rentalism

living, riding, fixing and even fronting are all feasible.


Stylish Souk in downtown Portland, Oregon is but one option for freelancers looking for a professional workspace and the opportunity to network and/or simply collaborate.

Bike sharing rental programs are the hottest urban accessory for metropolitan areas such as Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Düsseldorf and recently, Washington D.C.

Philadelphia's Free Ride and other bike cooperatives provide a space to work on your bike including stands, tools and volunteers to problem solve.

Wikipedia lists tool libraries across the U.S.

Beyond the practical, there are all sorts of rental opportunities for those seeking status and lifestyle upgrades.

According to Fast Company, membership to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) includes eligibility for art rental program for as little as $17 a month. FC's article How to look good in a recession offers additional ideas for leasing luxe.

Has your perception of ownership changed?

Dear James Bond...

Why so serious? Your Quantum of Solace action sequences left me dazed and confused. What's happening? Who is doing what?

And James, though I still believe in you, you brood a little too much.

poster love

via Visual Culture

Cross Cultural Collaboration in Design

The October issue of Metropolis Magazine has two stories of artisans being paired across cultures to create unique creations for the marketplace.

In Pragmatic Idealism, Belinda Lanks interviews Docey Lewis. Now a design consultant for
3form, Lewis has over 20 years experience working with Aid to Artisans a non-profit that matches traditional crafters with international consultants and merchants.

Lewis shares her experiences coordinating collaborative projects and discusses some of the challenges that arise when balancing the demands of business, humanitarian efforts and design across countries such as Nepal, Senegal and Jordan.


Making Connections describes Andrew and Anna Hellman as professional matchmakers. As co-founders of Teroforma, a tableware company launched in August, the Hellmans travel the world seeking out talented designers whom they connect with traditional artisan studios. Andrew is quoted,"It's that relationship that we want to build and those stories that we want to tell through the work. There's a depth behind the pieces."

photo via Metropolis

multi-purpose

korean designer jaebeom jeong's cartrider.
photo via Core 77

Dumpster Diving Pt. 1

I love trash, is the title of a documentary I recently viewed during the '08 BendFilm festival. The production quality of the film was not great but the anti-consumption message had some resonance with the crowd.

For me, it brought back a faded childhood memory, that of dumpster diving. It was back in the 80's. I was just a wee lass visiting Bellingham, Washington along with my two younger sisters. Our favorite hippy Aunt T was responsible for us girls while our parents were on their own vacation.

During our stay Aunt T, a professional musician, had a scheduled performance. In order to take time to prepare for her concert, she left us in the care of her former flame, Otter (in truth, his nick name).

Otter was a capable but less than traditional care provider. He told my two younger sisters and I that he'd like to take us on a hike to pie land.

Pie land? We were intrigued. He led us on a trail down to the Bellingham Bay where he perched on a rock and rolled himself a cigarette. We watched him intently, afraid to ask if we had arrived at our destination.

Finally my sister Melissa, always the brave one, served as our spokesgirl. "This isn't pie land is it?"

"Right, pie land...Actually, we will have to return to the car to get to pie land."

Ah, the old bait and switch.

We soon hurried along back up the trail carrying hope that our trust in this Otter character was not misplaced and that we would indeed arrive at our magical sounding destination.

After loading into the car, Melissa asked "So, where is pie land?"

"Oh, not far from here."

Otter turned up the Simon & Garfunkel and sang off-key cruising along Chuckanut Drive. A few minutes later he pulled into a grocery store parking lot.

Oh, I get it, I thought. Now he's going to buy us a pie. Cute.

Instead of parking in front of the store, Otter pulled around back to the dumpster area.

"You see girls, a lot of good pies, cookies and donuts get thrown away every day. Hop out of the car."


Code red in my head. Yet, ever the obedient child I stepped out, as commanded. My sisters also followed and the three of us lined up facing the dumpster a few feet away.

Otter beckoned us all to join him as he lifted the dumpster lid up and pushed it back. He then began searching and sorting. Sure enough, he began showing us his prizes. Donuts indeed but without the pink box they usually lived in. He dusted off a sugar donut, took a bite and smiled.

"Yummy!"he proclaimed.

I remained frozen in my spot. Could we get in trouble for this? Maybe thrown in jail? What if our Aunt T had no idea where we were and we got stuck in jail?

"What will you have?" Otter looked at me directly, "Maple bar?"

"Um, no thanks, I'm okay." I made eye contact with my sisters non-verbally suggesting we get our asses back into the yellow VW.

"Oh, I get it. You think there is something wrong with this food because it's in the bin here. Well, let me tell you, it's perfectly fine." He made the statement simply and calmly, then returned his focus to the search.

Time passed slowly as I turned my attention to play the role of the lookout, just in case.

"Here we go girls!" Otter turned towards us raising his treasure high up in the air. It was a shiny-black-bottomed-hard-plastic container. And within it, a whole cherry pie.

Macro Trend: Frugality

Tree Hugger's October 6, 2008 Quote of the day goes to Paul Kedrosky: "Frugality is the new black". Kedrosky alludes to this prescient August '08 post from Merril Lynch Economist David Rosenberg.

Unsurprisingly the word pops up in many of the choice weekend reads. It's all over the NY Times. Style and Travel take the frugal angle:

Frugal New York

The Frugal Teenager Ready or Not

Tips at these sites:

Simple Dollar

Frugal Village

Share your stories and/or links in the comments. I expect many days of resourceful living to come.

Girard inspired designs

Inspired by mid-century textile and folk art designer Alexander Girard? If so, you are not alone.

Electra Bikes displayed two Girard designs at Interbike. Fresh designers at Dear Creatures cite Girard as influencing their design concept for Fall 2008 Collection along with Mary Blair and Scandinavian Folk Art.

Alexander Girard was chief textile designer for the Herman Miller Furniture Company, in the 1960's heydey that also included George Nelson and Charles Eames.

A modernist, Girard used color reflecting his affection for artifacts, toys and dolls of the southwest and Mexico. His collection was eventually one of the largest collections of Central and South American folk artifacts in the US and now resides in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.

Where have you spotted the Girard influenced designs?

Interbike 08: a non-techy recap

Let me be clear, I'm not totally bike fluent. I enjoy riding most any kind of bike but do not have a mechanic's appreciation of their inner workings.

The truth is, I enjoy an outsiders love.

Last week, I was fortunate to tag along for interbike, an annual event that takes place in the least bike-friendly city in the galaxy, Las Vegas. Below is a recap of what I saw:


the goods:

1. Chris King goes brown. Everyone else can continue their King bottom bracket discussion but brown (the 10th color) will be adding some flair to the bikes in your hood soon.

2. Commuters all over the place. I liked the Civia with bamboo racks.

3. Baggage: Chrome bags have held hipster appeal for some time but they seemed to catch fire with the show crowd. Everyone was rocking the buckle. Honorable mention: Rickshaw has a cool zero waste bag and a saweet beerdalero strap.

the peeps

1. There was another show going on in the bike storage area. It was interesting to see how the crowd spend their dollars and pimp their personal rides. From the ganders I took there was many a fixie in the keep, we're talking 50% or more (thanks to Rich at Interbike for suggesting a look-see).

2. What's up with the mustachioed? Was there a subtle HammerSchmidt guerilla campaign going on? There were a lot of stashes circulating and most appeared un-ironic.

3. Shimano's $100 shoe sale (was $350). A constant line and hundreds of blue boxes spotted in the crowd.

the events

1. Cross Vegas was WOW! Trebon controlled the race but Kabush's flyer with 4 laps to go kept things interesting as well as the chase group that included Johnson, Page, Wells and Craig. Loved that the suspense kept rolling till the finish.

2. Dirt Demo at Bootleg Canyon: cool breezes and good rides on a hot day. Spot SS belt drive 29er, dahon foldables and FS bikes with more travel than my Maverick offers. Favorite ride of the day was the YETI 575.

3. Social Media Panel Thursday: Nielsen stats, bike hugger and swobo-itude. Really good stuff.

4. Urban Legend. Bikes, Art, Fashion. Say no more. It was short and sweet on Thursday evening. Thanks to the Momentum folks for a job well done.

An insider's look

How you live is who you are.
The Sartorialist documents what the stylish are wearing, Cobra Snake documents how the cool kids party and The Selby documents the inspirational spaces of interesting peeps. Photos of Cheri Messerli and David Rager from the Selby site.

Mapping Stories

City of Memory is a mashup charting collective stories on a city map of NY. Open participation is encouraged at the site where contributions of stories, old and new, may uploaded to the interactive map.


According to PSFK, this is a Local Projects effort, the same group responsible for StoryCorps.

Do You Know Swobo?

A focus on design, clear understanding of personality, and utilization of social communication tools add up to a yummy brand.


Sky Yeager, designer for Swobo, foretold the rising appeal of city bikes. She has laid claim to the segment by offering form + functional rides that are influencing the industry–note the debut of the district from Trek.

Swobo's user-friendly and graphically fluent website covers the details in an interesting way.

Community is promoted at their blog How to avoid the bummer life. User contributions are encouraged but it is Stevil Kineval who gives voice to the brand, sharing stories and you tube links providing cues as to what it's all about.

Yes, I'm bike-curious, name another brand that makes themselves knowable.

Grounds for Play

Recall your grade schoool playground. How and what did you play? Did you twirl on bars, practice penny drops? Did you climb on jungle gyms or simply use them as imaginary shelter in fantasy play? Did you make yourself sick on the merry go round?

In Fall Down Go Boom, Good magazine provides an excellent report on the history of playgrounds and how they have been dumbed down to decrease the risks that provide the opportunity to build cognitive functions.

Adjunct articles describe innovations that are afoot in parks like Berkeley's Adventure Playground (pictured) that use scrap materials to promote creative play or Imagination Park planned for Manhattan, that offers colorful oversized blocks and loose parts.

These examples challenge playgrounds to think outside the current out-of-the-box-style of play areas: sterilized, safe and familiar to fast food patrons.

And what about us grown-ups? Play continues to provide a sound antidote to the serious nature of our lives. PSFK recently reported on Bruno Taylor a renegade playground designer and advocate for play. Bruno is on a mission to bring play back into public spaces, evidenced by the installation of swings in London bus stops.


Photos via GOOD & PSKF

Library Love

Collective book love is happening, good cause for a library celebration. Seattle library fans may purchase “I read in a Koolhaas” t-shirts and indeed they do, Architectural Media breaks down the architectural wonder on their blog.

Aside from the library design star, there is renewed affection for books of the borrowed kind being professed here and there. At hula seventy the recent post little worlds documents the library pilgrimage and ensuing inspiration.

Are you borrowing or buying your books? What are you checking out? Where are your favorite libraries?

Courtyard views of one of my faves, the Boston Public Library.

This for that, free of charge

Madonna's not the only one getting political these days. In separate efforts, Radiohead and Sheryl Crow are promoting social responsibility by offering up their goods in exchange for fans' participation.

In July, at ease shared that Radiohead surveyed fans who bought their North American show tickets through the W.A.S.T.E. ticket store. The survey allowed fans to enter their travel information to and from the show and calculate their carbon footprint. The survey results will be used in planning future tour schedules. In exchange for filling out the survey, Radiohead offered fans a free download of a live track from this year's tour.

Sheryl Crow is working with rock the vote to promote voter registration. Fans can earn a free album by getting three friends to register during the month of August.

With digital delivery and musicians good intentions, we can expect so see more of this for that transactions.

photo via wired listening post

commuter cycling up

Bicycling continues to gains fans evidenced by booming sales, strategic placement in fashion catalogs and a surge of commuter-friendly innovation.

Springwise reports that Trek has developed a prototype bicycle parts vending machine. Located just off a bike path in Madison, Wisconsin, the full-service vending machine is stocked with fix-a-flat items such as spare tubes, patches, tire levers, and CO2 cartridges; it also features an information center. A work stand and free air are also available beneath a covered work area.

The story also reports that Seattle-based Aaron's Bicycle Repair has offered a similar vending machine for after hours service since 2005.

Bikestation offers storage, bike rental and vehicle-sharing access at their sites currently located in Seattle and a handful of Californian cities.

And NYC is installing bike racks designed by none other than David Byrne who submitted his own designs after he was asked to judge a competition ny times story here.
















J. Crew photo found here cayenne & carob
additional info via Springwise

shared stories

Storytelling will never be a thing of the past. As Scientific American breaks it down
here, storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history.

It's no wonder then that communities are organizing around a love of lore. To wit, back fence pdx is a collective with the mission of telling stories. Self described, they are kissing cousins to Porchlight, a storytelling series based in San Francisco. The Back Fence pdx blog offers a weekly story by a writer, blogger, or someone with an unusual story about the topic.

Shared Experience
Select Back Fence performers share their 6-minute stories organized around themed topics bimonthly. True Colors, the current series, is scheduled for Wednesday, August 13 at 7:30p.m. You can register for the event here or visit the blog for an auto-odyssey. Another way to stay in the loop of future scheduled events is to follow Back Fence on twitter .

Golden Anniversary

Trends in Japan reports that Honda is releasing a limited anniversary edition of its iconic Super Cub as it turns 50 this year.

Commemorative bikes go on sale August 1. According to their post, over 60 million super cubs have been sold world wide making it the top selling motorbike of all time. With consumers focused on fuel economy the golden years seem likely to stay gold, Ponyboy.

A pen for every purpose

Pens are in, especially as functionality goes freestyle. Trendhunter does a round up of 28 pens of the future here.

Forthcoming implements include pens that record your writing, the wi-fi detector pen, and long-distance autograph writers invented by Margaret Atwood.

And soon you can state your mind a little easier with the Philips emotion sensitive pen, that detects well-being and selects inks accordingly.

Postcards: p.s. I heart you

As reported by News Scotsman Postcards are enjoying a renewed interest among the British. The article reports that the Royal Mail is processing around 135 million postcards every year, an increase of 30 million over just three years.

It's no wonder, postcards serve as romantic but feasible artifacts to share among loved ones and the short hand requirements fit nicely with modern lexicon.

You can find unique designs or go DIY style here

or organize a swap a la the talented and industrious andrea at hula seventy

hooping it up

Therapy, Exercise, a distant memory, hoola hooping is many things to many people. And it seems, the love is growing beyond dirtbag festivals.

Classes are being offered that promote fitness as well as a spiritual philosophy engendered by the love of the circle. A popular Central Oregon offering is
Hoopdazzle combining dance and hooping taught by the impressive Mollie Hogan pictured above.

World Hoop Day is coming up on August 8 so maybe it's a good time for you to get into the hoop?

Photo via Hoopdazzle

Drawn to this: sketchbook pages

Cool book Drawing From Life features fantastic glimpses into the interior pages of creative journals.





















cool lettering sketches from the talented artist Linzie Hunter on Flickr






and good diy inspiration here:

wreck this journal

wiihab

baseball or tennis anyone?


Trendwatchers ubercool report on videogaming's true halo includes the above photo and describes key trends observed in videogaming. The wii seems to have transcended demographic backgrounds with the appeal of the fit.

Case in point, wiihab, that is using the wii fit to aid in recovery from broken bones, surgery and strokes.

mad men & women

Netflix gave notice that Season 1 Disc 1 of Mad Men is headed to my mailbox today. Hurray for TVD once again.

For a more contextual & historical perspective on advertising, there is this exhibit: “The Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue and Their Impact on American Culture” at the New York Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business Library through Sept. 26.
NY Times link here though you may need your own password.

photo via NY Times

Freedom Riders

Just a taste of the 2008 Freedom Ride, a Bend Independence Day tradition in its sixth year.

Top photo shows the meet up at Columbia Park. The middle photo pictures subsequent procession riding North up Bond Street. The bottom photo provides the Wall Street view.

A few downtown laps, a lot of cheering, some automobile complaints and then it's all over as the swarm finishes at Columbia Park. Good times.

street art

Wooster collective inspires by showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.

Ride Ride Ride

Thank Goodness. Happy to see the fashion world embrace commuter bicycling. I think Cycle Chic and its trail of imitators is responsible for raising style consciousness. Agree?

hot air

Do you have a hot air experience to share?

The colorful balloons are showing up in a variety of places. Bend hosted a festival back in early June. Tres & AJ tied the knot over the summer solstice weekend in one. And then there are the photos...

this one is from ffffound

Wanderlust?

Safe to say, I have officially fallen back in love with maps.

These dresses, designed by Elisabeth Lecourt, are perfect for wearing your heart on your sleeve and more.


found via black eiffel

Prize possession

Vintage map framed in gold found at the Ashland shop, Prize. For those of you nearby I suggest a visit. Perhaps the Summer Soirée scheduled for Friday, June 20th from 5:00-8:00pm? Champagne and Cupcakes will be served.

Otherwise, look for the Douglas Wilson prints at Keep Calm Gallery.

quote of the day

"Anyone who wants to can be surprised by the beauty or pain of the natural world, of the human mind and heart, and can try to capture just that– the details, the nuance, what is. If you start to look around, you will start to see."

Anne Lamott, bird by bird

Catch the Wind: A Presentation by Beau Bergeron

Inspiring example of "into me see" style.
More art with heart.

Found via Swiss Miss

this art has heart

The Reverse Graffiti Project


found via PSFK

I Want You To Want Me

File under old news but new to me...Design and the Elastic Mind is a Spring 2008 MOMA exhibit featuring this work. Visual presentation of harvested data allows us to consider how we connect, present ourselves to others and what we value when seeking relationship.

What do you think is the number one thing people look for on dating sites? The answer is in the video.

Kegerator Cruiser Crawl

The premise: You (in costume if you like) and your bike travel to a number of homes (this year six) with gracious hosts serving craft beer out of their personal kegerators. There is an hour (give or take a few mins) at each stop. Potluck dinner is shared at the final destination. Snapshots of what it looked like this past weekend:



top photo: bridge crossing















bottom photo: Rob's place, our fifth stop of the afternoon filled with bicycle maneuvers, craft beer and frequently comical conversation.



photos courtesy of smiley

BIG thanks to Dan for organizing and Colleen for mapping it.

new found love: tag galaxy

Very cool flickr visualization tool tag galaxy is a utility that allows you to type in a subject (for example: bike) and quickly see photos tagged with bike in flickr. Click on one of the images you like and up comes a link to its flickr page.

Tag Galaxy is a 2008 diploma thesis project by Steven Wood at Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg.

image via mashable, plus more info here

Maverick is an MTB bike, not a McCain

Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a "maverick" since 1995: 6,757

Percentage change between 2001 and 2007 in the number of instances per year: +76
Source: Harper's Index

On a somewhat related note, I was sent a link to this incendiary blog post last week...only for those with a sense of humor.

Just Grow It.

One of the benefits of growing up in a hippy-ish household was meals made entirely from vegetables grown in my dad's garden. Okay, so at the time it didn't seem too cool, "spaghetti squash AGAIN?" But it is one of those retrospective blessings I count from time to time.

Now I pay the premium whole foods price to get the goods sans genetic engineering, pesticides and over-processing. And things aren't getting any cheaper.

With the rising costs of gas, so too the grocery bills go up. What to do?


Solutions seem to be cropping up.



Community gardens and urban plots are gaining in popularity.

After declaring the urban gardening trend as well as taken note of the hipster farmer, trend aficionados PSFK recently documented one urbanite's commitment to the land in the form of urban allotments.

And for the more subversive there is the art of Guerilla Gardening.

So, quick review. Gas hits $4 dollars a gallon. People begin using public transportation, carpooling or biking to work. They also turn to gardening to decrease their grocery bills.

All of this sounds sort of, normal.

photo via web urbanist

what's your story?

Twitter has become my obsession du jour. Though I follow only fortysomething others, I feel a little more in the know, especially in the digital sea where innovation seems to be moving at quite a nice clip.

Bkkeeper is the latest twitter application to catch my eye. It allows you to track what you are reading, when you begin and finish a book, as well as mark those standout stanzas and "purple passages".

A quick trip to the site reminded me to buy Charles Leadbetter's WE THINK which will serve as my first bookmarked effort following the book's arrival next week.

First step: join twitter. Questions about twitter? You can check out the video presentation at the site. Then, follow bkkeeper directions here.

Sidenote regarding twitter, you can follow me here, I will probably follow you back and so begins another way to share.

quote of the day

"Once you can name something, you're conscious of it. You have power over it. You own it. You're in control."

–Robin Williams, not the comedian, author of design books like this one.

shared stimuli

Have a good story about how you spent your stimulus check? Share it at this site. Judging by the number of entries per topic it looks like a lot of folks paid down their debt, improved their homes & gardens or paid for new cars, gas or maintenance on older ones.

What did you do?

seasonal debut

oh pink peony, how I love thee...more peony love here

photo via flickr

public listing

2 ideas for plotting your future (short & long term).

To Do Tattoo, purchase your official hand writing kit here.
found via cool blog swiss miss.

Or, for the more serious goal-setter who is savvy to social media benefits, 43 things offers a public forum to list goals, chart progress and provide/elicit support to/from others.

What's on your to do list? Mine includes visiting Austin, Texas (SXSW '09?)

polaroid love

Many inspirational blogs document love for polaroid pics but here are two that are especially good:

the above is the bloghead for a girl and her polaroid. Jen, the artist, has some very cool sharpie projects being documented there as well as here.

I would live in the visual world of nectar & light if possible. Jenifer Altman's photos and writing are lovely, lovely, lovely.

saying it with music

In lieu of other creative pursuits, there is the appealing comfort of trying to make a good music mix. My mixes are made for friends, siblings and most often myself. But back in the courtship days the mix tape was key. It provided a way to say I like you, I get you, we have things in common. And choice selections offered a glimpse into the depth of your feeling. A you know what I mean that went straight to the heart.





Recently, thanks to delicious, I came across the blog
cassette from my ex documenting gifted mixes. Check it out for a nostalgic smile. Perhaps you have your own contribution? A mix that was amazing or totally off the mark. A mix complete with artwork on the limited real estate afforded by the cassette cover.


A new school take on the mix tape can be found in muxtape. Here's how it goes: create your mix, make it good cause you only get one, upload mp3 files and viola! The mixes aren’t embeddable, but the links can be shared with anyone, and muxtapes are available for public access. Get started here.

I've been searching through muxtapes and enjoying the eclectic selections out there. As for my personal muxtape, I'm still crafting it and heeding the advice provided in High Fidelity.


Rob Gordon (as portrayed by John Cusack): The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

Do you have a favorite music compilation? What makes it good?

additional muxtape info found via mashable!

word of the week:

oversharing
It's a perfect starting place for discussing public vs. private in these days of social media.

Have you been guilty of oversharing? Were there repercussions?

A few of my favorite things...

Bicycling, Public Clocks, Canadian Cities, YES!


photo via daily dose of imagery