Words From the Watertower

MEET OUR STAFF: SUSANNA

March 9th, 2010

Name: Susanna
Hometown: Reno, NV
Current Occupation at BKI: Manager, Portland
Creative Muses: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kate Moss, David Lynch…
Best Spring Activity EVER: Polaroid road trips
Musical Artists: Magnetic Fields, Iron & Wine, Arab Strap, Fugazi, Jens Lekman…
Favorite Word: Pumpkin
Currently Reading: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Kitchen Confidential (again)
Favorite BKI Item: Classic Favorite – Greenpoint Denim; new favorite – Diana Pant
Website(s): www.susannarodriguez.com; www.yesterdaysforfools.tumblr.com

Bio: Susanna is a photographer specializing in fashion photography, as well as portraiture. She began shooting in her teens when she started going to shows and cavorting with what she considered unusual suspects. In her portraits she captures the key elements and depth of her subjects, allowing anyone to relate without knowing the person. While, in her fashion photos, she finds the voice for her clients, finding a juxtaposition where nature and texture meet. Susanna recently found that she really enjoys collaborations, taking photos that show her perspective on someone else’s art and projecting her idea of what the characters may be feeling and living.

We asked Susanna to share a few of her favorite photos.

“The series below is relevant to me because lately I have felt so fortunate with where I am and what I have been able to do in my life. I enjoy day to day life and what is happening right now, not just what you can make happen in an image. Capturing the light and the different angles is one of my favorite things, along getting to savor the beauty that just is. Not to mention, I love to travel. These photos were taken in an airplane over the sea (Hawaii), Portland, OR and Reno, NV.”

Posted in Meet Our Staff | No Comments »

PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE: GEOMETRIC SHAPES

March 8th, 2010

We spend many hours developing prints in our studio. Last Spring/Summer when we started our design cycle we were inspired by simple geographic shapes that could read easily on clothes and bags. In the circle prints, the circle is cut in half and separated forming a geometric pattern. We played with size. The print on the Margot skirt it is larger than on the Daphne dress. These two pieces went through many different iterations; our graphic team laid each style out varying the sizing. We finally decided that larger on the bottom was better.

We loved the print so much we also put it on a knit dress in the Celia circle where the circle was around the hips. The placement of the space in the circle serves as a playful reference to the belt. The print also went into bag shapes but we changed the colors.

A little nod to Marimekko, maybe. We love Marimekko’s designs but don’t want to be too literal. The florals are great but not really us. Geometric plays are where the action is.

Posted in Product Perspective | No Comments »

ATHLETE SWEEPSTAKES!

March 5th, 2010

Need a new (free!) guitar? Want a new (free!) guitar autographed by cool British indie band? Enter our online sweepstakes now! We’re accepting entries through March 26th. To enter and view our official guidelines, visit www.brooklynindustries.com/bki_community. It’s a lovely guitar. Be sure to thank Athlete by downloading their (free!) song “Don’t Hold Your Breath.”

Posted in Cool Stuff, Music | 1 Comment »

BEHIND THE DESIGN: DENIM SHIRTDRESS

March 5th, 2010

Recession chic is a cute term that some bored marketing person came up with to sell copy. However, last week’s runaway success of our Denim Shirtdress proves that we are dreaming not only of recessions but of the depression. Yes, our cultural memory bank of dust balls and hardware stores, and denim and farmers are informing what we want to wear. While we are all coping with the economic downturn, we are subconsciously slipping images of Dorothy Lange into our heads. Black and white glances of people on porches, old street signs, crop workers, children dressed in basic rough material. Are we all yearning for simplicity?

Posted in Behind the Design | No Comments »

JEFFREY SCHWEITZER

March 4th, 2010

Jeffrey Schweitzer is the artist behind one of the murals featured in our Spring 2010 campaign. The mural, which can be seen in the progress photos below, is a part of a series called “The Drifter.” Full of whimsical forest imagery, it’s a narrative to be read from left to right that will read like a storybook and is the inspiration for a low-fi short film, also a work in progress.

The photographs of the mural that appear in our campaign this month are actually unfinished sections of Schweitzer’s art. What makes this mural unique from the others at New York’s Carlton Arms Hotel is where the artist lives. Most other murals are finished in less than three days by traveling artists and are often less detailed because of it, but Schweitzer has been able to work on this piece of art over several weeks because he’s a local artist from Brooklyn, New York.

We were able to capture our Denim Shirtdress in front of the mural, and even as a piece of unfinished art, it’s spectacular enough to steal the spotlight – at first glance, at least.

Schweitzer is currently showing with Artbreak Gallery in Williamsburg Brooklyn. We’ll be going. Won’t you?

Posted in Campaigns, Collaborations, Cool Stuff, Go See... | No Comments »

MARCH INSPIRATION

March 4th, 2010

For March, we returned to our spring theme of revolution. For the Gen X’s in the audience who were educated in the late 1980’s, many of the intellectuals, especially art theorists and critics, saw the world through a lens of the 1968 Paris student revolts. 1968 became a turning moment in time where concepts of anarchy ruled, and where intellectual fervor had efficacy and made a difference. The movement was anti-bourgeois and anti-establishment. We celebrated this rebellious spirit through the phrase on our windows: Sois Jeune and Tais Toi or “Be Young and Shut Up”. This phrase came from a 1968 poster of DeGaulle holding his hand over a student’s mouth. Here are some other slogans from the riots that might inspire you:

-Boredom is counterrevolutionary.

-We don’t want a world where the guarantee of not dying of starvation brings the risk of dying of boredom.

-In a society that has abolished every kind of adventure the only adventure that remains is to abolish the society.

-Those who make revolutions half way only dig their own graves.

-Run, comrade, the old world is behind you!

-We will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, occupy.

-When the National Assembly becomes a bourgeois theater, all the bourgeois theaters should be turned into national.
assemblies. (Written above the entrance of the occupied Odeon Theater).

-Warning: Ambitious careerists may now be disguised as “progressives.”

-Stalinists, your children are with us!

-Be cruel.

-A single non-revolutionary weekend is infinitely more bloody than a month of total revolution.

-Under the paving stones, the beach.

-Live without dead time.

-Be realistic, demand the impossible.

-If God existed it would be necessary to abolish him.

-I love you!! Oh, say it with paving stones!!!

Posted in Store Roundup | No Comments »

BEHIND THE DESIGN: RAQUETTE POLO

March 1st, 2010

Designing and building a polo is really interesting. First the form doesn’t change much. Sure you can add a pocket on the left chest, or the right, or both. You can add length, you can put tipping on the collars, you can slub it, pique it, cotton-blend it. But the shape doesn’t change radically. That’s when we really enjoy pushing the boundaries and doing a color-blocked piece with asymmetric detailing. You can’t change the polo but you can add a ton of detail.

We called this our Royal Tenenbaum moment. There is a simple color blocked grey rectangle that goes across the chest and is echoed on the right and left arm. Then two stripes of color go under and over the grey blocking. It’s a little Mondrian like, only better.

Posted in Behind the Design | No Comments »

PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE: FINAL FRONTIER JACKET

February 26th, 2010

We have been working with waxed canvas for many years now. First we applied it to bags and this is our third or fourth coat to feature waxed canvas. We had to get many submits from the fabric mill before we could land the right amount of wax. The first couple of rounds came back really oily. It became a joke around the studio, I believe oil slicks were mentioned. Now we got it right, the perfect blend of canvas and coating. The great thing about wax is that it gives you protection against the elements, and it wears well over time. The garment changes and becomes more textured the more you wear it.

The side slant welt pockets on the front chest give the jacket an edge that we don’t normally see.

Posted in Product Perspective | No Comments »

OUR NEW SPRING COLLECTION HAS ARRIVED!

February 24th, 2010

We’ve launched our March 2010 Collection, inspired by 80’s Lower East Side fashion. Our new collection features images shot inside New York’s Carlton Arms Hotel. We chose this landmark building for its unique art history during that decade. The 54-room hotel is filled with artwork by traveling artists from all around the world. The bathrooms, hallways and staircases were transformed from what was once a rotten location filled with “madmen, junkies, ex-cons, [etc]” to an explosion of “color and art.”

We highly recommend visiting the location (25th Street and 3rd Avenue) if you’re in New York City or plan to visit soon. Also, be sure to visit their website to learn the full story of the building over the last 100 years.

Posted in Campaigns, Collections, What's New | No Comments »

PHILADELPHIA OPENING RECEPTION

February 22nd, 2010

On Friday, we celebrated our Philadelphia store opening with a reception, complete with wine, hors d’oeuvres, and tunes by DJ Isaac Jordan. Among our guests were the brains behind Post Green, Avenue of the Arts, MIO, In Liquid, Elitist Magazine and Gallery 1401. Center City District and the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance also joined us in the celebration. We were happy to have met our Philly fans who we can now call friends.

Everyone enjoyed our eco-friendly 100% corn cups and biodegradable bamboo side plates that naturally biodegrade in 4-6 months!