Nooka

Nooka
Privately held
Industry Luxury goods
Fate Closed August 2016
Founded 2004
Founder Matthew Waldman
Headquarters New York City, United States
Number of locations
 Worldwide boutiques
Products Wristwatches, fashion accessories
Website www.nooka.com

Nooka is an American company that designs, licenses, and produces lifestyle products primarily focused on the intersection of design and technology. The company was founded by designer Matthew Waldman in December 2005. Based in New York City, it also has a foreign corporate office in Tokyo and sales offices throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.

History

Nooka was initially known for its line of timepieces, inspired by Waldman’s desire to create a “universal language” that is intuitive and does not require instruction basic skills such as telling time. In contrast with a traditional analog clock whose data can be acquired through reading the position of clock hands on a dial to express time data, the Nooka presented a display of readouts of bars, lines and dots representing a visual progression of time.[1]

Nooka’s first timepiece had a design commissioned by global watch brand and manufacturer Seiko Holdings Corporation. Since then, Nooka expanded its line of products under the Mindstyle brand focusing on design for accessories, practical lifestyle products, footwear, bags and knapsacks, and a unisex fragrance.

Nooka has earned recognition and awards in multidisciplinary areas including fashion, graphic design, product design and sustainability. In 2010 the Zoo series and Zot series were inducted into the JIDA (Japan Industrial Designers' Association) Design Museum as part of the Vol. 12 Selection.[2] For their environmentally conscious "Origami Paper Pack" package design the company received 1st place garnering recognition for the 2012 Dieline Package Design Awards in the 'Books, Office & Art' category.[3]

Products

The first time pieces ever designed and successfully manufactured were the Zoo and Zot series of timepieces.[4] Watch and accessory designs are the culmination of years of exchange and research with artists, designers, engineers, futurists, technologists and business leaders. The company expanded into footwear and apparel, bags, belts, a specially formulated unisex fragrance, figurines, and wallets. Plans for future products include audio equipment, smart devices and connective devices, including wearable and fashion technology.

Design collaborations

Nooka watches are not custom made. However, to create collectable timepieces, Nooka has teamed up with a variety of companies and artist including W Hotels, Nickelodeon, Hennessy Black, MTV, KidRobot, John Fluevog and Sanrio's Hello Kitty. The most recent collaboration with designer Karim Rashid resulted in Nooka's first circular design, the Yogurt.[5] In 2010 Nooka and Silicone Zone teamed-up to create an eco-friendly watch packaging, the "siliconezone nooka gem box", inspired by the Nooka gem-shaped logo.[6] Made out of food-grade silicone, the package is microwavable/dishwasher safe and can be used for cooking or as a container. In 2012 Nooka teamed up with Synth Records to launch Noozik, a music compilation of 13 original tracks from exciting up-and-coming artists.[7] Additionally, during 2012 Nooka, in collaboration with graniph, partnered with ten artist to create custom NOOKANOOKA figures which debuted at the graniph Harajuku gallery for the NOOKANOOKAx10 Exhibition.[8] Also in 2012, they launched a footwear collection with Fila which debuted exclusively for the Chinese market.[9]

Corporate sponsorships

After partnering with Red Bull during their Red Bull BC One competition in New York City as well as their sponsorship of the Vans Warped Tour, Nooka announced the formation of Team Nooka, freestyle motocross and BMX riders, in 2010[10] as the company's first sponsored team of athletes and entertainers.[4] Initial members were Destin Cantrell and Mike Spinner.[10][4] Nooka also sponsored other events such as the 2010 Summer X-Games, held in Los Angeles.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Mills, Simon (17 June 2009). "Clunky, trashy, nerdy - and cool: the return of the digital watch". www.guardian.co.uk. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  2. ↑ Kurakata, Masayuki. "Series NOOKA ZOO/ NOOKA ZOT series". syncline.jp. Jida Design Museum.
  3. ↑ "The Dieline Awards Winners 2012". thedieline.com. June 25, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Motorcycle Advice USA (July 30, 2010). "Nooka Watch Company announce's [sic] the creation of Team Nooka". BikeAdviceUSA.com. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Yogurt Blackberry". nooka.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Nooka SiliconeZone". redboxinnovation.com. RedBox Innovation. October 27, 2010. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Noozik". nooka.com.
  8. ↑ "NOOKANOOKAx10". graniph.com. 2012.
  9. ↑ "Fila X Nooka". nooka.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 "The Nooka Team". nooka.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
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