All Posts tagged accessories

Devilrobots in the Brief Zipper Pulls in Stock

On the chart of Things That Emasculate, ordering tofu at a restaurant and getting pantsed in public rank highly. (Incidentally,  San Francisco, Neon Monster’s HQ, reclaims tofu for dudes and also has several pants-optional establishments. But I digress.) Characters in underpants are just plain funny. The word “underpants” itself is enough to make me stifle a laugh. In this new set of zipper pulls, Kidrobot has teamed up with Tokyo-based Devilrobots to “prove they’re not too big for their britches with this cute collection of zipper pulls featuring 21 characters in nothing but their skivvies.”

The 1-inch zipper pulls are available now for $3.95 here. I’m gonna affix one to my fly maybe.

Treeson Eco-Totes and SDCC Exclusive Pink Vinyl

This post is futuristic and retro at the same time. Looking ahead, why wreck the environment with plastic bags when you can reuse these Treeson totes from Bubi Au Yeung? Think of the envy and awe you’ll get while standing in the grocery store checkout line. Casting your gaze backward, we’ve got a few pieces of SDCC 2009 Pink Treeson vinyls left on sale here. Go get ‘em!

Killing Time With Vannen Artist Watches’ David Stowe

David Stowe is that rare kind of guy whose in business for the right reasons: He has a passion for the arts and compassion for artists. He makes watches because he believes in them, and he thinks you will too. He’s going to hate me for saying the “S” word, but I used to wear Swatch watches.  I had the  Keith Haring model and John Lennon’s ass by Yoko Ono and the clear one where you could see the guts, and I wore them lined up wrist to elbow like all the other kids in the 80s.  As we entered the 90s, art watches, much like music, started to suck. The glut in good artistic watches would end up lasting about 20 years.

But then, something happened. Almost exactly a year ago, I saw a stray tweet introducing Vannen Artist Watches. I sent a note to the contact address, and got a reply right back from David Stowe. We’ve been talking about art, artists, watches, business and life ever since. I’ve written about and for Vannen, and it’s the only watch I’ll wear. Currently, I’m wearing the Series 2 Bigfoot model. But enough about me. Instead of our usual Tuesday Time Waster column, let’s spend some quality time with David.

JB: What artist watch are you wearing right now?

DS: I’m wearing the Chris Bettig watch. I love the way this watch looks with the new non-holiday inspired straps. It’s the perfect summer watch.

When and why did you start Vannen?

The epiphany moment happened while I was sitting in traffic in mid-2008. I took that entire year to get things up and running… I did tons of research, sourcing, budgeting, prototyping, testing, development, approaching artists, and really working towards making Vannen a legit business. After a whole year of making sure things were solid, we launched in August of 2009.

I started Vannen because I wanted to create something special on a personal level while at the same time contributing to the global art scene. I also wanted to be a part of something that was truly a pro-artist experience with some real heart and soul behind it. I was seeing my artist friends get taken advantage of, so I wanted to break that cycle and industry mentality. With Vannen, I set out to build a company based on treating artists with respect and gratitude.

When you say “we,” who all is that?

That would be my split personalities. Actually, I’m speaking on behalf of my business partner, the artists and myself.

How did you choose the initial roster of artists?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: the Series 1 you know today wasn’t even the original line up. Series 1 was supposed to be Joe Ledbetter, Ron English, Shepard Fairey and Buff Monster.

If you’re wondering why those other 3 never came out, it was a mixture of things. Read the rest of this entry »

Skull Amb Bones Collection From Ambush

Tokyo’s Ambush Design dropped word of a new accessories collection hitting stores next month. Ambush has been in the game for a while, but their name may be less familiar on our shores. In 2004, they launched the jewelry brand, Antonio Murphy & Astro using 18K gold, platinum, diamonds and other precious stones to create “comical renditions of the mainstream Hip Hop jewelry popular at the time”.

With Ambush, VERBAL and YOON are able to be more experimental, using different types of metals, stones and plastics  “to express yet another realm of jewelry design”. The collection includes skull pendants and rings and the punny “Eye Got Ballz” rings. The skull jewelry comes in several colorways, including GID. The eyeballs come (naturally) as pairs in gold, black metal and silver.

When they aren’t designing, the dynamic duo counts among their other passions: producing music, DJing, styling and PRing for Billionaire Boys Club. If you can rock this look, watch out for it in July.

Tuesday Time Waster: Timeless Watch

When I saw this over on Cool Hunting, I couldn’t decide immediately whether I loved it or hated it. On the one hand (or in this case, the missing hand), who doesn’t love a good pun (”timeless watch”) or the occasional product-generated “eff you”? On the other hand, who among us needs another useless object? I’m all for anarchistic accessorizing, but then I read the descriptor calling this a “chic example of upcycling”. Here’s the thing: recycling is good. Recycling is GREAT. Upcycling, however, is a word that seems to have been invented to calm the nerves of people who equate wearing a recycled item to buying boxer shorts at Goodwill.

But that’s all semantics. Let’s get back to the concept of a faceless watch. According to Rogan:  “Forget the eternity rings – get a Timeless Watch. Created with sustainability in mind, old watch parts are reassembled by hand in NYC and therefore each is completely unique”. I mean, it’s definitely a conversation starter. If I owned this, I would be constantly jonesing for someone to ask me what time it was, so I could flash them my “watch” and yell, “I have no idea!” That part sounds fun. That’s why this is your Tuesday Time Waster.

If you dig this sort of thing, you can check out more views of the Timeless Watch online (where it looks to be sold out) or purchase one in Rogan retail stores for $110. As for me, I’ll stick with my Vannens, which, incidentally, I wrote about for Cool Hunting almost a year ago.