Sunday, January 31, 2010

Grahame Fowler

Brit menswear designer Grahame Fowler. Check New York Mag's profile/interview with the scooter-riding designer.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Alaia

Of the variety of surfboards ridden by pre-contact Hawaiians (among them were alaia, olo, kiko'o, and paipo), the alaia was probably the most versatile. They ranged in size from 6' to 12', and were usually made from ulu, koa, or wiliwili. Usually, they were thin (.75"-1") and finless.
Recently, alaias have undergone a resurgence, in large part due to the work of shapers like Tom Wegener, who have basically reverse-engineered the design. For more information on Mr. Wegener's journey, watch the talk he gave at Patagonia's Cardiff Surf Shop (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). For an idea of how the boards work watch this video:
You can also get a pretty good sense of the sliding effect by looking at this picture of
the always stylish Rob Machado:
And here's a photograph of one of the greatest dramatists in history, George Bernard Shaw, not holding his Nobel Prize. (This one's gonna be a huge get for theater historians and dramaturgs. You apologize in advance to the surfers, in case they see a bunch of pasty intellectuals in the lineup trying to tap into the Shavian stoke.)

Friday, January 29, 2010

Best Made Co.

This is real, people. This is really happening.
Best Made Axes. These are real axes. Apparently, they are the best made axes. (Definitely the best made axes with a the name of a virtue branded on the handle.) Look for them at Partners & Spade.
Best Made packaging.
Best Made "Axe Art."
Swinging an axe called "Compassion." Nice stroke. Better title for a Tennessee Williams play.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Partners & Spade


“Partners & Spade, established in 2008 by Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti, is a storefront and studio on Great Jones Street off the Bowery in lower Manhattan. The studio produces films, books, apparel and conceptual products as well as consults on marketing and branding projects for select clients. The shop, open on weekends to the public, showcases a transitional and continuous group show of artwork, collections, found objects, and ideas generated by Spade and Sperduti as well as a changing cast of collaborators.”

Delicious. You want more. Read this tasty piece from Interview Magazine by Glenn O'Brien.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The East Building of the National Gallery of Art

In 1968, after visiting the Everson Museum, Paul Mellon, the chief benefactor, and J. Carter Brown, the director of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., contracted I.M. Pei to design a second building of the National Gallery. Mellon felt that the architect had a “philosophical mean.” “It’s not a large building,” he later said of the Everson, “but it has majesty. Visitors understand they’re in a special place.” Mellon explicitly stated that he wanted “a building to house art that would be a work of art in itself."

Pei’s East Building, which opened in 1978, stands on the trapezoidal plot of land neighboring the neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope and completed in 1941. At the time, it was the last major undeveloped site between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Mall. Pei exploited the awkward location by dividing the trapezoid into two triangles--each a separate entity, one for exhibitions, the other for the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (C.A.S.V.A.).

You believe it to be a monumental achievement in the history of modern architecture. It is a bold expression of artistic ability and architectural propensity. Your eye cannot resist the building’s slicing, dramatic angularity and the steadfast solidity of its massive, geometric forms. Pei’s prominent role in the dawn of the age of architectural minimalism was largely the result of works like the East Building.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Everson Museum of Art

I.M. Pei designed the Everson Museum of Art, which was constructed between 1965 and 1968 in Syracuse, New York. It exemplifies the beginning of Pei's stylistic maturation as a museum architect. Intensely suggestive of a work of sculpture, it can be said that the exterior of the Everson is too heavy-handed in its adherence to the minimalist aesthetic. It is essentially four blocks of reinforced concrete cantilevered out from a central core, and “arranged in a plan rather like the wings of a pinwheel.”[1] Despite the bunkerish exterior appearance (which extends a stoic, almost cold welcome), the interior space has a heightened air of sculptured form in its use of the interplay of solids and voids.[2] A spiral staircase dominates the central sculpture court by disrupting the rectangular symmetry with the welcomed use of curvilinear line. The stairway, along with the balconies and catwalks, is an integral part of the interior plan, inviting the visitor to explore the galleries while dictating his direction.

The Everson Museum elucidates Pei’s statement that “to be complete [as an architect], one has to make the most out of the two realms [of technology and aesthetics].”[3] Technologically, Pei’s buildings are meticulously crafted, but it is his aesthetics that have generated the most criticism. Pei’s architecture follows many of the minimalistic ideas exhibited in the painting and sculpture of the 1960’s. Typically, minimalism in painting, sculpture, and architecture avoids “the virtual qualities of illusionism and conforms to the holistic, or nonrelational, form...to make a unified total impression that negates all ambiguity.”[4] The paintings of Frank Stella, Robert Ryman, and Dorthea Rockburne, as well as the sculptures of Donald Judd, are all exemplary of the type of minimalist aesthetic that is visible in Pei’s architecture.

[1] Carter Wiseman, I.M. Pei: A Profile In American Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990), p.161.

[2] G.E. Kidder Smith, A Pictorial History of Architecture in America (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1976), p.254.

[3] “I.M. Pei: A Feeling for Technology and Art,” Technology Review, 98 (1995), 62.

[4] Sam Hunter and John Jacobus, Modern Art, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992), p.322.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Not A Crime

A.P.C. x Supreme.
Jerry Hsu is naturally goofy-foot. Keep that in mind.
Michael Sieben x Adidas Superskate Vulcan.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Profiles in Dancehall: Stephen "Di Genius" McGregor

This is the hottest producer in Jamaica, and he just turned 20 years of age. There's a reason he's called "Di Genius." The son of reggae stalwart Freddie McGregor, Stephen was finding his way into his dad's studio as a wee tot, and by the age of five had recorded his first song, "School House Rule." By the time he turned seven, he had taught himself to play keyboards, guitar, bass, and violin; now, it seems like there's not many instruments he doesn't play. His riddims are broiling, with the biggest names in dancehall clamoring to get a piece. It's his world, really.

For a sampling of Di Genius' riddims, or to find out what the proverbial time is with Jamaican dancehall, you know you can always pick up what DJ Hawaiian Lion is putting down on "Dancehall Vybz" on KTUH, Thursday nights, 9pm-midnight HST.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Valextra

No. Stop it.
You simply cannot bring yourself to hand something this beautiful over to an airline. Valextra is making these pieces--the Apple computers of leather goods.
Stop it, Valextra, with your space-alien superstyle and your Next Generation name. The people of Earth aren't ready.
Left: "Avietta" grained leather overnight bag with wheels, pergamena white. Right: Grained leather carry-on with wheels, pergamena white.

"Grip spring" grained leather money clip wallet, pergamena white.
What God's desk looks like. No words in the book because S/He's all-knowing.
Grained leather cufflink, red.
Soft leather "Carita" bag, sand.