Brendan Donnelly T-Shirt Giveaway

by Letizia Rossi

New York based t-shirt designer Brendan Donnelly is giving away two shirts from his collection to lucky CH readers. Donnelly started designing T-Shirts after dropping out of art school, seeing it as the easiest way to show and promote his art work.

His most recent collections No Cats Allowed and kid's line Lil' Rascals feature drawings of dogs outfitted in pirate gear, top hats and Lolita sunglasses. All designs are also available on Donnelly's website. Children's sizes are $28 and adult styles are $35.

To win, simply go to the bottom of the page, click on Contact and select "Brendan Donnelly T-Shirt Giveaway" from the drop-down menu and specify your size. We will be giving away one adult shirt and one children's shirt. We'll pick at random from entries received before 11:59 pm EST on 12 December 2008.

Sloane Crosley: I Was Told There Would Be Cake

by Lost At E Minor

Full-time writer, part-time maker of dioramas, New Yorker Sloane Crosley has released a collection of her witty essays entitled "I Was Told There'd Be Cake." Recounting tales of plastic pony collections, wanting to raise her unborn kids in Belgium and locking herself out of her apartment twice in one day, Crosley's stories will make you think of Larry David if he was a cute thirty year-old woman. No wonder HBO snapped up the rights to the book.

Available from Amazon or Powell's.

The 99% Conference

by Tim Yu

We're proud and excited to announce our partnership with Behance on The 99% Conference, taking place next 16-17 April 2009 in NYC. Our thinking in joining forces with Behance, the organizational gurus of the creative class, is to look at how the inspiring art, design and culture that CH represents comes to be.

Borrowing a name from Edison's famous quote about genius, we're assembling a diverse cast of speakers to present on the successful execution of creative ideas. Each will attest to their own unique take on productivity, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their process and how their ideas come to life.

As equally inspiring perhaps as the speakers and their ideas themselves, the two-day event will be held in Renzo Piano's new stunning NY Times Center and we've got a few other surprises up our sleeve.

More info is available at The 99 Percent Conference site. Be sure to sign up to get all the latest news and updates.

The 99% Conference
16-17 April 2009
NYTimes Center
242 West 41st Street
New York, NY 10036 map

Brazil Fashion Cruise

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Like EasyJet's shuffleboard-free EasyCruises, the first-ever Brazil Fashion Cruise promises a reinvented cruising experience. The trip in a Sophia Loren-inaugurated Italian naval ship sets sail from Santos (near São Paulo) on 1 February 2008 and heads up the Brazilian coast to visit four cities over the course of a week, while entertaining guests in the world of fashion, music and art.

Though it's definitely an odd proposal, there's already a list of big names linked to the cruise. As part of the fashion segment, eight designers—including Samuel Cirnansck and Uniqlo guest designer Juliana Jabour, both of whom show at São Paulo Fashion Week—will put on runway shows aboard the ship. Street artists from the internationally-adored Baglione collective, which includes Sesper (pictured, above right), Pato, Flavio Samelo, Tinho, Thais Beltrame, Flip and Herbert Baglione, will put on live painting exhibits and DJs like Mau Mau and Renato Ratier will give guests something to help work off that inebriation. There's even a music workshop planned, as well as a model contest with a contract to a top Brazilian agency as the big prize.

Stops in Buzios, Salvador, Maceio and Ilheus are planned, with about six to 10 hours at each place before the boat disembarks for the next locale. The MSC Musica cruise liner is seriously lush, with 13 floors, three pools, a movie theater, Internet cafe and more. Of course, lush (or should we say lust) comes at a price. The cost for the seven-night, eight-day cruise varies between $1,190 to $1,490 per cabin, depending on location, with an additional port tax of about $200. The cost includes the events plus five meals a day; beverages outside of breakfast aren't covered.

The site is in Portuguese, but you can write to contato [at] fashioncruise [dot] com [dot] br for more information in English.

Wrapping Paper Wrap-Up

by Karen Day

'Tis the season to start thinking about how you're going to wrap up all of your thoughtful presents. Need we remind you that, especially for the humblest of gifts, it's all in the presentation? As design enthusiasts, we enjoy finding great wrapping paper that really stands out for its graphic motif or method of construction.

Eco-Friendly Paper

Feeling guilty isn't very festive and neither is wrapping your gifts in recycled brown paper bags. We've found three sites that offer eco-friendly wrapping paper and prove that environmentally-driven products don't have to be plain and simple. We particularly like the jolly prints from New York City-based Seltzer Goods (above left), with their bright graphics, like this camel-inspired design printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. They even use veggie ink, making it all the more green.

For patterns that really shine, look to Fish Lips (above center), who spread holiday cheer on recycled satin paper using soy-based inks. Their aim is to bridge the gap between contemporary prints, like this one with antlers and fire hydrants, and eco-conscious products.

Another source for responsible wrapping paper is 1973 (above right), where the husband & wife duo create refreshing graphics on recycled brown paper, like this bold green and brown print.

Giftwrap Sets

To get a little more bang for your buck, opt for a giftwrap set instead of individual sheets or a roll of all the same subject, which will provide variety and little more room in your wallet.

Our perennial favorites are patterns from our artist-designed gift wrap by emerging artists Seth Brau and Derek Aylward. Brau's black-on-white patterns adds pop psychedelia and Aylward's biting wit brings levity to gift-giving. Each of the limited-edition sets includes two sheets of each design for a mere $10 and you can only get them here. (Click above images for pop-up detail.)

If you're wrapping gifts for the art and design lover in your life, try Berlin-based S-Wert Design wrapping paper, a series of four designs, each one devoted to a different decade of Berlin's architecture from the fifties through the eighties, calling attention to gems of Berlin architecture and the way it's evolved—or hasn't evolved—in recent decades (above left). The four-pack can be purchased through the Cool Hunting 2008 Gift Guide.

For fun, pixelated patterns, try the Atari-like graphics from Eboy (above right), whose complex illustrations and unique style has gained them a cult following among graphic designers worldwide. The set includes eight sheets, two of each vivid pattern. It shouldn't be hard to find a bow to match these.