Magpie iPod Outfit

by Ami Kealoha

Anyone who's spent any time South of the border has seen the color-splashed oilcloths that Austin-based designer Maggie Stephens uses to make her Magpie iPod Nano "outfits". Stephens, a marathon runner, came up with the design after she couldn't find a functional yet still good-looking way to carry her Nano when training. Already the owner of Magpie, a successful accessories business, Stephens designed the reinforced vinyl case herself and included a detachable keychain, belt clip (unfortunately not removable), and open headphone port. Available in six different floral patterns for $25 from Magpie Outfits.

Flocks

by Ami Kealoha

Sweaters made by Flocks, the brainchild of Dutch fashion designer Christien Meindertma are exciting to me for a multitude of reasons. Here are two.

First, my father is Dutch and I’m always excited to meet people with obtuse Dutch names doing obtuse things with their lives. Second, in my undergraduate years, I studied agricultural journalism and worked for the World Dairy Expo. In the end, I realized I was just another urbane ‘ghetto slicker’ resigned to a Gotham life and believing everything we buy comes from a branding expert. Flocks offers the chance to reengage the elegance of raw materials.

Wool for each Flocks sweater originates from the body of a singular sheep born into a small Welsh flock. A different sweater is handknitted from each member of this family. Go to Meindertma’s beautiful black and white website with suburb typography, (because it’s Dutch of course), and you can meet each sheep and the sweater made from his or her coat. The final product maintains the original color of the animal’s coat thus ‘personifying’ what you wear. (Each comes with a 'passport', a photo of the sheep, and a rug.)

As far as the gestalt of her sweaters, they are flat, angular and quite Mies Van Der Rohe as opposed to chunky. Retention of unique spotting in the yarn is subtle, not calico cat. This brings Meindertma’s holistic approach and her merchandise out of the hippy lady store.

Still, brilliantly Meindertma unifies places where things are made and places where people must exist. In our time, increasingly disparate locales. She also beautifully blurs the line between fabric artist and fashion designer.

On a similar tip, Korean designer Hiyon Kim and Giles Mendel of J. Mendel have both recently played with pushing the textural boundaries of wool. It goes without saying Flocks is closer to the heart of someone concerned about animal-to-human relationships within biosystematics.

by Kristopher Irizarry

Unisex Toy

by Josh Rubin

An entertaining conceptual design piece, the Unisex Toy equally serves man or woman, top or bottom. Designed by Boston based Ben Durrell, the pink and blue unit "questions traditional gender roles, and provokes viewers to consider whether the color break is 'correct' or not."

We discovered the Unisex Toy on the back page of the just launched third issue of mindful porn, Box Magazine.

Previously on CH: Box Mag Issue 1, Box Mag Issue 2

Game Developers Conference 2006

by Carol T Chung

Hello! Some of you may remember last year's coverage of Game Developers Conference, rather than report on many different sessions and topics, I'd prefer to mention a couple of very special products as well as common themes.

Loco Roco:
The upcoming PSP title, Loco Roco, has got to be one of the cutest characters out there. Imagine what it would be like if Pacman, Kirby, and Gish had a three way baby—something like Loco Roco is what would pop out. Although it may look like a flash game, it certainly is not. The music is delightful and quite simply put, just plain fun. This wonderful title is slated for release sometime this summer.

Brain Age:
Due out by mid April, Brain Age is the U.S. localized version of the hit Nintendo DS game in Japan. However it is by far not a 'game' in the traditional sense. Based off of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima's book Train Your Brain, Brain Age is supposed to exercise your brain by having you perform various math and logic problems as well as reading. It also contains plenty of Sudoku games as well. Currently I have a 36 year old brain.

Nintendo DS Lite:
I got to play with one of these on the expo floor at Nintendo's booth. Not much I can say about this other than 'yay, for Apple'. Just released earlier this month in Japan, there's no denying the DS Lite is super hot, but I'm holding out for the Ice Blue model 'cause I'm just a sucker for things that are blue.

More of my ranting after the jump...

Klaus Industries

by Jacob Resneck

Twenty-two years ago the year 1984 came and went and we were all supposed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. We weren't faced with a perpetual war with shifting adversaries; our own citizens were not being detained and held indefinitely without charge; dissenting voices were common in the mainstream media; and partisan debate was not branded as disloyalty to the nation.

Arguably, in this new century some of these chillingly anti-democratic tendencies are becoming more and more common. But fortunately the t-shirt (like the bumper sticker) is still a form of free expression protected by the first amendment—as long as you don't wear it to any State of the Union addresses. Are you listening Cindy Sheehan?

This month Klaus Industries has released a t-shirt that states plainly: "2006 is the New 1984." Agree or disagree it's provocative to ponder and the intricate, strangely familiar logo is printed on American Apparel tees, natch.

Prove to the nation that you're not too paranoid by donning one of these stylish tees and, through the month of March, a dollar of every purchase will be donated to the ACLU.