Gift Guide (for UDA) this Holiday Season

I am entrapped by the evil hands of holiday shopping and can’t seem to find an escape from wanting EVERYTHING. I blew my paycheck from a recent gig on buying presents for myself this weekend, shamelessly embracing the role of reckless consumer dangerously prancing the streets of SoHo, 5th Ave, and 34th street while browsing the online streets of indie sites and brands to wash away the guilt of shopping at big name brands like Club Monaco.Despite having successfully spent my money on buying loads of THINGS, I am still thirsty for some online gift getting inspiration. Here’s a hitlist of places, things, and people who make and sell awesome things. Also, I want everything from Coolhunting’s gift guide.

Gadgets

This charger cord holder to keep your wrangly wires in check.

This glow-in-the-dark iphone case.

This handheld mobile streaming projector.

The new swivl.

This mobile activated baby monitor for all you stalker parents.

This cable yoyo.

This portable power.

This window solar charger.

This ipad amplifier.

This phone charger / stand.

Homeware

This sign.

This doxie mug.

These wooden bowls.

This kimchi cookbook.

These animal butt magnets.

This candle and match holder.

This graphic cookbook by Anthony Bourdain.

ANY of these posters from ad campaigns gone wrong.

These copper measuring cups.

This Obama birth certificate tray.

This lightbulb terrarium kit.

These HAND soaps.

This confetti tray.

These hedgehog measuring cups.

This kinky book for couples.

This indoor bike rack.

This mason jar / cocktail shaker.

Kids

Superbly designed temporary tattoos by Tattly should be a given to satisfy all your grumpy little monsters.

These balancing blocks.

These neon orange triangle stickers.

These personalized wooden blocks.

These giant coloring posters.

Office

The Whitelines Notebook merges physical and digital notetaking. Write in the notebook, take a picture of it, and it edits and automatically adds into your dropbox or evernote account.

This Ryan McGuinness To Do Calendar.

These stamps of disapproval.

This iphone case / sketchbook / wallet.

These pattern pens.

Stylish Stuff

These hot Trickers for the hot husband in your life.

This lip balm.

This pretty striped necktie.

These platform sneakers.

These glittery loafers.

Classes & Subscriptions

This pair of vegan leather leggings.

This knuckle ring.

Pets

This dog leash.

 

Holiday Fairs for Your Shopping Needs

It is quite rare but I’ve somehow found myself up to my sparking eyeballs in Holiday inspiration, thinking about nothing other than Christmas trees, DIY decorating, cookies, cards, and of course, presents. Where else to find useless but cute tschotskes from your friendly local crafty artisan but at the myriad holiday fairs splattered around town the next couple weeks? The following will be my go to destination to find gifts for the grandmas and acquaintances and babies I have no idea how to shop for in the next couple weeks:Dec 6 // 8 – 11pm // 99 Franklin St, Brooklyn

Old Hollywood Holiday Party

One of my favorite Greenpoint shops Old Hollywood is hosting a holiday party tonight co-hosted by Self-Portrait Project. Discounts, drinks, and tomfoolery abound.

Dec 6 – 8 // 7 – 10pm // 389 Melrose St, Brooklyn

Secret Project Robot Holiday Market

Your favorite quirky underground music and art venue Secret Project Robot is hosting a holiday market in makeshift huts in their outdoor space. There are no details on what’s being sold but I’m looking forward to a break from knitted this and crafted that.

Dec 8 // 12 – 6pm // The End

Manufacture NY x Love US Holiday Pop-Up Shop

This Pop-Up is dedicated to supporting designers whose creations are 100% made in USA. The goal is to “support small US craftsmen, independent designers and the manufacturing industry”. Featured designers include 80/20 Neckwear and Brooklyn Royalty.

Dec 8 // 10 – 5pm // 180 7th Ave, Brooklyn

PS 321 Stuff You Should Buy Holiday Shop

Not sure who the organizers are for this holiday fair in Brooklyn but I’m liking the roster of vendors that will be present at this one day shop. Mostly crafty items like knitted baby hats and gift cards, jewelry and soaps abound but I particularly like these animal print cards by Paper Sparrow, these tea gift sets by Mullein & Sparrow, and these adorable peg dolls by Goose Grease.

Dec 8 // 12 – 6pm // 69 West Street, Brooklyn

Greenpointers Holiday Market

The 2nd annual Greenpointers Holiday Market features gifts, art, food, and crafts from Greenpoint and Brooklyn based crafters including The One Well, Domestic Construction, and French Braid Paper.

Dec 8, 15, 22 // 12 – 5pm // Pine Box Shop

Vegan Shop Up

Sarah is bringin’ back the Vegan with a three part pop up inside the cozy bar Pine Box Shop. This is the perfect place to shop for all your awkward vegan friends, scoring goods like cookies from Vegan O’Brien, tea blends from Chai Mookie, and fried “chicken” and waffles from Heirloom Vegan Eatery.

Dec 8 – 9, 15 – 23 // 11 – 7pm // 233 Mott Street

Hester Holiday Market

Jane and I bond over vendor grievances and the hardships of running a market and so I particularly recommend you show some market love and check out Hester Street’s indoor holiday pop-up in Nolita. Chic vendors include Threadbare Supply, Uurmi, Goodship Store, and Palmer Trading.

Dec 15 // 12 – 6pm // 3rd Ward

3rd Ward Holiday Craft Fair

3rd Ward’s annual holiday craft fair sadly isn’t all that different from what you’ll find at other craft fairs and unfortunately there isn’t a list of vendors for me to reference but because I am that compulsive I’ll make sure to include it here and attend.

Dec 15 – 16, 22 – 23 // 11 – 5pm // Littlefield

Brooklyn Craft Central Annual Holiday Market

Deb Klein INVENTED craft markets as we know it and is a staple in the small business creative community in Brooklyn. The fifth annual holiday market is hosted by Littlefield and includes some of my favorite vendors like Sourpuss Pickles, Volta Organics, and Virginie Millefiori.

Dec 15 – 16 // 12 – 9pm // Dumbo Loft //

Degenerate Craft Fair

Featuring works by 50+ artists and designers, this anti-art fair fair offers items less than $50 and includes vendors like Amy Wilson, Bushwick Print Lab, Carrier Pigeon, and Jensine Eckwall.

Fri – Sat thru Dec 22 // 6 – Midnight // 45 N. 5th Street, Brooklyn

Brooklyn Night Bazaar

Brooklyn Night Bazaar returns every Friday – Saturday thru Dec 22. It’s a phantasmagorical experience that is at once immersive and entertaining and I say this exactly because I was once a producer of this event and it was awesome then and will be awesome now. I’m not sure what the updated list of vendors look like as the website’s vendor page doesn’t look updated but I’m looking forward to curated evenings with the Deli, Hype Machine, Insound, and Bust. There’s also a Mezzanine Restaurant Series that should be chaotic but delicious.

Dec 22 – 23 // 10 – 6pm // 1 Hanson Place, Brooklyn

Gifted Holiday Market

Brooklyn Flea trumps ALL when referring to Brooklyn and Crafts. They return to Skylight One Hanson with 100+ vendors selling vintage clothing, handmade goods, art, and food. I’m particularly looking forward to tasting treats and buying stuffs from Blue Hill Market, Butter & Scotch, and Odette Williams.

 

 

 

Meeting the Gurus of Motion Graphics and 3D Projection Mapping

For the last two weeks I have been toiling away as a production manager aka errands boy for the amazing creative team behind a new campaign by Lincoln Motor Company. You may have heard or even attended the big reveal at Lincoln Center this past Monday where 3D project mapping encompassed the surface of Avery Fisher Hall, a theatrical stage next to the fountain, and the all new 2013 Lincoln MKZ.

3D Projection Mapping to me is still a relatively new marketing strategy and although projection mapping onto a car isn’t uncharted territory, it still reaches a mass audience and is a catchy immersive experience for brands to take advantage of. This is exactly what Lincoln Motor Co. did, reaching out to The Meta Agency to gather a group of talented folks who proposed to go above and beyond the car to create the ultimate immersive experience.

While I wait for official videos and images of the evening to show off here let me introduce you to A list of motion graphics and 3D Projection Mapping gurus I had the honor of ordering lunch and running errands for.

The Meta Agency manages visual, experiential and interactive artists to design for events, brand activations, and installations. They were the glue that brought together a team of amazingly talented artists like Incredible Machines, Volvox Labs, SMOG, Ken Tanabe and CTRL aka Dev Harlan, all of whom shared a dusty warehouse in Dumbo to create content and test renders on the model car parked inside the space.

Members of the interactive design and installation group Incredible Machines include Chris Piuggi, Scott Peterman, and Francisco Zamorano. All graduated top 10 from Parson’s Design & Technology program and they are probably the smartest, most nifty technical artists I have ever met. In this project they were responsible for fine-tuning the mapping technology utilized to project content onto the multiple surfaces for activation and witnessing them purchasing all sorts of software and hardware was an awe-inspiring learning experience.

Their proposal to combine both abstract and narrative based storytelling included illustrating warm and inviting tones and earthly matters like air and fire into the render pipeline as well a story about a young romance turned happily ever after centered around the MKZ. Never before has theater and projection mapping come together thru the streams of multiple streams and mediums.

Volvox Labs is a motion graphics and projection mapping team of two and were responsible for majority of the abstract content rendered for this project. Previous work includes creating custom content representing an abstract vision of connectiveness for CounterPoint Festival.

Chile-based animators SMOG was responsible for creating the narrative content for the  project and they did a wonderful job creating colorful and nostalgic atmospheric scenes where the star couple met under starlight and went for swervy rides in the desert.

CTRL aka Dev Harlan joined the project last minute to create more beautiful immersive abstract content for the project using geometric shapes in all shades of color, emphasizing movement and patterns for a riveting and dizzying effect.

Ken Tanabe also joined the project last minute helping with After Effects renders and generally toiling away with such sharp focus as to astonish everyone in the room at all times. His recent work includes Beyonce’s “I Was Here” performance at the UN with a massive projection mapping installation as her backdrop.

I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to work with such a talented group of artists, it was a great learning experience and a peak inside what will come next in the world of multi-media.