Tretorn Nylite

by Josh Rubin

The Tretorn Gullwing Nylite first hailed from Sweden in 1964. It was THE tennis shoe to wear in the 70s and lost ground in the 80s with the rise of you-know-who. Now, over 40 years later, the original is back along with some reinterpreted cousins. I think it's all about the elegant simplicity of the Nylite, but you can check out the entire collection here.

On the Graffiti Tip

by Wendy Dembo

In the past few weeks many graffiti based topics have popped into my life, so I thought that I would let you know about them.

Four hands, one heart and one brain:

Hailing from San Paulo, identical twins and graffiti artists, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo are called Os Gemeos (pronounced "ose zhe'-mee-ose" -- the twins in Portuguese). Using a kind of twin mental telepathy and a need to express themselves, Os Gemeos create amazing art filled with folkloric figures. Most of their work can be seen on the streets of San Paulo. Luckily for us Os Gemeos are having their first solo show in the NYC, Cavaleiro Marginal at Deitch Projects (76 Grand Street) through April 2nd. You won’t believe that the majority of the painting is done with spray paint – the lines are so fine.

Writer’s choice:

Montana Colors, otherwise known as MTNMTN, caters to the graffiti community with their large color palette -- 174 colors! Kapi and Mookie, two writers from Barcelona couldn’t find the colors that they wanted. So they approached Jordi, who was working at a paint company at that time and together they started Montana. The paint comes in two sizes: alien a smaller, low-pressure can which is used for details and the larger can, hardcore which offers more coverage.

The graffiti site:

12ozProphet started out in 1993 as a self-published zine, reflecting who and where the publishers were at the time. In 1996 12ozprophet went digital and has become the main stay for the international graffiti community. Its “forums” bring graffiti writers from all over the world together. People discuss styles, tags, paints and whatever else. The rule is that you aren’t supposed to self-promote. If you are lucky other people post flicks of fresh work and then, your peeps give props. If your work is good, it may end up on the site.

The writer’s book:

Although it came out last year, Peter Sutherland’s book, Autograf is still a who’s who’s of the NYC graffiti scene. A pictorial essay, it puts the face, or at least to part of a face to the tag. Sutherland took photos of each of the artists in the book and then had them tag their photo, giving their seal of approval.

Ogi

by Carol T Chung

During my travels through lovely San Francisco, I saw lots of amazing and wonderful stuff. At just about every other store without initially realizing who it was each time, I would notice the work of Ogi over and over again, like love at first sight on repeat. Finally on my last day, it happened once more and I asked one of the store clerks, "Who's Ogi?"— He's just graduated from a design art school in San Francisco and has established himself as a local artist. However, he's been unable to obtain a work visa to stay here and is leaving at the end of the month for Japan. His work is amazing and fresh, gritty but cute. I would have more of his stuff if my grass were a bit greener. Show some love and check him out.

Stewart+Brown Bags

by Carol T Chung

Waste not, want not... Check out these bags by Stewart+Brown made of surplus material from Patagonia. The one on the right is called Buzz Purse and the one on the left, Treescape Tote.