ARKITIP x JOHN JAY x ALEX CALDERWOOD

One Studio J project we are all pretty excited about is the upcoming issue of Arkitip magazine, which was entirely curated and overseen by my dad and the Ace Hotel's Alex Calderwood.

The issue is called "X: Mark of Collaboration", referencing the use of an X in Japanese subculture to signify two artists, brands or entities coming together to create something new.

With X as the theme, the issue brings together a diverse set of people for new collaborations or the showcase of a recent one. Check out the impressive roster:

Gus Van Sant x Paige Powell
John Maeda x Becky Bermont
Akio Iida
Aaron Koblin x Takashi Kawashima
Apolis Activism x Filson x Invisible Children
Bruce Wolf x Ying
Coleman x Goldkrand
Howie Pyro x Z-Trip
Jeremy Pelley x Fritz Mesenbrink x Mathew Foster
Lisa Chacón x Jared Lovejoy x Jason Harler
Matt Black x Alex Asher Daniel
Roman Alonso x Carlos Morera
Shawn Wolfe x Houston
Wei Wei x Don Hui
Ambra Medda x Silvia Fendi
Yves Behar x Ethan Imboden
Tom Sachs x Camilla Deterre

Pre-order and preview the issue on Arkitip's website HERE.

Read press from Hypebeast HERE.

And a blog post about it from Mao (who designed the issue), HERE.

PING MAKES GQ's TOP 10 RESTAURANTS

My parents' restaurant with chef Andy Ricker was named one of the top 10 best new restaurants in America by GQ magazine. What's great is that in addition to Andy's amazing menu, the article also dishes high praise to all of the interior design work my parents did for the place.

Check it out in the January 2009 issue with Rihanna on the cover, or online HERE.

1901

So great.

FRANCOIS BERTHOUD

I saw this book of fashion illustrations by Francois Berthoud and loved them. So I scanned a few to share.

"I try to focus on one thing and to show it. I feel so responsible all the time, to the idea behind the thing I'm representing. I can erase and redraw a line so many times before I think, okay, that's exactly where this line should be. In that sense, I think, I'm really-well, it's close to obsession."

WEEKEND IN SEATTLE

Mao and I took a little weekend trip to Seattle not too long ago, and it was one of the best, most memorable times I've had. Check out some photos we (she) snapped!




Our room at the Ace!


Cai Guo-Qiang at the Seattle Art Museum.


Warhols.



FINALLY got to check out Blackbird, after years of following their blog and buying from them online. Great store.

ACE HOTEL NYC

I'm a HUGE fan of the Ace Hotel chain...

With the same obsessive fan tendencies one would have for their favorite band or a celebrity crush. Alex Calderwood's Northwest grown, Portland based boutique hotels have a design philosophy and aesthetic that I really love and appreciate, with a concentrated movement away from often snobby boutique minimalism and an emphasis on "remixed Americana". That means spaces that feel like your friend's comfortable vintage brimming, yet modern apartment. The Ace is contemporary, but always paying respect to the histories of the buildings it inhabits... The Ace is punk rock, soulful, beautiful and totally stylish in a way that seems effortless and thrown together.

There are currently four Ace Hotel locations- Seattle (the 1st), Portland (where I hang out at least twice a week), Palm Springs, and the latest... New York City.

Taking over the old Breslin Hotel on Broadway and 29th, Ace NYC was designed by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch whose work clearly retains the brand's signature attention to detail.

"...the lobby is a hodgepodge of found furniture, animal pelts, art, an old apothecary cabinet, steel worktables, a tile floor, trays with glass flasks—soon reveals itself to be the result of a carefully curated design strategy. The cumulative effect balances hip with comfy aesthetics, lush with raw textures, and an array of fabrics from leather to plaid to orange suede...Stately white columns punctuate the space, and an 18-foot-high ceiling balances the informal eclecticism with a wash of gravitas." -The Architect's Newspaper

I can't wait to visit when I move back to New York in a few months...