What once was passed over as fuel for Spring Break bacchanals, tequila's reputation has finally caught up with its history—as long and storied as most other spirits on your liquor shelf. When crafted by an expert distillery with 100% blue agave, it holds its own as a standalone sipping...

An emerging filmmaker from Richmond, Virginia, Rick Alverson's slowburning film style feeds off lingering frames, pregnant pauses and subtle interactions between its characters. His debut feature "The Builder" (due for release by indie label Jagjaguwar later this month) has a spacious, meditative style that will resonate with fan's of...

Located in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, Strawser & Smith specialize in home furnishings repurposed from America's industrial past. The newly minted shop boasts a meticulously edited collection, primarily sourced from defunct industries of the Midwest. Many pieces date back to factories in Rust Belt cities like Detroit and Youngstown, that...

While Steven Alan lays claim to the ultimate travel bag, globetrotters looking for the ideal briefcase would be hard pressed to beat this Belgian company's first offering. Focused squarely on frequent-flier-mile-collectors, the TravelTeq smartly designed their Trash briefcase to combat the nuisances of airports in a handsome package. Individually...

Targeting the growing market of bicycle commuters, Pedaler Clothing incorporates technical elements into clothing and accessories that could pass as a standalone streetwear line. Both tops and bottoms have ergonomic cuts made for the cycling movements, use sustainable bamboo wherever possible, and feature subtle reflective flourishes for added safety....

The Madly, a new line of sturdy leather bags, puts the emphasis on crude, functional designs and hand-crafted production. Directed toward the male market, the bags share a simplicity and rough-hewn charm perfect for travel or as an everyday carryall and designed to get better with age. Produced in...

The recent history of Apogee finds the digital audio company aligning with Apple to produce Mac-specific hardware emphasizing simplicity and intuitive design. Designed for use with the guitar, the latest addition to the line—an interface and controller dubbed GiO—pairs seamlessly with the latest versions of GarageBand, Logic Studio and...

The classic silhouettes and primary colors of Warrior Footwear look stolen from a mid-century gym class in—which isn't far from the truth. Recently introduced to Western markets, the sneakers have a storied history in China, dating back to 1935 and holding a similarly iconic position to Converse's Chuck Taylors...

Now in its third year, the Cinema Eye Honors made its name recognizing superlative artistry in documentary film, often highlighting the type of works that tend to fly under the mainstream radar. To underline this aim, 2010's ceremony will precede the Academy Awards for the first time, kicking off...

Long the domain of obscurists and NYC musicologists, Bob Blank's Blank Tapes recording studio's long overdue retrospective (due out 2 February 2010) comes thanks to Strut Records. "The Blank Generation: Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1985" looks at the cult producer's work, which tapped into Gotham's burgeoning underground music and art...

Scott Daniel Ellison's latest solo show—his second in NYC—expands on his fascination with ragged animal life, horror film characters and the artists' recurrent fears, all in his trademark faux-naïve style. The Beacon, NY-based photographer and painter sticks to the latter medium in "The Birthday Party," a series of small,...

Festivals and their hometowns don't always mesh, but when they do—like at the latest Iceland Airwaves—it's a sight to behold. Now a five-day festival, it sets up shop in Reykjavik each October and imposes a friendly takeover of the capital. The events and locations seamlessly intertwine, with every venue...

Likely due to their home state, name and penchant for upbeat chord progressions, Florida's Holiday Shores draw comparisons to a slew of feel-good bands like Wavves, Beach Fossils and the Beach Boys, to name a few. But writing them off as surfer-dude tunes misses the mark. The band wisely...

We had the chance to visit the fifth annual Camden International Film Festival last weekend, and are pleased to report that the four-day event went off without a hitch, but more importantly, brought a diverse selection of non-fiction cinema to some of New England's most picturesque coastal havens. Having...

The fifth annual Camden International Film Festival begins today and, as sponsors this year, we couldn't be more excited. Held in venues throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine, the festival goes through Sunday 4 October 2009 and brings filmmakers and industry reps the world over to the small coastal...

Breathing new life into the time-honored art of calligraphy, Paperfinger, a new hand-drawn design company, brings a personalized, human quality to everything from wedding announcements to logo designs. The truly homegrown business started in founder Bryn Chernoff's living room in October '08 when she decided to stray from her...

The result of a technological malfunction, the visual glitch is generally an unwelcome visitor—a digital artifact representing error. But when viewed in their own right, seemingly randomized visual abstractions become fascinating designs that represent a unique hybrid of human intention and mechanical failure. Recently released by Mark Batty Publishers,...

The first video from Brooklyn's piano-drum duo Glass Ghost looks like it could have a copyright two decades old. Produced by Peking (the outfit behind numerous CH videos), the "Like a Diamond" video cobbles together a seemingly random collection of home videos, some with singer Eliot Krimsky superimposed over...

The first proper full-length from Brooklyn's Polite Sleeper, Lake Effect serves up nine songs straddling the hazy line between folk and indie rock. At turns somber and frenetic, singer/guitarist Jason Orlovich's earnest vocal timber and everyday observations echo more recent Mountain Goats records. Rounded out by Michael Curtes (keys...

After the success of last year's Insound 20, the indie music retailer hits us again with another run of exclusive band designs. While the former collection envisioned new designs for contemporary groups, Insound 10 Classic features 10 seminal punk, new wave or indie bands, all active between 1977 and...

A completely independent publication, Pentagram Papers is the work of the eponymous design studio (a CH favorite and home of Michael Bierut, who spoke at our 99% Conference). Produced regularly since 1975, each issue takes one of their designers and lets them explore "curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative and occasionally...

While perpetual reinvention and daring styles are at the core of the fashion industry, London-based Folk has bucked the trend by consistently produced unpretentious, everyday menswear since its inception in 2001. With the addition of the footwear branch Shofolk in 2004, the company has made its mark as meticulous...

If architecture is, as Mies van der Rohe held, "the will of an epoch translated into space," then it's no surprise that a rabid proclivity toward parking structures marks the last century. Born out of an increasing reliance on cars, the design of parking garages range from the mundane...

Though produced in New York City with dairy sourced upstate, Siggi's is an Icelandic-style strained yogurt, or skyr. What makes a yogurt Icelandic? The first distinction is consistency. Far thicker than most yogurts at the grocery store, Siggi's texture is more akin to the Greek variety. With a full...

As the Polaroid fades into the annals of photographic history, Fuji's Instax line is filling the instant film void. Available in a standard (108mm x 86mm) and mini (53mm x 86mm) size, the horizontally-oriented photos behave much the same as classic Polaroid film, but they generally only work with...

Over 15 years since debuting as MTV's first foray into sketch comedy, "The State: The Complete Series" is finally a reality. After more than a decade of starts and stalls, the cult-classic will be available 14 July 2009 as a five-disc DVD set, complete with full cast commentary, un-aired...

With computer technology becoming more mobile, the same applies to its accessories. When on the move, a mobile mouse often needs to perform in less-than-hospitable circumstances and on surfaces other than a mousepad. BlueTrack technology is Microsoft's panacea, which aims to improve mouse response beyond the existing laser and...

Wave Books is a poetry publisher clearly smitten with books as objects. Born from the ashes of Verse Press in 2005, the independent Seattle-based press consistently produces volumes that reflect the care and consideration given to the poems themselves. There's no clear thread running through their diverse catalog —...

The New York leg of the ninth annual Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) kicks off today and with it comes a series of limited edition bike saddles from Italian manufacturer San Marco. An exclusive first look, the Concor Supercorsa comes in five different colors, each corresponding to one of the...

Tailor made for the cash-strapped board sports fan, the Shaun White for Target collection is a clothing line created by the 22-year-old snowboarding phenom for the Minnesota-based retailer. Hitting shelves this fall, the forthcoming line is the collaboration's second season, following a highly successful 2008 launch. While the new...

Giving visitors a new reason to be pee shy, the recently-unveiled public bathroom in Lausanne, Switzerland features completely transparent walls. But fortunately for patrons and passers-by alike, they don't stay that way. Equipped with liquid crystals, the glass uses electric tension to temporarily frost the glass at the touch...

After 140 years faithfully hand-making British footwear, it's no small task to keep things fresh. But Grenson has managed to stay relevant while sticking to their core principles and standards of quality. Recently, they participated in a few exciting collaborations, most notably with Rag & Bone and New York...

Touted as a threat to Google's search-engine dominance, Wolfram Alpha doesn't warrant the comparison. The site is a different beast altogether, considered a "computational knowledge engine" by British founder Stephen Wolfram. It's more of an answer-engine that relies on its curated knowledge base of data, rather than rounding up...

Featuring work by artists who are "altering materials and repurposing objects that prompt viewers to investigate the act of looking and perceiving," the unifying theme behind the impending group exhibition "Deviate" may be a little broad but it makes for a show that speaks to CH's penchant for the...

Later this month, Adidas will introduce Zeitfrei, its new line of cycling-inspired shoes. For the first offerings, they opted for a pair of collaborations, one with the preeminent sneaker site Hypebeast and the other with the Berlin-based boutique Solebox. Both feature a low-profile design with technical elements specifically made...

The modern grid system helped revolutionize urban life, but we generally make less of its effect on quilting. Noting parallels between the intersecting streets of Brooklyn and and the stitching across a quilt, Emily Fischer of Haptic Lab decided to fuse the two. The resulting Soft-Maps are functional quilts...

Acting like a reverse paparazzo, Sammy Davis Jr. used his position within the Hollywood elite to collect images for his own personal viewing. Rarely without a camera at hand, Davis snapped pictures of his famous friends, as well scenes from his private life. Perhaps more significantly, he also captured...

For aspiring environmentalists not sold on the whole physical fitness thing (or who just want a little more speed), there's hope yet. Developed by Ultra Motor (the San Francisco-based supplier of Light Electric Vehicles) the A2B is a zero-emission bicycle powered by a 500-watt electric motor. Built around a...

Particularly relevant in the current economic climate, Housing Works Thrift Shops' fifth annual Design on a Dime benefit takes more than 40 of the world's top interior designers and challenges them to create inspiring room vignettes using only donated materials. (Sills Huniford's 2008 vignette pictured at right.) Visitors can...

Cycling attire usually falls in one of two camps: triathlon spandex or rudimentary messenger cut-offs. To fill the void of bicycle apparel that's as stylish as it is utilitarian comes swrve, a small Los Angeles-based company. Their collection of reasonably-priced, American-made clothing has everything from classic wool riding caps...

The bond between brothers can be a tumultuous one, but the musical fruits are plentiful. Just ask the Kinks' Davies brothers, the Greenwoods of Radiohead or the National, who can claim two sets of brothers. This grand tradition extends to Brooklyn-via-Jersey siblings Edward and Jeff Nazareno, who perform under...

Curiously, for someone releasing a retrospective photography tome, Elizabeth Peyton doesn't consider herself a photographer. But throughout the painter's two-decade career, photographs have played an integral role in the genesis of her intimate, expressive paintings (which were the subject themselves of a recent major retrospective at NY's New Museum)....

Some things are always in style and a simple, high-quality bag makes that list. Moop is just this kind of sturdy bag, without any ostentatious designs or branding. The small company is the brainchild of Wendy Downs, who makes the line of original designs with a small team in...

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...

Like air, water is a hard thing to quantify. As long as it isn't cloudy or strangely flavored, it seems interchangeable with any other. One way to separate hose water from the triple-distilled purified variety is by using a TDS meter, which measures the level of salts, minerals and...

Adopting its name from the governmental region that includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint and East New York, Eastern District is Bushwick's latest art gallery and exhibition space, which typifies the New York art world's shifting focus. After an abbreviated Fashion Week photo show, the gallery is holding its grand opening tomorrow...

If one were to throw a rock in the western part of Brooklyn, it'd likely hit the supporting member of some transplanted indie rock band. With everyone and their mother's band relocating to the borough, it presents a problem for a five-piece, guitar-driven rock band like Harlem Shakes to...

The work of Chris Lundy closely mirrors the artist's daily life. The Hawaii-based surfer takes the kinetic energy and fluid nature of his preferred pastime and parlays them into large-scale paintings. The resulting waterscapes bear only fleeting resemblance to reality, instead imbuing a fantastic mysticism to each drop. "Notes...

Over the past two decades, Tom Dixon made an indelible mark on the world of furniture design. His S-Bend chair, Soft System couch and Mirrorball light (pictured) are all modern classics and he ranks among the biggest names in British design. His latest work is a hefty tome called...

Outdoorsmen sick of bulky, unsightly activewear are in luck. Aether, the new men's technical clothing manufacturer, serves the virtually-untapped market of outdoor enthusiasts who want apparel with a modern, sophisticated style. Set to launch the first of February, the line is co-founded by Hollywood producers Jonah Smith and Palmer...