HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR ADRENALINE SEEKERS AND NESTERS
New York, NY
December 4th, 2009
Words & Event Images Judith Ecochard
OLD SOUL SURFBOARD Images / Steve McGlynn
Holiday Fairs sometimes pair together disparate elements.
Case in point.
After surfing on Long Beach Island (LBI) in NJ--- we now have... not only amazing respect for all those ten year olds who rode the waves like pros their first time out…
BUT ALSO an appreciation for the craft of the board itself. (Though not the one we rented ha ha).
We met Joe Freeman, a native of the aforementioned LBI- at a Workhouse Publicity event…cause the owner of that firm is a surfer. Good reason.
We thought the classic long boards stunning...and it's a fairly new enterprise-though coined…Old Soul Surfboards.
What’s cool is the MO---“We use the same methods that have been mastered and passed down through generations…”
Meaning traditional style hand shaping and fiber glassing methods.
Talk about a Christmas Stocking stuffer…and the custom boards are priced like all the other mass manufactured boards we saw.
And if one surfs like we do …hey, it’s art for the wall too.
INFO: joe.oldsoulsurfboards@gmail.com
We caught up with the nice and talented Ed Roth of the hip Brooklyn based graphics design firm Stencil 1--- at the divine Chocolate Bar (19 Eighth Avenue NYC) last night---a follow up visit, in a manner of speaking.
Sponsored by the permanent markers Sharpies ---one of our fav sponsors during NY Fashion Week (we spent over an hour coloring up bangles)---
this talented artist just released a new book Stencil 101 Décor.
And why we got motivated to peruse said tome---is that we went to a friend’s house…and her clever use of stencils really made her home POP.
“I’m inspired by my imagination and fashion trends...” Roth told us.
“I’m a thrift store junkie…then I mix it up with street graffiti …”
And those cool stencils can be used on anything…
including a yummy chocolate cake…(confectioners sugar).
Roth’s work has been in décor magazines…and he is currently tricking out the new Ace Hotel in NYC—part of the growing chain of architecturally forward/austere Wallpaper worthy abodes.
SOON: A card making kit and a journal.
INFO: STENCIL 1