THE SPRING ISSUE
Hand Signals
Adam McKay
Seriously Funny With glammed-up pit bulls and pigs, Walmart moms locked in epic battle with latte-loving elitists, mooseburger jokes, and the odd Paris Hilton cameo, the national stage is beginning to resemble less a pivotal election year than a blockbuster summer comedy. Accordingly we spoke with Adam McKay, the creative genius behind Anchorman, Talladega Nights […]
Dean and Dan Canten
Squaring off with fashion Literally separated at birth, identical twins Dean and Dan Caten—the two D’s that comprise the design dynamo team Dsquared2—practically started designing together while still in the womb. Proving that two minds are better than one when it comes to designing, their secret to success is not taking fashion too seriously. Their […]
Sir Terrence Conran
The design pioneer offers a simple idea that beautiful items should be useful, and useful items should be beautiful Sir Terence Conran, 77, is more than a designer or entrepreneur. His career, spanning over 50 years, includes far too many accomplishments to chronicle here. Early highlights include Conran & Company, a furniture-making business run out […]
Wayne Coyne
Flamnig Lips frontman tells us what it really means to be at war with the mystics Wayne Coyne is the Flaming Lips’ major domo. Lead vocalist and ringmaster for these Oklahoma art provocateurs, he logged in time as a teenage pot dealer and fry cook at Long John’s Silver for 11 years before his band […]
Gerd Ludwig
A photographer’s lens sheds light on Russia’s lethal legacy Like lands ravaged by the rains of Chernobyl, many of the sites National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig visits aren’t just unpalatable to the average traveler—they’re dangerous. Cutting, haunting images of the abandoned and blighted regions left behind in Chernobyl’s wake have become Ludwig’s trademark, and the […]
Richard Branson
Viewing the world with virgin eyes Kids seldom dream of flapping a Fortune 500 cape as they mock human flight leaping from front porches, but if businessmen were superheroes they would likely be corporate iconoclast Richard Branson. “I don’t think of work as work and play as play,” he’s said. “It’s all living.” The visionary […]
Catherine Malandrino
Simultaneously nostalgic and modern, her creations, like the women who wear them, exude a certain je ne sais quo Fashion designer Catherine Malandrino epitomizes sophistication and femininity. Splitting time between Paris and New York, she has an eye for urban chic coupled with immaculate technique. Born in Grenoble, France, Malandrino graduated from Esmod (l’Ecole Supérieure […]
Neda Sarmast
Neda Sarmast, an Iranian-American documentary filmmaker, is heading up the mission of fostering global youth dialogue with Nobody’s Enemy. Her personal experience growing up as an Iranian-American, combined with her extensive background in music and entertainment, and an ability to bring a message to the masses through the arts, led her to film, in hopes […]
Eric Grunbaum
One of the creative forces behind Apple’s innovative campaigns reveals why it’s about thinking different He may not be a household name, but consumers know Eric Grunbaum well. As Co-Executive Creative Director at TBWA/MEDIA ARTS LAB, he’s been helping craft Apple’s radically simple approach to advertising since “Think Different.” In that time, he’s produced, along with […]
Tori Amos
Flame-haired doll—or was it beekeeper, maybe sex-kitten—finds forgiveness. On her ninth studio album, Tori Amos has shape-shifted once again, veering away from the ladylike The Beekeeper and the restless wanderings of 2002’s, Scarlet’s Walk. On American Doll Posse, the provocative enchantress has created five personas based on goddesses in Greek mythology, and sculpted herself into […]
Jeffrey Hutchison: Built To Last
Architect reimagines the history of shopping. It’s less than two hours to the grand opening reception and Jeffrey Hutchinson is still making last minute adjustments. “I put back the mannequin,” he quickly informs one of his assistants, before continuing my walkthrough, seemingly unfazed. “So much thought goes into each detail,” he explains when we reach […]
Thom Browne
The prince of proportion raises hemlines, expectations and in the process saves the suit. Any conversation about men’s fashion today inevitably involves Thom Browne. Since establishing an eponymous collection in 2001, Browne has grown a made-to-measure suiting business alongside a limited collection of tops, shorts, slacks, knits, and button downs. While he boasts major fashion […]
Caroline Calvin
Finding the thread of Levis through history and design. Caroline Calvin’s office walls are adorned with denim. Behind the desk of the Senior Vice President for Global Design at Levi Strauss & Co., jean jackets blend with belts and vintage 501s as if they were a part of a collective story told in weathered blue, […]
Sam Nazarian
SBE impresario sets his sights big In an era when terms like “synergy” and “multi-platform” are so overused they’ve practically lost meaning, it is refreshing to meet an individual whose endeavors tangibly apply these heady concepts. Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of SBE Entertainment Group, is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur; he collects collections of very successful […]
Mihara Yasuhiro
Introducing the new king of sneakers Nothing we wear spends more time on the streets than our sneakers. We trust them to keep our feet cozy and safe while we relentlessly pound the pavement, and rarely do they fail. I, for one, have never had a rubber sole give out on a particularly vigorous walk. […]
Alexander Wang
Wonder boy does it better My addiction, I believe, is often motivated by a wakeful—and beautiful—human desire for the ephemeral. For these moments of satisfying transcendence I simply refer to Alexander Wang’s spring/summer 2007 collection. Infused with ’80s utilitarian cool, and spilling at the brim with sex, Wang has taken his eponymous line to new […]
Caveh Zahedi
For the last decade and a half, Caveh Zahedi has been dedicated to making films that stand firmly outside the mainstream, that tear up the comforting façade of day to day to gaze intently at the soul that lurks beneath—his own soul, specifically. Since his wonderfully irreverent debut, 1991’s A Little Stiff, Zahedi has been […]
Guess Who?
It is always an interesting moment when a scan of someone’s hand arrives here at SOMA. Palms have been sent to us from around the world—from bustling tech savvy Tokyo design offices to a small copy center in Northern India that serves as an all-in-one grocery/Internet/clothing/rental car store. In the past, this section has featured […]
Rich Silverstein
If you’ve ever caught yourself laughing out loud at an advertisement, it’s probably because of Rich Silverstein. As the creative impetus for such unconventional and massively successful ad campaigns as the croaking Budweiser frogs, E*Trade and “Got Milk?” Silverstein and his equal half Jeff Goodby banded together two decades ago to found Goodby, Silverstein & […]
Kathy Grayson
Anywhere else, she’d be called a prodigy, but in the gallery world she’s simply known as one kickass curator. Hand-picked at the tender age of 22 by art impresario Jeffrey Deitch, Kathy Grayson is one of the directors of Deitch Projects, the SoHo-based gallery specializing in the next generation of street-inflected artwork. Ostensibly, the young […]
Christian Wijnants
The Arthurian legend of Tristan and Isolde tells the story of a knight who slays a dragon to win the hand of an Irish princess for King Mark of Cornwall, only to be drawn into an adulterous affair with the bride after they accidentally ingest a love potion somewhere on the Celtic Sea. Christian Wijnants’ […]
Mike Mills
Mike Mills’ voice, like so much of his work, carries an air of directness and vulnerability as he speaks from his studio in Los Angeles. Probably most noted for his first feature-length film Thumbsucker, the 40-year-old designer, director, screenwriter and illustrator is at a turning point in his life. At a glance, Mills’ particular story […]
Alan Vega
Photograph by Kava Gorna Alan Vega has been making people all over the world shudder with anxiety and awe through his cathartic musical intuition for over 35 years. As one half of the monolithic duo Suicide, as a solo artist and as a collaborator, Vega has confronted audiences with his legendary brand of off-the-wall howling […]
Michael Kenna’s Nightscapes
During the sleepy hours most of us never witness, a lone photographer shoots an empty landscape. Michael Kenna is a master at capturing the arresting echoes of light in dim landscapes. There is something mysterious, haunting and – at the risk of sounding cliché – Zen about his work. His pictures are almost always taken […]
