Person, Place or Thing?

ladidadesign — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 03:52:20 +0000

Since I’ve been mostly “workin’ for the man,” I’m overdue for a little shameless self-promotion. Back in February, in honor of that holiday we all love to hate and hate to love, the lovely folks behind the uber-hip new Mission district boutique in San Francisco, Hangr 16, asked for re:mused‘s photographic assistance in capturing the rough and ready spirit of their “Lovers and Fighters” fashion event. With great local characters lending their looks and their moves to the cause, including one of the designers, herself, we threw together a fun little shoot. If I do say so myself. Which I do.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the evening.

Click to view slideshow.

Hair: Sonja Ritchey Makeup: Karen Miller, Mollie Tuggle

Clothing and Jewelry by Blank, Coastal, Curator, Goodsociety, Gytha Mander, Headline Shirts, Kate Ellen Metals, LAMade, Life/After/Denim, Love Brigade, M Stone, Pact, Rachel Znerold, The Unbranded Brand, Taxi CDC, Turk + Taylor, Earthen

Check them out on 3128 16th Street between Valencia & Guerrero. I was just in there last week and they have some great men’s and women’s fashionables for spring.

The New Lookbook

ladidadesign — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:46:09 +0000

Since I sold my soul to the menswear devil, I frequent a lot of menswear and general style blogs. I view a lot of “lookbooks” and a lot of them look the damn same. Even when they’re trying to be ironic or thinking “out of the box.” But a couple months back someone posted a video of a skateboarder wearing a menswear line, Man About Town, positing to the men of facebook whether or not it resonated with them. Frankly, I didn’t care if it did or didn’t. I loved it. May have been due to my growing up with skateboarders, having crushes on them, wearing Airwalks and trying to master an Ollie on my big brother’s retired deck. But there’s something about the skate rat dressed like a member of the Rat Pack, doing a dance of beautiful street tricks that made me swoon.
Well, today I came across the women’s fashion equivalent. A beautifully shot and soundtracked video lookbook for an Australian line of womenswear, Lover, featuring Amber Scott, Senior Artist with The Australian Ballet. It seemed like the perfect companion piece to demonstrate the potential the fashion industry has to keep pushing the envelope and show their product in a living, breathing way.

Man About Town: Autumn/Winter 2010 starring Kilian Martin

Lover: A Dance for One

Toronto: The City of Light (Fixtures, that is)

ladidadesign — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:54:07 +0000

Yes, it has been quite some time since my last post. 2010 was a very busy year and 2011 is looking to be even busier. I won’t call it a resolution, for that will likely set me up for failure… but I hope to gather inspiration to post more frequently. So here goes…

I was fortunate enough to visit Toronto the first week of February for a photo shoot. Now, admittedly, February may not be the most popular time to travel to Ontario, Canada. But we made it through the snow storms and the city is truly beautiful, even covered in snow. Helping to keep warm were the incredible light fixtures I found in restaurants, bars, and the many interior design shops just walking distance from my downtown hotel. Here are some of the highlights.

Matt Stuart’s “Happy Accidents”

ladidadesign — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:47:48 +0000

On more than one occasion I’ve found myself trying to explain to my “non-designer” friends that there’s a major blessing and a curse to being a designer, or any artist for that matter. It’s virtually impossible to turn it off. Whether sitting in front of a computer screen with the Adobe Creative Suite open or not, subconsciously or consciously, I look at the world in spacial relationships, color, composition, etc. And yes, that foot mark instead of an apostrophe on that billboard along the highway is making my eyes bleed! The blessing part is when you see that image in front of you that’s so unexpected and serendipitous that you just have to grin from ear to ear. The curse? That you forgot your camera. Well, Matt Stuart doesn’t forget his camera. If you need a bit of a pick-me-up… browse through his collection of incredible “Happy Accidents” photographs. They warm my little designer heart. Here are a select few:

(Have a Happy Accident you’d like to share?? Email me your images and I’ll post the collection to the re:mused blog. { hello@remusedstudio.com })

Astronauts are the new black.

ladidadesign — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:08:51 +0000

Trend spotting: Astronaut art.

Jeremy Geddes. AMAZING paintings I only wish I could see in person.

Vincent Fournier. Beautiful photography project entitled “Space Project,” fittingly.

Joby Hickey & Victor Ash. Street art.

Cory McAbee’s The American Astronaut. I was drawn in by the movie poster… but the trailer is something else! A little bit La Jetée, a splash of 1984, and a hint of Metropolis. A press quote reads, “Imagine a long Laurel & Hardy skit directed by Salvador Dali” – Entertainment Weekly. It apparently came out in 2001 and cleaned up on the festival circuit. Don’t know how I could have missed this one in my film studies during art school. I mean, a space-western/musical? Yes, please. Definitely going to have to rent it. I’ll let you know if it’s out of this world.

I Heart Andrew Bannecker

ladidadesign — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:30:57 +0000

One of my favorite design blogs, Notcot.org, had a featured post on one of my favorite illustrators, Andrew Bannecker, this week. I stumbled upon his work a few years ago and came oh-so-close to having the opportunity to work with him on a project, and my heart sank when there was a last minute change in direction. I love love love his work, so in honor of the upcoming “holiday,” here are a few of my favorites…

It brought me Happy Joy to see that a selection of his prints are now available in his online shop.

Today’s Soundtrack…

ladidadesign — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:22:39 +0000

Listening to the new Midlake album, The Courage of Others, while simultaneously going through some fantastic old photos of my parents “hippie” years. Seems fitting. Going to have to find a way to sneak The BeeKeeper into some album artwork someday…

Listen to track:

01 Acts Of Man

zee german hast done it!

ladidadesign — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:24:53 +0000

My talented friend, Philipp Streibe, has relaunched his website, updated with some of his newest breathtaking fine art photography. Some of which were even shot here at the home of re:mused studio. I can’t decide which I like better, his color work or black and white, his portraits or landscapes… Here are a few of my personal favorites (click to view larger):

I quite often introduce Philipp as “Possibly the nicest German you’ll ever meet,” so it’s pretty easy for me to get behind this artist with my genuine support. I have no doubt you will be seeing a lot more coming from his lens. Perhaps a future collaboration project with re:mused? (ahem, hint hint, Philipp.)

View the rest of his work here.

And check out his blog for updates, inspirations, Holga photos, music recommendations, etc.

“Caffeine & Gasoline” Hot Off the Presses!

ladidadesign — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:06:13 +0000

The phenomenal Bay Area talent, Elliot Randall (no, NOT the guy from Steeley Dan) came to re:mused before the holidays to do the artwork for his new album with his band The Deadmen. We’ve been working together since the first EP he put out, but collaborating this time around proved things do keep getting better with time.

First off, Elliot Randall & The Deadmen have truly hit their stride with “Caffeine & Gasoline.” Elliot co-produced the album with David Simon-Baker (ALO, Mother Hips, Jackie Greene… and just happens to be one of my favorite people), creating an alt-country/americana rock record to be reckoned with. The album officially releases on February 9, 2010. You can watch some behind the scenes footage here:

The album artwork was a blast to create, drawing inspiration from the warm, gritty, southern sound the band creates. Special thanks to photographer David Arnspiger of Traumantic Studios for letting me play with his photographs!

The band is currently touring up and down the west coast in support of the album. Check out the dates here and preview the music on their myspace page or at amazon.com (my favorite track so far: “Judgement Day”).

somewhere in Russia, a hardware store is out of Elmers…

ladidadesign — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:15:44 +0000

As a kid you may recall making birdhouses out of popsicle sticks and tongue depressors. Or maybe you even had the engineering prowess to win the toothpick bridge building contest in your young adolescence? Well, I think the Russians win for most ridiculously incredible wooden church.

I love me some modern architecture, but when I came across pictures of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Kizhi Island, I had to pick my jaw back up. I grew up down the street from a Russian Orthodox church and always loved it’s shiny gold domes. And I’ve always marveled at the brightly colored domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. But the intricate beauty of this completely wooden structure, in which NO NAILS were used, and the way the light reflects of the aspen shingles is breathtaking. I can only imagine what it must be like in person.

Khizi Island, according to the wonderful world of Wiki “is an island on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia” in Russia. “The entire island of Kizhi is a museum with many historically significant and beautiful wooden and log structures including windmills, chapels, boat- and fish-houses, saunas, barns and granaries, and homes.”

This church was built in 1714, and is currently undergoing preservation. It’s apparently one of the tallest log structures in the world and it’s 22 domes are made of thousands of hand cut aspen shingles.

This. Is. Craftsmanship.