Best of CH 2011: Moments
Author: Josh Rubin
Looking back at the photographs that captured some of our greatest experiences this year

Since 2003 Cool Hunting has been about finding and sharing stories of creativity and innovation from a broad range of categories. Looking back on our photos from the year I feel very fortunate that we have had so many incredible experiences. What follows is a photographic year-in-review, highlighting some of my favorite shots.

January 2011, Burlington, VT. Finally got to meet and interview the man who created an industry, Jake Burton. More Burton

January 2011, New York, NY. Sat down with the hailed portrait photographer, Albert Watson, and even got to take his portrait. Albert Watson for The Macallan

February 2011, Iznik, Turkey. Learned the centuries-old secret of Turkey's Iznik ceramics. Cool Hunting Video Presents: Iznik Tiles

February 2011, Long Beach, CA. Saw the unveiling of JR's Inside Out Project at TED and got to use his oversized photo booth. Inside Out

March 2011, Near Reykjavic, Iceland. Made friends with this Icelandic horse. Nature-Inspired Accessories

May 2011, New York, NY. Witnessed Olek's brilliant crocheted bodysuits at the Festival of Ideas in NYC.

May 2011, Santa Fe, NM. Moved by Colette Hosmer's ancient modern Japanese sculpture.

June 2011, Los Angeles, CA. Created the Gap's Fall ad campaign focused around their denim design studio in downtown LA. The Pico Creative Loft

June 2011, Halewood, England. Visited the assembly line for the Range Rover Evoque to learn how design gets built. Cool Hunting Video Presents: Making the Evoque

June 2011, New York, NY. Met Scott Morrison and took our denim lust to all new levels.3x1

June 2011, Crewe, England. Learned the truly bespoke nature of creating a Bentley motorcar. Cool Hunting Video Presents: Bentley

July 2011, France. Followed the journey of the Grey Goose wheat all over France to learn how their vodka is made.

July 2011, Maranello, Italy. Ferrari's V8 assembly line is as impressive as the cars it creates. Ferrari Campus Visit

August 2011, Pebble Beach, CA. Witnessed the epitome of passion and dedication among the car owners presenting their vehicles at the Concours D'Elegance. Vintage Automobiles at Pebble Beach 2011

August 2011, Salinas, CA. Watched vintage Jaguar X-Types race on the Laguna Seca Speedway. Vintage Automobiles at Pebble Beach 2011

August 2011, Flushing, NY. Joined Olympus for a photo safari at the US Open and got to take pictures from all the best spots in the stadium. Olympus E-P3

September 2011, Los Angeles, CA. Attended the unveiling of the most anticipated shoe in history, the Nike Mag. Nike Mag

September 2011, Romeo, MI. Spent a day on Aston Martin's Performance Driving Course pushing a Rapide and Vantage V12 to their limits. Aston Martin Performance Driving Course

November 2011, Le Marche, Italy. Harvested and pressed olives to make oil with Nudo during a full immersion of the region's community and culture. Le Marche

November 2011, Mexico City, Mexico. When celebrated architect Luis Barragán designed a house for you he spec'd everything, including the pots.

November 2011, Paris, France. Met and interviewed the fashion industry icon, Karl Lagerfeld. CH Capsule Video: Printemps Holiday Windows by Karl Lagerfeld

November 2011, Carlsbad, CA. Discovered the truest form of luxury travel on the road and in the air with Mercedes Benz. Four Innovations in the 2012 Mercedes Benz SL

December 2011, Miami Beach, FL. Bathed in copious amounts of art during Art Basel and the surrounding fairs. Art + Design in Miami: Tricks On The Eye

December 2011, Mutianyu, China. Jeralyn Gerber, co-founder of FathomAway.com, gets in the noodle pulling groove at The Schoolhouse, near China's Great Wall.

December 2011, Hong Kong. Discovered Hong Kong's Fungus Workshop, a small classroom and atelier that offers leather-working classes and sells items that people have made there.

December 2011, Hong Kong. This cured meat vendor in the Wan Chai market, Hong Kong was very friendly and happy to speak about her products.

Libyan rebels urge west to assassinate Gaddafi
Author: Chris McGreal

Appeal to be made as G8 foreign ministers consider whether to back French and British calls for a no-fly zone over Libya

Libya's revolutionary leadership is pressing western powers to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi and launch military strikes against his forces to protect rebel-held cities from the threat of bloody assault.

Mustafa Gheriani, spokesman for the revolutionary national council in its stronghold of Benghazi, said the appeal was to be made by a delegation meeting the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in Paris on Monday, as G8 foreign ministers gathered there to consider whether to back French and British calls for a no-fly zone over Libya.

"We are telling the west we want a no-fly zone, we want tactical strikes against those tanks and rockets that are being used against us and we want a strike against Gaddafi's compound," said Gheriani. "This is the message from our delegation in Europe."

Asked if that meant that the revolutionary council wanted the west to assassinate Gaddafi, Gheriani replied: "Why not? If he dies, nobody will shed a tear."

But with diplomatic wrangling focused on the issue of the no-fly zone, there appeared to be little immediate prospect of a foreign military assault on Gaddafi's forces, let alone an air strike against the Libyan dictator.

The Libyan revolutionary leadership made the appeal as Gaddafi's airforce bombed Ajdarbia, a town of 135,000 people that is the last major obstacle for his forces before Benghazi, the seat of the revolutionary council.

Those attacks strengthened the hand of France and Britain in pressing for intervention. Paris said it wants to see a no-fly zone "as fast as possible". The move is backed by the Arab League, which may ease the way to agreement at the UN security council. France and Britain are also expected to push the move at a Nato meeting on Tuesday.

But the rebels' appeal is also a recognition that while a no-fly zone would provide a boost to them, their military defeats of recent days have largely been under an onslaught of rockets and shells, and air strikes have been relatively peripheral.

A no-fly zone alone may not be enough to prevent the continued advance of Gaddafi's forces toward Benghazi, the revolutionaries' de facto capital.

So far no western nation has explicitly supported attacks on Gaddafi's forces separate from enforcing a no-fly zone. The issue is complicated by overwhelming opposition even among the insurgents to foreign forces becoming involved on the ground, in large part because of strong views about the consequences of the invasion of Iraq.

The talks are being closely watched in Benghazi and other areas under the control of the revolutionaries where Libyans are increasingly concerned at the direction of the conflict and the west's failure, so far at least, to follow through on calls for Gaddafi to go with action in support of the rebellion.

A large French flag hangs on the front of the courthouse used as the revolutionary council's headquarters after Paris recognised the rebel leadership, and the tricolour is often seen on the streets of Benghazi. But Libyans are also increasingly vocal in their criticism of Washington in particular for what is seen as a failure to back up rhetoric against the regime.

However, Gheriani said that if the west failed to offer practical help to the revolutionaries to free themselves from Gaddafi's rule it risked frustrated Libyans turning to religious extremists.

"The west is missing the point. The revolution was started because people were feeling despair from poverty, from oppression. Their last hope was freedom. If the west takes too long – where people say it's too little, too late – then people become a target for extremists who say the west doesn't care about them," he said.

"Most people in this country are moderates and extremists have not been able to penetrate them. But if they get to the point of disillusionment with the west there will be no going back."

Although the revolutionary leadership is reluctant to concede that it is enduring significant military setbacks, Gaddafi's forces have driven them from two small towns and back about 150 miles to the edge of Ajdarbia. On Sunday the rebel army fled in the face of a barrage of rockets and shells as Tripoli's army took Brega, a day after seizing the strategic oil centre of Ras Lanuf, 90 miles away.

The rebels' military leader, Abdel Fattah Younis, Gaddafi's former interior minister, has promised a vigorous defence of Ajdarbia to block the government's advance on Benghazi, 90 miles along the coastal road.

Younis has said he believes Gadaffi's supply lines are overstretched and his forces demoralised. He also said that street fighting in a town will be a more even contest than facing rocket barrages in largely open desert. But the defences on display on Monday, which included a handful of tanks and armoured vehicles and small artillery guns, did not look strong.

The revolutionaries claimed to be back in Brega, but provided no evidence and prevented reporters from travelling towards the town.

On Monday Gaddafi's forces also attacked Zuwara, a town of 40,000 people about 60 miles west of Tripoli and near the Tunisian border. Residents described shelling of their neighbourhoods and said armoured vehicles were in the heart of the town.

"I can see the tanks from where I am now and they are around 500 metres from the centre of Zuwara," Tarek Abdullah told Reuters by telephone. "There are still clashes but I think soon the whole town will fall into their hands."

But the pressure appeared to be off the only major city in the west still held by the rebels, Misrata, 130 miles east of the capital. Tripoli's assault apparently stalled amid claims of a mutiny within the ranks of the besieging government forces.

• Libya
• Muammar Gaddafi
• Middle East
• Protest
• Arab and Middle East protests