Hasta La Ideas

Italian-made unisex brogues with a modern twist

L’F is a line of unisex shoes from Licia Florio and Francio Ferrari, a fashion designer (Florio) and artist/photographer (Ferrari) who also live together. Wanting to create something together the couple came up with L’F, which is comprised of one style for men and women. The shoe comes in combinations of up to three colors, with various details available like studs and hooks. The fresh take on a classic, says Ferrari, was something that could “fully represent our identity.” We caught up with him to preview the Spring 2013 collection and talk more about the brand. Check out the interview below and the first line of L’F unisex shoes online where they sell from €215.

How was your collection born?

We started by hacking some bowling shoes, but eventually they all looked bad. So we decided to focus on something more elegant like a classic brogue—we removed tongue, laces and we started to wear them. We saw that we liked it and our friends started asking were they could buy them. So we entered the world of Italian footwear production, previously unknown to us but very fascinating. We got to work with talented craftsmen—genuine people with dirty hands, but who are able to create the masterpieces that everyone knows.

You are not a heritage brand—how did you want to approach an iconic object like the brogue?

We chose irony. Ours is a very serious shoe in terms of quality and production, 100% handmade in Italy by shoe manufacturers that make shoes for large international brands. They’re very comfortable shoes you can wear all day. However, the colors and materials and their combinations allow us to be fun and give our customers the opportunity to have fun every day. Then we took out the laces and in some models we filled the holes with removable studs, which can be swapped in and out.

We think that people should be brave with accessories, not only with our shoes. We noticed that L’F wearers pay much attention to socks (without the tongue they’re more visible) and tend to shorten their pants hem, to show their styling. We’re happy when our customers have the chance to have fun!

Who wears L’F?

We discovered we have a very wide target, without age limits. It often happens that mothers buy our shoes, and then their daughters steal them. Licia’s grandmother is a big fan of ours, but she just wants the studded ones.

What’s new for the next season?

Spring 2013 is our second official collection—we continue to work on the same model and reinvent it more and more, working on materials and soles. We have four soles: one white and one black “tank” sole, one sports Vibram sole and a sole with a band of microfiber between two layers of leather. In some models we included a hook taken from mountain boots, where you can put rubber bands instead of strings. Then there are different variations of pastel colors and metallic leather monochromes, purposely for fashionistas. We are aiming at extreme yet elegant shoes to give the wearer more fun and joy.

A return to skateboarding’s roots through innovative design and construction at Camp Woodward

Designed to mimic the sloping school yards and dried concrete waterways of Southern Califorinia, where skateboarding’s roots reach deepest, the snake run is the most fundamental form of all skatepark designs. While most snake runs are characterized by a long narrow path—or ditch—flanked by banks and berms to channel the rider through without pushing, the freshly poured concrete at Pennsylvania’s legendary camp Woodward resembles something significantly gnarlier. Designed and constructed by California Skateparks, arguably the world’s best skatepark builders, Woodward’s snake run stretches over 1,000 feet punctuated with head high jumps and quaterpipes.

Since welcoming BMX riders in 1980, Woodward has become the most recognizable name in action sports facilities. While the camp has always been about innovation, the construction of the 20,050-square-foot Target Plaza by California Skateparks in 2009 marked the end of an era dominated by wooden ramps, proving a dedication to staying ahead of the curve in terms of concrete skateboard and BMX park design. Now, with the completion of phase two of the snake run, Woodward is returning to skateboarding’s roots while still keeping an eye on progression.

In terms of design, California Skateparks builder, former professional BMX rider and 22-year Woodward veteran Ron Kimler explained “there was never a drawing for anything.” The design and building processes seem to happen simultaneously. Only the base and quarter-pipes require rebar and wooden support forms, the rest are simply sculpted by hand. “All the mounds and berms are piled up dirt. You shape it, then throw the gravel base on, then go around and shape it up with rakes and shovels,” says Kimler. The construction then culminates with the pouring of concrete and the hand shaping of every angle, a primitive process which gives the experienced riders and builders the vital, final touch.

Rather than stick to the idea of building a glorified golf cart path, Kimler and rest of the California Skateparks crew encouraged something better, and as the dirt was piled and concrete poured it grew. “They’d say make it two feet tall, and I’d make it three feet tall,” says Kimler, laughing. This playful attitude helped the more-than-1,000-foot path develop into a destination for campers on both boards and bikes. To make it more appealing for users of all abilities Kimler and the crew built the lower portion at a mellower pitch, allowing it to be ridden in both directions. “I can just cruise through here, get most the way and turn around, take one pedal and come back,” says Kimler. “You can ride most of the whole section back and forth, no sweat, just cruising through the rollers.”

By building the snake run in phases, California Skateparks is able to adjust their designs on the fly, adding or removing features at will. Even with all the pieces connected after more than 10,000 man hours, Kimler still sees the project as a work in progress. “Next year we can continue to add,” he says. “Maybe we need pocket here, lip there, berm here—it’ll get created, whatever’s awesome.”

For now the snake run stands as is for the many months of campers to come, but keep an eye on Woodward online for updates on future iterations. For a closer look at the construction and completion of Woodward’s snake run see the slideshow.

Images by Graham Hiemstra

Laura Wass strikes out on her own with jewelry combining the industrial with the handmade

Balancing a spare, industrial aesthetic with the richness of fine jewelry, designer Laura Wass has opened up an interesting niche for herself in the market. With Fall 2012 she has launched WXYZ, a focused line of “DNA” and jacks bead necklaces, rubber and steel pulley bracelets, rubber bubble bangles and geometric metal-and-resin rings. With each detail, from the softness of the neoprene bracelet links, to the satisfying weight of a beaded helix and the almost hidden precious pearls floating in resin, Wass balances the focused precision of large-scale metalwork with handmade thought and, equally as importantly, injects a playful attitude in every serious piece.

We caught up with Wass at her studio and workspace at the 3rd Ward, where she makes it all happen, from hand-sketching and CAD—and some desktop acrobatics to keep the creative juices flowing—to steel lathing and metal finishing. With her first collection freshly launched, she filled us in on process and inspiration, while offering us a sneak peek at the Spring 2013 collection.

You worked with established brands—Philip Crangi, Giles & Brother, Metal Dynamics—before striking out on your own. What did it take for you to make the jump?

It was like jumping off a diving board. In some ways when I started I was anxious to start my own projects and then at the same time I felt as though I would never be quite ready. I always felt there was something more I could learn, or some way I could grow before starting my own thing, but then at some point those two paths crossed—the desire to create and the feeling that I had a really strong foundation in the industry and in manufacturing and design practice and those things came together and it was just time. And I also had the support—my boss at the last company I worked for is a great mentor, and has taught me so much about new manufacturing methods and engineering and so he was really fundamental in my growth as a designer and in helping me articulate what I wanted to do.

How did your work evolve to the industrial, and how much comes from personal taste?

It started with a fascination with the history of design and the Bauhaus movement, and it evolved as I entered the industry, and started becoming more experienced and interested in the process of how things are made. Which was always my focus—my initial entrance came from making things by hand, but then, when I started to explore the machine I saw how much more it was capable of doing, and then that drew me back again to the traditions of Bauhaus. By incorporating both the handmade and the industrially made, we get such a wide range of design capabilities, so for me it became this hunger for knowledge so that I could expand and inform my design practice.

How similar is the finished product to what you originally envision?

It definitely evolves, there are a lot of surprises. I’ll usually start with one goal or one idea and then come out with something entirely different through the process of sketching, of physically making with your hands. I think for me when I’m making something with my hands my brain is activated and starts really running through new ideas, so things tend to evolve a lot from the initial concept however there are some instances where something will just snap into my head and there it is and that’s the way it started.

When it comes to the mix of industrial and handmade, what’s you and what are you outsourcing?

For me because the industrial and handmade production are both so important I’m really exploring as many different production methods as possible. So in order to do that I have to find as many different resources where they specialize in these different techniques. So, from die striking, brass stamping and zinc die casting to screw machining, C&Cing and lasering to water jet cutting (which is much stronger than laser cutting, surprisingly) and, let’s see what else—powder coating, plating, die cutting, ball chains, automated chain-making and lathing, which is similar to a screw machine.

The jacks beads look familiar—where did they come from?

The jacks beads are inspired by a childhood bead I played with growing up. I took the concept of that bead and engineered it in CAD—it went through about 10 different revisions, actually—I tweaked the shape and the form so that they sit together. They’re different, though. The original beads have round fronts, and I wanted to create a pyramid structure, something architectural. It’s both organic—a fundamental structure of life, almost like a chemical composition—but it’s also manmade, architectural and geometric. I wanted them to fit together with space for you to see the articulation of the shape, but also create a new form with these individual pieces.

That’s actually really important for the line—the use of individual components that together create an entirely new form. The DNA necklace is another example of that: individually they’re these beads and rods, but together they creates this whole new structure, much like the way life is made.

So how do you go about reengineering something?

The jacks beads are created in a blue model as a rapid prototype, and then they’re basically engraved into a steel die. So you take a piece of steel, and there are several different processes that you go through to create a negative form with this extremely hardened steel, and then the molten metal is injected into the steel die. It’s a way of casting that’s not commonly used for jewelry because it’s a very high production run—to get the machine up and running you need to have about 2,000 pieces. So, the molten metal is injected into the die, and because it’s a steel form it’s filling, it’s extremely precise, and can be replicated over and over and over, whereas as with lost-wax casting there are a lot of irregularities. So it’s perfect for this industrial, super-defined form.

Does your creative process start with the fashion and style element, or does it start with the scientific, industrial aspect?

It definitely starts with the technical, industrial and biology/chemistry part of it. For instance, right now for next season I’m really inspired by these overlapping architectural movements—so, Moorish and Arabic geometry and architecture, and how that intersects with the other histories of religious architecture, whether it be Jewish or Christian. I was just in Israel so I saw this amazing confluence of Jewish and Arabic and Christian design, and the histories of those places, what that means to so many people and how it looks—kind of like this tapestry of cultural influence. I’m looking at design motifs and architecture, and, of course, I’m looking at nature as always. Also, I’ve been thinking about mazes, and humans creating abstractions in the landscape through the use of geometry, so looking at where city and nature meet in design. Fashion, in many ways, is just the world that I live in so it kind of seeps in through the cracks of what I’m thinking. It’s not necessarily the focus, but it’s always there.

Images by Greg Stefano

Our latest video explores the machine driven approach of Oakland’s denim master

Hidden on a back street in Oakland, California in an unassuming warehouse lies what may be the pinnacle of denim craftsmanship in the USA. Roy Denim, the second of our videos to premiere at last week’s 99% Conference, is actually just one man, Roy Slaper, whose obsession with making jeans has driven his small business into the conciseness of denim heads everywhere. In our video we learn about Roy’s machine driven approach in creating his jeans, the birth of his business and how his obsessive attention to detail results in some of the toughest, nicest looking denim around.

Repurposed skateboards and recycled cutting boards handmade in Southern California

by Liz Cebron

On a recent visit to the made in America brand collaborative Shelter Half, we discovered Stormy Monday Goods—thoughtfully repurposed and redesigned skate and cutting boards, branded with a simple thundercloud and given a second shot at life. These one-of-a-kind creations are the labor of love of Neil Harrison, a Southern California native who, after nearly two decades in the industry—first at Quiksilver, then helping friends get a “little brand” called Volcom off the ground—decided to slow down and work with his hands.

Stormy Monday was conceived during a trip to Portland in late 2006—Harrison was in the Pacific Northwest visiting friends, one of whom had reshaped a couple of used skateboards and was drawing on them as an art project. Harrison made one for himself and after that, he was hooked. “I was really into the idea of re-shaping a board—not only because it gave me the opportunity to work with my hands, but also from a conceptual standpoint—I liked the idea that a used board could get back on the road again, so to speak.” Upon returning to Southern California, Harrison started collecting used boards from his friends in the skate world, team managers and team riders, who tended to have stacks of used boards laying around and with the underlying ethos of “Recycle, repurpose, reuse,” Stormy Monday was born.

All of your goods (with the exception of the surfboards, which are made in Hawaii) are handcrafted in California. Can you tell us more, specifically, about the process?

First is my least favorite part, stripping off the grip tape. Some tape is friendly and peels off in one to three pieces. Sometimes it breaks into a million bits and pieces. Once the grip is removed, I trace a shape pattern on to the board and cut it out. Then I smooth out the edges and brand the “3 Bolt Storm Cloud” logo on to the boards. Next is staining, painting and completing the rails and wheel wells. The wheel wells are one of the trickiest parts because you’re doing one at a time and you have to match them to each other as close as you can. Sometimes I’ll let boards sit for a little while before I do this part as I try to get myself psyched up to do them—you can ruin the board very easily after all that work. Each board is then number stamped, signed and logged in the book. Every board to date has been logged, including the cutting boards and now our surfboards (dropping this spring).

The process of creating cutting boards or cheese boards is very similar to the skateboards. I work out of my friends’ woodshop in Santa Ana and sometimes they have woods that are deemed “undesirable” for cabinets because of knots, sap or mineral streaks. I’ll also find scrap wood that someone leaves out on their yard for pick up. If I can’t find any wood via those two sources I’ll go to the lumber yard and buy their “damaged” wood. It’s perfect because those characteristics or flaws in the wood make our boards interesting looking and unique.

Speaking of the cutting boards, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind alongside skateboard decks and surfboards, but in your case in seems to work. Why cutting boards in the mix?

It certainly wasn’t on purpose to have them in the mix. It was a happy accident if you will, and they have only come to be part of the mix somewhat recently. It was only after I saw some scrap woods that I thought I could make nice cutters for some friends and after making a few, realized how much fun it was working on them. Then I thought it’d be funny to add to the skateboard order form.

After that, I started getting orders from friends and then eventually stores. There’s the whole thing that’s happening right now where people want to know the story behind the product and/or know the person or persons who are making them and I think that’s what’s great about where we’re going as a country, not as whole, but on this very intimate underground level and it seems to be slowly effecting the grander consuming audience.

Your logo is really interesting, how did that come to you?

The logo and name were inspired on that same visit to Portland. Jake had a simple cloud painting that he had made. It was a puffy cloud with three bolts of lightning floating beneath it and the word Monday at the bottom. So Monday was the original name, then I added Stormy to make it sound heavier. I started working up stylized versions of Jake’s cloud painting—I wanted it to have a Native American look and vibe to it, like a modern version or a petroglyph. Simple, strong and to the point.

Can you tell us a little more about your background—where you grew up, how you got into all of this (skateboards, surfing, etc)?

I was born in Bellflower and grew up in Buena Park—home of Knott’s Berry Farm. My mom loved to go to the beach and she would take us to the OP Pro, which, at the time, was the big surf contest in Huntington Beach. I was just boogie boarding then but after watching the guys surfing in the contest that was all I wanted to do. I was starting to skate around this time and honestly don’t remember how or who turned me on to it but it just found me. Skating was obviously more obtainable for an inland kook such as myself, so I was a skater first, surfer second. We had this ditch behind a drive-in that was close to my house and we skated that thing every day—it’s all I could think about in class! We were surfing the ditch walls before we learned how to surf real waves.

After I graduated high school in 1988, I moved to the beach and my friend got me a job working in the warehouse at Quiksilver. Over the next couple of years, I went from the warehouse to the art department, and then into the design dept. Around ’92 I left Quik and took up with some new friends to get the brand Volcom off the ground. I worked there as design and art director for about 15 years and left in 2006. I laid low for a few years, worked on an avocado grove I owned with some family at the time, and did some freelance design art projects here and there. Then last year my friend Danny called and asked if I’d like to stop fooling around and turn Stormy Monday into a proper brand. And here we are.

Stormy Monday currently sells skate decks for $125 and completes for $225 through Shelter Half, with denim and Hawaiian made surfboards on the horizon. For direct ordering and more information see Stormy Monday directly.