• Josh Rubin always Cool Hunting

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Josh Rubin has built Cool Hunting into one of the most recognizable websites and names within popular culture today. Since its creation in 2003, Cool Hunting has managed to reach a broader array of readers than almost any site I know, making sure to cover the spectrum; from fashion, to tech, to design, to streetwear, to art, etc. Cool Hunting spreads the “esthetically fly” gospel. There’s a lot more to Josh Rubin than just what you see on Cool Hunting, he\’s  a Senior Partner at Bond Art and Science (a digital services firm he founded). He\’s spent time at  Motorola, Razorfish and Upoc Networks. He even holds a  Master\’s in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University. Josh went from an interested blogger to a “mover and shaker” within the corporate branding empire.   Interview by Matthew Ross.

    SXH: A Cool Hunter makes “It their job to make observations and predictions in changes of new or existing cultural trends. The word derives from the aesthetic of ‘cool’.”  Do you consider yourself to be the king of Cool Hunting?  Or just a Gospel?

    JR: Here’s the deal: I started the site 5 years ago as a way to catalog things I find inspiring. As I was the original audience, I didn’t think twice about a name. I had read Malcom Gladwell’s New Yorker piece back in 1997 and the phrase Cool Hunt stuck in my head from then on. Except for me it was synonymous for seeking inspiration. So when it came time to name the site, that’s what I gave it.

    To answer your question, I don’t consider myself the king of anything. I just know what I like and am happy to have a place online to share that with anyone who gets inspired by the same kind of stuff as me. And so far as the trend stuff goes, we don’t write about trends. Sure, there are patterns in the things that we cover but it’s up to the reader to see those and interpret them as they wish.

    SXH: Initially when you started Cool Hunting, there wasn\’t much else available to Internet readers, what was your initial philosophy and motivation behind the site?

    JR: Like I said above, I just wanted a catalog of things I find inspiring. As a designer I’m always looking for new and interesting things to keep my mind going. I love the collision of art, design, technology and culture. I’m fascinated by process and believe that there are no new ideas, just great executions. I used to have a mess of magazine pages, photos, notes, and bookmarks but they were totally disorganized. I’m much better at organizing digitally.

    SXH: For all the regular readers of coolhunting.com like myself; there has been an amazing progression of the site, both in content and media… Where do you draw the inspiration? And what does the future hold for you and your site specifically, and the industry of cool?

    JR: About two years in the site went from being a one-man show to a collaboration. Today we have 25 contributors around the world and there are three of us who edit the site. Everyone working with us has similar taste to me so it’s exciting to see what they come up with.

     

    SXH: How has the PODCAST changed Coolhunting.com?

    JR: For the better! There are stories we want to tell that are better served by video than by written words and still images. It’s awesome to have this additional outlet for sharing what we find. Of course, we’re big on production value. But besides being satisfying it has paid off—we won a Webby award for the video series and have licensed episodes to other media outlets, like CurrentTV for example.

    SXH: What category of Hunting do you most like… Music? Art? Tech? Design? Etc?

    JR: I design user interfaces. I’m kind of a geek. I get most excited about the intersection of design and tech. That usually means I’m finding gadgets and websites, but it also applies to art and apparel. 

    SXH: Has the philosophy changed since numerous sites have come into the market?

    JR: It was distracting, at first. My instinct was to be competitive. But then I remembered why I started the site and now we just do our thing.

    SXH:  Taking a step back… how has the world changed since you started the site?  Is your target audience the same?  How has it changed if at all?

    JR: Surprisingly, our audience hasn\’t changed much. We just did our annual survey and it turns out our readers are still smart, urban-dwelling creative professionals looking for a quick inspiration break during the work day. 

     

    SXH: Cool Hunting is just one of your ventures, can you tell us about some of the other projects you are working on?

    JR: Yeah, I’ve kinda got a lot going on. My main focus these days is Bond, a firm that I started with some former Razorfish colleagues about a year-and-a-half ago. We combine strategy and creativity to identify opportunities for better digital experiences. In other words, we design and build web and mobile applications. Our clients are primarily in the media, fashion and telecommunications worlds. We’re 15 people and growing; we just moved to a great new office; and we eat lunch together every day. We’re very food centric. Cool Hunting is under the same roof so there are some nice synergies there.

    We’re also starting a new ad network in collaboration with our friends from Happy Corp and Osmosis. It’s called Largetail and it will combine ad inventory from lots of great, like-minded sites. We also offer customized campaigns for our advertisers.

     

    SXH: If Hollywood were to do the Josh Rubin Story who would play you and why?

    JR: I guess Jason Schwartzman because we kind of look alike.

    SXH: Do you have an opinion of personal blogs? People showing what they ate for dinner etc. it’s a new phenomenon, what do you make of it?

    JR: That’s what blogs are supposed to be for!

    SXH: Print and Online media are drastically different, what in your opinion are the main benefits and disadvantages of online media? In the future will CH be in print?

    JR: Print has a tactile value that just feels good to the hand and the soul. I don’t ever see that going away. Online has immediacy. We see something and can have it in front of our readers within minutes. You can’t do that in print. Additionally, online we have the ability to get our like-minded readers communicating with each other. We actually don’t do that right now, but it might be coming in the future…

    SXH:  Do you have any regrets?

    JR: Honestly, the name Cool Hunting. It’s so loaded. We’ve almost rebranded a dozen times, now. We actually registered http://www.coolhuntingisover.com !

    SXH: Would you indulge us with your favorites?

    JR: Sure. Picking just one for each isn’t easy, though…

    Artist: Anthony Goicolea

    Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)

    Museum: New Museum (New York)

    Hotel: One Aldwich (London)

    Tech Gadget: My hacked iPhone

    Clothing Designer: Tim Hamilton

    Retail Store: Base (Miami)

    Alcoholic beverage: Tito’s Vodka

    Non-Alcoholic Beverage: Green Tea

    Country/City: NYC

    Music Act: Fischerspooner

    Architect: John Lautner

    Website (other then CH): we-make-money-not-art.com

    Airline: Braniff

    You can check out Cool Hunting daily of course, even check through their extensive archives. Slam X Hype thanks Josh Rubin for his time and inspiration.

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  • Tavis Coburn

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Toronto based artist Tavis Coburn has been commissioned by the likes of Nike, Time Magazine, the NFL, Discovery Channel, and GQ, amongst others, to produce his famous 40’s/50’s inspired images for their ad campaigns, and while this only hints at the kind of prices it would cost to get yor hands on a commissioned piece [...]

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  • Japan’s Connect Auctions

    November 21st, 2007 |

    I saw news of Connect Auctions on Honeyee and thought it looked interesting, some amazing pieces up for auction, especially from Charles and Ray Eames,Phillipe Starck and others… I discovered while this is a Japanese orientated Auction house, you can bid from outside of Japan and they even offer a live ebay feed. You can [...]

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  • Recon Online Store Launch

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Recon will relaunch its online store as part of their new look site this Thursday. Keep an eye on the countdown here.

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  • New Museum at 235 Bowery

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Founded in 1977, the New Museum is the first and only contemporary art museum in New York  City and among the most respected internationally, with a curatorial program unrivaled in the  United States in its global scope and adventurousness.
    The New Museum will open its new  building on the Bowery to the public on Saturday, December [...]

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  • Strange Fruit Berlin

    November 21st, 2007 |

    The end of April presented Berlin with a further addition to its bouquet of fashion stores: Strange Fruit, a concept store of a size and scope unrivalled in Germany. Spread over two floors, the spacious 450 sqm store stocks the cream of international up-and-coming designer labels for men and women, accessories and lovingly selected lifestyle [...]

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  • Stussy Milan 5th Anniversary Tee’s

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Stussy’s Milan Chapter are celebrating their 5th Anniversary this year, which we’ve mentioned before.  Italian companies Slamjam, Truffa, Vanguard and Bomba were invited to design Tee’s to commemorate the event. All using signature Stussy Styles. Yet another benchmark in Stussy’s ongoing life in Streetwear.

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  • Acapulco Gold Holiday Preview

    November 21st, 2007 |

    Acapulco Gold is dropping their Fall / Winter Holiday 2007 Collection. First off they have 5 new tees.  2 of the tees are in collaboration with famed photographer Janette Beckman.  Make sure you check out her new book titled "The Breaks."  The other 3 tees are the same standard that AG is known for.  Next [...]

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  • Arkitip x Parra Show

    November 21st, 2007 |

    We previously mentioned the issue 43 of Arkitip. Last Saturday I checked out the Arkitip x Parra show at the Smart House in Venice, CA. The show had a really nice vibe to it and featured hand drawn work by Parra which was blown up to poster size prints along with customized card board box [...]

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