The Commodity of Cool: Reinventing the concept of shopping

A couple of good buddies have been feeding us high-end, design concept shops like Third-Ave crack dealers. Thanks to Brian, heading up design savvy R&D operations in LA and Chase right here in town. Having faced our addiction we’ve recently graduated from our denial phase and we’re now ready to share a few hot spots.

The shop
Colette stocks one product: uber-coolness. It may come in the form of clothing, music, watches, fragrances, body care products or magazines but each product neatly displayed on Colette’s minimal shelves is born from the same common denominator. The shop cleverly mixes together a wide range of products that are in constant flux. A DJ spins in the background as you sort through mega-labels situated next to designers you’ve never heard of. Buy it if you like it, it won’t be there next time.
213 rue Saint-Honoré – 75001 Paris – France, Tel : 01 55 35 33 90

The Water Bar downstairs serves up minimal, modern dishes and drinks.

The magazine
Monocle is a slick physical and online magazine geared toward a hungry international audience and covering a variety of sectors. In addition to current affairs, business, culture and design, Monocle includes a brief but gorgeous shopping component. The current issue highlights bikes, fragrances, and luggage, all extremely well designed and sexy.

The elusive studio you’ll probably never make it to
Studio Niels van Eijk & Miriam van der Lubbe is a Dutch design studio in south-east Holland. The couple, like the Dutch in general, are so far ahead of the rest of us on the design curve that their products may not even seem desirable yet, but they will.
Raadstraat 28 K, 5666 AE Geldrop, the Netherlands

“Our designs raise questions; we work with forms and products we all know, we add benefits to them to make it nowadays products without losing their own characteristics. They make you change your perspective to things, and challenge you to look at another way to the world around you.” – Niels van Eijk

The gallery you should visit
Droog Design has become the epicenter of innovative, fresh design. The Amsterdam showroom is scattered with the latest designs and clever ideas. Like the Marcel Wanders Knotted Chair which employs knots at just the right locations along the rope lengths so that when hung upside down the final shape of the chair is achieved, sprayed with a clear lacquer hardener, cut, flipped and ready for a sit.
Staalstraat 7a/7b, 1011 JJ Amsterdam, TEL: +31 (0) 20 5235050