It sounds like a bad idea—I think I’d either end up with splinters or fall down a staircase and impale myself—but I have to admit there’s an allure to a wooden necktie.
David and Chris are two guys from San Francisco who started up wooden tie company Wood Thumb. And they make them out of reclaimed lumber, so it’s conceivable you could have a necktie made out of a railroad tie. They come in two sizes, and either will run you 34 bucks. I just wish the bottoms weren’t so pointy.
Swiss businessman Peter Blum and his wife, Linda, loved Swatch watches. Their passion for the colorful plastic timepieces (which are credited with saving a Swiss watch industry decimated by the “Quartz crisis” of the 1970s and early 1980s) led them to amass a historic collection of 4,350 Swatches, give or take an interchangeable Pop Swatch face or two, and on November 24, Phillips de Pury & Company will auction the entire collection as a single lot at a special Swatch-a-riffic sale in Hong Kong. Among the thousands of specimens included in the Blums’ softly ticking hoard are a bunch of prototypes, hybrids, and production variants never offered for sale, including a number from the R&D phase that preceded Swatch’s 1983 commercial debut. There’s even an elusive Swatch Puff, the first of 120 such angora fur-rimmed timepieces ever created. And there are artsy Swatches a-plenty, including production models for Swatches created in collaboration with Keith Haring, Mimmo Paladino‘s impish “Oigol Oro,” and a signed set of Swatches featuring the work of Alfred Hofkunst. Meanwhile, Phillips chairman Simon de Pury took matters into his own hands when it came to Swatch art. In the early 1990s, he handed over his substantial Swatch collection to Arman, explains de Pury in his introduction to the auction catalogue. “He melted all of them into Plexiglas, transforming them into a spectacular work of art.”
We’ve already posted up a glut of beautiful music packages this month but feel it’s time for another round up. This time there’s a distinctly vinyl flavour with releases from Massive Attack, Box Codax and Martin Creed, Tom The Lion, and the latest 7″ release on Fred Deakin’s Impotent Fury label…
The Vinyl Factory joined forces with Turner Prize winning artist and musician Martin Creed, and also Box Codax – the band formed by Franz Ferdinand guitarist Nick McCarthy and Manuela Gernedel along with lyricist Alexander Ragnew – to create a limited edition art and music release.
The 12″ white vinyl release has a song by Creed on one side (Where You Go), and a song by Box Codax (Dawning) on the other. The colourful central vinyl labels have been hand-painted by Creed and each of the 100 pressings come in plain white card window sleeves signed by both Creed and McCarthy. It’s music and it’s an original painted artwork so you’ll need £100 to buy one from vfeditions.com.
Also from The Vinyl Factory is Inhale Gold – a 12″ vinyl release containing two new Burial remixes of Massive Attack tracks Four Walls (previously unreleased) and of Paradise Circus, a track from the Heligoland album.
The sleeve is adorned by a hand numbered, gold glitter screenprint designed by MA’s Robert Del Jaja (aka 3D).
The glitter screenprint has a rough, slightly sandpaper-like texture so to prevent the sleeve “doing a Durutti Column” (Durutti Column‘s first album, The Return of the Durutti Column, Factory, 1980 had a sandpaper sleeve) and wrecking the sleeve next to it on your shelves, the release is shipped in a transparent plastic sleeve.
Only 1000 of these releases were pressed at £25 each. I think they might have already sold out on pre-orders – though you can check here: vfeditions.com/product/view/43 and sign up to The Vinyl Factory’s mailing list if you don’t want to miss out on future releases.
The latest release from Fred Deakin’s Impotent Fury label is one in an ongoing series that feature similarly engineered embossed and die-cut card sleeves. Each release is packaged in a different colour package sporting its own unique pattern on the back.
Actually, we featured the video for one of the two tracks, by Frank Eddie, Let Me Be The One You Call On the other week. Here it is again in case you missed it:
Daniel Mason of Something Else is a man obsessed with creating products of high covetability – and this is no exception. Devised, developed, produced and supplied by Mason, this is a special collectors edition slip cased set of artist Tom The Lion‘s two 10″ EP records, released on Theatre Records.
The mock leather, screenprinted slipcase contains two case bound and foilblocked gatefold sleeves which each house two coloured vinyl discs plus a lyric sheet printed on bible paper. The EPs can be bought separately but this package comes in the slipcase pictured above and also houses all the music contained on the vinyl discs on CDs which are included and housed in uncoated coloured card CD wallets. Lion illustration by Konstantinos Gargaletsos.
To find out more about Tom The Lion and this very limited release, visit tomthelion.co.uk.
Dutch Design Week 2011: components for this furniture by Rotterdam designers Minale-Maeda can be downloaded, 3D-printed and assembled locally.
Consumers can download the blueprints for each piece and alter the dimensions to suit.
The required connecting components could be 3D-printed locally and the sheet materials cut to size at a hardware store.
Each piece is designed for simple assembly and to explicitly display its construction.
Minale-Maeda aim to give consumers more control and reduce energy expended in transporting whole items of furniture.
The project is on show at After the Bit-rush: Design in a Post Digital Age curated by Eindhoven cultural institute MU, who also commissioned the Temporary Trees in our earlier story.
Dutch Design Week continues until 30 October. See all our stories about the event in our special category.
Here are some more details from the designers:
Designed specifically to be downloadable in order to reduce environmental issues related to transport, costs of stock keeping and explore collaborative design and distribution, this furniture can be edited in size and materials, is made on location or can be self-made by downloading the blueprints. The concept was to turn the pieces inside out to make construction simple, while brackets and structural details become distinctive and attractive features. The connections are 3d printed to suit various sizes of wood, and the crafting is minimal requiring only cutting to length and drilling.
Style editors and a luggage giant unite in this utilitarian collaboration
When our friends at Selectism got the chance to design a new bag with Tumi, they created a bag suited for their constantly-on-the-move lifestyle. “We travel a lot for our jobs and most of the time it’s short trips,” explain Selectism editors David Fischer and Jeff Carvalho. “Events here, exhibitions there, meetings somewhere else. Packing for those short two day trips is always the trickiest part, because you do not want to check in anything, yet want to be flexible on arrival.” Noting that most bags are designed with a single function in mind, they came up with a design that was sensitive to varied needs.
The all-in-one bag design looks a lot like Tumi’s Alpha Sport Duffel and serves a similar function when flying. It gives the traveler a compact bag for short business trips that has room for a change of clothes and a section with an organizer for a laptop and accessories. Where the Selectism collaboration differs is in the detachable front and side pockets which can be converted into separate bags. While the main clothing compartment stays in the hotel, you can take a slim business brief and a tote along with you to carry the day’s necessities. The two spacious totes allow you to carry back more items than you brought, an added bonus for shoppers and convention-goers alike.
Functionality is everything when you’re on the road. Unobtrusive and compact, the bag does exactly what a good bag should: It puts the needs of the user first. Fischer added “Rather than getting inspired by other bags, we looked closely at what the bag needs to be able to do, what it needs to carry, how it should function. We analyzed our personal travel needs, which we believe are the same for many others out there, with only very few bags matching those needs.”
When asked about how he approached working with Tumi, Carvalho replied, “We tried to stay true to the brand, while offering something new to the Tumi client. Something a little younger, more refreshing, while being classic and timeless. We really wanted to make sure that a long time Tumi client can get excited, just as much as somebody who might be new to the brand.” Selectism’s sharp details include red leather accents, a chestnut-and-black striped interior, subtle Selectism logo badges and gunmetal zipper tags. The navy body and brown leather handle with bronze straps are subtle sartorial twists on the Tumi tradition.
Starting today the Tumi + Selectism travel bag is available exclusively at Park and Bond for $495.
Découverte du prochain film Shame réalisé par Steve McQueen. Le film aborde de manière frontale la question de l’addiction sexuelle par un trentenaire new-yorkais. Projeté en compétition officielle lors du festival du film de Venise. Prévu dans les salles le 7 décembre.
Dossier37’s Olivier Dupon explores the handmade revolution in a new book on craft
A long time buyer, retailer and blogger of artisanal products, Olivier Dupon has turned to print, documenting some of the most talented individuals and mesmerizing products of the handcraft movement. His book “The New Artisans” takes readers into the studios of influential craftsmen as they shape one-of-a-kind items that reflect their personal style. The majority of the book showcases the artisans and their studios (including CH favorite Esque), with the latter part organized as a directory in which products are arranged by type for catalog viewing.
While the artists often draw inspiration from their region, reviving forms like “Danish porcelain glazing, Norwegian birchwood carving or Portuguese letterpressing,” Dupon insists that all of the artisans “have a creative force that is ingenious and knows no limits.” Dupon sees an intricate connection between the artisans and their customers, explaining that clients “wish to acquire products that have meaning, a singularity and a charge of human work.”
The book serves well as both a collectible and as a reference guide, featuring a current crop of designers whose products are available online. The book is a must-have for arts-and-crafts types looking for inspiration or those just interested in learning about contemporary handmade production.
Calling all street style snappers! Get your cameras out because this costume is sure make the Sunday Style Section cut. Contributing Vogue editor by day and head turner by night, Anna Dello Russo is one to look out for during fashion week and Halloween night. Wanna put the cherry on top? Go with your BFF dressed as The Sartorialist photographer, Scott Schuman. What you’ll need: A. Grab a pair of show stopping sunglasses like these big blue ones. B. She’s always rocking a short and sparkly mini dress C. Accessories with a pair of colorful chandelier earrings. D. She relays on a fabulous pair of shoes for the perfect pose. E. Anna wears fur all year round. F. You wont go unnoticed wearing her famously acclaimed cherry hat.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Swiss businessman Peter Blum and his wife, Linda, loved Swatch watches. Their passion for the colorful plastic timepieces (which are credited with saving a Swiss watch industry decimated by the “Quartz crisis” of the 1970s and early 1980s) led them to amass a historic collection of 4,350 Swatches, give or take an interchangeable Pop Swatch face or two, and on November 24, Phillips de Pury & Company will auction the entire collection as a single lot at a special 
