Hasta La Ideas

Design House Stockholm, the Scandinavian furniture and domestic products manufacturer, celebrated its 20th anniversary at NYIGF this. Founded by Anders Fandig in 1992, the company was set up to facilitate creative product development for local designers and craftspeople. They started off with a bang with Harri Koskinen’s Block Lamp, a glass block-encased light bulb that became “an immediate classic, earning a place in MoMA’s permanent collection and winning numerous awards all over the world.” Since then Design House Stockholm has grown from a consultancy to an brand internationally recognized for quality gods and a clean, minimal Scandinavian aesthetic.

To celebrate two decades of success, Design House Stockholm shot its 2012 catalogue in the Hallwyl House in downtown Stockholm. Designed in 1898 by Isak Gustaf Clason, the most renowned architect in Sweden at the time, the Hallwyl House was built as a winter palace for Count and Countess Walther and Wilhelmina von Hallwyl. Now it houses a museum with a mishmash of furnishings from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Victorian eras that are in stark contrast to Design House Stockholm’s signature Scandinavian style. It makes for an ideal setting, highlighting the austerity of the furnishings while also making them feel more ‘homey’ than they would in what we might think of as a more complimentary surrounding of gallery-white walls and polished concrete floors.

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Earlier this summer lucky Los Angelinos welcomed Poketo‘s 4,000 square foot storefront to 3rd Street in Downtown—an airy sunlit space clad in raw plywood that owners Angie Myung and Ted Vadakan call the “actual realization of what you see online.” While the shop carries a selection of items not available online, including some rarer products from Poketo’s archives, the rest of the world can rest assured that the bulk of their goods are still available online, as well as in your nearest Target store soon (their second paper goods collaboration with Target was just announced).

Before Poketo was around, you felt privileged if you happened to stumble upon the kind of simple, colorful, minimalist desk accessories and notebooks that they’re best known for. But lest you think Poketo is just a cutesy stationery store, Myung and Vadakan rigorously curate their offerings and regularly work with artists and designers to develop new collections especially for their shop. Aside from their iconic striped backpacks, some of our favorite products include the Stand by Me spiral planner, made more perfect with the addition of a string closure manila envelope attached to the front cover, an improvement over the pocket in the back of Moleskine notebooks. The moment you use that pocket it becomes impossible to actually write on the pages, but by simply moving that feature to the front cover you make the same notebook vastly more useful.

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Summertime is perfect for catching up on outdoor chores, but having fun is probably what everyone (mostly) thinks about. For those of us in the United States, Labor Day (this year it falls on Sept. 3) gives us an opportunity for one final summer celebration before cooler temperatures are ushered in with the start of fall. Many people try their hand at being a grill master for the day and test out new recipes and grilling techniques. Some take road trips or one last visit to the beach.

No matter the activity, by putting things in order at the end of this season, you’ll find everything you need when warmer temperatures arrive next year. Focus on some basic rules of thumb so you can avoid hour-long searches to find your stuff, like …

Keep similar items together

You’ve heard this one before and there’s a reason you hear it so often. It’s perhaps the one rule that, if you stick to it, will help you save time so you can get on with the business of having fun. When everything you need for a specific activity (bike, helmet, knee pads, tire gauge, and pump together; grill cleaning brush, tongs, and skewers together) is in one location, you will find what you want quickly and see what things are broken and need fixing or replacing. Once you’ve gathered all your supplies together, they should be kept in the same location all the time (just like you always keep your keys, wallet, and mobile phone in the same spot). Labeling storage spaces can help, too.

Replace needed items immediately

Those broken items or the ones that just don’t work the way you would like them to? Replace them now if you regularly use the items. If you wait until next year, you’re likely to be suprised (not pleasantly) when it’s time to use them. Keep a running list of things you need to buy and take it with you on your next shopping trip. Stick to your list so you don’t overbuy. Try not to give in to the temptation of getting things that you’re not certain you’ll actually use (is it possible your plans just might change?). Wait on those items and come up with a game plan first. And, donate/recycle/trash the items that you no longer want.

Remember to replenish your first-aid kits as well. Not only will you need them year-round (in your car and in several rooms in your home), but you’ll also want to have a kit ready in the bags you use for your summer events (picnics, trips to the zoo, sporting events, etc.). Don’t forget to stock up on first-aid supplies for your pets, too.

Use checklists to help you remember

Create an “end of summer” list to remind you of all the things you need to do to wrap up the season and get ready for the next. Group your tasks by category (camping, gardening, marathon/race) so you can focus easily on each section before moving on to the next. For example, if hiking is on your list, it might include:

• Clean hiking boots
• Put boots with other hiking gear
• Purchase new socks and liners
• Create a communication plan
• Start training routine to prepare for trip (add start date)

What you put on your checklist will be specific to you and the things you like doing. It should include all the gear you need (what’s a trip to the park without your favorite frisbee or a picnic with a half empty basket or a lawn concert without a comfy chair?) as well as any special requirements (season pass to the water park, parking pass for the football game). After creating your checklist, keep it with the items it belongs with or in a “summer activities” (paper or electronic) file so you can keep using it each year.

Put special events on your calendar now

Get ready for next year’s events by entering on your calendar those that you attend annually or new ones that you want to go to (or host). Doing this will help plan your activities and to narrow down the things you can realistically do based on your available time and budget. You’ll also see if you need to enlist the help of others.

Planning and organizing fun summer activities can give you something to look forward to next year without the hassle and pain of never-ending searches for the things you need. And, there’s still time to take care of many of this summer’s chores that you haven’t gotten to yet. Take a look at our tips on how to organize your:

• Gargage
• Closet
• Car
• Back-to-school plans
• Final summer trip

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Reporting and photographs by Abe Burmeister

Outdoor Retailer (or OR to most attendees) is one of my favorite tradeshows around, as close to an asshole-free zone as you’ll ever find in a business environment. The exhibitors are essentially just a bunch of people who would rather be outdoors, but happen to make a living designing and selling some amazing gear. OR is also something I’ve always considered Outlier‘s secret weapon, a hidden world of fabrics most other clothing designers in NY are never to access, to which OR is the gateway.

More on this lantern by Snow Peak below…

I spend most ORs behind the scenes in the back rooms of the show, knee-deep in fabric and fittings, but the bulk of the floor is occupied by outdoor vendors selling their latest finished products to their retail network. When Core77 invited us to write it up, I jumped at the chance to check out the fun side of the show. But take it as a caveat as well: this is far from comprehensive round-up, so apologies in advance to any amazing companies I may have overlooked.

Without a doubt, the standout product of the show was BioLite‘s CampStove backcountry generator. It has nothing to do with them being perhaps the only other Brooklyn-based brand in a backcountry-oriented show. Six years in the making, this combination of wood/scrap burning stove and electric generator is an incredibly thought through and rendered product that hints of even more from Alex Drummond, Jonathan Cedar and the Biolite team.

The roots of the stove are in the developing world, where smoke inhalation from wood burning stoves is still a massive health issue. The Biolite CampStove is uses a well-calibrated fan to create a secondary ignition that burns away almost all the harmful emissions of the basic burning wood. In the process, it also generates enough heat to run a small electric generator which can be used to charge the ever-growing array of USB driven outdoor lights and devices.

Perhaps more important than the stove itself is Biolite’s hybrid business model (highlighted by Core last year). The CampStove generates revenue from wealthier (on a global scale) consumers, which then can be used to develop less profitable but more impactful products like a larger HomeStove that can both reduce harmful emissions and bring electricity to off-the-grid communities.

Of course, sometimes being in the backcountry means sometimes even a wood fire isn’t possible. Utility Flame is a dead simple solution that the US Military has been using for the past decade and is just now being made for civilians like us. This gel ignites easily, creates a 10–15 minutes of a flame hot enough to boils water in 3.5 minutes. More impressively, it leaves nothing behind except a nontoxic mound of sand.

One of the long simmering stories at OR has been nonwoven Dyneema (sometimes called Cuben fiber). This American made fabric is incredibly light, strong and waterproof. It floats on water yet is 15 times strong than steel. It’s also expensive and a royal pain in the ass to deal with, meaning only the scrappiest and sharpest young companies have built products with it. This year however the big boys at Sierra Designs jumped into the mix throwing their Mojo UFO tent right in middle of the show floor with plans to release a very limited run next year. It’s a big move but as the photos should show it may take a while before they master the particular aesthetics of this unique material.

Meanwhile, the two pioneers in the space continue to move forward, each taking quite a different design philosophy in the process. Both built their own production facilities expressly to handle a material alien to most traditional factories. Currently based in Portland, OR (with roots in NYC and Turkey), Graham Williams of CiloGear is the godfather of Dyneema backpacks, building highly-engineered alpinist packs that often find their way to the world’s highest peaks. Cilo packs are meticulously thought through for highly specialized tasks, every fabric panel and juncture has been considered and best material (in Graham’s opinionated eye) is going to get used, costs be damned. Fittingly, Graham’s latest designs—the ones he’s willing to show publicly at least—are deeply customized for particular alpinists, something like the Saville Row of hardcore packs.

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The London Olympics raised eyebrows and graphic designers’ hackles with its craggy, hot pink, seizure-inducing logo monstrosity, more evocative of Jem and the Holograms than global togetherness. Rio is eschewing the truly outrageous route with a smooth and snappy visual identity helmed by Beth Lula, branding director of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee. The colorful, undulating Rio 2016 Olympic logo (see video below), unveiled last year, was created by Rio design agency Tátil to communicate “passion and transformation,” and in turn inspired a custom typeface. Recently unveiled in London, Rio 2016 (pictured) is the work of font foundry Dalton Maag‘s Brazilian team working with consultants such as homegrown type whiz Gustavo Soares.

Fabio Haag, creative director of Dalton Maag Brazil, led a team through 23 studies—and 5,448 different characters—in the course of the eight-month design project. The original concept was to develop the font based on the lettering of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic brands, using only three letters and four figures. “To design a complete font based on a few letters in a logo with a single letter combination was very challenging,” said Haag in a statement issued by the organizing committee. Tasked with capturing in a font the gestural energy and expressiveness of the Rio 2016 logo, the team experimented with handwriting and ended up with letters that are written in single continuous strokes, with fast and fluid motions, suggesting the movements of the athletes in action. According to the organizing committee, “The variety of the curves in the different letters has a unique informality, inspired by the joyfulness of the Brazilian people.”
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