Monitor: The Futurists
What's the Idea?
Words: Holly Willis
Photo: Jan Hilmer
There's a great episode of Seinfeld in which George figures out a way to combine eating, TV watching and sex -- pure bliss! TKNY, a New York-based "idea lab" founded by Kiho Hin (center) with partners Joakin Hannerz (left) and Yoshimi Matsuo (right), hopes to achieve a similar ecstatic synergy by offering customers a combined restaurant, design gallery, party space and store, where after a yummy drink and delectable meal you can explore the latest advances in technology and design. "I think we're creating something unique," says the animated Hin, who counts among his descriptors inventor, software engineer and computer programmer. TKNY opened in May and has hosted a show of new tech toys called "Compact-Impact," featuring, among other things, an electric bicycle, an Earth-shaped watch and the cool new Sharp AV-1. Hin is also working on NetMeetSreet, which promises to merge outdoor advertising and the Web so that retail locations, using large format projectors, can lure buyers with dazzling images. And if all that's not enough, TKNY will also soon have the ability to link New York City and Shibuya with video conferencing boxes. "We'll have ten video telephones between these two points, so you can come there and talk to someone across the world for free." Now that's bliss.
