Whether it’s visiting studio spaces, frequenting local galleries, bouncing between international art fairs or simply looking up and admiring a building, passion for art and design forms COOL HUNTING’s foundation. No matter where you are in the world, art is around. But to have art in your own home is truly a gift. We’re not all able to afford the pieces we covet, but books about our favorite genres, artists, designers, buildings, styles, or photographers are a way to surround ourselves with beauty. Further, the pages and pages of history and insight serve to educate and fuel our insatiable curiosity. With books spanning photography, architecture, design and more, this guide will have something for everybody.
Pieter “Parra” Janssen’s colorful curves and post-pop imagery translate to multicolored apparel and, even more fittingly, swim shorts from the Dutch artist’s own clothing brand, By Parra. These 100% nylon trunks feature a soft mesh inner, rear pockets with closures, patch panels and, of course, Parra’s signature waves.
Hailing from upstate New York, Sean Augustine March is an artist and designer whose work often creates striking optical effects using dichroic glass. His spectacular Rayleigh Desk Lamp is no different. Shining through numerous light refractions, colors and geometric shapes, it’s affixed to a wood base and features a five-watt LED with over 200,000 hours of lifespan. Illuminating and iridescent, the Rayleigh is a mesmerizing …
Paris-based independent apparel brand Carne Bollente’s sex positive ethos manifests once again in their delightfully suggestive One and Only Towel. Through artist Mike Wilcox’s vivid, bright hues depicting different labia, the towel is a plush and bold celebration of vulvas.
Designed for all genders, Nina Chanel Abney’s new collaboration with Nike’s Jordan brand sees the contemporary artist applying her signature style to basketball iconography. Though all the bright, bold pieces in the capsule collection inspire (including the covetable Air Jordan High and Low 2 SE), the hoodie, with puff-print graphics on cozy fleece fabric, is certainly a highlight. Chanel Abney grew up in Chicago and …
From Dutch artist Parra (aka Pieter Janssen), this 100% cotton jacquard towel features a depiction of a woman dramatically curved over a bike, traveling backward. Available in indigo or pink, each side of the accessory is an inversion of the other.
Artist, collector and founder of counter culture book fair Cultural Traffic, Toby Mott is better known as a punk expert than a rave historian, but for New Age: Stonehenge to Jungle, he traces UK rave, jungle, sound system and warehouse parties through flyers. With 575 flyers and other ephemera, as well as interviews and contributions from Alan Lodge, Chris Peckings, Dave Little, IXY, Joe Rush, …
Women Painting Women explores and celebrates the ways in which female artists conveyed stories and identities outside the male gaze. The book contains portraits of women from 1960s to today with text by Andrea Karnes, shedding light on how early trailblazers (like Emma Amos and Alice Neel) and contemporary artists (like Jordan Casteel and Somaya Critchlow) utilized painting to portray women in their complexities, joy, beauty …
A 71-person group book celebrating Pomegranate Press—a Richmond, Virginia-based independent publishing house for contemporary photography, writing and more—Nothing Left but Healing features a plethora of different pieces across its 150 pages. Within the smyth-sewn book are alluring portraits, microphotography, landscapes and more enchanting works.
From pink foam buildings to couches that resemble jester hats, off-kilter chairs made of resin and wobbly vases, beloved Italian architect, designer and artist Gaetano Pesce expanded the world of design over his 50-year career to include unexpected materials and political and social commentary. Vibrant and inventive, Out in the World With Gaetano Pesce compiles the 82-year-old pioneer’s iconic and never-before-seen work with an essay …
From artist and skateboarder Jeffrey Cheung—who runs There Skateboards, an offshoot of the SF-based collective Unity which represents and supports queer skaters—this “Colors” deck features his signature figurative art. Available in two sizes (8.25 or 8.5 inches), this skateboard has been made and designed with all types of skaters in mind.
Japanese glass artist Miwa Ito crafts bright, bulbous products that are delightfully off-kilter. Part of her MOO MOO exhibition in London, her Big Goofy 2 piece—like much of her work—is inspired by childhood memories of colorful cartoons and toys. It measures 20 by 18cm and has been entirely hand-finished and is signed by the artist. Price is in Pounds.
London-born photographer Nadine Ijewere, the first Black woman photographer to shoot a cover for Vogue, explores beauty (while subverting traditional notions surrounding it) in her enchanting monograph Our Own Selves. Dreamy backgrounds, compelling compositions and vibrant hues suffuse this collection of her work, attesting to the vivid ways Ijewere celebrates people of color and breaks barriers.
