Not sure which is cuter, the kid or the shirt.
You can get the shirt over at the Etsy shop COUP, a one-woman NYC-based design studio run by FIT fashion design grad + self-described silkscreen addict, Elektra.
Danke to Perelandra Natural Food for finding this one.
Old Holga from Chinatown in San Francisco.
First thing you should know: Everything you see here is made from just lottery tickets.
Second thing you should know: Artist Alex Lockwood does not play the lottery.
Alex recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Before that, he lived here in Brooklyn where he started to collect things he found on the street and make art from it. I love New York, but it is fucking trashy. When I was in college, in rural Virginia, I used to always pick up trash I found and throw it away, telling my oh-so-long-haired self that, if everyone else in the world did the same, the world would be a clean, beautiful place.
Again, I’m no mathematician, but I think trash might outnumber us here—it’s a losing battle, man. Plus New York is no Harrisonburg, Virginia. I might get gonorrhea if I pick up the wrong thing.
Luckily, Alex Lockwood has no such reservations. Or at least he didn’t when he moved from Williamsburg to Clinton Hill way back when and noticed the prodigious amount of discarded scratch-off lottery tickets that covered the sidewalks in front of the neighborhood bodegas. Inspired by tramp art and art made in prison, where creators have a severely limited palette of materials from which to work but, often, a great amount of time to focus in on detail, Alex started creating intricate sculptures from the tickets.
You can see more of Alex’s work, both lottery-ticket-based and not, on his site.
Now, if we could just convince him to come back to Brooklyn and train, say, 1,000 artists in this method we’d have a spotless city. And some pretty impressive artwork.
I’ve never claimed to be a math whiz, but I think this equation is pretty sound:
good coffee
+
new york state
+
nice packaging design
+
some crows
=
something we would like
Right?
As you might imagine, we gravitated directly to this lovely looking coffee whilst looking to replenish our all-important coffee stash recently. I had recognized the coffee maker—Irving Farm—but seem to remember their original packaging being much less on the awesome side before.
As it turns out, the roaster got their start right here in New York City at a small cafe just up from Union Square known as 71 Irving Place. Realizing they wanted to be more intimately involved with the process, bean-to-cup, the founders of Irving Farm moved a little further uptown. Okay, a lot further, to a farm 90 miles up the Hudson Valley in the Dutchess County village of Millertown. There, they roast their a variety of carefully sourced beans. From their site:
“In sourcing the special coffees we bring to Irving Farm, our primary criteria is quality. We are diligent searchers: on a constant journey, personally traveling to the farthest-flung locales, in search of coffees that are not only beautiful in the cup, but with whose farms we can forge a lasting tie. By building direct relationships and opening long-term channels of communication with producers and others up and down the line, we not only ensure a supply chain that is as transparent as possible, but one that is as strong as possible. Built on mutual respect, common goals, and dedicated to fostering learning from one to another, it is these foundations on which good coffee becomes great coffee.”
The particular bag we zeroed in on—partly due to the philanthropic aspect involved; partly due to the extra-awesome packaging design—was their Rainforest Foundation Project blend, pictured above. It’s a blend of three beans—one from an 80-family co-op in Honduras, one from another cooperative in Peru that’s Fair Trade + Bird Friendly certified and started almost fifty years ago, and a final one from a co-op in East Timor that’s been celebrated by one Ms. Hilary Clinton. The coffee’s certified USDA Organic and Rainforest Alliance and Irving gives a dollar for each bag sold to RA. Oh, and it tastes great. Important.
Visit Irving Farm’s site—which is really well-designed, by the way—to find out more about their sourcing, roasting, and where you can find their products.
You can also order their coffees via the company’s online shop.
Spookily pretty farmhouse photo pilfered from the Irving Farm site.
New year, new notebook.
Other times, it can mean finding an alternate universe, cooler version of yourselves, as is now the case, sadly.
The Wild Unknown is Kim Krans + Jonny Ollsin—two artists formerly based in Brooklyn who recently made the move to Philly. Together they create prints, portraits, calendars, and other items from Kim’s beautiful, intricate, organic illustrations; build mystical cabins in the woods where they gather with their friends to contemplate art + music; and make up The Family Band, a duo that plays brooding, rootsy tunes.
So, yes, Reader, a much, MUCH cooler version of us.
DAMMIT, 2013! YOU PROMISED NOT TO SLIGHT ME!
In all seriousness, we’ve been fans of Krans’ artwork for a long time now—we have this amazing print she did—‘Friends’—that depicts a big furry brown bear sitting next to a tiny kitten sitting next to a little bluebird. It hangs over our bed and delights me every day.
This holiday season, I came across The Wild Unknown’s Tarot Deck and was equally delighted. The set—which I bought for Katie—comes in a beautifully sleek little box with a black lifting ribbon and features 78 hand-illustrated cards, each of which is enchantingly inspired.
Neither of us is overly superstitious and had, at best, fleeting interest in the realm of the mystic in the past, but we’re trying to approach things with more open minds of late. We’ve both become absolutely fascinated by these cards and their use.
For anyone who doesn’t already know, Tarot actually originated as a family of card games played in Europe as early as the mid-1400s. The deck is augmented, meaning there are four standard suits and then a fifth suit that serves to trump the other suits in play. The cards weren’t associated with the occult or any predictive properties until the 18th century—
“Fortune-telling with playing cards had developed from their use as a randomizing device to pick a page in a book of fortunes in the 1500s, through the use of special fortune-telling decks in the 1600s, and finally to the point of regular decks being given symbolic meaning in the 1700s. A few scattered indications of this appear earlier in the century, but the first book on cartomancy was published in 1770. It was written by Etteilla, the world’s first professional cartomancer, who became one of the founders of occult Tarot. In the 1780s he and two other French writers developed much of the occult lore and fortune-telling methods that would reinvent Tarot in the late 1800s.”
And yes—cartomancy = awesome. You can learn more about the history of Tarot cards here. The path that led Krans to Tarot proves interesting and more relatable though, I think. From her Tarot Guidebook:
“I’ve been drawing with intense detail since a young age. It’s the single thing that brings me absolute focus + clarity of the mind. It’s been rumored that I can draw a perfect circle while riding on a horse. I’ll leave that to myth, but I will say I don’t use any rulers or tools of any kind…it’s simply that when I draw, my mind + hand are steady. Clear. Accurate.
In most other areas of my life my mind is scattered…it’s frantic, worried, + busy, busy, busy. Within the last few years, this anxiety reached a level I could hardly manage. Yet still, when at my drafting table I was steady. What was that about? How could it be?
This led me down a path of inquisition, of self-study. It brought me directly to meditation, visualization, + many other forms of self-healing + self-awareness. And somewhere along this far-out lineage of chakras + sanskrit I was introduced to the Tarot. Though completely intrigued by the concepts of the cards, I had trouble finding a deck I could relate to. I wanted imagery to speak to a world of wild nature + mystery…a place where the darks are truly dark + the lights are bright + expansive. I knew my friends (+ their friends) would want this too…a Tarot deck to call their own.”
Nice. And fun. We’ve been starting off our days with single-card readings and played around with a couple three-card readings, which are usually meant to point to your past (left), present (middle), and future (right). But we have yet to attempt the seemingly bad-ass ten-card celtic cross spread.
If you’re in Brooklyn, you can get the cards + book at local high-fashion fave, Bird; online, you can order directly from The Wild Unknown. Google Analytics is kinda unclear on how many seasoned occultists we get visiting the site, but, even if you are already familiar with the Tarot, we highly recommend getting the guidebook as well as the deck. Its card write-ups are excellent and explanation of the process, very understandable.
Above, the set + guidebook. Below, a three-card reading I did and various other cards we’re especially keen on, one for obvious reasons. If you’re curious, the reading foretold of us moving to Philly, building a magical cabin in the woods, and starting a band. Weird, right?
Happy holidays + a most peaceful new year to you, Reader.
Find our more about this year’s holiday cards here and see you in 2013!
The other night, Katie + I attended the launch party for Laika Magazine, a new quarterly magazine from our friend + fellow designer, Julie Gueraseva. From the magazine’s Web site:
“You could say it is a vegan lifestyle magazine. Or you could say it is simply a clear assertion that a full, vibrant, exciting, interesting and satisfying life can be had — without ever having to inflict harm on another. This is not a hypothetical notion. This is the reality. And LAIKA MAGAZINE is a reflection of this undeniable reality. It is the place where compassion and innovation intersect.”
The premiere issue runs the gamut of fashion-forward, animal-friendly living from cruelty-free beauty tips to locally made ethical shopping to creative cooking tips, artist profiles, and rescued farm animals photo essays.
The layout is beautifully designed, with Julie’s trademark touch of organic, paint-inspired flourishes and thoughtfully curated photography, giving you an up-close, intimate exposure to the magazine’s subjects. Think a higher gloss Kinfolk Magazine minus the ever-present pretension. And all those dead animals.
Visit Laika’s Web site to find out more about the publication, download or order the premier issue ($6/$11), and subscribe to coming issues. Added incentive: Laika will be donating 10% of all magazine sales—both digital + print—to one of our favorite clients, Farm Sanctuary.
Keep an eye out at your local independent bookstore + animal-friendly spot as Laika begins to be picked up for distribution as well. We’re predicting big things for this one.
Cover photo of model Brandilyn Tebo by Melissa Schwartz, both vegan, as it turns out.
Another quick maritime-themed gift idea to add to our randomly assigned Nautical Week here at Kindness of Ravens—some lovely tugboat print textiles from our friend Jane at Foxy + Winston, our longtime favorite local stationer + print-maker.
Pillows not your thing? As with most of her prints, Jane uses this pattern on a whole host of products from aprons to tote bags to cloth napkins and greeting cards, all printed on and with environmentally sustainable materials. Just check out her paper + textile goods to see what suits you.
And, if you’re in South Brooklyn, stop by her shop in Red Hook. Jane’s honestly one of the nicest, most amiable people we’ve ever met and her beagle—Hope—is sleeping in the shop window most days and loves a good belly rub.
Looking for more ways to shop locally in Brooklyn? Visit Shop Brooklyn for coming events and a listing of local, independent retailers.
Have a need for some creative gift-giving this holiday season, Reader? How about a framed historical map of your favorite coastal locale?
We’ve always loved seemingly overly functional maps. There’s something oddly beautiful about the juxtaposition of the curving, chaotic, organic shapes of the natural world and humanity’s mathematical, sharp-edged, vector-filled interpretation of it. Old-school nautical maps, with their detailed shipping routes, funny hold-over names, and “THAR BE DRAGONS” are the height of the cookily arcane when it comes to mapping, and we stumbled across a pretty nice online resource for them recently.
Sea Heritage is an online database and marketplace for thousands of digitally ‘remastered’ nautical charts from more than 30 US states and random other places. You can look up, preview, and then order anything from a map of the New York Harbor to sketches of the Sandwich Islands from 1798. Mmmm, Sandwich Islands.
It sounds like most of their framing might be a bit on the lightweight, metallic side, so we’d recommend ordering the frameless prints—it makes for a less hefty price, cuts down on time + shipping, and allows you to get the job done at your favorite local frame shop.
Then you can let that chubby kid hold it until he drops it, get the mouthy kid to translate the Spanish, and GO FIND ONE-EYED WILLIE’S RICH STUFF, READER!
PS—You can look at a larger version of the map above over at Wikipedia. Zoom in for area details. Pretty cool.
