Come see us play with Telefon Tel Aviv at the
Guggenheim Museum in New York City this Friday night!
In other news of making and art, The
TieLab will be partnering with
All Purpose, LA's newest outpost for the Creative Non-Conformist. We will be launching a line of hand-dyed, 100% silk cravats that can be worn in creative ways by both men and women.
Look to see new Spring ties planned around the theme of "Whiplash," they will be available at the website and exclusively at All Purpose/Filius. Also look for features in the March issues of
The New York Times Style Magazine and
I-D Magazine.
More in partnership news - we will be teaming up with
Ghostly International and producing a set of limited edition silk ties - these will be available for the holidays and at Ghostly's Holiday Formal, at OSLO, Saturday December 16th.
Partnershp is essential to life.
From the venerated god of all things that are teh awesome, Design*Sponge -
Gift Guide Part 6: For Him...people seemed to want some ideas for guys so i called in my better half for some help. ac helped me and we pulled together some ideas that he thought guys might actually like. it's just a jumping off point...
On the cover of this week's
Real Detroit: (14 more images at Real Detroit's page, so click the link!)
The images are a little small online, so here are some larger ones too:
The Big Hunt
By Keith N. Dusenberry
Nov 22, 2006, 23:59Here’s how Bethany Shorb, the multi-disciplinary artist who set up, styled and photographed this issue’s cover shoot and inside fashion spread, came to now find herself making a “ridiculous fur coat” for current WWE Intercontinental Champion wrestler Johnny Nitro.
Shorb grew up in Connecticut, about an hour outside of New York City, got her undergraduate degree in sculpture (with a concentration in photography) from Boston University and then came to Cranbrook for grad school. She would — and still does — use her sculpture skills to make props for her photos. Eventually, she needed clothes for the photo shoots — so she started making them too.
Shorb has since done clothing and costume work for movies, music videos and her own clothing lines. Her Eastern Market studio is in perpetual motion. “I like it a lot,” Shorb says of working on so many projects at the same time. “I go crazy if I’m doing just one.” Though she initially became known for goth-y, techno-y rave wear, Shorb has diversified into doing vintage military graphic-adorned ties and deconstructed-reconstructed vintage military coats. Johnny Nitro found her Web site (cyberoptix.com) and bought a tie; the custom fur coat order soon followed.
With clothing, design, sculpture and music, Shorb’s always been a bit of a tinkerer. Besides Dethlab (her musical partnership with Mike Doyle), she also performs as Toybreaker. “I’ve always been a bit of a nerd about taking apart electronics and making my own keyboards,” Shorb admits. “So, I think when I was doing a lot of that in my music, that that project kind of leached into the fashion a little bit … the projects bleed into one another.” | RDW
More info:
cyberoptix.comDethlab play the Guggenheim Museum in New York on Dec. 1.Credits:Photography by Bethany Shorb
Men's pants and shirts provided by
Peasant, Birmingham; 248.203.6470.
Men's ties and jackets by Bethany Shorb of Cyberoptix; cyberoptix.com.
Women's clothing by Sarah Vidosh of
SPY, Detroit; 313.833.6623.
All hats and accessories, Cyberoptix.
Jewelry by: Suum Jewelry Equations, Ferndale; 734.649.7743
Models: Laurie Smolenski, Stephanie Skuzenski, Elena Callis, Robin Callis, Inky Nkhumise Noge, Michael Doyle, Jon Ozias, Jimmy Edgar.
Makeup Artists: Justin Ruppel, Eric Ford.
Hair Stylists: Amanda Gordon.
Antique Taxidermy provided by the Vidosh family and Oslo.
Additional props by Showcase Antiques; Detroit.
Locations: Northern Lights Lounge, Oslo, Centaur.
Thanks to Brendan M Gillen & Amber Lesicki for the cover location, and
Cyberoptix intern Kelly Pelletier.
Thank you again to everyone who helped out, with locations, props, modeling, makeup - it was a huge project to take on in a very short amount of time. Please come out on Saturday night to the grand opening of
SPY at 4470 Second Ave. - most of the garments and accessories featured in the shoot will be for sale.
I swear I'll talk about something different than my own sweatshop...I promise...this is somewhat different? A little? Just wanted to make you aware of a grand-opening party that features the work of Detroit artists and designers in a new Detroit shop. I can attest the folks at Spy have been working hard to make this happen for the community in time for the holiday season. There will also be a feature about the store in this Wednesday's issue of Real Detroit. SPY will feature *lots* of selections from the Cyberoptix TieLab, including more limited edition menswear in the form of coats, pants and gloves!
SPY Grand Opening
New Store Opening in Midtown Detroit
Grand Opening Gala: Saturday, November 25, 2006 7pm – Midnight"Design In All Forms, Created With Our Bare Hands."
SPY brings together one-of-a kind works by over 20 Detroit-based designers, fine artists, and musicians. SPY offers a wide selection of items – from garment and textile collections to jewelry, ceramics, as well as furniture and gift items. Designers represented by SPY include
Bethany Shorb (Cyberopitx), Lauren Joy Casteel, Sarah Vidosh, Jef Hancock, and many others. SPY will also carry media from acclaimed record labels such as
Interdimensional Transmissions,
Low Res and
Submerge. The store will serve as a community gathering location, with SPY presenting monthly openings and other events. All work is for sale.
SPY aims to promote, sell and distribute handcradfted, original design in all forms. Located in a historic Detroit home, the design house of SPY will feature the works of Detroit and international designers, combining our individual talents and resources. Through the constant exchange of assets and ideas, SPY will inspire new creative relationships and endeavors in order to develop commerce among the independently owned businesses in our community.
• Location: 4470 2nd Avenue (2nd Ave & Prentis St.) Detroit, MI 48021 (313)833.6623
• General Store Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 8pm
Thanks for the kind words, blogland!
From
Oh Futura:
I love neckties. I own about ten (which is quite a few for a college student that seldom finds excuses to wear them). Granted, I’ll admit my taste isn’t exactly great, since my collection ranges from Banana Republic to Goodwill, but I am fond of these screenprinted ties. Christmas, anyone?And
Notcot:
Somedays i can’t believe how fabulous the Fabulist is. They pointed me to Cyberoptix… a fine line of beautifully darkly illustrated hand screen printed 100% charmeuse silk or poly-blend based ties. These are the brainchild of Bethany Shorb, who holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and has dabbled and excelled in disciplines ranging from sculpture, to fashion and graphic design, to photography, to multimedia and music. She has an impressively wide range on her background… and Jermacide is in need of a tie. I think these might be the perfect gift.Much printing, printing, printing up in the TieLab today. Lots of exciting things in the works...
(Packard Plant, Detroit, March 2005)
I pulled this from the archives tonight, a silly little animation meant to be the opener for my urban exploration page, then I got Projectitis and it never really happened aside from uploading an assload of pictures to flickr at its inception and getting an accompanying case of chronic bronchitis. Nostalgia.
I had a strange day today, the words aren't really happening tonight.
Anyway.
There are tons of art openings on Saturday night, including
The Dope Show at Corktown Tavern, of which I'll have some photography in from the
Meat Series, though different pieces than the concurrent Primary Space gallery show.
Confession: Foot Fetish (Meat Discards Series, 2006)Straight With No Chaser - It is absolutely criminal that The Dope Show at Corktown Tavern is a one-night stand. This exhibit (featuring the most impressive line-up since the last shindig at DAM) is a veritable explosion of local and much-admired talent.More by Metrotimes arts reviewer, Rebecca Mazzei,
...artistically exploiting bad habits in a themed exhibit about "over indulgence and habitual vices." It's a show about the beautifully disastrous damage coke, caffeine, Catholicism, porn subscriptions and illegal prescriptions can do.Right around the corner is also
Urban Arts Experiments Vol. 1 (Custom Toy Show) with Glenn Barr, Adam Battestilli, Christina Gibbs, Brandon Garrison, Mark Heggie, Dennis Jones, Nicole MacDonald, Dave Roberts, Shades, Scotty Agee, Jason Shram, Gilda Snowden, Tom Thewes, Ron Zakrin, and Ziam - at 2000 Brooklyn, Detroit.
After all that arting is done, of course, not to be missed is the,
Sass one year anniversary, at Olso. Get your gay on.
I shouldn't be doing any of this, mind you.
Thank you,
Fabulist!
Amazingly Illustrated Ties - These are my favorite ties I've found in the whole world. (Not only that, but the icon for their website is a Speak-and-Spell, which was my favorite toy when I was little. They have won my heart forevermore.) The silk ties are hand-screened with ravens and sixteenth century book imprints and diagrams of hearts and things. Damn sexy.
On little red tablets of contraband...
I've been a bit under the weather over the last week, to put it mildly, but the world is not going to stop just because I feel like hell. I ran out of anti-snot medication today at work, so I decided before subjecting everyone at my late-morning meeting to incessant hacking and droplet splatter, I'd run up to the CVS and attempt to medicate myself into some semblance of normalcy. I've noticed during this rhinovirus' tenure that the new pseudoephedrine substitute that they put in all the standby combo cold medications (thera-flu, day-quill, etc.) well, it just plain doesn't work. Not even as well, it really doesn't do crap. Nearly all manufacturers have voluntarily eliminated pseudoephedrine from their products so it needent not be sold behind the counter, because, if it is sold behind the counter, people don't bother to buy it. The problem is, pseudoephedrine (like real ephedrine) is really effective. So my plan was to brave the gheyass counter and get a bottle of the tussin and some good ol' generic Sudafed, as I was tired of feeling craptastic.
Twenty-five minutes of waiting behind a queue of geriatrics with full-blown dementia and countless others with insurance quibbles, as there is no seperate line for the simple pickup of OTC cold medicines, not only was I late to my meeting I was trying to prepare for, but I was ripping pissed off. Once I get my box of contraband I grabbed it and went to resume my shopping for soup and crappy orange juice and the pharmacist curtly demanded I come back and I had to show her my license and then she had to write all my license information down in the Big Bad Sudafed Consumer's Log. WTF! Like this is really going to curtail methamphetamine production. I then had to sign the holy book.
I am greatly amused that a beautifully penned, cursive "BullShit" looks quite similar to my legal signature.
I will probably end up in jail for terrorism or harassment. The five minutes of satisfaction were more than worth it.
Some day I hope we can revert back to a society that is less obsessed with bullshit govermnment posturing and actually deals with real problems. I also want that twenty five minutes of my life back, at my current rate, CVS and the current administration owes me around $35.
In non-cravat news, I am picking up a
Novation Super Bass Station tonight. I am excited.
As featured on the front of
Indie Fixx today:
From the Tie Lab…Does your guy need to wear ties to work or maybe he likes to wear ties? Or maybe you are a guy who needs to or likes to wear ties. Whatever the case may be, I know you don’t want to see anymore tired, staid, lackluster ties and you won’t see any over at Cyberoptix. Each necktie is hand-silkscreened onto a quality, 100% charmeuse silk or poly-blend base with designs such as Poppies, Raven, Skull, Bombs Away, Bats, Heart Attack, and many more cool motifs from which to choose. Get one for your boyfriend, your husband or even your dad and get the whole office talking about his cool new tie.Indie Fixx rocks, they feature all sorts of independent designer goodness. Do check 'em out...
See a few photos from the Potluck II show at Primary space over at
Detroitarts Blog.
I have the wost head full of snot that I can ever remeber, looks like all the work has caught up to me in a most miserable way. I feel, in no mincing of words, like utter dogshit. I'm not amused.
In the meantime, I've made quite a few
web updates because it is something I can do from the couch in my pajamas. This was after sleeping for 14 hours and thoroughly loopy on nyquill, I bet there are errors. Probably lots.
There are tons of new ties, and people actually wearing them:
Ex Libris tie
New design -
Poppies, shown in gold on black and gold on olive.
Tom Roche - Convergence, Tokyo Japan, 2005; Truss Cafe Chair designed by Scott Klinker.
Context Furniture and
aedis design make party tonight, November 9th, at 8pm. Preview the latest in contemporary furniture and digital photography. Food, cocktails and music will also be in attendance.
aedis design, 808 South Old Woodward, Birmingham, MI.
Winterformalas the weather grows colder every guy who has a pair is breaking out his charcoal grey slacks for those times when he has to look a little more business and a little less casual. now all you need is something to wear with your pants. my first suggestion comes from something i discovered this weekend...which brings us to cyberoptix, who make ties that make statements. not offensive statements, just manly ones. jocko likes bombs away, which would look great in so many color combos with this shirt. i’d recommend grey with black print, or if you want to go really bold, black silk with a white print.
i prefer the gas mask. i’m a sucker for victorian style prints of odd contraptions. because of the print, you can rock the monochrome look and get the black print on a light blue tie. either one will look a whole lot better than that seasonal tie you got last year for the company holiday party.Thanks,
Boldawaths! Bold swaths is a new approach to style for men. It’s painfully obvious to me that most guys don’t want girls, stodgy old men, or super rich new york kids telling them what to wear. I know I will personally be seeking out a lot of things for gifts on that page, great suggestions spied online!
I feel a little dirty and a little scared.
Kind of like that first time in high school, where you go back behind the bleachers and smoke your first joint that is probably no more potent than grandma's oregano - from all you've heard in school you're pretty convinced that by next Tuesday, the "gateway drug" will have firmly taken hold and you will undoubtedly have a $200 per day crack habit.
I voted for two Republicans.
It was only for school board and board of regents, but what's next, I stop living in sin and start coding for godhatesfags.com?
I guess I made an informed decision rather than simply a partisan one, but I can't help feeling a little icky. I cast my vote for the school board candidates who were strongly in favor of supporting the arts in school,
increasing rather than cutting funding for the arts, and actually sat on the boards of and chaired arts organizations. I chose these folks over the Democratic candidates for the board who only had their heads shoved up their rears over litanies upon litanies of affirmative action business. That's nice and all but there
are other issues. (And no, I am not complete evil incarnate, I did vote NO on 2, the danger of cutting funding for gender-based health initiatives was even too strong a worry for me.)
Sigh. Research can lead to unexpected choices at times.
We're officially back from vacation and I won't be sleeping for the next year due to being away for a week. (arg...) That being said, I actually feel refreshed and ready to tackle the 1200 projects demanding attention. I'd love to write a proper travellog but the chances of that happening are about on par with the proverbial little pink pigges sprouting wings.
On to the site updates:
Raven - available now for winter 07.
There are tons of other ties that have yet to see the light of day, hope to have that partially taken care of today. The Raven pictured above is available at the site and at Pr1mary Space Gallery for you locals.
Speaking of Pr1mary Space, thanks to everyone who came out to the
Potluck II opening this past Saturday, I hear it was quite a smashing success! (Selling work is teh awesome.)
Indie Obsession is a great little site featuring gifts and all sorts of handmade things from excellent independent designers - just think CoolHunting but much more affordable and even less mass produced.
They're having a
contest - The Holiday Gift Away, a prize package of over $850 worth of indie goodness...drawing will be held December 1. No signing up for any crapola required.
Purses, neckties (from yours truly ;) t-shirts, jewelery and more.
Their
Holiday Gift Guide was also released today and has some lovely things.
New Art! We're still off in NYC - but my art (and ties) will be home in Hamtramck at
Primary Space. I will be exhibiting four large photos (18x24, framed) in addition to 20 or so other fabulous artists' works.
Primary Space is proud to present its 2nd annual Detroit artists show, Potluck II. Potluck II opens with an opening reception for the artists on
Saturday, November 4, from 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM. The show (art only) continues through Saturday, November 25, with gallery hours on Wednesday night from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM (except Wed., November 22), and by appointment. Call 313.657.3579 or 313.401.6451 to schedule an appointment.
