Dandy and Wit

Robots, Cubelets

2012-01-07T14:17:35Z

At the Dandy and Wit research lab, we've been exploring modular robotics and the practical integration of automated workerbots in modern labor force. Until we've got a working prototype, we can recommend Cubelets.

Stanley & Sons

2011-09-23T15:04:50Z

Sure, the hand crafted, bespoke everything craze is in full effect, nowhere more prominently than in Brooklyn, NYC, but, it still makes for some dope goods.

This one in via Secret Forts > Cold Splinters

Stanley & Sons

For lots of awesome pictures visit Secret Forts.

Shwood Eyewear

2011-07-28T13:27:37Z

Handcrafted wooden eye glass frames made in PDX. Take a gander at this origination story about a few of their frames. From the street to the boutique.

For more on the sunglasses go here. www.shwood.com

APC iPAD Case

2011-07-13T13:35:55Z

Yes, I know, it appears that lately I've just been posting APC press releases. Alas, I'm busy and a sucker for some cool APC gear.

iPad Case $225

A.P.C. Quilts

2010-10-31T14:46:23Z

These quilts speak for themselves. www.apc.fr

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Liz Cohen - Trabantimino

2010-10-10T12:38:50Z

It's been far to long since we visited an exceptional art show, filled with an uber-legit crowd, lined up to see a fantastic exhibition. The Thursday opening of Liz Cohen's Trabantimino at Salon 94 was just that, exceptional. (and a very dope location and gallery to boot). Thanks for the invite Adam.

Trabantimino is a hybridized car and kinetic sculpture that combines a former East German Trabant with a Chevrolet El Camino.

Salon 94 Bowery is located at 243 Bowery in New York, NY. The gallery is open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 11AM-6PM.

]]> From the Press Release:

Trabantimino takes center stage after eight years of body work and an unlikely journey from the former East Germany to Oakland, Scottsdale, and Detroit. Trabantimino is a hybridized car and kinetic sculpture that combines a former East German Trabant with a Chevrolet El Camino.

The Trabantimino is an amalgam of two different now-defunct Cold War era types: the East German "people's car-" humble, anonymous, and functional, and the all-American, large-bodied, low-rider cowboy car. The sculpture contains roughly equal parts of both cars; its main frame a modest Trabant beige, yet then extends out into the full length of the El Camino- showing off its newly chromed American parts.

Cohen purchased the Trabant in 2002 in Berlin, and in the intervening years has become a master mechanic, doing most of the physical work herself. With the help of her mechanic mentors, including Dave Ornellas of World Wide Customs in Oakland; Don Barselloti of Elwood Bodyworks in Scottsdale; and Harvey Ledesma, Don Roberts, and Tom Mello at Kustom Creations in Detroit, Cohen learned the tools of the trade. In the process she hybridized herself, taking on the seemingly disparate roles of journeyman mechanic and bikini-clad car show model, mimicking the pinups found on body shop walls.

Originally a photographer, Cohen began the Trabantimino as a way to break down the barriers between her models and herself, literally becoming what she documented. Alongside the car, the gallery will be showing a series of photographs called the 5 P's (Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance) from 2005. Cohen documented every tool amassed by her original mentor, Bill Cherry, throughout his thirty-plus years as a mechanic. The tools are photographed starkly, in black and white on a cement ground, and are reminiscent of Walker Evans' 1955 project "The Beauty of the Common Tool." In addition, we will include the ephemera and various publications featuring the Trabantimino, from inception to display.

Liz Cohen lives and works in Detroit. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions at the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, Galerie Laurent Godin, Fargfabriken, David Klein Gallery (Detroit), The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco). She has received awards and fellowships from the Creative Capital Foundation and Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue, the MacDowell Colony, and Akademie Schoss Solitude. She is the Artist-in-Residence/Head of Photography at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Crosby

2010-08-31T02:25:34Z

Topsy Design

2010-06-24T17:10:54Z

From an originality perspective, if you can't go bespoke, perhaps the next best thing is a well preserved vintage number. (Though we have an incredibly low tolerance from trolling through racks of motley cast-offs). The solution comes from two transplanted New Yorkers with their Los Angeles based online collection of gorgeous finds at Topsy Design.com.

Sacred Sands from TOPSY on Vimeo.

It comes as no surprise that couple and co-curators, Jared Frank and Samantha Jacober come from a background in film, behind and in front of the camera respectively. Their collection looks like the greatest hits of a stylists-closet-meets-the-set-decorator's-trailer.

The Topsy Design collection is displayed in an elegant and stripped down blog format, so grab their RSS feed and plug it into your favorite reader to stay up-to-date on their most recent finds.

Over at the Dandy and Wit HQ we've been eyeing this Walrus Hide Bag.

walrus hide bag

13" height, 19.5" length, 7" width

$495

Target Liberty for Cool Prints

2010-03-11T12:31:56Z

When we must shop at big box stores, Target is the clear and outstanding choice. They have not forsaken style for cost. Their latest designer colaboration brings one of our favorite brands from the UK into the mix, Liberty of London. Liberty as been collaborating with artists and designers since 1875 to create some of the best print designs in the world, many of which find their way into our closet time and again.

This spring Liberty brings its colorful palette to Target stores in America with men's, women's and home fashions.

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Cloth of the Sun

2010-01-02T20:13:57Z

Now that the holidays are over and you're banishing the tasty decadence of the season, we recommend heading back into your own kitchen. These dish towels will brighten up any rack or oven. (Maybe it's time for a little gift to yourself).

Les Toiles du Soleil has been making this beautiful cloth for 150 years from the French Catalonian town of Saint Laurent de Cerdans. Although it has switched hands and families a few times over the last century, the latest incarnation brings us the most fantastic colors around. Think of a rough hewn Paul Smith stripe in durable thick cotton weave.

]]> espadrilles, but now you can now buy many accessories made with the glorious fabric or simply buy it by the yard and make yourself some slip covers for those beach chairs.

Les Toiles Du Soleil
www.toiles-du-soleil.com

261 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011-4020
(212) 229-4730

Holiday Music

2009-12-14T13:46:59Z

This brings us back to 2007. But all the links are still relevant and awesome. Enjoy some holiday tunes!

It's that time of year again. We're winding up for the aural assault that is the holidays and bracing for the impact of that joylessly grating cacophony called Christmas music. This post will be updated (if possible) as we find more worthy entrants but, until then, here are our three picks for sticking with the season and spreading some holiday cheer.

xmas in Frisco by somaFM.com

Christmas Lounge by somaFM.com

The Rumor Mill's Christmas on Clinton Street (iTunes)
]]> SomaFM.com is the best internet radio station (period)

They have 13 stations of the most insightfully curated collections currently streaming.

Christmas Lounge: Chilled holiday grooves and classic winter lounge tracks. (Kid and Parent safe!)

Xmas in Frisko: SomaFM's wacky and eclectic holiday mix. Not for the easily offended.

The Rumor Mill's Christmas on Clinton Street was a charity album recorded in 2006.

"This dark and stormy Christmas concept album was produced and arranged by J. Ralph with Arthur Pingrey, and imagines what Christmas could feel like if soaring temperatures continue to melt the planet. With unique and unexpected song arrangements, it features performances by Angela McCluskey, Rain Phoenix, Rachelle Garniez, Megan Wyler, Leah Siegel, Nicole Renaud, Baptiste Ibar and other special guests."

Proceeds from the sale of the album are donated to www.stopglobalwarming.org

For more information visit www.savefrosty.org

Single Purpose Tweet Machine

2009-11-20T03:01:56Z

Those crafty cat's at Poke have done it again, this time Baker Tweet. (We were very big fans of the elegantly simple umbrellatoday.com site they made - find the new iPhone app for that one here).

Dandy and Wit has been touting the imminent rise of Twitter since the early days. Twitter is just now starting to really shine, and it is projects like this that really warm our hearts. Baker Tweet is an exercise in focused purpose that can not be beaten or whipped. The idea is a big stable analog interface for up-to-the-minute tweeting about freshly baked goods.

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A true steam-punk kitchen accessory and perhaps the first single-purpose Twitter box. We love it.

Check in at Pokelondon.com for a look at how it was done. Or bounce to the Albion Cafe, home of the first installation.

A Golden Fleece of a Different Sort

2009-09-26T12:19:46Z

This accessory hails from England, via our favorite trove of hipster-everything Colette. While the slight reduction in eco-impact may not be the easiest sell, anything in gold leather is always worth a second glance.

]]> You keep this coffee muff in your bag and dazzle the baristas with your fashion-forward-eco-friendly-super-preparedness.

The Gold leather is our favorite, but it also comes in a black woolen fleece, silver leather as well as, what appears to be, Chewbacca fur

Gold Leather Coffee Muff
by Zumi & David
£40 @ Colette.fr

Shirts on Film

2009-09-18T18:18:51Z

That purveyor of perfect shirts, Steven Alan, has just released a beautiful short film which highlights his spring / summer 2010 collection.

The film stars montreal based actress, Liane Balaban, alongside New Yorker Matt Creed as they battle the serenity of the country and contemplate the conveniences of the city. Watch it below.

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Dandy and Wit parent, Ghost Robot produced the film.

Aeropress Espresso, Yes Please

2009-08-23T15:18:35Z

It goes without saying that we love coffee. At home the french press rules, at the office it's a thermal carafe. But neither offer a good, quick, low maintenance cup of espresso. Enter the AeroPress from Aerobie. (yes the makers of your favorite flying ring).

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Instead of a long-winded description of how it works, we jumped into the Kitchen Lab to shoot a bit of video.

Thanks to Sara and Matt for the tip!

Dandy and Wit recommends La Colombe coffee.