On my desk: Rin Tanaka’s My Freedamn! and his “Inspiration” Gathering
January 24, 2010
Rin Tanaka is the mastermind behind the most extensive visual archive of vintage American clothing and accessories. In 1990, upon moving to the United States for school, he became the “the youngest blues writer in the world” at just 20 years old. In 2003, after traveling the country, Tanaka decided to document his explorations of the American lifestyle through a self-published series of books entitled, My Freedamn!.
Each book within the series is designated towards a specific category including vintage motorcycle jackets, vintage T-shirts and Rock ‘n’ roll Fashion. I bought numbers 3 and 6 a couple years back and was reminded that I still had them while I was reading about Tanaka’s Inspiration gathering next month. The two-day event is described as the first annual kulture recycling & vintage clothing world gathering and will be held at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica. Should be a fun time! I’ll be there for the Saturday festivities. See you there?
Recommusings: 005
January 22, 2010
Dieter Rams Retrospective ~ Arkitip
M(other)land: works by Lauren Woods ~ University Art Gallery
The Art of the Renaissance and the Market for Popular Culture ~ Cat Dirt Sez
Artie Lange predicted Conan O’Brien’s NBC demise ~ SFGate
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, Museum of the City of New York ~ Ariella Budick
It was fun while it lasted
January 22, 2010
It’s raining like crazy in San Diego and Conan O’Brien is leaving the Tonight Show. Awkward.
Blends “Made in USA” Project | Blends X RRL by Ralph Lauren
January 22, 2010
It was almost like an early Christmas present when I found out that BLENDS would be collaborating with Ralph Lauren’s iconic RRL collection. If you know me, I have a strong admiration for their products (specifically their 03B-SF!). Heavily influenced by the union made garments of America’s early 20th century, RRL has mastered the art of recreating time specific goods… and has done so for almost 20 years. The jeans were made in conjunction with the BLENDS “Made in USA” campaign and are made with Japanese selvedge denim (black yarn-dyed). More product and order information is available at www.blendsus.com
RRL X Blends selvage denim is limited to 50 pairs and each pair is individually numbered. Rigid black selvage was selected to reflect both our enthusiasm for motorcycles as well as vintage American style. There are 5 different threads used in the manufacturing of the jeans. Also, there are hidden rivets in back pockets just like vintage denim.
We hope to use our Made in USA campaign to recognize the importance of the American worker. Ralph Lauren is an incomparable American Icon in the clothing industry and this product represents both Mr. Lauren and Blends spirit and pride in the USA and American made products.We wanted to produce a unique product to kick off our Made in USA campaign and as such the entire Blends staff is honored to be part of this release with RRL.
Currently listening to: “Clay Bodies” by Zola Jesus
January 22, 2010
Igloo Website. Major updates!
January 21, 2010
The Igloo Store in San Diego is one of my favorite shops of all time. I remember visiting Igloo back in 2002 and Gary had rung me up for a T-shirt, the one with the brush stroke graphic and plaid fill. Since then, he has continued to provide San Diego with the best selection of design related goods. Its great shops like these that keep our lovely city interesting. Earlier today, Igloo released a ton of new items within their webstore. Now’s your chance to pick up the Ratz Attak Zine you missed out on at Steph’s Homework Show. Thanks for the heads up, Gary!
The Casbah turns a tender 21 years old
January 21, 2010
I felt a little under the weather last night before heading out to The Casbah to celebrate their 21st anniversary. Art Fag Recordings was hosting the night with Nude Boy, Heavy Hawaii, Beaters and Christmas Island playing the bill. Definitely glad that I made it out.
And this is what you see above as you watch shows at the Casbah.
On my desk: Zoo Music Records: ZM005 and ZM004: Beaters “White Hate” 7″ & Reading Rainbow “Restless” 7″ respectively
January 21, 2010
For those of you in San Diego, BLENDS (my work!) is proud to announce that they will be carrying Zoo Music and Art Fag records. Both San Diego-based, Art Fag Recordings is a record label owned by lead Skull Kontroller, Mario Orduno and Zoo Music is co-owned by Kristin Gundred (Dum Dum Girls) and Brandon Welchez (Crocodiles).
BLENDS in Costa Mesa will also be receiving these records some time next week, for those of you in Orange County. Don’t sleep. You know everything sounds better on vinyl, so what are you waiting for? Here are the current selections available at BLENDS.
ZM005: Beaters White Hate 7″
ZM004: Reading Rainbow Restless 7″
AF005: Split 7″ w/ Pens, Crocodiles, Dum Dum Girls and Graffiti Island
edit: ……I fucking love the Beaters’ art direction on all their records. Awesome. Great job!
Cult Classics. The beauty of vintage Cameras
January 19, 2010
Sometimes technology moves so fast that we rarely get to enjoy the moments with our beloved gadgets. Before new camera models were punched out every other year, companies really had to spend a lot of time creating something that not only functioned well, but was also aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It seems that along with the instant gratification of digital photography, the dedication to the design of product went out the door. At least for me, there are only a handful of modern cameras that will go down in history as the timeless pieces we’d like them to be. Without sounding too cynical, there are a few modern cameras such as the Canon G9, Olympus E-P1 and pretty much the whole Leica range, that have all proven to be both well-designed and high-performing. Damn I sound like a jerk!
Here are a few vintage cameras that have built micro-communities of users willing to share their photos. Click the images to view the Flickr photo-groups for each designated camera. Each of these models really capture the fuzz and soul of the their subjects.
Currently listening to: Analogue Studies
January 19, 2010
On top of being an amazing designer, my friend Question (Mark) from Analogue Studies is quite the tunesmith. Click here to to check out some of his musical adventures.