|
UnBeige logo by Marina Moser, as part of our regular design our logo feature
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Receive mediabistro.com's Daily UnBeige Feed via email
craftyTuesday Jul 22, 2008
Going to Eindhoven? Bring a Helmet
Tuesday May 13, 2008
Tyler Hays to Survey Industrial Complex on Eve of ICFF
Later this summer, jeweler, educator, writer, and provocateur Bruce Metcalf and crafty graphic designer and artist Chanel Kennebrew will chat about the complicated relationships between the broad spectrum of craft makers. Come September, things get political, when Murketing's Rob Walker leads a conversation with makers Sabrina Gschwandtner and Liz Collins on craft's relationship to politics, strange bedfellows to be sure, but beneath a lovingly hand-embroidered duvet. The talks, and the wine and (we suspect) artisanal cheese receptions that follow them are free, but you've got to RSVP, and fast. American Craft editor-in-chief Andrew Wagner tells us that spots are going fast. Friday May 02, 2008
Milliners, Mark Your Calendars
Thursday May 01, 2008
Springing Into Summer Already
Monday Apr 28, 2008
A Little Bit Ombre...
Tuesday Apr 22, 2008
Seven Questions for Andrew Wagner
Under the leadership of editor-in-chief Andrew Wagner (a founding editor of Dwell), the 65-year-old, New York City-based magazine has been reborn. The October/November 2007 issue marked the publication's relaunch and full-scale redesign, right down to the new satin 60-pound paper stock on which it is printed. In answering our seven questions, below, Wagner discusses the American Craft of today, his forthcoming book of writings by the late Ettore Sottsass, and a recent scuffle with goldsmiths. 1. You're the editor-in-chief of American Craft. How do you define "craft"?
Not surprisingly, craft was everywhere and on the tips of everyone's tongues across artistic disciplines and professional boundaries. From food to fashion to art, architecture and design, people were really starting to gravitate towards the "making" of cultural output. How are things put together? Where do they come from? What are the materials? Essentially, it's the question 'how does what we consume end up in our hands?' that becomes interesting when we have been so removed from that process for years now. To keep things short and sweet, I went about incorporating this very large idea into the magazine by being able to work with incredible people (writers, photographers, editors, etc.) who truly can "see the forest for the trees." Also, I've been able to work with one of the most talented design teams out there, creative director Jeanette Abbink and senior designer Emily CM Anderson. Friday Mar 21, 2008
Martha Stewart's Eggsellent Translation of Prada's Fall Runway
Here at UnBeige, we celebrate Easter with our own version of an egg hunt that involves scouring the Internet for bargain-priced Arne Jacobsen chairs. But now Martha Stewart has us thinking twice about more traditional festivities. Today on the special Easter edition of her talk show, she blew us away with her ability to rapidly translate Prada's big fall '08 runway revelation (lace, lace, and more lace!) to the medium of Easter eggs! That's right, this year all you need is a bit of lace to make your eggs look superior to those of less innovative types who are now scooping up PAAS kits and readying their glitter shakers. Martha walked the audience through the wrap/dip/dry process (details here), in which the lace pattern becomes imprinted on the egg. "It doesn't matter what kind of lace you use," she assured them, before rattling off some options: "black, ecru, Chantilly, Alencon" (and we love the fact that she could have gone on naming varieties of lace for the remainder of the show!). Of course, not wanting to alienate members of her audience who haven't already strategized based on last month's Milan shows, Martha didn't actually mention the Prada link, but we nonetheless salute her holiday wink at Miuccia -- and a mere month after the runway show. Monday Mar 17, 2008
Starting at the SNAG Conference, Ending In the Thick of a Debate Over Bruce Metcalf
We had an old boss who was way into astrology who used to say, "Mercury is in retrograde" whenever old friends start popping up again. We still don't have any idea of what that means, but Mercury must be up to something, as we also heard from our old friend Andrew Wagner from American Craft magazine, who sent us a note about his first hand experience giving a presentation at the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference last week at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He was there to talk about the hipster craft movement, where that weird phenomenon has taken place over the last couple of years, getting the youngsters interested in things like knitting, and, generally, just making stuff purchased from craft supply stores (yeah, it still kinda boggles our minds too). What he got instead was, after having a successful talk at the conference, finding out that he'd landed right in the middle of a big debate among the craft-y community about a guy named Bruce Metcalf, a jeweler and artist who had helped put together the SNAG event and who, from reading Andrew's report, is just about the most divisive figure living in that world today. If you're at all interested in subcultures within the greater "design" blanket, it's a great read. Here's a bit from one angry person: "How in the world does Bruce Metcalf have the power to make so many people from so many groups so pissed off? Bruce addressed the NCECA ceramics conference last year with a huge 'the sky is falling' speech that had smoke coming out of my ears. He was totally territorial about craft and preaching about how schools needed to circle the wagons in their ceramics, fiber and metal programs to keep the evil 'artists' away. He described an interdisciplinary circle of Dante's Purgatorio in which evil Department Heads and Deans enslaved the Craft faculty as galley slaves in the service of dilettante students who wanted to dabble in craft in the same way they dabble in plaster, plexiglass or sausage casings." Wednesday Mar 05, 2008
The Dialectic of Martha Stewart
Jamie Passaro explores this cruel irony in the March/April issue of the Utne Reader (you know, the favorite magazine of Lisa Simpson?). After admitting that she both associates Stewart "with baby-boomer corporate badness" and regularly reads Living, Passaro parses the distinct generations of DIY and concludes: Perhaps the association with Stewart or the stereotype that links domestic craft with housewives is what has prompted a lot of today's crafters to make items that are imperfect or a little shocking to Grandma: a knitted vibrator cozy or a baby hat embroidered with a skull and crossbones. Thursday Feb 21, 2008
Mike Libby and His Souped-Up Beetles
And the fun doesn't stop with beetles. Libby also tinkers with dead arachnids, bees, dragonflies, and wasps. Our personal favorites (and here we reveal our longtime obsession with/affinity for Vladimir Nabokov) are the butterflies, to which Libby adds brass and steel gears, springs, and even LEDs. What's the toughest part of insect customization? According to the artist, "Making sure the legs don't fall off and the wings don't break!" PreviouslyEtsy Craftily Raises $27 Million American Craft Crafts a New Website DIY-Focused Magazine Craft Faring Well Rob Walker and the New Craft Revolution Getting Unraveled While In Revelry Designers Getting Crafty in LA Coudal Swaps Meat Stories With Rob Walker Get Crafty: Knitting and Crochet Trend Hits Home Decor Enough About Knitting Already Or Not? Tie Another One On in an Retro-Style Apron-making Class Weaving on Little Looms: Another Hobby To Add to Your Crafty Arsenal! Heads Up Project Runway Wannabee Contestants From Inside the Belly of the Beast: The Renegade Craft Fair Report How To Light Up Your Chest For the Holidays (What?) Another Magazine To Add to Your Stash One Big Dorky Bow Coming Your Way... Clear Out the Letterpress, Make Room For the Kiln 'Til Do It Yourself Do Us Part Show Everyone Where You've Been. Or, Rather, Where You Look. Save Gocco Save Gocco Save Gocco Lesbians To The Rescue If By Rescue You Mean Quilting |
|
|||||||||||||||||||