And now, here I am, a few weeks away from visiting your great nation. I’m organizing toiletries and folding jeans and packing my suitcase, but inside, my heart is reeling. I’m a teenager prepping for a first date – a date that I have a feeling might be a monumental one. What shoes do you bring to fall head over heels in? What raincoat can protect you from the outpouring of emotion?
After landing on the idea of reinventing the T-shirt – a classic staple for every wardrobe – the pair began researching extensively and walking the streets of east London’s “tackiest wholesale kids stores” to find the right mix of comfort, utility and design. Charlotte writes, “I found a pack of blank white t-shirts in the back of the shop that looked about 20 years old.” So they hand-dyed and printed the t-shirts with the word LOVE in various colour ways. And thus, Dandy Star was born – out of, quite literally, love.
I’m always inspired by brands and companies that go the extra mile in terms of visual branding and merchandising. Sure, a simple lookbook with product photos can get the job done, but what if you take it a step further? What if you tell a story – an enchanting tale of imagination and discovery and
It’s a philosophy that Judith ascribes to in her life, as well. “I kind of love mostly everything that I make,” she writes. “I mean there are duds and unsuccessful pieces of course, but each thing build upon the next. Failures are as important as the successes that’s when you know you are pushing the boundaries and figuring out something new. I guess for me its all a work in progress, never ending really.”
Seeking: a bubble wand that isn’t overtly plastic or primary-colored or loud and boisterous. Spotted: Amechan bubble set from Kiko+, constructed from sustainable beech wood with a matching candy-shaped tray and a surprise bubble recipe inside.
Chmara’s project, titled 2,5³ is a minimal living cube designed to revolutionize social canons and mobile living structures. “A negation of consumerism and the idea of contemporary nomadism led us to various visionary concepts like modular microh0uses,” the girl-and-dude designer duo (who are both under 30, btw!) write. “We just need less space, as there are less books, less paper, no fax, no television and so on.”
“At the heart of my work is a fascination with the mundaneness of the everyday,” Corey writes. “Objects are overlooked, they become invisible in this blur of overfamiliarity with the daily inattention. When we look at the everyday objects we don’t stop to think about them, in ways of colour, shape and form, we just accept what they are, no questions are asked.”
Designer Ryan Campbell began her journey as a shoe artisan by designing custom sandals for adults. But when she designed a mini pair for tiny toes, she fell head over heels – pun intended.