Just back from visiting our UK distributors 2Squared / Elusive in Manchester. They’ve created a nice room for showing the new Red Wing line and our new SS11 collection, check:

In the middle of the new sales season now, hectic but always good times…just back from tradeshows and visiting our European distributors. I’ll try to do some more posting now and then. Here some sneak peeks from the photoshoot we did recently for our Spring Summer 2011 collection…

Thanks to Piet Oosterbeek for the photography, Sophie, Roger & Bob for modelling and Hilde for styling. Great work…in February 2011 you’ll see the results;)

Summer is here in Holland and festivals in full mode. One of the sweetest and juiciest events is Appelsap, that will celebrate its 10th anniversary on the 1st of August in Oosterpark Amsterdam… Most famous because of the unique vibe and high quality of resident dj’s such as SP, Edzon & Lil’Vic, in the last 10 years Appelsap evolved into being one of the best Dutch hiphop-events.

In the beautiful Oosterpark they’ll take hiphop back to its roots, while reaching 5000 music lovers every year. We’ve hooked up and for their new campaign Ontour made sure some of the table guests look sharp in our Summer shirts:

This edition Clipse will be headlining, De Jeugd will be popping some new tracks from their soon to be released new album, Rich medina from Philly, Dimlite from Swiss and ofcourse all suspects from the Dutch Appel scene will be there. Check the complete program here!

So when you’re visiting Amsterdam the 1st of August, be sure not to miss this! This one to get into the mood:

We love festivals. And Lowlands is my favourite. I think it was in ‘95 that I went for the first time as a teenager and that truly made a change in my life and the way you can actually party for 3 / 4 days..(just did some research and indeed ‘95 was my first edition).

Since then I only missed a few editions and throughout the year the urge to be there grows the closer the date gets. If you know, you know. There’s just something very special about this place. Experienced some epic moments there and the ecstatic feeling I have when I’m there, contrasts with the miserable mindstate the week after…

Lowlands 2010 coming up and we were honoured to be asked by Freshcotton and the Lowlands commision to design 2 graphics that expressed our ‘Lowlands feeling’ for the upcoming edition. For us the festival is about partying 24hrs and the feeling of ‘coming home’ or ‘being back’ in the Lowlands world…what expresses this better than the big houses, the colourful circus tents where the magic happens?

You feel this? Then hurry up to the Lowlands Freshcotton shop to get yours!

Can’t wait to pack my tent and start driving and see all the smiling faces again. See you in front of the ‘24 uurs tent’ and the ‘Groovetube’

Recently BLEND magazine got some new people on board, and the outcome is fresh. The graphics, photography and content are on point and you feel the love and enthousiasm that went into the making of these changes.

New identity, new format and an interesting publishing schedule with 6x per year the BLEND Paper (a ‘newspaper’ like format), distributed in the Benelux and 4x per year BLEND Magazine (a more ‘glossy’ edition), distributed worldwide.

For the current Paper and Magazine we teamed up and all readers who subscribe, will receive one of our ‘Stranded’ Laptop bags. Subscribe here!

Big up to Joachim Baan and Perre van den Brink amongst others for the fantastic result. Looking forward to the next issue!

Coming friday our good friends from Re-Issue will celebrate their fifth anniversary. The same age as Ontour (more about that later) and since day one we’ve been working together…good times! So ofcourse we’ll be there friday to toast with The Hyena…come join us

NICE

Etienne is in China now and visited the World Expo in Shanghai last week. Here 2 highlights he sended through..

First the UK pavilion by Thomas Heatherwick, that really stands out and is completely different from the rest both in design as concept:

Called Seed Cathedral, the wooden structure is pierced by 60,000 fibre-optic rods that each contain plant seeds at their tips:

These rods will draw light into the pavilion during the day and direct it outwards at night:

After the expo the rods and seeds will be distributed to schools in China and the UK….we think the concept and execution is exceptional!

Besides also interesting to see how diverse the work from Heatherwick Studios is, from architecture, to urban infrastructure, sculpture, furniture design and products. This was the first piece of work I saw from him years ago in London: Rollin Bridge.

Next highlight was (ofcourse;) the Dutch Pavillion by one of Eindhovens finest John Kormeling: Happy Street.

The pavilion is constructed in a figure eight – a lucky number that suggests fortune in Chinese culture. It is mainly composed of a 400-meter pedestrian street that curves in a figure of eight and 26 small houses along the street. Built completely on stilts, the street looks like a suspended roller coaster:

It is an open pavilion with a ‘happy’ atmosphere. Each of the 26 distinctive small houses forms a mini pavilion that celebrates Dutch innovation in the use of space, energy and water. John Kormelings work always evokes reaction, from lovers to haters…I just read this online in comments: “I like the irony in this pavillion, it is not a pompous symbol of imperial power display, but rather a refined joke.” Hmmm…knowing Johns innovative ideas and radical designs I’m very happy he represents our country!

Logo by Space3, other Eindhovens proud:

Our partner in China Source made a nice SS10 lookbook showcasing their brands:

Recently I’ve been fascinated by the works of Sander Plug and Lernert Engelberts. Unconsciously I saw most of their works on tv, the internet and on the streets last year, but never made the link between all of this, although you can clearly recognize their own graphic signature. It all came together when me and a friend from designstudio Mark A were talking about the Breda Film Festival a while ago where Lernert and Sander were guests showing their works.

I really like that they find the perfect balance between art and commercial projects and this striking combination of pure esthetics and fun. They don’t restrict themselves to one type of media, but produce commercials, leaders, art movies, documentaries, posters and installations. I really relate to their stuff and wanted to show some inspiring work. This was one of their first works I saw: Chocolate Bunny:

Recently I almost twisted my neck while cycling across the city seeing these posters they’ve made for the Amsterdam Gay & Lesbian Film Festival:

This is what they say about the next video: “Commit and dedicate yourself to even the most stupid ideas that come to mind. We ve built a glass harp and learned to play this 18th-century musical instrument. Instead of a classical piece we choose the classic 20th-century piece ‘No limit’ by 2unlimited — easily the worst song ever!”

Short video as part of a two hour documentary “Revenge”:

This ‘Color correction’ movie in which they color corrected 1kg of discodip during the course of an average working day, is insane!

This video they’ve done for Aux Raus is so fuckin funny (and very recognizable for Dutchies who have ever been to a ‘koffietafel’):

Much more fantastic work at their website We love our work. Speaking of Aux Raus…tommorow we’ll head out to their very own Aussie release party at De Dep! Hakkuhh!