I recently stumbled upon The Ridebook from Harley Davidson produced in collaboration with handful of guest curators: Relic, The Selvedge Yard, The Fader, Urbandaddy, Scot Toepfer, and a A Time To Get. The ridebook is made up of short films, music, photography, and short essays all of which speak to the profound impact this iconic brand has had on culture in America and abroad from 1900 up to present day.

Recently stumbled across this little beauty. Wood bicycle crafted by Jan Gunneweg.

A pretty exciting change is about to take place in one the of worlds most important cities. Since the announcement that the “iconic” Crown Victorian—which is currently being used for taxis and police cars all over the US—is going to be discontinued, the city of New York took advantage of the opportunity to rethink the roll the taxi plays in the city and inevitably across the country. In late 2009, the commission issued an RFP to automobile manufacturers and designers from around the world, for a “purpose-built” vehicle to serve as the next NYC taxi cab. Some of those proposals are now being showed in brief, on the Taxi of Tomorrow site.

Where this news becomes particularly exciting, is that, which ever direction NY goes with their selection of the new taxi design, other cities will surely follow suit. It’s safe to say, that this shift, will single handedly change the overall aesthetic of city and probably the entire US within the next few years. Hopefully, it also signifies the beginning of a much needed change of pace in urban transportation infrastructure in our country, as well.

Police vehicles would likely be next in the list.

The image above—designed by Karsan—is my favorite design of those shown on the site. Unfortunately there aren’t really any specifics on whether or not these are electric, hybrid or gas powered… or what sort of interior gadgetry their might be. Exciting, regradless.

“Contemporary art should be relevant to our lives and experiences,” Krafft has said. “The time we live in produces curious and splendid souvenirs of the events we live through.”

Charles Krafft embodies the spirit of a 16 year old anarchist thriving inside of the shell of a 60 year old man from the pacific northwest. Working for over 30 years as an artist Krafft has dabbled in a variety of mediums, and has always taken the same youthful approach regardless of the materials at hand. He manages to tastefully juxtapose contrasting mediums and messages in a way that confuses, insults, and stretches the imagination of innocent onlookers. Part of my enjoyment upon stumbling across Krafft was the journey that ensued, leading me down a rabbit hole filled with poems, paintings, ceramic dishes, and secret societies… Charles has lived every minute of the past 30 years as an artist… and for me there is little else in life that is more inspiring.

Yeah, yeah… I know, it’s old news. I just found this video from the release event and was pretty excited to see how far the crew took it all for this round. Gavin’s (Jam Factory) Droplets are pretty nifty and he’s had a good run of collaboration with some really amazing artists on the line, but it wasn’t until just now that I noticed how impressive the event was. Projections, murals, collabos on custom Droplets, grab bags and even a video game!?

Creative events like this one always get me super excited, especially when the product / art, becomes a bridge between it’s creator and the consumer. I feel like that connection rarely exists in most industries and is one of the foremost lacking elements of consumerism as a whole. It has the opportunity to assist in creating networks and to initiate conversation that can inevitably lead to friendships and collaborations to help push the boundaries of the product and or the experience as a whole…

For more information on the Gavin Strange aka Jam Factory, Fifty Fifty and the Droplet Series, click the links!

Our good friends at KARVT have been building steam pretty quickly on their custom, laser-cut, wooden MacBook and iPad skins (iPhone4 skins dropping soon). On their own, the skins are super radical, but the growing list of mega talented artists and designers adding their own flavor to them is definitely hitting the spot.

Slide on over and check out the full list of contributors… and keep your eyes peeled for something by yours truly in the near future!

Artist seen above: Scot Lefavor

Above is a few snaps of the Create Denver Week Pop-Up store build-out in progress courtesy of Samuel Schimek with 15 Min. Sam concepted and conceived the idea of a pop-up store that is filled with artwork, clothing, jewelry, paper products, and other items that have all been designed and developed by Denver artists and creatives… I’ll be in the space this afternoon trying to help with the final push before the doors open for a week starting tomorrow. The Store opens April 10th and is open until April 17th running in conjunction with Create Denver week… business hours will be
11am – 7pm daily!

Create Denver Week Pop-Up Store : 1600 Glenarm Denver, CO : Open Daily between 04/10/10 – 04/17/10 : 11AM – 7PM

Pre-Orders ship May 1st. Get on it.

Check out Square, a swell new mobile card payment solution for independent and small businesses. I personally have no use for it, but could think of a million ways I could. Think about using this at an SXSW, an art show or even Craigslist purchases. I think it’s great to see people thinking about utility now and again when it comes to application development and tech services. This is the shit that gets me excited to be working in mobile and in design all together. Solve problems, don’t make new ones.