Review of Cool Hunting

Cool Hunting started in February 2003 as a catalog project by Josh Rubin – whose online publishing company, Captain Lucas, also publishes Needled and Tropolism.  Since then, it has evolved into a major online resource for the latest and the greatest design-inspired clothing, technologies, house wares, furniture, automobiles, and more.

With three editors and a roster of hand-picked contributors, the blog profiles a wide variety of inventions, from bone-imitating chairs to unusual wall decorations. In December 2005, Cool Hunting added a weekly video series, produced by m ss ng p eces, to add some texture to its publication and take viewers to some of the most interesting design locales in the world.

The segments are condensed, un-narrated peeks into art shows, exhibits, musical collaborations, soccer, ice, and everything else that involves innovative design or can be looked at from a design perspective. Interviews are mixed with stylized footage from the events and video from various installations.

The remarkable berth of topics range from Amorphophallus Titanum, a sushi chef-turned-ice sculptor, Lucky Diamond Rich (a tattoo fiend who has no skin left without ink), and the surgical Irezumi style of tattoo art. The regular blog is also packed with articles about every facet of design culture including streetwear, architecture, travel, food, exercise, and much more.

The advantage that Cool Hunting has over magazines like GQ, W, and Flaunt is that its curators tend to focus on the more esoteric areas of the marketplace. Smaller boutiques can be discussed in the blog. Odd lifestyle features can be recorded for the vlog.

It’s not about brands and design houses, it’s about individuals who live and work with design. That’s something that puts this site above its product-obsessed competitors in design publishing.