Here at Nau we’ve developed a minor obsession with Instagram, the online photo-sharing service. What we love about it: sharing our daily adventures; and following some of our favorite photographers influencers, and everyday friends who have a phone and an excellent eye.

We figured we would spread the love and share our favorite Instagrammers. From urban ballerinas to traveling musicians, we are thoroughly entertained and often obsessed with checking our phones.

OUR FAVES:
@ben_moon – Ben is a photographer based here Portland who has helped us on numerous shoots, including  some of our Spring 13 location photography. His adventurous spirit shines through in the photos of all the places his work takes him.

@bowen_ames -  Bowen has moonlighted as a freelance art director on some of our shoots and even transformed our own instagram with his amazing eye. Bowen’s personal instagram is worthy of a coffee-table book; just take a look into his world of weekend escapades and beautiful colors.

@edroste – As a member of one of our favorite bands, Grizzly Bear, Ed shares photos from the bands travels around the world. Forget green rooms and late night parties, he captures picturesque shots of Portugal countryside and snorkeling in Burma.

@Chrisburkard –Chris is a staff photographer for Surfer magazine. He has an eye for the behind-the-scene life of a professional surfer or an astonishing coastal shot that will make you jealous of his daily life.

@Architizer –  For those inspired by design, the description says it all: “amazing architecture, served daily.” From modernist high-rises to mosques in Abu-Dhabi, these buildings aren’t seen in your daily cityscapes.

@NYtimesFashion – Sometimes we just need our fix of Balenciaga’s newest collection, or to laugh at the return of platform shoes.  NY Times fashion gives us all of our guilty pleasures, and a little inspiration.

@balletzaida – Ballet Zaida is an ongoing art project showcasing ballerinas performing in environments other than the stage. Photographed by Oliver Endahl, these photos expose the world to ballet and try to evolve the art of ballet itself.

@Heartroasters – Heart takes the win for both our favorite cup of coffee, and roaster with an instagram account. Based in our hometown of Portland, the camera of Heart roasters goes behind the scenes to the fields where the coffee grows, all the way to the roaster here in Portland.

@thecolorbrown – As our guest Instagrammer for the month of February– we have to feature our friend Carson Brown. Haling from Grand Rapids, his photos take an unordinary look at everyday life. Each photo makes us pause and look a little closer.

(Nested) Flotsam Fiber Form (photo: Abigail Doan)

This week in the Thought Kitchen, environmental fiber artist, writer, and Nau ambassador Abigail Doan shares her unique perspective on the intersection of natural fibers, culture, sustainability, and the beauty of art in the everyday landscape. 

Performance fabrics and fiber have had a long love affair. The earliest Paleolithic string skirts were essentially mini-aprons with seductive fringes of twined fiber strands that served as fashion. We now rely on both engineered and natural fibers to keep us ventilated and warm when we venture out for work and play, and the thoughtful crafting of our personal garments continues to demonstrate what makes us attractive and uniquely human.

This is why I chose fiber as an art medium and vehicle for expression. Even though I had previously worked in documentary film and explored a range of more traditional studio methods, I ultimately opted to work with fiber and textiles because of their versatile nature and the low-impact/non-toxic possibilities. As an environmental artist, I am an advocate for slow crafting methods, the advancement of sustainable design strategies, and the preservation of wide open spaces. I use simple strands of spun or delicately crocheted fiber to draw on the land for site-specific installations that are carefully deconstructed after documentation.

Ground Cover in New Mexico

A view from my studio’s terrace in Sofia, Bulgaria

Fiber has universal properties that connect us to cultures and regions in ways that are border defying and vibrant. My dialogue with artisans/designers in Bulgaria, Chile, Iran, Peru, and Turkey to name just a few locales, has been inherently rich and complex because of unique connections to place and the sharing of local knowledge. The historic transport of textiles and design of shelters in these regions often inspires ideas for nomadic and adaptable thinking – solutions that work seamlessly with the environment and the challenges of climate. This sensitivity is something that I believe should be cultivated as we search for better ways of interfacing with altered landscapes and shifting economies.

Flotsam Fiber Form (photo: Abigail Doan)

Sustainable textile initiatives have taken many shapes and forms over the past decade. In addition to the deeper scrutiny of ingredients, the study of products’ life cycles, as well as the implementation of waste reduction methods, I believe it is vitally important to look closely at self as a way to better understand what role we might assume in the resourceful flow of materials around us. I have spent the past several years creating sculptural fiber forms out of household fiber, recycled detritus from my day-to-day life, as well as flotsam findings from city streets. I view these objects as multi-dimensional diaries and records of the passage of time in my life.

Crocheted Snow in Central Park, NYC (photo: Abigail Doan)

Urban environments are not devoid of intimate interactions with nature, and I am particularly sensitive to trying to work in a manner that seems wildly adaptive even in the most neglected pockets of a city or neighborhood park. Outreach efforts that aim to expose city dwellers to community gardens and the local wisdom that might be shared is often facilitated by hands-on activities linked to plant cultivation, fiber preparation, and even the examination of clothing and wardrobe narratives.

A recent visit to the textiles program at the California College of the Arts in Oakland demonstrated how students are involved in ‘Soil to Studio’ practices as a means to explore regional offerings in ways that link us directly to the clothing on our backs. Friend Sasha Duerr has been a pioneer on the permacouture frontier for some time now, and her work with natural plant dyes and urban mapping has influenced how I view art making and the importance of losing oneself organically as a way to understand what the next step might be.

I am optimistic about how and why fiber will continue to play a vital role in our lives. It is important for me to help others to see why clothing and even the most frayed strands of existence might link us directly to a garment worker in a far-off land or a farmer toiling to produce local goods at a competitive price. It is the very act of making and doing that I am trying to keep alive in a world that is often looking for increasingly facile solutions. I am searching for cast-off finds and weaknesses in the rope in order to make repairs and gain strength as our collective journey unfolds.

Pared-down blazers, lightweight shells and new skin-soft, eco-friendly fabrics converge in our most extensive spring offering yet. Introducing our 2013 Spring Collection—an exploration into the beauty of minimalism and the sweet intersection of freedom and movement. Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come.

Courtesy of Wagner Custom Skis

How do you build the perfect ski? All you need is some sugar maple, Kevlar and the world’s most badass computer algorithm. Oh, and you need Pete Wagner, too. The computer-nerd turned ski-craftsman who started Wagner Custom Skis is single-handedly changing the way an industry makes skis. This week in the Thought Kitchen, we sit down with the man behind the planks to learn more about the number cruncher and his coveted custom boards.

OTG: It’s a bluebird day in Telluride and you’re on the phone talking to me. I’m honored.
Pete: (Laugh) That’s alright, I got out this morning.

OTG: You moved to Telluride in 1998 with a mechanical engineering degree and an impressive career customizing high-end golf clubs. So how does one make the leap from computer nerd to ski-maker?
Pete: Well I bought a pair of telemark skis that I couldn’t demo. But they were the right size, length, width, and they were from a good company, so I bought them anyways. I skied on them for about 70 days, then tried another set and realized I had been crippling myself. At the time, I was working as an engineer developing software for design analysis and manufacturing of golf equipment and I thought, why wasn’t anyone doing this type of fitting technology for skiers? I was spending my energy trying to figure this out in a parallel industry. So that’s what inspired me to create the software for fitting people into the right ski.

OTG: Funny, when I think of making skis, I don’t think of software. And the few boutique ski-makers which do exist in the country mostly rely on precast molds, but you don’t use molds, you use—as you said— software. How’s that possible?
Pete: Our software designs the skis and programs our manufacturing equipment to fabricate all of our parts for the skis. Using high tech machinery, we fabricate all of the components of the skis—the base, bending the steel edges, the wood core, sidewalls, structural layers. Then we use the scrap material from cutting out these different parts—along with our computer-controlled milling equipment—to create the molds for our skis. So every ski gets a unique mold which allows us to go through the same steps each time we build a product, but build a completely unique product every time. It’s a mass customization manufacturing model.

Pete putting the final finish on a pair of Wagner Custom Skis. Image courtesy of Wagner Custom Skis.

OTG: So would you say Wagner Custom Skis are the most customized ski on the market?
Pete: As far as we know. Because every ski we design is uniquely optimized for the individual skier based on length, width, side cut, tail shapes, camber, and rocker. We calibrate the stiffness and flex pattern based on a person’s size and skier preferences. We choose the perfect set of materials, and they get to choose their own graphics.

OTG: You also use Kevlar and Carbon wraps with a traditional wood core. Why do you choose these materials?
Pete: The way we build our skis is the way they built World Cup skis back in the 70’s, and that technology hasn’t changed that much. We take proven materials that work well for ski construction, performance and longevity and we focus on the fit. That way, we can create a design that can help improve someone’s balance, comfort, control, efficiency and power. Ultimately, we create a product that makes skiing easier and more fun for people, and we do that by focusing on the fit rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with materials.

OTG: I think you just answered my next question, but I’ll ask it anyways: How is a Wagner Custom Ski going to change my experience?
Pete: It’s going to help your balance, comfort, control, improve your efficiency, allow you to conserve your leg strength and energy so you can ski longer in the day. It also improves your power, so you can ski with better control and more fluidity. If you look at the best skiers in the world like Bode Miller and Ted Legity, you realize that they aren’t skiing in off-the-shelf skis. They’re sponsored by a company which has a small prototyping shop with a team of dedicated engineers which are making sure that they are on the perfect equipment that will allow them to ski at their absolute highest potential. That’s what Wagner Custom Skis does for recreational skiers. We’re a team of engineers and craftsmen who help people ski their best by making sure they are on their perfect fit equipment.

Courtesy of Wagner Custom Skis

OTG: Well, I’m sold. At Nau, sustainability and performance are two of our core values. And you already touched upon performance as your core value, but how is sustainability reflected in your business?
Pete: We focus on two things: energy and conservation. From an energy perspective, we have a solar thermal system that is on the roof of our building which supplies all of the heat and hot water for our shop. We buy wind energy to run our computers and factory equipment. From a conservation approach, we try and minimize our energy usage by using programmable thermostats and energy efficient lights and work stations to conserving the materials we use and minimizing our waste stream.

OTG: Many people don’t realize that there’s a personal component to sustainability which involves maintaining a sustainable work/life balance, something that’s hard to do as you become more successful. Obviously, you’ve done just that, so how do you strike a balance?
Pete: One thing that we do to help us stay focused on that balance is that we have a Powder Day Clause. So if the snow report for the Telluride Ski Resort shows five inches or more, we work from 1pm to 9pm so that we can get out and take advantage of the best skiing.

OTG: Excuse me, I think I need to go convince our GM to include a Powder Day Clause.

It’s dumping in the Cascades and there’s a blizzard heading for the midwest. Winter is here, my friends. And it’s a perfect time for our seasonal nod to cabin porn and the snowy escapes that help us find respite during the insanity of the holidays (and the end of the Mayan Calendar). Here’s a compilation of our favorite winter refuges. First stop: the Tin Hat Cabin.

Weekend Cabin: Tin Hat Cabin, British Columbia. Located on the midpoint of the Sunshine Coast Trail, a 180-kilometer route that runs roughly northwest-southeast along the Straight of Georgia (west of Whistler, people, east of Vancouver Island), and it was built just last year by a large and extended family of volunteers who make up the Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society. Courtesy of Adventure Journal

From http://ashleysaturdays.tumblr.com/

Built by hand using trees within walking distance in the Adirondack mountains, New York. Submitted by Zach Kolodziejski to FreeCabinPorn.com

The timmelsjoch experience by werner tscholl architects, from ineedaguide.blogspot.ca

Cottage on an island near Nora, Sweden. Submitted by Jonas Loiske to FreeCabinPorn.com

Cabin near Mazama, Wa. Built by Olson Kundig Architects. This 1,000 square-foot weekend cabin, basically a steel box on stilts, can be completely shuttered when the owner is away. Situated near a river in a floodplain, the 20’ x 20’ square footprint rises three stories and is topped by the living room/kitchen. Large, 10’ x 18’ steel shutters can be closed simultaneously using a hand crank.

Weekend Cabin in La Clusaz, France, Courtesy of www.ecotagnes.com

We never stopped loving traditional waxed cotton. But let’s be honest: there’s nothing sustainable about applying an oil-based wax to conventionally grown cotton. That’s why we made our own. This week in the Thought Kitchen, our textile guru, Jamie Bainbridge, and design maestro, Peter Kallen, give us an inside look at a new kind of wax job—one that’s beautiful, durable and doesn’t run on oil. 

OFF THE GRID: Alright, waxed organic cotton.  What’s the big deal?
JAMIE: We love natural fibers and the way they feel against the skin. With our roots in outdoor, why not look backwards to history and see what other waterproofing methods were used over time. And the method that is still most widely used today is waxed cotton. It comes out of British Millerain which has been around since 1880. I met with them and said, “We love waxed cotton, and how it fits, how it becomes like a good pair of jeans, but what we don’t like is how it has to be renewed or that it damages other things that it comes into contact with. So what can we do?” And they said, “Well, we have a new synthetic coating that has the same look and feel of wax, but it never needs renewing. It’s machine washable and water repellent.”  So we went and developed an organic cotton version using the same base fabric, and applied their finish.

OTG: Is there any difference when applying a synthetic coating to organic cotton versus cotton?
JAMIE: No. Once cotton goes through the process of ginning, cleaning and spinning, you couldn’t tell the difference between an organic or conventional fiber.

OTG: So is it a non-petroleum product?
JAMIE:  Well, there is a small petroleum component. But the lack of having to maintain the coating means it uses a very small amount of petroleum. And it’s a water-based coating rather than being a solvent-based coating.

OTG: So what came first: the chicken or the egg? the fabric or the design?
JAMIE: Well, we knew we wanted something in the coated natural fiber realm. We wanted that hand. And we wanted it to be very comfortable against the skin and very urban looking. And waxed organic cotton t has a very unique look.

OTG: Ok, let’s talk waxed organic cotton.
PETER: Jamie and I were wondering how can we make traditional waxed cotton better? So Jamie went off into her science lab came up with a cleaner, more durable method of waxed cotton. Then she came back to me with this great fabric that uses this polyurethane coating and has the merits and qualities that are important to us in sustainability, and it had a different sense about it to. It’s quieter, visually and aesthetically. But it also has a longer lifespan and is easier to use and work with. And it immediately spoke to me…..the RIFT jacket. Because it has these qualities of being almost leather-like.

OTG: And suede-like too.
PETER: Yeah, exactly. Because it has a cotton back to it and that kind of coated surface, like sueded-back, but the surface has a leather-like quality. So that spoke to this almost utilitarian, motorcycling jacket. And that’s how the life of the rift came to be. The styles and elements of that jacket, its articulation, its scales, how it fits, details, its finishing: it speaks to rugged and burley, yet refined. It’s a balance between these two words. It’s almost an opportunity to express an modern-day version of old-new-world technology and inspiration.

OTG: And the Wax On Blazer is a badass jacket.
PETER: Yeah, it just reeks of confidence and it speaks of that same kind of quality. There is nothing more beautiful than a hefty, canvasy piece that has more depth to it.

OTG: Does working and design with this fabric lend itself to certain styles?
PETER: Oh, most definitely. There are certain silhouettes that you explore using this fabric. It holds form really well. It holds needle and stitch really well. You have to be careful about how you apply that because it can quickly become too stiff and unapproachable. More like a tent as opposed to a jacket.

OTG: I don’t want to look like a tent.
PETER: Or a tarp, or any of the words associated with canvas But we said, let’s use that structure and create something that is beautiful, with enough needle in it to give it that edge and that la femme nikita presence, but is still super sexy. It’s a beautiful mash-up.

OTG: So do you have plans of using this fabric moving forward.
PETER: Oh definitely. Now we need to push its boundaries. It’s a perfect fabric that has a lovely reference to yesterday with the technology of today.

When you eat vegetarian, do you see an empty spot on your plate?

If you grew up—as I did—grudgingly picking at the obligatory vegetables that garnished the evening’s meat and potatoes, an all-veggie meal has some serious cultural baggage to overcome. Through family dinners, church socials and neighborhood potlucks, we’re taught that supper is a piece of meat with two sides. The idea is so commonplace that we’ve even designed paper plates to the proper proportions.

Call it the “Chinet” approach to meal planning.

So what do you do with that big section of the compartment plate when you’re no longer working with meat? Is it a hole to be filled? Or an invitation to creativity?

These are the questions that animate De Culinaire Werkplaats (The Culinary Workshop), a conceptual test-kitchen in Amsterdam’s rejuvenated Westerpark neighborhood. Half design studio, half restaurant, it seeks to shake up visitors’ culinary lifestyle by redefining not just vegetarian cuisine, but by exploring the creative possibilities of food.

Where many vegetarian restaurants attempt to recreate the flavors and forms of traditional meals, De Culinaire Werkplaats seeks to create entirely new experiences by drawing inspiration from a wide variety of sources—from fashion to farmland, art to architecture. A springtime menu modeled dishes on the landscape of The Netherlands’ countryside; this week, a visitor can enjoy plates suggested by a visit to Shanghai. Cabbages, beans and water chestnut tumble together in the “Shanghai Laundry;” ask for “The Man in his PJs,” and you’ll get a dessert of dim sum, chocolate and tapioca.

And food is only part of the experiment. Founders Marjolein Wintjes and Eric Meursing have crafted wearable fashion from edible fabrics, produced vegetable and fruit papers and put on conceptual art projects. Even the bill challenges convention: while the drink card is traditionally priced, it’s up to you to decide what a fair value is for the five-course fixed menu.

Taken together, these experiments offer a refreshing approach to the challenge of living in a world limited resources: in the process of creating a new culinary language, De Culinaire Werkplaats are showing how imagination can fill an empty plate.

Learn more, and check out the week’s menu, at deculinairewerkplaats.nl. Open Friday for dinner, Saturday for Lunch and Dinner.

 Here’s to Nudie Jeans, our new Collective partner, going 100% organic. Check out their instragram contest and win a trip to Italy to see how premium organic denim is made.

Here’s a sobering statistic: it takes 2/3 pound of pesticides to produce enough conventional cotton to make one pair of jeans. Apply that fact to the over 450 million pairs of jeans that are sold in the US every year, and well, you get a few more zeros and a much more sobering statistic

That’s why, six years ago, Nudie Jeans—our new Collective partner— set a goal: to make their entire line of premium, high-quality denim using only 100% organic cotton by 2012. It was an ambitious goal. Entire supply chains have to be reevaluated, new fabrics developed, and old business practices reexamined.

We get it. We make these decisions every day. But for the Swedish-based company, they had to rethink everything—from design to manufacturing—in order to create premium, well-fitting denim that wouldn’t compromise their style or ethics.

Here’s what Maria Erixon Levin, Nudie Jean’s Founder, had to say about the company’s journey to organic:

“Sure, it has taken time, but we have maintained the courage of our convictions during a period that has seen a number of eco-trends come and go. For us, this is a question of lifestyle, and one of our core values. Since starting up back in 2001, we have remained focused on issues around sustainability and the environment regardless of the demands of the market or our customers, in a time when price has been a key factor. Prices have often been so low that quality, as well as organic and CSR-aware production have been sacrificed as a result.

We have chosen to work with organic cotton regardless of the trends of the day. We are often asked if our values are a marketing tool, or something requested by our customers. The answer is no. It’s a choice we make in the boardroom, and a choice we make during product development. We believe our commitment to organic production should be part of our pricing and quality profile.

In 2006, we invited all our material suppliers and laundry operators to join us in a discussion on sustainable development in the industry. And today, we are especially proud to say we offer 100% organic cotton across our entire range of rigid, stretch and selvage denim. This is a vital stage in the evolution of the Nudie Jeans philosophy. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been with us along the way.”

This season, we’re proud to partner with Nudie Jeans to bring you their first collection of premium denim crafted entirely from fine Italian and Turkish organic cotton. Clean, minimalist construction, classic European style, and none of the bad stuff.

Shop select women’s and men’s Nudie Jeans’ styles on nau.com, or find out more about Nudie Jeans on their website.

Years of inspiration and hard work have transformed our new Fall line into one of our most beautiful collections yet. With the return of many coveted favorites and the debut of some much-anticipated styles, our new 2012 Fall Collection—debuting the middle of August— features luxurious fabrics, bright break beats, and distinct design cues that continue our tradition of beauty, performance and sustainability.

Here’s a first look at what’s to come….

The Bos

We love great design. We think about it, talk about it and realize it’s our distinct, intuitive designs which make Nau styles unique. Our friends over at the Copenhagen-based BioMega have a similar approach to thinking about product design. The philosophy behind their stunning collection of commuter bicycles is to create bikes so beautiful that they transform the way a society thinks about transportation. Their goal is to create urban-landscape changing bikes which imbue cities with meaning and create deeper connections with the natural world.

Of course, we believe BioMega’s mission is similar to ours: to create beautiful, sustainable garments that transform the way an industry does business and the way consumers think about fashion. We also appreciate how, like us, they see design as a vehicle to express something familiar in a new, unexpected way — not just for design’s sake, but with performance and end use in mind.

To celebrate our similar ideologies (and to kick off national bike month), we teamed up with Biomega to offer a chance to win the ultra-portable Boston bike (aka The Bos) and a head-to-toe Nau kit. The Bos, with its theft-proof, foldable design, is described by its designer as a mix of  “BMX, Downhill bikes, and American bad boy pop culture.” Upon its debut, it won such praise that it became a permanent fixture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Now you can have a chance to win this piece of foldable art and any Nau kit of your choice. Register to win here. Only a few days left. The winner will be announced on May 9th in our Off The Grid newsletter.

To learn more about BioMega and the BOS, check out their website here.