Link About It: This Week’s Picks
The NYT’s digital experiments, glow-in-the-dark jeans, Frank Lloyd Wright’s restored hotel and more in this week’s look at the web
1. Beta620
“An openly experimental newsroom,” Beta620 is the New York Times’ new platform for interactive and other projects, suggesting a new, unprecedented level of transparency for the brand.
2. Glow-in-the-Dark Jeans
The ultimate club-goer’s denim, a phosphorescent coating applied to the fabric in Japan powers Naked & Famous’ new glow-in-the-dark jeans. The selvedge denim will develop a beautiful patina over time, making the glow even more distinct.
3. How Pencils Are Made
Staedtler’s in-depth video on how they make their pencils, from inserting graphite to attaching erasers and more, gives an informative peek behind the scenes of a pencil factory.
4. Park Inn Hotel
The Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, Iowa, originally built in 1910, was Frank Lloyd Wright’s last hotel design. A commercial space since the ’30s, the hotel has recently been restored into a beautiful fully-functioning inn set to open this September.
5. Military One-Button Chronographs
For the ultimate vintage wrist wear check out these unsigned Canadian Air Force-issued watches, truly meant to fly under the radar. The secret to these high-performance beauties is that they were silently manufactured by luxury watchmakers Omega and Breitling in the 1960s.
6. LabelLove Sony Warehouse Campaign
The recent London riots destroyed Sony’s Pias distribution center which contained the albums of almost 200 independent labels. The LabelLove campaign aims to help keep these small labels from going under, because as hip-hop artist Dan Le Sac tweeted, “without passionate people doing it for love, I would still be behind the counter of HMV.”
7. James Perse Yosemite Paddle Boards
Handcrafted by one of Southern California’s most esteemed shapers, James Perse’s 11-foot long Yosemite Paddle Boards are a gorgeous vehicle for exploring the shores while getting in some valuable cross training and core strengthening exercise.
8. Pop-Up Co-op
Food activists agree that one of the fundamental causes of the U.S. obesity crisis is lack of access to fresh produce and groceries. Sweetwork Project is one Harlem resident’s well-thought-out vision to start a worker-owned store to provide the goods in his neighborhood. Help fund this grassroots community-building by donating to the Kickstarter page of phase one, a pop-up coffee stand.
