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manifold
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the a unisex magazine for the independent age. art. music. fashion. profiles.
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All I need is a paper & pen, and my board to ride Cause it’s all lost in a forest of trees for my eyes to hide For everything I create is not of me, for me, or by me Instead it stands a blurry manifestation of all that is to be It doesn’t matter who sees what, it’s all for your own personal good Cause an artist doesn’t strive to please all those he could Though pennies can be saved, it’s just another day wasting This poor rich world is exactly as it should be tasting Artistically inclined and lost in thought, I’m found in inspiration Touching my brush to a blank canvas in my form of meditation Every line drawn, every road crossed, it all carries significance Under the rays of the sun is where I’ll cement my living presence Don’t become a victim of your own invented limits, forever in a trap Thrive to stay calm and keep pushing and realize life follows no map Each time you look and see something, different revel in discovery For dwelling in fears, you dwindle down to darkness with no recovery Ridding a life long journey, substance of life found through art Promise you’ll find a version always better than before, go fulfill your heart And when out of a million ideas and faces, mine comes shining through Look to broaden your horizon and know I’m always with you poem compiled x bernardo bernard artwork x bernardo bernard
letter from the editor HOME The idea for this issue’s theme came to me while traveling in Thailand. A bit of homesickness hit me during a miscommunication with a local. A flashback to a shaka and a smile made me instantly long for Hawaii. You see, my relationship with Hawaii started out years ago when I was a keiki splashing around Poipu. It was all sandy toes, salty eyebrows, puddle pouncing, and plumeria picking. The start of a beautiful friendship. Then the teenage years came around and rebellion was in full force. Town after town, island after island, I needed to see more. We broke things off real ugly on my way to college but somewhere after that we reconnected with star gazing, moon lit boat rides, beers on the beach, cliff jumping and discovering new nooks to explore. Things were getting heated but I still wasn’t sure. I dated other states like California and New York but it wasn’t until then that I realized just how much I truly am in love. Hawaii, will you marry me? Cause nothing feels quite like home like you do. So, while Hawaii is my definition of home, I was curious; what makes a home in other places of the world? So we compared notes on the subject in our VS section. And we talked to nomadic skater, Willis Kimbel, who’s currently living out of his truck and who’s also our cover boy though you probably wouldn’t know it (shot by Trevor Morgan). We felt right at home when we discovered photographer Chris Sessions and his penchant for shooting skate lifestyle (check out his spotlight on our website). Then we asked Lila Lee to visually portray her version of home. Soon enough we were left “Home Alone” and got pretty bored, check out our Josie Bisset (Melrose Place) look-a-like on page 68. And breeze through a series of houses shot by Philly photog, Stephen Dyer. We chat with man-about-town, Anton Glamb and have the honor of getting to read an excerpt from David McWane {lead singer of Boston ska band, Big D and The Kids Table} book, The Modern American Gypsy. And we also asked our map enthusiast and homie, Adele Balderston, to create a map for us for our masthead, with routes to our contributors homes. I really hope you enjoy flipping through this bad boy cause while it was about my home, it was a tough one to throw together. This issue is dedicated to Bernardo Bernard who I only had the pleasure of knowing for a short amount of time but whom I found charismatic, sweet, and quite the handsome fella, not to mention talented skater and artist. We had recently rapped about him drafting up some art for our inside cover of this issue but unfortunately he passed on May 18th. So while you couldn’t give us anything new, B, that spot is still for you. Aloha, boo.
---Napua Camarillo TheManifoldMag@Gmail.com To contribute to this publication submit your pitch to the above email or go to our website for more guidelines and details. We look forward to your contribution.
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Editor-in-Chief
napua camarillo (hi) themanifoldmag@gmail.com
marketing director/ad sales nicole franco (ca) nicole.themanifoldmag@gmail.com
copy editors
jasmine mancos (hi)
in-house designer nicole jones (hi)
contributing writers napua camarillo (hi) dave mcwane (ma) jasmine mancos (hi) ehren bowling (bkk) travis hancock (hi) pooja munshi (fr)
contributing photographers chris sessions (co) lila lee (hi) tien austin (hi) stephen dyer (pa) trish waters (za) ehren bowling (bkk) andy heiser (ca) pooja munshi (fr) trevor morgan (ca) cover shot elias parise (or) brooks fritz (ca)
contributing illustrators adele balderston (hi) bernardo bernard (hi)
masthead
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contents
Profile
Skate
Art
Fashion
Colorado photographer, Chris Sessions tells us a little about his journey with photography.
Skater, Willis Kimbel, talks about his transient lifestyle and skating in CO.
Philly photog, Stephen Dyer, shows us homes in his hood in a photo series we’ve entitled “On a Hillside”. Check it out.
We take Brittany Swisher for a night out on the town Waikiki style.
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Travel
Pooja Munshi tells us about her surf stoke and cruising around Morocco.
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Profile
Anton Glamb is unpredictable, smart, and quite the character, find out why we dig him.
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VS
The Ripple Effect
We compare one lifestyle to another in our VS section this time around checking out homes from Thailand to South Africa.
The Base Project reminds you to “Wear Your Impact� with some pretty rad bracelets made by artisans in Namibia.
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contributors
Pooja Munshi is a culture seeker, surfer and a marketer. Originally from the delta lands of Kolkata, India, she has lived in New Delhi, Mumbai, London, New York and most recently Paris. Competitive swimming in her teens alongside her addiction to the ocean accentuated her love for surfing. When she’s not working on brands like Nike, Vogue, P&G, and Veuve Clicquot, she can be found surfing or cruising the city streets on her Carver skateboard. You can read Pooja’s adventures on page 40.
David McWane hails from Hamilton, Massachusetts. As the singer of the Boston band Big D and the Kids Table, David’s lyrics have Jack Keroac romanticism, speaking about traveling, breaking free and following your dreams. With ten full length albums under his belt, five self published books and one short film, David is a creator who can not stop - “There are people who want to be in bands and then there musicians. Us musicians have the inability to stop. Even if that means poverty.” David has also collaborated with Shepard Fairey on a CD/DVD (The Giant Rock ‘n Roll Swindle) with music and lyrics in support of his OBEY art campaign that promotes social and political freedom. David is a 2000 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he earned Bachelors degrees in both Music Business & Education and Music Production and Engineering. David’s excerpt can be seen on page 64.
Adele Balderston is a Geographer and art practitioner currently based in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has served as producer, project manager and curator of numerous print, web, audio and film projects and art installations. She’s primarily concerned with psychogeography and the creative exploration, interpretation, representation and production of space. If none of that makes any sense just google “heyadele” and see what shakes loose. Adele illustrated the map on page 5, aside the masthead.
Stephen Dyer is a photographer residing in Philadelphia. He is a lover of the open road and always has some sort of camera by his side so he never misses something that catches his eyes. You can visit his website StephenJDyer.com for more visual stimulation. Check out his photos on page 28.
Born and raised on Oahu, Lila has worked and lived in various places on the West coast as well as Asia. With a BFA in Photography from Art Center College of Design, she works freelance and is currently based in Hawaii. Honesty being the thing Lila is most attracted to in photography, as well as in people, Lila shoots with a documentary approach in hopes of catching that and does so primarily on film. She enjoys camping, long road trips, living simple and handmade anything. Other things on the list of favorites are animals, cheese, rocks, micheladas, bad jokes. Check her out on page 46.
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7 questions
interview x napua camarillo
With Bradley Copella
The largest jizz stain on Oahu is currently on display at GYM, Bradley Copella’s newest art installation where he shows off extreme stamina in a locker room of one night standed gym equipment strewn about in the blooming art district of Kaka’ako.
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Tell us about what this art installation means to you? It’s my version. It’s metaphor. It’s fun. It’s me hoping to make people smile and cringe and totally transport them. There’s a lot of nostalgia
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(Famous or local or famously local!)
in it for me, and everything is pretty much based on an actual experi-
Dunno. Not really in to meeting idols. Much less at a dinner party as
ence or personal dream- so it’s autobiographical, and romantically
I’m imagining one right now. But I recently heard an interview with
escapist-even if it is a nasty glory hole or whatever
John Waters and he seems like the kind of person I’d hang out with. I
You seem to cover the topic of sex throughout your work. Explain to us your thoughts behind this.
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I talk about things I love ;)
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What three artist would you organize a dinner party for
would be in to having a drink with him. Who’s career do you most admire? Right now I’m all about Japanese bara especially work by Gengoroh Tagame-tho I don’t know all that much about his career. I’m all about
You’ve done a lot of art that is across the board; a mixed media piece,
people pursuing a career or whatever in a field that some would con-
this installation, and your degree was in printmaking. Is there one
sider pretty sketchy. I admire anybody who develops crazy skills to
area you like the most or are you content being more nomadic in it?
create stuff that is so peculiar to an specific audience, and is also super visceral and sincere.
I like the sound of media nomad. Media gypsy. I totally get media wanderlust. Once in a while I’ll have a brief romance with a specific media or technique. But mostly it’s whatever is appropriate for the
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idea. These days it’s pretty much garbage. Like literally.
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You grew up in Hawaii mostly. What would you say is most favorite thing about this place you call home? The natural environment & climate, but mostly the ocean. It’s fertile
Where in your home do you feel you’re most inspired? And why? I have a tiny home, so probably the whole thing? I like my underwear drawer, the bathroom, my boyfriend’s orchid shed, my bed from where I watch a lot of tv. Every space can be inspiring, right? I’m easily amused. I get stoked on just organizing my soaps (I collect soap) and bath towels chromatically.
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ground for me to play out my mermaid fantasies.
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the manifold magazine create.
submit.
expose.
Word “Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. ever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to cre-
w
o
r
d
It was wherever the people who loved you were, when-
ate a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.� --Sarah Dessen the manifold magazine
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13 Bullets
what 3 things would you save from your burning home? here are the 13 most interesting responses.
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my knife collection -- nick
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“Presso� machine, my trombone, and my original unopened stevie wonder record collection -- logan
l
my favorite frying pan, vans shorts, my gun -- shay
B u
passport, skateboard, stash of cash -- chad
l e t s
my mothers jewelry collection -- nc psychotic journal entries -- nick
rolling papers, my weed, and a book of matches --miller
four lokos, laptop, friends -- anton bianchi 10 speed, sketchbook, -- spencer
my three guitars -- aaron
nintendo, a cheeseburger, underwear -- pat My camera, 3 frames (pictures) of the house going down, the first sunrise shell I ever found. -- tien
my favorite shirt, my favorite pants, my favorite socks -- anon
Serious Sessions When I discovered Chris Session’s work, one photo stood out to me.. two dudes puking into a bike basket. That sold me. Then I looked further was hyped on his lifestyle shots of skaters. So we threw him up online, g’head, search for it on our website, and we interviewed hit a bit more thoroughly. Let me introduce you to Chris Sessions.
Hometown: St. Louis, MO Current location: Boulder, CO Age: 40 Profession: Photographer, director/videographer, musician This issue’s theme is HOME. You mention in your online interview with us that you’ve been taking photos from a very young age. Tell us about your youth, home, and the first picture you were proud of. Growing up with a mom who was an artist and a dad who took a lot of pictures, I was always drawn to creative pursuits. I got my first camera—a 35mm point and shoot-when I was young but didn’t shoot any pictures that counted until I took a journalism class in high school. Many of these images missed the mark but there two that still resonate with me. The first is a shot of some of my high school classmates posing in the hallway. Another is a shot of a tapir at the St. Louis zoo. Using
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text x napua camarillo photos x chris sessions
natural light with the most simple setup—a 35mm film camera/50mm lens—I found that I was able to convey the sense of timelessness and classicism that I strive to capture today. How did you get involved in skate photography? When I moved out to Colorado for college, my dad gave me a 35mm camera as a going away present. I used it as a way to document the experience--taking pictures of the usual stuff at first— where I lived, my friends, interesting things I saw, etc.
Skateboarding has been an important part of my life since I was 13 and it was a natural evolution to incorporate that into my photography. It wasn’t until after college that I started to get good photos of skate culture though. In 2000, some friends and I from college, The Boulder Dicks, took a skate road
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trip up the west coast from California to Oregon. It was the ultimate trip—camping in beautiful spots, skateboarding, swimming holes and in general a non-stop laugh riot! With so much going on, there was always something to photograph. I got a lot of great images on that trip and it helped me understand the importance of spending time with people and how it can take things to a much deeper level creatively. Another important event was seeing Glen E. Friedman’s images in Stacy Peralta’s film ‘Dogtown and Z-boys’. Those images really captured the essence of an era and showed me how important it is to take advantage of being an insider within a scene. Looking back I see how these events helped propel me forward as a photographer. Also, rather than focus on the action of skate photography, I’ve always tried take more of a behind the scenes, lifestyle/ portrait, expressive approach to capture the essence of the culture. I always try to incorporate this philosophy into whatever I’m doing—if it’s a travel picture, an ad job, a music video, etc. You take quite a range of beautiful photos but our favorite one is the two guys puking in the basket. Can you tell us the back story on that one? In those days (early to mid-2000’s), I was at a place in my life where I started to develop a sense of awareness about getting older and taking notice of the next generation of skateboarders coming up. Looking at them, I saw an opportunity to document moments throughout my life that I wished I had images of. I immersed myself in the scene, shooting photos at the park while taking a break from skating, on tour with teams, on skate missions with friends and at video premieres and at parties afterwards. I tried to capture a broad view of skateboard culture—the spots, fun times with friends, portraits, snapshots ranging from the normal everyday moments just hanging out as well as the darker side and recklessness of it all that happens late at night. I’ve never been much of a partier but would often go to house parties to take pictures. This was early on—before cameras had become so commonplace—and I was one of the few people taking pictures. Being friends with everyone, or at least having friends with me, gave me an ‘in’
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to capture all these fascinating moments. That’s how I got the shot of the two guys throwing up. When I’m photographing, I work quite intuitively and jump between shooting without thinking to looking around and predicting what might happen. With regards to that image,
I don’t remember exactly how it went down but I think one of the guys was about to throw up, so his buddy decided to join in with him! It was taken at an after party at a ramp jam in Boulder. Not sure whose bike it was but ah, the crazy days of youth… Would have made for an interesting color picture the next morning come to think of it! You went to college in Colorado but what made you want to stay there afterwards? I moved to San Diego for a few years after college but never felt quite at home like I did in Colorado. Plus, I travel a lot for work. Colorado is the perfect place to serve as a home base and although we do have some snow and cold winters, the weather down here in the front range isn’t as bad as you’d expect. The sun shines most of the time and after some shoveling we’re good for a winter skate session. I love the people here—we’ve got such a great skate scene. The spots just keep getting better and better too. The guys from Team Pain and more recently, Evergreen Skate parks, have built us some incredible parks! Let’s dream a little. Tell us who’d be your dream client, location, and crew. Why? That’s a hard one. I feel very fortunate for many of the jobs I’ve done. Recently I’ve been directing and shooting a series of mini-documentaries for a bank client. We go to different communities around the region and put together a short video
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19 about some aspect of the community there—be it a business, a festival or another relevant aspect. These are an incredible opportunity because they get me out there on the road, shooting images along the way and producing interesting stories. Although the shoot for an Ad Agency, I try to approach it like a road trip with friends interjecting as much of my personal work into it as possible. Of course it’s always a great opportunity to work with any of the skate teams I’ve photographed too—Brixton, Vans, Converse, Toy Machine, etc. It’s fun to just hang out to see and document the magic that happens along the way. Those are the ultimate jobs for me. Another one is exploring beautiful places with my better half Meggin O’Morrow. We love taking the opportunity to go explore beautiful destinations together and have spent many fun times in Arizona and throughout the Southwest, out in Hawaii and are planning a trip to Mexico this fall. These are always fun trips. It’s supposed to be a vacation but I have a hard time keeping my camera far from my side! When it comes to your body of work, you have a range of subject matter. You’ve got beautiful landscape shots, travel imagery, skate crew madness, and stolen moments between people. If there was one shot amongst any of these, an image that you’d want to be known for for life, would you say you have it already or you’re still waiting to take it? I’ve taken so many images, and continue doing so daily, and although it’s tough to single out one image, there is one image that I do think about quite often. It’s just a simple snapshot of two girls walking along the seawall in La Jolla (San Diego, CA) but it’s one of those images that always sticks out for me. For me, it has this sense of timelessness that I always try to capture— something I find quite challenging too—in our world so style, logos, design and modernity. Thinking about my body of work, my best stuff has been the
pictures I’ve shot with the various skate crew—people who have welcomed me into their lives and allowed me to photograph them time and time again. I am forever indebted to my friends from these crews—The Boulder Dicks (especially Michael Burnett from Thrasher Magazine), SWAB, The Wet Boys, 1086, The Trick Factory, The Arvada Army, The Team Pain crew, The Ft. Collins Crew, The Skate Colorado crew, the guys I grew up skating with in St. Louis and all the local shops here in Colorado, the skate teams passing through town, etc. All these people have been so supportive of my work over the years and I greatly appreciate the relationships I’ve created with them. Much of this work remains unseen. I plan to put together something comprehensive one of these days. What inspires you about photography and how do you feel about the direction it’s headed in with today’s world of immediate gratification? It’s a good challenge to come up with a unique photograph. Quite often I feel like I take the same pictures over and over—it’s almost an annual thing for me changing with the seasons. It’s inspiring to come up with a nice surprise—to get a unique image that I haven’t shot or seen before. That’s the magic. It’s hard to say where photography is headed. Things just continue to evolve. I hope that people re-learn the importance of slowing down and smelling the roses—which is another thing photography does for me. It gives me a chance to focus deeply—quite often compulsively—on something. Throughout life, everything seems to be moving faster and faster. The amount of information we need to process everyday often seems quite overbearing making it tough for individual things to appear relevant, but it is my hope that way of thinking might change and to make a difference as an individual. I try to take advantage of all the amazing things that this life offers and to show gratitude whenever possible. Life is an incredible ride. You just have to jump on board and see what happens. You’ve mentioned before that creativity has become a necessity these days, on that note, is there a certain piece of equipment that you feel makes you more creative? Or is it more about the situation? It’s hard to say what will instill creativity. That’s the challenge. You never know when it will show up. You can try for it and never see it or give up and find something amazing!
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I think it’s important to challenge yourself—to try out a new piece of equipment, to take the wrong way home, to spend a day hanging out with someone or a group of people. You never know what you might come up with and often, that’s the beauty of it. On that note, do you have a favorite toy/camera/piece of equipment? If so what is it? Most of my favorite pictures over the years have been taken with my Canon AE-1 program with a 50mm lens. Lately I’ve been using a similar setup but with a Canon 5d Mark iii and a manual focus lens. The manual focus slows me down but feels sort of like shooting film and I don’t shoot as much, which is great. I always love to break out my vintage and large format cameras for special occasions. There’s something special about the process of shooting film and those old lenses that is missing from the process of shooting digitally. Plus, I don’t have to spend as much time in front of the computer which is always a good thing. Tell us about your connection with Willis Kimbel. And your perspective on him? Because of all the great spots, Colorado is a destination stop for skateboarders. We tend to get a lot of skate crews / teams rolling through to check out all the great parks, backyard, street spots, often year after year. I first met Willis while he was in town with Darren Navarette filming for the Creature video. Instead of filming at the typical Southern California spots, they came out to skate the vert ramp with the scenic mountain backdrop down in Colorado Springs. We recently reconnected on another during another skate mission with Peter Hewitt, Stu Graham and Joe Hammeke. Willis is always exciting to skate and shoot with—he’s a great all terrain ripper with style and some very unique tricks. Recently, he’s been living his life on the road—cruising from town to town—mainly up and down the west coast—skateboarding and living the life. His dad, Curt Kimbel, a famous 1970’s ‘badlands’ skateboarder, lives nearby though so I’m hoping to see him more involved in the Colorado skate community over the years.
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Roaming Creature Son of 70’s pro skater, Curt Kimbel, Willis is well on his way to creating a buzz like his father. Willis is a wanderer, taking life on the road to a whole new level, living out of his Ford Ranger and wandering around homelessly. We caught up with him on his way back to the homeland from Finland.
Every so often, the close examination of a random sliver of conversation between two of mankind’s many mouths reveals the very Zeitgeist and heartbeat of a generation. But such is not the case when we consider the asinine words exchanged by Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas as they misguidedly careened across the plains of Nebraska in their sheepdog van: Harry: “I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this.” Lloyd: “I was thinkin’ the same thing—that John Denver’s full of shit, man.” And yet, such drive comes to mind when mulling over the essence of Willis Kimbel, the Creature Skateboards fiend who coasted down from the Rocky Mountain State in a van he calls home searching for gnarlier pastures. Roving up and down the West Coast, Willis has been on a tear. Though he lives like a minimalist, his arsenal is fully stocked and nothing is sacred—backyard pools, DIY parks, and massive handrails alike are learning to fear his coming. Having been lucky enough to watch the carnage
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interview x travis hancock
unfold as his coverage continues to snowball, we decided to check in and find out what’s driving him. Where are you from and what is your current occupation? I Grew up in Bermuda, Sardegna Italy, Key West Fla, San Diego, Maryland, Washington DC, and then split to Portland Oregon. I’m a skateboarder When I think about Colorado skateboarding the main things that come to mind are Denver’s red park, young Angel Ramirez doing lines on a snowy sidewalks (not a cocaine reference), some KOTR highlights, the potato chip thing at the Arvada park, Coors Light, and twins doing flips off of staircases. What am I missing? There’s a bunch of some of the best made to skate swimmers (pools) I’ve ever seen there. Team Pain is killing it out there with craters after crater lined with pool block. Thin air, I’m not a local by any means though. Surface scratcher. Did growing up skating there feel isolated—maybe due to the Rocky Mountain barrier—or connected to the other states and skate communities East or West? I didn’t grow up there. Isolated? Colorado wouldn’t feel isolated to me. It would have been a dream. I skated hills and jump ramps on a tiny island called La Maddalena when I started getting really hyped on the board. I had never seen a flat ground Ollie for the first six years of loving to skateboard. The Rockies in America as a kid wouldn’t be something to complain about by any means.
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photo x brooks fritz
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photo x elias parise
25 Word on the street is that you have taken to life on the road further out west. What spurred that decision? How has it been going?
How do you occupy your time when you aren’t skating?
I was in Portland, OR for the last 7 years until Omar Hassan gave me his old Ford Ranger. I laughed in the review mirror and skidded South to every rad place I’ve found since. I’m loving it. Can be uncomfortable at times but, still going to take every opportunity possible to explore places and new things damn near every time they’re presented. It’s always refreshing and inspiring as long as you roll with every punch. Getting sick by yourself in the middle of nowhere on the road makes everything else seem comfy.
You have some interesting niche sponsors, which seems like a rad way to cover specific needs. How have you managed to secure those? (And should we really be preparing our taste buds for Rev’d energy bars, as their website claims)?
You have been riding an avalanche of gnarly coverage via Creature lately, but I have seen your name toggling around in videos and the interweb in the ghoulish green Creature font for some time. Did they give you your start? Was it hard to get noticed in Colorado? I had been flowed product from some companies before the Creech but none of them were like my brothers. They weren’t a horde of savages looking out for each other and pillaging good times with me like Creature. I was living one block from Burnside when I got on. Still can’t believe how lucky I am to get to travel with my friends. Can you talk a little bit about these suicidally extended fake invert thing you have been shot doing recently? How does one build up to that? I learn that stuff from my elders. Navarrette, Hitz, Parts, Hewitt, Grosso, Lance, Hassan, and a heavy dose of Neil Blender footage. They inspired me most. That and my Dad’s old mags. Those dudes have spent as much time teetering in inverts as I’ve been an earthling. Coward-free vibrations are also key. Where do you go from there? Any particular goals on the board at the moment? Are you filming for any big videos? Go everywhere. My goal is to skate everything my body will permit and have fun. I’m filming all over the place as much as possible. OJ Wheels video and SHRUNKEN head video.
Learning new musical instruments, surfing, camping, fishing, getting lost. Cooking. Laughing
I ride for things that I truly back and use and vouch for. Creature, Independent, OJ wheels. Daline rips, Next Adventure Camping store helps me survive any camping or travel scenario possible. Rev’d bars are killer. Leatherman is out of Portland and makes one of the few things I own that will last my entire life if I don’t put it in my damn carry-on. Shrunken Head skate shop in Portland has all the goods and vinyls. Nikes. What’s a scarier prospect: hanging up in the tallest quarter-pipe at Burnside, or an elk running out in front of you car at night? If an elk ran into Burnside I’d start skating. And hopefully not hang up. The guys under the bridge would probably hunt and eat the elk by morning though. What does home mean to you? It means wherever I’m safe. Big ole’ home. Going there anytime soon? I’m at home right now. On a flight back from the best time I’ve ever had in Helsinki. Kippis!
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photo x chris sessions
On A Hill Side Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There’s a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course And drink their martinis dry, And they all have pretty children And the children go to school, And the children go to summer camp And then to the university, Where they are put in boxes And they come out all the same.
And the people in the houses All went to the university, Where they were put in boxes And they came out all the same, And there’s doctors and lawyers, And business executives, And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same.
And the boys go into business And marry and raise a family In boxes made of ticky tacky And they all look just the same. There’s a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same.
Little houses, indeed. We got this wonderful series from Philly photographer, Stephen Dyer, who shot a beautiful variety of homes in Eastern America. There is such a fascination with other lifestyles and we’re proud to offer this peek into the other side of our country. There’s something beautiful about the differences, no?
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lyrics x malvina reynolds photos x stephen dyer
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Neon Palace photography x napua camarillo hair x andria lopez styled x jasmine mancos modeled x brittany swisher Inspiration from the photographer: Waikiki is the last place I ever think to go but for some reason it beckoned. Not the high lux stores with the bright lights and glitzy windows of things we’re supposed to lust after but the seedier and abandoned spaces. The places where neon signs flash, booze is sold in shot bottles and you can get a piercing around the corner. Perhaps the side of town the tourist don’t get to see. A Neon Palace Although the tattoo on her arm reads “Made in Michigan,” model Brittany Swisher left Detroit six years ago and has been hopping across the country ever since. After a series of stints, from a tiny tourist island off the coast of Florida and a summer in Montana, the intrepid traveler found herself in Honolulu. Here, the modern day gypsy with a habit of packing up every six months had finally found a place to call home again.
bodysuit x ragstock; shorts x brandy melville; boots, models’s own; lace top, vintage; necklaces, stylist’s own
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dress x H&M; ring x F21; hair flower, stylist’s own; flats x H&M; earrings, vintage
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skirt, vintage; shirt x H&M; socks x F21; sneakers x mossimo; earrings, stylist’s own
Moroccan Marvels
Finding a girl who surfs in Hawaii is like finding a musician in Brooklyn. But finding a girl in Paris who surfs that’s another story and here’s hers.
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I am a sports fanatic and a passionate surfer. It’s what really keeps me inspired. The ocean teaches you many of life’s most important lessons as you stare into the horizon waiting for a wave or surf with the force of the ocean rather than against it. I’m Indian, a Bengali from Kolkata but left home early and since then have lived in New Delhi, Mumbai, London, New York and most recently Paris. As a teenager I swam competitively, training about 4-6 hours in the water everyday. My dad exposed us to sports because he felt it would help develop our personality in our teen years. After a while, I got over swimming laps and chlorine water but the comfortable feeling of gliding through it never left me. Years later, when living in New York, I ventured to Costa Rica for a trip through the mountains and the ocean side. We sat with Colombian shamans in a water ceremony, giving thanks to the spirit of water high up in the mountains before venturing down to the beach-side little town, Domenical.
This is where I encountered my first surf session. I don’t really remember very much except when I experienced my first wave. I knew this was it, the ‘stoke’ people referred to. I was bitten. And for good. I started surfing relatively later, in my late twenties. Surfing, contrary to popular belief is such a contradictory sport. Through some friends, I found Surf Simply and these guys helped me break it down like no other. The folks there are great technical surf coaches and if you like that sorta thing, you will dig it.
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45 Since my first trip to Costa Rica, surfing has been a way to check out new breaks and landscapes. New York is such a great hub if you’re planning to travel for surf in the Americas. The proximity made it easy for me to go to the West Coast, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. Northern Nicaragua is by far my favorite spot. In the middle of nowhere, relatively empty line ups and a great combination of breaks from thumping beach breaks to river mouths. You’ve got to watch the wind there though, its pretty unpredictable, but as they say, you can’t have everything. On home turf we cruised to Rockaway, Jersey and Long Island, a hop, skip, and a jump away. I am so fortunate to have great surf buddies, who like me, will drop everything for a bit of swell. Any sign of it and we’d be driving out, leaving Manhattan pre-sunset, on dawn patrol, music pumping us up and talking about sick airs that John John just threw out the day before. After a recent move to Paris, our surf itch took us to Morocco, an Islamic nation and a renowned destination on the surfing map in North Africa. Surfing in Central America or Hawaii is pretty much our poster vision of surf culture. Sun, sand, bikinis and lots of skin. The surf scene in Morocco however paints a slightly different picture. While there were a few expats doing their thing, I did see a few young men come to the beach in their hooded full length cloaks called djellaba’s and slip on a wetsuit from underneath before paddling out with their surfboard. Truly a unique blend of Islam and surf culture! Seasoned friends recommended this stretch of Morocco and we were not disappointed. Traveling up and down the Atlantic coast between the bustling fishing village of Taghazout and the lost sleepy village of Imsouane were incredible with world class spots like Devils point, Killers, Anchor Point, and Hash Point. Winter is when things really kick into motion here with swells of 20 ft descending the coast. They say with the right swell you can surf from ‘village to village, that is point to point,
rides of up to 2 kms. The points don’t really perform very well unless there’s a substantial swell. Although summer time is low season we were lucky to get a relatively decent swell. Devil’s point was a fun right point, I got stuck there pretty much the whole day until the wind changed. On a good day, the friendly locals come down to play. The line up is buzzing but nothing as busy as the one in Rockaway, New York. If you’re traveling there carry some extra surf gear to give away. The kids on the beach are so passionate about surfing but often don’t have the means for it. On flat or small days, we took excursions to Paradise Valley and Marrakech. A little oasis in a valley surrounded by mountains, Paradise Valley is about a 45 mins drive away from Taghazout and so worth checking out. Hiking down to the oasis through the gorges and jumping into its green waters was an incredible high. Tiny restaurant shacks are set up on the rivulets with chairs and tables in the ankle deep water! And Marrakech, sigh. Well, there’s no real comparison to this magical ancient city. The old city is forted within walls. The alleys and passageways can belike a maze. Unless you have coordinates and signs plotting your way you’re likely to get lost. But that again can be a good experience. Marrakech comes alive at night, post 6pm when the sun goes down. The night market and the food stalls at Jemma El Fna is really where you should be hanging out, tasting the merguez (spiced sausage) and tagine (veggies, fish or meat cooked in characteristic clay covered pots). Markets along the alleyways are old school and nostalgic with wares from lanterns, leather, silk scarves, rugs, nuts, spices, teas and potions. Its like Alice in Wonderland, but with a Moroccan twist. But after a full day when you’ve had your share of novelty you go back to that one thing you love. The surf. We hear there’s a new swell coming in tomorrow. And off we go to our base to rest up before another day of surfing the incredible Moroccan points and desert all around.
Theres No Place Like... photography x lila lee text x napua camarillo
When I’m away from home what I tend to miss most are the smells and sounds of Hawai’i. The sounds of the birds chirping and the smell of the rain are what I notice in their absence. Roosters crowing, ukuleles strumming, tuberose leis, and wafting pineapple scents. Then I flashback to the mountains and the ocean. Mauka and Makai. And as I look through these photos that represent Lila Lee’s version of “home” I can hear the leaves rustling, the ocean waves crashing, the smell of muddy woods and salty air and the sounds of people laughing and beers cracking. Home, sure, is those comforting scents and familiar sounds but it’s more than that. For me it’s the place you can’t wait to go back to. For Lila she mentions one thing that I can deeply identify with, “Hawaii was the paradise I couldn’t wait to leave, but missed once I did. I guess it’s like the parents you take for granted until you’re out on your own and realize how much they’ve actually done for you.” Sometimes it takes me taking a step away from home to really cherish and appreciate it. So, leave your home every now and again and revive your senses.
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in·de·fin·a·ble /indiˈfīnəbəl/ You could pick Anton Glamb out of a crowd. Whether he’s sporting his long locks and In4mation hat, bearded face and aloha shirt, gold jacket and sunglasses, Glamb has style. He’s different and I mean that in the best way possible. Just when you think he’s goin’ zig he zags. He’s got character. And trying to define him is like trying to remember the plot twist in a movie you saw while incredibly high. You remember it was good, there were a lot of different parts and you know there was so much more to it but you can’t bring yourself to explain it to someone else. Well, here’s my futile attempt. Glamb was raised on the Windward side of Oahu in the town of Kailua. He was pretty musical from a young age, penning his first song on the piano at around age 6. A few years later he moved on to the trumpet and was learning Van Morrison songs like “Moon dance” purely by ear. Glamb moved through genres of music in high school with various bands from punk rock to jazz and accidentally landing on electronic. His introduction to the latter came about when his drummer, Jon Leland (now of The Skeletons) moved away from Hawaii and replacements were hard to come by. Glamb made due with an electronic drum kit thus opening up a whole other side of music for him. Music seems to be the lasting medium he’d carry throughout life but we’ll come back around to that later. Glamb was a wrestler in high school and he was good at it but after a broken arm put him out of commission for a bit, Glamb felt like the once supportive coaches were more about the sport than him. So he traded in his onesie for some puffy shoes and a skateboard and hasn’t looked back since. “I pretty much grew up at 808Skate.” He tells me describing with a sense of nostalgia those times. “I’d skate to 808, watch skate
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text x napua camarillo image x tien austin
videos, skate some more, and then go home.” And soon enough he was sponsored by them his first year of high school lifting the burden of buying decks and equipment and fully allowing him to focus on the sport itself. Glamb became part of a team of skaters that 808skate would endorse over the years. Glamb’s appearance in It’s 8:08 are now kind of legendary. Check out his part on youtube/808skatetv where he describes his day-to-day in NYC and skates the interior of a subway car. Then Glamb got accepted to the Ivy Leagues. That’s right kids, he’s wicked smaaht. He started attending Columbia University in New York City where it feels almost fated that Glamb pursue music. “I was originally there for pre-med but I didn’t want to look back and wonder what would’ve happened if I didn’t pursue music.” And what better place to test the waters than a musical Mecca like NYC. Glamb started composing music for various outlets like The Julliard School where he collaborated with choreographer Michelle Mola on her senior project which was a year long endeavor. This is where Glamb says
“I realized you could do more with music than just playing shows. There are different applications for it.” Glamb has a way of making music that almost makes you curious. It’s a great formula when you think about it, the perfect promotion, and this is yet another thing Glamb does well. Promoting. He was deep in the Brooklyn scene promoting various shows, music, and art for nearly 8 years. Whether it be electronic, funk, jazz, and even
Jawaiian, Glamb puts on a good live show perhaps that’s why he was voted New York City’s #2 college performer by a panel of Industry pros at Rock the Vote Battle of the Bands in 2004. And he’s headlined at places like The Knitting Factory and CBGB’s before it closed down. He’s also opened for acts like Method Man, Mickey Avalon, Wiz Khalifa, and RedMan to name a few not to mention collaborations he’s had with groups like Das Rascist. Like I said, Glamb is across the board with the talent to back it and the skills to promote it. He’s had 4 albums and is currently working on a few projects, one being an acid jazz band with Nick Kaleikini called Glambikini and another project which he describes as a ukulele hip hop album with Japanese rapper Shing02 whom he met through Pow!Wow! Hawai’i. “He {Shing02}makes me feel like I gotta step it up.” Step it up? Dude, if two projects wasn’t enough Glamb has also shifted back to composing for dance, working with a dance company called, Keia. Most recently he not only composed but participated with Keia in a modern dance performance he says was received well. “We wanted to do dance that was non-sexual modern dance and bring it out of an auditorium type of setting where you sit down in a chair and the lights go down.. have it be where the dance is more involved in the crowd”. And people he says described it as, “watching a kick-ass band play”. He references Daft Punk’s “Around the World” video and I immediately get it. But if that weren’t enough, this whole bundle of information is revealed to me on the phone with Glamb after his first day of medical school where he was one of 66 students accepted in a sea of 2,200. Step it up, Anton? More like slow it down, kid, you’re making me dizzy. Anyways, if you see this character wandering around Chinatown, I’m telling you now that you don’t know the full capacity that this guy contains. But spend an hour with him, watch him chug a beer in 5 seconds, and be utterly entertained by his demeanor and then listen to him describe the music he composed as “the exhilaration you feel after hiking to the top of a mountain and you can see in all directions.” and you might just get hooked. Girls, you might become groupies, guys you might want to bro down. Cause there’s passion there. There’s intelligence. And there’s that rare notch of apathetic bravery that people are attracted to when someone just is who they are and they don’t care what you think. And now that Glamb is pursuing his original education plan of medicine, look out Honolulu, there’ll be no cooler doctor than Anton Glamb and perhaps by then that’ll be the only definition he’ll need.
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VS karl mackie
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WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOME HAVE THAT YOUR CURRENT HOME DOESN’T?
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE GEOGRAPHICALLY? I love the fact that’s it’s quiet, that I can walk to the beach and surf, that my children are growing up living an outdoor, nomadic life, that all my friends are close by, that my studio is within biking distance from the house but mostly that Cornwall is a community driven little place, we all love living here, pulling together both professionally and personally to keep it that way. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE/SPOT IN YOUR HOME? My favourite spot in the house by far is the Kitchen, and in our house it’s the one place where we all come together without fail to eat, drink and be merry. In the summer the doors are open and the kids and dogs are running in and out. In the winter we all sit round the table warmed by the fire, it’s a wonderful place! ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU WANT TO UPGRADE OR CHANGE? If someone said to me you can change anything in your home, I would say more time and energy spent updating the outside area, a new shaping bay and more focused time building a self sufficient garden. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF “HOME”? A house full of my friends and family.
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FAVORITE PIECE OF FURNITURE? The old rocking chair! It’s been my spot to sit when each of the kids were babies and needed to be rocked to sleep with a guitar, always strumming the Beatles ‘Long and winding road’ !
AGE: 36 LOCATION: Newquay, Cornwall, UK # OF YEARS YOU’VE LIVED THERE: 15
the manifold magazine
This VS explores the homes of various people across the world-- a home on the English countryside, a rainy day get-away in Hawaii, a home nestled in the art district in Los Angeles, a sustainable solar house in South Africa and an apartment in the bustling city of Bangkok. Life in different corners of the world proves very fascinating, no?
home
My ultimate goal is to one day, live away from the grid, completely self sufficient on what we have around us. HOW DO YOUR FEEL YOUR HOME IS UNIQUE? First and foremost It’s unique to us, as the guys who inhabit this house, it allows us to dance in its long hallways and the kids to skate in the corridors, me to be at my most creative, out in the shaping shed tinkering, and our dog Willow has all the freedom in the world, maybe every house we live in adapts a piece of us and when we move out a little bit of our lives lives on between the walls. That’s what makes our house in Cornwall unique.
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WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF “HOME”? Anywhere I look forward to going to at the end of a long day that’s comfortable, and uniquely my own.
emily urbaniak & john ridgeway oahu, hi
WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOME HAVE THAT YOUR CURRENT HOME DOESN’T?
# OF YEARS YOU’VE LIVED THERE: 6 months WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE GEOGRAPHICALLY? There’s a lot of history in our valley which makes it an interesting place to live. I feel like a lot of people that live in Manoa enjoy a quality of life that’s unique to the valley and it shows through their attitude. The roads are wider, the weather is cooler and the proximity of things are convenient. I feel like we are living in an authentic Hawaiian neighborhood.
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John like the bathroom vanity which we just painted to match the curtains. I Like our TV stand which we also painted. Both of them were gifts which we updated with a coat of paint and I think that adds to their character.
AGE: 27 and 32 LOCATION: Manoa Valley, Hawaii
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE/SPOT IN YOUR HOME? John likes to sit outside and watch the geckos. I like our kitchen because of our plants and it’s always the coolest part of our house. It’s also where the beer is :) ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU WANT TO UPGRADE OR CHANGE? If we could chose anything I would want it to be a little bit bigger. Sometimes it seems a little too cozy, and it can make us lazy. And it doesn’t have a jacuzzi.
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A jacuzzi and several cats. Also a butler. HOW DO YOUR FEEL YOUR HOME IS UNIQUE? It’s an old garage so the layout is very unique. Our decor is welcoming and comfortable as soon as you step through the door. It encourages people to relax and make themselves at home. We have lots of pictures of our family and music we like as well as pictures we’ve both painted. It’s got great character and tells a story about us and I never get tired of looking at it.
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paint my room but I change my mind about the color every day so I decided it’s probably just best to leave it off-white.
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Andy - You’ve probably already picked up on the fact that I love nature, but I want houseplants in all of the common spaces. For me it makes the house come to life, and that is something I am definitely going to work on implementing in the future. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF “HOME”?
vanessa mancos & andy heiser
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AGE: 26 (Vanessa) & 24 (Andy) LOCATION: Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California # OF YEARS YOU’VE LIVED THERE: Vanessa: 3 Andy: 1
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Vanessa - I love how close we live to awesome outdoor places like Elysian Park, Echo Park Lake, Griffith Park, and Silver Lake Reservoir, where I can go smell trees and flowers instead of the usual city-smells like hot garbage and exhaust. Silver Lake feels like all the best parts of a small town mixed with all the best parts of a city. There’s tons of artists here, and interesting stuff within walking distance (or hidden right under your nose). But after a little while, everyone in the stores, bars, and restaurants recognizes you as a local when you come in, and is happy to see you, which is rare in such a big city. Andy - I moved to L.A. from the Midwest where everything is basically flat, farmland. So moving to a neighborhood like Silver Lake, I can’t help but be in awe of the mountainous terrain which engulfs Vanessa and I’s house. Living in California has definitely broadened my knowledge of a different side to horticulture. I’ve always been fascinated with nature, but growing up in Indiana I never knew anything about succulents and/or cacti; now I am literally obsessed and am excited to continue to learn more about this amazing new climate. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE/SPOT IN YOUR HOME? Vanessa - Definitely the outdoor spaces. Andy planted everything in the back-he has such a green thumb he can bring plants back to life! And I love to sit on the front porch and watch the sunset go down over the mountains. I feel so lucky every time I see that. Andy - I’m definitely going to have to say the back patio. When I visited the house before I moved in, the patio immediately caught my attention. It was the peak of summer and things were beginning to get quite overgrown in the back. Having 4+ years of landscaping and gardening experience, I could not wait to transform it into an intriguing space for Vanessa and I to enjoy. ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU WANT TO UPGRADE OR CHANGE? Vanessa - I wish we had a glass-top coffee table. I love the way it looks over a patterned rug like we have. I just haven’t found one I love yet. And I want to
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Vanessa - A place you go to get away and feel safe from everything outside. I guess that could also technically describe a pillow fort. Andy - “Home” is where you de-stress, relax, catch up on your beauty sleep, and forget about your daytime job. FAVORITE PIECE OF FURNITURE? Vanessa - The red princess chair in the living room. It’s so comfy, and it was my first piece of “real” furniture I ever owned. My Dad bought it for my first apartment and I will probably never ever throw it out. Andy - There’s a black coffee table out on the back patio I found on the side of the street that someone else was throwing out. The reason it’s my favorite is because I love finding a home for things which others may deem as “trash”; however in my mind, I knew exactly where I could put it to good use. WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOME HAVE THAT YOUR CURRENT HOME DOESN’T? Vanessa - Many, many things. A pool. A water slide. A walk-in closet. A home theater. A diet coke slushie machine on my fridge. A room for Clementine with a giant Cat Piano. Maids. Andy - Definitely a gigantic tree growing straight through the floorboards. Maybe even a creek or small pond to go along with it. Actually, I just want everything that goes with the ecosystem of a rainforest in at least one section of my house-- except for the mosquitoes. HOW DO YOUR FEEL YOUR HOME IS UNIQUE? Vanessa - I just put a bunch of stuff I really like in a place I really like, and I didn’t think a lot about trying to make the house look a certain way. So for me, what makes our place unique is not what’s inside but the way Andy I live here. I think we put out lots of good energy here and try to make this a place people like to come to. I love it here and want everyone to feel the same the second they walk up to the front door. Andy - When people come over for the first time, they always say Vanessa and I’s place feels like home. I believe we create a space of comfort for people in our house by showcasing our personalities rather than fabricating a fixed aesthetic.
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sustainable living. There is a lot of family tied up into this house and that heart is really what makes this house a home. FAVORITE PIECE OF FURNITURE? The kitchen table, it’s big, it’s wooden and it has history.
trish waters
HOW DO YOUR FEEL YOUR HOME IS UNIQUE? The people living here make this home unique. They are a patchwork of passions with huge differences of intelligence. One can learn a great deal about the many different ‘life arenas’ while living in this home.
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AGE: 29 LOCATION: Durban, South Africa # OF YEARS YOU’VE LIVED THERE: Three years on and off, in between traveling. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE GEOGRAPHICALLY?
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A massive yard to make a massive sustainable garden with all the fruits and veggies my heart desires.
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WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOME HAVE THAT YOUR CURRENT HOME DOESN’T?
The ocean, the warmth and the amazing produce!
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WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE/SPOT IN YOUR HOME? The kitchen. I find myself here quite a lot making coffee, pressing fresh juices, brewing my kombucha, making healthy meals and having many mind-bending conversations. I love to share through food, especially healthy and sustainable food. I’ll put it to you this way, I’d much rather have a sustainable garden and healthy food over a fancy dinner out and a designer handbag! ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU WANT TO UPGRADE OR CHANGE? No, not a thing! We like to keep it simple, what ain’t broke don’t fix it! Nevertheless, we live in a very sustainable home with solar panels and greywater recycling so there is a constant flow of minor improvements that need our love and attention. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF “HOME”? Well, that’s tricky…my husband and I travel half the year, so I suppose it’s wherever we find ourselves, as long as we are together. However, this particular home, here in South Africa is unique in the fact that it is dripping with art, where one can be free, where one can grow a little roof garden, and where one can learn about
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VS ehren campbell bowling HOW DO YOUR FEEL YOUR HOME IS UNIQUE?
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE GEOGRAPHICALLY?
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I love the weather where I live. It’s hot every damn day. I’m skinny. I’ve got no insulation. The weather here keeps my joints and ligaments loose and pain-free. And it’s near mountains and sea. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE/SPOT IN YOUR HOME? Looking over the shenanigans on the street below at all hours of the day or night from my balcony while typing or pondering is where I like to be. ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU WANT TO UPGRADE OR CHANGE? If I could change anything in my apartment I would just turn it into a boat. A big-ass sailboat. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF “HOME”? To me, “home” is where my feet are. FAVORITE PIECE OF FURNITURE? My favorite piece of furniture is the shelving unit I built to hold my friends’ artwork. I just stare at it sometimes. It’s a time-machine. There are so many stories on the shelves.
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WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOME HAVE THAT YOUR CURRENT HOME DOESN’T? A waterfall and no ceiling.
AGE: 34 LOCATION: DinDaeng, Thailand YEARS AT LOCATION: 3+ years
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My home is unique ‘cause it’s me. And though I don’t believe any one is special, I do believe everyone is special…and unique.
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home again David McWane is the lead in the Boston Ska band, Big D and The Kids Table. Oh but he’s more than that, he’s also the author of The Modern American Gypsy in which this entertaining excerpt below is from. Enjoy!
I believe when people don’t have much, they welcome nice things; unlike The Fortunate, who often like to act in their play of life as people that don’t have much. And no, when I say ‘nice things’, I’m not referring to a hot car or a flashy watch. It’s more that one wants to come home to a kind house, hot shower, clean clothes, enough food, and not just the bottom shelf food at that. 4:30AM . We were heading home once again, all sitting up, looking out onto a silent and still Boston. We all share a feeling of happiness to be home, mixed with a sadness deep in our stomachs and throats to have the adventure be over. To see our sky line and streets gave us a connection that we haven’t felt in a long time: We felt home. Our love for Boston is great. Slowly, we dropped each man off. Separating from the group is always tough after a long expedition; the silence is eerie and the short goodbyes were clumsy. One other and I were the last ones to get home. And truly, it’s not my home, it’s his. There’s a bedbug infested couch that I’m about to collapse on for two nights and we were only two miles away from it. We parked the van in a driveway. It was covered with snow mixed with trash. Hopping out, Boston’s sharp, biting air threw us into survival panic. Oh, how quickly our New England skin relaxes to the warmth of the vans heat and toughens when tossed outside again. Of course, the last man of our tribe rightfully assumed I’d have the front door open by the time he latched up the trailer and locked down our exhausted van. But, with the complete loss of feeling in my fingertips, I was nothing but a fear-driven teenager in a slasher movie, illiterate in the functions of using one’s house keys. I had to reassure myself that if I kept enough pressure on my first knuckles, they would somehow relay a message to my fingertips to turn the key. This was one of the rare moments
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text x david mcwane
my body was so angry with me that it was reminding us both who was the real operator of this complex appendage. Like most men my age, the last man thought he could get the job done faster on drive alone. Now stood two exhausted, bouncing, Boston boys, laughing, cursing, fumbling with their temper-testing house keys, as our half zipped up bags lay in the snow, collecting a nice new light coat from above. Where could I find warmth? I found it by sticking both hands in my mouth and desperately exhaling warm breath on what used to be my fingers, a small amount of blood slip down my first knuckle and will the key slightly to the left for a successful unlatching of the front door. Success. We danced inside with the grace of a first year Inuit modern dance class student. The trash was as generous as the skunk cabbage in my father’s swamp. It lay ankle to chin deep. If filthiness is ever commended, the gang I run with in Boston have given it a new talent. Yes, there were trash bags filled, the product of a brief moment of motivation. But now they lay open, almost guilty looking, as if it were they who were
My good friend Todd’s underwear and socks hung on the coffee table drenched in beer and leftovers. There was no way to tell exactly what the leftovers
accused of vomiting up the filth.
were. The only name that could suit it would be, Chinese-freeto-pizza. The last man let out a long, fully sodden breath and went up to his room to inspect the damage. “Hopefully, there’s no one doin’ it in my bed,” he said, as he made his final tour exit. Without taking my coat or my backpack off, I began to push the trash about. I grabbed one of the trash bags and began to clean off the table. The scattered change wouldn’t come off; it was coated with sugar-beer shellac. This new, powerful shellac coated the entire makeshift coffee table, eating up the covers of different magazines, playing cards, and cigarette boxes, forever documenting their existence. I remember getting word from the road that the couch given to us by a fan was now, indeed, full of bed bugs. This couch was Todd’s favorite place to watch late night Twilight Zone reruns, but after getting bitten so many times by bugs, I hear he now uses the chair. No matter, it was now 5 AM and I wasn’t about to sleep on the sticky wooden floor. So, I looked under and behind the small couch and found the ‘smiley face’ yellow sleeping bag no one has ever owned up to. I then made a nice little area, free of trash but not odor, and finally lay down. Every muscle thanked me by fully relaxing and falling asleep before me. My senses, however, scanned around in disgust. They could see what my muscles could not. No matter, I was in heaven. Sleep.
I woke around 5:30AM to Todd discovering me. Todd doesn’t sleep, he never has. I thought that if I kept the blanket over my head and avoided eye contact, the four-hour drinking reunion was avoidable. “Hey, buddy, when’d you get in?” “Just now,” I said. “Who is that?” from his bedroom. “Baby, this is my best friend; wanna Pabst, or are you hittin’ it?” “SSAK,” Todd opened a can, he was having a drink no matter what I was inclined. I was wondering if the young girl’s voice was the girl I had met before tour. Or could it be some new girl I hadn’t yet met. No matter, I gave her no ‘hello.’ “No, man, I’m just gonna hit it,” I said under my warm drinking shield, “tomorrow though, we’ll hit up Charlie’s.” Todd was satisfied; he loves any talk of an outing to Charlie’s…Oh, Charlie’s is a seedy bar in Harvard Square where young people research degenerates like us. My last view was of Todd heading back to his room and of my bruised feet at the end of the couch. Sleep. I woke thirty minutes later to someone slamming the door with a small fist. My roommate Johnny Trouble came down the stairs in his boxers, sleepy and annoyed. “Oh shit! Hey bro,” he said to me. We hugged, then look at the door. “Man I think that’s Todd’s ex.” BAM! BAM! BAM! “TODD OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR. OPEN THE FUCK…TODD! TODD!” “Shit,” Johnny Trouble and I said in unison, as he stepped away from the door and took a seat on the couch. Todd busted out of the room handing us all cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, opening them as he did it. He sat the girl next to me and handed her a can as well, but not before taking a big long chug from it. “Hi,” she said. She was sleepy, small and confused. “Hi,” I said close to her. “Hey, I’m just saying, if this is the girl that I know, stick close by me, she’s really tough. She gives a new talent to daaamn meeean. She’s meaner than a fifty year old woman ordering in a nice restaurant.” The door banged and banged and the screams got more frantic and insane. Todd opened the door and the ex-girlfriend sprang in like she had been pushing the door. “Where the fuck is she?” First she checked Todd’s room, then dashed to the bathroom, then dashed up the stairs, to the upstairs bathroom. She found nothing. Coming down the stairs with power she approached Todd. “Where the fuck is she, Todd?” Then she slowly looked over at Johnny Trouble, Todd’s new girl and me. She sussed it out. “You. Uh, uh, nope, no
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way,” she said as she made her way over the coffee table. “This is my house.” She grabbed the confused girls wrist, dragged her over the table, dragged her across the room and out the door. Johnny Trouble grabs and drinks her fallen beer. Us men just sat there looking at one another. We all kind of smiled in fear. Slowly Johnny Trouble and I rose from the couch drinking and we all walked to the front door. There we saw the ex-girlfriend tossing the new one half in the bushes, half against the van, fully in the now powdery snow, then storming back inside, slamming the door so hard the house shook and locking all the locks on the door. She then went into Todd’s room and slammed his door shut as well. “Did you just get in now?” Johnny Trouble asked as we both took our seats again. Todd lit a cigarette, grabbed my beer for a long sip and made a defeated look as he went toward the front door. “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING OUT THERE TOOODD,” Todd’s Ex screamed. Then Todd turned around and went into his room. “Night,” he said dreadfully. Watching him I thought, ‘Well, Todd still lives dangerously.’ Johnny and I talked until our cans were done; we both were happy to see one another, but we’d catch up later. What was on both of our front burners was being unconscious once again. Johnny Trouble quietly opened the front door and hid the girl up in his room for the night. She was shivering. Sleep. Morning. I pulled myself up and scratched the five-day-old beard I had grown. I spotted an old water someone had left but not finished, I killed it. However, my throat, my brain, and my body needed more. I reached for a full bottle of cranberry juice, what a score, and took a couple desperate gulps. My taste buds to relay didn’t have enough time to decipher the encrypted message that there was more vodka in the bottle than cranberry juice, but they tried as fast as they could. It was too late, I guess I was now partying.
My bare feet blackened as I made sticky steps to the kitchen. It was as if someone poured glue on the floor and was having a laugh at me.
To make my other buddy from the house a bedroom, I had poorly nailed to the kitchen ceiling an enormous blue tarp, which now drapes down, making him a makeshift wall. But, the six extra feet at the base of the tarp sat piled up on the floor. We all talked about cutting it, but never did. I tripped on it, of course, confused, forgetting the ways of the house and banged my knee on the open bathroom door. But I didn’t forget really, that’s just an excuse. I simply get confused in the morning. I trip on things every sleepy morning. The kitchen looked like a cabbage patch of open trash bags overflowing. If you have ever seen the movie Aliens, it was similar to the scene where Ripley found the room full of open alien eggs. I noticed that every dish,
bowl, glass, Tupperware product, pan, and skillet was used and then stacked. The kitchen was one big ashtray, an orgy of rotting food and cigarettes. I opened the fridge in the hope of finding a half drunk Gatorade. Todd, for some reason, only drinks half of his beverages. But when I opened the refrigerator door there wasn’t a small wave of coolness, it was a big wave of warmth and the most offensive odor I have come across to this day. In the first three minutes of being awake I hadn’t noticed that all the trash bags were full of rotting leftovers, eggs and milk. The fridge had been emptied for a reason I still don’t know. I found the Gatorade I was looking for on the floor next to the old broom. Ironic, huh? I had to get moving, because I had a big day of going to get a haircut. I hadn’t talked to my father or mother in about two weeks and thought I remembered them saying they wanted to have dinner when I got home - or was it for me to watch the house for them – I had forgotten. Either way I knew they asked for me to come home and one must look nice for Mum. But the hair cut would have to be paid for not with money, because I only had enough dosh for a bus ride, a subway ride, and a train ticket home. ask.
“How was he to pay for a haircut?” an observant person might
Well, the way the underground-lower class of Bostonians works is ‘trade within jobs’. If I worked in a club, I’d let you and your friends in for free. In return if I needed a pair of new sneakers you’d give me your employee discount. Got it? Well, Will’s girlfriend Gillian knows how to cut hair, so I grabbed two new records of the group I run with and a small T-shirt to trade for a cut. But I figured I should shower, so I don’t lose the deal on account of my offensive body odor. The last time I had a shower was more days ago than I’m keen on admitting, so it was time to wash up. After tour (a long tour) the first shower home reminds me of the old Western movies when the band of cowboys stop in at a town’s brothel and draw a hot bath to wash away any memory of their excursions. I sludge up the stairs finishing up Todd’s Gatorade, but when I enter the bathroom I see that it doesn’t have a trash barrel anymore. The back of the toilet is now used for discarding used products. So, I let my empty bottle slide down the mountain of toilet paper rolls, used tissues, boxes of new toothpaste, pizza crusts, old beers and, I guess, someone in the house has a girlfriend now. I place my empty ‘Mountain Extreme’ Gatorade bottle on the top of the pile, it rolls down and out the doorway.
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The floor was coated with wet magazines and brown moldy towels. That brown scum in the toilet, similar to the scum found in abandoned truckstop bathrooms, had managed to coat the floor, walls and sink. A movie director would have said that his set designers went too far trying to emulate a junkie’s bathroom. But, my shower was divine, I stayed in there for at least forty-five minutes.
In the shower, there were wet boxes of old products on the floor and on the shelf. The ink that labeled each box ran and stained the shower walls and floor, similar to a crying drunk girl’s running mascara. I combed through the wet boxes looking for a bit of soap. Un-
der the sopping Zest soap box, (yah I didn’t know they still sold Zest either), was a piece of soap no bigger than half a dog biscuit. That piece of soap cleaned my entire body. After the good wash, I threw on the same clothes and slicked my hair back in a manageable 1950’s pompadour. The way Pop does. As I walked downstairs, I eyed the crate of food that the last man was damn smart to bring in. The crate, well I should say the smashed plastic basket, was given to us in Texas by a fan four months ago. Regrettably I never met her - so I don’t know her name. It was full of chips, cookies, and other snackable treats. But I remember seeing some cans of Chef Boyardee raviolis in there one hungry night. It was only seconds before I was back in the kitchen combing for a can opener. It was where I expected it to be, at the bottom of an old Tupperware bowl, covered and camouflaged by floating macaroni, used matches and cigarette butts. When a can is frozen, the interior food doesn’t just slide out like we’re all used to, and the use of a plastic fork can only pathetically chip at the frozen future Petco breakfast. All and all, I managed, and dined on, warm in some places frozen in others, ravioli. I headed out, the first time a lone in a long time. I took the 66 bus to Coolidge Corner and met up with Gillian. I asked her to cut my long hair like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs. She did just that. It was about then that I realized I had bedbugs bites on my ankles, neck, fingers, and hipbone. They itch like a bitch, I mean, not as bad as poison ivy, but a bitch just the same. I hid them from Gillian. After the cut, I took the subway to the commuter rail to catch the 2PM train home and I was scratching all the way. Sitting on the train heading home with my bag beside me and my eyes closed, I received a message from one of the men. “Mexico is on, are you in? So now it will be Canada, The States, then Mexico – a bit more than two months. And we’re gonna leave a bit earlier than we originally thought. Can you be ready in two days?” “Of course I can,” I wrote back.
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follow along online for world week.
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Home Alone Photographer: Sam Sulam (www.samsulam.com)
Stylist: Vanessa Mancos @ DG Reps (www.VisforOlive.tumblr.com) Hair & Make-Up: Mel Hunter (www.MelanesiaHunter.com) Model: Amanda Rau @ Q Models
inspiration from the photographer: I was really inspired by a lot of Juergen tellers work. I love his
grungy aesthetic. The set up is so simple, yet powerful. It may not be the most technically sound image but it hits you at visceral level.
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bikini x Prism London
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one piece x shan, dress x house of eleven, bikini x prism london
text x ehren bowling
where the heart is I was born in a shoebox of a house. It was a humble structure but it was a warm home. My mother’s Bluegrass folk-art adorned the walls. It was warmly lit by antique table- and floor lamps. My grandparents owned a furniture store and so we always had sturdy pieces of wood to sit and lay on and to eat from. My memories of the place are warm and fuzzy. And then we moved.
I cannot remember having a “home” since... or more accurately, would be to say, I don’t remember “home” as being a place since. Thirty-four years ago I was born in Louisville, Kentucky. It’d be great if more people would realize these parameters are very poor choices to sort someone out by. I am from the planet Earth. I moved from of my parents’ house, which hadn’t been a home since the first grade, when I was sixteen. I have lived in three countries, lived in more than a dozen but roamed 49 of the 50 “United” states of America and most of its “territories” in the Caribbean, I’ve spent actual “time” in 8 countries in North America and Asia and so I would consider myself in the know when it comes to traveling and people making homes around the world. Teaching English as a second or third or fourth language in South East Asia makes ends meet. Often time students will ask, “when are you {me} going home?” immediately following class, I always reply. Which is usually met with a furrowed brow and confusion or a smirk. And with complete sincerity, I say, “My ’things’ are about a ten-minute walk from the back of this building. But I am always home. It follows me wherever I go. It is my shadow. Like I am a turtle. My house is on my back at all times but this Earth is our home. I would comfortably lay down under this desk tonight with this roof over my head and sleep like a baby.” They believe me because I mean it.
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That’s not to demean the things hanging on the wood or concrete or drywall and the people who sleep and eat and laugh with you in your barrier-to-the-elements; their values are obviously very real. We need our familiar places. The place our brains relax and recuperate. But considering “home” to be anywhere on Earth is one step closer in realizing that there are 7 billion brothers and sisters making their way just the best that they can... just like my students are and just like you are and just like I am. Maybe some empathy is all we need to advance a level on the ol’’’’ evolution spectrum and stop killing each other for old white guys and stop trading our most precious commodity as a living thing, time, for a promised pension plan. That is such a bad deal for us. As science unveils more of the universe by the moment, it is easy to understand what a small boat we are all on floating around that dumbfounding vastness. The little ball seems large when you are not old enough to cross the street without holding an adults hand but when you whip out your card and purchase a ticket to the other side of the world and get there in under a day...well hell, we should be quite embarrassed if an alien should show up and ask the average American what is going on on the other side of his home planet. We ‘prolly couldn’t even speak to another one of us on our own home planet to ask him or her if we were there anyway. Bet that alien’d be shocked. Shame on us. But anyway... I like surrounding myself with my friends’ artwork. That is what makes my nest warm and comforting to return again and again. Their mana is in the strokes and they sing as long as the paint remains. It soothes as I write. The city outside is so damn chaotic. It is my safe place. But my home is behind my eyelids. When I close my eyes, no matter where I’m layin’, under a pickup truck in the parking garage of the Silverado casino in Reno or a hammock along the Pali on Maui, my mother’s lullabies come and I am back as a boy in the warm soft antique lamp light on the wallpapered walls of a house that no longer exists...a place where no one and nothing can “get” me...there’s nothing there but my mother and me...and she sings all the troubles of the day right away and strokes my forehead and I am incubated in a love’s light 30-years old...30 light years away and shinnin’ bright... and I am asleep in my home before I know it. This is now my nest.
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the ripple effect
the base project The Base Project is a brand that epitomizes form meeting function. Founded three years ago by brothers Chris and Doug Akin, the company sells gorgeous hand carved bracelets made by Namibian artisans. TBP came about organically, almost accidentally, when the two got together for dinner and discussed their mutual feelings of disenfranchisement from the corporate marketing and advertising world. In spite of the fact that Chris and Doug lived on complete opposite ends of the country, this dinner talk spurred the pair into collecting feedback from friends and family on sourced bracelets from developing countries. As their test group expanded, one thing became clear: a special bracelet belonging to Chris, one that was not being used in their test marketing -“a gift from a long lost friend”- was overwhelmingly popular. The brothers tracked the origins of the bracelet nearly halfway around the world to Namibia, where local artisans were producing jewelry from discarded and readily available goods. From there, The Base Project was born, a “triple bottom line” company (people, plants, profits, for those keeping track) that aimed to build “a bridge between artisans in the developing world and the US fashion market.” Tens of thousands of pieces later, the motto “Wear Your Impact” has clearly become more than a catchy tagline. The bracelets are made from discarded water pipes, which are “collected, hand-cut and carved by local artisans from Northern Namibia.” Pipe is readily available in the remote desert region of
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text x jasmine mancos images courtesey of TBP
the country and its culling by TBP artists is not only beneficial for the environment, it also allows for an ingenious method of upcycling to create a more valuable product. The bracelets feature hand carved designs that are inspired by the “wildlife, landscape, and rich tribal history of the region,” each one is uniquely colored by sun exposure and the area’s distinctive red soil. The result is a piece of jewelry that looks like it could be made of engraved bone or horn, but in keeping with the company’s socially-conscious mindset, absolutely no animals were harmed in it’s creation. Additionally, the brothers have a line of metal bracelets currently in the works. Based on the well received traditional carvings, the line will fund a scholarship program to pay school fees for local children in financial need. The Base Project’s local partnerships are largely based in the Kunene region of Namibia, a part of the country that is at once breathtakingly beautiful and somberly troubled. It’s a small wonder that Chris and Doug were drawn to this area, humanitarians essentially have their work cut out for them here: staggering unemployment, frequent water and food shortages, a rapidly increasing HIV rate coupled with a lack of quality healthcare, limited access to education and geographical isolation from farmable land, markets and water are just some of the serious problems the region the is struggling with.
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The Base Project doesn’t aim to tackle simply one of these issues.
Besides the income that the fair trade bracelets provide to the artisans for education, health care, and food, a portion of the company profits are reinvested into community development projects.
markets, which “empowers the community to sustain the farm independent of outside funding.” Their ‘triple bottom line’ business model is proven to be exponentially effective in the fact the community has also “elected to donate fresh produce from the farm to local HIV patients with critical nutritional needs.” The Base Project came about when two entrepreneurial people realized that they could be doing more- and not just for themselves. Stemming from personal dissatisfaction within the “creative corporate” world, the company has grown to prove that a humanitarian outlook and an adventurous spirit can create a truly revolutionary concept. TBP has begun to bridge the gap between fashion minded shoppers at Nordstrom or Urban Outfitters and artisans in a rural and oft overlooked region on the other side of the globe. In doing so, it has effected positive change for dozens of creative workers, as well as their families and communities. To shop the collection or for more info on The Base Project and all of the amazing work they’re doing, check out thebaseproject.com. You can score a rad piece of jewelry… and count that as your good deed of the day.
the ripple effect
One of the first ‘Impact Projects’ taken on by TBP was the launch of a forty-two acre farm. The co-operative style farm provides materials and agricultural education to local participants, guaranteeing “lands, seeds, training, access to equipment and spring water, transportation to market and protective fencing from wildlife.” Half of the land is used for subsistence farming, to provide food and produce for the individual farmers and their families. The other half of the land is used for goods to be sold at the
Last Word Hailing from Fukuoka, Japan, painter/illustrator/beatmaker/videographer/rapper Asano Ryuhei, aka Lee, is a wild animal. Not that he’s not house broken. But a wild animal in the sense that he obeys his nature without ego. When asked how often he considers the opinions of his audience or the rest of the world, he gave a blank-faced, “never” as his response, almost in wonder that some of us, do. Check him out on Bandcamp, he was tabbed as one of Pitchfork’s ‘Rising’ artists recently as well.
Album: Bill Evans’ ‘Alone’ Meal: Unagi-don and green tea. And a mango. Just a mango. Book: Some book about Basquiat Movie: Mindgame Beverage: Miso soup. Can I say “miso soup”? Miso soup. Call: grandmother Drug: weed Sunset: Ishigaki. Part of Okinawa. Very beautiful beach. BJ: I’m not gay but, Obama. Ghosts: Yes [I believe], but never seen.
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interview x ehren bowling illustration x asano ryuhei
PIOLO BASTO
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art. music. fashion. profiles. a unisex magazine for the independent age
photos x lila lee
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photos x john oliveira
in memory of bernardo bernard