(via Under Consideration)

Cool new feature on National Geographic’s site: navigate the archives of their MyShot database of beautiful National Park images by zooming in on a photo to reveal the photomosaic that makes up the image.

You can contribute by submitting your photos; each month two photos are selected from the submissions to be printed in National Geographic’s print magazine.

(via National Geographic)

Today in The Thought Kitchen, we sit down with our Director of Design Peter Kallen to talk about the new Shroud of Purrin jackets and blazers. For the complete Design Eye series, click here. [http://blog.nau.com/?s=design+eye+peter]

The Thought Kitchen: Nau has a lot of unique fabrics, but the Shroud Of Purrin is particularly special. What were the design goals you had in making it?

Peter Kallen: We created this fabric to up the ante of the softshell world by merging the softshell concept with a beautiful, ‘luxxy’ interior—The Shroud of Purrin has this soft, kitten-like fur feel on the inside. So it’s ideal to take that fabric and apply it to these two new styles, which definitely blur the boundaries between urban and outdoor.

TTK: What makes this fabric appropriate for an urban, fashion forward style?

PK: The intent behind softshell is just that: a soft shell. What was rigid and hard and crunchy about a hardshell wasn’t very approachable; it was always treated as something for protection first. What this does is to soften that; it just becomes this much more refined jacket with a softer hand and a much more refined drape to it, as opposed to the crunch bend that a hardshell would have. The combination of softshell technology and distinct tailoring make these styles the perfect application of beauty and performance.

TTK: So what have you done with it in these styles?

PK: On the men’s side, you have the Shroud of Purrin Blazer, which takes a blazer in a completely different zone than any blazer you’ve seen out there. It’s incredibly useful on the bike, in the city, any time when a blazer doesn’t offer enough warmth but an overcoat is overkill. And then on the women’s side, we’ve taken our popular Shroud of Purrin Trench—this modern, sculpted, very sexy trench that shadows a women’s body—and taken the cues from that trench and made a shorter length jacket that has the same tone and sensibility. It has this really beautiful high collar that you can fold down to create this beautiful lapel-like treatment, but can also be put up for a very dramatic high collar that you can snug into to get away from the weather.

TTK: How do you reconcile the outdoor and fashion elements of your designs?

PK: We live in these two worlds, the fashion and the outdoor world, and they both have very different mindsets to them, very different cues and standards. In the outdoor world, people generally resonate with more technical features and things that would be considered ‘protective’. In the fashion world, the cues are based on the look, the style, the fit, the feel, the hand; fifth or so down the line is that it will keep them dry. The Shroud of Purrin blazer and jacket blur both of these worlds perfectly, they have the outdoor cues of blocking the wind and keeping the elements away from you, but on the fashion side they have this really beautiful soft hand, this luxurious lining, and amazing fit and style.

TTK: Are there designers you look to for inspiration around how fashion and performance can work together?

PK: There’s a lot of beautiful design that has happened over the years. On the fashion side, I think what Neil Barrett did with Prada Sport was really amazing, because he touched on this sensibility of technology being fashionable. Prior to that, years and years ago, the sensibility of function from the workwear perspective has always been really interesting. You know, what Levis, or Lee Jeans, or any of the other workwear companies did making these really durable, useful, great pieces that were intended just for performance—not recreation performance, but everyday performance. But I can’t say that anybody’s successfully done this mashup of technology and fashion where they consider both equally. Of course fashion, like art, is in the eyes of the beholder, but I think that we have a very distinct style and tone to our collection, and these two pieces really represent a style and tone that’s a beautiful collision of fashion and technology, very minimal, very confident.  I think the exploratory merge of technology and fashion will continue to inspire directions for what companies can and might do down the road.

TTK: How do you come up with a design for a softshell blazer?

PK: I think it’s a bit about living your life outside the lines. If there’s something that’s so standardized in our world as a blazer, then what does it mean to reinterpret that? That’s how I came up with the ideas and concepts for these pieces: we had this really beautiful fabric, I veered from the path, borrowed from other areas and reinterpreted what a blazer could be. You take something that’s classic and understood, then tweak the style and put an unexpected fabric in it based on true performance, and see what you can come up with.

TTK: How do you know if you’ve succeeded?

PK: For me personally, my success is directly related to ones reactions to the styles, the best reaction is when people put them on and they can’t imagine not having them in their wardrobe. They imagine living in them. They say, ‘I can see myself riding my bike in this one, it’s going to be perfect for when I commute to work’, or ‘This is going to be great, I live in the city and it’s going to be the ideal style that protects me  from the tricks the weather will play on me, and makes me look smoking  hot in the process!’ That, to me, is the ultimate. At the end of the day, yeah, you love to see them flying off the shelves. But I like hearing the personal stories, how people will integrate them into their wardrobe, and make them a key component of their wardrobe. Potentially a favorite piece they ‘can’t live without’. To say that we can create wardrobe confidence; that, to me, brings a smile.

Our friend Josh Dorfman—aka The Lazy Environmentalist—voiced off on the Huffington Post recently on the distinction between the scientific and political in the debate over how (and even whether) to address global warming. His take? It’s not about convincing people the numbers are real, but about engaging their self-interest:

When it comes right down to it, I’ve learned that you don’t have to convince global warming skeptics that global warming is real in order to generate their support for the solutions that solve it. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Is this about winning the debate and being ‘right’ or is this about getting people enthusiastically on board with the solutions?”

Do you think less science and more talk is the right approach? Read the entire piece here, and share your thoughts in the comments.

(via Huffingtonpost)

A week ago, Brett and Edie got married. Three days later, they set out from our home of Portland, Oregon back to their home of Brooklyn, NY, aside a matching pair of neon pink and yellow Independent Fabrications bikes. Today, they’re somewhere east of Pomeroy, WA.

Pedaling across the country might not be everyone’s idea of a perfect honeymoon, but these two seem up to the challenges that 60-100 mile days with loaded panniers present. After all, covering that distance is one thing; having the wherewithall to upload erudite posts every evening afterward? That’s tough.

See where they are today on kissingwithhelmets.com

(via Rapha)

I haven’t seen the movie, but the end credits for The Other Guys—that Will Ferrel, Marky Mark Mark Whalberg cop film—feature some great looking info graphics that, if you haven’t already brushed the popcorn off your lap and headed to the door, might make you stop and think.

The standouts for me:

• Average ratio of Executive Pay to Employee Pay, 1914: 7:1. Today: 319:1.
• Average Execute Salary 1998: 2.3 Million. In 2005: 11.8 Million.

I’m not trying to foment a revolution of the working class here. But have executives become that much more valuable? Or the rest of us that much less so? Did your salary quintuple in 7 years? Most of all: does this make sense?

Can’t find an embeddable version, but check out the credit sequence here.

[An occasional update on what some of us are listening to now. - Ed.]

I am addicted to this song. I play it right when I wake up, and just before I go to bed. And then I dream about it.

This song, along with the rest of The Cults new album, is available as a free download here.

William Hereford shows us that, if you’re going to make a cooking video, you might as well make the bocca as buttery as the duck breast. Delicious.

(via A Photo Editor)

(via The Sartorialist)

Great post over on the landscape architecture blog Inspiration Wall from a tour of several of Seattle’s Green Roofs. If, like me, you don’t have access to a well-planted roof in your urban dwelling, it’s enough to make you, well, green with envy.

More, though, it’s good to see this concept taking off. Personally, every time I’m on top of a high building, I can’t help looking around and marveling at all the wasted space—who wouldn’t want a beautiful rooftop garden? Hell, just take the roof of any urban office building, plant a few square yards of green and perch an MCH (Micro Compact Home) on it, and you’re probably sitting on a few hundred grand worth of real estate…

(via Inspiration Wall)