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From an early age I loved to colour, cut, stick, paint and make... Anything! But as time went by and as our society became increasingly digital I lost touch and patience with what it meant to get your hands dirty and ‘Do It Yourself’ (D.I.Y).

The film "Beautiful Losers" celebrates the spirit behind the subcultures of the 90s- skateboarding, surf, punk, hip-hop & graffiti and the D.I.Y free-form artistic style that was reflected in their lifestyles. In a highly creative effort to promote the film which opens this weekend, Nike , the films major sponsor has created local pop-up initiatives entitled MAKE SOMETHING!! Inviting local youth in L.A, New York, San Fran and more to participate in workshops headed by some of the featured artists in the film, MAKE SOMETHING!! gives young people the opportunity to explore footwear design, painting, photography, toy design, filmmaking, tattoo art and zine making straight from the original source. The resulting body of work will form an evolving exhibition that will be open to the public.

An afternoon of colouring anyone?

I’m currently moving apartments and have become crazy, gung-ho obsessed with the process of hunting down vintage furniture and revamping it with a modern perspective. My current supplier squeeze is Liz’s Antique Hardware – an interior designer's dream and a plumbers nightmare, encapsulating more than a million pieces of salvaged hardware, circa 1850 to 1960. Located in the L.A’s historic Miracle Mile district, the concept was born in 1979 when Liz stumbled upon “a 4000 square foot warehouse in Chicago filled to the brim with objects collected at garage sales, abandoned buildings and flea markets by a local picker.”

With each piece organised in chronological order, be sure to follow the doorknobs, mail slots, hinges, latches, knockers, bells, racks, switch plates and other rusty items ("Rust is good--we don't polish anything," notes the owner) and head upstairs to discover The Loft - a unique gallery space supporting emerging and established artists from California and beyond.

Even if hardware ain’t your thang, this engulfing haven is full of surprises.

We live in a visually saturated world that continues to bombard us with hundreds of advertising messages every day. From billboards to blimps, we face the reality of becoming a suffocated society that's moving into atrophy. As a result brands such as the European jeans label Diesel (inspired by the Absolut campaign: In An Absolute World, perhaps?), decided it was time to “salvage what precious public space is left,” handing over giant urban canvases to its inhabitants and in turn creating the 'worlds largest outdoor gallery'.
Around 5 months ago the Diesel Wall project set out on its journey in search of 4 artists from around the globe, providing them with the possibility of stamping their mark on 4 key cultural wall spaces within 4 major cities. The premise: “take your art, your powers of dissuasion; your ability to disrupt; incite; excite; inspire and intrigue; to make comment; to make beautiful; to make real; to make people think again”.

After much public deliberation most of the results are in. Check em out:

New York - Jonathan Sandridge

Manchester - Tim Hensel

Zurich - Andreas Marti

Barcelona - Still to be announced

With the Chinese Olympics just days away, I thought you'd find this particular work from Chinese-born and German-raised artist Yang Liu very fitting. It's amazing how such a complex cultural topic: East Meets West can be encapsulated within such a simple set of dots, lines and squiggles.

If you’re heading to New York City any time soon, don’t think you’re tripping out when you see the notorious piles of dark green/black filled trash bags replaced with artist-created bright pink and white polkadot 100% biodegradable ones.
 
TRASH: Any Colour you Like, is a viewer generated public art installation created by Berlin/New York-based contemporary artist Adrian with the help of local business owners and residents. The aim of this project is to beautify NYC and to raise public awareness of the arts and the environment in one creatively pungent initiative.

Kanye West's blog is one of my favourites. I love it because it scans the world for the most cutting edge in music, fashion, architecture and design in one quick daily dose.
Today was no exception when I found myself overwhelmingly proud and inspired when stumbling across a recent post on the surf/fashion Aussie label Insight51 and it’s most recent (?) advertising campaign. Captured by the highly creative photographer Dustin Humphrey, I am in love with each frame’s crazy mix of Alice in Wonderland/ Diane Arbus -esque surrealism, and good old Aussie surf and street culture all in one deep and dark underworld (or at least that’s what I’m getting). Kudous to Insight51 for having such imagination!

Co-owner and designer of the oh-so effortlessly cool French fashion brand A.P.C, Jean Poitou, can now add pre-school to his portfolio.
Located in the heart of the 6th arrondissement, Ateliers de la Petite Enfance or A.P.E for short, began taking shape when Touitou and his wife, couldn’t find a creative alternative to France’s rigid state schooling system for their daughter Lily, now three. As described by Mathias Augustyniak, a partner of A.P.E:
“ Education is really a problem in France,” says Augustyniak. “It’s a system that tries to make everyone the same, instead of appreciating differences. Jean is doing something really adventurous here.”
The result is Paris’ hippest pre-school designed by architect Laurent Deroo, the man behind A.P.C’s minimalist boutiques with teachers such as Jamaican born fashion designer Jessica Ogden who is also responsible for the A.P.E multicolored tree logo.

And lets not forget about the kids - A.P.C-esque blue cotton smocks with tiny front pockets and gray cotton-cashmere blankets for naptime. As Touitou says: “a child is never too young to develop an appreciation for quality goods.”