After spotting this pocket square made from neon tape over at Once Wed, I had to check out where it came from. For a recent Kate Spade event in SOHO, Rebecca Ward really outdid herself…she even had a tape bar for guests to decorate anything they fancied. To check out more photos, click here and here. My only question: What could you do with all of that tape after the event?
( via Once Wed, images via Kate Spade)
(all images via Neil Coppen)
The melting snow and subsequent muck and dirt that’s left behind has me wishing for something beautiful, and Dutch Ink (a group of four guys from brand and communication school Vega) from Durban, South Africa, have just the thing. Their work, which draws inspiration from British street artist Paul Curtis, uses reverse graffiti to present various scenes on grimy city walls. By using stencils and stiff metal brushes, the group selectively cleans to leave behind a mural that fades over time. Beautiful.
(via Wooster Collective and Neil Coppen)
(images via Giver’s Log)
Sending mail, in my opinion, is almost better than getting it. Unexpected packages can brighten even the dimmest of days, and with the series 13 Ounces or Less from Giver’s Log, you can get inspiration for charming tidbits that fall within USPS guidelines. For even more ideas, check out their flickr group…the bouncy balls below are my favorite.
Jillian Mayer’s work will make you look twice, maybe even three times. Her series Getting to Know You Better (painted on boards from an old dance floor) is a modern take on the old-timey fair cutouts (you know, where you’d stick your head in a hole and get your photo taken as a muscle builder).
From her site:
Flashes of neon and the glow of my 1980s television set were the essential mentors in my early years.
Growing up I was over saturated with cartoons and sitcoms. I had much difficulty separating the dilemmas of real life with those from scripts of mock families crafted for my weekly entertainment.
Sadly, my real life fell short of these fictional/animated adventures.
Click below for more images.
(more…)
For four days, moviegoers, music-players, and filmmakers flocked to Columbia, Missouri, for True/False Film Festival. Thousands of us laughed, cried, drank, mused, and barely slept just so we wouldn’t miss a beat. I’ve split up the event into four non-scientific categories (film, music, art, and partay) for easier perusal.
Film
Inside the Missouri Theater before the closing night film, Last Train Home.
Only two of the eight T/F venues actually screen films year round, and the others run the gamut of a rarely seen Odd Fellows Temple to a university lecture hall. But the amazing thing is that all of them felt as if they did this kind of thing every day. The staff kept film rolling, snacks on the ready, and lights dim. For me, my favorite films of the weekend bashed straight through my usual go-to genre. While I usually enjoy lighter premises, Restrepo won out as the top showing for me. It follows a platoon in one of the most dangerous war zones (Korengal Valley, Afghanistan), and though it left me feeling very raw, it was also refreshing to witness someone’s story of war that didn’t rely on partisan politics.
The Mirror, about a small Italian town that doesn’t get sunlight for 83 days of the year because of a pesky mountain peak, had me rooting for the innovative—and optimistic—mayor and his giant mirror project.
I left this next film not really knowing if I liked it or not, but the fact that The Red Chapel brought us into North Korea and allowed the audience access to a country that is notoriously shut off made me sway to the “yes” side. The director, along with two Danish-Korean comedians, enter the country under the premise of performing a Danish cultural exchange. Devilish manipulation, breakdowns, and a rather disturbing anti-American march round out the film and leave you to rant and rave about what you just saw to anyone that will listen.
(Clockwise, top left) Director Lixin Fan and festival Co-Conspirator David Wilson take part in a Q&A during the closing night; the ever-helpful guidebook; (inexpensive) merch; Andy, Kyle, Kalei, and Tim enjoying the closing night reception’s free food and booze; tearing tickets in the Missouri Theater.
With a Pencil in My Pocket, a site based on six shared subscriptions to 500 Colored Pencils (mentioned in our December/January issue), includes a community of 150 people. Each person receives one colored pencil per month for 20 months and writes a short story on a manifestation of that particular color. Then, the stories are posted for all to see…and so far, I’ve appreciated every one of these Technicolor insights.
(images via With a Pencil in My Pocket)
This is a still from the promo video by Boxcar Films, set to Missouri’s own Capybara.
True. Definitely true.
Today, filmmakers, directors, producers, buskers, and film lovers converge on an unassuming Midwestern college town, smack in the middle of Kansas City and St. Louis. Columbia, Missouri (home of the University of Missouri, Columbia College, and Stephens College), plays host to True/False Film Fest, now in its seventh year.
With 36 documentary films (selected from more than 700 submissions), 25 shorts, 30 musical acts, six concerts, three parties, one game show, and one parade crammed into 96 hours, this weekend will be an exercise in stamina. I’ll be taking in 13 of the T/F selection, including two secret screenings (which means these films are mysteriously showing up here before officially premiering at another film festival…and that’s all you’re going to hear about ‘em) and 11 other films that run the spectrum of a delightfully absurd plan in The Mirror to a right-in-the-middle-of-a-war-zone platoon in Restrepo.
The amazing thing about this festival, though, is that it’s more than just films. At least one person from each documentary makes it to the four-day event, and site-specific art installations create fanciful theaters from a collection of nine venues carved out of downtown Columbia. Musicians perform before each screening, filmmakers hustle along the sidewalks to make their next movie just like you do, and the folks in attendance are some of the nicest around. I’ll be your eyes and ears this weekend, hoping to capture as much as I can to share with you throughout next week. After the jump, I’ve collected various True/False tidbits for your perusal, so click “read more” and dive right in.
To keep with the office supply theme from this morning, here is a piece from French artist Baptiste Debombourg made entirely of staples—35,000 of them. Inspired? Just don’t take it out on your cubicle…unless you get permission first.
Read more about the piece here.
(via Dude Craft, via Notcot)
Black Tradesman with Orange Stripe; Potrero Hill, San Francisco; Fall, 1997
Filmmaker and photographer Joe Stevens began shooting conversion vans in their natural habitat in 1996, and now has hundreds of images of the vehicles from around the Los Angeles area. These sunwashed shots combine for the scrolling photo essay Vans and the Places Where They Were, and provide a much-needed jolt of summertime in this dreary February. Below, Stevens describes the project:
Over the course of the project the vans themselves have become more and more of a rarity. The reasons are as simple as rust and changing tastes; and as complex as government “cash for clunkers” initiatives encouraging more fuel-efficient transportation. Notably, at the same time these vans have been disappearing from our roads – film photography as a visual medium has also begun it’s slow death. Consequently the goal of the project is to one day shoot the last remaining van on the final frame of photographic film in existence. Then the project will be finished.
(via Cool Hunting, image via Vans and the Places Where They Were)
We published a reader-submitted incandescent bulb vase project in our latest issue, so I guess I just have light bulbs on the brain. This piece, from artist Tim Fishlock, is comprised of 1,243 different sized bulbs suspended from the ceiling and illuminated by a single low-energy light. From his website:
By 2011, all forms of incandescent light bulb will have been phased out in favour of greener alternatives. What Watt? marks the passing of a design that has remained relatively unchanged since its invention 130 years ago.
(via Inhabitat)
While perusing Recyclart, I became instantly fascinated by these buttons. Made from recycled PET bottles, they retain a handmade feel while still being strikingly modern. Maybe it’s the translucence? Either way, they definitely add a little something extra to blah henleys. Available at Tertium Non’s Etsy shop, or your nearest grocery store.
(via Recyclart and Tertium Non)
Featured in TreeHugger’s Materials Monday, Kirei Coco Tiles not only look beautiful but also have the added bonus of sustainability. Since harvesters pick coconuts for their fleshy interiors and usually burn the brown shells, the interiors company decided to put the rapidly renewable material to good use. The tiles come in a smattering of different colors, and textures, the pieces can be applied to headboards, walls, mirrors, or backsplashes—so you can have some fun with them.
(Via TreeHugger and Kirei)
Even though Valentine’s Day is still a few weeks away, it’s never to early to to get started on your notes for the season. And these retro designs from Two Brunettes for Ruffled are not only free to download, but come with a matching envelope template. Now you have no excuse not to let everyone you love know it!
Paris is the city of lights, sure, so it really was only a matter of time before someone hoisted up a giant disco ball in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Thanks to artist Michel de Broin and 1,000 individual mirrors (and a construction crane), we can check this one off our list of “World’s Largest…” things to see.
(via The Jailbreak)
After growing up in New York and going to school in Philadelphia (where she also worked for Goodandevil Skateboards), Nashville-based painter/graphic designer Jessica Hill couldn’t help but be inspired by street and skate art. For her pieces, she liked the flat colors from silk screening but wanted to find a way to get the same effect with acrylic paint. Several trials later Jessica came across the right consistency for her monster and bunny illustrations, and she prints them on found skate decks and leftover pieces from wood shops. We dig it.
Alexa Fornoff is the assistant editor of ReadyMade, and she blogs here about art and happenings. She enjoys reading—a lot—and is currently making her way through the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions. When her nose isn't buried between pages, she likes to eat good food and drink good drinks.
Contact Alexa | Read posts by Alexa
Amy Palanjian is originally from a mile-wide town in south Jersey. When she's not creating color-coded spreadsheets, watching out for excessive garnish on food shoots and keeping the ship afloat as ReadyMade's deputy editor in Des Moines, she quilts, bakes granola and blogs about people who make things at her appropriately titled blog, Things We Make. She blogs daily about food.
Contact Amy | Read posts by Amy
Katherine Sharpe is the online editor of ReadyMade. She lives in Brooklyn, where she mostly makes food and to-do lists, but she's interested in bigger, headier creations: think Buckminster Fuller-esque architectural utopianism. She blogs daily or almost-daily about furniture, design, buildings, awesome jobs, and books.
Contact Katherine | Read posts by Katherine
Andrew Wagner, ReadyMade's editor-in-chief, has long been driven by his curiosity about how people and places mutually affect one another. After founding Dodge City Journal, and helping to found Limn and Dwell, he saw American Craft through a major redesign. His interests include architecture, design, art, music, baseball, and the ineffable yogurt/granola combination. He tries his best to post on Tuesdays about architecture, design, and cities.
Contact Andrew | Read posts by Andrew
