Hollywood noir: Survival kit introduced with cinematic spectacle

Los Angeles – In a city fond of imagining its own destruction by drought, earthquake and super-volcano, concept store Just One Eye has created a chic survival kit designed to help its users ride out emergencies in style.

Just One Eye released its Ulysses Tier 1 Disaster Relief Kit atop the roof of an Art Deco building in Hollywood that once housed the headquarters of the Howard Hughes film empire. The event, staged by production company Bureau Betak, featured a live orchestra that played Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries as helicopters cast spotlights on the assembled guests, and stuntmen dressed as Navy SEALs danced while suspended from the walls. Guests nibbled on snacks delivered in ration-style packaging.

The kit itself, priced at £8,245 (€10,775, $12,500), contains items grouped into categories such as hydration, nutrition, communication and illumination. The accompanying instructions owe something to the paranoid kitsch of the Worst-Case Scenario survival handbooks that became popular a decade ago.

While Just One Eye says the kit is ‘designed to meet the needs of people in a disaster situation or time of emergency’, a legal disclaimer says the company is nonetheless ‘not responsible for any injury, death or consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.’

For more on Just One Eye, read our Los Angeles Safari.