May 30, 2008
RE-found objects
Thanks to emma's design blog for finding this lovely shop in the UK, RE-found objects! Lots of beautiful, quirky home objects shown in artful photos. Above are a few of my favorites.
May 29, 2008
nest man
I spotted this on Creative Review. Artist Benjamin Verdonck built a nest from tree branches, glue, foam, sand and a bucket of spit(?) and perched it on the side of this office tower in Rotterdam. He's lived in the nest for 7 days. Check out the below video to see his antics and how the public reacted.
You can see more here.
May 28, 2008
Super Sweet Craft Bazaar This Weekend!
I just wanted to give everyone in the Philadelphia area a heads-up about the Art Star Craft Bazaar taking place this Saturday and Sunday at Penn's Landing! It should be a blast, and have tons of awesome stuff! Bands too! Check out more info about it at Art Star's site!
Illustration by Julie West © 2008 Art Star, LLC
xo
Hey Free People! May we have your opinion please?
Which page out of the latest catalog (May 2008) would you most like to see made into a poster?
Pick any page out of the catalog, whichever you like best!
Just put the page number of your choice as a comment on this post to cast your vote!
(If you don't have a copy of the May catalog handy, you can view a smaller version online here.)
Thank you for your help!
May 27, 2008
What did you do over Memorial Day weekend?
"I went home to north Jersey and visited with my parents. I had lots of fun planting flowers outside the house I grew up in, impatiens and begonias!"
"We took a tour of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens, and we were so amazed! We’ve never had the chance to go inside and now we want to live there! After that we went to the Jamaican Jerk Hut for dinner as well as to see a cool local band called Wareika Hill that was playing there. We sat on a blanket out in the yard that the restaurant owns! The food was great and so was the music! We had a blast!"
I threw a barbeque for my friends at my place on Sunday, and then on Monday went to a barbeque at my parents in Stockton, NJ! We swam, played pingpong and played bocce!"
"I found three tiny abandoned and hungry baby kittens in an alleyway by my house! I took them to my friends house and now we are each the proud owners of one!"
"Twice a summer a group of about 20 of my friends and myself meet up in the Glades area of the south shore of Massachusetts to hang out and reunite. One of those meetings for this summer was this weekend! We had a bonfire, collected mussels, played board games, flew kites, played bocce, jumped off rocks, and basically had a good old time. Here are a couple pictures of us, one jumping off rocks and another playing bocce!"
"We also got to stay in the house where the old David Hasselhoff movie ”Witchery” was filmed, so we watched the movie, in the house where it was filmed! Random and cool!"
"I had a romantic picnic with my husband and our doggy! Other than that I spent the weekend making a craft workshop room in my house! It was a lot of work cleaning, organising things, and putting furniture together, but now I can't wait to start crafting!"
"I worked on my new house all weekend! We took down an entire wall, and exposed the brick in another wall!"
A sweet young lady who chose not to be pictured had this to add:
"My cousin graduated from Brown this weekend, so I went to Providence, RI and ate and ate and ate to celebrate! I got mussels and Belgian fries at Red Stripe Restaurant, and they were fantastic! I also had some sensational crabcakes at 3 Steeple Street Restaurant! I would recommend either place to anyone visiting Providence!"
hello kitty
Have you seen Tom Sachs's giant Hello Kitty creatures at the Lever House? You might be reminded of the Hello Kitty Nativity Sachs did in the Barney's windows in 1994? Now we have huge bronze sculptures to worship. On display at the Lever House in NYC until September. Images from Mario Sorrenti at Wallpaper.
May 23, 2008
employee profile: dana!
*First name: Dana
*How long have you worked at Free People? A year and a half
*Tell me about your job: I work on the FP knits team, designing for alternating seasons (Holiday, Spring, Summer 2/ Fall1). I get to sketch and design things for each trend, select fabrics and work with our color team to chose prints for each style. And then we travel to our overseas vendors to check up on the product and help them out.
*What do you like best about working at FP? I love the people I work with! I love having creative freedom, and the ability to design things that are unique and hand crafted. When we get to see our styles for the first time before we show them to the sales team, it's like Christmas. Everyone gets so excited opening the boxes, and looking at the product that we've all worked so hard on.
*Favorite current FP item? I love the Seashore Dropwaist Tank in white because it's great to wear with jeans, and it's a cute stripe which is always fun if you just want something to throw on.. and you can layer it or wear a cute belt. OH And I LOVE the Chubby Change Purses!! They are so tiny and cute and fabulous.
*What do you do when not at work? I hang out with my son Asher, go thrift shopping, sew stuff, bake pies, watch movies in the winter, go camping in the summer, shop ebay like an addict
*Top 5 favorite things (books, movies, websites, music, artists etc)? WOW i have a ton! I just finished the last Harry Potter book - it might be nerdy but I love them! I have also read Watership Down a thousand times, I like the Steven King Gunslinger books and any sort of biography/ autobiography. Some good movies are Moulin Rouge, Footloose, and Urban Cowboy. I heart art by Elizabeth McGrath and Audrey Kawasaki.
*What did you want to me when you were a kid? I wanted to be a ballerina until I was 12, and then I wanted to be a veterinarian until I did a job shadow and realized it wasn't for me.
*Favorite places to hang out? The shore, the woods and Pennypack Park. I'm from Seattle, and when I'm there I love the Bleu Bistro on Capitol Hill, vintage shopping in the University district, Lincoln Park in West Seattle, Moses Lake for camping, Ocean Shores for vacation.
May 22, 2008
pretty odds & ends
One of the many benefits of working in an office like Free People's is that a lot of the supplies are fun, crafty and beautiful. Piles of scrap material and an array of yarns take on a beauty all their own. There is just so much to look at and admire! I can't help but feel really inspired just by having them around.
The yarns shown above are lined across the top of the walls that form the hallway...
Sew Kewl
Friend of FP Elizabeth Garvey loves and collects old photographs, and houses them all in her blog, Sew Kewl. "One of the things I love more than anything are old photographs, especially from different cultures. Life seemed so simple back then, and their outfits were just the cutest!" says Elizabeth.
Check out Sew Kewl at Etsy where you can find little wonders such as this...
DIY jewelry
I love this video Nylon did with Lula Frost! Learn to make beautiful jewelry from vintage pieces.
May 21, 2008
office feet
Perhaps this is strange, but there were a few especially cool shoes shuffling through the office today, which I have photographed to show you...
This last picture isn't so much about the shoes, but check out those toes! Wow!
map dresses
Chelsea girl,© Elisabeth Lecourt, www.elisabethlecourt.com Photo: © onepom/London
Reglisses roulees,© Elisabeth Lecourt [year], www.elisabethlecourt.com Photo: © onepom/London [year]
I discovered these works of art over on labour of heart. These paper map dresses are crafted by French artist Elisabeth Lecourt. She has made over 60 garments from cut up maps (each garment represents only one region) folding and ironing them to beauty. Check out her site for more info.
May 20, 2008
We The Free - Kitty Hawk Tee
One of my favorite tees that we are selling right now is the We The Free Kitty Hawk Tee.
Something that tickled the curiosity of myself and my fellow Free People bloggers however, was whether the tee had been inspired by the fact that our home office is located on Kitty Hawk Avenue...
So I searched out the designer mostly responsible for the tee, Gabrielle, asked her-
and to my delight, the answer was yes! The print had been inspired by our humble street.
She also told me a little about the process of burning out a tee to make it thinner
and have that vintage feel.
They start with a poly-cotton material, then come up with a print or a set of areas they want to "burn out." You'll notice on these type of garments that some areas are thinner than others. The areas more thinned out have had a type of print applied to them which has a chemical that when washed, dissolves the cotton but leaves the polyester. After the fabric has been burnt out, it is dyed. Generally, after the dying is when the garment is constructed.
The screen print is the last thing added.
roger
Roger belongs to Megan, FreePeople.com’s web marketing person. Roger and Megan work on all kinds of fun stuff, like our bi-weekly emails, FP’s myspace and facebook pages, customer surveys, search keywords etc.
Name- Roger
Nickname- Rodge, Roger Duchamp, Professor Pantalones, Stinky
Breed- Chow Corgi Mix, or Chowgi
Likes- The beach (especially the north shore with all of the rocks), Lynch Park , the Harford Dog Park, the Navy Yard "quad", tummy rubs, skateboarding, steak & eggs, monkey in the middle (he is always the monkey), football, snow, and relaxing while the wind blows through his sunkissed chowgi locks
Dislikes- Vegetables, conditioning sprays, cats, people talking about him like he is not there, and being tied up outside Shop 543
Favorite friends- Dexter and his assistant Anthony, Jack, his longtime sheltie love Lucy, and many many more. He usually prefers dogs to people, with the exception of his FP Direct ladies.
How did you meet Rog ? - Roger was rescued from the "streets" of Baltimore and was totally gangster. He was transferred to the Pendragwn Chow Chow Rescue in Lancaster PA. He lived there for a few months before I found him, most people thought he was "funny looking", but I thought he was just right. He came to live with me and we have been best friends ever since.
Anything else you want to share? - Although Roger sheds alot and has major allergies I have to tend to, he is a great dog to have around the house. He does not try to jump on the furniture, never steals food, would never chew on anything, and carefully steps around anything on the floor that is not his. He loves to sleep under the bed, hidden by the bedskirt. It is very cute when I can hear his little snores beneath me.
May 19, 2008
Free People Community Tree
This cool tree, which has been 'planted' on a wall next to the lobby here in the
Free People Home Office, features a photo of nearly every Free People Home Office employee!
The photos don't quite capture how big and cool it actually is!
(And a big thank you to everyone who helped put it up! It's wonderful!)
May 16, 2008
helen musselwhite
I wanted to share this profile of artist Helen Musselwhite found on if it's hip, it's here. The UK artist makes these amazing paper sculptures of all kinds of creatures and fantastical environments. Here are a few of my favorites. See more at Helen's web site.
May 15, 2008
employee profile - Kris Chau
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Kris Chau, Assistant Knit Designer!
Aside from being a very talented designer, she is also a talented illustrator.
And a very charming and fun woman! I'll let the video speak for itself,
and below find just a few of her illustrations. You can see many more of them
at her website.
Also, as promised, a few pictures of her exciting show in Los Angeles!
an antique book
Floating around the office of late has been an extraordinary old book filled with
even older postcards and snippets, some dating as far back as the 1870's.
The lucky owner of this beautiful book is our Senior Knits Designer, Gianna.
The book had been passed from friend to friend for many years, with each of its
possessors adding to its pages while keeping with the general theme, until it
reached Gianna's uncle. After a time, he gifted the book, now full, to her, seeing
her inclination to art, drawing and the like. At this point, Gianna has had the book
for ten years, and has no plans to give it up! (Who can blame her?) I wanted to
share this wonderful book with you, since we have all enjoyed it so much,
and even gotten some scrapbooking inspiration from its pages!
May 14, 2008
May Flowers!
Observe these wonderful flower girls created by Elsa Mora!
I have been perusing her blog and there is a lot of wonderful and interesting stuff!
You should check it out! She also has an Etsy shop for your pleasure.
garlands of sophie cuvelier
You might have already discovered these, since I've talked about Love Forever so many times, I'm sure you have the blog bookmarked. But seriously, how amazing are these garlands? I'm in love. I want to go home right now and cut up little shapes paper and string them all over my ceiling.
Sophie Cuvelier is a French artist, from what I can tell because her site is all in French. But click on Diaporama and browse through all of her photos; I think there are a million of them. She also sells some garlands and Selvedge, and it looks like through her site too.
May 13, 2008
may catalog is here!
Enough with all the suspense. The May catalog drops today, so check yer mailboxes, or check it out online.
A little about this month's book...
Our May 08 catalog was based on a "by the seashore" concept... We'd been hitting up a lot of beautiful sandy beaches lately, so we wanted to explore something a little different.
Our senior stylist pointed us to the rocky beaches of central/northern California, especially the Big Sur area.
Anyone I've ever talked to about Big Sur has said nothing short of amazingly beautiful things about the place...so we packed up and headed west.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative - it was quite cold and rainy a lot of the time.
And to boot, our brunette model got sick during the first day of shooting, so we brought in a 2nd girl at the last minute.
But it was great using 2 different faces...
We took a 12-passenger van out on 17-mile drive, starting off each morning near our hotel in Monterey and then driving through pebble beach (we ate lunch each day at a deli in the middle of the golf course), then onto Big Sur.
Spent a lot of time looking over cliffs at what we thought were sea lions, only to realize quite late in the game that they were really giant pieces of seaweed.
We were a little bummed...
This was our first all-girl outing, by the way...photographer, assistants, stylists, etc. very exciting!!!
May 12, 2008
about the catalog video
A friend of one of the fp girls made the May catalog video (see the previous entry) and it turned out so amazing, we wanted to share a little about his process and inspiration. Here is what Ram had to say about his work on the project.
"Carrie (fp creative director) first sent me a 3-4 minute cut done there with music and everything. I used that footage and grabbed stills from it I liked compositionally and took them into Photoshop to create color boards. The whole idea was to create a dreamy feel for the video. This is something I like to incorporate into a lot of what I do.
My background is illustration, specifically in concept art and matte painting, which is basically just creating images which don't actually exist, but could in a potential fantasy world. The boards showed how far I'd like to push the piece. From there, David Bokser and I requested more footage. I scrubbed through it and found everything I liked and then we started on the final edit. I also knew I wanted it to end with "Free People" written in the clouds. I also spent a good bit of time going through the footage to find frames of the behind the scenes people and even some other interesting shots and treated them with texture and color for the "flicker" shots through the whole piece. I'll post some of the favorites on my website once the video is released.
The choice of music was difficult at first. When Carrie initially brought up the possibility of doing this I had some music in mind that reminded me of the drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (where Big Sur is). I really wanted to use a certain track, but I didn't want that to dictate the mood. I wanted the clothing and the models to be first. When Dave played me the piano track, I was hesitant at first to let go of what I originally wanted but after a few listens and some changes I enjoyed it more and more and felt it was fitting.
I really love Free People. Is that weird for a guy to say? :) I think maybe the cute models have something to do with it. Ha, no really, what I love most about FP is the use of textures, patterns, and color. I am one to always incorporate texture and rich color into what I do. I think the clothing just looks great, it has a vintage flare to it but very modern and stylish. Another quality I really love is how the inspirations for the trend come from around the world. I'd love to do a photoshoot for Free People on location and create a catalog and video.
The creative inspiration question... always a tough one. A while back, Kara (from fp) introduced me to a photographer, Tim Walker, whose work I'd seen before but now that I knew the name I fell in love with the work when I saw an entire gallery of it altogether. His work, alongside a slew of fashion photographers, have been really inspirational. I've actually come up with some photo shoots of my own that I hope to start working on soon. A huge director inspiration for me these days has been Bruno Aveillan. His video for Louis Vuitton is incredible and his cinematography is practically flawless. In the future I'd love to come on set and shoot the videos for Free People as a more narrative piece that incorporates the clothing as the showcase."
The music is by an artist named Michael David Crawford. Ram said "We basically wanted something dreamy and devoid of words so we could focus on the visuals. I do love piano and want desperately to learn to play. :) Originally the piece was going to incorporate an E.E. Cummings poem I really liked, but after the edit and visual effects were done, we were really happy with it and didn't want to detract from what we already had."
Ram's web site: www.rambhat.com
David Bokser's site: www.davidbokser.com
May 9, 2008
another peek at our newest catalog!
Almost the moment I posted pictures of the Big Sur catalog shoot for you all
to look at, I was informed that the catalog video had been put up on the
Free People Youtube! So I wanted to be sure and post it for you to see!
You can also find it (and all our other videos) here.
This catalog drops next week and we are all so excited! Enjoy!
behind-the-scenes peek at our newest catalog!
Free People's new catalog will be dropping next week!
It was shot in the stunningly gorgeous Big Sur region of California,
and one of our stylists was kind enough to share a few pictures
from the shoot! Please enjoy!
May 8, 2008
employee desk - erica
Posing pensively for us at her desk (and in a Spartan helmet no less) is Erica.
Erica is the Assistant Visual Display Designer, which means she gets to help design
the displays that go in all the Free People stores.
It also means that her desk has many interesting objects to look at,
both related to her display work as well as personal items.
This is Erica's favorite area of her desk.
The two young ladies pictured are her best friends hamming it up
on vacation in Daytona Beach. Happy times.
This is my favorite area of Erica's desk.
When asked of the shoes she tells us:
"a wealthy older woman was giving away piles of clothes and such and
apparently didn't realize what a great find these shoes were!"
The shoes are sadly too fragile to be worn. But great to look at!
And the radio? Made of PAPER! It was picked up in Hong Kong.
Paper objects like these are made for funerals, to be burnt up as a means of
allowing the dead to take the objects with them to the afterlife.
Tune in next time for another fun look at an employee desk!
birds of a feather
Kindra is Here shares her beautiful and whimsical vintage collections. I love the illustrations on old packaging. Those little charms would make an incredible necklace!
pangea day
I don't mean to overwhelm you with videos, but I really wanted to share this. This Saturday, you can join the world to celebrate Pangea Day. The concept is really amazing. Here is some info from the Pangea Day web site...
Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.
Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.
More than 1,000 Pangea Day events worldwide will transmit photos, video, and text messages, to be incorporated in the live broadcast and the pangeaday.org web site.
The 4-hour Pangea Day program will include visionary speakers and live music in addition to the featured films. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among the presenters taking part.
So get some buddies together or check out this map to find put where people will be celebrating near you.
pruitt and new videos!
Meet our intern Pruitt! She is doing an awesome job helping out with the blog to bring you more nuggets from the FP home office. Check out these videos while Pruitt interviews people on the streets and asks, "Do you know what Free People is?" And check out her shopping trip.
We've updated our youtube page with a few new videos you haven't seen before, so go there to see them all...
May 7, 2008
glitter creations
Mackenzie from our photo team makes these adorable creatures
by applying glitter to everyday objects one might find at the dollar store.
Here's what she has to say about them:
"I’m obsessed with glitter. It makes me happy! It always has.
I love peeps too...their facial expressions crack me up, they’re all so different."
bird cage
Kime Buzzelli posted some pics on her Moldy Doily blog from a block party/art opening they just had at her shop, Show Pony. If you don't know Kime's artwork, check out her blog and this entry we featured a while back. Anywho, I loved this pic with the giant bird cage drawing!
She also bought some balloons for the party. They look so pretty and festive, I'm definitely going to remember to get some for my next soirée.
May 6, 2008
Julia Pott
friend of fp Julia Pott has some pretty
sweet illustrations. She's also selling great handmade cards in her etsy shop! Get them while you can..
summer trend video
Here is our behind the scenes look at the Free People Home Office in Philadelphia. This video shows our three summer trends for 2008.
Peace Corps Prep: Inspired by girls in the peace corps traveling in India.
Everything But a Flower: A collection of new and vintage geometric patterns and shapes.
Mayan: Inspired by the beautiful Mayan Riviera and Aztec designs.
Enjoy!
May 5, 2008
knitted wall cover
I walked into the NY boutique LP & P this weekend, and I just stared at the back wall for a good two minutes before the shop girl snapped me out of it. The entire back wall of the store is covered in this super chunky huge amazing knit wall covering. Giant flowers and cables in tonal grey colors. It is amazing. The shop girl explained that they are known for their knitwear (which was not obvious from the summer collection, understandably) and they do doggie clothes and women's clothes as well. The shop is named after designer Catherine Fung's two dogs, Little Prince and Piggy.
May 2, 2008
crochet coral reef
The Coral Reef project has displayed in Pittsburgh and Chicago and is currently on display in New York. I had seen a small bit of it in the windows at NYU, and checked out the website for the Institute for Figuring and wasn't all that impressed with what I saw in person or the images on the site. But then, I saw the pictures posted on Love Forever and now I am excited!
The project is an effort to draw attention to the disappearing wonders of the marine world caused by global warming and the disgusting amounts of trash in the ocean. The crochet technique they used is called Hyperbolic Crochet, based on an algorithmic technique discovered by mathematician Dr. Daina Taimina.
Check out the Institute for Figuring; there is a lot to read about the intentions and process for this exhibition.