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Curated Nº 11 — Studio Arhoj’s Ghosts

It's that time of the year again to share the new Curated gift, and once again it is something which we are very proud to share. It is a pleasure to introduce the work of Danish designer Anders Arhoj to our subscribers. The illustrator and interior designer started his inspirational studio in Tokyo, but now a days returned to his home city of Copenhagen, resulting in a combination of worlds which one clearly picks up in the output of Studio Arhoj. The colors he uses, the shapes, the minimalism. Not only the Scandinavian, but certainly Japanese influences come back in all of these elements. Exclusively for my Curated subscribers he created a series of his incredible Ghosts in black and white. A few years ago he designed these Ghosts along with Louise Gaarmann, based on the believe of the Japanese Shinto religion that everything in nature has a soul - even mountains, rocks and plants. The Ghosts can be used - in Arhoj's words - as "paper weights, doorstops, toys, wedding ring holders kitchen talismans or as companion on a lonely night without friends to talk to." And the great thing is that each Ghost is unique, completely hand made, glazed, baked and with its own color form. [ Continue reading ]

Journal de Nîmes Nº 11

Last week marked the first great release of 2015: Journal de Nîmes Nº 11 was officially launched at Tenue de Nîmes, with many more releases and projects laying ahead in this exciting year. The all-yellow issue resolves around The Future and although this seems the case with every new Journal, feels like another step towards the next level. To tell the story on how we see the future, a narrative was created which examines both past and future, based on the idea that if you want to look ahead, you can not do so without finding the roots from where progression will grow. In Nº 11 the brands are presented, which capture everything that we feel is required to be successful in the 21st century. On the one hand this resulted in a story on one of the biggest brands of the last ten years, Acne, but also Porsche is featured through a story on Ron Dickinson, founder at Singer Vehicle Design shot by Thomas Tukker. Our favorite Hancock is to be found as a prime example of a brand translating traditional techniques to the 21st century and also the first introduction of the Tenue de Nîmes Private Label is here, searching for timeless appeal and quality in all its designs. Our upcoming adventure into the world of optics named Mottainai is also presented for the very first time ever, implementing elements from the past into a futuristic concept. We will dwell on those thrilling projects in the near future, when the time has come, until then enjoy Tenue's exclusive vision for the future. [ Continue reading ]

2014 — 2015

Another year flew by! A year with so many beautiful milestones! The launch of Our Current Obsessions with Gertrud & George. A portrait by Freunde von Freunden. The opening of Fam Stegeman (design project online soon in our portfolio). The tenth issue of the Journal de Nîmes (nr eleven is available next week!). And the collaboration between Tenue de Nîmes and Pastoe.
Some amazing content with your most favourite posts here at Another Something like The Loft, The Monocle Guide to Good Business, Ouur and The Age of Collage.
Thank you all for being part of this, and staying with us all the time!
We promise the new year will bring even more! [ Continue reading ]

Another Gift Guide Preview 2014 x Nuji

This year was a very special one for us as we finally opened Our Current Obsessions, with the exhibition named NOIR as the debut edition. To celebrate NOIR one last time, we decided that everything turns black in our annual Another Gift Guide once more. Like last year, we’ve selected a number of our favorites from the Guide which are exclusively previewed by our friends at Nuji. In this year's Gift Guide one will find some names which we proudly introduced in the course of NOIR and some additions, forming the definite final chapter of our obsession with the color black. For those who followed the first OCO one will find familiar names like GERTRUD & GEORGE, AcneJR, Floris Hovers, Sort of Coal, the beautiful 'Tom Ford' book, the Kaweco Sport, and our favorite hand wash by Aesop. But also this year's extraordinary discovery: ISAORA's one-of-a-kind nylon Mac coat,  Killspencer's mini indoor basketball and Globetrotter's 33" black suitcase are included, amongst others. Enjoy this preview and stay tuned for the whole Gift Guide which we'll present from today until the 25th of December in high speed. [ Continue reading ]

Tenue de Nîmes x Travelteq

Last week marked the moment of the release of another exciting project, which we now can finally share: the second collaboration between Tenue de Nîmes and Travelteq, after the first one dating back to 2011, with the new joint effort 3 years later resulting in the co-creation of two all-new designs of Travelteq's modern classic; the 'Trash' Laptop bag. The collaboration is highly limited to only 30 hand made pieces, which are produced at the Travelteq factory in Tuscany, Italy, which we visited when the last collaboration came about. The handmade accessories represent the best of two worlds as they are made from Travelteq's signature Florentine Vacchetta leather combined with what forms the blood in the veins of the Tenue de Nîmes universe: characteristic Japanese selvage denim. With one version predominantly made from denim, with leather details, and the other boasting only denim details and a leather body. As with all premium products by Travelteq, the leather of the bags gets its beautiful deep cognac color thanks to the vegetable tanning process, with the design of the bag forming eight compartments, of which three are zipped, plus one for anything the size of a cigar and the main compartment for your laptop of maximally 15 inches. [ Continue reading ]

ENG by Raymond Lemstra & Sybren Karst

The collaboration between Our Current Obsessions and our friend Raymond Lemstra was established early in the creation of NOIR. Being fans of Raymond’s vision for years now, both within his graphic work and the few sculptures he had made in the past, it was decided quickly to create another one of those fascinating creatures, but now in jet black instead of his usual strong colors, exclusively for NOIR. Raymond introduced Sybren Karst, specialized in woodwork, early in the proces, who proved to be the perfect partner for Lemstra, and together they created, all from old wooden play blocks, the extraordinary sculpture which is clearly marked with Raymond’s signature aesthetic and named ‚Eng’, which means scary in Dutch. We are extremely pleased with the result and hope for more beautiful collaborations by Raymond and Sybren in the future. [ Continue reading ]

GERTRUD & GEORGE by Ramon Haindl

Due to busy schedules on both ends, the collaboration between Our Current Obsessions and the very talented Ramon Haindl was realized only two days before the opening on Friday the 5th of September. On that grey Wednesday we got in the car at the end the of morning in Utrecht and drove to Ramon’s hometown Frankfurt, with the GERTRUD & GEORGE Overnighter which just had arrived a day earlier in the trunk, filling in the only shared gap in our agendas to get together. Ramon had been working early and long hours in Stuttgart the days before, and arrived back in Frankfurt only a few moments before we got there, which didn’t temper his or our enthusiasm to make it happen, no matter what was needed. The piece created by Ramon exemplifies his unpolished collage/mixed media approach in his free work, which we particularly love and special features his young dog Vila. The key inspiration for the piece lays in Ramon’s observation of a sharp parallel between the dog’s fur and the grain of the Buffalo leather used by GERTRUD & GEORGE, which he caught beautifully in this collage of analogue and digital photography plus handwritten text. [ Continue reading ]

GERTRUD & GEORGE

We are extremely proud to elaborately present lifestyle brand GERTRUD & GEORGE: the main collaborator in the very first Our Current Obsession named NOIR. The brand which is the brainchild of the very gifted Nick F. Cerutti, is a tribute to Gertrude Stein and George Sand, whose lives and respective bodies of work never ceased to redefine the art of writing and one's perception of gender. Founded in 2001 to serve bespoke and semi-bespoke purposes prominently in Japan to begin with, GERTRUD & GEORGE nurtures an intrinsic sense of equilibrium between aesthetics, function and execution in order to conceive pristine high-end goods. Since 2011 Nick and his partner Mathieu Annen have shifted their focus towards accessories and bags, which resulted in a perfect jet-black line named The Esquire Suite, consisting of 7 models which come in three different sizes and varying river buffalo grains and depths. [ Continue reading ]

Our Current Obsessions Nº 1 – NOIR

Last Friday was a very special day. After a lot of hard work over the course of the last couple of months we were finally able to open a next chapter in the AS&Co universe: a tactile space that will be open for the public named Our Current Obsessions. The new space, which also houses the studio, can in many ways be seen as a direct result of what has been created online since the eruption of Another Something in 2009, but with more focus in its purpose. Our Current Obsessions will hybridize the traditional concept of an art gallery with a retail-space, always based around one particular theme in which we will take a deep-dive both off- and online. Located right at the mouth of one of Amsterdam's main canals, it is a little dream come true that finally our love for the ‘beauty of cultures’ can be touched and shared in the analogue world. [ Continue reading ]

Curated Nº 10 — The White Rabbit

We have been a little quiet about our last couple of Curated gifts, but last week we celebrated the release of already the tenth gift for our subscribers. For this tenth anniversary we collaborated with Rotterdam-based design label Sweatshop Deluxe, which offers young designers the chance to produce limited released of their designs and helped us with the production of The White Rabbit. This porcelain rabbit we created is a design of Lise Lefebvre, a French designer, who is based in Amsterdam. Next to the work she produces with her studio, she also works as the head of education for product design at the Willem de Kooning Academie Rotterdam and she teaches at the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. The exclusive limited editions of the faceted porcelain rabbit were dipped in indigo glazing, giving them an unique beautiful two-toned appearance, as if The White Rabbit just took a little dip in magical water. [ Continue reading ]

Freunde von Freunden Workplaces

We have a long history (and friendship) with German interview-magazine Freunde von Freunden, and therefore finding Joachim's interview online this morning almost feels like coming full circle. After first writing about Freunde von Freunden as early as 2011 and for instance creating the Another Someting x FvF mixtape in 2012; it is clear to say that it is a very special honor to be part of the Freunde von Freunden Workplaces profiles. On a sunny Saturday some weeks ago, Felicitas Olschewski and photographer Jordi Huisman visited the new studio at the edge of Amsterdam's city center in the historical Nieuwmarkt area - almost feeling like a little village within the village of Amsterdam - in which we find ourselves in a beautiful spot right at the mouth of what becomes the Herengracht canal. The conversation starts at the beginning of Joachim's career, dropping out of art school, the love for collecting, favorite projects that were created over the years and finally the exciting projects that lay ahead. [ Continue reading ]

Denham x Tenue de Nîmes

Last week the official release of the first collaboration between Tenue de Nîmes  and our friend Jason Denham was finally here. With combined forces a special Double Dutch limited edition varsity sweatshirt was created. Triggered by vintage Japanese denim and chambray monogram fabrics, the Tenue de Nîmes ‘cross’ log is represented on the sweater alongside Jason's 'scissors’ and Amsterdam’s triple X logo as a tribute to Japanese textile. The sweatshirt’s design features a subtle twist that employs unconventional single-jersey gussets beneath the arms to increase comfort, movement and breathability. Overall spoken a clean, with subtle repeated grid pattern sweater was created for both men and women celebrating excellence in denim from Amsterdam. [ Continue reading ]

Pastoe x Tenue de Nîmes

We are very happy to finally share the earlier announced and just released Pastoe x Tenue the Nîmes collection, featuring special denim editions of two Pastoe classics: the FM06 lounge chair and the KM05 stool. The collection is based on the shared love for quality and craftsmanship by both the centennial Utrecht-based company and Tenue. Furthermore the collaboration underlines both companies’ philosophy of using sustainable materials and striving for simplicity, functionality and eye for detail. The FM06 lounge chair will be available in black steel wire with walnut wooden armrests and features a Kurabo-denim upholstered seat and back cushion, which has an exclusive leather patch attached at the side, showing both the ‘Pastoe x Tenue de Nîmes’ logo and its serial number. The KM05 stool also comes in black steel wire and features a detachable Kurabo-denim cushion, also with a leather patch containing the ‘Pastoe x Tenue de Nîmes’ logo. From today, both the lounge chair and the stool are available exclusively in the Tenue the Nîmes stores and online. [ Continue reading ]

Another Collection Illustrated 02

We proudly present the second installment of our Another Collection Illustrated. This time we collaborated with the very talented Tavan Maneetapho, who created four beautiful illustrations based on several Boro cloths we have in our collection. Tavan is an animator and illustrator currently finishing up her third year at Kingston University, London. She combines traditional and digital techniques and tends to draw inspiration from her Asian background. The culture and symbolism in Thailand can often be mystical and alluring and definitely filters through to her work. She tries to communicate these ideas using imagery only and hopes that they are thus understood universally. The good things in life for her are reading a good comic in the sun, drawing with ink, drawing girls, longboarding and books by Douglas Coopland. We are extremely happy with her beautiful and slightly creepy interpretations of the Japanese cloths, which in our eyes are the perfect hybrid of pure craftsmanship and utmost aesthetica.

— As published in Journal de Nîmes No 10 — [ Continue reading ]

Journal de Nîmes Nº 10

We are extremely proud to present the 10th issue of Journal de Nîmes, which was released at Tenue de Nîmes last Friday in the midst of the Amsterdam Denim Days. In honor of the denim event, this particular issue was drenched in indigo and might just be our most ambitious magazine till date. The Amsterdam Denim Days, which took place from Wednesday until Saturday, brought the national and international denim community to the city with the highest concentration of denim brands. The event was a collaborative effort of The House of Denim initiative, Modefabriek (Blueprint) and HTNK Fashion recruitment & consultancy and among other events featured the American Kingpins Show, which previously took place in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Journal de Nîmes Nº 10 features several in-depth stories on individuals and initiatives from the world of denim and some photographic editorials, among which is a shoot giving the spectator a peek into the ever-growing denim archive of Tenue de Nîmes. [ Continue reading ]

52 Weeks, 52 Cities

In his project '52 Weeks, 52 Cities', developed exclusively for German museum Marta Herford, my brother Iwan Baan takes the spectator on a one-year photographic journey around the world. Always on the lookout for ingenious homes in unexpected places and outstanding construction projects. Süddeutsche Zeitung described the influence of Iwan: “our image of architecture like no other”. He has been working, very successfully, worldwide for architects including Rem Koolhas, Herzog & de Meuron, Toyo Ito or Zaha Hadid. A characteristic of his pictorial language is the engagement with the close relationship between human and architecture, between social use and the various spatial situations. [ Continue reading ]

The Dutch Stamps

We are super proud to share our latest work, the new national and international stamps of 2014 for the Netherlands. Together with Fleur Derogee and with the good help of Willem van Roosmalen we’ve created a series of stamps showcasing the very stereotypical icons of the Netherlands in af very, very Dutch way. With a hint to the old Delfts-blue, we transformed the icons into monotone coloured objects, almost like little porcelain statues, or 3D printed if you will, and put them into the abstract Dutch landscapes. All in the national colours red, white and blue. [ Continue reading ]

2013 — 2014

2013 was an amazing year! A year with great heights, far travels, and inspiring connections. Trips to Tokyo, New York, Basel and more. Always dipping into the unknown, meeting inspiring people and discovering great stories. Business-wise it was a preparatory year. We’ve worked on the new Dutch stamps which will be launched on the second of January 2014. We’re working on our own watch brand. We’re working on a new bicycle brand, a travel concept, a new shop experience and much, much more that will see daylight in 2014. We’ve strengthened our team with Chris, our premium researcher and chief editor of the blog, and we’ve worked together with the so many amazing people. We hardly can’t wait for the new year and really looking forward to keep it all going. Thank you all for the support and have a great start of the new year!

Our favourites of 2013 > [ Continue reading ]

Curated Nº 6 — Cubebot

New York-based designer David Weeks has proven, for many years now, to be a highly creative spirit. The designer has a very high level of production, from beautiful minimalist sofas and chairs to a nicely balanced mobile lamp. But our favorite of all his work are the wooden animals and robots that he makes in collaboration with Areaware. The first animal he ever produced was a bear of almost 35 inches high, made of 17 pieces of beech wood, put together by elastic. A beautiful and clever creature, who was able to stand in all kinds of positions.  Afther the bear came a gorilla, an elephant, a rhinoceros, a crocodile, a pig, and eventually, as it is bound to happen everywhere at one point, the robot entered the scene. [ Continue reading ]

Another Collection Illustrated

The fascinating essence of collecting is the dynamic starting when one finds an object, and by placing it within the context of other items, creating a new entity: the collection. Whether it's a set of objects with great similarity or objects that have no apparent connection, within the context of a collection everything goes as long as the objects are brought together by the collector(s). As the Another Something & Company studio, over the years, has become a vault for (an) ever-expanding collection(s), we found it was time to start sharing some of the objects one finds here. And by doing so in an illustrated form, creating a whole new collection which we named: Another Collection illustrated. [ Continue reading ]

Journal de Nîmes Nº 9

Last friday we celebrated the 5th anniversary of Tenue de Nîmes. When we started Tenue de Nîmes in 2008 we could not possibly have imagined where our lovely journey would take us in the following years. Our first Journal de Nîmes presented our Tenue de Nîmes philosophy to the world. And five years later here’s the 10th issue. The 5 Year Anniversary issue. [ Continue reading ]

Another Gift Guide Preview 2013 x Nuji

As a preview of our annual Another Gift Guide we’ve selected 10 of our favorites exclusively for Nuji. Number one is the amazing Nomos Lambda, a wonderful timepiece in 18-carat white or rose gold. Number two are the leather crochet touchscreen gloves by Mujjo, both geeky and style-full. Number three is our all-time favourite the 33” Globe Trotter Centenary in grey and black. Number four is the just released Watch Roll by our friends of Travelteq, a need to have for every watch collector. Illesteva’s Felix Light Tortoise makes a perfect number five. Number six is the lovely collection of City Cycling Guides by Rapha. The beautifully handcrafted apron’s of Editor’s Index is number seven. Eight is the men’s travel essential, Baxter of California’s Travel Kit. Number nine are the amazing rubberised hand-made products of Hancock, with this indigo jacket at Tenue de Nîmes as our favourite. And the last one is this pair of Nike Free Trainers. [ Continue reading ]

Cleartones Pure

Say hello to the completely updated website and a new set of Cleartones by our good friend Hugo Verweij - with a newly illustrated world by yours truly Another Company.
The new set, the Cleartones Pure, is based on the 'sine wave'. The sine wave is the only sound in the world which can be called a pure tone. In fact it is the only sound consisting of a single frequency, without overtones.  This seems a good starting point for a set of minimalist ringtones, but a single sine wave by itself doesn't sound very compelling. Hugo carefully sculpted it using techniques like frequency modulation and subtle effects can definitely bring it to life. [ Continue reading ]

Another Dutch Design – Volkskrant Magazine

The national Dutch newspaper Volkskrant invited us, together with Parra, Noma Bar, Andy Rementer, Geneviève Gauckler, Arjan Benning & Nina Broersen,  to create an image for their magazine to celebrate Dutch Design and the upcoming Dutch Design Week.
The image we've made is a collection of old and new icons of Dutch Design. From old windmills to the new CCTV building by Rem Koolhaas. From the Rietveld chair and the Chest of Drawers by Tejo Remy to the Egg Vase and Horse Lamp by Marcel Wanders. From the old Fokker and  Daf airplanes and cars to the new Joolz strollers. All very Dutch, all beneath sea level...  [ Continue reading ]