Urban Outfitters

12/19/11 01:30PM

Dienst Illustration

We love the new Dienst Illustration website. The drawings are so chic and we really want that first jacket! If only our doodles looked anything like this.

From Berlin

07/29/11 10:40AM

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Artist Series: Rasmus Svensson

Our Art Department asked some of their favorite designers to show us their take on Urban Outfitters by creating a limited edition shirt for us. Meet the men and women behind the collaboration!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm Rasmus Svensson from southern Sweden. Living in Berlin. Mid-twenties.

Describe to us the inspiration behind the design you used for your shirt.

“Photoshopping in Dubai.”

Are you working on anything else at the moment?

Yes! I am involved in a number of publication projects with artist friends: Administrating the data-haven PWRSHARE.INFO, working on the next issue of the phuturist zeitung PWR PAPER, working on a project involving stone-carving, working on a romantic multimedia-collection called DEEPSTREAM, etc…

What do you find most challenging about the work you do?

Getting people to give you money to do it. And in general, finding a position in the merciless stream of global post-millennial post-internet culture.

How did you get started in design?

I got into design through music—making record covers, show posters, stuff like that.

What was the first thing you created?
Skipping over my pre-pubescent years I'd say it was the cover for a band I had when I was 15 called Chaos Through Programming. It was a printout of the code of a simple program generating random results.

Where did you go to school?

I went to school in Sweden and Denmark.

What is a typical weekend like for you?

As I do not really have a job every day is more or less the same. Work/life balance. Yin/yang.

Describe your style for us in five words.

Cutting-edge, serious, team-player, reliable, on-time.

Who are your five favorite artists?

Caspar David Friedrich, John Bauer, April Greimann, Andy Kaufman, and Hakim Bey.

Shop Rasmus' shirt.

From Berlin

07/26/11 11:48AM

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Artist Series: Hanna Terese Nilsson

Our Art Department asked some of their favorite designers to show us their take on Urban Outfitters by creating a limited edition shirt for us. Meet the men and women behind the collaboration!

Tell us a little bit about you, including where you are from.

I'm Hanna Terese Nilsson from Sweden, currently living in Berlin. 28 years old.

Describe to us the inspiration behind the design you used for your shirt.

This was made with a piece of dream furniture in mind.

What is the hardest thing about doing design?

Finding a good idea.

Tell us about the Circle Workshop.

It was an object-oriented project that I made with Rasmus Svensson. It's a first start to other furniture projects.

What is your favorite piece of furniture you own?

I love the Central Park table by Sottsass.

What inspires you the most when you're working?

Different things every day.

Describe a typical night out with you and your friends.

A typical night usually involves sparkling water and thrillers.

What are 5 words that would describe your personal fashion style?

Velvet, silk, wool, suede, cotton.

On your website Office Hours, you post images of personal spaces of people you know. If someone did an Office Hours feature on you, what are five things they would find?

Bauhaus chairs, my cat, book piles, plants, a basketball.

Shop Hanna's shirt.

From Oslo

07/22/11 11:36AM

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Artist Series: Natalie Rognsoy

Our Art Department asked some of their favorite designers to show us their take on Urban Outfitters by creating a limited edition shirt for us. Meet the men and women behind the collaboration!

Tell us a little bit about you, including where you are from.

I'm Natalie Rognsoy and I am 26 years old and have lived in Oslo for the last six years. I come from a small island called Hareid where the population is about 4,500 people. The weather is rough but the island is surrounded with beautiful mountains and fjords.

Describe to us the inspiration behind the design you used for your shirt.

I wanted to do something painterly that did not look like it was done on the computer.

What other projects have you been working on lately?

I have just finished my Bachelor in fine art. I have also been a part of exhibitions in Bodega in Philadelphia, Alessandro De March in Milan and Y3K in Melbourne.

What inspires you the most when you're working?

Nature, looking at photos, walking and listening to my favourite hits.

What is the hardest part about putting together an exhibition?

Being confident in my choices.

Where did you go to school and what for?

I went two years at art school where I was drawing and working with photography mostly. Then I applied to the art academy where I almost immediately started working with sculptures and installations. Now I have finished my BA.

What do you like to do on a typical night out?

Have a few fruity drinks with my girlfriends and then go out dancing in circles.

Describe your personal style for us in one sentence.

I am not sure if I know how to do that!

What are your favorite materials to use when working?

Fabric, plaster, paint and wood.

Shop Natalie's shirt.

From Berlin

07/18/11 02:34PM

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Artist Series: Nathan Cowen

Our Art Department asked some of their favorite designers to create a limited-edition shirt for us. Meet the men and women behind the collaboration!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Nathan Cowen. I was born in Santa Cruz, California on November 14, 1983. I moved to Seattle when I was one year old and then I moved to Hawaii when I was just under two years old. I played soccer, basketball and little league baseball. I took art classes, painted and road mountain bikes. I wanted a skateboard, a BMX bike and rollerblades. I watched movies every time in between. I don't surf but like it. I like sushi but do not like fish. I am Chinese American and 1/16 Swedish. I currently live in Berlin, Germany.

Describe to us the inspiration behind the design you used for your shirt.

I wanted to create a digital spray-paint painting that also resembled water color.

What other projects have you been working on lately?

www.haw-lin-services.com

What inspires you the most when you're working?

Simple things like making burritos and BLATs.

Tell us about your job at Hort.

Hort is fun, challenging, not what you expect, sad, a struggle, happy, still new, German, EIke, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tobi, Ina, Mick, Jacob, Adli, Alan, Serafine and Lizzy. I am allowed and able to do a lot of things here.

Where did you go to school?

I went to the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco, California.

What was the most important thing you learned there?

I could have learned more.

What is a typical night out with you and your friends like?

Describe your style in one sentence.

Arial Black.

Your website is called Cabinet of Natural Curiosity. If someone opened a cabinet in the place where you're living now, what five items would they find?

Bauhaus toolbox, German boom box, my passport with visa, Comme Des Gar√ßons 2, and Air Jordan 6 shoes.

Shop Nathan's shirt.

From Elsewhere

07/14/11 09:59AM

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Artist Series: Michael Alfred

Our art department asked some of their favorite designers to show us their take on Urban Outfitters by creating a limited edition shirt. Meet the artists behind the collaboration!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm Michael Alfred, 25 years old. I grew up in the Franconian suburbs. In the moment I live in Leipzig, Germany, or drive with my old red car on the Autobahn 9. Apart from that I'm a dog owner. She's named after a '80s Berlin pop singer from a DEFA-movie called "Solo Sunny."

Describe to us the inspiration behind the design you used for your shirt.

Hokusai's great wave off Kanagawa, and Peter Saville's Joy Division Unknown Pleasures cover go for coffee on Photoshop.

What other projects have you been working on lately?

I just came back from Berlin where I was planning a small exhibition with friends. It's going to be my debut with a more preformative approach. That’s exciting for me. Besides that, I work on my theory-thesis about replica, inspiration and original in the field of contemporary graphics and I started to run a small studio with friends of mine, called Unfun.

What inspires you the most when you're working?

'80s classic Chicago post-punk acid Detroit doom brass house music all night long, and a delightful cup of coffee.

What do you find most challenging about design?

Some might say it's about solving problems, finding a solution. When I was working for a studio in Berlin, the guy that was running the studio said once: mega solutions for micro problems. Thinking about that is pretty much challenging, isn't it?

Where did you go to school and what did you study?

I studied graphic design in Wuerzburg, Zurich and Berlin. Right now I'm graduating at the Leipzig Art School.

What was the most important lesson you learned while you were there?

Learn to stumble and to stumble across.

What is a typical night out with you and your friends like?

Do you remember Jumanji? This will not be an easy mission—monkeys slow the expedition.

Describe your style in one sentence.

A vague somehow-or-other can't stick together all-alikeness changed to an easily described hang-togetherness that is unlike that anything that is different.

What are your five favorite words?

Post, Bambule, Autobahn, Arial, Untitled.

Shop Michael's shirt.

From Japan

05/25/11 07:37PM

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Nathalie Daoust "Frozen in Time"

5 Pieces Gallery just announced new releases from Nathalie Daoust's "Frozen in Time" series– a limited edition run of 25 signed prints of each work will be available.

From Sydney

05/19/11 12:47PM

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A Handsome Project

We love swimwear label We Are Handsome because they have that "good people" vibe going on. Case in point: They're helping to showcase emerging photographers by letting them shoot their suits, then featuring them on their official blog. Get involved here (no experience necessary!).

From Elsewhere

05/10/11 10:40AM

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Encaustic Triangles

Miranda of design duo Sewing Machines is selling pieces from her senior project to help pay for grad school. Using her preferred method of painting, "Encaustic Quilt" uses hot wax on wooden triangles to pay homage to a quilt her grandmother made for her when she was a kid.

From New York

04/27/11 11:00AM

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Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics

If you pick up a copy of one of Jillian Tamaki's special edition Penguin classics in the fall, it probably won't have an original hand-embroidered cover– instead, each book will have been treated with a special sculptural-embossing technique so you can feel (almost) every little stitch.

From Los Angeles

02/15/11 08:58AM

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Eric McHenry

Insight Garage Artist Eric McHenry is a North Carolina native and Los Angeles transplant making the kind of comically raw and ugly character art we want plastered all over our skateboards, walls and shirts. We were already loving his mustache maps, but we're practically giddy now that we know there's a tee helping us keep our facial hair formations straight.

From Los Angeles

02/09/11 01:45PM

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"Great Showdowns"

From Brad and Janet vs. Dr. Frank-N-Furter to The Breakfast Club avoiding Principal Vernon, Scott Campbell (NOT the tattoo artist) captures some of the most notorious film face-offs in "The Great Showdowns" exhibit (open now through February 26) at Gallery 1988's Melrose space. Speaking of The Breakfast Club, starting on February 11, the Venice gallery space will host the works of 50 artists paying tribute to John Hughes and his generation-defining movies.

From Toronto

12/14/10 02:02PM

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Tim Burton at TIFF

If you missed him in New York, the master of monsters has landed in Canada. TIFF in Toronto is now hosting Tim Burton, a collection of the director's earliest sketches and stories all the way to his most well-known works. In Burton Double Bills, catch screenings of his movies along with the films that inspired them for combinations like Nightmare Before Christmas and Nosferatu. The exhibit will run through April 17.

From San Francisco

12/13/10 10:55AM

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Casey Weldon

Casey Weldon has been pumping out series after series of awesome paintings lately, from a collection of Bill Murrays as Wes Anderson characters to farm-yard Twilight actors to a bunch of four-eyed kittens (in an attempt to "double the cuteness" at the Trifecta Gallery in Vegas). If you missed his gallery shows, word has it that some of his works will be on display at BriefSpace in San Francisco early in the new year.

From Los Angeles

11/11/10 12:03PM

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Ardour: Teebs Record Release Party and Gallery Show

This Saturday, November 14, hit up Ardour: Teebs Record Release Party and Gallery Show at Space 15 Twenty from 6-10pm, where you can see new artworks by Mtendere Teebs Mandowa in support of his debut release on the imprint Brainfeeder created by Flying Lotus. There will be special live performances by Teebs with Gaby Hernandez, Take, Matthew David, and yuk., plus DJ sets by Frosty, Co.fee, Arti, Kab, and pLo.

From New York

11/05/10 01:32PM

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Salvador Dali at Time Warner

Ok, that's a Movember worthy 'stache–the Time Warner Center just opened a special exhibition of Salvador Dali's art, including 40 never-before-seen-in-NYC drawings and watercolors from the private collection of Dali's secretary and close personal friend.

From Los Angeles

10/29/10 02:40PM

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Deanna Templeton Show

One of the raddest art couples out there has to be Ed and Deanna Templeton. They met when they were just teenagers (he was 15, she was 18), and have been snapping together ever since. Deanna's new show for her Scratch Your Name On My Arm exhibit, for which she photographed a series of young people letting their bodies be branded by their favorite idols and companies, is opening in L.A.'s Paul Kopeikin Gallery tomorrow night from 6-8pm.

From New York

10/06/10 03:52PM

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Dr. Seuss Taxidermy Auction

In the early '30s, before he wrote any books, Dr. Seuss created the "School of Unorthodox Taxidermy," a sculpture series that lived in a child's room and then a storage barn for many years before it was uncovered. The series is now for sale on eBay in unrestored condition, and the winner and a guest will be flown out to oversee packing and shipping of the collection. Oh, the things you could buy (with $1,000,000).

From Elsewhere

10/06/10 11:31AM

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Pencil vs. Camera

"Pencil vs. Camera" is a really fun photo series by Belgian artist Ben Heine, who completes his vision of photographs using pencil sketches.

From London

10/05/10 03:44PM

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Julian Hibbard "Square" Series

The most foreboding aspect of Julian Hibbard's "Square" series is the cropping, which makes the story feel like a Hitchcock movie—where the real horror happens just outside the frame.