Words About Things

A new guide book aims to be an eccentric guide to the coolest spots in five of the coolest European cities. We have all read stuffy guide books which haven’t been updated in 20 years which point out areas of historic interest but lack a personal touch. Le Cool (what an awful name) was created to offer an up to date alternative with details of all the best hard-to-find spots and hidden gems.

If you want to find cheap hotels in London or car hire in Barcelona these aren’t the guides for you. But if you want a locals guide to the best record shops, undiscovered pubs and art galleries then Le Cool is the guide for you. The design is adventurous and the tone is light which isn’t something you could say about most guide books.

The London guide is edited by former Suade bassest Mat Osman. He says that the guide is for

“…people who love the city. People who love scooter shops that turn into coffee shops, and flats with aeroplane wings through them, and manga libraries, and doll’s house furniture shops, and bubble-and-squeak stalls, and hairdressers-cum-art galleries-cum-nightclubs, and rollergirls, and so on and so on …”

More info on the Le Cool website.

You may not have heard of the Barcelona Chair but you will defiantly recognize it. As far as chairs go it is one of the most iconic designs of all time (perhaps only beaten by Robin Day’s polypropylene stacking chair). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s design looks modern yet classic, minimal yet decorative if not exactly comfy.

The chair was designed to be shown inside van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion which was created to represent Germany at the 1929 International Exposition. The Pavilion (and the chair) were meant to represent a new image for Germany following the first world war:

“The pavilion for the Universal Exhibition was supposed to represent the new Weimar Germany: democratic, culturally progressive, prospering, and thoroughly pacifist; a self-portrait through architecture.”

Claire Zimmerman in ‘Mies Van der Rohe’ published by Taschen

This quote could also be describing the chair (although it seems unlikely that we would ever consider a chair aggressive like we might a building). The design had the desired effect and remains popular to this day. Although it was originally Ivory coloured most examples feature black upholstery. Barcelona sofas are also a popular item of furniture in the homes of design fans.