Once or twice a month, we're doing something that gets our creative juices, or minds, moving here at Honest, it aims to spice office life up a bit, it keeps us curious and inspires us. Roberta has been the organizer and has done a nice job getting events together.

Examples of things we've done or will be doing are Yoga, musical performances by friends bands, or creative presentations coupled with wine and cheese, checking out a bike thats rigged up for smoothie making, etcetera.

New perspectives and stories aid in the creation of ideas and inspiration. These ideas and stories give us the ability, or permission, to also think, tell stories, and create interesting contributions to the industry.

This week, Ty Johnston came in and told us a bit about what he's been up to. He laid out his philosophy of design, 10 simple points that we all seemed to agree would be good to keep in mind as we design and work. These philosophies could be applied to life as well. One of my favourites was "think of terrible ideas" ...Keeping your mind open to any idea opens up the conversation to many ideas which leads to great ideas.

Ty and his friends were sitting at a bar one day a few years ago chatting, when they realized that the owner was playing one of the foo fighters albums front to back. Not that the Foo Fighters are bad, but as the night went on, they really wished that they could change a few of the tracks. So, they decided to create an app that works into the wi-fi and pulls songs from Rdio, people can vote songs in and create group playlists for parties and other non-commercial parties. The Anthm app got them to San Francisco and a tour of Facebook, it's set for another release in the near future under a different name. We were able to discuss a few ideas and hear a bit more about Ty's life, the wine and cheese also added to the happiness around the table. Ty is excited and passionate about what he does, recently he has started freelancing and one of the quotes he is close to and spurs him on is a quote by Confucius.

“Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” –Confucius
Check him out here

Here's another nice music video. Foals released their new album 'Holy Fire' recently and here's a catchy track from the album.

 

Foals - My Number from Us on Vimeo.

Many people are needed to ensure that the end product of the Richlu catalogues are visually pleasing and up to a high standard. We were able to shoot at the construction site of a heritage building here in the exchange, thanks to Lee Thompson and foreman Cory Penner of J & J Construction. The building proved to be beautiful on many levels, and was able to house all of our needs. 9 models graciously joined us in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, October 27, 2012 and carted themselves over to our location shoot at McDermot and Waterfront. Jerry Grajewski got everyone into shape and started working his magic. Lighting, primping, eyeing up interesting materials and teaming up with our Art Director, Kerri, to make the environment as interesting as possible and to try to capture the garments to show them in their most pleasing form. Here are a few captures from the day. The safety and work wear catalogues will hit the world this week!



















 

Some Christmas gifts for you and yours!





























 

The nature of consumerism is relatively recent. These bags give us a look at these beginnings, from the early 70's to late 80's. Everything from the local corner convenience store to the high street fashion shop. Some interesting design that throws us back to another time. Here are a few of my faves. Continue perusing here.

These guys are great and are about to do big things. Good positive Winnipeg Hip Hop. "They Told Me" Comes out tomorrow but you can stream it here till then. Enjoy.

http://music.aol.ca/new-releases-full-cds/#/8

Jon Contino is a favourite of mine. His hand-crafted typography with it's slight imperfections and little details always turn out beautiful. Check out this interview for more details on where his passions lie.

Winnipeg hosts a coulourful array of cultural showcases every year at Folklorama. It's a fantastic chance for the city to experience and learn about other lives and cultures.

Kick-off is this weekend (August 4) at the Forks. Here's an inspiring video by Variable about Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, in India.

 

Holi from Variable on Vimeo.

Have you ever taken a look at the bottom of a piece of fine china? It seems there's always an interesting hand drawn mark. Fantastic! Here's a collection of maker's marks via Ptarmak.

A few of us in the office are going to the Beirut show at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Monday. I'm excited for it. The Rip Tide is getting a lot of spins around here. Kerri has been speaking highly of the opening band, Little Scream, as well so getting there early will pay off.

Here's a new video about a wandering boat directed by Houmam Abdallah.

Beirut 'The Rip TIde' from Houmam Abdallah on Vimeo.