Hasta La Ideas

Charity merchandise gets a design boost

Fed up with their positions in finance and real estate, friends Omri Bojko and Jason Sochol embarked on a quest to find something more meaningful to do, and thus created the The Vanity Project (TVP) in 2011. The two Northwestern grads had begun volunteering for non-profit organizations around Chicago after being inspired by Sochol’s mother’s fight against breast cancer, and in the process discovered a pattern among the merchandise created for various fundraising events. “We noticed that the charities’ funds were always being drained into creating the merchandise for their events, especially those T-shirts that are always too boxy and that no one ever wants to wear afterward,” says Bojko. “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if someone could create T-shirts that measured up to these awesome causes?”

“We saw the place for something mutually beneficial where charities could raise money and simultaneously people could support their favorite causes with T-shirts they’d want anyway,” says Bojko. “The Vanity Project is a platform that non-profits can use to do that. We are a non-profit merchandise solution.” Working on a case-by-case basis, TVP has grown by collaborating with charities such as Twist Out Cancer and The Story Pirates.

Each collaboration is tailored to the charities’ individual needs. However, the basic model is that TVP helps charities tweak or redesign their logos and then takes on the cost of buying and printing the shirts, which most non-profits struggle to afford. After the tees have been printed, TVP crew also works with the organization to spread the word, including selling the merchandise through TVP’s store and other retail locations. At the end of every quarter, TVP gives the charity 51% of the profits from their merchandise.

Jenna Benn, founder of Twist Out Cancer, a non-profit that uses social media to bring cancer survivors together, was one of TVP’s first clients. “I had just started Twist Out Cancer and we partnered with The Vanity Project as a way to get our name out at some of the big events we had been planning,” says Benn. “Now that we are more established, we are thinking of designing yoga mats and yoga pants.”

To purchase a T-shirt or to learn more about The Vanity Project, you can go to their website.

Zaha Hadid’s streamlined glass and concrete government building in Montpellier (above) heads up the lastest issue of Dezeen Mail, along with new jobs, competitions, movies and music.

Read Dezeen Mail issue 113 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail

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Our interview with the founder of LA’s new home design and accessories shop

With a style owner Scotti Sitz describes as “modern natural,” the new Los Angeles boutique Garde inhabits a tranquil and airy space stocked with eclectic handmade items.

Summoning her years of experience in fashion and interior design, Stitz filled the richly textured, light-filled shop with merchandise highlighted by carefully selected furnishings like hand-crocheted collars by Nathalie Costes, 2550º Candles and jewelry by Naomi Maslon arranged on tables made by Kristan Cunningham and Scott Jarrell.

We caught up with Sitz to learn more about the store from its opening to the constantly evolving collections she curates.

How would you describe Garde?

We are definitely a gift shop with home accessories. I wanted the opportunity to bring in designers and artists who weren’t necessarily represented here. I can mix my reasonably priced quilts and pillows with maybe a more luxurious cashmere throw. When something has a price point here that is a little bit higher, there is a reason for it. There is a process behind it in terms of the work and the material. Not just for the sake of being a luxury good.

With so many shopping neighborhoods to choose from in Los Angeles, why did you decide to open on Beverly Boulevard?

I used to live in this neighborhood in the Beverly corridor a few years ago and I have watched it evolve. It’s become a destination for high-end vintage furniture, great restaurants and accessories. We looked at this space. It was a dump. The building is from the early 1940s and it had not been touched. The first business here was a bank of operators. It was the pre-411. So if you wanted to know who sold apple pies in Los Angeles between Fairfax and La Brea, these operators would tell you where to go. When we got this space there were the old phone jacks all along this wall. Then 30 years ago an electronic repair shop opened here. There was linoleum and false ceilings. The skylight was boarded up. We gutted the space.

Why the name Garde?

We named the store Garde, keeping the idea of something new and different, and I also like the definition as it applies to “en garde, the stance in fencing to prepare for your match.

What is the philosophy behind the things you include in the store’s collection?

I ask myself, “Would I put it in my house?” “Would I wear that item?” If I have to say no, then it does not belong here. Except for some basics at good price points, everything has to have a story behind it. Everyone I represent has a story to tell. They have a process to tell and a unique and wonderful product. I love a good story.

What is your latest favorite item in the shop?

My new obsession is Christien Meindertsma. She’s from the Netherlands. She is represented by Thomas Eyck. What I love about her is she comes up with a concept for a product design and takes it to an end product. I fell in love with her flax project a couple of years ago. Meindertsma commissioned a farmer to plant the flax seeds. Then she designed her flax collections, the flax ropes she makes into lighting fixtures. I also sell her wool Urchin poufs. If you go on her website you’ll see pictures of the sheep. They are all numbered. I love seeing the photos before and after they have been sheared.

Who are some of the designers that inspired Garde’s style?

I love Vincent Van Duysen pottery. He is a huge inspiration to me in terms of his look and design. The ceramic canisters with a sand-blasted white oak lid. The first time I got them in they weren’t even here for 24 hours. Something like that you have to touch. It has a softness to it that is just beautiful. It’s the same with Sara Paloma‘s pieces. Right now I am sold out of her work, except for one vase. We had a collection in when I first opened that I would literally make everyone touch because it was so exquisite and feels like suede. I also feel that way about the hand-blown glass vessels with cast brass botanical stoppers by Lindsey Adelman.

Tell us about the apparel you have in store right now.

They are from a fashion house in India called Injiri. Everything is hand-done—the beading, the tassels, the lace, the buttons, the embroidery. There is a lot of workmanship that goes into these garments. I like the idea of carrying things that are good basics that can cross over. The scarves can be worn by men or women. The shirts are more of a year-round garment.

Who made the leather bags hanging on the wall?

They are one-of-a-kind. The designer is T Smith Knowles. She’s local. Everything is hand-done, the stitching, the beadings are antique. The workmanship that goes into those bags is just exquisite. They really are unique, all hand-signed and numbered. The leather is the finest and really light-weight. She will even customize the strap for each customer.

Why do you do this?

I think what is so wonderful about this time is that there are so many amazing artists. It is the best time to do something like this. I can showcase my favorite artists and designers and many people who’s work is not represented everywhere else.

Birds’ nests inspired the facade of this Singapore cafe by designers Outofstock, where eggs are served all day.

The bright yellow web of rope matches the colour of seats outside, as well as the handle of the wooden door.

Floorboard offcuts are stacked up to create a bar on the ground floor and other surfaces are picked out in chunky chipboard.

Irregularly shaped lighting fixtures decorate the walls on the upstairs floor, which the architects liken to hatching eggs or peeled potatoes.

This is the second Hatched restaurant that Outofstock have created, following one with egg-shaped holes in the walls from 2010.

See more projects by Outofstock »

Photography is by Kim Jung Eun.

Here’s some more information from Outofstock:

Hatched at Holland Avenue by Outofstock

Following the popularity of the first Hatched restaurant, Singapore and Barcelona based design collective Outofstock was recently commissioned to design a second restaurant at 267 Holland Avenue, Singapore.

Located in a two-storey historical shophouse in Holland Village, the design of this egg-themed, all-day breakfast restaurant is based on the concept of a nest. The intention behind the design was to inject more colour and playful elements into the new restaurant, building upon the warm and cozy barn house atmosphere of the original establishment, also designed by Outofstock.

The nest facade was realized with yellow braided rope woven around a steel frame with laser-cut holes. This steel frame also holds up the glass panels and a floor-sprung rough-sawn timber door.

The restaurant uses mostly original lighting and furniture designed by Outofstock, such as the Naked chair, produced by Bolia and the Biscuit stool and table, produced by Environment.

The bar counter is composed of offcuts from teak wood floorboards. The floorboards were used to compose a herring bone pattern, hence the almost perfect triangular offcuts.

Abstract wall lighting fixtures which could be interpreted as hatching eggs or peeled potatoes act as conversation pieces on the upper floor of the restaurant.

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by Outofstock appeared first on Dezeen.

Put your logo love and your hue I.Q. to the test with Brandseen, a new brand identification game created by students Kevin Xu, Cathy Lee, and Ari Weinstein (pictured) at last month’s Greylock Hackfest in San Francisco. It sounds simple enough: Select the color you associate with each iconic logo and then click “Compare” to see how close, on a scale of 1-100, the shade you chose is to the actual one. At the end, you’ll learn how your ability to pinpoint Coca-Cola red—and the signature hues of eight other megabrands—stacks up with that of others (we hear the score to beat is an impressive 96% average accuracy). Be sure to bookmark Brandseen for future visits, as the developers plan to add multicolor logo challenges in the months to come.

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