Urban Eyes are smiling
All of that studying over the past couple of months has me seeing double... literally. It's time for some new glasses.
The process is super annoying... especially since it brings me back to the first time I learned I had bad vision, back in the 5th grade. I was so traumatized by the fact I'd have to wear glasses (like glasses were some how the only thing that could stand in my way between bookworm and popular girl)- that I literally threw an embarrassing little fit in the optometrists' office. My mother tried to calm me down and urged me to pick a "nice pair" of glasses. Being as I was upset, and being as it was the early 90's (pink and purple were all the range) I huffily chose a pair of clear plastic purple tinted glasses. My mom explained that I'd be stuck with the frames for at least a year and suggested I pick something else... but no avail. I was the girl with the frizzy hair and purple glasses. Popularity was once again thwarted for at least another 3 years. Anyway- I've finally made peace with the glasses thing (my contacts help) and now even like to play with the more outrageous frames offered (though I'll never go back to purple!)
The king of eyewear originality is Scott Urban of Urban Spectacles:
The uniqueness of hand made specs goes without saying. Whereas eyewear mass produced by means of machines and computers results in the exact same pair of frames every time, two human hands, even if they wanted to, would not be able to make exact duplicates of anything. This is very true of the spectacles I create. Every pair stands alone as an absolute original, born from my hands, to live on the bridge of your nose.More than just glasses, his frames are true works of art!
Dyeing for the perfect T?
Better Thinking is on a mission: to create the perfect t-shirt. In their words: "The perfect t-shirt is something of a controversial title: until every material, tool, energy source, transport method and person involved in the project has an environmental footprint of zero and an impressive social record, the t-shirt will be responsible for some kind of impact. Accepting this, we’re going to consider every impact the t-shirt could have, so we can justify every decision we made, showing how it results in the lowest overall impact."Sorry I did the whole quotes thing-- the block quote function is acting up this morning. Anyway-- the company is doing great things and has recently released a report (free for you to download) about the impacts of textile dyeing. The report looks at why we should be concerned about the environmental impact of dyes, then goes on to list the impacts, advantages and disadvantages of conventional dyeing techniques and possible alternatives. A must read for all current and future designers with a conscious!
Sleep Walking
So ... as the future of eyewear goes back to the basics... and the future of textile dyeing looks to be more eco-friendly... I know what you're wondering... what about the future of sleeping bags? (Crazy how I read your mind like that!)
Well if Chilean graphic designer Rodrigo Alonso has a say we'll all be sleep walking in style with the selk'bag wear system. There's not much to say about these seeping bags as they pretty much speak for themselves... they're crazy and they're fabulous... they're so cool they actually make the idea of camping sound like fun (don't get any ideas L...).
(Thanks to GenArt for this one!)
So much more to share... but I'll save it for tomorrow. Thanks so much for the e-mails! Keep the great suggestions coming!
