Speeding through Miami in a 1992 Toyota Corolla after midnight is just another day on the job for mastermind and self-proclaimed "Minister of The Interior" of the Borscht Film Festival Lucas Leyva. Leaving his own after party, the head of the city's premier independent film event was on a...

When close friends Casey Diebold and Adam Devarney both graduated from Pratt University their journeys as artists naturally took them to very different places. Devarney returned to the serenity of his native Burlington, VT, while Diebold stayed in Brooklyn to work as a commercial storyboard artist. Their diverging paths...

Like millions of good ideas, Brooklyn Hard Candy was dreamed up over several drinks one night. But unlike most booze-fueled enterprises, this one has more than enough cred to back it up. The joint product of Le Cordon Bleu grads Danny Mowles (also the executive chef at NYC's The...

Meant to be "played, danced and read," one of Igor Stravinsky's most ambitious pieces, "Histoire du Soldat"—penned in the frenzy of post-World War I reconstruction—delves into themes of chaos and absurdity. Tackling the powerful message and Stravinsky's dissonant, pastiched style, director and choreographer Yara Travieso and illustrator Ryan Hartley...

In 2010 Mattel put kids in Barbie's shoes when they introduced a built-in camera. Now, with their Hot Wheels Video Racer, amateur car racers can put themselves in the driver's seat too. Equipped with an LCD screen on the bottom and a built-in memory chip, the car functions as...

When Tristan Eaton isn't designing toys or reworking brand identities as head of Thunder Dog Studios, he can be found collaborating with an array of today's exciting artists. An incredibly talented designer in his own right—with works in the permanent collections of both the Cooper Hewitt Museum and MoMA—Eaton...

Textile and design expert Bradley Quinn secures his place among authors on the pulse of technology and design with his new book, "Design Futures." The 240-page road map about design's immediate future, edifies communities from architects to budding app developers by detailing innovations in material, surface and imagination. Quinn...

With a mission of reinvigorating Chelsea's once youthful and vibrant art scene, Mallick Williams (daughter-in-law of actor Robin Williams) launched Mallick Williams & Co. in November of 2010. In the short time since opening, the upstart has already drawn attention for its ability to connect big-name artists to high-profile...

Although regrettably most famous for bankrupting Lanvin (costing them a reported $50 million), a new book delves into why Claude Montana was one of the most sought-after fashion designers that defined the '80s and continues to be an underlying force behind today's styles. "Claude Montana: Fashion Radical," co-authored with...

At 13-years-old Bill Plympton wrote to Walt Disney asking for a job in the animation department. The young illustrator was initially rejected, but an Oscar nomination six years later for his animated short called "Your Face" led to Disney knocking on his door—where Plympton finally got his turn to...

Adding a "World of Bugs" to their repertoire of lighted construction sets, Laser Pegs continues to entice children with their LED-powered educational toys. With one peg grounded to a power source (either batteries or an AC/DC power adapter), kids seven years and up can create a host of insects...

Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts' debut novel "Harlem is Nowhere" finds the young author discovering herself in a foreign place that seems all too familiar. Pitts moved to Harlem after completing a Fulbright Scholarship in England, and lived in the upper Manhattan neighborhood for seven years. In that time she saw a...

Behind gate 37E on Washington Street lies a warehouse with a Buick Regal parked inside. Photographers are snapping away, laptops are out, and well-dressed critics buzz throughout the space. This was the scene when I visited "Breaking Bread," the first stop on Retna's three-continent-spanning Hallelujah Tour on the day...

Known for inventing four-in-one and two-in-one zipper shoes, Munich's Nat-2 shows a simpler side of shoe design with their new desert boot-inspired line created just for girls. The suede Marais booties, named after the Parisian neighborhood, combine classic French subtlety with a flexible fit. At the helm of Nat-2...

"I'm a sucker for odds and ends," says Boston-based fashion designer Nicole Deponte. So when she inherited a trash bag full of one-of-a-kind vintage neckties in 2009, what started "as a happy accident"—an experiment with a belt—"grew into a ruffled collection of innovative accessories" called Lilian Asterfield. Among the...

While other portable scanners with great digital functionality have come before it, Fujitsu's new ScanSnap S1100 adds some key features that put it a cut above for business use. The PC and Mac compatible device, designed for the traveling professional (deemed the Best Mobile Productivity Accessory by Notebooks), allows...

Quietly shaking up fashion with their utopian approach, San Francisco, CA-based label Nice Collective recently applied their forward-thinking ethos to a transportable storefront they call Mobile Supply Unit #1 or MSU. Together with Brand Director Riley Johndonnel, co-founders Joe Haller and Ian Hannula created an environment that encompasses everything...

A shop known as much for its free organic OJ as its silk-screen printed tees, Nina Garduno recently moved her westside mainstay Freecity from Malibu to Hollywood. While the new home is 3,000 square feet, the "supermät" will keep a neighborhood feeling with its locally-sourced goods and welcoming vibe....

Armed with an "if you build it they will come" attitude, psychologist Ilana Simons curated the upcoming group show at the Prince George Gallery with the vision of creating an "instant art collective." In a similar vein to a pop-up shop, the exhibit is the upshot of quick thinking...

Sometimes love just isn't enough, at least that's how photographer John Arsenault tells it in his gallery exhibition "A Ghost Is Occupying My Heart." After a nine-year-long relationship—the subject of most of his previous work—dissolved into blocked Facebook accounts and a self-healing playlist, the artist escaped from NYC and...

Creatively crafted, Made of New York furniture is comprised of discarded Manhattan lumber and is constructed using as few machines as possible. The simple, geometric collection was conceived by former creative director of Ikea Sweden and current head of strategic design consultancy Daytime Projects, John-Michael Ekeblad, along with furniture...

With contributions by Karen Day, Victor Reznik and Bailee Wolfson Toronto: Bicyclette Canadian clothing store Bicyclette transformed an already beautiful space into a winter wonderland for the last two weeks of December. Featured designers include Lauren Elan, Biko Jewellery, ScarfParty and Hart Boutique, among others. The shop is at 972...

Channeling his ingenuous passion for video games into ingenious graphic design, Brazilian illustrator and designer Maicon Costa created his "Alphabetical Poster" to spark a nostalgic conversation that aims to "stimulate memory and sensitize the audience." With Mario, Pac-man and more in between, the inspired typeface spans the classic Donkey...

Reykjavik-based leather designer and CH mainstay Sruli Recht has had a great 2010 and is set to have an even more exciting 2011. Preparing to launch his first menswear collection at Paris Fashion week next January has been his recent focus, but he also somehow found time to repurpose...

Philippe Petit, the daring performance artist who captured the world's attention when he rigged a tight rope between the World Trade Center's twin towers, is the focus of Clic Gallery's current exhibition "Line Up: Rigging Knots and Glimpses of a Master Class." Not only is Petit a incredibly skilled...