dork magazine.

March 19, 2008

Art & Design. Jose Parla

Art & Design. Jose Parla: Jose Parla is making his way to Italy. Starting March 29th and running until May 10th his latest exhibit Memory Documents will be held at Galleria Il Trifoglio Nero located in Genoa, Italy. Parlá named this installation Memory Documents because his works become fragments of places he’s been.

As we reported before, when we first saw Parla’s work, his striking color balance and effortless motion drew us in. We’ve been a fan ever since. If you're in the area, be sure to check it out.

For more information visit wejetset [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:12 AM

March 15, 2008

Art & Design. Murakami in Brooklyn

Art & Design. Murakami in Brooklyn: Murakami is coming to New York. We can't wait. The exhibit is just around the corner from our BK offices. Starting April 5 and running until July 13 you can see his works at the Brooklyn Museum.

The BK Museum reports, "The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami includes more than ninety works in various media that span the artist’s entire career, installed in more than 18,500 square feet of gallery space."

Visit the Brooklyn Museum's website for more information [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:39 PM

November 15, 2007

Art & Design. Exploded iPod

Art & Design. Exploded Ipod: The iPod with its ever-evolving design and overexposed popularity is quite possibly one of the most recognizable icons of our century. Billy Chasen has chosen to make an art of this common phenomenom with his "Exploded iPod." Encased in clear resin, the iPod is naked in all its glory, looking like a preserved artifact in glass, something which would seem fit for a classic. Ironically that visual effect in the resin was an accident, according to Chasen "The bubbles happened during a mistake on my last pour, but a lot of people have now told me they like the serendipitous addition."

Yet even while it's dissected and on display for our viewing analyzation, it's ability to still function and work make it all the more intriguing. Chasen made a point to keep the working parts together so he could still use it, by embedding "the internals of the dock on the bottom" He adds "That's how I can control it, charge it, and listen to it."

View more of Billy Chasen's work & the Exploded Ipod [Here]

Posted by catzie at 01:56 AM

October 31, 2007

Art & Design. Peter Sutherland & Buck Shots

Art & Design. Buck Shots by Peter Sutherland: Dork Mag is a long-time fan of Peter and his work. We recently got a press release regarding his latest project entitled Buck Shots due to be released in November. Be sure to check it out.

Here's a snippet from the press release: "The normal response to Peter Sutherland’s photographs of deer would probably be a feeling of sadness, or possibly regret. How is it, one might ask, that nature has become so utterly banal? How depressing that wild animals drink out of storm drains and die beside freeways. Yet deer haven’t exemplified wildness and wonder since the days of Robert Burns: one step above squirrels and raccoons, deer have long been a suburban commonplace. I think there are plenty of natural calamities worth getting riled up about and that photographs might even assist us in doing so; but a deer strapped to the top of a mini-van is not one of them, and to picture this is simply to witness another image from the human comedy."

Read more about Peter Sutherland and Buck Shots [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:35 AM

October 25, 2007

Art & Design. Japanese Packaging Numero 4

Art & Design. Japanese Packaging Numero 4: Ping has delivered several installments on the design of Japanese Packaging. We've enjoyed them all. It's all about details and balance right? At least that's what makes us happy. Don't miss their latest piece.

From Ping: "We recently introduced you to the intriguing beauty of Japanese gift packaging (yummy!). But, beloved readers, so many of you were nagging in your comments about the amount of waste produced (very true!) that we had to come up with a different approach. So PingMag proudly presents some of the most interesting objects that just nabbed one of the annual Good Design Awards for functional and eco-friendly design."

Read more from the 4th installment of Japanese Packaging [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:24 AM

October 23, 2007

Art & Design. UNIQLO Paper No3

Art & Design. Uniqlo Paper No3: The latest installment of Uniqlo's publication is entitled Ways of Seeing. The aesthetic is attractive. They've blended a simple layout with strong photography and type. The magazine mirrors all of Uniqlo's branding - think clean lines, basic colors and substance over flash.

Uni's mission & vision: "Clothing says a lot, but you can say it better. UNIQLO designs, manufactures, markets and sells casual wear that can be worn by anyone, any day. Rather than dictate a look, UNIQLO provides people everywhere with the piece they need to create their own style. And style comes from within, which is why the UNIQLO logo is nearly invisible, tucked away inside the garment. This concept, along with an unwavering focus on quality and value, has guided UNIQLO's actions since the establishment of its first store in 1984 Hiroshima, Japan. Today UNIQLO has grown to over 760 UNIQLO stores worldwide and is household name in Japan." View pics of their publication after the jump.

Read Uniqlo Paper No 3 [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:00 AM

October 15, 2007

Art & Design. Beautiful Decay Relaunch

Art & Design. Beautiful Decay Relaunch: Our friends at BD have relaunched their website. The styling - matched with loads of information - make this site a daily read. Be sure to check them out often.

More info: "Beautiful/Decay is proud to announce a completely revitalized and re-designed website (www.beautifuldecay.com). Positioned to become an unsurpassed art and design web portal, the new site is the perfect resource for anyone who wants to be in the know about all things creative. Visitors will now have greater interactivity with the site: they can post their own events in our Event Section to promote their creative happenings—whether it be gallery openings, concerts, lectures, symposiums, fashion shows, and so on. B/D Feed, our creative daily blog where readers can stay current with the latest art shows, up-and-coming artists and design work, has also been enlarged to include richer, higher resolution images. Of course, Beautiful/Decay continues to provide the popular Public Feed, a forum in which readers can post their own content."

Visit Beautiful Decay's comprehensive new site [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:48 AM

October 11, 2007

Art & Design. Kozyndan v. Sony

Art & Design. Kozyndan v. Sony: Creative minds are bound to collide. Whether they're inspired by the same things or they subconsciously pull from one another, imitation is bound to occur. That's the innocent side. Then there's the other side. The classic unimaginative entity stealing from the imaginative. All in all it can be tough to call. Especially when corporate america and independent artists enter the frey.

Recently, Kozyndan and Sony created work that looks shockingly similiar. We could write about this at length, but Bobby H does a killer job of laying it all out. From the Hundreds, "So a couple days back, I posted the third installment of the celebrated Sony Bravia commercials, but it wasn’t long before my inbox was flooded with irate email from readers who forwarded me onto this (Dan's Blog). Apparently, Dan (1/2 of art collective Kozyndan) is suggesting that Sony and more specifically, Passion Pictures, unapologetically pirated the idea for their rainbow bunny film from his paintings."

Read more about Kozydan v. Sony (Passion Pictures) [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:33 PM

October 09, 2007

Art & Design. Swiss Graph Application

Art & Design. Swiss Graph Application: Ping Mag published another great design piece. Hazuki Sekine writes about the commonplace creativity found in Switzerland. Coming from Japan - home of ridiculous commonplace design - his perspective is most interesting. Overall, it's a good read.

From Ping Mag: "In Japan, we associate Switzerland usually with Heidi, Girl of the Alps, majestic mountain ranges, fabulous cheese and internationally renowned designers. However, since recently moving from Japan to Switzerland, I have been looking at the design of commonplace items that the Swiss get to see every day – and discovered how cute and colourful even the most ordinary objects are! Today, seen through the eyes of a Japanese, PingMag introduces a variety of unique designs from Switzerland…"

Read more about Swiss Graph Application [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:56 PM

September 10, 2007

Books. Check The Technique

Books. Check The Technique: Brian Coleman has compiled the stories behind 36 beloved rap albums. Check The Technique: Liner Notes For Hip-Hop Junkies gives you the inside information on the influences, atmosphere, equipment, samples, and random things that went into creating classics from the 80s and 90s.

He was recently interviewed by Jesse Thorn about the book. It was cool to hear them discuss the process of writing a book, about the process of creating a record. Brian and Jesse grew up listening to hip-hop and because of that their discussion had a tone rarely heard on public radio. [Listen]

Dork recommends Check The Technique. Purchase it [Here]

Posted by james at 04:00 PM

August 23, 2007

Art & Design. BackJumps #3

Art & Design. BackJumps #3: Everyday Flickr and the Wooster Collective deliver inspiring photos from all over the world. A friend forwarded us a link to wooster that took us to flickr. When we landed we saw the above pic and many more. Talk about a stencil! Justusjonas is serious about his photo uploads.

The pics are part of Backjumps. Sorry for the lack of detail on this one, the description is in another language, but it appears that Backjumps is a magazine focused on art culture. Their photos are definitely worth checking out. There are several collections that will occupy your clicking time.

View photos from Backjumps Issue #3 on Flickr [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:28 PM

Art & Design. Murakami & LV

Art & Design. Murakami & LV: Kanye isn't the only one partnering with Murakami. Check out the latest collaboration between the ubiqitous artist and Louis Vuitton. Supertouch recently penned an article about their partnership.

From Supertouch: "It’s been officially confirmed that a corporate LOUIS VUITTON shop will be situated smack dab in the middle of TAKASHI MURAKAMI’s forthcoming retrospective exhibit at LA’s MoCA (Oct 29—Feb 11), the appropriately named “© Murakami.” A first for an American museum, the company owned and run shop will offer limited-edition handbags and small leather goods featuring Murakami designs including the ones shown below at prices ranging from $875 to $920."

Read more about the Murakami and Louis Vuitton collaboration [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:46 PM

Art & Design. Street Art in Shibuya

Art & Design. Street Art in Shibuya: In our daily trip around the interwebs we came across this article in Ping Mag. It's a well written piece about a new gallery in Shibuya that features street art. Be sure to check it out.

From PingMag: "For sure, you can spot graffiti all over the Shibuya streets – some people may see the tags as nothing but scribbles on the wall, others truly value them as street art. The latter have found a haven in a recently opened gallery in Shibuya’s Center Gai. GALLERY SCENE aims to promote young and upcoming street artists. The gallery space is pretty close to Shibuya Station, and is an initiative by non-profit organisation KOMPOSITION. PingMag talked to its director, Motokazu Terai, about his new project."

Read more about Gallery Scene in Shibuya [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:22 PM

August 08, 2007

Art & Design. Kawasaki

Art & Design. Kawasaki: No time like the present. Things have been moving so fast over here. We apologize for the slow upload rate. We're going to be back at full swing soon. We meant to post about this a few weeks back. Our friends at NOTCOT posted a great piece on Audrey Kawasaki.

From NC: Here are some pics from "...Audrey Kawasaki’s latest being shown at Lineage in Philly. It’s been a little while since we’ve had some good eye candy from her shown here, and i couldn’t help myself when i saw her aquatic themed pieces, so here’s a little something to get your creative juices running..."

View more of Audrey's work at Lineage and online at NOTCOT [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:54 PM

July 16, 2007

Art & Design. Puppies are Biodegradable

Art & Design. Puppies are Biodegradable: This past weekend we stopped by the Puppies are Biodegradable exhibit in Philadelphia. The art exhibition - featuring original art - was organized to raise awareness of the deplorable conditions facing thousands of dogs in PA's puppy mills. The work is powerful and expresses deep concerns for the way dogs are treated.

The exhibit runs from July 6 to July 30. It features work from Lisa Ballard, Jonathan Bartlett, Justin M. Berger, Leanne Biank, Jacqalyn Binder, Jennifer Bird, Chris Kelleher, Kat Catanakis, Matt Cavanaugh, Carlos E. Fernandez-Dieppa, Judy Gelles, Ramiro Gomez, Alyssa Grenning and many others. If you're in Philadelphia we encourage you to stop by and check out the event - 249 Arch Street. If you're not in Philadelphia we've got pictures of the exhibit below.

Visit the Puppies are Biodegradable site [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:38 PM

July 13, 2007

Art & Design. Moo Grows!

Art & Design. Moo Grows: From TechCrunch: "UK-based Moo, a startup that prints 'mini cards' from photos and other images that you upload directly or point them to via Flickr, Bebo, or their other partners, has been a real hit among the early adopter, silicon valley crowd. People hand them out like crazy, and they are great, if somewhat expensive, conversation starters. Next week the company will expand beyond cards and into stickers, which I predict will be even more popular than the cards. Look for them on July 19 on the Moo site."

We use moo cards all day. Flickr is a great web application, and Moo allows us to take that functionality into the physical world. As business cards and note cards they're fantastic. They are one of the best ways to pass on information and show your photos. Definitely check them out. We can't wait to get our hands on those stickers!

Read more about Moo and their sticker expansion [Here]

Posted by taj at 04:04 PM

July 12, 2007

Art & Design. ISM Magazine

Art & Design. ISM Magazine: ISM is the counter balance. As a powerful non-profit, the organization supports the arts with great publications, events and contagious ideas. We were first introduced to them through their magazine. ISM's journalistic approach to art and culture inspires Dork. And now that they're a non-profit, their smart approach to the art community can effect more people in an even more powerful way.

To celebrate ISM's special re-introduction as a non-profit organization they've invited artists from around the world, both emerging and established, to participate in a competition for the opportunity to be featured on the cover of their Autumn 2007 issue. Staying true to their mission, every single artist will be given an equal chance to have their work displayed on newsstands from Los Angeles to Sydney and everywhere in between. Don't miss this! We've posted more info about the contest after the jump.

Read more about ISM and their new non-profit organization [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:52 PM

Art & Design. Toshimitsu Hayakawa

Art & Design. Toshimitsu Hayakawa: Ping Mag captures another example of art in functional spaces. This time they've caught up with Sento artist, Toshimitsu Hayakawa to discuss his work, process and history. It's an interesting read.

As reported by Ping: "A vivid blue paint fills the huge wall of the Sento, the public bath house, and in no time, bold brush strokes with great momentum create an image of Mount Fuji and crashing waves… As a long-standing tradition, Japanese Sento users have enjoyed many of these panoramic views on the walls of their beloved hazy bath houses which are an integral part of Japanese life. PingMag was lucky to accompany Sento artist, Toshimitsu Hayakawa, at work at the “Asahiyu” bath house in the Tokyo neighbourhood of Shinnakano - at 7am in the morning. What a rare incident, as you usually would have to go there as a customer to get to see his paintings at all…"

Read more about Sento artist, Toshimitsu Hayakawa [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:06 PM

June 20, 2007

Art & Design. Jessica Hill

Art & Design. Jessica Hill: When we caught word of Jessica Hill, we were instantly impressed. The imagery used in her work is fun and creative. It reminds us of the art we saw when we were in Tokyo. It expresses a curiousity for all those images we used to conjure as a youth.

Jessica is a painter and designer in Nashville. Her work is being featured in various galleries and she's expanding to do installations in Knoxville, Louisville and Birmingham. We love those places, but what hit our heart the most is that she's a Philly cat. She went to art school in Illadelph and worked for goodandevil skateboard company at the world famous Space 1026. Maybe we can convince her to come back to Philly! Check out a close up of her work after the jump.

Come back to Philly Jessica! We love your work.

Posted by taj at 07:52 PM

Art & Design. Justice D.A.N.C.E.

Art & Design. Justice D.A.N.C.E. We're back from overseas. Belgium was awesome and its city, Antwerp, was refreshingly quaint. In all of its calm demeanor, the city has a bustling energy of inspiration and forward design. While we were there, Justice's DANCE track was our theme music. That group is huge and almost inescapable. We heard it in stores. We heard it blaring from cars. And, the video was on TV in constant rotation. The tune is infectious beyond belief and its video is brilliant.

Justice is on the progressive Paris label ed banger records that flexes such names as Uffie and Sabastian. They’re album “†” is out everywhere except America where it will drop July 10th. But please take it from us, go and listen to D.A.N.C.E. now because the track is bananas. View the video after the jump.

Check out more information on Justice [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 05:31 PM

June 15, 2007

Art & Design. Midwestisbest

Art & Design. Midwestisbest: Quick and catchy title with hand drawn graphics that are anything but. Hand Job is the new book from artist designer Michael Perry that documents much of the typography he has drawn by hand for many different projects as well as typography from others and found type.

He has a style that is uniquely his own. The book documents that as well as his love for type exploration. How better to know something intimately than to explore it with your hands? We think this and many other questions will be addressed in his book slated to ship November of this year. At $23.00 and at over 200 pages I know it’ll be well worth it.

Read more at Midwestisbest [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 05:53 PM

June 11, 2007

Art & Design. KAOS

Art & Design. KAOS: Beinghunted is a staple in our internet journeys. We love everything - from the site design, to the writing, to its archival spirit on journalism. The folks over there are committed. They've developed a substantive portal for readers interested in art and culture.

Currently BGHD has a feature on the artist KAOS: "Even though looking back might seem nostalgic and unprogressive I belive that it is necessary to know the past in order to be able to be innovative in the present, for the future. In order to be able to judge on the relevance of things which are sold to us as 'new' or 'exciting' we need to know what has already been done..."

Read more at BGHD on KAOS aka Dennis Kaun [Here]

Posted by taj at 07:05 PM

June 08, 2007

Art & Design. Sneaker Freaker's Ad Campaign

Art & Design. Sneaker Freaker's Ad Campaign: Sneaker Freaker issue 10 is coming! This ad campaign is some of the best we've seen in recent memory. Watching the Sneaker Freaker brand grow has inspired so many people here at Dork central. He's taken an organic approach and built an observant voice for those in love with the mighty sneaker. We love him for that. So it goes without surprise that his ad campaign would reflect that creative sincerity and integrity that we feel when we read the pages of his magazine.

Here's some background info from their site: "SNEAKER FREAKER started in 2003 and is the first and only international sneaker magazine to document the modern footwear craze as a global phenomenon. The magazine is only produced twice a year (usually in June and November) and is sold into the best stores in something like 25 countries. At around 140 pages and with only a few ads, that means there’s always a shitload of shoes to go nuts about! And it’s printed on 90gsm uncoated paper which feels nice and won’t leave your sticky fingerprints on all the killer photos..." View the ad campaign pics below.

Read Dork's interview with Woody from Sneaker Freaker [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:15 PM

Art & Design. Alumi Locks Supreme

Art & Design. Alumi Locks Supreme: Thieves beware! You can't get this bike. And you mad, because I'm stylin' on you. That's what we envision ?uesto saying if he had these super bad Supreme/Fragment Aluminum bike locks. They're pretty fresh.

From Hypebeast: "In the past, insuring your bike wasn’t going anywhere when you locked it up meant the use of big and bulky chains that weighed a ton. Fragment and Supreme have gotten together to create a new lightweight aluminum bike lock that will provide you all the security you need for your fixed gear bike without the clunky mass that will sit at the bottom of your bag. The chain features a protective sleeve emblazoned with the Supreme and Fragment insignia’s, available in royal blue, red, and navy blue." [cite]

Check out Hiroshi Fujiwara's Honeyee Blog for more pics [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:56 PM

Art & Design. 2nd Edition Puma Biomega Bike

Art & Design. 2nd Edition Puma Biomega Bike: Puma's Biomega bike is a piece of art. The innovative lock design, matched with its overall aesthetic has made it a successful venture by Puma. This is evidenced by its second release into the marketplace. At first it was a limited edition, and now there back with a few cool accessories and new color ways.

BoingBoing wrote about the Puma Biomega collaboration back in 2005. Check it out: "Biomega, co-founded by Jens-Martin Skibsted, is a Danish industrial design firm that continually reinvents the wheel with high-end city bicycles. Previously, models were designed by luminaries like Ross Lovegrove and Marc Newson. (For more background on Biomega, read Mark's excellent feature on the company in the October 2000 issue of Wired!*) This latest beauty is a collaboration between Biomega, Vexed Generation, and Puma. Part of Puma's Urban Mobility line, the foldable commuter bike is tricked out with an ingenious locking mechanism. The "down tube" is a removable tension wire that works as a chain lock. Clip the chain and the bike is useless." [More]

Check out the 2nd Edition Puma Biomega Bike [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:13 PM

June 05, 2007

Art & Design. Know Hope

Art & Design. Know Hope: Wooster Collective directed our attention to another great artist. Know Hope takes street art and the concept of temporary exhibition to new levels with ingeniously lit pieces. You can view the artist's work on flickr [Here].

As read on WC, a few words from the artist: "What I like about the lanterns is that it deals with the frail temporary aspect of putting up art in street. If I take the best case scenario (that nobody takes the piece after a short while and there are no extreme winds or rain) then the longest life span of these pieces will be that of the candles, which is probably just a few hours. Therefore, when someone runs into it on the street they know that it was placed there not so long ago and they, by coincidence, got there in the small time frame that the piece was "active," hopefully giving them the feeling that it was placed there especially for them, and maybe guiding them, following them home and subtly lighting up their way."

Read more at Wooster Collective + find other great work [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:25 PM

June 04, 2007

Art & Design. Azhar Chougle

Art & Design. Azhar Chougle: He's only 16. Yet, his photography bodes of someone much older with more experience. We were taken back by the focus, angles and colors balance of this young talent's work. Azhar is no joke - plain and simple.

As you can see above, his photography does an excellent job of capturing a moment and inserting the viewer right in it. His website The Daily Sunrise is full of inspiring photos ranging from weather scenes in Mumbai, India to everyday life. He only started shooting flicks a little more than a year ago, and we can't wait to see how he progresses.

View more of Azhar Chougle's photography [Here]

Posted by taj at 09:15 PM

May 31, 2007

Art & Design. A Humanitarian Perspective

Art & Design. A Humanitarian Perspective: Most of the world's money resides with 10 percent of the population. Much of the remaining 90 percent are left with faulty systems and weak resources for opportunity. Dr. Polak proposes something different. How do we reverse the ratio?

As reported by the NY Times: "'A billion customers in the world,' Dr. Paul Polak told a crowd of inventors recently, 'are waiting for a $2 pair of eyeglasses, a $10 solar lantern and a $100 house.' The world’s cleverest designers, said Dr. Polak, a former psychiatrist who now runs an organization helping poor farmers become entrepreneurs, cater to the globe’s richest 10 percent, creating items like wine labels, couture and Maseratis. 'We need a revolution to reverse that silly ratio,' he said.

Read more about design that solves problems for the world's poor [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:20 PM

May 30, 2007

Art & Design. Jamie Hewlett

Art & Design. Jamie Hewlett: Form collides with function in London. Jamie Hewlett, the artist known for his work with the Gorillaz has supremely tagged a train in promotion of Monkey: Journey to the West. We spotted this fresh news on Cool Hunting.

As they report: "This is how public transport should be done. Unveiled Monday and traveling back and forth between London and Manchester, this tricked-out locomotive from Gorillaz artist, Jamie Hewlett, is to promote the forthcoming circus/opera he's involved with called Monkey: Journey To The West. It's based on an ancient Chinese legend and the music has been composed by Hewlett's partner in the cartoon band, Damon Albarn. The show kicks off this year's Manchester International Festival which runs 28 June - 15 July 2007."

Read more about Jamie and the festival [Here]

Posted by taj at 04:03 PM

Art & Design. Tokyo Design Premio

Art & Design. Tokyo Design Premio: Ping did it again. Check out their coverage of Tokyo Design Premio in Milan - a glimpse into upcoming Japanese design. The work is inspiring. Sometimes we sit and stare at this stuff for hours.

As reported by Ping: "As a starter, PingMag already served you some mouth-watering design bits from last month’s Tokyo Design Premio in Milan. But, of course, we won’t spare you the delicious main dish: A colourful Sashimi platter of the Premio as part of the largest international design event, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, with its four hundred showrooms. Get ready for a bit of visual stimulation from some savvy Japanese design pieces."

Read more about Tokyo Design Premio [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:37 PM

May 23, 2007

Art & Design. T-Post

Art & Design. T-Post: This idea is too fresh. T-Post redefines tradition and shapes it into a new expressive medium. It's more than an ironic phrase on a tee-shirt. This is clothing-journalism.

From their site: "Subscribing to T-Post is a lot like having a subscription to a magazine, but instead of receiving magazines in your mailbox - you receive t-shirts. Every six weeks T-Post designs a t-shirt based on a current news item and prints the shirt's topic on the inside." You may not always hear about T-post's story from traditional news media, but in their opinion, you should have.

Read more about T-Post at their site [Here]

Posted by james at 08:22 AM

May 21, 2007

Art & Design. Web 2.0 Neglecting Good Design

Art & Design. Web 2.0 Neglecting Good Design: It's the common battle of form versus function. Web 2.0 sites are caught in the intersection of this balancing act. Although user-contributed sites lean heavily toward function, have they foresaken form?

As reported by BBC: "Hype about Web 2.0 is making web firms neglect the basics of good design, web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has said. He warned that the rush to make webpages more dynamic often meant users were badly served. He said sites peppered with personalisation tools were in danger of resembling the "glossy but useless" sites at the height of the dotcom boom."

Read more about Web 2.0 neglecting the basics of good design [Here]

Posted by taj at 08:35 PM

May 18, 2007

Art & Design. Umbra Clocks

Art & Design. Umbra Clocks: Clocks are a great opportunity for functional art. The pic above is a good example of how old school cats saw the artistic opportunity in clocks. But, if you're looking for something more modern, Umbra Clocks are spot on. It wouldn't even matter if they stopped telling you the time, because they would still look great on your wall. Whether they're glass, nickel, aluminum or plywood, each Umbra clock is simple in design yet bold in effect.

The Compass, Spirella and Pinnacle would look best against a painted wall as their design allow for the color of the wall to be shown through the clock giving maxim impact. Available in various shapes, sizes, with numbers or not, there is one to fit your own personal design style.

Read more about Umbra and their clock design [Here]

Posted by marsha at 01:21 PM

May 10, 2007

Art & Design. Takashi Murakami

Art & Design. Takashi Murakami: Blending fine art with pop culture is a science calculated by the greatest. It's one of our favorite art applications. It's the bold embrace of inclusion that opens the exclusive works to a broader audience. Warhol did it, and now many say Takashi is Japan's version of the late great artist.

As reported by the Times: "The unmistakable aroma of incense wafted through the Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue one afternoon last week. It wasn’t the only hint that business was not as usual. Instead of chicly dressed gallery assistants, demure Japanese ladies in colorful kimonos greeted visitors. In the central gallery stood the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. In place of his usual garb — baggy cargo pants, T-shirt and sneakers — he was done up in a traditional hakama, his hair pulled back in a neat bun, with his signature round glasses and wispy goatee. 'Welcome to this very special tea ceremony,' he said."

Read more about Takashi Murakami [Here]

Posted by taj at 07:51 AM

May 07, 2007

Art & Design. Cao Fei

Art & Design. Cao Fei: Cao Fei's work is exciting. We spotted her photography on Artkrush* and were immediately enamored. This particular piece, UN-Cosplayers, is a 2006 photograph of Beijing residents wearing role-playing costumes. The project revisits the theme of her 2004 COSplayers film, which captured Chinese youth acting out anime fantasies.

Cosplay is slang for costume play. Cao Fei began her project by following Guangzhou youths, who dressed like their favorite Japanese manga heroes. In her more recent series, Cao Fei casts older Beijing residents in the same absurd roles and inserts them into typical street scenes. Like we said, her work is exciting.

You can find more of Cao Fei's art [Here]

Posted by james at 10:25 AM

May 01, 2007

Art & Design. WK Interact & Kobe

Art & Design. WK Interact & Kobe: WK's work hits us every time. New York City is where we fell in love with his street art. The exaggerated lines and surreal effects mixed with the bold black & white aesthetic force you to take notice.

Last year WK lent his art skills to Kobe for an art installation. There's a great video of the process. As reported from SlamxHype*: "Wooster Collective uncovered a longer length version of this You Tube from last year's WK Interact and Kobe Bryant project… Check it out!" View after the jump.

View more pics from the WK Interact & Kobe installation [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:26 AM

April 26, 2007

Art & Design. We Love Magazines

Art & Design. We Love Magazines: Yes we do! Magazines are like periodical pages of inspiration. We especially love the indie printshops that cut at the more personal and intimate aspects of life. They have a story to tell. Whether it's Daydreamer, Mass Appeal, Sneaker Freaker or Monocle, magazines are quickly becoming our point of reference for something better - a better tomorrow, a more inspired being, a distraction to the system failure in our country or a personal suggestion to change things.

As usual, PingMag has done it again. Their coverage of We Love Magazines is superb: "With the spread of the WWW, online magazines aka blogs have become so common... That might be convenient for you net addicts who don’t even find the time to order the real printed thing at Amazon anymore. However, just when we slightly started to worry about the future of print magazines, Die Gestalten Verlag has published a great book called We Love Magazines: it features 1,100 pop culture mags for true magazine lovers. Today PingMag asks Jeremy Leslie from John Brown who art directed the book about the future of print."

Check out We Love Magazines and the interview at Ping Mag [Here]

Posted by taj at 06:08 PM

April 25, 2007

Art & Design. Visvim at Beinghunted

Art & Design. Visvim at Beinghunted: Beinghunted has a new article on Visvim. Their store, Firmament is carrying all their latest products. Whether you're looking for kicks or some fresh baggage, they've got it all. Coming straight from Berlin (but accessible online) check out Beinghunted's Firmament.

From Beinghunted: "It is not a secret that we are big fans of Visvim. Ever since the first post on this brand we have been following the developments with great enthusiasm. Every new collection is a highlight and with the emergence of the brand, more and more people have joined the circle of supporters. We are very happy to have be selling Visvim for a few seasons now - and while the process of ordering and receiving the goods has turned into somewhat of a routine, it is still exciting to see the product live."

Read more about Visvim at Beinghunted [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:46 PM

April 24, 2007

Art & Design. The Designing Process

Art & Design. The Designing Process: Every once in a while you find inspiration. Sometimes it's a picture. Other times, inspiration hits by seeing how someone else does it. Ping Mag - one of Dork's wells of inspiration - has a great article called The Designing Process. It's pretty interesting.

From PingMag: "What drives graphic designers all through the process of creation: blurry images or a straight approach to the finished product? We might wonder about. I wanted to find out more - and started an online survey via my Manystuff blog, asking two things: When you work, do you think in terms of forms or in terms of a creation process? Do you have a clear vision of your final image or does it come only from an upstream creation process?"

Read more about The Designing Process [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:23 PM

April 19, 2007

Art & Design. COLORlovers

Art & Design. COLORlovers: It's all about color coordination. At least that's what Ghost used to say when it came to his Clarks. He and Raekwon would have loved this site.

As reported on BoingBoing: "BB band manager John Battelle just turned me on to a delightfully curious blog in the Federated Media network. The COLOURlovers blog is all about our relationship to color. I'm fascinated by people who make a living tracking and forecasting color trends. The COLOURlovers blog is neat because of the wide, er, spectrum that it covers, from design to science to the culture of colors."

Read more about COLORlovers on BoingBoing [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:06 AM

April 17, 2007

Art & Design. Early Film in Cubism

Art & Design. Early Film in Cubism: Great art resonates. It's copied, imitated and cited as influence. The New York Times has a nice article on Picasso, Braque and a new film entitled, Early Film in Cubism. It opens this Friday.

From the NY Times: "It was Picasso doing the non-interview interview, decades before Warhol came along to elevate it to an art form. In 1911 a writer for Paris-Journal was asking Picasso about the radically new kind of painting people were calling Cubism, the lightning bolt that had shot forth from his studio and that of his friend Georges Braque. Picasso claimed never to have heard of such a thing. 'Il n’y a pas de Cubisme,' he said blithely, and then excused himself to go feed his pet monkey."

Read more about Early Film in Cubism [Here]

Posted by taj at 09:15 AM

April 14, 2007

Art & Design. LED Enlightenment

Art & Design. LED Enlightenment: Light shows can make one heck of an exclamation point. Massive Attack in 2003 sent a powerful message with their visual demonstration. Ping Mag has a nice interview with the fellas about their communicative technique.

From Ping Mag: "The story goes like this: in March 2003, right after the beginning of the Iraq war, British group Massive Attack came to Japan for their “100th Window” world tour. At the show, opening act DJ Shadow made an anti-war comment and Massive Attack had a moment of silence for the victims. A huge LED board behind them showed the number of casualties and messages people had submitted to their website. The whole venue managed to transform the tense international situation to visual and sound, thus becoming quite an experience for many. Today PingMag finally met the guys behind that memorable show back then, United Visual Artists (UVA). They happened to come to Tokyo for the UK interactive design exhibition RESPONSIVE and Joel Lewis and eventually Chris Bird loved to explain their amazing light works."

Read more about LED Enlightment [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:02 AM

April 13, 2007

Art & Design. True Believers

Art & Design. True Believers: The name says it all. The show is full of amazing artists who truly believe in the power of making great art. There are a number of different ingredients that need to be present in order for inspiration to occur for us and it seems like this show will have them all; creativity, a willingness to lead and not respond to social pressures, and an overwhelming sense of self-awareness.

The opening reception for True Believers went down on yesterday and runs through Sunday May 6th, 2007. It is being held at the Riviera Gallery in Williamsburg Brooklyn and is sponsored by Zoo York, VolumeOne, Athletics NYC, and New Castle Brown Ale. We promise you will see something that will excite and inspire you.

Get more information and a profile of the artists [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 12:21 AM

April 12, 2007

Art & Design. David Miller & JPG

Art & Design. David Miller & JPG: David Miller is a solid photographer. Wait, he's more than that - he's an inspiring photographer. His use of color and contrast, image balancing and perspective create extremely captivating photographs. They draw you in. For instance, the pic above is entitled SchoolGirl and her Grandfather through traffic. The blurred lines of motion mixed with the still focus of the family tell a story.

In finding Dave, who also snapped the El-P pic below, we found a new website/magazine entitled, JPG. It's awesome. From their site: "JPG Magazine is for people who love image-making without attitude. It's about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera. It's for photographers who, like us, have found themselves online, sharing their work, and would like to see that work in print. JPG is a magazine. It's published 6 times a year. JPG is a website. Here any photographer can join and upload photos and stories to their member page. And, JPG is a community. JPG exists because of, and exclusively for, photographers like you."

Check out Dave Miller's work and JPG Mag [Here & Here]

Posted by taj at 10:23 AM

Art & Design. Mi-Zo

Art & Design. Mi-Zo: Progressive is an understatement. When looking at the work of Zoren Gold and Minori it’s plain to see that they are playing on a completely different planet. Zoren Gold and Minori, otherwise know as the creative photography/art/design collective Mi-Zo, have an aesthetic that is truly all their own but also ever changing. Which honestly shows their willingness to forget about style and go into each project with a clean slate.

You have to see their work in order to understand the timeless high-class feel of their expression. We appreciate the the fact that they hold themselves and their work to such a high standard. Don't miss it.

Check out the work of Mi-Zo [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 01:48 AM

Art & Design. Upnorth Design

Art & Design. Upnorth Design: It’s only a matter of time. That thought hits us everytime we look at the work of Upnorth Design. They understand the principles of, and give respect to, amazing designers such as Herb Lubalin & Paul Rand but have the courage and ability to create an uncanny array of instantly classic and iconic graphics.

Upnorth Design is the collaborative effort of Justin Kay and Steve Green who are natives of Wisconsin. They currently reside in Brooklyn, and we know they're currently working on a number of different projects that are sure to raise the stakes. Check out the work they did for Sixpack France - amazing!

Take a trip Upnorth [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 12:09 AM

April 09, 2007

People News. Dert

People. Dert: The first time we heard anything from this independent producer was a little over a year ago. Somehow we stumbled upon his myspace page which had a mix of Common's The Light and José Gonzáles' Heartbeats from a album he'd done called "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow." We bought the album immediately after the song was done and were hooked.

Dert and Dax Reynosa produced a notable KRS ONE album called "Life" that didn’t get the attention it deserved but we believe it will be Derts latest efforts "The Short List" & "Thumbnails" that will turn heads. The concept of 'The Short List' album is simple, one song for each woman that made some sort of impact in his life. What you get is an extraordinarily grown up and cohesive album that induces flashbacks of young love and innocence. The 'Thumbnails' album is a compilation that Dert is producing and will feature many artists. Check for ‘The Short List’ to drop later this summer but until then enjoy an exclusive free release from the album titled Romina Apple Bottom. [Listen]

Check out Dert’s Myspace Page [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 11:51 PM

Art & Design. Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia

Art & Design. Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia: The other day on the train, I overheard a conversation two overcaffeinated people were having about art. Their conclusion: "all the best art is done by people who will never get recognized for it because they had no idea that they were creating art in the first place." I don't know if I agree with them totally, but it makes you think.

Megawords just released Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia. The publication, limited to 1000 copies, documents Philly graffiti from the 60s to the early 80s. The book is a series of contradictory moods and visuals. Like, the image of a young man writing "Tom loves Kate" juxtaposed with an image of an elderly woman riding a graffiti-riddled train alone at night, poetically illustrate a chaotic period in a city that is always evolving.

Dork recommends Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia. Purchase [Here]

Posted by james at 03:54 PM

Art & Design. SNKR FRKR X AIR FORCE 1

Art & Design. SNKR FRKR X AIR FORCE 1: Woody has been documenting his love for kicks with Sneaker Freaker for 5 years*. The publication has become the standard among sneaker enthusiasts. It's an authentic account of everything, interesting, beautiful, and odd about sneakers.

Here's some news about their latest project. From SNKR FRKR: "Yo, here's a special project we made just for Nike in Australia and New Zealand. There's 72 pages of Air Force goodness including interviews with Stash, Clark Kent, Bobbito, Morgan Keldsen, Himet Sugoer (Berlin), Himm (China) and Anthony Gilbert. In fact, we even convinced Bobbito to let us reprint some exclusive, never-seen-before images of him as a kid in NYC in his earliest Airs! You'll also get the fuil rundown on the New York scene and a lesson in basketball history. Plus there's also pics of all the new AF-1 models (including the Anacondas and Gators) and Woody's personal collection of over 60 all-time AF-1 classics that come in a super-wide foldout at the back of the book."

Purchase the latest SNKR FRKR publication [Here]

Posted by james at 02:37 PM

April 06, 2007

Art & Design. What makes a great photograph

Art & Design. What makes a great photograph: Earlier this week we wrote about the photography of Stuck in Customs. We received a ton of emails regarding his work, the effects he uses and how he takes photos. This compelled us to link you all to another great photo resource.

Conscientious, a weblog about fine-art photography, answers a lot of these questions and more. As stated on the site: "A little while ago, someone sent me an email and asked me whether I could tell him what made a photo great. In principle, it's probably the easiest question to ask. We know a great photo when we see one. But then describing what it is that makes it great is an entirely different matter. So, I emailed as many friends, fellow bloggers, and photographers as possible - looking through my 'contacts' - and asked them, 'What makes a photo great?'"

Read more about what makes a great photograph [Here]

Posted by taj at 07:00 AM

April 05, 2007

Art & Design. Ser-vice is good!

Art & Design. Ser-vice is good! Clean lines and modern approaches are pleasing to the staff here at dork. Ser-vice is good! has masterfully integrated this concept into their products. The design forward execution is inspiring.

From their site: "Ser-vice is a lifestyle brand focusing on clean aesthetics and modern lines. Our approach to life is simple , yet very detailed. We look for the best in everything and love what we do. Our roots are in graphic design, but we're driven by architecture, furniture, good food, friendships, surf trips, flip tricks, photography and smart design. We strive to produce items that we enjoy ourselves and our friends are proud to support. Through our view of environment and culture we look to improve the aesthetics of our world and yours. All of our items are produced in limited number, with attention to details and quality. We stand behind environmentally sound elements and incorporate them into our products whenever possible. We represent new culture, that believes in forward thinking, environmental consciousness and the ones coming behind us. Design your environment."

Read more about Ser-vice is good [Here]

Posted by taj at 04:04 AM

April 04, 2007

Art & Design. Time Square at Dusk

Art & Design. Time Square at Dusk: It's another Flickr moment. The air and atmosphere of a photograph can be energetically inspiring. This photo is a perfect example of that. Stuck in Customs' HD Flicks make 2D images feel like you can walk right into them.

As technology advances, it's amazing to witness what bubbles to the service. On one hand, you have better tools for capturing art that exists with talented individuals driving that art to stratospheric levels. Then on the other hand, you have great innovations being developed that allow for folks to share their wonderful talents. These are exciting times. Be sure to check out Stuck in Customs' Flickr set. It's beautiful.

View more HD photos of Time Square at Dusk [Here]

Posted by taj at 04:14 AM

March 28, 2007

Art & Design. DefGrip!

Art & Design. DefGrip: There are a lot of sites out there. There are a lot of sites talking about the same things. But so few say something original and contextual while being accessible. DefGrip is one of our all time favorite sites. We don't ride bmx bikes but we used to, and that's the beauty. DefGrip uses their lifestyle of riding as a channel that halos out to include art, travel, design and creative influence. Flat out - these guys are contributing. They certainly contribute to our daily inspiration. Just check the pic above from their photo section.

From their site: "Defgrip was created by Harrison Boyce and quickly Rich Hirsch and Andrew McMullen were brought aboard. The premiss behind the site was to create a community for the BMX world and to promote the creative side of the sport. Since the launch in the summer of 2005 Nuno Oliveria and Mike Ardelean have joined the family. We all have roots in BMX, but don't be scared when the content of the site steers from bikes. We are Defgrip. Hope you enjoy." We do holmes.

Dork recommends DefGrip. One of our favorite online destinations [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:12 AM

March 26, 2007

Art & Design. WK Interact & Shepard Fairey

Art & Design. WK Interact & Shepard Fairey: Supertouch's coverage of the art scene runs through the web like an addictive substance. They don't miss a beat. Once you've checked out an entry you're instantly hooked. Recently they captured Tokyo's latest installation presenting two of our favorites, WK Interact & Shepard Fairey. Their coverage is superb with pictures galore.

As reported by Supertouch blog: "Artistic brothers-in-arms WK INTERACT & SHEPARD FAIREY joined forces in a full-frontal Franco-American assault on Japan last week titled “THE EAST/WEST PROPAGANDA PROJECT“ when they took over the Tokyo Wonder Site with a little help from legendary clothier AGNES B. After running wild in the streets for several days launching a full-scale bombing campaign on the walls of the city, the pair got down to business, creating an epic collaborative installation at TWS in Shibuya, as well as a smaller exhibit at the Agnes B shop where the pair were on hand to meet and greet their fans and sign just about anything the crowd put in front of them. The show remains on display in Tokyo through April 22nd, after which it will travel to the Galerie Du Jour Agnes B in Paris for an opening on May 16th."

Read more at Supertouch about the Propaganda Project [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:31 PM

Art & Design. Great Spring Video

Art & Design. Great Spring Video: GOOD Magazine recently completed their video for the Wooster on Spring event. Just when you thought you've seen it all, they come with more heat. GOOD is a fantastic publication - they claim it's the magazine for those who give a damn. Look for it at your local bookstore.

As reported from the Wooster Collective: "Amongst the various documentary crews that covered the 11 Spring project was a terrific team from GOOD Magazine. They've just completed their short video and put it up on YouTube." Check it out at the link below.

View this great spring video by GOOD Magazine [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:21 PM

March 22, 2007

Art & Design. Furni's ALBA

Art & Design. Furni's ALBA: MocoLoco hips us to the groovy wonders of modern living. This time their reporting focuses on Furni's latest time piece called ALBA. We love the clean lines and simplicity of the clock. Its contemporary elements blended with a throw back twist make it an interesting addition to any home.

As reported: "Furni's got a new wood and acrylic LED clock called ALBA. It's a last minute addition to their spring 2007 lineup and "is the epitome of good things coming in 'small packages' and 'last but not least' all rolled up in one.". More after the jump. I met furni principals Devin and Mike at IDS '07 (see below right) last month and we had a good chat. I got a better idea of what they're about and where they're going. It's an interesting mix of culture, craftsmanship, minimalist design and materials."

Read more from MocoLoco about Furni's ALBA [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:58 PM

March 19, 2007

Art & Design. DQM & Trackstar

Art & Design. DQM & Trackstar: FixGear bikes are like performance art. They live in simplicity and gracefully transcend form and function. Two wheels, one gear, one fresh frame, a seat and some funky colors - Bam! Even though the genre seems to be co-opted by hipster (whatever that means) you can't deny the impulsive gravity of a FixGear bike.

Dave from DQM and Dork of the Week fame* partnered with Trackstar to build 12 bikes for your viewing and (possibly) riding pleasure. The RazorApple has some great flicks from DQM's bike show. Be sure to stop by the shop and check them out.

View more pics of the DQM x Trackstar bike show [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:55 PM

Artist. David Ryan Harris

Artist. David Ryan Harris: The Bittersweet is an important album. It's also one of the best in the last five years. David Ryan Harris understands what it means to be a lyricist in an increasing age of catchy pop hooks and infectious instrumentals. He's not fabricated, he is indeed real, and all you have to do is listen to any of the eleven songs off of his album to come to the same conclusion.

David's work is one of the most important albums because it represents hope. Hope that in our lifetime we might have another artist by the likes of Donny Hathaway or Otis Redding grace us with their ability. It would be foolish of us to place David Harris in the same league as those amazing artists based off of this one album that I love, but if he keeps this up, one day it'll be more than a notion. Armed with a dangerously smooth voice, amazing range, and mean guitar playing abilities, Harris’ The Bittersweet is “the sweetest berry on the vine.”

Buy the Bittersweet Album [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 05:08 PM

March 14, 2007

Art & Design. SXSW Webdesign Tips

Art & Design. SXSW Webdesign Tips: This year SXSW kept its tradition and rocked out with creativity. Whether it was about film, music or design - people came together to share ideas, display their work and collaborate. You gotta love that.

CenterNetworks captured an interesting panel on Webdesign and business by James Archer of Forty*. In his presentation he discussed a 40 step plan for success as a webdesigner. Allen from CN was kind enough to post his notes on the panel: "I just sat in one of the "quicky" panels here in the afternoon. This one was presented by James Archer of Forty and I give him a 8.75/10 in score. Really quick and to the point, quick blips, no silly ppt animations and clear speaker. Very good job all around!"

Read more about the business side of Webdesign from SXSW [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:03 AM

March 12, 2007

Art & Design. The Stockholm Metro

Art & Design. The Stockholm Metro: Put art everywhere. Why not? As we travel to various cities, the best places incorporate art, functionality and public space in unusual and thoughtful ways. From Tokyo to DC's metro systems, art is rampant. The design and engineering is refreshing - perhaps a little get away from the daily grind.

We recently came across pictures of Stockholm's Metro system. At the intersection of modern and prehistoric, they've created a cool underground experience. Definitely check it out.

View pics from the Stockholm Metro [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:56 PM

Art & Design. Mother Nature's Design

Art & Design. Mother Nature's Design: The other day we were stumped by a particular design project. So, we retreated to watching hours of 30 Rock, flipping through art magazines and looking at old vinyl covers to find something that would spark creativity. Nothing was working. Noooo! But, we happened to come across this link. It's a bit cliche, but wow - mother nature is a serious designer.

Tiny Vices posted up pics from various storm formations from across the country. The clouds, wind tunnels and rain falls create something that is so beautiful, yet so destructive. We're always humbled by pictures like these.

Check out Tiny Vices' pics from storms across the country [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:44 AM

Art & Design. Troika

Art & Design. Troika: Ping Magazine keeps us informed on the latest in art & design. Their interviews are compelling and inspirational. Recently they wrote a piece on Troika and their street projections. We love the guerilla style communication.

As reported on Ping: "Jealous picture frames? Machines with feelings? Protests conducted from the comfort of an armchair? Absolutely! London-based art and design practice Troika have been playing with our perceptions of what technology, art and design can be for the past four years. From their small studio in south London, Conny, Eva and Sebastien take design and make it art, they communicate through design and make art out of communication. Sounds confusing? That’s why PingMag took a trip to Troika to find out more."

Read more at PingMag on Troika [Here]

Posted by taj at 07:46 AM

March 09, 2007

Art & Design. From Gaudi to Dali

Art & Design. From Gaudi to Dali: It's interesting to watch contemporary art build off of the old school. As we look at the latest exhibit from the Metropolitan Museum, it's clear to see the influence - directly or indirectly - artists of the past have on our modern day heroes. If you are in New York anytime between now and June 3, be sure to check out the Gaudi to Dali exhibit.

As reported in the NY Times: "In Barcelona there is no need to prepare the revolution, simply because it is always ready. It leans out of the window on the street every day. That was the city’s governor talking in 1909, in the midst of the half-century or so of tumult surveyed by the fascinating, but not perfectly satisfying, “Barcelona and Modernity,” now at the Metropolitan Museum."

Read more about Gaudi to Dali [Here]

Posted by taj at 07:47 AM

March 05, 2007

Art & Design. MWM Graphics

Art & Design. MWM Graphics: Utterly ridiculous. Matt from MWM Graphics puts in work. He is one of the leaders of the youth school when it comes to quality and consistency. His work is both graphical and organic in nature and has a crisp clean feel to it. The amount of work he has done is astounding.

What is even more amazing is the self-published book series titled “Bangers” that he puts out every fall without fail. The book series is a collection of his personal work that is always monochromatic. He does this to take time away from all other projects and focus on himself and his art. He currently has his third installment out and it is the best yet. We own the second and third edition and we are glad we do!

Check out MWM Graphics [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 12:20 AM

March 02, 2007

Art & Design. The Royal & Stanley Donwood

Art & Design. The Royal & Stanley Donwood: The Royal continues to show and prove. They're a great indie mag published by our friend Gensler. His sharp eye toward art, fashion, culture and where it all collides make them a step ahead of the rest. They recently featured an online article on Stanley Donwood.

In Stanley's words, as reported by the Royal, "I was born in Essex, a typical English county north of London, and I became a typical representative of that bleak region. Essex is essentially a flat land that slopes almost imperceptibly into the grey waters of the North Sea, and the people of the county can frequently be seen standing on our crumbling sea defences, staring silently out at the mudflats. It is not a place that the Tourist Board mention often in their paens to the variegated beauty of Britain. When I was quite little I vaguely remember drawing pictures of flat horizons, drawn again and again on layer after layer of tissue paper, and then glued together. These ended up looking like a sort of foggy nothingness. And I drew huge housing estates on lengths of discarded computer printout paper."

Read more about Stanley Donwood at the Royal [Here]

Posted by taj at 09:43 AM

February 27, 2007

Art & Design. The Burning House

Art & Design. The Burning House: Swoon is one of those timeless artists. Her work has made a huge impact in the ways we view street art. Her unique portraits have an unprecedented way of capturing emotion and energy. Every time we're in the LES we can't stop looking at her work. So much so, we had to put her on the cover of issue 5. This month she's part of a great art installment.

Wendy Dembo from Cool Hunting recently attended The Burning House art installation. Here's a snippet of her take on the event: "I was recently in L.A. for the weekend and was lucky enough to catch “The Burning House,” a collaborative installation by Faile, Swoon and David Ellis at New Image Art now extended through 17 March 2007. Walking into the gallery is overwhelming. Much like Wooster on Spring, Every inch of wall, window, or door has been wheat pasted or painted over. As your eyes adjust, you start to see that a Swoon fish cut-out intertwines with a David Ellis “motion” painting, which are on top of a Faile sign. A beautiful and cohesive collaboration, it's hard to tell where one artist’s work ends and another begins."

Read more from Cool Hunting on The Burning House [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:53 PM

Art & Design. New Sony Cam

Art & Design. New Sony Cam: Sony is running. We all know the PS3 is performing less than expected, but it's not stopping their production. This week they've debuted a number of new products that will hopefully bring some sort of resurgence. Their new flat screens, computers, digital cameras and stereo components are all hitting the market in huge numbers.

Overall we're excited. But, we're most excited about their new camera line - the H9 Cyber-shot. It has 15x optical zoom and improved shutter speeds. Also, "It's Sony's only cam (from this year's line show) to sport NightShot tech, which lets you shoot when the sun goes down. The 8MP snapper will also have a less expensive brother, the H7. Both ship in April for $480 and $400." [Gizmodo]

Read more about Sony's new camera line [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:51 PM

February 26, 2007

Artists. Owusu & Hannibal

Artists. Owusu & Hannibal: Meet your new roommates. In late 2006, Ubiquity Records released their debut album, Living With Owusu & Hannibal, a breathtaking addition to that as-yet-still-not-properly-named genre of retro, yet very futuristic soul that has been developing for the last several years.

Based in Norway, Philip Owusu & Robin Hannibal have only been making music together since 2005 and it's obvious that a powerful musical connection exists between the two. Philip Owusu's vocals manage to recall Maxwell while Robin Hannibal's production nods knowingly towards Dave Grusin's early 80's production work, J. Dilla, and Prince. The duo first caught the ears of tastemakers in the US thanks to appearances on the fifth installment of Ubiquity Records' Rewind series, featuring their ethereal cover of the Beach Boys' "Caroline, No"; and HVW8's Music Is My Art compilation which features the track "Blue Jay." Tracks such as "Delirium" and "Lonnie's Secret" later became favorites of club DJs and increased anticipation for their full length.

Dork recommends Owusu & Hannibal. Visit them [Here]

Posted by bill at 12:18 PM

February 23, 2007

Art & Design. Jielde Lamp

Art & Design. Jielde Lamp: Good lighting is essential to design. The Jielde Lamp is a lighting icon when it comes to form and function. Its durable exterior and acute joints make this one of Dork's favorite desktop items.

Apartment therapy found some great pics and wrote a piece on Jielde today. As they report: "The Jielde lamp was designed in France in 1950 by Jean-Louis Domecq. [They're] still in production today, though we only find them at Inside Modern Living - where they are available to the trade and retailers." However, if you like the stylings of JL you can find inspired versions elsewhere. For instance we found a few at Ikea for our office.

Check out Apartment Therapy for the latest in home design [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:38 AM

February 21, 2007

Art & Design. Converging lines and Photography

Art & Design. Converging lines and Photography: Digital photography is one of Dork's favorite pastimes. Whether we're up on flickr or just emailing pictures back and forth, there are a ton of memories being captured. For that reason, articles like this are true gems. Digital Photography School, wrote a short piece on using converging lines to increase the interesting qualities of your photos.

As reported: "When framing a landscape shot one of the types of environmental features that many photographers look for an like to incorporate in their shots is converging lines. We’ve talked previously about how lines have the potential to add interest to an image - but add numerous lines that come together (or close together) and you have yet another tool to lead your viewers eye into a shot."

Read more about Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:35 AM

February 20, 2007

Juicy Mama Nail Paints

Art & Design. Juicy Mama Nail Paints: Even if sneaker companies and street brands continue to cater to men, there’s still someone looking out for the ladies. Fittingly so, her name is Mama. Well, her real name is actually Gabriella Davi-Khorasanee and the clothing line she runs is called Mama. She reps for the fly ladies with her mix of street and sass, and also runs M.I.S.S. a site for women doing their thing in design, art and music. Already an innovator, she collaborated with New Era last season to design one of the very first line of fitteds made especially for women.

Aimed with the knowledge that women collect sneakers just as much as the guys do, Mama took customs up another level - Nail Polish Colorways. Tired of seeing boring monotone colors on hands, Mama teamed up with Juicy Cosmetics to produce a set of fresh nail paints designed to match your kicks. The set includes Coco Noir (Black), Sky Blue (Lt. Blue) and Black Pearl (Grey) and comes packaged in a familiar orange box with a Mama nail file. The Nail Paints will be carried at select retailers from 5 & A Dime in San Diego to Colette in Paris and on DigitalGravel.com for the internetters.

Visit Mama's site for more info on Juicy Mama Nail Paints [Here]

Posted by catzie at 12:36 AM

February 14, 2007

Art & Design. Dwell DesignSource

Art & Design. Dwell DesignSource: Dwell is one of our favorite habitat afficiandos. Their effortless composition of prose, art and design has made the dork crew major fans. They're definitely playing the big brother beat on our design journalism. For these reasons we were excited to see their new resource entitled Dwell DesignSource.

Whether you're looking for designers, architects, art accessories, rugs, or other inspiring objects, the DesignSource has it all. The application is nicely packaged in a web 2.0-type usability. Once again the brand lives up to it's mission: "Dwell was created to champion an intelligent, thoughtful, and modern sensibility that stimulates our audience to envision—and realize—life at home in the modern world." Holla!

Dork recommends Dwell's DesignSource as a daily read [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:56 PM

February 13, 2007

Art & Design. Madsteez

Art & Design. Madsteez: A few weeks back, we checked out Madsteez's opening at Space Downtown in Chelsea. His aesthetic is a playful collage of pop culture imagery. We couldn't help but be captivated by his George Costanza piece.

The show runs until February 28, so be sure to check it out soon. The super-sized Weeneze (Madsteez's illegitimate son) sculpture is mind-blowing. There's a cool video about his Dennis Hopper potrait after the jump. It was a project he embarked on because he was inspired by the portraits Hopper made of people who inspired him. It's really fun stuff. [photo credit: Eric Magnessun]

Madsteez show runs at Space Downtown (276 W. 25th St.) until Feb. 28 [Info]

Posted by james at 07:16 PM

February 12, 2007

Art & Design. Japanese Packaging Design

Art & Design. Japanese Packaging Design: Some say packaging is everything. Well, if you're as fresh as these designers, it just might be. Japan's package art brings some of the most effusive color ways, and it delivers with the funkiest characters. Ping Mag took a look inside the expressive wrappers.

As reported on PM: "Isn’t it wonderful to live in a country where drunken panda-seals lounge on peanut snack packages sniffing beer? Well, not all Japanese packaging is that weird, but see for yourself. Here is PingMag’s Best of Snack Characters. Enjoy!"

View Japanese Packaging Design on Snacker Characters [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:47 AM

February 07, 2007

Art & Design. PDF Magazines Rule!

Art & Design. PDF Magazines Rule: Digital media helps us speak to broader audiences who like specific things. Where paper and marketing space become limited, digital capacity has sparked the long tail that Chris Anderson speaks of in his recent book*. Suddenly there's a place for detail-specific niche marketing that no longer needs to be palatable to mass consumers. For these reasons sites like PDF-Mags.com are amazing resources.

PDF-mags.com is your infobase for PDF magazines made all over the world. There you'll find links and information to free PDF mags with a main focus on art, design, illustration and life. It's in Beta right now, but looks great. As they improve, this site is sure to be a powerhouse for art and design folks.

Dork recommends PDF-Mags as a daily read [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:22 PM

February 03, 2007

Art & Design. Flickr Hacks

Art & Design. Flickr Hacks: Digital photos are the best. There're many online photo applications, but there're none like the mighty Flickr. By far dork's favorite web 2.0 jam, Flickr has become a place for our inspiration. Whether we're looking at our friends work like Mel D Cole* or Sean Marc Lee* - you can always depend on seeing some beautiful photography. The coding is clean, and the controls are intuituve. It's no wonder why the design-program world has adopted the app as the go to choice.

Thomas Hawk points out the very best of Flickr's usability. As he reports, "One of the nice things about Flickr is that because of their open API a whole host of developers have built more and more interesting things to do with the site. It's interesting to me today that so many of the ways that I use Flickr are not even through the site as designed by Yahoo, but instead through the work of outside developers who are constantly creating new and interesting ways to experience the site. Today I thought I'd share what I think are the top 10 Hacks on Flickr."

Thomas Hawk posted his top ten hacks for Flickr [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:50 AM

February 01, 2007

Art & Design. Nike the Ripper

Art & Design. Nike the Ripper: We all saw what happened in Boston. Street art is powerful. These days it can raise the National Security level from yellow to orange. But, it can also do it's usual thing - spark good conversation. The Wooster Collective has some great commentary on a piece found in Munich called Nike the Ripper.

As reported on WC: "If you logged onto the Wooster site this morning then you may have noticed that we put the 'Nike The Ripper' culture jam photograph shown above on the site, and then not too long after we temporarily took it off to respect an email that we received moments after posting it. Why did we take it down? Well it was one of those cases where the artist who created the work left it up to everyone else for interpretation. This is the type of work that we like the most, so for us we don't need to always understand what something means. But this was one of those cases where an email we received prompted us to slow down a bit and ask the artist for some insight into the work."

Read the exchange between the artist and Wooster Collective [Here]

Posted by taj at 11:51 PM

January 29, 2007

Art & Design. All Gone

Art & Design. All Gone: Whoever coined the term “There’s power in numbers”, and argued “Quality over quantity“ probably never thought about what the combined power of those two ideas might actually be. Not in the way collectors do, anyway. In comes “All Gone”, the first book assembled by La MJC, Indesignwetrust and Colette, celebrating 180 collectors products launched in 2006.

Being hailed as a “bible for the streewise”, the hardcover will boast 178 pages of Sneakers, Designer Toys, Tees, Skates – each item to be accompanied by a short story, either explaining the concept or describing the design. The tribute will pay homage to nearly every mover and shaker of the limited edition movement, including brands and designers such as A bathing ape, aNYthing, Clot, Crooks & Castles, DC Shoes, Dr Romanelli, Futura Laboratories, Huf, Ice Cream, Jordan, Married to the Mob, Nike, OriginalFake, Twelve Bar and Vans, as well as brand-stores like Stüssy, Supreme, Undefeated, and Alife to name a few. All Gone will also feature original artworks from KAWS, Futura, Michael Lau, the photography of Karl Lagerfield, Ricky Powell and Marcus Gaab and include interviews from the likes of Nigo, Hiroshi Fujiwara, James Jebbiah, KAWS, James Jarvis, Edison Chen, Madsaki, and Christian Hosoi. So as not to out do itself, each book comes with its own poster and stickers. All Gone is limited, of course, to 500 copies and can be found at “We Sold Out.” In stores now!

Check out All Gone at We Sold Out [Here]

Posted by catzie at 10:11 AM

January 25, 2007

Artist. Clima

Artist. Clima: Myspace is a wonderful thing. Especially when you love to seek out new music thats below the radar. I guess this is attributed to the fact that we love being up on our music game. Recently we came across a band named Clima.

Equal parts soulful, funky, exotic, and jazz inspired - the lead singer Fátima Eiras’ voice is intoxicatingly sensual and comparable to a Sade like voice and tone. The stand out tracks on Clima’s EP are the title track “Gossip” and the slow tempo “My Call.” The song “Gossip” is an up-tempo jam that has an infectious hook and the band has the incredible ability to meld funky jam band instrumental break-downs with rock infused riffs. “My Call” has an almost urban lounge feel to it. Rich percussion mixed with the depth of Fatima’s voice make this song memorable. Dork is looking forward to Clima's full length.

Take a listen for yourself [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 10:20 AM

January 23, 2007

Art & Design: Creative Spaces

Art & Design. Creative Spaces: We usually kick-off our brainstorming sessions with a little MF Doom. How do you call your muse? Inspiration can be difficult to find so when we come across articles like this one, they're keepers.

Recently, Gapingvoid published an article entitled How to be Creative. It's pretty insightful. Written in a self account format, it reads easy and leads off with a list of tips. As GV reports: "The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the cartoon-on-back-of-bizcard format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn't I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever? You don't know if your idea is any good the moment it's created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There's a reason why feelings scare us."

Read more about How to be Creative at Gapingvoid [Here]

Posted by taj at 10:11 PM

January 17, 2007

Art & Design. Steven Harrington

Art & Design. Steven Harrington: Steve Harrington’s work is more than refreshing, it’s GONZO! I've seen his work around, but yesterday I really took the time to check out his site at the suggestion of an iChat friend. When looking through the extensive prints section I was immediately and simultaneously blown away and saddened by the fact that the 18 x 24 peacock print had been sold (it is an amazing print).

The thing about becoming an artist and designer is you become jaded. You get visually overloaded everyday. It becomes hard to break through to a person “us.” I would give anything to be able to be visually stimulated again the way I was when it was all “new” but the laws of life won’t allow that. Steve has managed to catch my attention, hold it, and turn me into a huge fan and hopefully a soon to be customer because I need one of those peacock prints in my life and on my wall.

View more of Steven Harrington's work [Here]

Posted by dechazier at 04:25 PM

Artist. The Fader & Spank Rock

Artist. The Fader & Spank Rock: The Fader has been one of our favorite mags for a while - more so in their opening years. We were addicted when we saw the Sade cover. Remember when they had Mos, D' Angelo and Beck on the front and back!? They're pushing the envelope on many fronts, and it's good to see them rising back to form. We knew they were preparing for a resurgence once we saw DJ Lindsey became an editor. Word up!

The Fader's online presence is on fire too. In the last couple weeks they've been stepping up with tons of daily posts, interviews and all kinds of photographic goodness. If you're not checking out their site, be sure to stop by. We just wanted to take note. It's not easy to balance emerging-art-journalism with the need to financially survive. So big up to the Fader for doing a nice job. Also - while we're at it - big up to Spank Rock, just because! [Here]

Read more on Sweet Talk and Spank Rock at the Fader [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:50 AM

January 16, 2007

Art Conversations. Kozyndan!

Art Conversations. Kozyndan: The synergy of a fine duo can make art that makes a difference. It’s been a while since we’ve witnessed work with this much detail. It all made sense. It’s almost like the creative creatures that existed in our head escaped onto the panoramic pages imagined by Kozy and Dan. That’s where we met – the effusive collisions of robots, cute women, cityscapes and strange mini-monsters.

Kozy and Dan are a couple. They’re amazing artists. And, their work has decorated the halls of Dork since our existence. We’re not supposed to have a favorite interview, but if we were held at gun point by a voltron-like robot powered by a rabbit, we’d confess – this is our favorite. [photo by the great Sean Marc Lee*]

Read Dork's Art Conversation with Kozyndan! [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:41 AM

January 15, 2007

Artist. Black Milk and Broken Wax

Artist. Black Milk and Broken Wax: I have a confession to make, I am not a music writer. I'm not good at objectively describing what makes a song interesting. My reasons for liking a song are usually random and idiosyncratic. Okay, that isn't completely true. I like beats. There's nothing random or idiosyncratic about that. I'd wager you like programmed drums and filtered basslines too.

Black Milk makes beats and rhymes. So what? Who doesn't? I guess the difference is Black Milk makes the beats you imagine making when you sit in front of your MPC 3000. Or maybe you don't - maybe you like making wack beats. Anyway, enough of my nonsensical rambling - Black Milk has my attention. And, if you've heard his stuff, he probably has yours.

Listen to Black Milk's Sound the Alarm (featuring Guilty Simpson) [Here]

Posted by james at 10:23 PM

January 09, 2007

Art & Design. Supertouch @ Colette Art Exhibit

Art & Design. Supertouch @ Colette Art Exhibit: If you're not reading Supertouch, start! Much like A Different Kitchen*, Nah Right*, Catchdubs* and Brooklyn Vegan*, it's a blog where they've developed a relationship with the reader and their integrity never seems to waiver.

Recently they threw up a nice post on Colette's most recent art exhibit. The installation features a host of great artists ranging from Yoshitomo Nara to Futura! As they report: "Just opened is a beautiful group show for charity featuring nearly 100 artists including Yoshitomo Nara, Futura, Takashi Murakami, Mike Mills, Fafi, and KAWS, at Paris’ eternally hot Colette boutique and gallery. Titled 'My 2007', the show is a group vision of expectation for the year ahead with all works (save for the lawless Takashi Murakami’s) adhering to a uniform format of 8.3″ x 11″, and all proceeds from the sale of art are being donated directly to the World Wildlife Fund to aid in the protection of nature and the environment." [Photos included]

Read more about Colette's My 2007 at SuperTouch [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:19 AM

January 08, 2007

Art & Design. Utility and Branding

Art & Design. Utility and Branding: PSFK is on target. We follow their writings and love their analysis on trends. They're especially effective when discussing the cross section of design, technology and branding. As usual, PSFK have another fantastic commentary entitled The Widget & The Branded Utility.

PSFK's article chronicles the web's ever evolving functionality. And, more importantly, they discuss what makes it work - why web 1.0 was destroyed by web 2.0. As reported: "If there's one thing that royally screwed Web 1.0, it was the rush to build mountains and then bring the people to the mountains, rather than the mountains (and their message) to the people. If you wanted to be online (and you wanted to get some $ from a VC or two), you had to build a site with a cool name. The problem was (a) there weren't that many people online in the dial-up internet age and (b) they had enough trouble getting past things like ISP closed gardens to get through to you. Everything was about getting people to come to you rather than you going to them. Of course, the great Google came and oiled the wheels. It worked out a clever equation that got people to go places. The world seemed to love it, but it wasn't what they really wanted." [Note - the above pic caught our eye because helio's creative marketing attempts to blend in with the niche of the Wooster crowd.]

Read PSFK's article The Widget & The Branded Utility [Here]

Posted by taj at 03:56 PM

Art & Design. Transformer Patents

Art & Design. Transformer Patents: Who didn't love Transformers? I remember my Mom and I hunting down various models - Optimus Prime and Trail Blazer were two of my favorites. This year the movie Transformers hits the big screen. Hopefully it'll live up to the hype.

As we were reminiscing, we came across this early patent for MegaTron at the MAKE blog. As reported: "Jordan is having a lot of fun (still) with the new Google patent search... 'I really love this site. I love the splash pages that show random patents. I don't know if you were a transformer kid, but I totally had this guy megatron. Its awesome to see it in patent form, and the sketches are priceless"

Check out more information on MegaTron at MAKE [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:57 PM

January 04, 2007

Art & Design. Format Magazine & Native Tongues

Art & Design. Format Magazine & Native Tongues: When I think about the Native Tongues, one thing immediately comes to mind - dopeness! I remember going nuts listening to Stakes is High and hearing Pos declare that the "Native Tongues has officially been reinstated!" Even though that didn't happen, I'm not mad. I still have the music and the memories.

Format has an intersting feature on the Tongues and their design ethos. As reported on Format: "The Native Tongues were laid back and unafraid to rap about a broader spectrum of life. And their album art was just as jazzy, sophisticated and playful - a stark contrast to the album art of then (and now), which often alternates between menacing and wealth-flaunting photos of an artist and his crew. The Native Tongues instead flaunted covers with concepts - ideas beyond the next drug deal or Benjamin-stacking. Though they’ve since grown with hip hop - those who have survived - it is their genesis that truly cements their rap legacy. De La, Tribe and the rest of the crew brought a relaxed vibe laced with jazz to a genre normally associated with alpha-dog aggression."

Read Format Magazine's article about Native Tongue cover art [Here]

Posted by james at 05:03 PM

December 20, 2006

People News. Unintended Consequences and Gaming

People News. Unintended Consequences and Gaming: If it's in the game, it's in the game! Or is it? The realism in today's video gaming is astounding. Recently, we've found ourselves playing them rather than participating in their physical counterparts. Admittedly, the frequency of folks coming by for a quick pick-up game outside are slimming. More often, people come by and plop down for a few rounds on the xbox. So it came as no surprise to see the following article posted on Joystiq.

As reported: "Reuters reports on the current shortage of young British soccer talent with national managers partially blaming video games as the catalyst. An influx of foreign players and lack of coaching were also attributed to the diminishing number of players in the land where the sport was invented."

Read the full article about shortage of soccer talent [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:54 AM

December 19, 2006

Art & Design. Saatchi Gallery

Art & Design. Saatchi Gallery: It's only right that we post about this one. With Web 2.0 taking a stronghold on big-media, no genre is safe from invasion. The latest success is Saatchi Gallery - a social networking site for the art-focused individual. The New York Times recently wrote about it.

As reported: "Julie Ann Travis , 23, a graduate student at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, is curious to see what her peers are up to and to share some of her latest work. So recently she posted a self-portrait in which her head is buried in a pile of dirt at Stuart (saatchi-gallery.co.uk/stuart), the latest addition to a recently redesigned Web site for the Saatchi Gallery in London. The brainchild of the London-based advertising magnate and collector Charles Saatchi, this social networking outlet — a kind of MySpace knockoff for artists — is causing something of a sensation, boosting traffic at the gallery’s Web site overall to more than three million hits a day."

Read more at the NY Times about Saatchi Gallery [Here]

Posted by taj at 01:55 AM

Press. Dork in the Royal

Press. Dork in the Royal: We apologize for taking Monday off. It was an amazing weekend. We have a mega-post lined up for the Wooster Collective jam that took place in NY last weekend. We stood in line for nearly 3 hours and just made it in to see one of the greatest art installations in recent memory. It was awesome. We needed yesterday to absorb the event. Kudos to Wooster Collective for making it happen.

The Royal has a new website with PDF versions of their latest double issue available. Dork Mag is featured in issue 9. We discuss technology, media and it's effect on expressive genre's such as street wear. At the top of the page they say, "The world was designed offline." This past weekend was a brilliant reminder of that. Every once in a while it's important to step away from the computer, and out of the office, to experience all the reasons for which we write.

Check out the new Royal website [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:53 AM

December 05, 2006

Art & Design. Johan Prag

Art & Design. Johan Prag: We can't get enough of RJD2's latest tune, You Never Had It So, at the office. It's an interesting departure for him and we're into it. I mean, we even made it our profile song on MySpace. [RJD2 tune] What does that have to do with Johan Prag's work? Not much, I guess.

Johan Prag is a Swedish designer who has been living and working in Tokyo since 2003 while being active as a designer, art director, video director and product designer since 1997. His works are fascinatingly measured images of whimsy and symmetry.

View the work of Johan Prag [Here]

Posted by james at 06:16 PM

December 03, 2006

Art & Design. Stones Throw & Kid Robot

Art & Design. Stones Throw & Kid Robot: Everytime I'm in the village, I have to stop by the Kid Robot Store. That place just feels right. It's the ultimate art/toy gallery. When they were featuring the Gorrillaz Vinyl toys, I wanted one so bad. But now, they've really dropped the hammer on us.

Stones Throw Records and Kid Robot have teamed up to produce a MadVillain vinyl toy. Yikes! This thing is so fresh. We rocked the All Caps* video for days. The animated visual - set to Madvillain's music - was classic. Now, that animation has stepped into the real world, and will hopefully land on a desk at our Dork Offices (bing wink to the folks at ST).

Madvillain vinyl toy by Stones Throw x Kid Robot. Hittin' shelves Jan 11! [View]

Posted by taj at 03:29 PM

Art & Design. Matzu MTP's Website

Art & Design. Matzu MTP: Matzu's genius is so low key that you probably missed it. We first met him in Williamsburg during the Brooklyn Hip Hop fest, on a random journey for some food. He was working on an installation for Triple Crown. We stopped, looked at his work and before we knew it, we were engaged in a deep conversation with him about art and the area. It's funny how you can bump into inspiration and not realize it's impact on the world. Here it was, we happened to catch him while painting one of the freshest murals in BK. Matzu is making a serious impact. Yet, on that day, he was the most humble, low key person you could meet.

Matzu has a new website. You can view his work there. For a little background, the artist collective, Dream So Much, has a nice bio on him: "MATZU-MTP interprets the contemporary street art movement by applying Japanese techniques and sensibility to his large-scale paintings through brush strokes and iconographies, as well as color palette and the use of negative space. He is alone in his ability to explore the edges of cultural identity. His works flirt with the boundary between traditional Japanese art and urban American street influences. And he pursues that inspiration with tremendous exuberance and a fresh design language that's filled with human emotion."

Visit Matzu MTP's new website [Here]

Posted by taj at 02:25 PM

November 30, 2006

Art & Design. Banksy Videos

Art & Design. Banksy Videos: Banksy creates and shows you how he did it. Dork recently came across a collection of Banksy videos that demonstrate the process behind his genius. Determined to make a statement, Banksy's artistic wit never ceases to make us think.

Many of you may know him for his spoof on Paris Hilton, during the debut of her latest album. But for those who are not familiar, here is a brief background from wiki, "Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist then discovered the art of stenciling, and soon became noticed for his art. His stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment or pro-freedom. Subjects include animals such as monkeys and rats, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phonebox), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank."

View a few of Banksy's films [Here]

Posted by taj at 12:18 PM

November 29, 2006

Art & Design. Boost Mobile & MadSteez

Art & Design. Boost Mobile & MadSteez: Art and marketing are colliding at tremendous pace. At the Tokion Conference there was significant mention of these collaborations. Some companies are doing it well and others aren't. Boost Mobile is an example of a company doing it well. We've always