Bamboo Bike Studio

by Karen Day

If Robinson Crusoe were to have a bike, today he would have made it at Bamboo Bikes Studio. The weekend workshop allows you to build your own bamboo dream bike, helping out Mother Nature while kitting yourself out with a sustainable, one-of-a-kind bicycle.

Bamboo Bikes' mission is pretty simple. Their goal is to provide cyclists the experience of building their own ride from scratch, while also advancing sustainable development by financing bamboo bike factories in Africa and South America. The project provides real and long-term economic inputs while delivering an affordable, socially beneficial product back to their own communities.

Already partnering with The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Millennium Cities Initiative to create the first bamboo bike factory in Ghana, Bamboo Bikes Studio is teaming up with Bushwick's 20000-sqaure-foot creative hub 3rd Ward this Sunday, 3 May 2009, for the launch of the website and workshop.

The party will play backdrop to a mass of activities like bike competitions, badminton, live screen-printing, music videos, bands, drinks, BBQ and more, all celebrating the fact bikes are a reliable and cheap form of transportation and can actually improve access to jobs, commerce, education, basic food and water resources and health care.

The purchase of any annual 3rd Ward membership will gain you a free subscription to Time Out New York, free or discounted classes, admission to 3rd Ward events and unlimited use of co-working space.

Green Bikes Birthday Block Party
3 May 2009
3rd Ward Gallery
195 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11237 map
tel. +1 718 715 4961

Best Magazine Design Finalists

by Karen Day

The impending fear of the end for print magazines seems to have only inspired publishers to prove everyone wrong by refining and, at times, redesigning their pages. This year's finalists for best magazine design, announced by the Society of Publication Designers—or SPD— are some of the best we've seen.

While some of the usual suspects were rightfully chosen—like Wired, W, GQ and Dwell—the SPD's list of finalists for their prestigious awards included some publications that might not immediately spring to mind for their design chops, like educational glossy onEarth and money magazine Fortune.

See more finalists and photos at Fast Company.

Bar Rage

by CH Contributor

by Julie Wolfson

Often tucked away on side streets and down alleys, some of the best bars and restaurants in Tokyo are behind unmarked doors. Bar Rage takes that notion to an extreme, with no signs of a bar from the exterior. A tiny elevator lifts guests to the third floor, unveiling a huge space that boasts an extensive vintage liquor collection, a bar with ten large club chairs and an array of other spirits alongside three smiling mixologists. The highly trained bartenders—dressed in black suits and white shirts—create elaborate cocktails infused with fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs.

After visits to the Ritz-Carlton's Lobby Lounge and the famed whiskey bar Cask with Jun Ago of Suntory's Imported Liquor Spirits Division in Japan, we ended the night at the nearly indescribable Bar Rage.

Head mixologist Fujisaki Kazutaka created our first drink, a Macallan 10 with chopped mixed berries, honey and rosemary, served with a little silver masher, a small fork and instructions to mash the fruit in the glass, drink up and eat the fruit.

Next he placed a barrage of fruit before us for requests. Choosing pineapple, Fujisaki sets about muddling and measuring, tasting and concocting a special drink. He tops it off with slices of fresh pineapple chunks he then caramelized with a torch. The resulting drink was a smooth, subtle and amazingly fresh blend of fruit and alcohol.

Subsequent visits involved watermelon and roses and many other deliciously inventive concoctions drawing on seasonal fruits and the mixologists' imaginations.

Bar Rage
3F Aoyama Jin & IT Bldg
7-13-13 Minami-Aoyama
Minato-ku, Tokyo map
tel. +81 3 5467 3977

Gabriel Jones Photography

by Karen Day

Montreal-born photographer Gabriel Jones is stirring up reality with his latest series, "Irhann," based on an imaginary country where failed rocket launch attempts are a true part of our landscape. We had a chance to sit down with the Brooklyn-based lensman for him to explain more about his elusive images and fondness for mystery.

Where did your idea for the fictitious country come from?
I had the idea one morning after watching the news about Iran and about the media's presumption that Iran was preparing to produce nuclear energy for mass destruction weapons. I didn't know if the news was true or not but still I was affected by the negative vibe it was generating.

Are you trying to make a political statement with your current series Irhann?
No I am simply using absurdity to redirect negativity. This method is simply a protection reflex I am trying to learn. I am also trying to apply it to many other sources of negativity on a daily level. The only statement I could be making is that I am against nuclear weapons, whoever has them.

In your series "Somewhere on Time," how did you approach your subjects and do you think they were surprised to see themselves in such nondescript settings in the end?
In 2004 I traveled to London, Paris, Warsaw, New York and Montreal for this series. I decided I was going to create a little game. I had to leave the house with my two assistants and my portable flash equipment not knowing where I would set up or who I would photograph or what would be the story behind each shot. Everything had to reveal itself on the spot, instinctively. Somehow things just happened and interesting characters would pass by the set and I would simply go up to them and explain my project when I felt they would correspond to the "actors" I needed. It was quite rare to have someone that would refuse. When I show my model their "portrait" at the end they are usually shocked. They really don't see themselves like that.

When you show your work around the world, do you find the reactions to be different in each country? Is there a particular reaction you are looking for?
When I look at art I want to be surprised, I want to be shown a new way of seeing or feeling. I hope people can feel or see something new when they look at my work. I love to hear people's reaction to my images.

What do you find so interesting about mystery?
Mystery has the potential to reveal the new. when I create I try to believe that it is not about me, it's about a larger situation. I have the impression that the subconscious can affect my decisions when I am in an errand state of mind. That is how I create scenes.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?
I don't think I only belong to photography. I am very much influenced by artists like Mauricio Cattelan, Gabriel Orozco, Francis Alys, Marcel Duchamp and Sophie Calle.

What's up next for you?
A series of videos. I am presently interested in the process of reconstruction of memory. I am also trying to figure out where my great grandfather came from when he arrived to New York city illegally by boat during the first world war and then changed our family name to Jones. Lots of mystery.

Keep an eye out for Gabriel's work, which will be shown next at Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer in Dusseldorf and Paris' Galerie Bertrand Grimont in the fall of 2009.

Photographer Jeff Barnett-Winsby

by Lost At E Minor

This photo essay by Jeff Barnett-Winsby looks at a program through which inmates at a Kansas correctional facility were given sick or injured dogs to raise for a period of time before they were adopted out into the wider community. Barnett-Winsby says, "While taking the photographs of the interiors, I was introduced to a program at the prison that they were incredibly proud of. A volunteer named Toby Young had started a program where they would pair inmates with abandoned and undesirable dogs. From there, the inmates would work to rehabilitate the dog, nursing it back to health, and readying the dog for an adoption in the nearby community. I decided to make a piece that would celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of these men." Read more of this interview at Feature Shoot.