Black Star Bags

Cycling specific backpacks and messenger bags custom made in Portland, Oregon

by Hunter Hess Based in Oregon’s cycling epicenter, Portland’s Black Star Bags has been producing bike-specific backpacks and bags for five years, gaining a strong following throughout the Northwest. Starting with a belt-driven sewing machine his friends found in an alley, owner Dave Stoops has built his company from the ground up by providing high quality, functional bags for everyone from working messengers to weekend …

Boxes of Death

Fifty artists design 50 coffins for the Portland leg of a traveling art show

by Hunter Hess Seattle-based design firm Electric Coffin will be taking their annual show Boxes of Death on the road this year for the third time. What began with 20 artists exhibiting in the cramped basement of a hotel has quickly grown into a touring collection featuring more than 50 top artists, as well as lesser-known local designers and some very talented friends. Creator Patrick …

MCA Australia Relaunch

Two exhibitions on time christen Sydney's newly-renovated Museum of Contemporary Art

by Alex Vitlin Following an 18-month, $53 million redevelopment project, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia relaunched in late March. The addition of “Australia” at the end of its title is appropriate: the MCA is no longer merely great art sequestered in a hokey building in Sydney, it’s a modern museum on one of the most coveted pieces of real estate in the world. In …