My homie Steven Harrington is the featured artist of the newest issue of Arkitip, drenching it in his hippy weirdness. His work was inspired by images from the Time Life Encyclopedia from 1965 to 1982, thrift store and Bill Withers. Each issue comes with an arrow bookmark and scarf he designed with the folks over at Sixpack France. Looking at the inside it should be a pretty great issue, I totally love where Steven is going with his work, the guy never ceases to amaze.
Bobby
There’s a great article in the September issue of GQ which explores the world of Tom Michael’s, a man who grows Tuber melanosporum, aka black truffles, in the hills of Tennessee. Black truffles are normally known to be collected in France, but Michaels is changing all of that, mining “black gold” as you could call it. I knew absolutely nothing about the truffle business before this, but it’s a good read and author Alan Richman does a great job of making me quite curious about trying them one day.
“The black truffle found in Périgord and Provence, and now Chuckey, Tennessee, has dozens of fungal relatives, some of them used in cooking, a few of them not bad at all, none of them its equal in beauty or bouquet. Once cleaned, the black Périgord truffle glitters. Cut open, the veins resemble mica. (When they are cooked, the marbling disappears.) Although the truffle possesses a pleasant crunch, it is treasured not so much for its taste or appearance but for its aroma, which has been likened to bedsheets after a night of abandon, slatterns who disdain to bathe, all that is dark and alluring about the human body and soul.”
Click here to read the full article.
Bobby
Last year Stop Smiling magazine asked Geoff McFetridge to illustrate the differences between Calgary, his hometown, and California, his current place of residence. I totally missed out on this when it was printed, but Stop Smiling put up some additional images that weren’t run in the magazine. I don’t know much about Canada, but I do know a lot about LA, so I love hearing Geoff’s thoughts on our shared hometown. The illustrations are great as usual, the guys art is just such a treat to look at.
I’ve posted more of my favorites under the cut, especially the last one, which I though was rather cute.
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Last night I had the opportunity to check out the opening of the new Monocle shop in Brentwood. As many of you previously read, I wasn’t so thrilled with their choice of location, seeing as how Brentwood is somewhat on the outskirts of the city.
I arrived around 6 PM and the place was already bustling, elegant looking people walking around, champagne glasses in hand, talking and having a wonderful time. The shop itself was quite modest, it couldn’t be more than 100 sq. ft., but was filled with all kinds of Monocle goodies. The space looked a bit like a study in a modern home, very warm and inviting and smelled woodsy. Overall, it’s a darling little space, tucked into a charming walk through market that features a candy shop and a James Perse store, among others.
Talking to Tyler Brule, he was quite open with the fact that the shop isn’t trying to be hip or cool, “as Monocle already is”, he said, but that it’s meant to introduce the magazine to people who don’t know about it. The other reason is that the Brentwood area is a more affluent neighborhood, willing to spend money on higher end products like their Porter bags or $85 candles. I had imagined that this was part of the reason why it was put there, and was rather satisfied with his candidness about it. It’s merely, business.
Tyler was a very gracious host as well, introducing himself to everyone and even saying goodnight to us as we left, and his staff was extremely nice as well. A couple of them knew me as basically “the guy who thought Monocle was dumb for opening a store in Brentwood”, but they were quite funny about it and realized I didn’t mean any harm in it.
I also got to hang out with Jean Aw from NOTCOT, Ryan Willms from h(y)r collective, Tasha Nita Adams from Blackburn and Sweetzer, and Julie Rasmussen and Kemp Powers from LAist. It’s always fun to run into fellow bloggers, especially when you get champagne for dinner.
If you happen to be near Brentwood, definitely take a pop over to the store, I highly recommend it.
Bobby
P.S. I stole the top image from Ryan at h(y)r collective, thanks Ryan! Here’s his post of the event as well.
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Earlier today I saw a tweet from Tom over at The Scout, confirming that Monocle was indeed opening a shop in Los Angeles, something they hinted at in their most recent issue. As critical as I can be about Monocle, I feel like I hold them to higher standard because they do so many things so very right.
Excited, I was curious to find out where the shop would be, but to my dismay, they chose… Brentwood. For those who aren’t familiar with Los Angeles, Brentwood is a “fancy” neighborhood, but it’s also completely out of the way from anything cool. I feel like I know Los Angeles pretty damn well, and well, I couldn’t tell you a damn store in Brentwood.
There are so many places in Los Angeles for a Monocle store to go. There’s the REALLY rich folk in Beverly Hills, the constantly gentrifying Downtown, the hipsters in Silverlake… but they chose the most out of way place in this entire mess of a city. Yet again Monocle, you seem to not understand a damn thing about Los Angeles, and this further proves that point.
Tyler Brulé is quoted as saying the location offers, “a great space in a high traffic area which possesses a similar demographic and ‘community feel’ to our Marylebone store in London.” If the demographic he’s speaking of is Ed Hardy wearing moms driving around in FJ Cruisers, then I suppose he’s right on the mark. But in my opinion, a Monocle store would fare better in an area that is more urban, cares about what’s going on around the world and appreciates well designed things.
I’ll still visit the shop… but it’ll have to be a very special trip.
Bobby
Newsweek Plans Makeover to Fit a Smaller Audience
by By Richard Pérez-Peña
I thought this article about Newsweek redesigning their magazine for a niche community was an interesting read. With so many magazines closing these days, it’s kind of cool to see one of the old guard taking some drastic steps to keep their doors open.
A deep-rooted part of the newsweekly culture has been to serve a mass audience, but that market has been shrinking, and new subscribers come at a high price in call centers, advertising and deeply discounted subscriptions.
“Mass for us is a business that doesn’t work,†said Tom Ascheim, Newsweek’s chief executive. “Wish it did, but it doesn’t. We did it for a long time, successfully, but we can’t anymore.â€
The magazine will replace its thin paper with heavier stock that is more appealing to advertisers and readers. It will also put more emphasis on photography. Pages of a mock issue that Mr. Meacham displayed in his office on West 57th Street in Manhattan show a cleaner, less cluttered layout that has more open space and fewer pages that seem an uninterrupted sea of words.
It sounds to me like they’re trying to turn themselves into Monocle, which with it’s $10 price tag and luxury advertisers in every issue, isn’t a bad move. I just wish they’d redesign that logo of their’s. The red block is iconic, but that type needs to be refreshed and re-set.
Bobby
