Fonts have always been an interest of mine even though I’ve never actually created a full set. And considering that we have the TYPO contest running, I figured the subject suiting.

Now one of my Favorite fonts at the current moment is Behemoth

I’ve used Behemoth in a number of works including Beware! the Swarm and I Feel You

Now I find a good place for free fonts is www.dafont.com

You can find a large selection of fonts and even sample fonts with specific user defined words. Quite handy.

Remember of course though for the TYPO contest we don’t want a pre-made font, but for inspiration, font sites can be very handy.

- Hey Sahadeva!! There's this girl at the office, she told me that you had a myspace, erm, a blog, erm, a… a t-shirt website??? What is it about exactly? How does it work?

- Ha! Yeah, she was right about the T-shirt website -Rumplo.com- a place to find amazing artist-produced T-shirts from around the world. You might also think of it as a community of T-shirt shops and T-shirt fans who come together to share the best T-shirts for sale anywhere. By collecting all these T-shirts Rumplo makes it easy to find great shirts and great stores that you may not have heard of before, whether they're tiny shops in Switzerland making brilliant tees or T-shirts produced by huge shops in Japan. Check it out, I think you may be surprised by some wonderfully great T-shirts people have submitted.

- Do you have a large audience? I mean, is there so many people who are t-shirt-addicted?

- We've been pleasantly surprised by how many T-shirts people have submitted to Rumplo, and how many people stop by in general, so there's definitely a large number of people who have a special affection for great T-shrits (ourselves included). We have a newsletter we send out every week, too, that highlights 10 brilliant T-shirts and that people really enjoy (we've got 1,500 subscribers and it's growing fast). If you'd like a nice weekly sampling of great T-shirts from shops all over the world check it out — http://rumplo.com/newsletter/subscribeme

- Do you think that the addiction to t-shirts should become priority number 1 in the world?

- Haha, well, T-shirts have the convenient quality of being able to take on a myriad of meanings and messages and forms, so T-shirts can be used in lots of different ways, whether they're political or social or artistic or just silly. If your T-shirt addiction takes on the form of promoting something you believe in then yeah, I don't see why you shouldn't be proud of that T-shirt addiction, even if it's just about art or something like that. My parter at Rumplo, Ian Van Ness, sent me a link to an article in the NY Times about a woman who uses T-shirts in particularly controversial ways to draw attention to social issues she cares about. It's a great idea, and makes sense to me considering people often use T-shirts to, as they say, wear their hearts on their sleeves. I don't want to gush over T-shirts too much, but they have become a surprisingly well used medium for sharing ideas, so yeah, if anyone reading this wants to make T-shirts you should do it.

- Why should we submit the laFraise t-shirts? I mean, what's the point for our members, for instance? Is there something to win???

- laFraise and other T-shirt shops should post their shirts to Rumplo for a simple reason: if you submit your tees to Rumplo you'll drive more traffic to your website, promote your T-shirt designs and designers, and sell more tees, all for free. Submitting your shirts to Rumplo makes them easier to find. People go to Rumplo because it's the easiest way to browse T-shirts from shops from around the world, so if you're T-shirts are on Rumplo they have the potential to be seen by the thousands of T-shirt lovers who frequent Rumplo every day. Again, it's 100% free, so there's no reason not to try it out! laFraise members browsing Rumplo have the advantage of being able to peruse laFraise shirts alongside shirts from other shops. And of course lots of people will be coming to Rumplo looking for one thing and end up clicking over to laFraise to check out laFraise shirts. We're hoping that Rumplo helps to broaden the audience for all artist-produced T-shirt shops, which ultimately benefits shops like laFraise more and more.

- What does the future looks like? Heaven or hell?

- I'm becoming more optimistic by the day. Maybe it's because Spring just hit New York and the sun is out, but I'm sure it also has something to do with discovering so many people doing cool things with art and T-shirts and websites. Places like ffffound and muxtape and sunlightfoundation really inspire me. It's hard not to be glad when I see people doing creative things and making a living doing it. In other words it's still hard for me not to want to say that there's a transition happening in the world right now, as knowledge and information
find new ways to reach people in so many places, and fun projects and business like Rumplo become easier to build for everyone. It's not all well in the world right now, but again, I'm very optimistic. Hopefully Rumplo some of the new projects we're working on will inspire people, too.

- And you, what do you look like? :) 

- This photo was taken by Mareen Fischinger, thanks to her!!

- What should we wish for Rumplo?

- Wish T-shirt shops like laFraise and T-shirt designers a million creative ideas for T-shirts — that's what makes Rumplo great.

- By the way, why is it called Rumplo?

- Rumplo is just a fun name that Ian came up with. I wish I could say it had some special meaning or connected with what we do somehow, but mostly it just sounds fun and rolls off one's tongue nicely : )

Thanks a lot and long live to Rumplo !! 

Hi guys,

Not sure you've heard about it yet, our mates from Vice started a very cool project a few months back.

I particularly recommend the Toxic Series, a VBS.tv original series that travels across the globe to cover environmental issues previously overlooked or misrepresented by other media.

Since I saw our new office for the first time I’ve been thinking about ways to make it more comfortable. Creative thinking needs surroundings that support the process. It’s not like every office has to have a pinball machine and a specific lounge are but I firmly believe that people are more productive when they enjoy the things they see around them.

This Ain’t No Disco It’s Where We Work is a site that display all kinds of offices around the world and it serves as an inspiration in many ways. Slap me in the buttocks and call me Nancy if some ideas I’ve come across on this site won’t be adapted to our office. I sure hope you guys reading this also work in a stimulating atmosphere. A dull environment is a mindkiller.

Miriello Grafico's office

Wright Creative Inc's lounge

Tangible Worldwide's lobby

Agevole's meeting room

Yesterday I was supposed to write a blog entry about meeting people and all that. I sat on my laptop over an hour and realized that I don't really know anything about it. I could've written some lameass pointers about online dating services and Facebook's social applications (Flirtable, Human pets etc.) but decided that it wouldn't really serve any purpose. You already know all that. Otherwise I've got no keys to happiness to offer. Personally the thing that has worked out alright for me most of the time is being honest about my feelings. If I feel something for someone I won't let that slip away without letting the other person know about them. That's something I'm suggesting for everyone. It's better to regret the things you've done than the ones you never did even if you really wanted to.

I admit it – I don't know much about meeting people. I'm not even sure there are techniques that can be universally applied to that. So, instead of bullshitting you to think I'm a guru when it comes to that I'll rather write about latex clothing. Yup, I don't know much about that either but have been fascinated by it for some years now. The fascination is around 30% sexual and 70% visual. When I see some skilled laterwear my first thought usually isn't ”Wow, that'd be so awesome in the bedroom” but ”Wow, with the right model that'd make an awesome photo.”

The best of the best in custom latex clothing is House of Harlot from the UK. Unfortunately their website is under heavy construction at the moment and the gallery they used to have is pretty much gone but this company can make just about anything out of latex. Remember that Christina Aguilera video in which she wear a skimpy blueish sailor uniform? That's from House of Harlot and it's off the rack – not custom. The custom made outfits I've seen from them are imaginative and inspiring. They look like it has taken countless hours to design and make them and I'd just be awestruck if I could ever get one of them for a photoshoot.

I've considered having a pinstripe suit made by them. It would be the perfect outfit for having a couple Martinis. It's probably safe to say it wouldn't be too comfortable though.

Sex and erotic images are way too often seen as something for the male heterosexual audience only – at least they're seen as the main consumers which is probably true too. Still, there's a lot of erotic art and images that are intended for either heterosexual women or…. in this case for gay men.

Tom of Finland (born as Touko Laaksonen in 1920) was often called ”the master of pencil” because of his awesome skills with that tool. Tom started drawing homoerotic images of men at an early age but kept them to himself – which is quite understandable considering the fact that being gay and acting gay was in fact illegal in many countries while he was young (in the 21st century that seems a bit absurd, huh?). Fortunately later on he decide to start publishing it because even as a straight guy I've got loads of respect for his skills and imagination.

The men in Tom's drawings are slightly cartoonish because of their overly big muscles and male organs but really detailed and unique. Even the New York's Museum of Modern art has bought several pieces of his art for their permanent collection – an honor that not quite everyone gets.

Being in a terribly good mood today makes me want to share more wicked art with you. It’s always inspiring to find something totally new and fresh in a world in which most ideas have been used over and over again. Sculptures aren’t my favourite thing ever but I’ve got to admit Jennifer Maestre’s work made a huge impression when I came across it. Especially the stuff she’s done using pencils as a raw material just blows the roof off.

She’s also doing wonderful things with beads and nails but there’s just no beating the pencil idea. It must take ages to do one of these sculptures. It works like this; she takes hundreds of pencil, cuts them into an inch long pieces, sharpens the pieces, drills a hole into each one of them and finally sews the stuff together. I’d imagine the final sculptures are pretty fragile too. After all it doesn’t take much to break the tip of a pencil.

Jennifer is originally from South Africa but now lives in the States. I’m hoping she’ll bring her art over to Europe one of these days because I’d sure like to see it live.

Wednesday morning, huh?

Last night I decided that the EU community hasn't been getting enough of non-laFraise related blog entries lately and that posting about something naive and innocent first thing in the morning would be a nice way to get started. Googling around took me to a website of Lori Marie, a designer from San Francisco bay area. She's quite an established professional on her own area of expertise; making patterns and ”pretty little things.”

Even if the handbags and the other products she makes aren't really very masculine I can't help myself. Those darn things are so adorable that I found myself staring at the bright and rich details with a one thing on my mind; ”I want one of those.” I wonder if I could fit a sixpack (or at least a couple of beers) to the ”cream puff clutch” featured below?

Oh, almost forgot to mention this but she does have a blog too. Filled with pretty little thing, what else?

You’ve probably heard of the Pirate Bay, right? It’s among the most popular bit torrent sites in the world and even though I don’t support piracy in general I do support the good show these guys are putting up. They’ve been loopholing through the Swedish legal system for years now and are especially known for their way of dealing with the email threats they get; emails from huge multinational corporation threatening them with law suites are replied to in a really sarcastic manner and after that published on their website.

BBC news reports that the guys are now in court – again. According to my knowledge they haven’t lost a single trial yet during the several years they’ve operated. So, this should get interesting. Will they break the prosecutor’s balls again and how? Does the site remain operational or will the Swedish police seize their computers again? If they do that are they actually able to keep them for more than a few days? The last time some of the Pirate Bay’s computers were seizes was in 2006. According to my knowledge it didn’t take very long before the police had to return them and the Swedish government had to pay the financial damage to these guys.

Is piracy a horrible horrible crime then? Well, I don’t know. Personally I do think it’s stealing and I buy all my music & movies. Still I was pretty damn honoured to meet a couple of guys from the Pirate Bay last year at The Gathering. They were cheerful and nice fellows. I wish them well and will definitely keep on following the story.

Shit, maybe we should even consider a theme competition? Pirates are always cool even if piracy’s not. Yaaaar.

I really haven't got the balls to take credit for the interview below - Maïa made it with Jared K. Nickerson (better known as "J3Concepts" here on laFraise) and it has to be the most interesting interview I've read in a while. Laughing out loud in front of a computer is usually a sign of slowly going insane or actually coming across something really funny. The stuff this guy's brain "poops out" is simply amazing - I'm lacking any other words to describe it. When I was taking some samples from his website for this interview and resizing & cropping them to fit our blog's format I couldn't help feeling bad about it. It felt like I was savagely raping all the details and the gentle touch in them.

So, be sure to check them out as they're intended - the amount of detail is just astonishing. Kick me in the nuts if I'm wrong but my prediction is that this guy is the next laFraise designer superstar and that we have printed not one but many of his designs before the year 2008 is done with. You can count me as a fan of his work, that's for sure. I'd love to drink a few pints with Jared and pick his brain a little while doing that. I'm running out of words that do any justice to him so I'll let you get started with the interview and the samples now. Much love.

Q. Hi Jared, are you single? And if not, why?

A. Actually I have a beautiful wife from Southern California. Just got married June 1st. Funny enough, I met her through my design work and a roadtrip, long story short, we got married 2 years later.

Q. Who are you, very precisely?

A. Well… I'm a 25 year old, graphic illustrator that currently looks like a young Martin Scorsese on coke, but if you wan't me to be more precise… I currently live in Vancouver, British Columbia and as of last week became a full-time freelance artist. Nah, I've been doing freelance for a few years now, only as of last week I worked a full-time job as a Sales Manager for an online broadcasting company. So all over the place currently… Ok let me start over, I design shit with a mouse and sell it for money.

I was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the first 12 years of my life, then moved to Toronto, Ontario and now residing in Vancouver for the last 3 years. I'm allergic to shellfish… like lobsters and oysters, don't know if it's a deadly allergy, haven't tested it fully yet.

Q. How did you discover laFraise and why did you stay?

A. Actually, oddly enough. I originally found LaFraise about 6 months ago when my wife notified me that some "artist" had ripped my artwork and posted it up on the site for voting. So I emailed them and mentioned the issue, and they were very applogetic and accomodating about it. So that really impressed me. So when their site poped back up in my mind a whilelater, I decided to try posting my artwork there myself.And the rest is history. They have been fully supportive of myself and my art I'd say that's a good reason to stick around, plus throwing me money sometimes doesn't hurt either.

Q. What's the secret of your talent: sweat, beer or hard work?

A. I wish I could be "the drugged out, socially retarded, outcast, artist" who only gets his inspiration while high on gasoline fumes and hooker farts, but I'm not that guy. My inspiration comes from music and everyday life. I guess it doesn't get more simple than that. Nothing too exciting, like I travelled to Taiwan one summer and found my inner soul through meditation and now I feel the need to share it with my peers through interpretive dance and the odd illustration. Just simple ol'; "I sit down in front of a computer, turn on some music, and start drawing." Just whatever my brain poops out, that's what you see.

Q. What will you do with the 1.000 Euro cash-prize? Party?

A. You're giving me money? Right on.

Q. What's your child's dream (I mean, except being printed on laFraise)?

A. To one day go digging in the backyard, and find moles with actual drilling equipment.

Q. Don't you think humanity should put in jail all the designers who draw on paper, because of the deforestation?

A. Yeah, they should be wasting electricity instead, like all the digital designers. I for one use paper way less now. I haven't drawn anything with a pencil in a few years now. I suppose that's bad. I tried using a tablet the other day… didn't work out so well. It's like the love child between a pencil and a mouse, but it's somewhere in the awkward middle where it's not hot or ugly just kinda so-so, and you wouldn't mind getting drunk one night and sleeping with it, but you'd sneak out the next morning before it woke up… and you wouldn't call it back.

Should I say something in closing? Like, "don't do drugs." or "stay in school" or "poop." "Poop" is such a universal word, makes everyone laugh, I laughed just typing it.

You'll soon get more news about laFraise & Jared. In the meantime, check out his website. You'll love it.