While putting the last hand on the design of the Mobile Cycle Club Europe we are doing for Rapha, they opened a new chapter of their famous Cycle Clubs, this time in our hometown Amsterdam. In the beautiful historical center of Amsterdam, on the 9 streets and around the corner of our new gallery/studio space of Our Current Obsessions (soon more on that...), Tenue de Nîmes and the Red Wing Shoes Store the Rapha Cycle Club Amsterdam welcomes road cyclists from every continent. Tales of glory, pain or suffering transcends their memory in this historical neighborhood.  Although a little challenging when tourist are flocking around, this will be the perfect place to start a ride, escaping the city for the windy northern water lands, making your round on the ‘Ronde Hoep’, or a longer ride towards Utrecht and the Amerongse Berg (Mountain of Amerongen with its 69,2 meter high, yes we have that). [ Continue reading ]

Today, eBay and Sotheby’s will launch the first two live events in the all new Sotheby’s live auctions experience with the themes 'Photographs', starting at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT), and 'New York' starting at 20:00 EDT (0:00 GMT tomorrow). The experience enables art aficionados and casual collectors alike to participate in Sotheby’s live auctions anytime, anywhere with the same confidence and access of those bidding in person in the New York salesroom. The Sotheby’s live auctions destination features an innovative Museum View transitions, that bring the experience of walking through a museum or gallery to life in the online world – including enhanced zoom, in-context images, and item-level video. Participants - regardless of their location - see the exact same item and current real-time bidding online and experience real-time bidding sensitive to the millisecond. Today's auctions include work by Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, Brassaï,  Robert Longo, next to the New York Yankees stadium sign from circa 1973. We love this promising collaboration between the two retail giants, make sure to check out the gems going on sale today - and try your luck. [ Continue reading ]

And another interesting new name in the world of watches - also launched at Baselworld two weeks ago: the elegant new watch journal named The Hour. Exploring the culture of watches in the broadest sense of the word, The Hour not only focusses on the creation process of the finer timepieces produced but also sheds light on the people behind these intricate processes - under the creative direction of editor-in-chief Josh Sims, author of 'Vintage Menswear', which we wrote about in 2013. The first issue features an interview with Stephen Urquhart – president of Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, Omega – in addition to conversations with individuals beyond the watch industry, including chef Wolfgang Puck, Brioni‘s Umberto Angeloni, artist Gemma Champ and designer Andrew Pemberton. Providing both candid insight into the production of watches and reflections on the watch industry’s cultural influences on other creative fields, from fashion, photography to the culinary arts. Keep an eye on this beautiful new magazine. [ Continue reading ]

A little under two weeks ago, the impressive next-generation smartwatch brand Vector Watch officially launched for the public in what other city then Basel - where at that moment Baselworld took place. With an aim to provide a more personalized and intuitive experience on a smartwatch device, the Vector brand is supported by a strong team of developers as well as the ex CEO of Timex Joe Santana, ex Nike Designer Steve Jarvis and Vector CTO Andrei Pitis. The launch event took place in the beautiful surroundings of the Gare du Nord venue - the old train station for Basel - a fitting location for a product that looks to meld traditional watch design with intuitive technology. With the vast amount of information and notifications we receive on our connected devices now a days, the London-based brand has developed the smartwatch device to simplify day-to-day activities and routines to give users the power to choose what they wish to focus on. Introduced as a stylish and desirable piece of jewelry rather than a gadget, the Vector smartwatch looks to fill the gap in the market left by fashion-focused smartwatches lacking technological innovation, and technology-orientated wearables. [ Continue reading ]

The brainchild of Australian creatives Hayley Bonham and Nadia Rosa, Maison D’Amore was born out of the ambitious desire to create a range of candles that would rival the world’s best. Partnering with one of the most respected French perfumers and created under art direction of Jo Cutri, Maison D'Amore is an Australian-designed Parisian-made luxury fragrance house, producing fine perfumed candles explicitly for him and her - which still sets them apart in a field which slowly sees its gender borders come down. The Maison D'Amore's packaging features a minimal elegance using black and white design, which was debuted to the world in 2012 with two candles. The first is 'Fleur & Rhubarb', a feminine scent comprised of jasmine, magnolia and grapefruit, along with keynotes of rose, rhubarb and peony and the subtle scent of mimosa musk. The second is 'Feuille de Tabac', a smoky, gentleman’s fragrance made of tobacco leaves and elemi wood, with base notes of cinnamon, honey and vanilla. [ Continue reading ]

Whether he's shooting on location for TIME magazine, portraying a creative mind - while discussing the difficulties of working in the field - for The Great Discontent or documenting a day in the life of a young Chicago rapper/gang member (which seems to be almost synonymous these days), the talented Chicago-based photographer Ryan Lowry finds the right frames in all situations. Next to his work on commissions, out of which the TGD cover shoot was our introduction to his work, Lowry also created several series of free work. We are particularly drawn to his series named 'Badlands' which reveals the diversity of his photographic eye. In his portrait photography Lowry uses a lot of light, exposing as many details of the subject as possible, yet within 'Badlands' the photographer leaves a lot of room for imagination. The moody black and white images portray the dessert from a very mysterious perspective - creating an almost moon-like appearance - in which light and dark are strongly juxtaposed, both in the landscapes as the few male figures dressed in white and dark in some of the photographs. The mystique of these images continue to fascinate us thoroughly and we look out to more work by the talented photographer. [ Continue reading ]

It took around three years to develop - and it became ready just in time for the Baselworld show: NOMOS Glashütte presents the so called DUW 3001, a super impressive new standard caliber from its Glashütte watchmaking workshops. At only 3.2 millimeters, this motor is incredibly flat - flatter than almost anything else that selfwinds and is produced in series in the watch industry - and also extremely accurate. The few other automatic calibers available are either less accurate or extremely expensive. But NOMOS Glashütte will remain in its established price category. Nearly all the parts in DUW 3001 are placed between the base plate and the three-quarter plate.The ratchet wheel, for example, is now placed entirely under the three-quarter plate - and so needed to be made flatter than before. To avoid friction between the wafer-thin parts, a special new material was used; it has excellent, low friction properties, is extremely even, and is easy to form and harden. So impressive! [ Continue reading ]