Best of Booths @ Unique LA

This post presents my favorite booths, in terms of style, at the Unique LA independent design & gift show.

The Craft Night Collective:

Their booth was a hub of activity. All decked out in baroque cardboard furnishings, the place was more of a pop-up shop and was very engrossing. Everywhere you looked, there was a strange product to wonder at. They were selling plush toys, handbound books, clothing, photographs, glittery handbags, and more. Amongst all that glorious jumble was a photo booth where you could stage a hot-air balloon ride picture. The people were really friendly, and for a moment, I thought that the Puff&Flock girls had somehow made it to LA and lost their British accents.
I'm hoping to write more about this crazy gang, but for now, you can check out Craft Night LA at http://www.craftnightla.com/.

Rock Scissor Paper:

Rock Scissor Paper has been designing and making greeting cards for nearly 20 years. They started in 1993 - the result of a natural entrepreneurial partnership by two creative sisters. I can imagine, from their cute circus-stlye booth (picture below) that their studio is a very fun place to be. About their funky look, the sisters say, "the bright color palette, bold typography and exuberant floral motifs of the 1960s and 70s forever remind us of our happy California upbringing and understandably saturate our design aesthetic."

http://www.rockscissorpaper.com/

Detroit Sprinkles:

The nice guys over at the Detroit Sprinkles booth print bizarre slogans on t-shirts and sweatshirts to outfit the cool kids of LA. They were great to chat with, and as we know from doing trade fairs ourselves, personality contributes tremendously to the "feel" of a booth. Their product and photoshoots embody a certain LA vibe. Check it out! http://www.detroitsprinkles.com

7 Lightningbolt:
I was surprised to see so many guys selling hand screen-printed goods. 7 Lightningbolt, like Detroit Sprinkles, have been designing for the LA scene and printing out of garages and studios around the city. Their booth had a special interactive features - a 4 screen press. All products were custom printed on location. Clever way to avoid overstock, and also educational for the shoppers. Great! See more at http://www.7lightningbolt.com/

Washable Electronics

We love seeing people who invent new directions in their craft. Often, it happens by hybridizing two seemingly incompatible things: concrete and cotton (Tactility Factory), lace and fencing (Demakersvan), lighting design and breadmaking (Kimberly Hu). These projects all reflect an interdisciplinary spirit.

So what happens when a soap-maker is also passionate about video games? Crash! Bam! Chrystal Douchette combined the two together and invented DigitalSoaps. In classical mad-scientist fashion, she even came out with a series containing caffeine. As if gaming geeks need another reason to be addicted to their hobby...

Links:
http://digitalsoaps.net/default.aspx
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Digitalsoaps

Four wallpapers in one

This wallpaper by Carnovsky (a Milan based collective) shows layers of patterns in different colours (green, red, yellow and blue). With normal light, all the layers appear at the same time. The magic happens when they are exposed to a colored light (green, red or blue). Suddenly some of the patterns are revealed while the others become invisible! The potential of the idea is infinite, so much to play around with!





So inspiring and brilliant, isn't it? (Or should I say bright?)

RGB Wallpapers by Carnovsky for Jannelli e Volpi. Photos by Luca Volpe // Image Courtesy of Carnovsky. Found while blogging around on the Yatzer website.

Our Studio Cat

Welcome Moggy, our new studio inhabitant :





Moggy was adopted in Ikea, very recently (this trip was for work, a serious trip).
Ikea has an interesting section that sells stuff for pets, there was Moggy, looking at me, ready to jump in the cart.

It will keep us warm and furry.

He likes the sofa here but we shall see in what places he will end up with along with our studio life. Interesting post tag, for further reference :)

Puff and Flock mid Summer crit

Because we try to be serious and because we often get stuck on our own stuff, there is nothing like meeting and use fresh eyes. Man, we really needed that one !
Thank you Kathy for hosting (and feeding, or that wouldn't be a proper Puff & Flock meeting)

Elisabeth and I with our Godzilla looking inflatable test... no comment

Jenny's fascinating magnetic mutations

Melissa's metal lace WIP (warrior princess style)

Kathy is going UV and EVIL (apparently)

Puff & Flock Look Book 09 #1

click on images to enlarge

After only a few months activity,
we decided to look back in order to formulate our spirit...
We spoke of super powers in our manifesto...
What are they exactly?

After half year of hard work, travelling to Italy and the USA,
ladies and gents...

Here are the Puff & Flock 09 trends,
aka : our visual CV

To be continued...

What you will wear tomorrow according to yesterday

WHAT YOU WILL WEAR TOMORROW - october 1958
By Lester David

"MEN’S fashions, long noted for their sepulchral hues and funeral cut, are currently erupting in a major revolution of styles, colors and surprises. Gone are the days of the petrified collar and suits of “cast iron tweed.” New fabrics, new fashions and new fads are the order of the day. Where will it all end?"

still a big question, huh?

"We asked clothing and industrial designers, textile manufacturers and other experts to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what lies ahead in the field of male fashion. Here are some of their amazing answers: For the immediate future the sunburst of color adopted a few short years ago will get even wilder. According to Baker Case of Hatton Case, a leading men’s wear establishment in New York, waistcoats, Bermuda shorts, sport shirts, cabana outfits and swimming trunks will blaze even louder as the seasons go on.

In Hollywood, Sy Devore, who fashions suits for filmdom’s top stars, has already removed breast pockets from men’s suits because he claims they are totally unnecessary. He’s even eliminated the lapel buttonhole. “Absolutely unneeded,” he asserts.

What about the distant future? The wonders will continue, experts claim, and before too many years have elapsed episodes like this one may be commonplace: A fellow is out to dinner with his best girl. While staring into her eyes, his hand trembles and a blob of gravy drops on his pants. He just lets it dry, then reaches into a pocket for an eraser and rubs out the spot!"

We wish !

"That evening, the same chap surveys himself in a mirror and decides he’d look better in narrower lapels. No fancy tailoring bills for him. He merely takes out a pair of scissors and snips his lapels to the desired width."

The little fairy came and Issey Miyaké was here ("A-POC, a piece of clothe" project)

“There will be no buttons to come loose or to lose on these clothes of the future. A small magnet fastened to each side of the jacket will keep the front closed.”

Oh Jenny this makes you happy...

"These experimental paper clothes can be draped, printed, silk screened and cut and sewn like any other fabric. They can be made to specifications, varying in strength, appearance and texture, and can also be rendered water and flame resistant.

How else can male garb be improved for greater comfort and more efficiency? Officials at Burdick-Rowland Associates, a noted firm of industrial designers, offer these future possibilities.
They suggest a suit made entirely of netting (with the vital areas covered, of course). No part of the netting would touch the wearer. The material would be suspended about a half inch from the body by a simple wire arrangement or small suction cups. What could be cooler for long suffering males in summer?"

see image above. Just awesome

"Another suggestion is clothes with air vents built into them for maximum hot weather comfort. These vents, or air scoops, could be attractively designed and made a part of the suit’s pattern.

A small built-in air-conditioner and de-humidifier operating on transistors would be useful. The jacket housing the device would have to be lightweight and airtight with the neck and sleeves closed.

Communications could also be simplified in the clothing of the future. Ben Fromkin, a Burdick-Rowland designer says, “Why not a two-way telephone built right into the suit, powered by solar light?”"

hm hmmmm. Fascinating


Source : Mechanix Illustrated, october 1958 via Modern Mechanix Blog

Puff & Flocking New York (backstage)

NYC was also about :

memorable subway rides, feat. "the bag ladies" (and Plushion visiting the world)

moments of despair (arrrgh)

Melissa's favourite street philosophy moment

the pancakes that are bigger than a human stomach (see coin for scale)

a glass of wine

the shopping you can't afford

warning : this photo has endured some heavy photoshop treatment, apart from the already perfect body of our model.


Evil the cat... we just had to

A million thanks to our friends and families who supported Puff & Flock NY show :
Jam & Mak, Elisa, Alex, Evil, Leonie's family.
Special mention to the bagel place on the corner (Bedford avenue subway station, Brooklyn), for supporting our hungry bellies in the mornings

Puff & Flocking NYC (finally !)

Yo

Here are the visuals for the breaking news... we are so so busy (being on a break? working some more? visiting the family? witnessing weddings? if only you knew !)
FABULOUS SHOW and being in New York, obviously awesome.




Puff & Flock sponsored (we wish) by samsung mobile






saaaaaaammmmples !!!


Elisabeth's shower curtain "Spiky" is our star, check this "starfish" kid out :)


Jenny, intrigued, and intrigued the crowd with her magnetic wall coverings


Kathy's cosy woven light corner


Melissa's street corner, Urban Upholstery



The Cookie Wardrobe and Mess Eater Wallpaper,
I met the people from Kidrobot <3 wooooooooooh



Our cool neighbours, "Dead Good", at the end of the show :)
Summarizes well the physical state on tuesday night.

THANK YOU FOR COMING !
The fact some people knew us there already was a BIT scary but hey isn't it why we are doing it for?

LOVE, >Amelie + Puff + Flock

DIY !!! Show building - Milano 09 Design week - Designersblock feat. Puff & Flock

The show is in the end, as always, looking glamorous and fantastic :)
but we like to show the behind the scenes. We love this messy nerve breaking never ending torture of show building up. We might be getting more and more used to it !
2 days of work... taking shape.

Louise, we have a big thought for you, the signs are gorgeous, the balloon furniture looks gorgeous, shame you are not here ! lots of photos to come up soon.

Everyone else, if you happen to be around, don't forget tomorrow is our cocktail party evening at Designersblock site where we are !
see press release in previous post for address and details of the venue.



Sincerely, and tiredly,

the Puff & Flock Gurlz

Puff & Flock Mobile Briefcase - Work in Progress

Story reminder... As an itinerant group, we wanted to design a tool that would follow us in our adventures, to transport inspiration and ideas, a mobile box that opens up to show and debate, experiment and discover...



wow wow wow (a rendered view)






This is coming together thanks to Tom Ballhatchet (pictured), a great designer and friend who sorted all the annoying technical bits out for us... (if you thought MacGyver was a myth, you were wrong)

Unfortunately the finishing of this wonder of design will have to be delayed because of a missing part (our lovely laser cutting technician lost a key bit... the back of the whole suitcase, and left on a well deserved holiday leaving us in our frustration. Awesome.)

No Milan this year for Puff and Flock Mobile Briefcase (or maybe we bring half of it? let's see), but certainly a Milan design week FEATURING us, the Puff & Flock Ladies, super soon. More info the next few days on what we've been up to, leaving this blog to dry pretty much...

***


Jenny, I hope you are having strawberry margheritas with your tacos in Mexico, we miss you so come back asap. Don't forget my cactus.