This is what it would look like if we made hot music videos for designers and artists rather than musicians:

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE – VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG from elr°y on Vimeo.

I really love the breadth of style from Atelier Olschinski, a duo out of Austria. Just compare these two pieces above and below. Metropolis vs Space Odyssey.

They have such a great eye that extends not only to graphic design, but to photography, editorial art direction and plain old high-end concepts. I like. A lot.

You may have noticed, (well, maybe you haven’t) I’ve been absent for a while. That’s because I’ve recently entered the strange and adrenalin filled world of politics. More specifically, I’ve been tracking, following and reporting on the upcoming republican primary. I also happen to live in NH. Not sure if you heard, but we’re a pretty big deal when it comes to primaries.

Before the audible shock wave crosses the entire internet, let me explain one thing: I’m not interested in voting for a Republican candidate. I am interested in getting them to declare clearly what their stance is on certain issues. These guys can be a little vague at times. I’m also very, very interested in how the candidates communicate with potential voters. Their website is a good starting point for discussion. After the jump, I’ve spared you the pain of actually going to these sites and gave you a screen snap of (almost) everyone who is vying for a spot against Barack Obama in 2012. His website, as you can see above, is kinda awesome in terms of design. And when I say “awesome,” I think I mean targeted towards me – a fairly young voter with an eye for good looking things. Just look at those vintage-toned photos of gorgeous love birds M & B!

Read and see more after the jump.

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I don’t know what it is about South Africa, but we seem to always find a heap of talented kids over there. Studio Botes is just one more shining example. They do all kinds of fantastic shit and I like it all. More awesome after the jump…

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The first time I saw Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, I think I was 14 and in the greatest english class ever (R.I.P. Ms. Bertie Lord!) so I thought I would never be in a better atmosphere to fully absorb that masterpiece. In fact, I kind of forgot about it until we went to Mass Moca recently and saw a screening of it alongside a live orchestra performing their own score to the silent film. God damn, if it wasn’t one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in a long, long, long time.

Alloy Orchestra was a 3 piece band of superhuman rhythm and stamina. The film is over two hours long and there are very few moments of hushed pianissimo sound. Besides impressing us with their sheer physicality, the soundtrack they created was impeccable and perfect in every scene. The bowel like, monotonous percussion accompanying the workers as they march like robots into the city, the shrieking, tense pitch of the flood as the children crawl and crowd Maria in the square – AMAZING.

This is actually a behind the scenes shot of the flood scene. Even the stills look awe inspiring.

Sometimes when you’re sitting in a theatre, watching scene after scene, shot after shot pass before your eyes, it’s overwhelming. I like looking back at the stills (you can see those and more behind the scenes photos at the Metropolis website) since every single piece of the set is so meticulously designed.

The combination of sight and live sound both at their peak of greatness in a theatre at my favorite contemporary art museum?

Well, it made for an experience that will stick to my bones for a long time. And that’s the stuff I live for.

This sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. On Wednesday, NYC mayor Bloomberg and almost everyone else working on the new World Trade Center site held a press conference to give yet another thin update on building progress. I feel like the process has been long and empty – but I was thrilled to see Silverstein properties come out with a moving video to re-stimulate my interest and connection to the site.

The video (more like a short film, really) mixes live action, tilt shift and impressive CGI effects to tell the story of a new World Trade Center. Surprisingly, (though it’s been a big piece of the winners and losers bidding to build) there are green spaces and water features. It’s calm and thriving and new and somehow, even with it’s soaring heights, modest. After all NYC and the rest of the country have been through, it seems like a high point. Finally, after all this time.

Also, here is a link to an incredible article that my good friend sent me on grief and western culture’s abandonment of grieving rituals. It just makes me think about all those times when I felt a splinter of anger rise up in me when someone very, very far removed from the tragedy of 9/11 somehow makes a distant connection to the death and destruction via the friend of a 3rd cousing or something. I used to think that they had no right to feel the same way I felt about 9/11 – I was there, they were in Wisconsin or something. I’m rethinking that now. In a situation this big and sad, I guess we all need to grieve.

This Sunday, I’ll take a moment to remember that day back in 2001 and thank all the men and women involved in responding, recovering and rebuilding. I hope you do too.

Yay for Miriam & Alex! Sorry, maybe next time for everyone else

No worries, though, you can always head over to the KSP shop and buy yourself something nice to ease the pain.

What’s better than a kick ass design team/couple? NOTHING. Hillary Harrison and Dan Davis of Kin Ship Press are just more proof that being interesting people makes you bound to do interesting work. We asked them a couple of uber serious questions so that we could get acquainted. Also…there’s a GIVEAWAY involved! WOOHOO!

Kin Ship Press is generously giving one lucky reader a set of counting sheep pillowcases (aww!) and another reader a lovely framed print called Visitors.

All you need to do is comment below. Tell us what item you’d love to have and we’ll pick a winner next week. You may get extra points for re-tweeting, too! Contest closes on Friday, 8/12 and winners will be announced the following Monday. GOOD LUCK!

So, back to the interview.

What’d we learn? Honestly, these guys are talented AND funny and if we’re ever in Louisville, well, I just invited myself over for bacon and bunny pasta. DEAL WITH IT, KSP.

Can you give us just a bit of background on yourselves and Kin Ship Press?

Hillary Harrison: Dan was born in Germany, grew up in Idaho, moved to Louisville as a tween. I (Hillary) grew up in West Virginia, moved to Louisville when I was 19. (I’m 31 now. Dan is 27.) We started making things under the name Kin Ship Press in late 2009.

I’d just like to interject here – older women rule.

How did you make the decision to work together?

Hillary: I can’t really remember…

Dan:  Well, I do. When we met, we didn’t know a whole lot of people who were “do-ers” if you will. So, being like minded in that way, it made sense that we team up. We started first with an art gallery, The Kin Ship, which was fun while we did it, but after awhile we wanted to focus on making things of our own. And since we don’t really like doing things half-assed, the gallery got cut and we started making things full time.

What items do you keep at your bedside?

HH: Poor Dan doesn’t have a bedside table. He’s just stuck with the wall because I have to get up and pee like every 8 minutes. I have a bedside table, but there’s not really anything on it. Just a sad empty coaster right now. I used to keep a glass of water there, but Percy the Cat kept knocking it over in the middle of the night.

DD: She said it. I got the wall.

What meal do you cook for people you love?

HH: I don’t like to cook, but if I like you enough, I can make a mean pot of bunny pasta & peas.

DD: For people I love, I like to cook (or cut) crunchy bread with dipping oil, fancy cheese, apples, and blackberries. I can also make the house smell pretty great with some bacon. That’s how I do.

Describe how living in Louisville helps you and how does it frustrate you (since most cities seem to do both).

DD: Hmmm, Our friends are great, food here is good, rent is cheap, and there are a lot of parks. That stuff helps us stay in a good mood.

HH: I guess that leaves me with the frustrating… One thing that I’ve noticed since moving to Louisville is that some of the “creative types” here take themselves really seriously. Not that things should always be fun and ridiculous, far from it, but there is sometimes a weird sense of entitlement & self-importance among artsy types. It can leave you feeling kind of icky and just not wanting to be part of it. But, luckily there are also super supportive, encouraging, and inspiring people here too.

If you had a billion dollars, what would kin ship press look like (if in fact, you haven’t f-ed off to fiji)?

DD: Well, Fiji sounds pretty good, but if all the flights were booked up, I guess Kin Ship would be in a refitted classic farm house, on a nice piece of land, with a new studio/wood shop made out of some cargo containers. I also cannot rule out a couple of cute donks.

HH: I don’t need a billion dollars, but if I had just a small fraction of a billion, I would definitely want all of the things that DD mentioned above. And I might as well get a cargo container to house the darkroom I’ve been dreaming of. And I’d like a little greenhouse. And a beagle named Baxter. And our friend Amber can raise goats on the farm and make soaps and frolic with the donks or whatever she wants to do. And our friends Ashley and Brent could run a bed and breakfast nearby. And I’d probably buy a new computer for Kin Ship, one with a screen that doesn’t flicker.

DD – what kind of a ruckus do you make?

Ruckus of the music variety. I don’t really know how to play anything, but that doesn’t stop me.

HH – cat naps or naps that last for hours? And how do you do it?

It’s more like little sleep attacks. I can be in mid conversation & then out cold. I can also sleep just about anywhere. My first job in Louisville was at Walgreens and I mastered the art of sleeping while standing because we weren’t allowed to sit down. My favorite place to sleep-stand there was in the pipe tobacco aisle because it smelled real good.

Thanks, Kin Ship! And good luck to you readers out there!

There are troves of posts on the subject of inspiration. There are great arguments negotiating where the line is drawn between inspired and stolen. There’s also a great quote from Chuck Close that made the Tumblr rounds. Basically, he says to stop reading and looking at shit and just get the work done already. I could almost agree, but I’ll be damned if I miss out on all that glorious time lounging around, flipping through magazines and reading my google reader.

For inspiration, of course.

I think it’s good for us to seek inspiration but there needs to be some limits, some…routine, maybe? It’s easy to get sucked into the internet (particularly when you have a turntable.fm chat dinging in your ears) and it can get stale, boring, routine in the worst sense of the word, so I get away from my desk. I look for inspiration elsewhere and I try to allow myself a specific amount of time to revel and ruminate before a project begins. So, I thought I’d share what we do because IT’S FRIGGIN AWESOME. Not to mention, inspiring.

This is the Phillips Exeter Library, part of the Phillips Exeter Academy (see super serious and world renowned prep school) in Exeter, New Hampshire. 20 minutes from our office. The architectural style of the building is Brutalist. I mean, really? Can that be any cooler? The architect who designed it was Louis Kahn and this building was his opus. Again, it’s 20 minutes from our office.

Read and see more after the jump.

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I can’t remember how I found Araminta’s work exactly but I can remember that my first thought was it’s the places you’re willing to go to, the people you’re willing to talk to that make you a great photographer. Photography is kind of common, amateur these days and by these days I guess you could argue that means all the days after Kodak began weeding out professional equipment and replacing it with point and shoot snapshot toys even a child can use. Not that I don’t use them myself on the daily. Not that amatuers aren’t snapping beautiful, captivating pictures.

So if it’s not the equipment that separates the pros from the bros, then I think maybe it has to do more with courage, adventure and plain old, undying curiosity about people and places all over the world, no?

More of Araminta’s curious work after the jump.

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