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August 23, 2005
The Street Art of Thundercut
Duuuude! Thundercut rules! We were walking around downtown New York City last year when we noticed several crosswalks (Walk-Dont Walk) signals that had been partially covered by stickers. The stickers were carefully designed cut-outs made to look like little adhesive articles of clothing. The stickers were affixed to the signals in such a way that the lit-up humanoid Walk and Don't Walk figures appeared to be "wearing" the clothes. There were various types of "outfits" -- a hip-hop dude carrying a boombox on one signal; a tennis pro in whites on another; a Yankees fan with a 40-ounce beer. (see above) on another. We later learned that the artist(s) responsible for these is called Thundercut. NYC street art doesn't get much cleverer nor much more playful than this. Now there's a web site where you can see some of Thundercut's best work. Check it out at www.thundercut.com and tell 'em Thurston sent ya'!
Posted by Ray Chan at 11:59 PM
August 19, 2005
New Polo "Skull 'n' Bones" Slip-ons
These new Vans-like slip-on sneakers by Polo Sport are sweet. The skull-and-bones graphic pattern is really a departure from what we're used to seeing from the clothing designers at Polo Sport/Ralph Lauren. In fact, the slip-ons look like something one would actually see from Vans itself -- something within the realm of the skate-punk aesthetic. That said, we can imagine a Paul Smith or a Marc Jacobs putting out kicks like these. Now, a word of caution, we haven't seen these sneakers in actual stores yet, at least not in NYC. But when we do ... well, our Starbucks coffee budget will go out the window for a month.
Posted by Ray Chan at 10:11 PM
August 16, 2005
Apple Builds a Better mouse
Finally. Apple capitulates to the idea of the two-button mouse, long a luxury of Windows users. There's some irony here as Apple Computer was the first company to develop and sell a personal computer using a mouse, and it did so long before Windows became a global, household brand. ANYWAY. Apple being Apple, it had to make a multi-functional mouse that was something bettter, if not at very least distinct, from all mouses (er, mice) that have come before. Clerverly named "Mighty Mouse," this new Apple mouse is pretty awesome. But using it will take some getting used to. Instead of the standard two-button design and vertical scroll-wheel, Apple's mouse relies on a control nub that allows for both vertical and horizontal scrolling. Pretty cool. It will be interesting to see if this latest innovation in peripheral hardware will be widely adopted.
Linkage
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:52 AM
August 05, 2005
Design by Barbera
Our buddy Ivan Corsa over at the Air Massive turned us on to the illustration and graphic design of Brazilian artist Gian Barbera. You've probably seen Gian's work in the likes of Dazed and Confused and Wax Poetics magazines. But Gian also does a lot of work for record labels like Sony/BMG and advertising agencies all over the world. A lot of his illustrations are inspired by Brazilian music, as well as jazz and funk. Many of his designs feature musicians (such as Kurt Cobain and Gil pictured above). Check out more of Gian's amazing illustrations at his web site Barbera Estudio
Linkage
Posted by at 12:40 AM
August 01, 2005
MINI Motion Watch by Yves Behar
The folks behind the cult car brand MINI Cooper, which is owned by BMW, spawned a series of MINI-related accessories and gear designed along the lines of the car's brand aesthetic. This included an amazing digital watch that MINI commisioned superstar designer Yves Behar to develop. The MINI Motion, as the watch is called, is a sleek, practical digital timepiece that has a lot of coolness going for it. First there's the totally original springy-carbon wrist band that you pop on in nanoseconds. Then there's a feature that allows you to change the display setting by 90 degress -- that means you can choose to view time vertically or horizontaly on the face, which, if you think about it, is actually a quite handy for when you're driving. The Motion is also a chronograph, and it has an alarm and several other standard features. But what really seduced us was the understated futuro-chic design. This watch is an instant classic.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:25 AM