Several remarkable typefaces were released in 2019, but none of them made me want to roller-skate as much as PSTL’s Pika Ultra, which evokes the rhythm of ’70s bold lettering but avoids the popular trend of bottom-heavy psychedelic fonts. For me, the parallel here lies more in the wavelike cadence of the letterforms and bold silhouettes of words and letter combinations. Caneso has found an incredibly delightful balance between funky and uniform.
Drawing inspiration from Luke Skywalker’s Death Star-destroying space flight in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, where Darth Vader was in hot pursuit, Citizen’s Trench Run digital wristwatch will please fans with its referential design. Further, the watch (which features dual time, an alarm and the temperature) is built within a rectangular black stainless steel case that nods to the original Citizen analog-digital watch from the ’80s.
Archives are ambivalent places. They promise access to endless knowledge and information — but retrieving it, as most type designers know, can be difficult.
The FACIT Model opens the gates to a specific archive that has barely been explored until now. It represents meticulous visual research into the ephemera produced between the 1950s and the 1970s by the Swedish typewriter and office machine manufacturer FACIT AB.
Utilizing an upcycled marine shipping container, international design studio Pin-Up Houses has developed “Gaia,” an off-the-grid housing experiment with its own solar panels and wind turbine. The spruce plywood interior softens the visual design of the tiny cabin, which also includes a convertible sofa-bed, as well as stools and a table. Its outdoor terrace can be retracted, using a winch, to increase privacy. Read more about its technical specifications (including insulation and its water-retaining system) at designboom.
Image courtesy of Pin-Up Houses
15 volunteers have emerged from a sunless cave in Southwest France, where they resided for 40 days without clocks or outside contact as part of a study on time. The experiment, referred to as “Deep Time” and conducted by the Human Adaptation Institute, removed natural cues and chronological bearings to see how the participants reorient themselves and relationship to sleep. Volunteer vitals were monitored “by a team of researchers through sensors used for the duration of the experiment. The volunteers even ingested tiny thermometers inside capsules that transmitted body temperatures inside the digestive system, until they were excreted,” according to Vice. Read more about the process and the results there.
Image courtesy of “Deep Time”/Human Adaptation Institute
The first color photo of Mars taken by an aerial vehicle—the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which hovered 17 feet (or 5.2 meters) above the surface—has been published by NASA. In the image, one can see track marks that the Perseverance Mars rover made on the dusty, rocky terrain. The upper right portion of the image reveals a peek of the horizon. While it’s not the first image to come from the Red Planet, it’s a new perspective—and an exciting one. See the full image at NASA.
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
A magenta-bathed amalgamation of childhood memories, artist Levan Mindiashvili’s current installation at Marisa Newman Projects, what color is the Black Sea?, melds together many tactile, multi-sensory moments. Mindiashvili mined a family vacation to the Georgian Black Sea, and all the emotions that accompanied the experience, to populate this time-capsule-like artistic assemblage. The exhibition is alive—from the fur-coat-adorned palm tree to the tangerines dangling beneath the grow lamp. Altogether, it’s a transportive experience and each attribute requires careful consideration (including the iPad playing night-vision footage of a hedgehog). Read more about it at Hyperallergic.
Image courtesy of the artist and Marisa Newman Projects, by Marcie Revens
When New York-based psychedelic drug developer MindMed went public this week, they sought funding to continue work on mental health treatment that looks to LSD (a Schedule 1 drug) as its active ingredient. They’re the second psychedelics company to go down this financial path in the US, with a third not far behind. This news warrants attention because of the lack of legalization for psychedelics across the country and trepidation investors have long felt around LSD—despite medical proof of its benefits—so far (in the US, that is; MindMed already went public in Toronto last year). Read more at Axios.
Image courtesy of MindMed
For Interview, The New Black Vanguard and Young, Gifted and Black, author Antwaun Sargent (an art critic, as well as a director at Gagosian) penned an eight-step guide on how to really look at art. Sargent’s thoughtful guidance encourages viewers to dedicate time to take in all aspects of the work, question what they’re seeing and address the emotional and tactile experience. The often intimidating task of analyzing an artwork is softened through Sargent’s instructions, which aim to broaden viewer perspectives. Read all eight steps at Interview—and then apply them at a gallery or museum near you.
Image courtesy of Interview Magazine, photographed by Adrienne Raquel
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on social media, and rounded up every Saturday morning. Hero image courtesy of courtesy of Levan Mindiashvili and Marisa Newman Projects, by Marcie Revens
I’ve never understood why people cut the crusts off of sandwiches. I guess it’s just my aversion to wasting food. I’ll admit, however, the neatness of those unnaturally sharp edges sparks a certain satisfaction. Lyyra’s vertically sliced stroke endings do just that.
Little Simz (aka Simbiatu Ajikawo) makes a powerful return with “Introvert” from her upcoming album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. “I’m not into politics, but I know it’s dark times,” she raps over an expansive orchestral opening before the dramatic song explodes into a soaring political anthem. Exploring inner turmoil and exterior catastrophes, “Introvert” triumphs with arresting moments about identity, unity and hope. “My speech ain’t involuntary / Projecting intentions straight from my lungs / I’m a Black woman and I’m a proud one / We walk in blind faith not knowing the outcome / But as long as we’re unified, then we’ve already won,” she rhymes on the track, which also features Cleo Sol and Emma Corin.
From Kele’s forthcoming fifth solo album, The Waves Pt. 1, comes the stunning “Nineveh,” an arrestingly spare but dramatic song about moving on. The piano-led song shifts two minutes in, as the vocals finish and guitars and synths begin—taking the tone from melancholy to uplifting. “There is an undoubtable sadness in the first half of ‘Nineveh’ but that sadness is turned into pure exhilaration in the second half of the song, like a proverbial weight being lifted from one’s neck.” Kele says in a statement. “It ends in a place of optimism.”
Prolific musician, composer and producer Bertrand Burgalat, founder of French label Tricatel (known for the future-retro “Burgalat sound” that influenced the likes of Daft Punk), is poised to release his first new album in four years. Rêve Capital will be out in June and features “L’Homme Idéal’ (or “The Ideal Man”) which has been released as two versions. The radio edit by French producer, DJ and singer Yuksek (aka Pierre-Alexandre Busson) is faster than the album version and adds handclaps and bongos, while maintaining the song’s overall breezy disco vibe. Burgalat’s speak-singing style adds the perfect level of nonchalance to the playful lyrics, in which he brags, “L’homme idéal, c’est moi / Encore faut-il trouver quelqu’un qui me mérite,” meaning “The ideal man, it’s me / I still have to find someone who deserves me.”
Jessie Ware announced the deluxe version of her divine disco-pop album What’s Your Pleasure? along with the release of “Please.” It’s one of the many songs that didn’t make the record (Ware initially wrote between 40 and 50 for the project) but oozes that same lush, glittery, disco vibe—along with squiggly synths, spacey bleeps and tinges of ’90s house. She says in a statement, “I had such an amazing response to the What’s Your Pleasure? record that I didn’t want the lights to go up and the party to be over just yet! ‘Please’ is full of optimism and ready to be played in a place where we can all be together and flirt, dance, touch, and kiss. A wonderful excuse not to stop the party from ending.”
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero courtesy of Little Simz + Salomon Ligthelm
There is so much to say about ABC Whyte and ABC Whyte Inktrap that a review of these non-identical twins from Dinamo could easily consist of two separate articles. The typefaces offer a clear reference to a milestone in type history and demonstrate an appreciation of past technological considerations through reinterpretation — a reflective practice using contemporary tools.
With chess and checkers pieces distinguished by bright colors and graphics, this two-in-one game set is intended for anybody over the age of five. NYC-based product designer Panisa Khunprasert designed the kit, drawing influence from growing up around her family’s wooden toy business in Bangkok. The double-sided board also acts as a sliding lid for the set, and all pieces are made from sustainably grown rubberwood.
The eighties are everywhere. Love them or hate them, over the past several years it has been almost impossible to escape the resurgence of bright neon colors, flashy animal prints, neoliberal ideas, and catchy synth chords. For graphic designer Ivana Palečková and type designer Jitka Janečková, thinking about this decade brings back a very special piece of typographic nostalgia.
For many years, when visiting Mexico City, Olivia Villanti would visit Gilly e Hijos—the 30-year-old shirting and fabric studio owned and run by her husband’s family—to trawl through the immense archive of beautiful deadstock fabrics her husband’s uncle, Bruno Gilly Armand, collected over three decades. The treasure trove in the studio, located just steps from CDMX‘s sprawling Bosque de Chapultepec, provided Villanti with an abundance of inspiration—and soon after moving to Mexico in 2019, she partnered with the team at Gilly e Hijos to create Chava Studio.
“It was such a special place where you could come and see these beautiful fabrics,” Villanti says, who previously worked in NYC’s fashion industry both in-house and in editorial. “I’d never worked in like very high-end fashion, so I don’t think that I ever really understood what makes a fabric really incredible until I started spending time in the studio,” she continues. “Guillaume’s uncle who owns the studio now, he’s an archivist—he doesn’t throw things away. He has beautiful deadstock fabrics. We have this specific viscose or cotton or some linens. And he also has buttons—all these things that are just really beautiful. Linings and wools—there’s just such a surplus of materials.”
Villanti and three remarkably talented seamstresses—as Chava Studio—make apparel from these fabrics, carefully selecting which will suit certain designs and meticulously crafting from the studio’s extra yardage. The styles blend avant-garde details with classic elements for pieces that feel both luxurious and functional. “It’s romantic with a touch of grit,” she tells us. “The designs are classic—whatever that actually means—but they’re also meant to be worn whenever. I know that idea gets overused, but I think that’s because it’s so important to us now.”
Villanti draws inspiration for each design from the high-quality fabrics and hardware at the studio, as well as details on her own favorite garments. “I really do love just like very clean lines and clean silhouettes,” she says. “But then you make those things with really beautiful fabrics—and by three seamstresses who are incredibly talented.”
Villanti relies on the studio seamstresses for more than their sewing skills, but also their guidance when developing designs. She wanted to make a shirt with removable cuffs, based on a piece she bought at a flea market—and together they created something even beyond her initial idea. “I had a shirt that had these removable cuffs and it was just a detail that I always thought was like so special. It’s something that you don’t find. I was like, ‘Can we take this further? Can we make removable collars?’” It’s through this process that Villanti has gained even more appreciation for the craft. “I’ve only really started to understand how talented they are,” she says. “Understanding how meticulous they are.”
From classic garments like tuxedo shirts to roomy jumpsuits, the shapes and functions vary—and everything is customizable. “I feel like there’s this duality to what we’ve designed,” Villanti says. “There are very structured silhouettes that incorporate a lot of very formal shirting elements like French cuffs and wingtip collars, but then we have these voluminous, more simple patterns.”
Some garments are available in small, medium and large, while others abide by US women’s sizes (zero through 10). That said, since each garment is made to order, Villanti is pleased to receive inquiries about custom orders—it just means some extra correspondence. “What I usually do in an instance where somebody wants something different than our usual measurements, I will often ask them for the measurements of a shirt that they really like—the way it fits them,” she says. “We have had to figure out how to modify the design to ensure that the particular silhouette is what they’re looking for.”
Regardless of the design, Chava Studio pieces are made in very small runs—just 10 garments per week. This is to ensure a reasonable workload for their seamstresses (who are paid over the standard salary) and also because Villanti says the aim of the studio has never been to scale. “I don’t have aspirations of making this big,” she tells us. “I don’t have to worry about investors or people asking to like move units. You know, if we don’t sell much, it’s OK; we don’t have inventory!”
Aside from the sewing, Villanti does everything herself, from design to shipping to writing newsletters. “I love doing everything. I think it is a very high-touch project,” she says. “And I feel like that’s what was missing from fashion—and is still missing from fashion. It feels good—albeit in a really small way—to be working in an industry that I’ve always been passionate about, but in a way that’s far less damaging and more creative.”
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