I have been using this WWII era, British Army surplus packs for years. These things are pretty much bulletproof; made of khaki canvas that is measured in lbs per yard, not ounces. I’ve had two of these backpacks in the last 12 years or so, and have used it as a carry on, my main luggage while hitchhiking, and have had it on my back to and from work every day. You could load bricks or gold bullion in it and not have to worry about the canvas or stitching. Over time the straps have worn away but never the pack itself.
What is funny about these packs is that they are a massive pain to use… the straps are too thin and they cut into your shoulders. The buckles to close the pack are tedious and difficult. I use them and wonder… why? I’ve finally realized that it is simply just the canvas! You can’t find canvas like this anymore. So, somebody, get a mill to make this stuff again (if they still grow this kind of super-cotton) and update these packs. Here is what would make it better: wider straps and metal quick connect closure. The brass buckles are beautiful but just too difficult.
In the meantime, I recommend you hunt down the last of these packs, at 60 years old they are getting harder and harder to find. One place I have seen them is Belmont Army Surplus in Chicago.
Silversmith, Victoria Delany, designed these set of candlesticks in silver and lacquered wood. The central wooden parts are interchangeable making an endless number of interesting and colourful combinations as well as allowing you to make them as tall or short as you would like.
I truly need this desk designed by Lukas Peet! The last couple of years I’ve run into all sorts of problems with my hand/wrist, which led to endless doctors visits and later on a brace and physical therapy. This surface tension desk helps eliminate those problems with its strong but forgiving surface of wood, steel and recycled leather.
The tears being tears of joy that we actually finished these babies! We’ve received a few emails from friends & family asking us how we created our wedding invites, so we decided to do a little (and by little, I mean long) post on it. Read on below:
I love this chair by French artist, Philippe Nigro. . in fact, I wish all my chairs functioned like this. They seamlessly stack on one another, but if you ever have an extra guest at dinner, you can pull them apart and they function as two. Brilliant!
No, I’m not talking about the alien cookbook, grillin’ up man kind of thing, I’m talking about this nicely designed First Aid kit, by Kristine Erdmann. I pretty much has everything you need (and more) complete with very detailed instructions made even for dummies and scout-dropouts like Wes and I.
So we opened a letterpress factory in our studio this past weekend, printing what seemed like 1,000,000 of our wedding invitations.. but we’re still not done. Since we have multiple colors and 10 different printing plates, we still have a long way to go. Despite it being scorching hot in the studio and the work extremely tedious, it was also really satisfying seeing them come out. We’re definitely still letterpress newbies, but I’m kinda proud of them so far!
Oscar lost his two back legs when a harvester ran over them while he was napping in a field. After multiple surgeries, he finally had metal implants secured to his ankle bones and is now walking pain free.
I admit, I got teary-eyed after watching the short video below.
Of the two bags below, which would you rather buy? I personally gravitate towards the one on the right. But would I pay $100 more for it?
Well I sure hope not, because they’re actually THE SAME BAG. The only difference is that Frost River (the brand) sells the bag for one price and then Blackbird sells the same bag for $100 more! I guess hiring a photographer is more expensive than hiring an illustrator??
I’ve just about wasted 30 minutes messing around on this map. More than 10 million people moved from one county to another in 2008 and this map tracks those moves. Click on any county and see the inward/outward movement..
This BMW racer from 1937 is stunning. The windshield is great, and the instrumentation beautiful- somehow I think that dash looks better now than it did new. Notice the white gear shift knob, interesting, and the tool kit is elegant. An interesting thing about this car was that it used magnesium aluminum alloy extensively, which in 1937 was pretty extreme. Oh, and speaking of extreme, it sold for 4.5 million euros this past march.
A little while back, we had a post about Best Made Axes. If those weren’t cool enough, they recently just added this cute leather sling to their inventory.
I completely forgot about posting this! I saved these images a few months ago and they got lost in the Thersic-folder-of-crap, and I just ran across them this afternoon.. so better late than never, right?
Along with a leather cat suit, these vertebrae-heeled shoes from DSquared2are what I’m planning on wearing if the world ends and I’m left to fight sci-fi creatures and aliens in Post-Apocalyptic warfare.
American Silver. Sugar Bowl from Providence, 1790. Fancy sugar.
I truly need this desk designed by
