Mechanical Insect Art

WE'RE SUPPORTING

I secretly want to inhabit the kind of hazy dream world, thrumming with softly vibrant colors and fantastical yet familiar flora, that artist Betsy Walton renders. The people there seem so calmly happy. I guess I’ll have to keep meditating and shedding my earthly concerns to get there. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Designer Chad Hagen makes retro-yet-contemporary info graphics as well as some great, minimalist illustrations using various printing methods and collage elements. Read more

Having originally sprung from the Shaky Isles (otherwise known as New Zealand), I can appreciate the humour in the New Zealand cartoon series, Bro Town, the first homegrown animated series to screen during local prime time. It’s simply brilliant, a real play on the ‘thuck’ accent and small town ways of our Kiwi brethren.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

For some reason it’s rare that you see London in this light. Nightscapes of big cities are usually reserved for New York and Tokyo, for example. Perhaps the comparatively scarce skyscrapers makes the city less photogenic in that respect. So photographer Jason Hawkes’ work is long overdue — he has really brought the city to life, and given it that lick of golden light that a long-exposure is good for.

WE'RE READING

When I did the Master Cleanse diet a few years ago — the one where you consume nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for ten days — I sat at work looking at pictures of food as if they were porn. Scanwiches would have gotten me hot and bothered like nothing else.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

There’s a world-weariness about Two Gallants frontman Adam Stephens. It reveals itself in the Tom Waits-like raspiness that permeates his gin house drawl and in the talkin’ blues narratives that he weaves around his simple acoustic fingerpicking. They are the new superstars of the West Coast scene, majestic showmen in homespun rags.

Listen to the Two Gallants track, The hand that held you down.

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WE'RE WEARING

I am one of those typical New Yorkers who only wears black in winter. But this winter is different. With the economic crisis, and all the rest of the bad news, I have to fight the darkness in the world by wearing colors, and lots of them. Spanish designer Sybilla is known for her original designs and unique color schemes, but she is virtually unknown outside of her mother country and Japan, where she is super popular. Her younger brand Jocomomola is perfect for this gloomy winter. Read more