natural extension

designers tara and inessah met in 2005 through a summer roommate posting on craigslist. a friendship turned into a business and thus sublet was born. an eco friendly clothing line that uses sustainable materials including organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, silk, and surplus fabrics to create their designs.

harbingers of doom

samantha french is a mixed media artist living in nyc via minnesota. most of her paintings are pulled from memories of warm summer days at the lake. they evoke the same nostalgic feelings in me. alongside her images of carefree swimmers are paintings of gathering crows, with black dripping plumage, acting as the antagonists. samantha just placed a few new prints in her online store. any one would make a perfect christmas gift.

slopes

in michigan, flakes of snow are falling from the sky outside and melting on the cool grass. in dubai, snow only falls where nature fails, inside. stéphanie solinas captures beautiful images of an artificial and controversial reality in her photo series of the united arab emirates. at ski dubai, tourists float over a bed of man-made white, under a blue painted sky, and through a paper mountain backdrop, with 120°F in the desert outside.

lucky break

la blogotheque has been filming a series of impromptu concerts around paris called "take away shows." phoenix just did a few songs with them by the eiffel tower, trocadero, and along the seine. lucky tourists. earlier this year they also filmed bon iver singing down winding streets and in doorways, and on a balcony overlooking the city's rooftops. the music is lovely and imperfect, but i would watch all of the films on mute if i had to, just to see the intimate images of the city that i miss.

they only get better with age

one thing my wardrobe is missing this fall is a pair of oxfords. i put the top pair from madewell on my christmas list. (1) tan suede, (2) red wingtips, (3) black trimmed, (4) golden brown, (5) grey suede, (6) cream wingtips, (7) tan woven, (8) white cut outs.

delicately crafted

francesca gabbiani uses an x-acto knife to cut out the tiny pieces of colored paper that make up her most recent collection of work. ben and i saw the exhibit at the patrick painter gallery when we were back in los angeles for a few days in october. the cut-out forms are assembled like rococo mirrors. you move in close to inspect the small details before you realize that you’re looking back at your own reflection against the glass and black backdrop.