Hear: Apes & Androids

I wish Apes & Androids were in town. They are the lastest trend inNew York bands like MGMT mixing analog and electro music. A show in Brooklyn in May 2009 is yet to be announced but go to their myspace page to hear this emerging band.

www.apesandandroids.com
www.myspace.com/apesandandroids

Bookmark to:

Cool Hunting

If you don’t know Cool Hunting by now, I suggest you subscribe to their newsletter because they always share tons of new stuff on design, architecture, and everything that is, well, cool. Their videos are little gems. You can watch them on their website or on your iPod and iPhone for free, just visit the iTunes Store in the video podcasts section.

Cool Hunting showed me around Manhattan and Brooklyn last Friday with other creative minds during the 99 Percent Conference and I found some inspiring shops:

- Alter
- Fred Flare
- Eat Records
- Greendepot
- The Smile

Bookmark to:

Shop: Moss

Even if you don’t have enough money to buy anything at Moss just check it out because it’s really one of the best places to find great design in SOHO. There are 4 different showrooms to see - don’t miss the one in the basement!

Bookmark to:

Shop: Wrecords By Monkey

We met Monkey at the Brooklyn Flea Market on Saturday: his stuff was absolutely amazing and original. Wrecords By Monkey is a Brooklyn-based design company that bridges the worlds of fashion, art and music. Using reclaimed vinyl records, they create handmade jewelry like bracelets, necklaces, earings, rings and t-shirts. Veronique could not resist the temptation and bought 2 really cool bracelets.

To Learn more about Wrecords By Monkey visit:www.wrecordsbymonkey.com

Bookmark to:

Shop: Fred Flare

Fred Flare is a great shop and colorful place where you can find all sorts of things like astronaut ice cream, hats, gadgets, tapedeck USB recorders, books and other cool stuff. On the other side of the street be sure you stop at Eat Records.

And as I was researching the shop online, I found out that they also have a video podcast series on the iTunes Store and on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/fredflareinc

Fred Flare
131 Meserole Ave at Leonard Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn 11222
www.fredflare.com

Bookmark to:

SEE: World of Unpredictable Wrestling

While doing the Dumbo’s Soundwalk we came across the Gleason’s Gym. It’s not your average Gym, in fact it’s the oldest active boxing gym in the United States. They have trained 131 world champions and two Olympic Gold medalists. When we got in the gym, we could really feel the history behind the place. We were lucky enough to see the WUW or the World of Unpredictable Wrestling. It was really unpredictable: we saw a Zombie, a wannabe french wrestler called The Musketeer with his assistant called “Oui Oui”, a Pimp called Tristan Spade and the Gay Wrestler Rick Cataldo (Veronique’s coup de coeur) in action.

Watch a few videos to get the feeling of the place:

Gleason’s Gym
77 Front Street 2nd Floor, Brooklyn (Dumbo)
www.gleasonsgym.net

Bookmark to:

Cafe & Shop: The Smile

99 Percent: Meet Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas is the Design Director of New Media, the agency that is behind the Obama Presidential campaign.

The Obama campaign was the first one to fully integrate web and print design as a whole. The process was an ongoing work and, as he explained: “We were truly making an airplane while flying.” The website changed a lot since the first launch, but they really needed to get it up and running. It was in constant evolution. During this campaign, it was very important to deliver a clear and concise message and to keep sending the message of hope. The team made people feel like Obama was already President.

Here are 3 rules from Scott:
- If you want to get new ideas, work with people who are different from you
- Be around people who push you and motivate you
- Write things down, do a to-do list

Scott Thomas ended his presentation with the following comment: “The Obama campaign was simply done by checking out a to-do list.”

Bookmark to:

99 Percent: Meet Robert Hammond

Robert Hammond is the Co-founder and President of Friends of the High Line. His organisation brought the 1.5 mile-long used elevated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side from the brink of demolition, in 1999, to the start of construction, in 2006, and its conversion to a public park. The first section of the new park will open in June 2009.

In his presentation, he told us that giving credit to others always helps when accomplishing a project. Politicians who never really cared about the projects suddenly were really happy to be seen at the inauguration. Hammond doesn’t really mind to be in the shadows as long as the project is undergoing.

The project is really astonishing. Be sure to check out the photos by visiting the website:
http://www.thehighline.org/design/designslideshow.htm

Bookmark to:

99 Percent: Meet The Threadless Guys

Over the years, Threadless has become a multi-million dollars t-shirt business. Meet Jake and Jeffrey, the Threadless guys. Jake Nickell started skinnyCorp about 9 years ago in his appartment like most entrepreneurs do and soon his friend Jeffrey Kalmikoff joined him. At the begining, Threadless was one of their personal projects: they never thought it would become what it is today. Threadless sells about 100 000 t-shirts per month and has over 900 000 registrered users.

At the conference they gave us their best practices:
- If you don’t know how to do it, work it out
- Be 100% reactive: listen to your customers and/or your online community
- Get proactive
- K.I.S. & D.I.Y. (Keep it simple and do it yourself)
- Get realistic, but stay scrappy
- Brutal prioritization, maniacal focus
- You have to take the first step in action

For more on Threadless, here’s an article from 2005 but with a lot more info.
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2005/09/skinnycorp_6_qu.php

Check out this video, it’s another conference they spoke at in 2007.

And here’s a guided tour of Threadless

Bookmark to: