Writing, reviews, interviews, photography.

Posts by S. Streisguth

Inquiries & Responses Vol. 11: Andrew Apostola

Posted on November 26, 2012

 

Unless you’ve been living without the internet on a backwoods Alaskan retreat for the last eight months, chances are you’ve heard of the relatively new Svbscription service from the folks that brought you Portable. In case you haven’t, Svbscription is a luxury curated subscription service for men, released quarterly and based on a one-word theme. The items in the parcel below were curated around the theme of Study, and included an aluminum fountain pen by German manufacturer Kaweco, a suede folio by designer Loden Dager, a copy of the The Yips by author Nicola Barker, and finally two fragrances from Le Labo with a custom engraved metal travel tube. I haven’t been so excited to receive something in a long time, and regularly harassed the mailman until I finally saw a package with that familiar tape. I did my best to open everything slowly and really take it in, but sometimes your enthusiasm gets the best of you. Svbscription curates very high end designer items and custom collaborations, and it is very very likely that you will be receiving something that only a few hundred people in the world own.

The third incarnation, based around the theme of ‘Leisure’ is anticipated to be their best parcel to date, and is set to be released in the beginning of December. Earlier this month, we sat down with Andrew Apostola: co-founder and creative director for Portable, CEO of Svbscription, and probably one of the most down to earth guys in the industry. We decided to present the interview in it’s entirety, discussing topics from the subscription service model, retail in the Web 2.0 era, and what it takes to redesign aging retail models and connect the designer more directly with the consumer.

Would you like to win one of five limited-edition parcels co-curated with Brooklyn Magazine? Details at the bottom of the article!

Made in Philadelphia: Norman Porter Co.

Posted on November 14, 2012

A denim and leather goods company operating out of the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA, Norman Porter is Michael and Dave Stampler, and John Mahaffey. The Stampler’s father was an aircraft mechanic and their grandfather an engineer; a heritage of hard work and detail that is evident in both attitude and production at NP. Recently, Norman Porter held an exhibit at Art in the Age in Old City, Philadelphia, to introduce the public to the work that goes into a pair of handcrafted jeans. This past Friday, I swung by the studio to see for myself.

Portable: The Curator’s Conference, NYC

Posted on September 13, 2012

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Curator’s Conference, hosted by the agency Portable, just in time to kick off Fashion Week in NYC. The conference hosted a number of speakers from the film, fashion, and travel industries. Some of the speakers, Josh Rubin of Cool Hunting and Chris Corrado of Capsule, offer curated content and experiences and spoke about a holistic view of the curated experience. From a slightly different viewpoint, filmmaker Gia Coppola and director Warren Fu broached the topic of curation from the sense of the selection and organization of a series of images in time. Hit the jump for the writeup and more photos.

Inquiries & Responses vol. 09: Little Baby’s Ice Cream Interview

Posted on August 6, 2012

If you’ve been in Philadelphia for almost any kind of event this summer, chances are you’ve heard of Little Baby’s Ice Cream. If you haven’t, but you’ve been online in the last few days, I can guarantee that someone has shown you their latest commercial, which pulled in half a million views since it was posted this week. That’s a third of the population of the City of Brotherly Love, where Pete Angevine, Jeffrey Ziga, and Martin Brown get awesome and make ice cream an experience like no other. Click below for more photos and the interview.

Hickoree’s + The Hill-Side Rummage Sale

Posted on July 17, 2012

This past weekend I was enormously fortunate to be able to be in Brooklyn, NYC for The Hill-Side’s Rummage Sale at Hickoree’s Hard Goods. For those of you that missed it, the sale is on top of their already insane Summer Sale, and included factory seconds, press samples, prototypes, and other kinds of amazing rare business for comparatively next to nothing. Ties and scarves were $20 apiece, handkerchiefs and pocket squares were $10. I think I was there at 5:01 and there was already a line to the end of the block. It was Black Friday the 13th madness as soon as the doors opened: ties flying back and forth, the metallic clack of clothes hangers sliding on every side of you, the envy of seeing the next guy in line with the perfect pocket square! Right as you get to the register, another box of ties comes out and everything reshuffles as you spy that perfect selvedge chambray from across the room. Despite the heat, nobody even touched the beer for at least half an hour. That’s focus.

Hit the jump for more photos…