IsseyMiyake

Issey Miyake "Hu" Watch Designed By Ross Lovegrove

Soft avant garde lines, and a unique face makes this almost novelty watch standout a bit more than you might expect. The watch is called the "Hu" and is designed by popular award-winning designer Ross Lovegrove (what a last name). It will be sold under the Issey Miyake watch brand name, who himself is a clothes designer who has a growing watch line. Plus, the watch will be built by Seiko, so it is up to you to decide exactly who this watch "comes from." Seiko and Issey Miyake (both Japanese) have actually been working together since 2001.

What gets me is the interesting theme behind the organic looking Hu watch. According to Lovegrove, the concept is that the watch should look like an extension of your body - as though it was growing out of your wrist. Sure the colors don't exactly match, but that would just look weird. The Hu watch is made of titanium with a rubber strap and comes in gray, white, and black. The dial of the watch is very simple. It shows just the hours and minutes, with only two hour indicator points - fine for those people who don't need such embellishments. I for one, DO need such embellishments. The movement is a Seiko quartz, of course. Despite the simple nature of the watch, it does look quite nice, and I look forward to seeing it on some wrists soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: hu, issey miyake, IsseyMiyake, japanese, ross lovegrove, RossLovegrove, timepiece, watch

Chair Wear

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Decor

I will come right out and say that I do not agree with Issey Miyake's decision to make dual-purpose furniture and clothing, but given that he is making it using A-POC, cloth made in a revolutionary new process that is entirely done by machine, it could conceivably be the wave of the future. Make that the ripple of the future, because his newest creation is based on the design of a chair called "Ripple" that he made last year with designer Ron Arad. The new product, known as Gemini, is "a streamlined, body-cushioning seat pillow made of A-POC fabric, which morphs into an elegant body-hugging jacket." Elegant is not the word that I would use, but there is no doubt that this is a fairly innovative use for seat cushioning, an object that's only significant accomplishment (aside from actually cushioning the seat) to date has been doubling as a flotation device on airplanes. The Gemini chair cushion debuted in Milan and will be available retail in Miyake shops later this year for $1,360.