밴드혁오
4.19.2015
Vivian Maier
Piecing together Vivian Maier's life can easily evoke Churchill's famous quote about the vast land of Tsars and commissars that lay to the east. A person who fit the stereotypical European sensibilities of an independent liberated woman, accent and all, yet born in New York City. Someone who was intensely guarded and private, Vivian could be counted on to feistily preach her own very liberal worldview to anyone who cared to listen, or didn't. Decidedly unmaterialistic, Vivian would come to amass a group of storage lockers stuffed to the brim with found items, art books, newspaper clippings, home films, as well as political tchotchkes and knick-knacks. The story of this nanny who has now wowed the world with her photography, and who incidentally recorded some of the most interesting marvels and peculiarities of Urban America in the second half of the twentieth century is seemingly beyond belief.
An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Vivian bounced between Europe and the United States before coming back to New York City in 1951. Having picked up photography just two years earlier, she would comb the streets of the Big Apple refining her artistic craft. By 1956 Vivian left the East Coast for Chicago, where she'd spend most of the rest of her life working as a caregiver. In her leisure Vivian would shoot photos that she zealously hid from the eyes of others. Taking snapshots into the late 1990's, Maier would leave behind a body of work comprising over 100,000 negatives. Additionally Vivian's passion for documenting extended to a series of homemade documentary films and audio recordings.
Interesting bits of Americana, the demolition of historic landmarks for new development, the unseen lives of various groups of people and the destitute, as well as some of Chicago's most cherished sites were all meticulously catalogued by Vivian Maier.
A free spirit but also a proud soul, Vivian became poor and was ultimately saved by three of the children she had nannied earlier in her life. Fondly remembering Maier as a second mother, they pooled together to pay for an apartment and took the best of care for her. Unbeknownst to them, one of Vivian's storage lockers was auctioned off due to delinquent payments. In those storage lockers lay the massive hoard of negatives Maier secretly stashed throughout her lifetime.
Maier's massive body of work would come to light when in 2007 her work was discovered at a local thrift auction house on Chicago's Northwest Side. From there, it would eventually impact the world over and change the life of the man who championed her work and brought it to the public eye, John Maloof.
Currently, Vivian Maier's body of work is being archived and cataloged for the enjoyment of others and for future generations. John Maloof is at the core of this project after reconstructing most of the archive, having been previously dispersed to the various buyers attending that auction. Now, with roughly 90% of her archive reconstructed, Vivian's work is part of a renaissance in interest in the art of Street Photography.
4.17.2015
4.15.2015
Product Introspection: Handwork
Hand-drawn works will always reflect a person's individuality. If the work contains a private message, then even more so. Now imagine a piece of clothing that exists solely for you, the only one in the world.
During the 1930's-40's in America, it was common for someone who graduated college, switched jobs, or was discharged from the military to be presented with a hand-drawn, customized shirt or jacket full of personalized messages as a parting gift from his or her friends. Considered extremely precious by vintage collectors, these items are referred to as 'conversational pieces.'
These pieces often include names, graffiti-style illustrations, and personalized messages to the friend who is going away.
It's hard not to get a warm feeling when reading these messages and imagining the thoughts behind these drawings. Each message shows the peculiarities of the writer, making these pieces really fun and expressive. We took inspiration from these pieces, and worked together with a hand-drawing artisan to create products in the same spirit as the traditional Kyo-yuzen kimono painting technique.
Among these items is a t-shirt with an illustration of my face. This design was actually based on a sketch done by my wife. In exploring how to show one's tender side, I thought that it would be interesting to put a design with a very personal meaning onto a commercial product like a t-shirt. That was the catalyst behind this experiment. Ultimately, I feel that a pure message has the power to touch the human heart.
Kyo-yuzen is a traditional Japanese craft used to paint designs on kimono. I've been to the atelier in Kyoto many times, and am still awed by how much hand work is involved in the Kyo-yuzen process. There are over 20 steps that all require some form of handpainting, including pattern design, rough sketch, glue application, priming, coloring, steaming, resist dyeing, and background dyeing.
I wanted to see what the result would be like if we took this extremely time-consuming method and applied it to items other than a kimono. The shirt and robe that we made this season are the product of this idea. Each item was made in extremely limited quantities with prices to match, but they are the ultimate manifestation of product experimentation and are two items we proudly invite you to come see for yourself.
Embroidery has become largely automated, but designs that are made one stitch at a time by real human beings reflect the thoughts and emotions of the person who performed the embroidery in a way that can't be replicated by machines. If a person sews with a gentle disposition this will be reflected in the end product, and the converse is also true. I find this quite fascinating.
The sashiko embroidery technique from the Tohoku region in Japan is appealing for precisely this reason. The coverall and t-shirt you see here were inspired by the 'conversation pieces' mentioned earlier. We hope you can enjoy and appreciate the unique nature of each individual piece.
Visvim
4.01.2015
Reactor Stove Systems
MSR
MSR
In 1969, Seattle engineer and lifelong mountaineer Larry Penberthy formed Mountain Safety Research as a one-man crusade dedicated to improving the safety of climbing equipment. The fuel behind Larry's passionate fire was a simple belief that still drives out team today: The idea that better, safer, more reliable equipment is the key to unlocking greater adventures.
From that notion evolved a pioneering outdoor company whose innovations have revolutionized the way people experience the outdoors worldwide. Today, we're a close-knit team still obsessed with designing the most reliable, high-performance gear possible, using our knowledge of engineering and science to find better solutions to the challenges of the mountains.
At MSR, we are engineers, tinkers and passionate outdoor users - each with strong perspectives on how a product should work based on our own experiences in the wild places we love. But collectively, we believe that innovative solutions are bred by challenging convention, and that functionality, simplicity and reliability are the governing elements of enduring design.
Today, many MSR products are still hand-built on manufacturing lines just a floor below where we concept them. And we're still driven to engineer gear for those who believe a trusted companion can be as simple as a 20-year-old stove that burns strong on family backpacking trips, to a water filter that provides the safe hydration needed to fuel the greatest expeditions into the farthest reaches of the globe.
MSR
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