Arrive Magazine - November/December, 2007

First Class
“We’re sort of
the Pop and
Pop story.”

GOOD
VIBRATIONS

Listen up, shavers. While you’ve been scraping off unwanted hair the old-fashioned way, the German engineers at Braun have been hard at work. Their latest creation is the Pulsonic, an electric shaver that uses microvibrations ( 10,000 per minute) to expose even flat whiskers to a Teutonically efficient system of foils and flexing blades.

The Pulsonic looks after itself with a docking station that automatically cleans, lubricates and dries the shaver between uses. And the unit’s sleek design goes more than skin deep. The Pulsonic was awarded a commendation from the Arthritis Foundation for its ergonomic ease of use.

For information, including research video (taken from inside the shaver, no less), visit braun.com.

Taavo Somer Designer/Restaurateur

Block for block, Manhattan will never suffer a shortage of hot new restaurants or the loyal hipsters who frequent them. So when architect Taavo Somer decided to switch his livelihood to that of restaurateur, the opening might have barely registered on the insider circuit’s radar.

But it did.

After two years, Freemans Restaurant is still one of the trickiest tables to score in town. Situated at the end of a clandestine Lower East Side alley, mimicking an Old World speakeasy complete with taxidermy and rough-hewn banquettes, the restaurant has garnered a sort of anti-establishment cool, serving hearty mid-century American cooking.

Somer’s distinctive affinity for the vintage, sharp and gentlemanly has

extended down the block to his menswear boutique Freemans Sporting Club, which is home to his crisp line of suits and sportswear as well as a full-service vintage barbershop.

“We’re sort of the Pop and Pop story,” says Somer of him and business partner William Tigertt and their sudden entrepreneurial growth. As if the bearded Pennsylvania-native weren’t busy enough manning an entire block’s worth of taste-making, he was recently tapped to design the restaurant Gemma in the trés trendy Bowery Hotel, and he just launched a new denim collection this fall. Future arbiters of style—take note. —CHRISTENE BARBERICH