ve always thought that guys wearing more than one ring usually wore polyester suits or needed occasional back waxing. You know [...]
