Context x Kicking Mule 1980 Hand Dye Jeans

by Tim Yu

An exclusive first look, Context drops another collabo today, this time with Kicking Mule Workshop for an ultra limited-edition pair of denim pants. A small production of only 50 pairs worldwide, the shuttle-loomed denim leaves a clean white selvage line—but the dying process is what really sets them apart.

To make the dye, harvests of the indigo leaves from the Okayama Prefecture in Japan happen only twice yearly. Referred to as the AWA method, the leaves ferment for the dipping stage, which takes place in Kojima City, Okayama Prefecture by hand over several weeks.

Intended for the most discerning denim collector, they're available only at Context for $495.

Liquid Image Camera Goggles

by Nathan Suberi

Daydreams of summer aquatic fun reminded us of Liquid Image's Underwater Digital Camera Masks, goggles with built-in video and photo capabilities. Bringing underwater photography to a new level of convenience, buttons on top easily control the camera and crosshairs printed into the glass replaces the need for a display.

Goggles come in three designs, differing in depth limitations and video quality. The Swim Video Mask ($100) is perfect for pool-goers and snorkelers who want to remain relatively topside, limited to 15' and 640x480 video resolution. The Dive Video Mask ($160) allows for more versatility, functional up to 33' deep and capturing 720x480 video resolution. The Scuba Video Mask ($250) trumps them all, operating up to an impressive 115' deep and delivering crisp 720p HD video.

All masks come equipped with 5 megapixel cameras, with the exception of the Swim Video Mask which offers a 3.1 megapixel version. There's even a built-in LED in the lens indicating whether it's in camera or video mode.

The goggles also come packaged with image and video editing software and a free 4GB MicoSD (with the Dive and Scuba Masks), enabling slick productions of underwater experiences.

The Liquid Image Camera Goggles are available through Helmet Camera Central.

Interview with Erik Madigan Heck of Nomenus Quarterly

by CH Contributor

by Laura Neilson

In 2007, 23-year-old Erik Madigan Heck founded Nomenus Quarterly with the kind of arrogant fervor that only someone at that age could pull off. And perhaps it was that very same aplomb that made the multifaceted art and fashion publication so notoriously successful. Just one glance at the archives' roster of featured artists, designers and contributors, including Dries Van Noten, Helmut Lang, Anne-Valerie Hash, Alec Soth and Elizabeth Peyton, makes clear that Heck isn't letting youth stand in the way of his ambitions.

Bridging the high and low, each new issue of Nomenus comes both as a limited edition format for several thousand dollars and as an online publication (with bonus content), gratis—that's part of its contradictory appeal. The newest and seventh volume offers stunning photographic spreads of fashions by Azzedine Alaïa and Ann Demeulemeester (shot by Heck himself), as well as works by some of the art world's greatest figures, including Lucien Freud and Anselm Kiefer.

>A hard copy of the book is $6,500. If that sounds absurd, it's meant that way. Heck, who sets a different price for each issue will be the first one to say so—even the publication's name has a certain tongue-in-cheek objective. Here he let's us in on his serious nonsense, and how he plans to top himself with number eight.

Where did the name Nomenus come from?
I would walk into my building everyday and see this little sign on the door that said "Nomenus." And I never got it. I thought someone had tagged the door. And then one day, like six months later, I realized that it was just "no menus," and there was no space between it. It had taken me that long to understand it, and I thought it was amazing that such little space made me unable to see its true meaning. I thought that was a pretty big symbol for what I wanted Nomenus to be as a publication or as this "thing." And it worked because 95% of people don't get it. They think it's Latin or something profound. And it's really just "no menus."

What compelled you to start Nomenus?
I started photographing when I was 14. My mother's a painter, my father collects art and they always brought me to museums when I was little. Minneapolis is a really amazing city for art. You have a lot of really great museums, and galleries, and it's very accessible. If you're young and you want to be an artist, it's easier to believe that you can do it. Whereas in New York, everything's so oppressive and seems out of reach at first. It's like no matter where you come from, you always start at ground zero. No one gives a shit about you. So the only way that I could feasibly start to make an impact while being in New York was to really do something different—to create my own area or place to show my own work.

What about other magazines?
Initially when you grow up you say, "I want to shoot for Vogue," or "I want to shoot for Dazed or V," or whatever you're into. But for me, there were very few publications that got it right. I had been looking at magazines that existed in art and fashion and none of them really functioned the way I wanted a publication to function. None of them are really showcasing worthwhile art or fashion—they're just in a weird in-between place. So I wanted to cultivate what my own very specific idea of aesthetics in art and fashion was, and what I felt was being missed or bypassed by the abundance of mainstream pop culture. I wanted to feature the important artists and designers—not necessarily the trendy new kids and I wanted you to see their work, not their faces...

Would you call that arrogant?
It's very arrogant in a way. Anytime you take something into your own hands, it's an arrogant task. But I felt it was necessary to show people an alternative to my very anti-aestheticized generation, you know? Because Nomenus inherently exists in this world that's superficial and really pretentious to begin with, it's in dialogue with these already existing pretensions. So part of me wants to say, let them eat cake. Let people pay the highest price, because you know what, we have the best product out there and it's worth it. And it works. It sells out before it even launches.

How did you first approach the artists you wanted to work with?
In the initial stages we didn't even have an issue, so our first issue we just picked up a phone. We had nothing to show, and we got some pretty influential artists right off the bat like Anne-Valerie Hash in Paris, and Francesco Patriarca in Rome. They were more subversive artists, but they're really influential in their own realms. And that issue ended up being great in terms of just putting it online and seeing the world react. Then we made this book that was really high production, so we were able to take that around for issue two.

The interview continues after the jump.

Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten

by CH Contributor

by Alison Zavos for Feature Shoot

Born in Germany and partly raised in the U.S., Julia Fullerton-Batten moved at the age of sixteen to England followed by extensive travels throughout the world. When she eventually returned to London, her still-life photographs won a number of awards. Soon after, came her first big commission, a cigarette campaign in Australia.

Your personal work, advertising, and fashion work blend very well. How do you achieve consistency while working in so many different areas of photography?
I think that the lighting techniques and emphasis on color that I use distinguish my photography. As I use similar techniques in most of my personal, advertising and fashion work, I achieve a consistency throughout all genres. As far as lighting is concerned, I have no fixed rules and use different lighting techniques. I frequently mix daylight and flash, and sometimes use up to twenty flash heads on a single shot. I enjoy varying the lighting to achieve uniqueness in the shot. Another of my favorite preoccupations on shoots is color. I choose the colors extremely carefully, in the props, the styling or even the color of a model's hair. In this way, I can impart to the scene something distinctive.

You use non-traditional models for your work. Can you explain your method of "street casting?"
I used to approach unknown people on the streets in London and ask them to take part in my photo shoots. There are so many fascinating faces accompanied with wonderful personalities around. The freshness that street casted models have has also benefited my work immeasurably. I now don’t have the time to find the amateur models myself, but I hire a producer to source models for me.

Where do your ideas come from and what is your process once you have an idea you want to implement?
It could be one small thing that will spark me off, an episode in my daily life, a scene in a film, a painting or something from a book. I develop the inspiration in my mind and visualize various scenes before proceeding further with the idea or rejecting it. When proceeding with the idea, the production part is just as important as the shoot itself. Firstly, I source the location. This often takes some considerable effort as the right location is important in my work. It's like choosing the right backdrop in a studio, but far more complicated as it involves outside research and quite a bit of travel.

Next, it takes a while to find the right models, narrow them down, and then meet them in person. After that, there are meetings with my stylist who sources the clothes and props: this is something I also do myself. Charity shops are great for this kind of thing. The final stage of preparation is to book assistants, and make-up artists, hire the lighting equipment and arrange travel details. Often, I will go with my main assistant to the location, where we take snaps, print them out and I draw out my ideas on them. By the time it comes to the shoot, I know exactly where I want the models to be, how I will light them, and what feeling I want to create in the shot. Of course, I have to be open-minded as sometimes things just don't feel or look right and I need to make changes on the spot. Once I hired a huge studio in Germany for a shoot, but when we got in it, I just didn't feel happy with it, and we ended up doing the shoot in a small room adjacent to the studio.

Whitelines Notebooks

by CH Contributor

by Tisha Leung

Swedish paper manufacturer Whitelines's new collection of handsome notebooks feature white-ruled lines instead of standard blue or black on a light gray, non-glare paper. Their concept is simple: dark lines distract, white lines don't.

For those who like to sketch as well as write, the set-up eliminates visual competition between the lines, the paper background and and the pen color, allowing the artist/doodler/wordsmith’s work to stand out. Available with either graph lines or straight lines, they disappear if copied or faxed.

Not only does the collection support the creative process, but Whitelines labels all of their notebooks with their C02 footprint (professionally calculated by North Environment & Weather Agency) with a near zero carbon footprint in producing their paper overall. Their state-of-the-art paper mill reuses CO2 in a process where more carbon dioxide is absorbed than emitted. To minimize emissions from transporting the product from Sweden to its destination Whitelines ships large batches which also act as ballasts to control the ship's buoyancy and stability for the ship. Nevertheless, the company offsets the pollution it does create by planting trees in Uganda. Its goal ultimately is to prevent CO2 rather than compensate, and move to a zero footprint.

They're available from Amazon.