During the pandemic, in search of more togetherness, we collaborated with Jordi Carles Subirà and started a little online network which we named Together&. In the last few months, we evolved a few elements in this endeavour to explore if there's a real potential to upgrade it to a proactive professional network for collaboration and co-creation. Our end goal would be to actively assemble like-minds, in search of resonance between people, projects, products and (freelance) client work. At this point it still lives mostly online, but it will break out of that digital domain more and more in the future to come. For our first (network-only) edition released under the label, we connected the exceptional bio-dynamic Vineyard Dassemus with artist Andreas Samuelsson’s stripped-down essence. [ Continue reading ]

A few years back we’ve featured Koen Tossijn’s work on his Wardrobe project, a contemporary menswear brand bringing high quality basics. Koen was always charmed by simple things, things that don’t scream for attention but balance between presence and absence. The things he makes reflect the beauty of natural materials and deep knowledge of the best craftsmen in their field.
Recently he shifted into furniture design together with Studio the Future and Sugi Kojo in Ukiha, Japan, in a projected called ‘Together. A chair is made for sitting’ where he designed a chair and a table. [ Continue reading ]

As one of the last features of this year we wanted to share this special project we did at NewWerktheater. Parallel to our collaboration of last month with Lennard Kok, the Fallen Bird, we’ve been busy in our other role at NewWerktheater and …,staat to work on another collaboration we’re extremely excited about; Jupe by Jackie x …,staat.

The idea behind NewWerktheater Editions is to explore disciplines beyond those that are generally our own. To create great things with great people. To see what we can get from the ground and where we could end up if we walk a road unknown. 'Aesthetic Memories' exemplifies precisely this. This body of works took us somewhere we never could have imagined beforehand. We were drawn to the mastery required for this ancient technique. First, we fell in love with the craft, then we met the person behind it and fell in love all over again. Meeting Jackie was one of those instant clicks. You know the type.

When we started discussing designs, deciding on form, translating our inspiration for color, we soon found ourselves entering the territory we set out to find – challenging tradition. Hand-embroidery is traditionally decorative, traditionally representational. But, what if we worked with abstractions? What if we clashed the intricacy of the handwork with geometric elements? [ Continue reading ]

From the moment we worked with Utrecht-based illustrator Lennard Kok for the rebrand of Travelteq in 2015, the ambition was set to collaborate again. Eventually it took another year to really sit down and discuss it. At that point Lennard confessed he wanted to explore new terrain in his artistic practice and shared his ambition to reach beyond illustration. Through our consensual admiration for certain inspirational artist editions, we set the bar at next level and eventually came to the conclusion this would mean we needed to take Lennard's clear lined flat signature and find a way to translate it into the sculptural. More so, as paradigms continue to shift under the pressures of digital globalization with significant fractures ahead of us that seem to usher in a new era, we searched for a statement that (at least in our heads) would mark the specific moment of creation.

In the dialogue that followed, we kept returning to a series of crashed vehicles Lennard had made earlier that year. When we finally started seeing the airplane out of that series as the ultimate symbol, we knew we had found our subject that represented everything we aimed for. From that moment Michiel Verweij joined the project to bring Lennard's vision to life in 3D and soon Suzan Becking formed the last element of the equation as we wanted to materialize the sculpture into the perfect paradox: a crashing plane made out of porcelain. The final quest for perfection started, and eventually took a little longer than we hoped, but Friday the 13th, at last, graphite on paper was transformed into a black porcelain sculpture which we named 'Fallen Bird'.

We are extremely proud to present the result of our shared endeavor and are very thankful for this inspirational experience alongside Lennard, Michiel and Suzan. Now it's time for this 'Fallen Bird' to find its way all over the world again... We are ready for the next one (stay tuned)! [ Continue reading ]

The original source for a minimalistic lifestyle, Kinfolk, recently announced their latest family member in their inspirational series of books; 'The Kinfolk Entrepreneur, Making Business Personal'. Kinfolk visited over 40 entrepreneurs who offer tips, advice and inspiration for anyone hoping to forge their own professional path, all bound together in a beautiful hardcover 368 pages heavy book. Featured are names like Akira Minagawa, Armando Cabral, Ben Gorham, Britt Moran & Emiliano Salci, Damir Doma, Francesca Bonato, Joseph Dirand, Kevin Ma, Maayan Zilberman, Mette & Rolf Hay, Nina Yashar, Pum Lefebure, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Woo Youngmi & Katie Chung and many more. [ Continue reading ]

Three months ago, the inspirational Taipei-based space for art exhibitions, books and good coffee named Pon Ding presented a beautiful show named 'Gold and Green', which closed last month but remains a very inspirational cultural hybrid. The project is a collaborative effort by the established Austrian ceramic artist Matthias Kaiser and the emerging Taiwanese ceramic artist Hsian Jung Chen.

After chancing across some books about Chinese medicine, Kaiser became fascinated by the odd and unusual ingredients, like the organs of rare animals, and the kinky sounding remedies. The mysterious culture of traditional Chinese medicine sent him dreaming about other worlds. Kaiser’s works include the pieces fused with Chinese philosophy and his Asian experiences, and also the tools with gold, platinum or brass luster, which indicate the alchemy-like refining process of medicine. To Chen, Chinese medicine shops have a commonplace existence in his daily life, and he seldom ventures beyond their thresholds. Through reading and field research, Chen acquires more knowledge of Chinese medicine and gets inspirations from their stories, purposes, making process or appearance features. From their different points of view and experiences, these ceramic artists re-interpret, through their individual visual languages, the dwindling and partly-lost culture of traditional Chinese medicine.

The two artistic visions combined, resulted in a project that shows a clash of old and new; sharp and organic lines; smooth and rugged surfaces. Perfectly juxtaposed to form a fascinating selection of ceramics that tell the story of East and West exchange on more than one level with both artists clearly having found inspiration in the cultural tradition of the other, which in turn really inspires us. [ Continue reading ]

We recently encountered the beautiful work of Bangkok- and London-based fine jewelry designer Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura through her Spring/Summer 2017 campaign in a remarkable collaboration with Lena C. Emery and Oliver Knight's and Rory McGrath's creative studio OK-RM. Patcharavipa officially launched her eponymous label in 2014, after graduating from the prestigious Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London, but with the most recent photographic series she really took it to the next level. Next to her role as a designer that holds her heritage in high esteem, the Thai-born Patcharavipa is also a certified gemologist, which make up the two core elements one finds in her sensual creations — beautifully juxtaposed with sculpted forms and the shapes of nature in the imagery of the campaign, creating a super exciting dialogue with Patcharavipa's pieces, resulting in a remarkable visual synthesis that continues to fascinate. [ Continue reading ]

We have been deeply fascinated by the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum named 'kintsugi', from the moment we discovered it while researching for our optical project, which eventually became our neo-luxury brand Mottainai. Recently we discovered a next level of kintsugi-use, when we encountered the beautiful work of Korean artist Yeesookyung, who masterfully uses the technique to create incredible imperfect sculptures: biomorphic yet still elegant works, composed from mismatched porcelain through the centuries-old Japanese tradition. Her first series in the style, now 16 years old, titled 'Translated Vase' was inspired by a different artisan tradition, from her home country Korea, where porcelain works that are not deemed sublime are systematically destroyed. From that first series on, she has continued to make the fused pieces to growing international acclaim. Intrigued by these tossed aside works and shards, Yeesookyung began saving fragmented tea cups and pots rejected by contemporary masters. Honoring the works’ dismantled states, merging the unwanted works together in a way that heightens the beauty of their distress. In this way she blends diverse methods to form a contemporary process that evokes both the elegant designs of her homeland and the delicate rebuilding of damaged works in the Japanese tradition perfectly marrying aesthetics and craftsmanship. [ Continue reading ]

With the closing of the year upon us, looking back at the rather strange and undeniably eventful period of time that was 2016, there is still one important story that needs to be shared here: the transformation of Amsterdam-based perfume house Abel, which we worked on for most of the last twelve months and eventually was presented to the world at Tenue de Nîmes last month. It is a story that started already at the end of 2015 and on many levels became one of the most gratifying assignments completed in the last few years, period.

Although it is often not the first thing mentioned when speaking on these particular things, for us it was first and foremost of the highest pleasure to experience the kind of confidence in our vision as shown by Abel founder Frances Shoemack, who started her brand with two all-organic perfumes in 2012 and came to us in the winter of last year to redefine a new direction for the future. At that point several new fragrances were being perfected by Abel's 'nose' Isaac Sinclair, which would mark an important new chapter that asked to completely rethink all the existing paradigms. Finding strong inspirational anchor points through the traditional start of our proces; a deep dive into, in this particular case, the world of niche parfums, complemented by for instance the work of British poet T.S. Eliot, having a focus on the experience of time, and subsequently finding a visual language that in the richest way possible would translate the conceptual framework on an aesthetic level — over the course of the months that passed it resulted in a sharply redefined strategy, a rigorous repositioning of the brand and aligned with that new direction a completely restyled identity for the, at this point perfected, five piece collection of elegant natural 'living' fragrances that we coined vita odor. 

With some time passed, we can look back at both the process and the fruits of the work, and it is safe to say: it makes us as proud as anything we initiated ourselves in the past and it was a unique pleasure to have been part of it all. Now it's time the rest of the world finds out about Abel too! [ Continue reading ]

We've been appreciating the ambitious German bag and accessory label TSATSAS since their Aesthetic Habitat collaboration with our friend Ramon Haindl. This month, after presenting it for the first time during Berliner Mode Salon 2016, they return with a new inspirational artistic project named WHERE I END AND YOU BEGIN, which will be on display at the TSATSAS atelier in Frankfurt am Main through the end of January 2017. In every single one of their designs Esther Schulze-Tsatsas and Dimitrios Tsatsas, explore an object’s boundaries. Their bags and accessories, produced using precise patterns, are made up of countless individual pieces which are assembled using in a complex production process to create a coherent piece.

In the project, the color of the leather becomes a medium for highlighting the transitions within the bags and accessories. Until this moment all TSATSAS leather designs have been monochrome, hiding the fact that the products are made up of different sections. Using different colors for the various elements highlights that diversity, rendering the boundaries suddenly visible. Boundaries, either called for by the design, as with the LUCID tote bag, where different shades of leather come together in the front and back, or are set by the basis of aesthetic considerations, as with the HAZE clutch bag. The space in which the subject is addressed and the designs presented is a solid cube lined with leather. Other pieces that were involved in the project are the iconic FLUKE, cardholder CREAM TYPE 2, clutch bag HAZE and two other bags, LINDEN and LUCID, all featuring two contrasting shades of high-grade natural leather, which with all TSATSAS products is tanned in South Germany. The pieces created for WHERE I END AND YOU BEGIN are one-offs and do not form part of the collection — very inspirational stuff! [ Continue reading ]

The exhibition of '50 Masks Made in America' by Belgian artist Christophe Coppens at the ever-inspirational Please Do Not Enter ended a little under two months ago, but we can't but still share one of the most impressive projects we have encountered this year, despite failing to do so at the time of the two month stretch when they were actually on display in Los Angeles. Let's hope that the masks will travel somewhere else, anyway...

From May until July, the leading (hidden) concept store/gallery presented the very first Los Angeles exhibition of new works by Coppens, who's former master milliner and in the last decade primarily works in the fields of fashion and the arts, creating special sculptural projects. As the title clearly suggests '50 Masks Made in America' featured 50 new, mixed-media sculptural masks, all made by hand especially for the exhibition by the now Los Angeles-based Coppens. These wearable objects are informed by the artist's unique background at the intersection of couture and performance, and present surreal observations and commentary on his recent relocation to Los Angeles from a European perspective. Having created some of the most haunting and at the same time remarkably beautiful creations, which represent the country they portray in a way which will leave an undisputed (ever?)lasting impression on its spectator.

Coppens on what drove him in his creations:
I’ve been raised with American culture and pop culture, but now that I’ve been living here for three years I see so many faces, so many layers. These masks accompany my journey, far from home, making a new home in a place that feels so familiar and yet so incomprehensible. [ Continue reading ]

Inspired by the Japanese 'Mottainai' (もったいない) tradition which is centered around the idea that every object has a soul and should never be wasted, we are beyond the moon, together with optical expert Bijan Azami, to finally present the Mottainai Nº 1: a timeless pair of sunglasses created to last a lifetime.

It has been a long time coming, as we first mentioned the project here over a year ago, but it turned out a bit of a long-term effort to finally share the passion project which is the result of a relentless quest for (our) perfection. Nevertheless, the big moment is eventually here and we feel beyond proud to introduce to you what we have been working on together with Bijan for the last three years. Hopefully this will be the first of more materializations strongly rooted in the fundament that was slowly built since the inception of Another Something & Co, with everything that has been shared and created in the last 9 years being its field of reference. It is safe to say that this project approximates synthesis of the different fields we aim to be positioned in as close as possible.

Less but better: the Mottainai Nº 1 is one single frame, carved from the horn of the Indian water buffalo by gifted craftsman in the world’s best natural horn atelier in the West of Germany. Every frame individually given a unique hand-finished distressed vintage appearance, which will continue to show an evolving beauty over the years of use. [ Continue reading ]

Two years ago we discovered the unique magazine named Collective Quarterly, with an inspirational focussed approach in creating stories on travel, design and everything that applies to the overhauling leitmotif being the concept of discovery and wonderment — which proves to one of our favorite new niches in independent printed matter. Each issue of CQ spotlights a single geographic location in the United States by focusing on the artisans, music, food, and natural wonders that make it special. It took them and therewith the readers to Marfa for the debut, followed by the Absaroka Mountains, the Mad River Valley and the triangle between Santa Barbara, Ojai and Ventura in California.

For their recently released fourth issue, named Pisgah, the team traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, an area where, "carefree vacationers exist alongside deeply philosophical counterculturalists, who in turn live next to artisans quietly practicing their craft as they have for generations." The issue's subjects include itinerant buskers passing through town via railroad, neo-primitive communities seeking to live outside of civilization, a French World War II survivor who has devoted her life to building an art cathedral, and much, much more. It has resulted in yet another rich perspective on a place on earth which we didn't know before laying eyes on the remarkably insightful new issue. Make sure to get your hands on it and travel to the wonderous town from wherever you are. [ Continue reading ]

We discovered the inspirational creations of Berlin- and Tokyo-based olfactory platform AOIRO when they released the ceramic coal dripper set under their HAKUDO label, which comes in an incredible Powlownia wooden box. It was the elegant container that caught our attention in the first place, but what comes in the box, next to the scented woodwick candle that was released in the same series, forms a small but fine collection of remarkably well-balanced scented products. The scent of the HAKUDO line is inspired by the invisible layers of the mountain ground - the earthy and green-velvety moss, the soils that are rich in organic material, and the roots that distribute their lives deep beneath. Its profile offers dark and rich impression, dry and moist temperament with a hint of smokiness in the background.

Recently the German-Japanese brand introduced a perfect addition to the HAKUDO line with a remarkable new container for the scented candle: the Hasami Porcelain Edition. Created out of distinct Japanese Hasami porcelain (from the town of Hasami) the collaboration was formed in the pottery and atelier of porcelain craftsman Kyohei Baba after a visit by AOIRO founders Shizuko Yoshikuni and Manuel Kuschnig. The remarkable new container that resulted out of the dialogue that followed is directly based on the Yunomi cup, traditionally used in Japan to welcome guests and express gratitude when serving tea. An elegant and sophisticated gesture that is easily abandoned nowadays, which became the direct source of inspiration to breath new life into the almost forgotten item and revive the subtle yet contentment in the form of the scented candle. [ Continue reading ]

We've been celebrating the inspirational rugged designs of Los Angeles-based designer Stephen Kenn since the inception of his label about five years ago. While perfecting the fundament he has created with some of the most interesting minimal luxury furniture designs on the market, over the last few years Kenn has kept busy finding interesting creative partners in search of elegant variations of his existing aesthetic design vision. In 2014 he joined forces with fashion designer Simon Miller which resulted in an incredible indigo canvas collection of his sofa and armchair. Last month, on the 21st of April, Stephen Kenn returned with another impressive creative collaboration at the JF Chen gallery in Los Angeles: this time standing shoulder along shoulder with Longjourney menswear founders Alonzo Ester and Alex Carapetian. In their shared project repurposed motorcycle jackets and vintage sweatshirts are getting a second life. The collection includes a pair of black leather armchairs upholstered with panels from motorcycle jackets, and a sofa with a black nickel frame and cushions covered with strips of waxed vintage sweatshirts. Instead of the usual lack of aesthetic relevance of up-cycling projects, this collection truly marries both ethics and beauty, showing what a strong palette Kenn has created for different variations which we one by one really appreciate.   [ Continue reading ]

In March of 2014 we discovered Barcelona-based stationery and miscellanea company Octaevo, which at that point had just launced. Founded by Zurich-born creative Marcel Baer, who has a history in art direction and graphic design, the brand roots directly from the passions of its founder such as the sea, history, traveling and the Mediterranean, which were all translated into the elegant and colorful products of Octaevo. Soon after the launch the first collection was praised unanimously and found its way to stores all over the world. This month, Octaevo presents its collection for 2016 and it is again of our highest liking. The designs 'signed by the Mediterranean' show the familiar sunny color palette and next to for instance their wonderful philosophy and marble notes notebooks, which became instant classics, one finds some totally new creations by the hand of Baer and his team. [ Continue reading ]

We continue to immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of the finest fragrances on the market and last month we stumbled upon another incredible brand which proves to be very inspirational for us. The Dublin-based ROADS was founded in 2013 by Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduated Danielle Ryan, granddaughter of Ryanair founder, Tony Ryan; debuting with a collection consisting of 10 fragrances, each named after its direct inspiration or a fictional background story. After its foundation ROADS also introduced a book-publishing arm and documentary film production house under its brand, which all seems to make sense because of the extremely cohesive visual language and represented emotion in all branches. Last month, ROADS showed its continued leading creative energy with the introduction of 4 incredible new perfumes, this time inspired by the rich source being the African continent, both in scent as the commissioned art that decorates the packaging, adding great new depth to its already remarkable collection. [ Continue reading ]

As we are immersing ourselves in the fascinating world of luxury (niche) perfumes at the moment, working on an incredible project which will be revealed in a couple of months, we have encountered several impressive new brands which have set challenging high standards in the still quickly evolving field. One of those standouts perfume houses is the New York City-based D.S. & Durga, creating perfumes, colognes and scented candles in small batches, strictly using premium-sourced raw materials. All of their elegant scents are created exclusively in-house, with inspiration to be found in outdated herbal wisdom, native ritual medicine, lore and legends, historical movements and Americana. The different D.S. & Durga scents tell different stories of prospectors, gentry, trailblazers, frontier women, drawing rooms, workbenches, cowboys - fragments of half remembered legends, movements, events, and foreign lands. [ Continue reading ]

At the end of last month, Antwerp-based design studio klein launched an impressive new project. Named the klein home collection 01, the studio embarked on an exploration of precision through the process of laser cutting plate steel, combined with the imperfections of natural materials wood and leather. Captured between two industrially tooled plates of steel, natural materials are elevated and expressed for their beauty and warmth of touch. Elegant and robust in its profile, the collection utilizes a single material dimension for its solid parts, allowing the oak wood to seamlessly fit in line with the geometry of the laser cut plate steel. Imbued with both a technical precision achieved through translating a digital 3D model into a computer driven laser and the handworked simplicity in its wood and leather manipulation, the impressive collection positions itself delicately between a high tech and handworked aesthetic. [ Continue reading ]

Our friend Koen Tossijn has come a long way since we both had a share in the 'Blue Jeans' exhibition, which took place over two years ago in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. At that point Koen still solely focussed on bespoke denim with his label Atelier Tossijn, but his ambition always was to create a full wardrobe of staple piece items, boiled down to perfection. Born out of his longing for a greater quality of life and a fascination for the everyday, in the last two years Tossijn went on a quest to find a way to work outside and within the modern-day fashion industry. Instead of an ever-changing new collection, Tossijn aims to create one steady stream of everyday essential pieces, which he named fittingly the 'Wardrobe' collection. Designed to their most essential form and made in ton sur ton shades with only the best materials available, the pieces in the Wardrobe evolve over time in a constant search for perfection, which is seldom seen in modern fashion anymore. [ Continue reading ]

We are very proud to introduce another remarkable Tenue de Nîmes collaboration, this time having joined forces with none less then Hancock VA, presenting two perfect coats for a rainy winter, both presented under an iconic bespoke collaborative label. Hancock VA's Art.41 coat in black/taupe is an elegant single-breasted raincoat. Concealed placket, exposed top button, two front pocket welts and rear button down vent detail and a detachable quilted liner in khaki makes it perfect to keep you dry and warm during the colder months. The elasticated jersey trim featured in all new Quilted Articles of Hancock VA is a reference to Thomas Hancock's first ever patent in 1820 when he invented elastication in clothing, where the V-Quilt is also a Hancock signature that refers to ‘vulcanisation’. The second coat; Hancock's Art.49, which was created in night/ink is the modern trenchcoat redefined. It featuring a cross-over, concealed fastening for a clean aesthetic, leather buckle tension belt and traditional shaped, adjustable sleeve tabs. Another proud step forward in the Tenue de Nîmes universe. [ Continue reading ]

Next Friday, one of Belgium's most exciting contemporary designers, part of this year's Wallpaper* Magazine Power List, Michaël Verheyden, will find his way from Genk to Antwerpen, where he will open a temporary store in the beautiful concept boutique Graanmarkt 13. One of our favorite stores in Antwerp also houses an excellent restaurant, an apartment for rent and a gallery which for the occasion will also become part of Verheyden's presence. After Ferry Voorneveld had the honor as a representative of Another Something during the Limblogdesigntour, a month ago, visiting the visionary designer's studio (soon more on that visit), the temporary Antwerp-based store will underline Verheyden's unique vision on design once more, perfectly framed within the excellent environment of Graanmarkt 13. The store will house a beautiful selection of interior objects and design furniture, next to newer work of Verheyden - never shown in Belgium before - which will be for sale in the gallery on the first floor. [ Continue reading ]

We have been following and appreciating the work of Tom Donhou, an independent frame builder based in London, since we discovered it some years ago when the British craftsman was asked to build a bike for the Rapha Continental race. Ultimately the craftsman was invited to take part in that particular race, riding the frame he built for the cause himself. The beautiful two black swallows of the Donhou logo became a regular sight in the films and photographs coming out of the UK Continental rides, and when the idea to create a bike to accompany the Rapha + Liberty launch was first suggested, Donhou's name was top of the list. Building two bespoke bikes, one for road riding and one for the city, Tom painstakingly incorporated the distinctive Rapha + Liberty print into each frame’s paintwork. Evoking the image of starlings in flight, the 1930s print from the Liberty archive is the perfect match for both Tom’s craftsmanship and the bikes themselves.  [ Continue reading ]

We discovered Offenbach am Main-based TSATSAS when they collaborated with our friend Ramon Haindl for Aesthetic Habitat in 2014. This month, the label for fine leather bags and accessories which was founded in 2012 will be opening its very first own store in Frankfurt. Boasting 100 m² of floor space the German brand will bring together its sales area, showroom, model workshop and office facilities in a single location, which was concepted and designed by TSATSAS founders and owners Esther Schulze-Tsatsas and Dimitrios Tsatsas. For their new outlet they completely gutted the building’s ground floor (the frontage is on Frankenallee) and designed interventions that carefully visually structure the space in different functional zones. When in Frankfurt make sure to visit this gem. [ Continue reading ]