The Indie Look
T-shirts celebrating little-guy capitalism — or at least the idea of it.
This week in Consumed, a look at a company that sells T-shirts that at first glance look as though they advertise long-lost, or possibly imaginary, places and businesses. Actually, they’re all real.
Destee Nation is not selling nostalgia or hipster kitsch but romance — the romance of the American small business, the neighborhood diner, the old bar, the mom-and-pop shop that has managed to linger into the era of big-box chains. It celebrates little-guy capitalism with an agenda: “Let’s keep it,” the founder says, noting that every time Destee Nation sells a T-shirt, the business it advertises gets a cut.
Founded in 2004, the company now has 21 employees and sales approaching 10,000 T-shirts a month, and this month will begin distributing through a number of Nordstrom locations. “Basically,” the founder says, “we’re using fashion as a way to save local landmarks.”
Read the column in the June 15, 2008, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.
Special thanks to Dan W.
Consumed archive is here, and FAQ is here. Consumed Facebook page is here.
Probably as a result of previously alluded to scheduling congestion, I didn’t spot as many interesting Things in the last two weeks for this installment of the fortnightly Thingdown. Just two. These.
Brass Knuckle Corkscrew, via Book of Joe.
Whippy, via Ffffound.
Friday night July 13 is the New York event for Buying In. It’s at the Art Directors Club, 106 W 29th St. (Doors 6:30, activity starts at 7.) Free and open to the public.
I’ll be in conversation with Danielle Sacks of Fast Company, and then taking audience questions. Books will be sold and signed, a limited number of beautiful letterpress posters will be given away for free, Barking Irons will be screenprinting (and selling) T’s on the spot, Fast Company will be giving out free magazines. Plus catering, booze, and mingling, all put together by PSFK.
Now I mentioned all this a while ago, and maybe you clicked through and RSVPed, or maybe you clicked through and learned that it was “sold out.” Several people have asked: How can a free event be “sold out”? The anwer is that the number of RSVPs exceeded the amount of space available — but of course we have no way of knowing how many of the RSVP-ers will actually show up. Or for that matter how many people who did not RSVP will show up anyway.
So that’s what’s going on; just trying to be as open about it as possible. If you did RSVP, I recommend that you show up — and in fact I recommend that you do so closer to 6:30 to 7. I think it’ll be a fun evening. Hope to see you there.
This site’s been quiet the last couple of days because I’m away from home and running around a lot doing various things to support Buying In. Next week things will be more active here again. On a related note, AntiFriday is postponed this week — I’ve got a few items but no time to put together a post. So next week will be Double AntiFriday.
Meanwhile: In Buying In news: I was on the Diane Rehm show Wednesday, you can listen here if you like; 1800 CEO Read recommends Buying In; Jennifer Wells’ writeup in the Globe and Mail; Chris Cadelago interview in the San Francisco Chronicle.
A few months ago, in what has got to be among the most indefensible financial decisions I’ve ever made in my life, I decided I wanted a really great custom poster to go along with one or more of the events that will promote Buying In. I told myself this might help with “buzz,” but really I know that it’s simply the closest I can ever come to even pretending to be a rock star.
I make it habit to peruse the sites of many letterpress and other poster-makers anyway, so when the time came I had a few folks in mind, and the first one I reached out to was F2 Design, in Lubbock, Texas. Can’t remember how I first found the site, but I loved the work. And I was pleased to find, when I inquired, that co-proprietor Dirk Fowler (his wife Carol Fowler is the other F in F2) was willing to do this slightly weird job. The design he came up with was, in my view, fantastic, and having received actual posters in the mail the other day, I can tell you they’re even more impressive in person.
In fact F2 was such a pleasure to work with, I thought it would be cool to do a Q&A with Mr. Fowler here, and he went along with that, too. In addition to posters for bands like Wilco and Spoon and many others, F2 has also done a variety of other striking design projects, from identity to apparel. But my questions tended to be about posters, and letterpress.
–> Please note: We’ll be giving out about 40 of these F2 Buying In posters (above; they are 18X24 inches), for free, at the event in New York this Friday night.
And yes, this is a weird time of day to post, but I’m out of pocket most of tomorrow. So here goes:
Q. So I believe you work with “an antique letterpress.” Without making you tell your entire life story, I’m curious about what first attracted you to letterpress, and, if the setup you have now, studio-wise, is close to your ideal?
A: I have a Vandercook No. 1 proof press and an unmarked sign press. The latter being the one I do most of my work on because it allows for a much larger print size.
I was first attracted to letterpress after a visit to Hatch Show Print in Nashville in the late 90s. After spending years as an advertising art director, I really wanted to get back into what drew me into graphic design in the first place, making art with my hands. I love the tactile quality and feel of letterpress and wanted to make advertising or design that people might actually want to keep.
I wouldn’t say my setup is ideal. It is a small room (once a sunroom) in the back of my house, really only big enough for one person. I’m a small guy, so it works for me, but ideally, I would like a larger space so I could add more equipment. The danger in this is that I would keep adding more equipment. What I have now allows me to be at home with my family, print until I can’t stand anymore, and go fall into bed. Plus, it keeps my operation small, which I think is a good thing.
On a similar note, I don’t know exactly how long you’ve been interested in letterpress, but I feel as an outsider as though the form has become steadily more popular in recent years — possibly as a result of rising interest in things that have a handmade touch, partly as a result of the Web. So that means more interest — but maybe also more competition? I also feel like there’s a rock poster renaissance afoot, and letterpress is part of that. Is it good or bad for you if there are lots of letterpress folks around? Read more
Apropos of nothing at all, I typed “Obama” into the search box on Etsy, the online handmade emporium.
Results? 538 items.
“McCain” search yield: 45 items.
SILENCE GENERATION
Technology adapts to eliminate the clatter of city life, one person at a time
For today’s special issue of The New York Times Magazine, The Next City, I devoted the Consumed column to a look at noise-canceling headphones, in particular the Bose QuietComfort line. The connection to the “city” idea is that such headphones are relevant to the thing that makes cities both appealing and oppressive: All the other people.
Originally developed for use in airplanes, Bose’s headphones moved from pilots to consumers, and then to city streets.
Deep into the age of cellphones and iPods, the portable soundtrack is a given in city life, although some of the conceptual pieces in “Design and the Elastic Mind” suggested that we’re still adjusting to this new reality. … One concept, by the Social Mobiles project, which originated in the London office of the design firm IDEO, proposes phones that modify their owners’ behavior — for instance by shocking them when they talk too loud.
Given the unease and adjustment that such projects imply, it’s no surprise that noise-canceling headphones have come to be tools for blotting out not just the dull roar of an airplane but also the clatter of city life…
Read the whole column in today’s issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.
Possibly I spent too much time reading political news, or possibly I’m just more addled than usual this week, but I didn’t notice as much backlash, dissent, and critique as usual in the last seven days. Here’s what I’ve got.
1. Recently in the linkpile in the sidebar at right I noted this NYT article, “Wal-Mart’s detractors come in from the cold.” Wake-Up Wal-Mart disputes this and says the anti-ness continues: “It is unfortunate that the Times chose to ignore all that we’ve done over the last year, and all that we are planning for this year, and instead focus on Wal-Mart’s PR stunts as evidence of an imaginary slow down.”
2. Recent Consumed subject The Flip (video camera) gets the anti treatment from TechCrunch. (Thx, Josh!)
3. In the critique corner, Treehugger picks up on Buy-By Brian (recent Murketing Q&A subject) with an interesting post, and also-interesting reader comments.
4. Via bookofjoe: I hadn’t heard about this book but I may have to check it out: The Price Is Wrong: Understanding what makes a price seem fair and the true cost of unfair pricing.
5. And of course no AntiFriday is complete without the Anti-Advertising Agency, which is skeptical of a Facebook application that purports to fight global warming:
Possibly I’m overdoing it with all the Buying In chatter, but it’s kind of dominated my week. Here’s the expanding linkpile of online reactions etc. Also: ReadyMade did a very nice brief, which I mention because (I hadn’t known this) the magazine has been experimenting with an all-digital version. For the moment at least you can check it out here — and of course I’ll mention the Buying In brief is on page 18.
Also, if you’ve ever looked at the front page of Murketing.com you’ve noticed that I have almost no HTML skill outside of the context of blog software. Well, E finally stepped in and bailed me out: Check out the front page now. Big improvement!
Finally, a reminder: I’ll be in Richmond this evening, and Chicago Saturday. (Click the bold city name for details.) Love to meet you if you’re in those spots.
And now, the last of Murketing.com’s series of three Q&As with Austin Craft Mafia co-founders who I interviewed for one of the closing chapters of Buying In. Jenny Hart is the founder of Sublime Stitching, a successful business that encourages people to do-it-themselves with embroidery patterns, kits, and books, and she is also a widely respected creator and artist in her own right.
Here she talks about her Crafting A Business column in Venus Zine; about getting asked for business advice; about dealing with big companies (including when to walk away); and about why it’s hard to explain the DIY movement. Check it out:
Q: As with Jennifer and Tina, I’ll start with the Craft Mafia(s). How do you see the ACM at this point, and all the new Craft Mafias that seem to keep forming?
We constantly struggle with the best and most effective way for us to organize, and recently we had a meeting where we made some really important decisions about who we are at this stage. Because, several of us are no longer running businesses or have moved on to other things. We decided that at this point the group needed to continue to support the other mafias in terms of being an administration of the hub site, but we’ve never sought to be a group that dictates the structure or activities of other mafias other than some general guidelines.
Q: One thing that’s happened since we talked for the book is you’ve started writing a kind of business-advice column for Venuszine. I get the impression there’s a lot of hunger out there for business advice as people look for the way to turn their creativity into a way to make a living. Is that sort of how this column came about? Are there things about being an “indie” entrepreneur that are different from being a “traditional” entrepreneur? Read more
Today, Murketing is pleased to present the second in a series of three Q&As with Austin Craft Mafia founders who are in Chapter 13 of Buying In. Tina Sparkles built a considerable following with Sparkle Craft, which of late has been best known for her handmade, Earth-and-animal-friendly guitar straps.
Aside from the ACM, however, here she addresses a few surprising developments: On May 9, 2008 she announced she was taking her last orders for guitar straps and moving on to new things. More on that (including what went into the decision), below, as well as her thoughts about crafting and doing-it-yourself and consumption and ethics; about the pleasure of teaching others crafty skills; about why she stopped buying new clothes three years ago; and about a new book she’s working on that ties all of the above together. Here goes:
Q: Let’s start with the Craft Mafia(s). One of the things that really interested me about the ACM is I’d never quite seen an arrangement like this — you’re all independent, and your affiliation seems, to an outsider at least, to amount to sort of quasi-formalized mutual support. How do you see it at this point, and how do you think a setup like this helps the new Craft Mafias that seem to keep forming?
A: The Austin Craft Mafia is an odd magical little creature. Mostly, we are just a group of friends, a family. From the beginning we have always made decisions about our group as we went along, without any big grandiose plan about what we are or what we wanted to be and I think that has really allowed us to grow as a group organically. We tackle issues and opportunities as they come along and keep communication open and fair.
As far as other Craft Mafias are concerned, I feel like the whole bonding-together-to-have-a-bigger-voice is what attracts people to form their own groups, as well as having a localized community to support their individual endeavors.
Q: When I spoke to you while I was still writing the book, more than a year ago, you mentioned that you were considering trying to find a local manufacturer, so you could focus more on design. But now you’ve got a whole new direction — what went into your thinking on that? Read more
So, the day is here: June 3, official release date of Buying In. Go to your bookstore and demand a copy! Write a flattering review on Amazon! Tell all your friends! Give a copy to a much-photographed celebrity! Etc.
Anyway, I’m up early to do a few radio interviews (Brian Lehrer today* for those of you in NYC), and was extremely pleased to be greeted by this review of the book in Salon, by Laura Miller, a writer I’ve long admired: “Buying In is an often startling tour of this new cultural terrain….” Whether you agree with her take or not, the review will definitely give you a sense of whether this book is for you.
If you prefer a shorter take, though, Seth Godin is concise and decisive: “great!”
Meanwhile, the next Austin Craft Mafia Q&A will be up in a couple of hours.
*UPDATE: If you want to hear the above-mentioned Brian Lehrer Show segment, it’s archived here; that link also has the various posted comments of listeners. After my segment I hung around for a chat about Sex & The City with Slate‘s ever-impressive Dana Stevens. Here is that segment, again with comments.
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