China has had to face its own environmental nightmares on the global stage. Air pollution from automobiles has changed driving restrictions, factories are being threatened to shut down, and now the lake in Qingdao being used for aquatic competitions is filled with algae. In some areas the lake may be several feet deep in algae growth which would seriously impede any boat.

China has responded with its foremost asset: people. It has been reported that more than 20,000 people are now actively removing the green carpet by hand. On a positive note, the algae is edible. Maybe we’ll see it for sale in the grandstand next to the local Tsingtao beer?

Last month (June 6), Endless Grind and FM Goods of Raleigh had a collaborative show and benefit called “Drawing Blanks.” A bunch of blank skateboard decks were painted by local artists, and then they were all silent auctioned on the First Friday in June. The auction benefitted The Disabled American Veterans of NC.

The show was great and packed! but the audience was more into the scene than owning any of the decks. Lucky for me, cause I scored these 3 Paul Friedrich cowboys for a nice price! Picked ‘em up today and just had to share.

Despite the monetary disappointment, Ian is now on to bigger things.He’s going to supposedly do some traveling and “go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.” He is supposedly tracking his goals at a site called “100 goals in a 100 weeks,” but it looks like he hasn’t updated it in a while…

Chris Harne has an unusual collection: portion control condiment packets such as the ketchup packs you get at a fast food restaurant. The Condiment Packet Gallery site states that in the beginning, back in 2003, Chris realized that he never actually needed to buy condiments, he could just go and get these packs from any fast food restaurant, convenience store or salad bar. Apparently, it was soon after that realization that Chris devolved into full-on OCD behavior, collecting and preserving as many different types of these packets as he could find.

Fortunately for us, he decided to categorize and share them with the public via his website. You can search by sauce type or special categories (usually brand name or restaurant establishment), and you can also donate a packet for posterity to be included on the site.

You can also see each packet at a larger size. My favorite so far, is the grape jelly packet that says “Grade A Fancy.”

Similar to the BMW fabric car Aly wrote about a few days ago, these Lamp Girls by Marianne Maric combine textiles with product design to give structure to the fabrics. Fortunately in this case, artistry and iconic culture are also added in.

Kind of the sexual inverse of “where the sun don’t shine.”

source: elitalice.com

Textiles are so much more sophisticated as a surface than the metals and plastics we normally work with. Their micro structures (knit, weave, etc) allow for all kinds of changes in fit and drape, while the macro structure (patterns) give you all kinds of customization and optimization for fit. So when I look at this wrinkly BMW Gina- I see a cool idea- but one designed with hardware thinking - not textile thinking. C’mon Chris Bangle: get a fashion designer to do this right!

But I do fancy the zebra print…

Sigal de-Mayo photographs iconic signage in iconic locations like New York then prints them onto the ultimate fashion icons of purses clutches and other accessories for a brand called Insider’s NY. The material is actually leather, which won’t please the cruelty-free aspects in us, and I’m not too sure about the environmental aspects of the processes, but they are made in NY, and many of the messages are positive.