A few weeks back we were pointed to an article written by Michael Taussig called ‘Redeeming Indigo’. The article was published by Theory, Culture & Society ((SAGE, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore), Vol. 25(3): 1–15)  back in 2008 but after a little research I found out it was a chapter of his book ‘What Color Is The Sacred’ published in 2009 by The University of Chicago Press.
Attracted by the subject and his lively kind of storytelling I bought the book and started reading.
It is an amazing publication linking together ideas, thinkers and things; jumping into the history of color to form an interpretation on why color surrounds us, and how that changed in history. As the New York Times put it together “…blending fact and fiction, ethnographic observation, archival history, literary theory and memoir, his book read more like beatnik novels than somber analyses of other cultures.” A must-read for everybody who’s working in the creative industry! Get the book at Amazon or as an ebook at ebooks.com
Images by Kees Sprengers: Indigo dying of cotton in a Lantien Village, Laos.
Black and white image: Mid-ninenteenth-century Bengalis in an indigo vat.

“The intense deep blue of the ocean in stormy weather”

— Grant, 1866

Last year Tenue de Nîmes was invited to New Castle by Nigel Cabourn. He wanted to share a sneak preview with us of his 2011 Spring Summer collection. He told us about his search for old designs, materials and fabrics. He shared some of his most bizarre finds with us and told us about his quest to put these finds in a contemporary, Nigel Cabourn perspective. This search for a perspective led him to this season’s theme: The Submarine. This is how Nigel created a naval season with a true Cabourn touch. We were honored to get such an outstanding introduction to the collection. In Tenue de Nîmes’ opinion this short interview shines an extra light on the extraordinary SS11 collection by Nigel Cabourn. Enjoy the show and get Nigel Cabourn’s collection here.
And check some more some pictures we’ve shot over here >

My favorite car Nº2, straight after the Porsche 912, is Berlinette, a.k.a. the Renault Alpine A110. Built by Jean Rédélé in Dieppe, France, in 1954 and from 1962 till 1978 under the official license of Renault it won the Monte Carlo rally of 1971 with Ove Andersson and it became the first World Rally Champion.
Above a randomly picked set of images from the internet. Let’s hit the road!

Started with the Single Red Deepsea project by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, son of legendary Jacques Piccard who dove 10 kms into the Pacific ocean, Philipp Stahl from Maastricht now moved to the highest point on earth, the Mount Everest.
In a tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and their achievement and legacy on the Everest, they’re bringing three customized Rolex watches in the Hillary Tenzing Explorer package. You will get four drawers filled with watches, a toolkit, Shell Cordovan leather straps and other articles specially designed and selected for the Hillary Tenzing Explorer package, numbered and signed by Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son’s of the legends.
This May the family and friends of the adventurers will come together for the official presentation in Geneva, Switzerland. Amongst them Peter Hillary, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, Jan Morris (former Times correspondent in 1953 on Everest), Bertrand Piccard, Don Walsh (the pilot that dove with Jacques Piccard to the deepest point in 1960) and other famous adventurers will be present.
On Monday 16 May, Christie’s will auction number 88 of the Hillary Tenzing Explorer series and the revenues will go to the foundations of the Hillary and Tenzing families.

From the bottom of the sea, to the top of the world, and everything in between – simply amazing!
(Images from HTE and 100 Percent Rolex)

Isn’t this just a wonderful picture?! A gun, firing a projectile in high speed, taken by Gjon Mili (1923 – 1984). Gjon Mili was a pioneer in the use of photoflash to capture a sequence of actions in one photograph together with Harold Eugene Edgerton of MIT. Really fascinating to see what he did! Head over to the Life archives to see more >

Yesterday, during the launch of the new Nintendo 3DS, I’ve met Folkert Hengeveld, a fellow Anothersomething reader and heritage junk. At this moment he’s working on a crazy project, and he was so generous to share it with us. Folkert Hengeveld bought this old Medium Wheel Base Toyota LandCruiser (an extremely rare Japanese version) and started restoring the baby, reporting it on this neat little blog. If you like cars, if you like heritage, and if you like true dedication follow Folkert on his journey to make it a beautiful car!

I found this huge image archive of the Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company on flickr the other day. Above a group photo of Colt assembly line workers in the Colt’s East Armory. Machinery can be seen throughout the shop.
Below a woman holding two pieces together from an odd percussion revolver with rifle-dimension cylinder and barrel. And the last picture is a silver plated and engraved Colt Single Action Army revolver once owned by Capt. Bert DeBaum, a Deputy U.S. Marshall.
Enjoy more images over at the Flickr Connecticut State Library Archive >

I love the work of Danish-American photographer Peter Sekaer (1901 – 1950). Resently Steidl published his first monograph called Signs of Life by Peter Sekaer. ‘Sekaer’s early work combines dispassionate images with others that show his concern and intuitive grasp of the human condition. Many of his most memorable photographs were made while fulfilling mundane assignments for various government agencies. Sekaer had none of the reformer’s passion found in the works of Jacob Riis or Lewis Hine. His stance was more that of the artist/anthropologist, who delighted in recording the artifacts and gestures that defined American society in the 1930s.’
(Above “Phrenologists Window, New Orleans”, Peter Sekaer, 1936, gelatin silver print, 8 x 10″)

Love the book and love the flickr set: Rolling Homes: Handmade Houses on Wheels by Jane Lidz, published in 1979 by A & W publishers Inc. Now lets try to get my hands on one of those rare hardcover first prints…

Something for these winter days: This ‘modern’ windsled was used to transport passengers and goods between Madeline Island and Bayfield, WI. (Found at the Wisconsin Historical Images flickr feed.)

You can be an Astronaut’s son, but you will always need to clean your fathers car. The only profit is that the car will probably a Maserati… Astronaut Walter Schirra’s son cleans his father’s Maserati as dad looks on. From the Life Archives.

90 years old and still can’t bust ‘m! After the Buddy Lee shop window we did at Tenue de Nîmes I kind of fell in love with this little figure. The buddies we used there where the new ones, the third rebirth of this iconic puppet. His history goes back to 1920, when Chester Reynolds, a Lee Company Union All salesman, had been handing out bite-sized promotional overalls at country fairs when the idea of creating a doll to fit them sprung in mind.

After that moment Buddy Lee changed from material (from a very fragile plastic to an unbreakable material where he got his name ‘can’t bust m’), grew a little (1 inch in 1949), worn different commercial outfits (from a Coca-Cola and Pepsi salesman, a Philips 66 station attendant to a railway man) and several Lee outfits (from the blue denim bib overalls with the striped jackets to the denim cowboy pant, shirt, bandana and hat). In 1955 Buddy Lee is the second most popular doll in the United States (you can guess who’s nr 1…) and available for only two dollars he is literally taking over the States! In that light, it is really amazing that this little doll became such a collectors item (the original buddy Lee is worth more than $1.000)
There are tons of stories about this little man, every decade got his own; Here’s just one.

“1951:  One of the worst floods in the city’s history wipes out Lee’s Kansas City Distribution Center. It ruins the entire stock of merchandise, except the Buddy Lee dolls – which float.
A helicopter news team spots ‘babies’ drowning in the streets and reports that rescue boats (Lee employees) are out attempting to save them.”

Just another historical fact proving you can’t bust Buddy Lee.

Some historical shopwindows with Buddy Lee.

An old Buddy Lee advert.

The shopwindow at Tenue de Nîmes