The essence of cool

Everybody knows what it feels like to fall in love with a product. A car, a hat, a pair of shoes, even a house can possess a quality we can perceive but hardly name. For that we have reserved words like 'awesome', 'wicked', 'chill', 'great' and perhaps the one most used is 'COOL'. An iPad is a COOL gadget, an Aston Martin is a COOL car, my grandmother owns a COOL grand piano, and Lady Gaga is UBERCOOL. Cool equals or represents enthusiasm for something or somebody. Like when you taste good food or hear great music, it stirs your inner self. It hits a spot. Coolness evokes desire. Desire to own that piece of cool, to add it to yourself, to express yourself to others as it completes you. The things we own reflect who we are. How do designers and architects capture the essence of cool in their work? How do they deal with coolness in their work or profession? What tools and skills do they use to get a grip on this phenomenon? We decided to ask. As a result this book came to life. In it you find contributions from famous architects and industrial designers from all over the world. We asked each of them to contribute 4 pages to this book without giving them any restrictions. As a result, this book is as much about the designers as it is about us, consumers, who we are, our culture, our world.