N:F:P FALL 2010 SERIES 3 COLLECTION After working in the high-end fashion design world in NYC for the past 8 years, for companies such as Calvin Klein, Shelly Steffee, and Vera Wang, Gail has launched her own brand free from mainstream trends. Each piece she designs has the ability to link, layer, fold, snap, shift and/or connect. Her collection is inspired by her surroundings, personal interactions and movement, and architecture and sculpture.
New Forms & Perspectives by Gail Travis fosters the concept of transformation and versatility.
RS POP UP SHOWROOM OPEN HOURS: MONDAY 2/29 – WEDNESDAY 3/10 10AM – 8PM
Tribal identity is no longer a function of ethnic heritage or geographic locale. It is a choice. You express this choice to the outside world through your personal style.
At Tribal Couture their mission is simple: Enhance your personal style and express yourself …. with jewels that are just as bold and unique as you are!
A Live art installment will take place on February 23rd from 7-9PM in the Roger Smith Popup Shop. Join us for one night of projection entertainment by Panman and Freakcast to compliment the Bold Jewelry line Tribal Couture.
It was just after the Turkey season and we wanted to develop a unique way to kick off the shopping spirit. From this desire the Emerging Designers 2009 Holiday Bazaar was conceived!
I looked diligently for an eclectic group of 10 talented designers; a medley of emerging musicians; and a brand new to market spirit to sip on.. all at a location that fosters the creative world, the Roger Smith Hotel.
We assembled a penthouse full of gifted people- mingling, shopping, networking, performing, drinking…
You come off the elevator to the Roger Smith penthouse and are offered a refreshing glass of Voli, a new low calorie vodka (finally!) enhanced with electrolytes, and it was smooth! You enter a room filled with acoustic performances by independent local artists singing everything from rock to folk to reggae and wander throughout to a collection of designers displaying their creations.
Designer dresses by Dolita Paris
Architectural and versatile knitwear from Gail Travis
Transformational forms by Nicole Arama
Delicately crafted silver by Alex Pimienta
Hand manufactured silk and velvet scarfs by Peter Charles
Exuberant and funky designs from MacKenzie-Childs
Little treasures of art to wear by Geri Roucaute
Sensuality enhancing lingerie from Claudia Ochoa
Environmentally conscious tote bags by Shira Entis and Alexandra Bell
And an argan miracle bottled by Jebel
In one night our guests were able to unwind from their day with Voli, listen and take in some cultural music performances and find unique treasures from friends and family for the holidays- and a few grabbed a treasure or two for themselves. I know I did :)
Can’t wait for the next shopping event with RS POP!
Victoria & Richard Emprise was created by the artists, Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs. This intimitable couple tickled the turn of the 20th century upside down. Then tumbled into today with leaps and bounties of inventions and intentions to rattle the shackles of protocol with a wry wink to the world. The designs of Victoria and Richard fetch the fancy and unfeigned wisdom within us each and shower them with crisp inspiration to conquer the callous. Their collections are full of exuberant and funky designs in dinnerware, stemware, tabletop accessories including lamps and vases.
Whether you are looking for jewelry, a purse, a lamp and magical carpet- they have it all!
Come visit them at RS POP- 501 Lexington Ave @ the Roger Smith Hotel.
Baking into the night, Anita Sharp of Electric Blue Baking Company led a team of Roger Smith personalities in our quest to make pies for charity. On Monday November 23, John Birdsong and Morgan-Jo Teller assisted Anita till 4 am in the first round of the process, making the crusts.
Tuesday night a variety people participated in the process of pie making, allowing for us to complete the orders that were made. Throughout the night we were accompanied by Ek Wongleechareon, Niki D’Alonzo, Aleks Degtyarev, Abianne Prince and myself (John Knowles). Built from scratch and made with a vegan twist, we all put our energy into 25 delicious pies.
Of the twenty-five pies, ten were purchased by the Roger Smith Hotel for Lily’s Restaurant and were served on their Thanksgiving menu. Thirteen were purchased through the Roger Smith Pop Up shop and two were offered to the Roger Smith Hotel Staff at the front desk. It brought great holiday spirit to the Roger Smith Community.
A percentage of proceeds from the Charity Pie event at the Roger Smith Hotel will go to the New York City Food Bank. For every $1 donated, the Food Bank can provide 5 meals. The great part of donating to the New York Food Bank is that Fed-ex will match every dollar donated.
This holiday season, 3.3 million New Yorkers are having trouble affording food. You can support those in need by Going Orange. When you donate funds, host a Virtual Food Drive, volunteer your time or spread the word, you’re helping end hunger in New York City. For more information visit foodbanknyc.org.
Happy Holidays from Panman Productions and the Roger Smith Hotel.
Fleabags are ideal Fleamarket totes. Friends and family have used them for weekends away, trips to the beach, jaunts to the grocery store and to carry anything numerous or unwieldy. They are sturdy and made of eco-friendly materials. Organic cotton/hemp canvas, vegetable-tanned, american and Italian leather water-based Ink, locally made in New York by hand in Limited Edition.
Shira Entis, a fashion designer and lover of all things tiny and over-sized, and Alex Bell, a lawyer and seeker of adventures, have been fleamarket addicts since they met ten years ago at Brown University. Frustrated by the inconvenience and environmental hazard of accumulating several plastic bags while marketing, they craved a convenient and fashion-hot tote that could fit all of their wares. Fleabags are designed as their ideal solution dapper, large, lightweight and sturdy carry-alls that are also eco-minded. Thus the brand Fleabags began in 2009 while both still worked their day jobs in New York City.
THEY ARE ECO FRIENDLY
An important part of the Fleabags venture was to create a bag that was as Green as possible while maintaining high quality and covetable design. Thus much research was put into the types of canvas, leather and parts available in the United States that would fit their eco-friendly standards. Fleabags are wholly sourced in the US and made in New York of certified organic cotton / hemp canvas, vegetable-tanned leather and water-based silkscreen ink. Fleabags use no glues or toxic paints, just good old fashion sewing.
On December 7th and 8th, there will be a Holiday Shopping Event for the masses. We will be showcasing our favorite emerging designers from Homemade BFF’s & Roger Smith Life. The event will take place on Monday and Tuesday night from 6-10pm at The Roger Smith Hotel- 501 Lexington Avenue, NYC.
Designers scheduled to participate at our shopping party event are NFP Studio by Gail Travis, DOLITA by Dolita Paris, Lejkarama by Lejka Sievert and Nicole Arama, Poupette by Geri Roucaute, CLO Intimo by Claudia Ochoa, Fleabags by Shira Entis and Alexandra Bell, Peter Charles Scarfs, Alex Pimienta Jewelry, Victoria & Richard MacKenzie-Childs, BOOBA by Nicole Arama, Argan Oil Beauty by Jebel and Others.
This shopping event is produced by Panman and Lion’esque Productions. Musical Performances produced by Folk Yeah! Sponsored by Voli Spirits! Come visit their tasting table.
Fashion highlight from the Roger Smith Popup Shop.
LEJKARAMA- Created by Lejka Sievert and Nicole Arama
Transforming and Modifying objects into new aesthetic purposes. 3 Main Collection Concepts: T-Shirts, Versatile Dresses and the Safety Pinned Line T-Shirt collection is based on vintage objects, the designs and placements are strategized to compliment and accentuate the body.
The Versatile dress collection gives the little black dress concept a new name, and lets women re-invent themselves and is their chameleon staple. Safety Pin collection changes the purpose of an object – they choose ubiquitous pins and utilitize it as an ornamental graphic statement, not just a functional piece.
Homemade BFF Fashion Friday tip of the week.
You can see Nicole and purchase their transformational pieces at the RS POP UP shop at the Roger Smith Hotel Nov. 13-20th. www.rogersmithlife.com
Redwing Interview Series with Director of Product Development Dave Hill and Director of Sales (North America) Steve Spencer.
On November 11, 2009 from 6-7 Red Wing Shoes hosted a blogger event that introduced fashion and digital media to the Lifestyle Collection.  This signature event will be the first of its kind, providing select bloggers a first-hand opportunity to view the Fall/Winter 2009 collection. A key aspect of the event is an introduction to the brand’s iconic “Americana†heritage. Guests will gain additional insight on how Red Wing Shoes are made and experience a“how to distress†tutorial with leather expert Michael Napoli. Red Wing’s director of product development, Dave Hill as well as their director of sales (North America), Steve Spencer will be on hand to discuss Red Wing’s tannery and factory, the World’s Biggest Boot and touch upon how Red Wing has evolved as a company since the brand’s inception in 1905.
Kiki Valdes was born in Miami. FL at the same downtown hospital Bob Marley passed away just a month after in 1981. He attended the New World School of the Arts high school along with other ambitious classmates Jessica Sutta of Pussycat Dolls and paper artist Jen Stark. He later attended Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. During this time he published with his brother Humby a punk rock, culture and humor underground zine called OpenZine (which later became http://www.facebook.com/l/bc279;www.OpenZine.com, a site where anyone can publish web magazines) During the evenings Kiki would paint in his studio and later on pass out the newsprint publication at mostly punk venues such as CBGB’s in New York and Churchill’s in the inner city of Miami.
the Origins of OpenZine
In 2004 Kiki was hired by prominent South Beach nightclub promoters to paint live at some of the biggest celebrity parties in the country. He was commissioned based on the street buzz he was getting from creating live action pieces at different venues across Miami. He saw it as a stepping-stone to promote his work to a bigger audience. At 24 Kiki was creating painterly expressionist like paintings in front of many paparazzi stars including Paris Hilton and Mickey Rourke. He found it witty and ridiculous to create personal subject matter in such boisterous surroundings.
Kiki’s work has always held a strong sense of culture and social commentary. His work is intuitive in composition building, mark making and use of color. In 2008 He along with New York artist Jose Mertz would curate the group exhibition “Hexagone†which featured the work of both artists, Purvis Young, Bhakti Baxter, Friends with You and others. Due to success of this show Kiki was offered a studio at the 3C (Coverings Creative Complex) in the Mimo District of Miami. His newly built work space which he decided to call The Glass Studio is again an unconventional place Kiki Valdes takes his art. Often times doing monthly studio visits and paintings are often purchased by new collectors before the works are even exhibited. Kiki believes going against the status quo and making things new but familiar. The idea of the studio is universal and iconic in art history. For Kiki the studio is a place where you can see progress, just as you see progress while he’s creating a live action painting in a smoky nightclub or museum reception. It cuts out the organized and neat setup of the gallery. It makes you step into the world of where the art is created. A place you can smell the paint and view new innovations that are being resolved or still being sorted out.
Kiki Valdes believes in the imperfections of beauty and he is never afraid to show you that part of himself. While in 2006 Kiki was doing so much live action paintings where he would have to do projects and events 4 times a week. Often times painting over existing paintings from the evening before. He did this because he did not have enough room in his older studio to sustain so many canvas. One night he was painting over a painting with a brush filled with white paint. He realized the whole painting wasn’t important. He noticed applying white paint over the colorful pieces did something more to the painting. He realized it was a direction he needed to go to progress the idea of painting for himself and for his friends. Kiki started to experiment with doing abstractions then covering the existing painting with raw off white canvas. The painting exists underneath newly applied canvas. He would begin to cut out shapes so the parts of the abstractions come through to create a brand new image. In some ways it’s considered collage by the amount of layered colored canvas the artist applies. Kiki for some reason does not see it as collage because he considers college when the media applied are from outside sources such as movie posters and newspaper. All materials in this new series of work are created by him.
Kiki Valdes is a painter heavily influenced by symbolism and fallacy. He is widely known for painting live. The act of painting live involves the subconscious mind and provoked thought while an audience of observers surround him. Valdes has been commissioned for various works by Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, Freedom Tower Art Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, Princeton University and countless others. He has also exhibited at the Florida State Capital Rotunda, PS1 (Museum of Modern Art), Florida International University, Duke University and is in a number of corporate collections. Kiki first started painting in smokey nightclubs for a way that people could interact with art, and the artist to interact with nighlife. Theres a cerrain belief of the artist hidden away in the studio where he/she paints for months on end. Miami is known for its nightlife, for better or for worse. Kiki would just work as a sponge soaking in all of the good and bad energy around him to reflect the speed of contemporary life. Some people think the peices when completed look rushed. There is a certain idea to that, that life moves fast and peoples intake of information needs to be speedy. The viewer does not like to ponder on ideas and pictures for too long. After a night of loud music, long lines and VIP treatment, only two things remain after the sun rises…profits made and what Kiki created. But the days of painting at clubs seems to be over. He now paints at private events and museums, often creating paintings beside masterpieces by such artists as Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Stuart Davis, Robert Matta, Keith Haring and many others. Kiki use to worry about splattering paint on passer bys, now he’s more concerned about flinging paint on a Rauschenberg hung on a museum wall beside his painting performance.
