JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

This Sunday, May 24th, The 400, PBR, and Redbull will be hosting the Sunday Swap and it sounds like it’s gonna be stacked.  Sneakers, Art, Apparel, Vinyl, and more with select retailers and private parties in attendance selling their goods swap meet style at 1539 Platte St.  And yo, it’s cash only, old skool - simple. So, swing by The 400 and spend your Sunday with a great crew. Shop, drink, and enter to win fresh prizes.

So I walked into ins+alla+ion today and saw the new heat that just arrived from Nike SB !!!  The Nike SB Dunk High “Quagmires,” Nike SB Dunk Low “Brooklyn Projects,” and these fresh Nike SB Blazers, which are the Stevie “Dread” Snyder Chicago edition joints.  I’m putting money on the fact that TB, being the sneaker head that he is will come in and get these Blazers, you have to rep your city TB, they even have the Chicago flag on them!! Being the sneaker addict I am I had to grab those “quagmires!!!”

Darren Mahuron is a photographer based out of Ft. Collins CO. Since his founding of Summit Studios with his wife in 2005 he has consistently been producing remarkable imagery. His photos possess strong illustrative qualities and are extremely narrative in nature.

Darren is a self-proclaimed misfit of several artistic disciplines and although photography is his medium of choice, his background in the arts is evident within his work, even as it continually strives to blur the line between commercial and fine art. His process is an amalgamation of photos developed from a fully realized studio, mixed with surreal collage methods, and finally; a seamless manipulation within Photoshop. Contrary to the popular traditions of masking reality with Photoshop techniques, Darren will often use his skills to accentuate flaws and distort features.

The imagery that Darren produces is authentic while still possessing an immense capacity for commercial application. His work has been published in Vice, Juxtapoz, Syntax, Camera Arts, Freeskier, Snowboarder, Spin and Alternative Press Magazines. He is represented by Debra Liguori in New York, NY. His portfolio can be found at Summitstyle.com.

They’re spreading the remaining merch out over the length of the sale, so check back later if you like something that’s sold out.

This music video was made to coincide with the release of Rudo y Cursi, a Mexican film starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna of Y tu mamá también fame.

It may be Feb, but think I found my Halloween costume…

Back from three days of shredding Aspin, CA…

I was up there with my friends at Futuristic Films, who showed their new film ‘The Ripple Effect‘ at the Wheeler Opera House on Friday night.

We rode Snowmass and Buttermilk. Snow was all over the place, soft, firm, and crusty are words I’d use to describe the conditions. It’s been at least a week since the last storm. As always though, it was fun to be out there…

The weekend illustrated for me the ‘tightrope of choice’ we all walk in these times of economic and social change. It feels like we can go in one of two directions right now, and in a hurry. Now is the time to aim higher and get it “right”.

I met abstract artist Gino Hollander yesterday. The experience reminded me that it takes an elemental faith for life and its creative processes to navigate all the bull shit. This man was a walking history book, with a command for embracing change throughout his life… I feel fortunate to have been in his home - Hollander Art.

Faith is Elemental — Paulo Coehlo

Everyday we hear people bumming on things. Yeah, its hard, no doubt. As a business owner, I can attest. But there’s a personal responsibility for each of us to tune out the negativity associated with the doom and gloom vibe.

Most of us are waking up everyday for a reason. Even though it seems like we have little to work with in terms of building blocks, what we, as individuals, do with that finite amount will make all the difference towards finding solutions to our current predicament.

The Obama stimulus package is an absurdly large sum of money, but how it filters into society is up to us. We ultimately decide what our society looks like…We are the ones who will doing the heavy lifting.

Now is the time to maintain faith in where things can go versus where things could go.

“Constructing” means not only producing something that is not yet at hand but also setting up and erecting, rising to the heights — more precisely, first gaining a height, securing it, and thus positing a “right direction”. Thus “constructing” is a commanding that first raises the claim to command and creates a realm of command. - Martin Heidegger

According to Dutch artist Sander Reijgers maybe you can have both with this mash-up windbreaker made out of an inflatable doll.

inflatable doll jacket

The Fabric Lab is kicking off the Prototype series for the new year tonight, with Baily Rose gracing the runway with new work. We’ve expanded the program, so that cupcakes and cocktails will be provided at Neapolitan the gallery right next door to The Fabric Lab. Hopefully we’ll see some fresh new faces in the crowd!!! Swing by if you get a chance!

The Holidays are here and to be real I’m tired of getting whack shit every holiday season!! So I put together a list things I need for the holidays, but I know they are fresh enough for others to want them too. My homies at Ins+allation and Sa+ellite let me shoot at their shop and I found some fresh shit!!!! Check it out!!!

So my ass loves designer shit but not enough to pay a ridiculous amount of money for it. So I am always on the hunt to make and create things for myself, The Fabric Lab and for my  Denver Public Library classes that I teach, think of me as an Urban Martha Stewart on a Very, Very, Limited Budget.  So the awesome guys of Joy Engine asked me to join there Blogging Mecca and share my love of fashion + DIY. I can not compete with the other fab contributor’s on here, so please bare with me until I get the hang of this and don’t start talking shit to me right off the bat because I will probably cry :(  Give it a couple blogs before you start on me.

JE I hope you guys made the right decision to have me on here?? Thanks and Love you guys and I will not embarrass you guys too much

So here it goes…..my first contribution.

It’s tough times right now and many of us can’t really afford fancy gifts for the holidays so why not make it yourself??? Drum roll please….a Crochet Chanel Bag! WTF! I LOVE IT! It’s like and a BIG F-U to the High End Designer World and making fun of the whole social status BS. (I have actually heard a women ask another if her bag was real or a knock off, I literally wanted to vomit on-site and stab my eye’s out!)  So I found this awesome website CounterfeitCrochet.org out of SF, they have patterns to make these awesome designer crochet knock off bags and also hold DIY Workshops and Exhibits all over the world. I am thinking about contacting them myself and holding one here in Denver.  I hope you guys find my blogs useful in some weird, nerdy kinda way>>>Enjoi! Tran

DESIGN BY HUMANS running some reprints of some pretty rad shirts for the holidays. Make sure to swing by pick one or twelve up. Do your part, support Capitalism!

Our pals at The 400, Denver’s premier purveyor of select and limited edition kicks have done it again.  This time they’ve gone and consolidated both shops into one seriously mean sneaker/streetwear boutique and moved the mothership over to 1535 Platte.  We stopped by for a visit last week and we’re pretty blown back.  Staying true to their alliance with the boys at DoubleButter, they’ve teamed up once again to  bang out their new space - and in a mere 3 weeks.  The build out is brilliant, and even if you’re not into sneakers (which would suck for you) you oughtta stop by just to scope the finishes and trim details. DB and The 400 pulled out all the stops and really did the place up right.  Oh, and they’ve got a new website poppin’ any day now.  So stay up on that.   Congrats gentleman.  Your hardwork, committment, and purist dedication doesn’t go unnoticed.  Respect.