Stu Barr has created a nest for himself by the name of Butterfly Net, tucked away in Ponsonby, Auckland. A self-confessed patriot of New Zealand design, when he came to finding a studio space, it occurred to him that if he combined it with retail capabilities it would allow him a forum not just for his own projects but for other Kiwi designers who couldn’t commit to the large orders of other stores. And a wide net he casts too, with furniture, fashion, knives, sunglasses, pottery and a different artist featured each month. It is not the first multi-disciplinary design venture for Barr. He is of award winning Tio fame, creating furniture with changeable upholstery in collaboration with New Zealand fashion houses such as World and Zambesi. One gets the distinct impression that half of the prize for Barr is getting to talk to customers about all things design and with all stock being limited and with no more ‘out the back’, heading out with his net to catch up on more beautiful examples of New Zealand art and design.
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I haven’t bought a CD in a while but I was strolling down Wellington’s Cuba Street looking for a bit of inspiration the other day when Liam Finn’s music tapped me politely on the shoulder and dragged me into the music store. Liam is New Zealand music royalty, of Neil Finn descent, although — with his wild hair and beard — he’s looking a bit more like a young Jesus these days. The record is made with the help of an analogue loop machine, and you’ll find the kind of stunning instrumental crescendos that I haven’t heard since The Beatles Hey Jude. He engages emotionally and spontaneously, with both skill and showmanship.
A personal favourite, Stolen Girlfriends Club continues to give a welcome fix of delinquency to the New Zealand fashion scene. Their initial following cherished their oversized t-shirts with cheeky slogans, but while they are in no danger of maturing (thankfully), their range of garments develop each season to cover denims, knits and such covertable items as silver hot pants. Their latest release, unashamedly entitled Elegantly Wasted, will allow you to look completely fabulous while behaving badly. Combining black and white with electric metallics and an alcoholic lime, it’s the kind of clothing you were meant to blow all your cash on before committing to your rent.
New for the world of Retroism is Hackman, a New Zealand based design collective that brings a hearty serving of vintage simplicity to the cluttered table of the modern world. Operating since 2002, their debut product is the Guinea Pig – a speaker for your iPod or MP3 player, Discman, Walkman, portable record player – any product that you can plug headphones into. The Pig requires no power source of it’s own, aiding you on your journey to ‘carbon neutrality’. It also allows you amplification capabilities without the restrictions of a pesky wall plug or battery. As well as being functional and sustainable, The Guinea Pigs are made from some very handsome hardboard and then laser cut with there own pattern. Hand assembled, individually named and numbered where they will be found the Pig Orphanage section of their website. Among those up for adoption include Brenda, Baby, and Scarface.
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London-based indie-prog group Klaxons take their name from the Greek word ‘to shriek’. We interviewed vocalist and keyboardist, Jamie Righton, and asked him why, unlike many of their contemporaries, none of them grew up to become great footballers: ‘Me and Simon are from Stratford-upon-Avon and the only famous footballer to ever come from there is Gary Barnett! Jamie’s from Bournemouth and there are even less from there. I was asked to play for the Tottenham Hotspur Legends and Celebrities team in a new Sky TV programme but it clashes with our US tour. Gutted’. Read more
My town is one of foghorns at five am, the smell of salty air and the sound of seagulls, Peets coffee, steep hills and die hard fans and loyalists. For those of us who have been here in San Francisco for some time now, we know all the secret gems of this small city — from Clarion Alley, to Army Street, from Irving to Broadway. Read more
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
This is at last the artist the 1960s was desperately trying to produce. Mark Dean Veca’s installations electrify galleries and museums with an ethereal pop ecstasy the previous generation only dreamed of. This is the drug we have all been waiting for. Read more
Knuckleheads is a pretty fun little side scrolling game where you’re a pair of Mexican-wrestler-looking things attached to each other by a chain. You swing each other around to move and hit floaty capsule things for points, and you can change the length of the chain to get over various obstacles, but watch out for the bats.
God save the Queen. Oh, and Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Steve Jones and Paul Cook too. Read more
I usually steer clear of anything smelling of disco-breaks: the thought just bores me. But with Padded Cell’s new release, Night Must Fall, I see a bit of a U-turn on the horizon. There’s something really interesting going on here: it’s a cocktail of 80’s swank laced with woozy narcotic undertones and flecked with snappy drum loops: weird, undeniably dark and ominous, but nonetheless pretty damn satisfying. Read more
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1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Created by graphic t shirt label, the-affair, and printed on beautifully soft American Apparel. Limited edition of 200.
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