THE WALLPAPER

DALE FRANK

TUNE IN

Glasser

After seeing Glasser play at CMJ the other week, I can't really stop listening.  It's seductive stuff.  The music is beat-heavy electro pop with really ethereal vocals. Moody, whirling, spell-binding, eclectic-- all of these things.  

Oh yeah, and Cameron Mesirow (Glasser) is an absolute siren.

On repeat: Apply. (Also be sure to listen to the Delorean and Tanlines Apply remixes!)

THE UNIFORM

We've been losing entire afternoons to the New York Public Library's digital archive.  It's hard to come up for air once you're in the thick of it.  

We are particularly attached to Dr. H. J. Vinkhuijzen's  impressive collection of some 32,000 images of uniforms.  Dr V., a 19th century Dutch physician, traveled the world assembling scrapbooks of his own illustrations, book clippings, and other images of military costume  from the Bronze Age warriors, to Medieval court officials, to the various armies of 19th century Europe. We can certainly appreciate his fascination with regalia, its evolution, and its contrasts from country to country.  You're the best, Dr. V.

Dive in and see what you can dredge up. Below is a sampler of our favorites from around the globe in the late 19th century...

Russia.

Mexico

Mexico, again.

Egypt

Bulgaria

Austria

DISCUSSION NO.5

What We Talk About When We Talk About:

Letterpress Printing

We're extremely excited to share this wonderful company, Brown Parcel Press, founded and run by our two buddies McDavid Moore and Megan Boling. Both of these insanely talented artists have been mastering the art of letterpress since our days together in Athens, Georgia and have since moved their operation up to Brooklyn (while still keeping an auxiliary office down South).

The centuries old relief printing technique combined with their eye for quirky minimalist line drawings is the perfect combination.

Tactile, yet slick. Old worldly, yet modern.

Perfect!

Check out their website and give 'em call.

They're a ton of fun to work with! (see the #6 Wedding project...)

OUR PICKS NO.2

This week: Where would you go for a month to be an apprentice for a master shoemaker?

Heidi: ummmm....

Charlotte: Budapest!

In fact, I'm here this very moment, stuffed to the brim with bean goulash, sketching a handsome monk strap shoe, and repeating  "köszönöm" aloud, each time with less confidence.  

 Expect reports in the next month on Budapest, cordwaining, and anything in between. But first, a small note on Koronya, Budapest's renowned bespoke shoe and boot atelier (where I am an apprentice).

Koronya is operated by master shoemaker Marcell Mrsán, a true artisan and pioneer in this renaissance of quality handcrafts. 

While most shoemakers tend to be cagey about the secrets of their trade, Marcell has made it his mission to preserve the traditional techniques of cordwaining.  He offers apprenticeships to aspiring shoemakers and demands nothing less than perfection from his pupils, just as was expected of him as a youngster at an Hungarian trade school.

So I'm here to tell you I survived my first day of the apprenticeship, wound-free. More reports to come... 

PATTERNS III

The Berbers of Morocco are the outsider artists of the rug merchant world. Their semi-nomadic, tribal history has kept them clear of trends and consumer demand- mainly the classical symmetries of Middle Eastern models- leaving us with wildly imaginative wool creations.

via NYTimes

TIED UP

Probably old news for most, but mainsai is new to us and we love it!

Our favorite pieces from the collection are inspired, not so subtly, by sailor knots- but the larger focus is on wartime relics. It's worth a look, we think.

(available at bird!)

OUR PICKS NO.1

When we were kids, a regular activity for us was to make a choosing game out of everything- probably a method to cope with our mom dragging us around town from antique shop to framing store to grocery store. Some scenarios were more elaborate than others, but more often than not we would make each other choose which shower fixture, which painting or which cheese, whatever the situation might be, we would want from the selection in front of us. We took this very seriously. Your decision was not to be taken lightly- judgement was being passed and it would be totally disreputable to have a sister with questionable taste (pretty intense 10 year olds, huh?) Here is our attempt at recreating this childhood game...

Each week we choose a category and make 'our picks'

This week: Brooklyn restaurant

Heidi's pick: Vinegar Hill House

oven roasted octopus

cast iron chicken

crushed roasted beets

a bottle of this Croatian red, Ottocento Crni

Charlotte's pick: The Good Fork

fried oyster po'boy

homemade ricotta gnocchi

steve's key lime pie

gin, mint, lemon cocktail

PATTERN ON PATTERN ON PATTERN ON

THE SISTERS

We love the book covers that Vanessa Bell did for her sister, Virginia Woolf's, first edition books.

THE NOTES ON MOVING

Eadweard Muybridge

The guy who famously settled the bet of whether all four of a horse's hooves are off the ground at the same time when galloping.

THE CHOP SERIES

CHOP No. 1

Best Made Company

"...celebrating the collision between a Best Made axe and wood."

I've watched this over and over. I'm mesmerized. The music is by one of my favorites, Nico Muhly. Directed by Finn O'Hara.

THE CALENDAR

A nice calendar is surprisingly hard to find, don't you think?

We're covered in terms of desk calendars/ schedulers (Moleskine page-a-day), but wall calendars, in our opinion, need to fall somewhere in the realm of functional design. Obviously, it needs to work, but it should also be something that you enjoy. We take our yearly wall calendar purchases as seriously as buying a pice of art... that is what it becomes after all.

The top calendar (the Stendig) was our staple for 2 years. 

Simple. Easy. Perfect.

But we're switching it up for 2011 with the amazing hand-printed Dolphin Studio calendar made by the French family in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The others are just nice and I swear I had the idea of the human calendar years ago- it's written somewhere in my sketchbook. I need to dig it up...