The collaborative brainchild of three individuals, "Collage Culture" is a multi-faceted appraisal of the 21st century as an artistic era built on references to the past. In accordance with its composite-driven theme, the project is available both as a nonfiction book—featuring two essays and unique artwork—as well as...

Nonlinear Studio's Amplifiear is a clever clip-on device designed to enhance your iPad's sound. Stunning in its simple design and basic, low-tech construction—no batteries or wires, nor electric currents of any kind required—the Amplifiear magnifies volume by reflecting and redirecting sound forward from the iPad's back speaker. Nonlinear's head...

Known for its avant-garde, outsider artwork and selection of smaller independent galleries, the Fountain Art Fair can easily be likened to the rebellious kid sibling amongst the Armory Show's satellite art fairs. Despite being in a new location this year—the 69th Regiment Armory building (renowned for housing the original...

As a follow-up to her popular debut lineup of agate pendant necklaces and body wraps, the stark leather and mirror pieces that comprise Mimi Jung's quietly powerful "Deflected" collection reveal an artistic progression that's both varied and cohesive. Inspired by a friend's great-grandmother who regularly hid a mirror under...

It's no secret that we're obsessive fans of unique and flavorful snack foods, especially modern updates to familiar classics. Bringing together bold favors, clever packaging and just the right dose or irreverence, Crave Canyon popcorn hits all those requisites as a relatively new addition to the snack scene. The...

While Warby Parker's pop-up Holiday Spectacle Bazaar occupies an old garage space on Soho's Grand Street this month, the gang behind Warby Parker are also setting their sights on Miami's Art Basel scene this weekend. Paring down the mobile-vending concept to two wheels, the NYC-based eyewear brand, known for...

Following up on the success of the award-winning bobble, the reusable bottle that filters water as you drink from it, the brand's makers have launched the bobble jug. An innovative—and long overdue—update on the usual household water filter/pitcher combo, the two-liter jug reduces contaminants such as chlorine, copper, lead,...

Comprising a series of multifaceted and interactive sensory experiences that go beyond just the act and perception of sniffing perfume, the Sensorium is the world's first scent museum of its kind. Starting with the history and science of perfume—dating as far back as 2000 BC—the multimedia pop-up, a collaboration...

With the Spring/Summer 2012 Fashion Week in full swing in Europe right now, groundbreaking style is taking center stage on more than just the runways. While "Fashion in Italy: 150 Years of Elegance," celebrates the country's long-term evolution in styles and trends, and the birth of Italian prêt-a-porter, here...

A straight line between points A and B might be the fastest way to get there, but for Nonlinear Studio's founding designer Evan Clabots fixation on a predetermined end result isn't necessarily best. "The design process quickly turns into decisions, concessions and justifications to get a round peg into...

Unlike gimmicky social clubs, entrance into Société Perrier requires little more than being "the best in nightlife, art, music, fashion, travel, mixology and cocktail culture." To learn more about a few of the fashion designers, DJs and drinks that have what it takes, check out our favorite picks from...

Best known for melancholy and dreamlike renditions of bucolic landscapes, Scottish artist Peter Doig has become one of the most internationally-celebrated painters of his generation. The distinction is all the more striking for a modern artist given such ordinary-seeming subjects and his chosen medium—painterly figurative work initially put him...

Building on its model of selling affordable limited-edition artworks produced by marquee names in the art world, yesterday Exhibition A launched its newest extension, BookShop. Comprising one-of-a-kind or limited-edition monographs, the books contain signatures, inscriptions and sometimes even artist-sketched drawings inside their pages. The membership-based site, founded last December...

Of all the questions posed by the digital age, the weird, wonderful and otherwise convoluted relationship we have to our bodies may be one of the least explored. A new book encompassing photography, fashion and other artistic mediums, "Doppelganger: Images of the Human Being" takes a look at the...

While sustainable shoes up until now tended to either look suited for Middle Earth or were limited to recyclable and repurposed options, Oat Shoes signals a welcome leap forward in the market with their cleanly-styled, fully biodegradable sneakers. Founder Christiaan Maats took on the seemingly-impossible challenge of designing and...

Since launching their label Rodarte in 2005, sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy have proven themselves to be rare birds within the fashion industry, producing work that blurs the line between fine art and fashion design. There are very few designers today who are able to comfortably inhabit both realms—and...

At 98 pages, Tina Barney's newly-published collection of photographs is comparably miniscule to the increasingly mammoth tomes featuring artist's work—but it's no less powerful for it. "Players," with its diversity of images, far from lacking in range, is a surprising compendium of mostly-never-before-seen photographs of Barney's subjects. The New...

Bucking the football-sized burrito, Evol recently introduced a new line of minis to its roster of made-from-scratch frozen burritos and wraps. The three-ounce portions are made with the same all-natural and organic ingredients that the fast-growing company has always relied on for its products, including sustainable, antibiotic-free beef sourced...

Though shooting and editing "Bill Cunningham New York" only required two years, it took filmmaker Richard Press eight years before that to convince his subject to green-light the project. Cunningham, traversing and capturing every social milieu of New York with an excited and democratic eye, has become recognized over...

Led by '90s revivalism, a particular floral trend has proliferated on runways these past few seasons, many directly inspired by the fabrics of heritage brand Laura Ashley and its English garden-feeling flower prints. Thanks to a collaboration with fellow U.K. clothing label People Tree, the 57-year-old label is undergoing...

Combining art and fashion in the literal sense, The Dress Project is a creative endeavor in dressmaking using silk and cotton fabric hand-painted by artist Naomi Clark of Brooklyn's playful cohort, Fort Makers. Clark, along with co-founder Nana Spears, tapped fashion designer Lauren Nevada to create the dress form—a...

With arachnid looks and elegant design, the Presso makes a morning espresso in less time that it takes most electric machines to warm up. Reflecting a growing demand, Presso joins the crop of machine-free methods of coffee brewing that—like other popular coffee tools Chemex and AeroPress—is smaller, easier to...

Inspired by the infamous wind that sweeps through Provence, the mistral, Lou Mistraou's aviator-style caps bring luxuriously cozy charm to help get through the gray days of winter. The newly-launched label's signature helmet-like chapeaus in both lambskin leather ($475) and rain-proof wool felt ($275) feature adjustable chinstraps and wool-padded...

Corky Luster is a Seattle-based certified beekeeper. Two years ago he launched Ballard Bee, an enterprise he calls an "urban pollination company." His fast-growing initiative includes 60 onsite beehives at his Northwest Seattle home, plans to expand to 100 in the coming year and hives placed throughout his neighborhood....

Taking a cue from the commercial world, a Colorado organization recently jumped on the pop-up bandwagon again with YesPleaseMore, a temporary store featuring locally-crafted goods from more than 70 Colorado-based artists and designers. The retail project is part of a three-pronged initiative to provide an economic development platform that...

Casting the lens on NYC's backside, Downtown From Behind stands out from among the fashion-blog mayhem for its altogether unconventional spin on this increasingly standard form of style photography. The newly-launched site showcases back views of bicycle riders on the streets of lower Manhattan, creating "an environmental portrait for...

Five years in the making, Stornoway's recently-released debut album Beachcomber's Windowsill like so many records before it, is the story of a homegrown musical enterprise. The band of Brits, named after a town on the Scottish isle of Lewis, met and honed their earnest, folk-rock style at the University...

Conceived in Italy but based in L.A., WeWood watches combine European craftsmanship with sustainably-minded materials to reinvent the average wristwatch—in wood. The budding brand offers up a line of tasteful Miyota-movement timepieces crafted from several varieties of Maple, Guaiaco (an indigenous South American tree) and Red Wing Celtis, with...

As more and more earth-friendly cleaning products make their way to mainstream grocery store aisles, iQ Clean stands out for their all-natural, environmentally-sustainable formulas that come in equally-virtuous, waste-saving concentrate cartridges. Developed by Canada-based Planet People, the single-use cleaning cartridges contain non-toxic, plant-based concentrates which instantly dilute in reusable...

The latest addition to Lomography's fleet of non-digital cameras, the Spinner 360° promises dizzying panoramas with the pull of a cord. Thanks to the unconventional (and often unpredictable) results produced by the camera's simple mechanics, anyone who can point-and-shoot—or in this case, point-and-pull—will have fun with it. I recently...

Erika Iris Simmons' one-year foray into cassette-tape portraiture happened after noting how similar the coiled, stringy reels of old cassettes resembled Jimi Hendrix' hair. Since then the 26-year old self-taught artist has added similar likenesses of Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Patti Smith, Michael Jackson, and other legendary musicians and...

Singer and musician Devendra Banhart's latest project, an art show at Half Gallery in New York's Lower East Side, could easily be likened to a visual mixtape of sorts, with a tracklist featuring musicians Fabrizio Moretti, Kevin Long, and Banhart himself, among a handful of other artists and designers....

The same company behind Grove's laser-engraved bamboo iPhone cases, Engrave Your Book has been delighting pen-and-paper stalwarts with its artful collection of Moleskine notebook covers since their debut last year. Available for both pocket and larger Moleskine notebook sizes, the slip-on covers feature a growing collection of works by...

With Brooklyn's artisanal, back-to-basics food movement well underway, it seemed only a matter of time before jams and jellies joined the flurry of small-batch chocolates, beers, pickled goods, and popsicles. But that's as predictable as Anarchy in a Jar gets. Founded by self-proclaimed "Jamarchist" Laena McCarthy, Anarchy turns out...

As an extension of its long-running sustainable farming practices—and a first of its kind for the freezer aisle—Stahlbush Island Farms recently introduced BioBags, biodegradable packaging for its line of frozen fruits and vegetables. Brown craft paper and water-based ink replaces commonly used polyethylene-based materials, reducing the breakdown process from...

Ideal for the indecisive or anyone who likes a little variety in their portable beverage choices, the HydraDuo water bottle offers two drink options without having to double fist. Created by the online product development community Quirky—whose luggage scale we previously covered—the reusable BPA-free plastic bottle features two removable...

In an effort to both reuse retired cigarette vending machines and encourage literacy (not to mention sell a few books), newly-minted German publisher Hamburger Automatenverlag recently introduced a resourceful new concept—the book vending machine. Basing their name on the concept, the publishing house's clever street project supplants one unhealthy...

As backpacks continue to trend as popular accessories this season, the classic brand Eastpak is carving an entirely new path for itself. Its latest collaboration with avant-garde furniture label Quinze & Milan is a collection of rather sporty furniture pieces appealing more to the desire to sit still rather...

Joining the growing spate of yarn stores pulling double duty as coffee shops, Paris' Sweat Shop provides a social environment where sewing enthusiasts can fuel up on caffeine while also toiling away on their latest craft projects. Located in the increasingly chic 10th arrondissement, a neighborhood near Canal Saint-Martin,...

In her collaborative collection with Swarovski, architect Zaha Hadid's jewelry creations share her larger works' deconstructionist design aesthetic, as well as the dramatically sculpted contours informed by it. The five-piece Glace collection—consisting of sinuous cuff bracelets, rings and a pendant necklace—infuses the Iraq-born architect's trademark alien forms with sprays...

Petite in scale, though hardly diminutive in concept and artistry, Dutch design duo Viktor & Rolf's retrospective spans 17 years of innovative and boundary-pushing fashion at Antwerp's Studio Job Gallery. The exhibit, comprised of more than 30 dolls—one doll to represent each collection they've done to date since their...

Currently on view at Zurich's Museum Bellerive, the exhibition "Pap(i)er Fashion" reveals the ancient material's cultural, aesthetic and political history throughout fashion. From its invention in China (approximately 100 A.D.) to modern-day uses as both a print medium and a textile, the show juxtaposes the the ephemeral use of...

Building on their solid business model marrying modern-casual style with philanthropy (for every pair sold, they give a pair to a child in need), Toms Shoes recently rolled out some fetching new looks for summer. The mostly nautical-inspired collection includes several altogether new styles, as well as updated spins...

This weekend, New York's Toda Design Studio opens its doors to for a workshop series under the heading "Sustainable Exchange: Methods and Practices for Collaborative Partnerships." Organized by designer Megan Howard, the three-day event features local artists and fashion designers who will share how they utilize sustainable design in...

Seed bombs—a simple mixture of clay, fertilizer and plant seeds—are a favored form of DIY "drop-and-go" weaponry among gardeners taking the greening of public spaces into their own hands. To aid the expansion of the guerrilla gardening movement in its persistent goal of transforming forgotten or abandoned urban landscapes...

Recent winner of a 2009 Green Good Design Award, Bali's Alila Villas Uluwatu sets a soaring example of what it currently means to be a luxurious green resort. Stylish clifftop villas, designed and constructed according to a strict Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) framework, earn the posh destination the highest...

Scott Campbell, who's inked the skin of celebrities, supermodels and Hell's Angels, opens his first solo NYC show this week at Ohwow Gallery with an all-new series of sculptures, paintings and intricate drawings under the title "If You Don't Belong, Don't Be Long." Owner of Brooklyn's vaunted Saved Tattoo...

Having achieved their goal of bringing instant analog film back into production, The Impossible Project's latest effort continues to revive and remaster the concept. Their limited-edition "First Flush" series introduces a silver-based monochrome film, currently available in two formats, 600 and SX-70. Though results may vary with each individual...

Situated in the center of Paris, the calming Six Senses Spa services and interiors offer visitors an afternoon of otherworldly respite from daily life. Recently-opened within the Westin Hotel (one of the chain's better properties thanks to its location in Paris' posh 1st arrondissement), the 2,700 square-foot haven includes a...

Now available in book format, "Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?" is artist Kate Bingaman-Burt's winsomely self-conscious take on transparency and consumer culture. Beginning in 2002, in the face of growing credit card debt, Bingaman-Burt resolved to give new meaning to the term "retail therapy" by documenting her...