Nooka

Nooka
Privately held
Industry Luxury goods
Founded 2004
Founder Matthew Waldman
Headquarters NYC, USA
Number of locations
 Worldwide boutiques
Products Wristwatches, Accessories
Website www.nooka.com

Company Profile

Nooka, Inc., is an American company founded by designer Matthew Waldman that designs, licenses, and produces lifestyle products primarily focused on the intersection of design and technology. Founded in December 2005 and based in New York City, Nooka has offices worldwide, including a foreign corporate office located in Tokyo and sales offices in major commercial and retail markets throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.

History

Nooka is prominently known for its line of unique patented timepieces, inspired by Mr. 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.

Nooka’s foray into the timepiece market first materialized with a design commissioned by global watch brand and manufacturer,[1] a company known for the invention of the world's first commercially available quartz wristwatch. Since then, Nooka has expanded its line of products under the Mindstyle® brand focusing on design for innovative accessories, practical lifestyle products, footwear, bags and knapsacks, and a unisex fragrance. Current Nooka projects in the works include cloud-based audio devices, connected smart devices and a line of “wearable” products..

For Waldman the concept of Nooka began in London - "My inspiration was a memory. I was sitting in a hotel in London waiting for a client when i noticed a large clock on the wall. It somehow reminded me of the clock on the wall in first grade. This brought back the memory of being taught ‘how to tell time’. I then remembered being taught ‘how to tell time’ again in the fifth grade when digital clocks became popular. I thought if one has to be taught how to tell time, how intuitive is it really? surely there are other models, once learned, that can be as intuitive as what we are taught. That was my brainstorm. From that thought sprang forth a series of designs I now have patents for, of one which Seiko manufactured."[2]

In 2009, James Gurney, editor of luxury horology magazine QP, stated "the renewed interest in digital watches is largely down to funky, New York-based watchmakers Nooka. Some of its models don't even have digits, just a row of lines and progress bars to denote the time. Tricky to read even when sober."[3]

Since its founding 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.[4] And for their environmentally conscious "Origami Paper Pack" package design the company received 1st place garnering recognition for the 2012 Dieline Awards in the 'Books, Office & Art' category.[5]

Mission

In February 2010, Nooka's Chief Creative Director and CEO published the company's creed, entitled the Nookafesto, a set of core values the company and its designers and collaborators adhere to for all of their designs and products. The Nooka manifesto's purpose is to Create physical manifestations of ideas, Promote universal communication via the form and visual language of fashion and design, and, Bring a techno-progressivist set of expectations to the world of ordinary objects.[6]

Products

The first time pieces ever designed and successfully manufactured were the Zoo and Zot series of timepieces.[7] Current watch and accessory designs are the culmination of years of exchange and research with extraordinary artists, designers, engineers, futurists, technologists and business leaders. The company, while known for its timepieces, has expanded into footwear and apparel, bags, belts, a specially formulated unisex fragrance, figurines, wallets and current plans are in the works for audio, smart devices and connective devices, including "wearables" and fashion technology.

Design Collaborations

Nooka watches are not made to custom order. However, to create unique collectable time-pieces 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 award winning designer Karim Rashid resulted in Nooka's first circular design,[8] the Yogurt. Collaborations are not limited to their watches, in 2010 Nooka and Silicone Zone teamed-up to create a truly eco-friendly watch packaging, the "siliconezone nooka gem box", inspired by the Nooka gem shaped logo.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] Wrapping up 2012, Nooka launched a footwear collection with FILA which debuted exclusively for the Chinese market.[12]

Additional Products

Corporate Sponsorships

In 2010 Team Nooka was officially announced, as the company's first sponsored team of athletes and entertainers. The creation of Team Nooka followed the success of partnering with Red Bull during their Red Bull BC One competition in New York as well as their sponsorship of the Vans Warped Tour.[13] Nooka has also sponsored other events such as the 2010 Summer [X-Games] in Los Angeles.

Nooka currently sponsors BMX riders Mike Spinner, Steve McCann, Edwin De La Rosa and Morgan Wade. Motocross driver Ryan Tuerck, Lacrosse player Paul Rabil and Snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington.

References

  1. ↑ Seiko Holdings Corporation
  2. ↑ Wristfashion:Interview
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Kurakata, Masayuki. "Series NOOKA ZOO/ NOOKA ZOT series".
  5. ↑ The Dieline Awards Winners 2012
  6. ↑ Nooka.com:Nookafesto
  7. ↑ Bike Advice USA
  8. ↑ NOOKA:YOGURT
  9. ↑ RedBox Innovation
  10. ↑ Nooka : Noozik
  11. ↑ graniph : NOOKANOOKAx10
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Nooka.com

External links