From the moment we encountered the super inspirational work of Congolese photographic artist Sammy Baloji, we haven't been able to get his haunting imagery out of our heads ever since. In the last decade, the artist, who resides in his city of birth Lubumbashi and Brussels, has gathered international acclaim with his photographic works that explore the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the region where he was born named Katanga in the African country Congo. Baloji juxtaposes photographic realities, combining past and present, the real and the ideal, to illicit extraordinary cultural and historical tensions.
With his imagery Baloji explores architecture and the human body as traces of social history, sites of memory, and witnesses to operations of power. History of art and documentary photography blend with that of colonialism. His series of photomontages, of revisited albums confront his historical research with the human and economic actuality (such as the new invasions of these territories by companies from China for instance). All of his juxtapositions are highly charged with meaning, but above all: always succeed in leaving an everlasting impression, that forces one to question past, present and future of Congo and the whole continent of Africa. [ Continue reading ]
While we are wrapping up 2016, we’re looking back once again to everything we have done with Another Something. Another year has passed in which we shared all of the inspirational things that moved us in the realms of fashion, travel, craftsmanship, creative culture, printed matter, cycling and photography, did some super inspiring interviews and worked on fantastic projects, that are yet to be released. It was the year where we decided to do ‘Less but Better’ and it really worked out! From creating less, but better content with Another Something, to focussing on the things we really enjoy: building brands in the richest way possible. We stepped down as creative partner at Tenue de Nîmes, ended our adventure with Our Current Obsessions and decided to celebrate our collaboration with …,staat in merging Atelier Joachim Baan into …,staat from the start of 2017 onwards. There are also some extremely exiting projects we’ve been working on over the past months, which we’re not yet allowed to share, but can’t until the moment we can in early 2017!
Exciting times are ahead of us! [ Continue reading ]
Last month, American photographer Jonathan Levitt, together with Los Angeles-based publisher Snail Press, released a new beautiful printed gem named 'Mawooshen: Life and Landscape of the Maritime Archaic', featuring over 100 carefully selected film photographs taken over the last 10 years. The name of the book refers all the way back to 1605, when British Captain George Waymouth explored what we now know as Midcoast Maine, in an expedition that included a certain gentleman named James Rosier, who wrote a detailed account that was published in England. During this exploration Waymouth and his men kidnapped five Natives and took them to England. The captives reportedly called their homeland Mawooshen. With his book, inspired by Paleolithic animism, western natural history, and shadow archaeology, Levitt creates and alter-world, named after the original native moniker of the lands, through deeply fascinating photographs of geography, plant and animal life, people, and built objects. All of the images are unstaged, analog, and accompanied by fragments of description. The photographs are arranged according to the seasons in which they were taken and span three cycles. The effect is cumulative and modal like a chant. By telling the story of 'Mawooshen' cyclically and ending with the ellipsis of a third spring, Levitt’s cosmology pushes against the linear, eschatological myth of western culture. [ Continue reading ]
In April of this year cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann, together with his regular collaborator; editor and archivist Ryan Mungia, presented one of our favorite printed projects which were released in 2016. The incredible 'Shore Leave' is the first photobook to capture Honolulu during the Second World War through a remarkably curated collection of vintage photographs, a lot of them found in personal scrapbooks of veterans, which were collected by Heimann over years and now made public through Mungia's Boyo Press.
It portrays the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific during the early 1940's, in a period when the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. A totally unique place and time, which shows throughout the images selected by Mungia and Heimann.
Binding all these insightful photographs together in the book creates a truly unique insight, elegantly designed moreover, 'Shore Leave' is one of the most captivating books we have discovered this year.
It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. [ Continue reading ]
With most of the blogs we have been following over the course of the last ten years stuck on their last post without much reason left to believe more is still to come and some of them even completely dead and buried for ever (or evolved into much bigger content producers/magazines of course), luckily there are still a few people out there sharing what they admire through an individually curated filter. One of those places we have been visiting regularly for over five years that remains to be (relatively) active is Dave Smith's This Is Collate, where he has been sharing his personal favorites for years: creations ranging from graphic design, art, fashion, music and photography projects.
Last week, Smith shared a true gem in the last category — shot by his friend Christopher Martin (opposite page), when they both visited Japan in March, which we feel deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Named 'Undercover Japan' (the series by Martin has little to do with Jun Takahashi's namesake fashion label although we feel the isolated aesthetic would speak to the punk avant-garde designer) the observations through the lens of the Belfast-based photographer form an extraordinary photographic series, portraying the many car- and motorcycle-covers to be observed all over Tokyo and Kyoto. Intriguingly serene, yet also evoking a feeling of covered up secrets, for us the series represents certain important elements that make up Japan, next to being just incredibly aesthetic captions of the country that has no equal. [ Continue reading ]
Launched on the 30th of June, but presented to the public today at the Rapha Cycle Club in London, writer Max Leonard and photographer Camille McMillan present an incredible new publication by the name of 'Bunker Research'. Leonard, who is an avid cyclist, found inspiration for the new project while riding around the Alpes-Maritimes region of France, where he noticed the strange structures hidden in the landscape — discrete buildings that seemed to appear out of nowhere in remote locations far away from civilization. The question what and why these military bunkers were doing there, drove the writer —who joined forces with Camille McMillan to document them properly— to find and research these hidden concrete shelters for eight months, which eventually resulted in this elegant printed study.
Strategically placed throughout the French Alps by the French, these bunkers were built in some of the most remote places in Europe. Constructed from reinforced concrete, the constructions blend into their rugged, pristine environment. Although they are slowly succumbing to the elements as they aren't used anymore, the bunkers are enduring features in the landscape and relics from a different time in world politics. The structures with fortifications’ concrete walls were built to withstand bomb blasts, so it will take many more decades for them to totally have disappeared. Until that moment they just lay there, constructed from a form follows function ideology, resulting in a brutalist organic aesthetic, being a unique subgenre in architecture, of which a super interesting chapter is now beautifully captured and presented by Leonard and McMillan. [ Continue reading ]
We've been celebrating the inspirational rugged designs of Los Angeles-based designer Stephen Kenn since the inception of his label about five years ago. While perfecting the fundament he has created with some of the most interesting minimal luxury furniture designs on the market, over the last few years Kenn has kept busy finding interesting creative partners in search of elegant variations of his existing aesthetic design vision. In 2014 he joined forces with fashion designer Simon Miller which resulted in an incredible indigo canvas collection of his sofa and armchair. Last month, on the 21st of April, Stephen Kenn returned with another impressive creative collaboration at the JF Chen gallery in Los Angeles: this time standing shoulder along shoulder with Longjourney menswear founders Alonzo Ester and Alex Carapetian. In their shared project repurposed motorcycle jackets and vintage sweatshirts are getting a second life. The collection includes a pair of black leather armchairs upholstered with panels from motorcycle jackets, and a sofa with a black nickel frame and cushions covered with strips of waxed vintage sweatshirts. Instead of the usual lack of aesthetic relevance of up-cycling projects, this collection truly marries both ethics and beauty, showing what a strong palette Kenn has created for different variations which we one by one really appreciate. [ Continue reading ]
Last month, the New York City-based Robert Miller Gallery closed the first major solo exhibition of the inspirational American painter Ran Ortner, forming the perfect showcase of his incredible talent, which we encountered online recently by chance. Using oil paint, the painter plays mastefully on the lights, the focal length and the details of the huge waves he represents on canvas, making the result very realistic. The artist's process focuses on his unique relationship with the ocean which is reflected in large-scale paintings of bodies of water. His new work examines the tender and terrifying interplay that occurs as waves crash against one another. An autodidact, Ortner has spent the past two decades creating a singular language with the ocean. It is in moments in the rhythm of moving water where Ortner finds inspiring potential. The intoxication he experiences through the elegant rage of the endless sea is what sparks each intricately layered painting, being some of the most impressive hyperrealistic work we have laid eyes on in a long time. [ Continue reading ]
In 2005, two years after the members of the Swiss Cycle Regiment - riding the longest-serving bicycle in civil and military history; the Ordonnanzfahrrad MO 05 - went on parade for the very last time in a town named Sempach, a young guy from Basel; Christian Wernle found the inspiration for what ten years later became a fascinating brand. He spotted a Swiss army sleeping bag while browsing in a flea market, and realized it would make the perfect basis for a range of original, contemporary outerwear. After the minimal yet technical line was introduced last year, Sempach has found a new source of inspiration in another mainstay from the same tradition: the field tent. For their second collection, Sempach has developed a very elegant collection of men’s and women’s waterproof jackets using the same design specifics as the Swiss Army field tent, which form the perfect hybrid of military technical elements and a minimally designed aesthetic. We love it! [ Continue reading ]
With a little under two weeks of running time left, make sure to drop by Amsterdam's Rapha Cycle Club to catch the insightful exhibition named 'Goudkuipjes Mooiste' focussing on the career of one of Holland's most successful road riders: Hennie Kuiper. In the last year opened Cycle Club right in the heart of the beautiful historical center of Amsterdam, on the 9 streets and around the corner of our own studio, the olympic champion, world champion, five-time Tour de France stage victor and multiple one-day Classics winner is honored in an elegant overview. Both through beautiful photography and all kinds of original treasures his numerous accomplishments and accompanying stories of his greatest victories (and defeats) in the career of the cyclist also known as ‘The Gentleman’ have been integrated seamlessly in the space. When in Amsterdam make sure to drop by! [ Continue reading ]
In the Summer of 2014 we discovered the inspirational work of Japanese designer Kouichi Okamoto and his Kyouei Design when he released his elegant 'Square Wind Bell'. This year Okamoto has returned with another remarkable project named 'Re-rain', which was presented to the world at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. In his inspirational project the designer created a sound installation through which he aims to express non-visible elements such as gravity, magnetic force, and sound as physical elements. Created with the sound of rain recorded in Japan during the early days of 2016 as its soundtrack, 'Re-rain' is constructed out of a set of umbrellas placed on top of speakers. The vibrations of the sounds out of the speakers are transmitted through the umbrella to make a sound, but an umbrella cannot vibrate if the magnetic force of the speaker is too small or if the rain hitting the umbrella is either too high or too low in pitch. For this reason a device picking out a state in which the magnetic force of the speaker, weight of the umbrella, and pitch extent of sound are all in a perfectly balanced state forming this beautiful installation. [ Continue reading ]
During the weekend of the 5th of February, Amsterdam will welcome a new initiative by the name of MONO JAPAN. The debuting event organized by the Japan Cultural Exchange offers a stage to acclaimed Japanese masters of traditional practices next to the new generation of ambitious and enthusiastic creators from the country famous for its craftsmanship and design vision. The inspirational new platform has curated a diverse selection of exhibitors, presenting their products which range from pottery, washi (paper), textile, clothing and furniture to teas, sakes and art in the iconic rooms of the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy. Out of this beautiful lot of ambassadors of the Land of the Rising Sun we particularly love the work of multidisciplinary artist Ryo Okamoto, who is present with fellow artist Daimon Kanno, to introduce his totally unique, yet very Japanese vision on contemporary art. [ Continue reading ]
We have been following and appreciating the work of Tom Donhou, an independent frame builder based in London, since we discovered it some years ago when the British craftsman was asked to build a bike for the Rapha Continental race. Ultimately the craftsman was invited to take part in that particular race, riding the frame he built for the cause himself. The beautiful two black swallows of the Donhou logo became a regular sight in the films and photographs coming out of the UK Continental rides, and when the idea to create a bike to accompany the Rapha + Liberty launch was first suggested, Donhou's name was top of the list. Building two bespoke bikes, one for road riding and one for the city, Tom painstakingly incorporated the distinctive Rapha + Liberty print into each frame’s paintwork. Evoking the image of starlings in flight, the 1930s print from the Liberty archive is the perfect match for both Tom’s craftsmanship and the bikes themselves. [ Continue reading ]
In September of 2013 we wrote about the fascinating story of Rob Lutter, who in 2011 had left England by bike and had travelled all the way to Hong Kong for charity. At that moment he sought new funds via Kickstarter to continue being on the road, which he eventually did. A staggering 4,5 years after Rob has left England he covered 40.000 kilometer by bike, completing a tremendous quest all around the world. With the journey officially having reached its final destination a last Kickstarter project has gone live now to create the best possible presentation of the endeavor in an elegant printed form. Rob's goal is to publish two books: 'A Thousand Dawns'; describing the story of the ride and 'Lifecycle'; presenting a collection of selected photos and tales. Make sure to support this remarkable project and man, to let him reach one last final destination. [ Continue reading ]
Although we feel that slowly our saturation point has been reached when it comes to new independent magazines, every once in a while an interesting new name still arrives. The London-based No Substance - an indie magazine with a focus on fashion, photography, and culture - which was founded this year by the young London College of Fashion graduate Becca Deakins is one of those names. The 180-page debut edition recycles the same idea over and over, imploring readers to delve deep into the lives lived outside the ordinary. It features the likes of Rankin, Toilet Paper Magazine, Eva Stenram, Donald Gjoka, Marco Pietracupa, Maurizio Bo, Rita Lino, Scandebergs, Masha Mel and Becca herself. With a strong focus on fashion, photography and culture No Substance is directed at an audience which is able to find style within substance, despite its moniker. We really like this first issue which stands out in the ever-growing field of new magazines and look forward where Deakins will take her promising project. [ Continue reading ]
With the official team presentations, which will take place this evening, the Tour de France fever in our hometown Utrecht is slowly reaching a highpoint (with the tropical temperatures of recent days also playing a significant role in this development). Although the little brother of Amsterdam has gained significantly growing international attention in recent years, because of its beautiful canals and historical city center with a more laidback and less touristic atmosphere - for many people the host of the Grand Départ is still unknown territory. As we have been happily living in Utrecht for quite some years now, we teamed up with Rapha to introduce our city properly and created a little map with all of our favorite destinations when it comes to Food & Drinks, Art & Culture, Antiques & Obsessions, Fashion & Design, Markets & Flowers and Hideouts & Escapes, which we named Utrecht's Finest. For those first getting to know Utrecht, or those who are curious what it is what makes the city special for us. [ Continue reading ]
News from Berlin, as our friends of The Travel Almanac will release number nine of their inspirational magazine next week. Aesthetically the magazine shows a significant break from the earlier issues, with cover subject Charlotte Gainsbourg fragmented into 9 polaroids instead of the usual intriguing portrait, making the new cover a bold move, which we really like. The new edition - underlining why The Travel Almanac continues one of our favorite magazines - has as one of the key themes the fascination and complexity of self-awareness and self-portraiture, first taken on with the inspirational photographer Collier Schorr and secondly discussed with the main representative of the issue; actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, who takes the reader on a walk through her childhood neighborhood in Paris and her newly adopted home New York City. With the other fascinating stories in the magazine taking one all over the globe, from Eastern-Europe, the Mediterranean to the United States, The Travel Almanac 09 proves to be another inspirational read, making us want to continue exploring. [ Continue reading ]
Yesterday marked a highly significant milestone in the 9 year history of our close friends online magazine Fontanel, after the release party on Friday evening at Mendo they officially released their very first printed publication: the definitive showcase of the best design talents who graduated in the Netherlands named 'Dutch Design Talents 14'. The 208-page hardcover book features 19 talents, agency visits, sharp columns and an inspirational dialogue with leading creatives on "the gap" between education and work. This first introduction to an international audience was elegantly designed by Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen (drawswords) and mainly resolves around the 19 talents graduated from renowned Dutch art schools like Eindhoven’s Design Academy, Amsterdam’s Rietveld and The Hague’s Royal Academy of the Arts, after which subsequently a narrative on the overal climate of the current dutch creative culture was formed. Each of the talents is remarkably distinct, one of them is for instance Bob Schiller, who created the EPO Bicycle which we wrote about last year. But despite all the differences in what they created and why, they all share something special in the eyes of Fontanel Chief-editor Willem van Roosmalen: "the combination of a promising attitude and unspoilt creative thinking." [ Continue reading ]
We are very inspired by LTAF ORIGIN. A design and craft research project by Jorinde Meline Barke, creator of label J-M-B JEWELRY, and Frank Michels, co-initiator at the great Berlin-based industrial design studio GECKELER MICHELS. The outcome of the project is a set of four different jewelry pieces implemented in an ancient indian lost-wax casting technique called Dhokra. During preliminary research, anthropological literature led to Dr. Jaidev Baghels’ workshop in Kondagaon — in the city of Chhattisgarh, India — a renowned hotspot for Dhokra. The jewelry pieces were crafted on site under Frank Michels' assistance with both primitive and thoroughly fascinating means. Dr. Jaidev Baghels’ son Buphendra Baghel played a decisive role with leading the making and his team of skilled workers. The seemingly simple process turned out to be a complex and almost alchemistic affair, reminiscent of the Bronze Age’s enormous power of technical and social revolution. Into operation came materials such as sulfur yellow beeswax and black industrial paraffin way, river bed mudd, cow dung and earth from termite’s nests. Remains from used brass vessels were being recycled, and two hens were sacrificed in order to arouse a succesful casting operation. [ Continue reading ]
Berlin-based Lunettes Kollektion translates iconic frames from fashion history to create modern classics. Designer and founder, Uta Geyer’s, philosophy stems from the concept of honoring the past while living in the now. As child of an artistic family Geyer regularly tagged along with her sculptor father on trips through thousands of museums and historical buildings, training her eye for shape and form. In 2006, Geyer opened the Lunettes Selection store in Berlin, which quickly gained a large following. Lunettes also developed as a go-to source for theater, television, and film productions, as well as fashion shoots, and its global following grew among those in-the-know thanks to Geyer’s online shop. In 2009 Geyer opened a second Lunettes Selection shop and launched the premier collection for Lunettes Kollektion, blending a fashion-forward thinking with the annals of style. Recent collaborations with rising names in fashion like Louise Gray, James Long, ODEEH, Christopher Shannon and Michael van der Ham show the brand's deep connection with the best European design, promising a lot for the future. Make sure to keep an eye on the brand. [ Continue reading ]
Recently quarterly men's style magazine Jocks&Nerds started an inspirational online project together with Detroit-based brand Shinola whom have recently opened their first store in London. The brand offers a broad field of products, from watches, leatherwear, bicycles to accessories for you pets and apparel, with everything being produced by skillful craftsman from the United States. The collaboration between Jocks&Nerds fits seamlessly within the philosophy of Shinola as it presents a select group of American craftsmen, but with the twist that they are all based in Britain. A modelmaker, a chef, a tailor, a brewer and today the final chapter is opened, presenting master distiller Jared Brown. Raised in upstate New York and now London-based, Brown works for the independent spirits distillery Sipsmith, where he is a master gin distiller and mixologist. He also used to run the pop up bar at the beautiful Langham hotel. The perfect closing of a beautiful collection of inspirational stories. [ Continue reading ]
On Thursday the 23rd of October a new bicycle racing specialist named Meesterknecht, opened its doors in the centre of Amsterdam. Meesterknecht is a bike shop with a cycling café focused on contemporary cycling. The shop caters to everything cycling enthousiasts dream of and on top of that one can enjoy the shop's exclusive espresso blend 'Gangmaker' (Pacer or Derny), while admiring Amsterdam's rich cycling history on the shop’s walls. The shop is proof that cycling is driven more and more by aesthetics and pleasure, instead of purely focused on performance. Due to the pervasive cycling culture in the Netherlands, cycling is not quickly perceived as being cool, even though cycling was the number one sport in the Netherlands until the late '60s. Every neighborhood in Amsterdam used to have its own criterium race and the cycling legends of the time raced its velodromes. Meesterknecht says it wants to bring back part of this lost culture and take the very best from the cycling community to Amsterdam. [ Continue reading ]
The inspirational Torino-based art collective Nucleo, which is directed by Piergiorgio Robino, recently collaborated for the second time with Gabrielle Ammann Gallery for PAD 2014, the fair for 20th century art and design. With these last amazing creations by Nucleo, which were exclusively produced for the gallery, they explored the the symbiosis of wood and resin, while the new pieces also incorporate references to stone and metal fossils, resulting in the Nucleo's representative blend of opposites; old and new, light and heavy, lost and strong and arousing the law of gravity and in their unique aesthetic which combines a highly futuristic sentiment with elementary organic forms. Stunning! [ Continue reading ]
After O Editorial released its first set of collaborations a year ago, when they celebrated their two years of existence, this summer the platform of our friend Álvaro Tavares Ramos presented a new project: a special edition bicycle in an exclusive collaboration with Portuguese bicycle builders and shop Velo Culture. In addition to being the dominant mode of daily transport in their hometown of Porto, O Editorial selected a bicycle as its next project, it being an elegant object of impeccable design, pairing shape and movement exemplary, with which we can only concur. As with everything, there are bicycles more appealing than others and for this special edition O Editorial collaborated with a like-minded company championing both craftsmanship and aesthetics. Founded by three friends: Miguel Barbot, Sérgio Moura and Hugo Cardoso, the Porto-based Velo Culture was a pioneer in Portugal when it comes to presenting the most elegant classic and urban bicycle brands, making them the perfect partner in creating this beautiful bicycle. [ Continue reading ]
