Friday, September 12, 2008

To Keep You Safe from the Outside World

This is the Jil Sander store on Howard Street in Soho.

A building houses people, and clothing houses a person. These garments are like personal architecture in both shape and construction—the most luxurious feeling, laser-cut fabric, molded into really amazing, unusual structures, while maintaining essentially the same overall shape and purpose of clothing.

The store itself is also an interesting experience. They use mirrors in unexpected places and ways, as if to say "see things differently." It's every bit as interesting as a good gallery show.

More images and info at jilsander.com

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Home Sweet Home

.
I took some snapshots of our apartment and junk the other day before we started packing. We are both looking forward to moving into our place in Seattle but will really miss this place in Fort Greene, which was built a century earlier and has the high ceilings and beautiful details to prove it. (Click to enlarge any of these.)

Pacific Standard centcom.

I found this pear box on the sidewalk when we first moved in.

We had this big bulletin board up with several layers of pictures, flyers, and other stuff tacked to it.

The cupboard doesn't usually look like this, but it was right after a party so it was kind of stuffed. The two rectangle tins are vintage sardines I picked up at Fairway in Red Hook. They've been aged since the early '70s and are supposed to be great – we will see. Janice brought us the Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey as a going away present (thank you!)

This is looking up the stairway. One other thing that dates this house is the way it has settled – the floor is totally uneven and when you walk down the stairs you get a little dizzy if you're not used to it. It's like living on a boat, you go below deck. I like it but it could be treacherous if, say, you had some Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey in you.

No we haven't hiked it. Well, a little bit of it in various places, but not the whole thing. I would like to do it some day.
These are paintings by my Uncle, Perry Woodfin. Much more about him later. The one on the left is of a telephone booth on Whidbey Island that marks the informal border between North and South Whidbey. South is (in general) the more politically progressive side and the North tends to be conservative because of its proximity to the base. The one on the right is of some Guamanian mussel harvesters on Penn Cove, where Perry lives, and my mom has a place next door. Lots more about that stuff another time.

Chad calls this the man's lounge.

I designed this quilt for a typography class when I was at Parsons – the quotation is from Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Message.

We got these from Lee Quiñones at a party several years ago, at Bob on the Lower Eastside.

Some old mix tapes I made for Emily.

Our bedroom is right on the street, which leads to some middle-of-the-night annoyances such as the rare gunshot (not so much anymore) or the less-rare drunk guys sitting on the stoop. But it's usually fine and we can sleep through just about anything now.

Jeans will be happy anywhere as long as he has his chair and some birds to look at out the window. So spoiled.


Lord Have Mercy (featuring M.O.P.) Home Sweet Home mp3

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

After the Party

.
Thank you to everyone that came out to our going-away bash on Saturday night! It was a great success and we could not feel more properly bon-voyaged. I didn't get photos of everyone, unfortunately, but you can see more pics on my Flickr page.

We are now surrounded by packing boxes, so (I mean it this time) posting will be sporadic at best in the next few weeks... but there are a few things in the hopper, so please check back from time to time.