Iconic French product designer Philippe Starck has made a living adding a modern slant to everyday items from watches to wireless speakers. You could say he’s had a hand in innovating everything but the kitchen sink… until now. Continuing his lengthy relationship with German bathroom furniture manufacturer Duravit, Starck finally makes his arrival in the tastiest room in your home via his new Starck K kitchen sink collection. Combining sleekness with high functionality, his usual calling card, these centers for culinary cleansing that serve a much wider variety of purposes are as much a work of art as the meals you hope to create…unless you’re just microwaving hot pockets.

Via designboom

If you’re a fool for your audio gear, you probably feel entangled in wires. That jungle of insulated black and gray is slowly being diminished by wireless options for any sound system. Parrot wireless speakers utilizes WiFi and Bluetooth technology, allowing you to set up your Philippe Starck-designed speakers anywhere in the room and stay in control of the music from your computer, iPod, or any Bluetooth enabled source.

Attention George Foreman, you’re about to be knocked out. At least, it would is the inspired collective that visits NOTCOT had their way. In an attempt to fuse fun, creativity, and design, the site introduced by NOTConcepts and Hero Design is a chance for artistic minds to collaborate on an existing item (in this case a grill), and reinvent the hell out of it. The results are anything but unoriginal. Concepts for the grill post run the gamut from what can only be Phillippe Starck’s backyard BBQ to a rotisserie oven that Steve Jobs might have worked on.

Here’s the way it goes down: Three posts are put up. The first is a general idea and some reference art. The second is sketched out concepts, and the third is 3D renders…all happening in about two weeks. So, go ahead and play. Give your boss your uninspired, second-rate ideas.

Fossil will soon welcome another design into their Phillippe Starck collection, this time to the tune of leather, stainless steel, and split time/date displays. The sleek watch, which from what I can tell is still nameless (yeah, let’s just call it The Time to Do Me Watch), represents another promising addition to the Starck/Fossil collab series (which we weren’t so hot on at first, but has sort of won us over since Heather posted on/nabbed the Wrapped Analog). No word on the actual release date of this sexy beast (though rumors place the price at around $125), but keeping an eye here should guarantee your wrist a nice friend in near future.

Via Moco Loco, I just fell in love with the latest offerings in the Fossil/Phillippe Stark Collaborative series: Veiled has specially electroplated crystal to mimic the bracelet design continuously across its face; Snake, whose closure is hidden on at the front of the watch and the Wrappd Analog, which, in addition to adorning my wrist in approximately two days features digitally-ticking “hands.” Yes, I know it’s a guy’s watch, and yes, I know I have itsy-bitsy wrists, but seriously, I couldn’t not have it. Check out the full collection here — I think even Josh will agree that this time around, they’re a holy lot sexier than the last batch.

Philippe Starck’s collaboration with PUMA has taken another architecturally seductive turn with Naked Body, a series of streamlined, skin-tight, and selectively see-through men’s and women’s wear. The story behind the collection has something to do with evolution and distraught Super Monkies, so we’re actually not going to get into it, but we are going to talk about a) how much some of this line resembles Milla Jovovich’s Jean Paul Gaultier get-up in The Fifth Element; and b) how we’re really into that, because that shit was SEXY. I can’t decide if I’d think this line will ultimately look chic or whorish, but I’m definitely anxious to find out. I had trouble finding the official release date or any information on availability, so if you know something we don’t, feel free to set us straight. Full-blown sexy, after the jump. READ MORE…

Trying to describe this conference would be like me trying to cut your hair over the phone (Thanks Jonah for the analogy). The energy, enthusiasm and mass of talented and remarkable people in one place at one time is hard to fathom. I’ve met or passed people from all walks of life, from Oscar Award winning actor Forest Whittaker to designer Phillipe Starck, and even musical legends like Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. While they’re definitely fascinating to meet, what has been most interesting socially is the countless other interesting talented individuals from around the world doing their absolute best to innovate and contribute towards the greater good in their industry. As far as the normal programming, there were a couple of technical glitches off the bat but here’s a quick recap of what stood out to me most: Carolyn Porco– The planetary scientist was absolutely amazing, compelling and changed the way I thought about space exploration. I hope I get a chance to see her again this week. Phillippe Starck was a hoot– no preparation and no slides, he spoke essentially about how he felt, in the state of our world. The world is going to shit and he was busy designing toothbrushes and toilet bowl cleaners. He actually said “I believe in general that my job is absolutely useless; but now, after Carolyn and these guys, I feel like shit.” Hans Rosling was delightful and his presentation was beautiful. If you haven’t seen his presentation from last year, go watch it now! Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was moving– he’s incredibly prolific and his speech made me want to read his book. He said one thing I’ll share– so many people refer to, or comment about him regarding his height (7ft 2 inches). He said he’d like to be known not as 7 feet 2 inches tall, but as 7 feet 2 inches deep. I played with Jeff Han’s new multi-touch screen and it was a blast (more on that later). Finally, musician Raul Midon who I wrote about more than two years ago absolutely killed it on stage, he is one gifted guy– go buy his CD right now! More tomorrow…

I’m headed out to the world-renowned TED conference early tomorrow morning– I received an invite for last year’s event but unfortunately wasn’t able to attend. I had plenty of warning this time around and I’ve honestly never been this excited for a conference in my life! If you’re unfamiliar with the event, be sure to check out this great introduction where curator Chris Anderson calls it The Official Pre-release Version of Heaven (check out the TEDTalks and you’ll know why people say this). The theme for this years event is Icons, Geniuses and Mavericks– I’m looking forward to seeing presentations from folks like Jeff Han, Philippe Starck, Hans Rolsing, John Maeda, Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, Zaha Hadid and literally dozens more. I’ll do my best to blog my experience while out there but I can’t make any promises– I’ve got a full schedule! From TED in California I’m headed to speak at Community 2.0 in Las Vegas on Monday and Tuesday of next week. If you’re going to be at either one of these events and want to meet up feel free to drop me a note.

We think this piece, although older, is still timeless. French designer and former head of furniture design for Philippe Starck, Patrick Jouin has pushed boundaries in furniture design, often taking inspiration from nature by creating organic shapes in his collections such as his 2004 work Solids. His Audiolab, although originally conceived in 2001 and commissioned in 2003 by the Museum of Modern Art is boasts a similar organic feel. This media “pod” is a module designed to allow museum visitors to discover and listen to the work of sound artist. Audiolab provides a comfortable alcove for listeners to immerse themselves in sound and at approximately 33 feet in size, allows ample room for up to 4 visitors to stretch out and relax. The lab has been presented in Beaubourg, Marseille, Berlin, Barcelona, and Copenhagen. Although an older part of Jouin's designs, the Audio Lab is still noteworthy and leaves us asking, “Will the US ever get a taste of this sense-stimulating, museum loungers dream?”

You’re probably looking at the picture above thinking “Starck… no, no, Rashid.. no, no, no.. who the heck is this?” I present to you Gilles Roudot, a young French designer with an incredible line of work. My French is a little rusty, but we exchanged a few emails back in September. He mentioned he has been designing objects in Europe for almost ten years now. Don’t ask me why I’m just getting around to sharing his work with you, but I’m glad to have re-found an old email. I think his work (especially the Bulb and Candle Lamp) is very special. Check out the rest of his collection, it looks very promising.

During my quick stay in Paris last weekend, I got to check out Hotel Sezz, the new hotel “experience”, designed by Christopher Pillet, who cut his teeth working under Phillipe Starck. The idea behind the hotel is in regards to how most peoples first impression of a hotel is during checking in– most of the time it can feel a lot like standing in line at a post office, read: quite uncomfortable. When I arrived at the hotel, there was no front desk, simply a low lying lobby with comfortable couches. I was greeted by the hotel manager, and immediately offered a drink– my bags were taken away and placed upstairs in one of the 27 rooms. The idea behind the ‘no front’ desk, was that hotel guests are greeted by a ‘personal assistant’, who would remain my main contact to the hotel throughout the stay.

If I wanted to go shopping, he took me, if I needed theatre tickets, he would get them, and so on. Unfortunately, there were a few drawbacks to the hotels model– some kinks they haven’t quite worked out. Before I get into them, let me say this: The hotel was clean, comfortable, and I had a fun time there. Unfortunately, I never heard from my personal assistant during my stay– not even once to check in, but I’m pretty self sufficient so this wasn’t a huge issue. The WiFi was down the first night in the rooms, and the famed basement jacuzzi was out of order the entire time. Other than that? Hotel Sezz was a quiet, warm hotel with a solid attention to details, tucked away on 6 Avenue Frémiet– and it was an escape from the usual tourist infested Paris.

My last night in Paris I ate at a restaurant called ‘Kong’, on the top two floors of the prestigious Louis Vuitton building address– 1 Rue du Pont Neuf. The restaurant is an elevators ride up, above the Kenzo flagship stores. The top floor has a glass ceiling that looks out over the city, designed by Architect Jean-Jacquey, and much of the interior was designed by Phillipe Starck. The restaurant calls the design “a collision of modern and ancient Japan”. Ultra hip, the chairs were the Invisible Louis XV Armchairs, with eerie asian faces screen printed on the backs. The walls were covered in plasma screens with faces that would occasionally wink at customers passing by. The view of the Siene and the city below was breath taking, and the food by Chef Richard Pommies was quite delicious– a must see, but call ahead for reservations, it’s a hot spot!

Spring is upon us, which means it’s sandal time for many of us. Super designer Philippe Starck (and he really is on a rampage right now) is at it again, partnering up with Puma. He has a handful of different shoe designs, and I don’t care for any of them except these sandals. A bit pricey, but they look quality.

Phillip S+arck has introduced some new watches with watchmaker Fossil. In my opinion they’re all pretty lousy except for this one. LED’s on a plastic band. I’d expect a lot more from S+arck this time around, but I bet people still buy ‘em cuz they have got his uber-fully successful name stamped on them.Via Gizmodo

I’m not sure if this is just overboard nerdy, but I think i’d like to get this Oregon Scientific
Starck large Multi Weather Staton Clock. Yes, key word being Starck, Phillips design, but apparently the interface is a mess according to the folks at Wireds Gadget lab. Bt still, how cool is this superclock? Barometric pressure, humitity, temp readings, forecast for cloud, sun, and rain for those of us that live in a room without windows. You can hit a button and the device projects the time in giant red digits onto your celiling….

It spits out all sorts of weather data, plus moon cycles and ties, in one undifferentiated mass. I’d have to be woken up by its alarm clock before I could focus on all the information though. Still, a Phillpe Starck designed weather station super clock computer thingy? He’s gotta have one of these too, right?!