Sovereign Beck
I love the Sovereign Beck range of ties. The Brooklyn-based company create snappy, stylish ties that mix wickedly vibrant lines with quirky illustrated shapes. We interviewed Ryan Sovereign — one half (with William Beck) of the duo behind the label. What makes a good tie – is it the fabric, the colour, the texture, the cut, or a mix of everything? ‘I think a lot of it is the pattern on the tie, whether that is the print or the weave. I own polyester ties, mix material ties and pure silk, all of which I would wear. I will say that a ‘wide’ tie or a ‘skinny’ tie is going to make a statement of its own. I try to stay in that mid-range of not going to far either way. When you start going to those extremes, you are looking to make a different statement then just wearing a nice looking tie’. For a while there it seemed that everyone was getting all casual on us – trainers, t-shirts, cargo pants wherever you looked. But smart suits and crisp collared shirts seem to be having a mini-revival. Do you agree? ‘I totally agree. When we started, the world was still that phase, but we were hoping that things would come back around. They always do, don’t they? While being casual and comfortable has its place, there is always something to be said for dressing up and feeling sharp. Who wants to go to a nice restaurant or fashionable event and just see a bunch of dudes in kakhis, printed t-shirts and sandals. “Every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man!”‘ Where does your passion for creating beautiful ties come from? ‘We both have a strong appreciation and love for design from the turn of the century to today’s designs. We absorb everything we see and want to have a place in that world. I think that the desire to be appreciated now and twenty years really drives us to create a more timeless aspect to our prints instead of just aiming at the immediate trends’.Which one are you wearing now? ‘If I were wearing one, it would be Levitate’.
Also by ZOLTON
Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
YOU'RE SAYING (1)
HAVE YOUR SAY
Wow, here’s some work that just made my Friday all the sweeter. Finnish artist Ville Savimaa creates the most clean, beautiful, and bizarre images, filled with chunky, abstract characters and creatures, as if viewed through an old fashioned grainy, black and white lens. It feels a lot like the trippiest noir film you never saw. Even when colour occasionally comes into the mix, Savimaa manages to gracefully maintain that sculptural sensibility, leaving the viewer feeling as suspended as the characters themselves. 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.
Run Wrake is an illustrator and animator based in London whose recent short animation Rabbit has turned him into an underground hero. Read more
In a world filled with conceptual environmental architect, Lost in Paris, designed by R&Sie Architects for a so-called ‘urban witch’, is the definition of innovation and resourcefulness. The 1400 square foot home is engulfed by 1200 ferns and 300 glass-blown pods. A potion of rainwater and plant nutrients are fed to the pods, which in turn feed the ferns, drop by drop, during the year. And because the home is entirely covered with the plants, it is protected from outside weather and the interior temperature is regulated without use of traditional methods.
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.
Canada seems to be the land of amazing ambient metal duos. Montreal has Menace Ruine, and Toronto has Nadja, a formidable couple that churns out huge-sounding, bass and electronics-driven doom that draws your gaze up towards the stars just as old cathedral ceilings humble the faithful and make them think of the Almighty.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Saltwater is a British clothing design label based in London and Cornwall who aim to bring a fresh approach to fashion with their use of beautiful colour, selected cloth, and close attention to detail. The store also has a great selection of carefully sourced accessories from around the world and a growing range of other clothes.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
Nerd-attack! Man, this TARDIS zipper robe is so much cooler than any Star Wars crap people are hawking this days. This is for the true gangsta nerd.
Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Baltimore Mural by Josh Van Horne
My friend Josh Van Horne, a local Baltimore artist, did this amazing mural in our neighborhood that depicts the history of this warehouse-laden area.
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
Each one of these Bracelaces by Itunube is turned into an elegant drawing on the skin using different kinds of lace combined with leather, metal components and glass beads. They are just US$25 in the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it's not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
WendySkeleton said | 13 September, 2007
Wow, they sure are some awesome ties. I’d love to buy some like that. A lot of tie shops stock some of the real conventional ones. They do look nice, but it’s the same boring patterns like stripes. The only thing I really enjoy about them are the colours. Patterns not so much.