Designed by architect Minsuk Cho and Mass Studies and built directly adjacent to one of their tea fields, the new OSULLOC tea factory on Jeju Island is a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the production of premium Korean teas. This new factory enables the brand to efficiently and sustainably process and package their teas within a short amount of time after harvest. Until it opened the tea was processed locally but packaged on the mainland, and now that it is operational they’ve fulfilled a longtime desire to go from field to processing to packaging not just locally but adjacent to one of their three organic tea fields on the island.

The facility is designed to welcome guests interested in learning more about OSULLOC tea and their various blends. Visitors can also visit the OSULLOC Tea Museum while visiting the island. In this video Alex Lee, Director of Research and Development, shares OSULLOC’S journey on Jeju over the last 45 years, explaining their philosophy, process and proudly showing us around their new packaging facility which is abuzz with workers who have a view of the tea field workers.

Gaetano Pesce, one of the most renowned modern designers, passed away on 3 April 2024 in New York. We last spoke with him at his recent pop up in Miami’s Design District during art week, where he showed old work reimagined alongside new work, including a collection in development with designer Max Gunawan. We shot this video in Pesce’s Manhattan studio in 2012, where we spoke about his work, the evolution of design, and his then new collection, “Pieces for the Body”, a series of unique, handmade jewels. The 100 pieces were made of colored urethane resin to decorate the female body.

Yes it is a “post-apocalyptic bulletproof stainless steel squared off cockroach with sharp edges that will slice your finger open anytime you go near it,“ as Jason Cammisa describes. And it’s also even more radical than its exterior design. The Cybertruck’s engineering innovations are wildly impressive and Cammisa takes us through them in his usual thorough-yet-cheeky style for Hagerty’s ICONS series.

Inside the Brooklyn studio of the late artist Bobby Anspach, four multi-sensory, immersive art machines open pathways to wondrously psychedelic worlds—sometimes bringing the entire universe into your own eye, sometimes requesting that you sustain an intimate connection, amidst a blanket of rainbow orbs, for a few seconds longer. Entitled “Place for Continuous Eye Contact,” the astonishing exhibit celebrates the life of the Beacon, New York-based artist, who passed July 2022. And what a celebration it is—of human connectedness, consciousness and creativity.

Three of Anspach’s machines set visitors onto individual journeys, each roughly four-minutes long, complete with an emotional soundscape. The fourth machine, however, requires that two people sit opposite one another, with uninterrupted eye contact, for the duration of a kaleidoscopic intervention. Everything is a highlight, designed to bridge the participant with the depths of our world. An eye patch is provided for all of the experiences, to hone concentration.

Place for Continuous Eye Contact is open to the public, by appointment, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday now through 15 October. In addition to Anspach’s sculptural experiences, the exhibition will also incorporate thoughtful programming during its run.

Very few wristwatches deserve as much adoration—and continued discussion—as the Breguet Type 20. This flyback pilot chronograph, which debuted in 1954, was designed by the horological maison to align with rigorous specifications laid out by the French Ministry of Defense, and then offered to aviators of the Air Force and Naval Army as part of their equipment package. Demand led to the introduction of a civilian model, the Type XX, and widespread acclaim and ravenous collectors soon followed. In Paris last week, impeccably refreshed Breguet Type 20 and Type XX models were released—the latest in a line of legendary timepieces.

Anyone familiar with previous iterations of the Type 20 and Type XX will understand that the Breguet design DNA informed these two new models, the Type 20 ref. 2057 and Type XX ref. 2067. That said, both of these stainless steel watches (with bidirectional bezels) have an increased diameter size—42mm rather than 38.5mm—which complements the expanded watch thickness of 14.1mm. It’s an appropriate ratio and that’s clearly reflected on the wrist. Each also incorporates a date window on the dial at 4:30—a useful albeit unexpected addition that doesn’t disrupt legibility.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the two models bifurcate in several ways. The military-inspired Type 20 features two subdials, syringe hands and mint green lume. Its bezel is fluted—and it incorporates an onion crown. The civilian Type XX incorporates three subdials, alpha hands, an ivory-colored lume, coin edging and an oversized crown. The former benefits most from a nato fabric strap, while the later pairs well with calfskin leather. Throughout their reinvented composition, both have adopted different vintage attributes and updated them for the present day.

Of greatest importance, both the Type 20 and Type XX are powered by new self-winding movements that took four years for Breguet to develop. This explains the expansion of case size—as the Type 20 and its Calibre 7281 movement, as well as the Type XX and its Calibre 728 movement, incorporate a column wheel and vertical clutch. Further, a highly durable silicon balance spring and an inverted in-line lever escapement with silicon horns have been utilized in both for magnetic resistance. It’s through these advancements that Breguet reinforces their reputation as a pioneering watch manufacture.

These new movements were designed to power a flyback chronograph function—which allows a wearer to reset the sweeping timer function with the push of one button (rather than having to press a pusher to make it stop, and then pressing it again to reset). This watch complication is coveted by pilots and was an original requirement for the Type 20 in the ’50s.  Both new timepieces feature an exposed caseback that acts as a window into their  movements. Visible through this exhibition feature, a DLC-coated oscillating weight and column wheel offer contrasting visual texture—as does the meticulous hand-finishing on other internal components.

Of the two introductions, the Type 20 is our preference. From the mint-colored luminescence atop the black dial (with galvanic treatment) to the “big eyes” design of the side by side subdials, it manages to be both intriguing and assertive, balanced and bold.

When the Type 20 was initially introduced in the ’50s, Breguet was uniquely positioned to develop a flyback pilot chronograph—having deeply understood the need of aviators. During a tour of the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace du Bourget in Paris, hours in advance of our hands-on time with the new Type 20 and Type XX, journalists were guided through the Breguet family’s interwoven history of horology and aviation—from Louis Breguet’s aircraft development organization founded in 1911, Société des Ateliers d’Aviation Louis Bréguet, to the 55,000 planes it would develop during wartime efforts in Europe. It is the spirit of this heritage that imbues the updates to these two new models with something informed and extraordinary.

Images courtesy of Breguet

Glowing golden in the late September sunlight, tall prairie grass quivers in the breeze beyond the picture window of the Olivier Music Barn at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana. The barn, an acoustically engineered performing arts center, welcomes an annual array of diverse international talent—from bombastic string quartets to mesmerizing classical pianists. Outside this intimate facility, 12,500 rolling acres cushion monumental, perception-changing sculptures, a charming indoor-outdoor restaurant and an open-air amphitheater. Tippet Rise is often likened to New York State’s beloved Storm King Art Center, but the sprawling Montana site happens to also be a working sheep and cattle ranch—and honestly something entirely unto itself.

The synergy of musical performance, sculpture and natural landscape at Tippet Rise comprise the vision of husband and wife founders, Peter and Cathy Halstead. The former is a musician and poet while the latter is a fine artist; both have an expansive knowledge of music and literature, and speak with poetic enthusiasm. Together, they began with a quest for land to house an idea that had long been percolating. They’d considered locations in Colorado, California and even Hawaii. “We’d seen some places that were very nice,” Cathy explains, “but nothing that made your heart patter.”

Familiar with the town of Red Lodge, not far from Fishtail, Peter explains, “I woke up and said to Cathy, ‘We shouldn’t do anything until we’ve seen Montana.'” Cathy continues, “This was 2009 and within a week Peter was in Montana, driving to every large ranch that was for sale near the mountains.” Nothing felt right until he arrived to the plot that would become Tippet Rise. It was dressed in a pensive fog and he couldn’t stop taking pictures. He called Cathy and she arrived the next day.

“Honestly, I could feel the land in my cells. It was almost like an electric sensation. I was in love immediately,” Cathy says. “More than any thought, it was more like a physical feeling.” Peter attributes this to some of the immediate sensory factors, from the scent of sage (which reminded him of Nantucket and the Scottish Highlands) to the sounds that radiated around him. These are evident upon arrival to visitors today.

In many way, this sensory stimulation provides the perfect nest for a musical hall. “If you have earth like this, without any trees on it, and you have this big sky where the clouds imitate the lands, you have a kind of magnetism. There’s a parallelism that very much reminds me of the music of the spheres,” Peter says of the concept, routed in philosophy, that the tones of celestial bodies align in patterns of proportion.

“What is music but frequency?” Peter asks. “It’s the basis of all natural algorithms. It’s science but it’s also art. It is something that [sculptor] Mark Di Suvero [who has work at Tipper Rise] always believed. Why don’t we use art to measure what we do? Why do we just use science?” Peter uses music to explain, “There was a time when Bach lived, when a fugue was a self-fulfilling prophecy. It started in one place. It ended in the same place. It created itself out of nothing—and yet it became as vast as a cathedral. While it was being composed or being played, it was everything. It was the universe.”

“In a sense, Tippet Rise is an experiment,” Cathy adds. “It was the chance for us to bring together all of our passions—all of the experiences that had accumulated within us over our lifetimes that were moving and, I’d say, awe-inspiring.” She references profound concerts she’s attended, as well as her life with a husband who is a pianist, and even visiting Storm King for the first time around 1978 and being the only people there—discovering something that felt like new world. Cathy wanted to know if she and Peter could create something for a new generation of visitors that explored these passions amidst “the sky and the landscape, that beauty.” She continues, “What does it feel like to have the experience of art in the kind of landscape that brings you both outside yourself and deeper into yourself?”

While traversing the 15 miles of trails that feature art, visitor experiences range from delight to wonder, contemplation and self-reflection. Our visit aligned with the recent addition of acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei’s “Iron Tree” (2013), a towering rust-red metal sculpture created by bolting together replicas of branches sold on the streets of China in push carts. It can be perceived of as a meditation on forced unity or a disregard for individuality. The work is in conversation with environmental artist Patrick Dougherty‘s “Daydreams” (2015) and its new addition, “Cursive Takes a Holiday” (2022). Both of these are composed of woven wood found on site. Nearby, Pritzker Prize-winning Burkinabé architect Francis Kéré‘s wooden pavilion, “Xylem” (2019), is functional art at its finest.

Though Ensamble Studio‘s eight-foot-long, 13-foot-tall “Domo” (2016) might be the most sought out artwork on site, selecting a series of highlights from Tippet Rise is almost impossible. Ensamble’s “Inverted Portal” (2016) and “Beartooth Portal” (2015) are no less powerful, each carefully framing a part of the landscape and transporting all who approach.

And di Suvero’s bright red “Proverb” (2002) rises 60 feet. The senses of surprise one feels while touring the trails is integral to the Tippet Rise experience. Peter and Cathy intend to bring more pieces soon, too.

Most artists carefully selected the position of their work. The Halsteads were also cautious not to disrupt the natural landscape with the built environment. They worked with Laura Viklund of Gunnstock Timber Frames on both the Olivier Barn and the nearby Will’s Shed. Inside the former, they also tapped Arup for acoustical engineering after visiting Benjamin Britten’s Snape Maltings in England. “We’d never heard such gorgeous sound,” Peter explains. “It seemed to drift down like rain from the ceiling.”

Peter toured all of the small halls in Europe that Arup had built, to see what they sound like and what their construction values were. Then he went to their sound lab in New York. “They can make a room for you on the computer and you can hear the sound of it. You choose a piece and you hear it played in that room,” Peter says. “You can then adjust the size and shape and, in turn, adjust the sound.” Ultimately, the Olivier Music Barn was designed as a jewel box, in accordance with the Golden Ratio. They added a cupola like the one in Snape Maltings, and a halo for further bounce. The result—when coupled with the concrete floor and the performers playing on the ground rather than an elevated stage—is a welcoming, wondrous atmosphere.

Will’s Shed is a recent addition and features fresh food from Red Lodge’s PREROGATIvE Kitchen. Originally, they would have pop-up dining. “You can’t keep a tent up in Montana,” Cathy says of the change. “It’s too windy. We realized that during our first season when our tent blew away. We said we have to have a place for everybody to be in the shade, where we have delicious food.” The name comes from Peter’s grandfather, a beloved family figure.

Our visit fell in idyllic early fall and Tippet Rise has seasonal programming, with the concert season commencing late summer. According to the Halsteads, there is no bad time to visit. “Tippet Rise has a hundred seasons,” Cathy says. The ideal visit doesn’t correlate to anything in particular, “but it can be more specific, to a day or an hour, rather than a season.” From Stephen Hough conjuring a storm during his performance to the gentle layer of snow in late fall, where “the line between the sky and the earth disappears,” according to Cathy, it’s all about embracing what Montana has to offer.

There’s a generosity to Tippet Rise’s mission to inspire. Artist-in-residence James Florio continues to traverse the grounds, capturing new details and perspectives. Beloved composer John Luther Adams masterfully imagined new work at Tippet Rise. Beyond that, the art center uses social media, YouTube and Spotify in particular to share what’s happened on site. Further, they host a free high-resolution DXD download library on their website and provide performing artists a three-camera recording directly after their showcase. All of this is so those unable to be at Tippet Rise can hear a concert in the same way that people in the audience heard it.

Tippet Rise is a profound example of two people’s devotion to art and music. Both Peter and Cathy are acutely aware of the moment they fell in love with art: he while writing an essay on the Astor Place Cube, she while drawing a photo of a Calder stabile her parents kept on a mirrored coffee table.

“I want people to be in a meadow with one piece that’s all theirs, that they don’t have any competition for,” Peter concludes. “They just bond with that piece and they explore what it means for the land and the sky, and what the sky also means to the piece.” Tippet Rise certainly provides that opportunity.

Images by David Graver

Beyond the glass-paneled garage door that acts as a fair-weather entrance to NowHere, a multipurpose cultural center for Japanese creators based in NYC, two lengthy white walls are dotted with diverse contemporary artworks for Letters, Lights, Travels on the Street (Bokura ga tabi ni deru riyuu), a group exhibit running through 11 September. Curated by Jeffrey Ian Rosen, the co-president of New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) and co-founder of Tokyo’s Misako & Rosen gallery, the exhibition blends the work of emerging and established artists and sets the whimsical and twee opposite and alongside the expressive and psychedelic.

From Ken Kagame’s “Bronze of Poop (Adidas)” (2022) bronze sculpture to Kazuyuki Takezaki and You Nishimura’s “twin boat song #3” (2020) and Nanami Hori’s “Their nice balls” (2022), levity abounds. Pensive, pretty works by Maki Katayama act in discourse with the abstraction of Emi Mizukami. Together—set above the warm hardwood floors, smattering of furniture and cafe station within NowHere—it’s a survey that warrants a visit.

Images by David Graver

Amidst the nostalgic neon lights and shimmering disco balls that currently populate Central Park’s Wollman Rink, Madonna and music industry legend Nile Rodgers donned roller skates to celebrate Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, the pop star’s spectacular new greatest hits remix release. The summertime pop-up venue within the rink, named DiscoOasis, is open to the public through mid-September—and features immersive theatrical elements along with skate rentals.

It was there that Madge mingled with guests who sipped Belvedere Vodka and Perrier cocktails until Rodgers (who produced the iconic 1984 album Like a Virgin, among many other hits) asked Madonna to skate with him and the eager attendees. Listen to Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones online now.

Hero image courtesy of Ricardo Gomes, slideshow images by BFA/Ben Rosser

In 1986, Mercedes-Benz, in anticipation of their 100th year anniversary, tapped Andy Warhol to create art inspired by their vehicles in what would be his final commission before his unexpected passing. The Pop Art icon planned to create 80 works depicting cars that spanned the German automaker’s history, but he was only able to make 49. Now, for the first time in over 30 years, 40 of the original artworks will be on display at LA’s Petersen Automotive Museum in a new exhibit entitled Andy Warhol: Cars—Works from the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection.

On view now through 22 January 2023, the exhibit is a thrilling and rare marriage of not only art and automobiles but also paintings and their inspiration. Surrounded by Warhol’s vibrant 36 screen prints on canvas and 13 drawings, five experimental and iconic cars from the automaker’s legacy suffuse the show. This includes a 1937 W 125 whose eight-cylinder and 637-horsepower engine made it one of the most powerful road racing cars throughout its three decades. Also featured is the unique 1970 C 111-II, an experimental car that uses its highly-aerodynamic fiberglass body and tri-rotor Wankel engine to produce speeds of 200mph. The Formula One 1954 W 196 that was piloted by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, the W 196 model that won two world championships and the car Warhol himself owned (but never drove because he did not have a license), a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, complete the intersectional exhibit.

Images courtesy of Petersen Automotive Museum

In 2019 we were invited by Ferrari to participate in their Tailor Made customization program with the encouragement to expand and explore the use of colors, materials and finishes further than the luxury automaker has ever done before. We had just returned from our CH Japan trip, and as we were still inspired by indigo and traditional Japanese crafts we decided to bring some of the artisans in from our Omakase collaborations to help create our dream car.

The video we share here tells the story of how we transformed our inspirations and passions into a Ferrari Roma unlike any other. We didn’t begin our journey with the intention of creating an Italian-Japanese love story, but we most certainly ended it that way.

The Ferrari Roma Tailor Made, Specially Crafted for COOL HUNTING conveys the nuance of craft we employed and the ease of our partnership with Ferrari. After years in development, we’re so excited to share this project—especially as it makes appearances in the US until it ends up with one lucky owner.

We’ll be sharing stories celebrating the work and contributions of each artisan in the coming weeks.

Hero image courtesy of Ferrari