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Actual Source is a publisher, bookseller, merch maker, and all-around design-nerd’s dream based in Utah. As someone who went to school for graphic design and never became a graphic designer, it helps me feel like I’m still in the club. Front to back, the shop is absolute heat, even if you don’t drop terms like kerning, logotype, or visual identity system in conversation regularly. The merch is just as rad as the book curation. The collabs are genre-breaking. And their book series called Shoplifters is probably the best place to physically experience the work of today’s raddest illustrators and type designers.
Jun 29, 2021
Related Recs
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One of my favorite shops is ran by Geoffrey Kixmiller and his partner, and they offer books, prints, clothing, objects, and a rapid response press. I probably order something each week from them and I love their curation and approach to design, they kill it! They also donate 10% of their profits, right now it’s to a fund called LA Tenants Union’s #FoodNotRent Solidarity Fund. AND on top of that, they offer free Risograph printing for activists, organizers, and protestors!! What else could you ask for?
Feb 25, 2021
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Translates to to “Pen in the Ceiling,” Stylo for short. It’s Matt Michaud and Kieran Sutton’s new homespun fashion project which shares aesthetic sensibilities with Hollywood Gifts and Praying. I also see a little bit of Philadelphia painter Exene Karros’s influence. Their hand drawn designs include references to Blackrock, army men, Peter Griffin, Gamestop, Quiznos, Shell Gasoline, Ableton Live, and nuclear warheads. In essence, it captures the confusion and wonder of growing up in suburban America.
Sep 6, 2022
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Online shopping is great for things I can’t always find in person. ssense and DSM and Mr Porter are usually where I find myself going. In terms of buying vintage, eBay and Poshmark are great as long as you know your dimensions. I’ve sort of stopped using Grailed entirely as of lately, everything is priced so wrong.
Nothing can replace shopping in person though. Some shops have an insane presence that you can only experience by being there. DSM is an experience. Both Wythe and Drakes NY locations transport you to a western world & sartorial haven. I really love the expertise of the staff at 3Sixteen and SelfEdge and Blue Blue in Green when it comes to denim; they’re gods of their industry. And then it’s just fun to talk shop with the Noah staff. You don’t get that experience online. It’s wonderful to be so close to all these shops.
Both work together, I think. But if you aren’t in a location where you can visit these places, then you sort of have to default to online.
Aug 13, 2024
Top Recs from @alex-delany
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There are crackers that cool, young, brand-savvy, culinary enthusiasts eat. And then there are crackers that old Southern Italian Grandpas eat. I’m fine with the former, but I prefer the latter. Taralli, If you’re not familiar, are the latter. They’re a style of cracker that is essentially a bread stick (made with a slightly denser dough) curled in on itself to form a circle, usually with a shiny, smooth exterior. A lot of taralli have things like fennel seeds, pepper flakes, or dried herbs folded into the dough, but these rosemary and sea salt ones from Bello Rustico are the best I’ve found stateside. The exterior is more textural, and the cracker itself is buttery and extremely flaky, right at home with some roasted red peppers, a hunk of piave, or a slice of mortadella.
Jun 29, 2021
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Remember when you were a kid and it was summer and you were happy? Because you didn’t realize that your overactive sweat glands made you look like some kind of forgotten wax figure scraped from the sidewalk? Yeah, that pre-perspiration-awakening feeling is still achievable. You just have to walk to an ice cream truck and order a soft serve. I’m a plain vanilla guy, but there’s no wrong answer when staring into the cold blue eyes of my president, Mister Softee.
Jun 29, 2021
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I still have no idea what to actually call this brand. It’s as confusing as it is beautiful. Sometimes it’s called Niche. But on Instagram and in the labels of the clothes, it’s called This Time and sometimes Its Inconspicuous Presence. Whatever you wish (or are supposed) to call it, the pieces are designed by Nepenthes alumn Takumi Oomura. I’ve bought an embroidered gauze camp collar shirt the past two summers, and they’ve been my favorite pieces I’ve bought each season. The florals are ever-present, the fits and fabrics are breezy, and the textures are mind-blowing. This past season they did a pair of paint-splattered natural-colored jeans where the small splatters were embroidered instead of...splattered. They didn’t fit me. Still great though.
Jun 29, 2021