Archive for the ‘Blog Feature’ Category
If you’ve checked out our A/W 2011 lookbook you’ll no doubt recognize that our latest customer profile features artist Toyin Odutola. Toyin and I have been friends since the early 00s when we met on Livejournal via an art community Brannan and I had created to feature non-digital artwork. (Damn, I miss the intimacy and camaraderie of ‘ol LJ!)
She’s always been so supportive, and it’s been just awesome watching her develop as a contemporary artist who is already rep’d by the well known Jack Shaiman gallery in NYC. I highly recommend paying a visit her site to see and learn more about her conceptually and physically complex work.
Like me, Toy favours an androgynous silhouette, so I really love how she paired the (now sold out) Osei-Duro Nigerian Eyes Print Dress with long shorts, and flat boots. She also snagged an Osei-Duro bogalon bag while she was here in September. (All images that follow, courtesy Toyin Odutola) Enjoy!
1. What’re you wearing (at time of interview)?
I am wearing my basic uniform: A black thermal sweatshirt, blue jeans, a worm-out brown belt and a pair of paint-spotted hiking boots.
2. Draw a picture of yourself in your favorite piece of clothing/outfit
Currently my favorite clothing item is really a vital accessory for me. I am prone to neck cough and colds, so I’m a bit of a scarf hoarder. This summer my friend Maebel sent me a lovely scarf from her shop KIDAN which I wear practically every day. It’s ornate and delightfully decorative, but it is also very utilitarian, for it’s thick and smooth feel, which keeps my neck warm and comfortable.
3. You’re currently finishing up your MFA, but you’re basically a full blown studio artist now, and your debut show sold out before the opening. Tell us about your work!
Yes, it’s quite the juggling act, but I am grateful for the opportunity to be doing work that I truly enjoy. My artwork consists of mainly pen and ink portraits exploring what it is like to exist in a time when history, information and the state of the nomad are collapsing into one in our time. It could be read as identity art, but I feel the narratives I explore go a bit deeper than that. In the end, I hope for people to understand that the essential components of a person are more important than the perceptions imposed on her/him.
4. What do you find yourself thinking about obsessively that’s a major influence on your creative process?
I am a mess in all other aspects of my life. There is so much randomness, spontaneity and chaos everywhere, that I absolutely must have control and containment when it comes to my studio practice. My studio for all intents and purposes is a haven for me and it must be orderly and organized in order for my creative process to flourish. I find that if my surroundings in the “workspace” are unkempt it will reflect on my artwork. It’s funny, for when it comes to my sleeping quarters—wherever they may be, it’s like a hurricane went through it.
5. What do you think should be required reading?
This is a difficult question. I used to read voraciously, unfortunately I hardly read consistently at all. So if anything, I can only recommend the books that I have read more than once in the past. I can’t say whether any of my favorite novels should be required reading; however, I often find that reading Zadie Smith’s ON BEAUTY speaks volumes to me–even now. Although WHITE TEETH had a profound effect on me, I related more to the characters in ON BEAUTY, for their honesty regarding class, education (mainly academia), race, the impact and reception of art history in contemporary society and the complicated relationships (family, friends, etc.) entangled within all of those elements.
Fi and Kain of ffiXXed were some of the first designers we contacted to carry at the shop. Since then other retailers have started to pick up their line and each collection brings a new refinement to their design philosophy. We’re huge fans of their work and I can honestly say they are not only really amazing, creative types but they’re fantastic people as well. It’s so much fun to hear what they’re up to, because it’s always something dynamic and motivating. (Sneak a glimpse of portions of their awesome living space below. Kain painted all of the floors white!). All images provided by ffiXXed.
They were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to participate in our Designer Interview series, and we’re happy to now be able to share it with all of you!
1. Show us your favourite piece of art – contemporary or otherwise
Sculpture by James Deutscher
2. Favourite place to sit and read a good book
3. What’s your favourite hot weather dessert recipe?
Strawberry Parfait at Shiseido Parlour, Tokyo
Strawberry Parfait
- 4 cups sliced strawberries, divided
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup amaretti cookie crumbs (about 8 cookies)
- 1/2 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
Directions:
- Place 2 cups of strawberry slices and granulated sugar in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Set strawberry puree aside.
- Combine ricotta and next 4 ingredients (ricotta through vanilla) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons cookie crumbs into each of 4 parfait glasses. Top each portion with 2 tablespoons strawberry puree, 1/4 cup strawberry slices, and 3 tablespoons ricotta mixture; repeat the layers. Drizzle the remaining strawberry puree over each serving. Chill for 2 hours.
- Top each parfait with 2 tablespoons whipped topping and 1 1/2 teaspoons almonds.
4. You’ve been dropped in the middle of Antarctica – design a piece of clothing or an accessory either from materials you’d find there, or elsewhere that you feel is the perfect compliment to the environment and sketch it.
Penguin warmers!
5. Draw a picture of your favourite houseplant.
6. Assuming you have a little free time in between the crazy hours you work on your collections, is there anything else creative you’ve been working on in your free time? If so share what it is and a picture if you can.
We have been experimenting with porcelain dinnerware products, with varying degrees of success. This is dishware made in collaboration with James Deutsher.
7. If you could publish a colouring book, what would be in it?
Rappers with tattoos and corporate logos.
New blog feature time! What I like most about this new feature is that it highlights what I like most about running our little online shop – meeting and interacting with amazingly creative people, and I’m not just talking about our designers. We have some pretty awesome customers too. I’m not surprised that a large number of our customers are creatively inclined, since we do tend to gravitate toward arty, conceptual designers.
I started thinking about contacting a few of our customers, who’d shared personal links and had intriguing careers and hobbies. A couple of them are personal friends (talk about being amazingly supportive).
Kimberly first caught my attention when we were filling her order and I noticed she’d included a link to her blog (yes, she has two!). I clicked over and was immediately hooked as some of her posts hinted at a really interesting day job. If you haven’t seen her clean, architectural bags yet, you’ve probably been living under a rock!
So without further delay, meet the super talented, super cool Kimberly.
1. What’re you wearing?
Photo 1&2 : Margaret Howell linen top / vintage work pants / Building Block tassel / SSWTR pyramid bag
(See a couple more outfit photos on our FB page.)
2. Draw a picture of yourself in your favourite piece of clothing/outfit!
3. Your career is in a creative field and you make things in your free time as well. Tell us more! What’s your preferred way of expressing yourself artistically? (Share pictures of your creations if you’d like)
At the moment, I split my time between a day job designing cars at Honda’s Advanced Studio and moonlighting with Building Block. It’s an interesting balance, as both jobs are technical and aesthetically driven, though on different levels. Both mediums walk the line between beauty and usability.
I started Building Block after feeling increasingly detached in a corporate environment and was craving an outlet for personal expression. I’ve always tinkered around with different mediums..from bags, to ceramics, to trying to construct the world’s best sandwich! But this time around I was looking to build a concept from scratch—starting Building Block was much more of an emotional and idealogical craving rather than a routine hobby. The bags acknowledge my ideas about minimalism, luxury, honesty and humor through the use of proportion, material choices, scale, and utility. Ultimately, whether it’s cars or bags, I’m optimistic that anything and everything can be a vehicle (no pun intended!!) for expression as long as you’re honest with yourself.
4. What do you find yourself thinking about obsessively that’s a major influence on your creative process?
At one point I was learning loose landscape drawing, and I had this really great teacher who taught me to break everything down to it’s most basic form, then design and exaggerate shapes from it. The lesson has stayed with me for years now, and I’m always reminded of it when approaching my work. It’s an interesting challenge using deconstruction as a design tool–removing the unnecessary and playing up the remaining elements. At the core, it’s about how to filter through all the noise, and boil a design down to an honest statement.
5. Required reading?
Most recently Geek Love by Katherine Dunn for all its twisted, complicated glory. Anything from the genius mind of Roald Dahl–I can’t imagine childhood without his stories!
6. Recently found treasures?
- a spider web cleaning tool by an artist from Kyushu, Japan
- hand made bowl from a recent trip to Mashiko, Japan
- Japanese folk art papier mache cat
- indigo dyed embroidering thread
Well, it’s been awhile since the last guest post, but the maven of non-weddingy wedding advice, East Side Bride was gracious enough to oblige. Her only request was that it be neither wedding nor fashion related (no problem there, seeing as I’m on the diversification of content bandwagon). Sooooo instead of discussing the latest in mean hipster bride wear (check her blog byline) and the greatest pair of XYZ brand heels she’s ever seen, she’s shared her idea of the perfect, lazy afternoon. Nothing wrong with a little daydreaming at the beginning of the week, right?
Photo of Henry Public by Sam Horine, courtesy of metromix new york
“On Henry Street in Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) there is a bar called Henry Public, where I sat with my best friend S one five o’clock in early May and drank a “Wide Awake Cocktail,” which is made with gin, lemon, ginger (fresh + liqueur), and SCOTCH. I ordered the Wide Awake because I was baffled and intrigued by the idea that whiskey and gin — my two favorite spirits — could be mixed together. You better believe they can.
My ideal afternoon would be to have that afternoon again. Sitting at Henry Public’s marble-topped bar with S, the late afternoon sunlight slanting in, teasing the hipster bartender, laughing at a flock of yipster patrons, drinking the most amazing cocktail. Talking to my friend.
This time we’ll order the oysters. And maybe a burger. And we’ll hire a real babysitter, so S can stay out past six-thirty.”
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