GET INSPIRED! We’ve been doing a lot of sewing after school lately and this guy’s attitude takes the simple act to a whole new level. Michael Swaine is a ceramics arts instructor based in San Francisco and a lifelong mender. Once a month he travels to “The Tenderloin” (San Francisco’s neediest neighborhood) where he offers all-day free mending, friendship, and conversation. His mending is not only about the clothes - it’s about the community, the people in it, and his own needs to find comfort in a world that is so used to throwing things away. Beautiful. The more I read about this guy the more I love. Video by Studio Galli.
My friend Dennis just passed the work of Chris Jordan my way. Shocking. In case you’re in need of another reason to think critically about our society’s consumption habits (as if you haven’t seen enough already) check his website.
After looking through his work I had to be still for a while. I can’t remember a series of photographs that has made me feel simultaneously enthralled / heartbroken / pessimistic / pissed off. Apparently it’s that way for a reason. “I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination,” Jordan says. “The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.”
“These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
“To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.” - Chris Jordan, October 2009
Umair Haque is the director of Havas Media Lab. Haque is an advisor to investors, entrepreneurs, and companies across the globe. He recently published an article in The Harvard Business Blog titled, The Generation M Manifesto. Haque speaks about the ever widening gap between Gen M and the current controllers of global marketplaces, governments, and social networks.
The article mentions Gen M forefathers like Apple Co-founder/CEO, Steve Jobs, Sustainable Development Expert, Jeffery Sachs, and Anti-Poverty Activist, Muhammad Yunus. Gen M leaders like Online T-shirt community, Threadless, Personal Online Shops on Etsy, and Photo Site, Flickr are all mentioned as well.
Mr. Haque’s Manifesto is a declaration, wake-up call, a call to arms. The call is to better businesses, honest politics, and authentic community. His thoughts are interesting and definitely worth a read.
Typeface has been on the minds and pencils of the Collective crew here at Ambrose lately. Vladimir Koncar is a Graphic Designer and Visual Artist from Zagreb, Croatia. His fonts use everyday objects to create great types. Not only are the materials used great, but the shapes and faces themselves are nice too. Check out Koncar’s types on his behance.
“ART & COPY reveals the stories behind and the personal odysseys of some of the most influential advertising visionaries of our time and their campaigns, including Lee Clow (Apple Computer 1984, and today’s iPod); Dan Wieden (“Just Do It”)…”
I lament that it wasn’t until my sophomore year of college in an anthropology lecture that the blindfold was ripped from my eyes and I started understanding culture. Up until that point I was completely ignorant of the value system I inherited just by living in a semi-conservative-middle-class Midwestern town. During my adolescence the glimpses of life elsewhere were restricted to magazines, 30 second spots and billboards on our occasional treks to the neighboring hub of art & culture known as Des Moines. I remember being particularly drawn to a series of ads that Wieden + Kennedy put out pairing Michael Jordan and Spike Lee (1,2 and 3). They featured gritty black and white photos and aggressive copy that invited aspiring ballers to commune with the gods of the hardwood. Done. For the rest of my teenage years I had Nike’s on my feet.
I respect the power that ad agencies exert and mourn that I’ve handed it to them so willingly. They give us what we want; which is seldom what we need. Did I need Jordan’s in middle school or did I need discipline and determination? It’s no new practice; for centuries advertisers have heard our desires for greatness, intimacy, community and authenticity (which never comes easy) and offered it to us for a financial transaction.
Honestly, I’m excited for the release of ART©. It’s high time a film like this was made and I’m not-so-secretly hoping that it will be a Toto of sorts, pulling back the curtain exposing “very good men and very bad wizards.” Whether we love or hate it, we’ve made our culture what it is and it’s time to get busy whipping it into shape. Now, if only I had a smokin’ pair of shoes to do it in…
AAAAGGHHH! I can’t stand it when videos automatically play. It’s ridiculous. Anyways, I’ve been a The Post Family follower for a while so I’m glad to see other people are noticing them (even though their vid auto-plays). I love the idea of a multi-disciplinary community making things and pushing culture they believe in…it’s the only way to get things done and have fun in the meantime (I’m a little biased). Their collective blog is chock full of internet finds, art, interviews and other digital goodies. I particularly enjoy their studio tours. They’re a great peek behind the curtain at people doing extraordinary work.
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March 4 - Open Studio
At the HAAC from 3:30 - 6:00. Bring any open projects from school or home to complete.
Typeface has been on the minds and pencils of the Collective crew here at Ambrose lately. 
