Boxed Water Is Better

by Karen Day

With Boxed Water Is Better, the only thing you're really consuming is the water itself. A new brand—and concept—Boxed Water has successfully taken the bottled water phenomenon to eco-friendly heights.

They've lowered the carbon footprint by shipping their unfilled recyclable containers flat to the water source, keeping the cargo pollution to a minimum while maximizing the capabilities of the carton, which can be broken down again post-consumption. Of course it'd be ideal if even less transport was involved, but as a "part sustainable water company, part philanthropic project," they're all for giving back to the resources they're taking from by donating 20% of their profits to world water relief and tree reforestation foundations.

With all of that goodness and an elegantly designed package, Boxed Water Is Better, while not perfect, is actually just better. Sold primarily in Michigan currently, sign up for their mailing list to see when Boxed Water will be sold at a retailer near you.

Artist Jaclyn Mednicov

by Bailee Wolfson

Brooklyn-based artist Jaclyn Mednicov has evolved as an artist with each place she has lived and traveled. Having crossed the U.S. a couple times, along the way she's shown in several galleries across the country. After a stop in Santa Monica, Jaclyn realized she needed more stimulation and decided to move to New York for a change in scenery and to further her passion of art.

Jaclyn continues to be inspired by the intersection of nature and man-made structures and how new life emerges, even through the toughest of surfaces. Life growing through cracks in the sidewalks, brick walls and in subways have all helped inspire the delicate lines and whimsy of her work.

Depicting deserted spaces with isolated sections of color, Jaclyn's work alludes to a sense of place and memory. This month 20x200 is featuring inexpensive prints of two of Jaclyn's works, "Flood" and "Stacked Upon." In addition, the Northeast addition of the New American Paintings Magazine will featured her work.

The Matchbox Project

by Lost At E Minor

What began as a joke—twenty tiny presents enclosed in matchboxes mailed anonymously out to friends—is now a full-on project with matchboxes left randomly around the world for strangers to discover. The initiator, a 24-year-old journalist and freelance photographer originally sent gifts so personal that they could safely be tracked back to their sender, motivated by a desire to random act of semi-artistic kindness aimed at disrupting someone's day in a tiny but positive way.

Now, containing everything from tea bags, miniature harmonicas, baby babushka dolls, knitted Spiderman finger puppets, ten-pin bowling sets and a crazy amount of novelty erasers, a blog follows the matchboxes and their locations semi-religiously. Boxes have been left in Sydney—where it all began—to Paris, dropped into the handbags of unsuspecting women, on windowsills and in galleries.

Boy by Band of Outsiders Spring 2009 Lookbook

by CH Contributor

by Kelsey Keith

L.A. label Band of Outsiders taps Sarah Silverman as its muse for their Boy Spring 2009 lookbook. Designer Scott Sternberg picked Cantor's Delicatessen, an iconic Jewish deli in Los Angeles, as the shoot location and styled Silverman in a few of his signature boy-meets-girl tailored looks from the women's diffusion line, complete with killer neon pumps created by Manolo Blahnik for the label. Sternberg took his "fetishized American sportswear" to more girlish levels this season, stocking it full of suspender-strapped skirts and cotton piqué dresses.

Silverman, famous for her red carpet hoodie-and-Converse aesthetic may seem an unusual choice for the brand that's typically aligned with a starlet audience (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams have modeled for previous campaigns), but her nonchalance and raw beauty embodies the line's versatility, captured under the lens of Sternberg's trusty Polaroid camera.

Boy by Band of Outsiders Spring 2009 Ready-to-Wear is available at Barneys New York and online at La Garçonne.

Contrail Biking Community Tool

by Doug Black

Combining bicycle safety and a sense of whimsy, Contrail is a tool that sends a colorful message to the mobile community. The small apparatus attaches to any bike's seat tube and applies a thin layer of chalk powder in one of several colors to the rear tire.

The result is an eye-catching streak that traces wherever you ride. In addition to visually enhancing the street, it serves as a directional guide for subsequent cyclists and a constant reminder to motorists that they should share the road.

Developed by Brooklyn-based Studio Gelardi, Contrail was created as part of last year's Design21 "Power to the Pedal" Design Competition, where it was a finalist.

Find out more about Contrail and Studio Gelardi's other designs on their website.

Photographer Maarten Wetsema

by Brian Fichtner

Dutch photographer Maarten Wetsema (b. 1966) has some of the most fetching canine portraits I've come across. I've been particularly taken with his series on Daan and Jacob (left and right, above), in which the two dogs are photographed on a variety of seating elements against a seamless background. The deadpan of Daan's gaze is priceless, while Jacob looks to be the most cuddly dog on earth.

Wetsema is represented by Van Kranendonk Gallery in The Hague, The Netherlands.

via ifitshipitshere