Japanese designer Taiki Matsumura grew up surrounded by clothing and craftsmanship within his family and later working for some of Japan’s premiere clothing retailers whilst studying Economics in Tokyo. Taiki returned back to clothing in 2007, deciding to leave the economics behind him, move to New York City and study design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

T/M is the name of which Taiki has released his debut collection under for Autumn/Winter 2010. The collection is small and focused, the way a new collection deemed for success should be. The focus being on craftsmanship and attention to detail, which is achieved in a very precise Japanese manner. The collection has a “scholar meets outdoor aesthetic and includes jacquard cardigan sweaters, quilted blazers, cashmere hooded-pullovers, slouchy knitted pants and wool herringbone jackets“.

Taiki provides a fresh outlook to menswear classics through his use of colour, fabrics and patterns. The collection combines everyday wearability paired with bolder playful pieces. Unique knitwear, fine detailing and colour will be the basis for Taiki’s signature in future collections. The collection will be available from August/September 2010. More images below. More »

Over the weekend, Rafael Nadal won the 2010 Wimbledon final making him the second player ever to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year more then once. The other player to achieve this is Bjorn Borg.It was also 30 years since the memorable 1980 final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, famous for the fourth-set tie breaker that lasted 20 minutes. The BBC’s commemorative replay of the Borg/McEnroe tie-breaker is a great reminder of the personalities that have passed through the sport of tennis, McEnroe and Borg being some of the most memorable.  McEnroe for his temper and Borg was effortlessly “cool” and still is.

Seeing the replay of Bjorn Borg is also a nice reminder of another tennis personality, Richie Tenenbaum. Richie shares a couple of similarities with Bjorn and it is easy to see where inspiration was drawn from for Richie’s character in Wes Anderson’s 2001 production The Royal Tenenbaums.

Regarded as one of the most memorable moments in tennis history “that tie breaker” between Borg and McEnroe can be seen above. For reference, the great Richie Tenenbaum can also be seen below in the trailer for The Royal Tenenbaums.

Photographer, Ryan McGinley’s new and very short film Entrance Romance (it felt like a kiss) features model Carolyn Murphy kissing a dog, using a can of WD-40 as a flame thrower and smiling as a bowl of goldfish smashes over her head whilst being filmed in slow motion on the (1000 fps) Phantom camera. Impressively, Carolyn’s expression is that of pure calmness and beauty throughout the torture. The film can be viewed above or for more on the production of the film head over here to one of our favourite sites NOWNESS.

Photo: Michael Williams – A Continuous Lean

We touched on A Continuous Lean and Letterpress printing back here. Well, ACL has the second part of the visit to Terrapin Stationers titled Inside the Terrapin Archives. Part II includes great photographs of brilliant examples of the engraving and printing produced by Terrapin over the past 50+ years. The standout piece is the embossed crest for The Rumor Mill created with a steel dye engraved by hand. Lets hope we continue to see businesses like Terrapin continue on for another 50+ years.

The above is a two minute television commercial for Toyota Australia promoting their rural and workhorse 4wd range. Production of the advertisement was handled by Saatchi and Saatchi Australia and was first released late September 2009. For a short second, it does make you question the decisions made by those of us who are “urbanites”. Put simply, its very humorous. Enjoy!

Sofia Coppola’s new film titled “Somewhere” is not due to release until December 22nd, however the first trailer for the film was released this week and features music from Phoenix. Sofia has re-connected with the film company with which she made “Lost in Translation” and from the “Somewhere” trailer, similarities can be drawn upon between the two films. “Somewhere” is filmed and set at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood and is an intimate character study of supposed bad boy actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorf) stumbling through life until confronted by an unexpected visit from his 11 year old daughter. The film looks to be true to Sofia’s style from the titles though to memorable scenes that will be set to a great soundtrack. Enjoy the trailer above.

NYC based Daniel Silberman and Jus Ske founded Illesteva in 2009, supposedly after being bored with the state of the eyewear market at the time. The boredom ended as they got busy designing some great looking sunglasses and pairing these designs with the best hand made production from Italy and Germany. Titanium, steel, acetate and bamboo are used in the construction of the frames however it is the rare buffalo horn frame with photochromic lenses that sits at the top of the collection.  The debut SS10 collection is inspired by Havana in the 1950’s and heavily features deep tortoiseshell acetates with hard edges and refined, unique frame shapes. The lookbook is shot by David Cabrera in the “Little Havana” district of Miami starring some of the worlds best domino’s players providing for some great images. Those images can be seen below and are courtesy of Illesteva and David Cabrera. More »

The historic, Paris based luggage makers “Goyard” have released a limited edition (233 copies) book detailing the history of the Goyard family, business and “the art of travel blossoming in the 20th Century“. The books decade of preparation and 7 year construction process was overseen by art director Pierre Tzenkoff and Goyard owner Jean-Michel Signoles. “The book is about sight, sound, smell, touch,” “It was important to communicate an emotion in the paper itself” says Mr. Signoles. Construction of the book combines traditional bookbinding techniques, handmade, handcut naturally whitened paper and letterpress printing. Like the Goyard trunks, the book is an ode to artisians and should be considered as a piece of art selling for $7250USD. More on the book can be found here at the New York Times.

I dropped by the Monaco Motor Show today. Most of the major European car manufacturers were in attendance, including Porsche, Renault, Fiat, Audi and Alfa Romeo. BMW was noticeably absent. But who cares really? None of those cars are really interesting, and in the case of Porsche, they are mostly ugly. Although I am partial to the new Alpha sports wagon. But what I really wanted to see was the vintage section. The stand out of the show for me was the 1959 Ferrari 250GT and the 1974 Ducati 750. My Dad is a big Porsche 356 fan, and he was disappointed by the fiber glass replica that was on show. Interestingly, he liked the PGO retro inspired cars on show. I was disappointed in that no genuine super cars were on offer (excluding the old Mercedes 300SL), but this is Monaco after all and you can’t walk down the street without seeing a $400K+ car. And that’s how I snapped the photo of the silver Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren! More images below. More »

Image: Briar Press

Put simply, Letterpress Printing is the printing process of using a reversed raised surface consisting of text or image which is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image. The finished result is the print being “embossed” into the paper. Letterpress printing was the traditional form of printing, the idea being conceived mid 15th century and remained in wide use until the second half of the 20th century.

Letterpress Printing is quite a rare and expensive exercise these days however the results are worth the effort. The value of letterpress stationary is priceless, giving great pride in posting an important letter or handing over a business card with confidence. A well designed piece of letterpress stationary will forever hold the feeling of something “special” when in the hands of the receiver.

A Continuous Lean is currently featuring what looks like it will be a multiple part post titled Engraved in New York City. It includes photographs and a little history from a visit to the Manhattan based Terrapin – Stationers Engraving & Printing Co. Terrapin looks like a great family business and worth visiting for all your engraved stationary needs. I look forward to seeing Part II of Engraved in New York City when its up. Keep an eye out, A Continuous Lean always provides its readers with quality content.

Feel free to share where or how you have your stationary needs fulfilled. Does a template business card from freebusinesscards.com meet your needs or have you a quality stationer engraver or printer you wish to share?