My most recent sleeping bag purchase was for a thin and inexpensive bag (the two often going hand in hand) bought early in college, and I have rarely paid them much thought since. Enter ALITE Designs, a new SF-based camping goods company whose neon backpacks and tents have me eagerly planning for this summer’s Wanderlust. Founded by former North Face design director Tae Kim, the Potrero Hill-based company will be releasing their Spring 2010 line this Friday at a party with Kelly Malone’s Indie Mart.
After creating products for elite athletes and Everest climbers, Kim said he became more passionate about getting everyday individuals outside with friends (and their dogs). “With so many places to be outside in San Francisco, like Golden Gate Park, Dolores Park, Fort Funston and Stern Grove,” Kim said, “it was easy for me to convince my friends to leave their boring jobs and start Alite Designs.”
The resulting offerings include Japanese-style fisherman’s packs and magenta and red Sexy Hotness sleeping bags that can be zipped together (for pals, not those nights after outdoor festivals, por favor). I’m a fan of the prices and the color palette, which feel like a rendezvous between Rainbow Brite and classic L.L.Bean.
(Also, two points to ALITE for using the customer feedback solicitation tools from Get Satisfaction–a good partner for getting started on the eve of the social CRM company’s unveiling of the Facebook Social Engagement Hub.)
In celebrating San Francisco designer Victoria Smith (Ms. SFGirlByBay) and her endeavor to encourage dialogue about personal inspiration, I’m taking today mention the organizations, projects, and ideas by women I admire and am motivated by, SF or otherwise.
The Blog It Forward project, which includes 300 design aficionados discussing their inspiration, is a kind of chain letter in the best way. No middle school students have their feelings hurt, and bloggers partaking in the project link to one another’s work. Ohioan Pretty Shiny Things shared her visual inspiration before me, and today I’ll be followed by the vintage-minded The Sunday Times Market, which I’ve become quickly enamored with while I should have been typing and linking away on this.
In having spent the better part of this week in the Texas state capital for South by Southwest Interactive, interactive whiz kids (and migas) are especially front of mind. I feel fortunate to be learning from especially visionary women designers, communicators and founders, and following Heather Gold’s recent live taping of her podcast episode about acknowledging the effort in making things, I tip my bicycle cap to these inspiring individuals, including:
Alison Covarrubias and Claire Fontana, whose educational Hatch Network design is admirable /// Jen Bekman for demonstrating the potential for art community growth with 20×200 /// Han Pham for her Youth Women Social Entrepreneurs collaboration /// Jamie Panzarella, for giving y’all Ladywood in the next few days /// Miki Johnson, for her visual and thought-provoking liveBooks photo blog contributions /// Tiffany Shlain for sharing her early “Connected” documentary work /// Rebecca Bortman, who I’d love to have perform at a future Ignite Bay Area event with her SF-born band My First Earthquake, for art directing another successful Disposable Film Fest /// Janetti Chon and Stacey Foreman for announcing a great speaker lineup for this summer’s Conversational Marketing Summit /// Lindsay Ronga for bringing the Cork’d wine community to vino drinkers everywhere /// Cara Jones for introducing journalist consortium Storytellers for Good locally this week //// Maria Ly, for bringing activity tracking platform Skimble to SXSW to lots of acclaim when she wasn’t allowing us to tape her climbing at Mission Cliffs time and again /// Kristy Graves and Amy Benziger for helping open the HUB community space in SF in the upcoming weeks /// Sharon Vosmek’s leadership in the Astia network’s expansion to India /// Kennedy School alum Elana Berkowitz’s contribution to the FCC’s broadband plan, which goes before Congress shortly /// High school pal-turned-producer extraordinaire Leah D’Emilio for helping Rocketboom’s programming expand /// Femgineer Poornima Vijayashanker and Liz Wilsie for rigorous prep of their new software for sole proprietors /// Caitlin Bristol, for expanding Ecofabulous’ style and sustainability video offerings while kicking leukemia butt on her bike /// Shauna Causey for leading by @Voluntweetup example /// Gayla Trail, for whom positive “Grow Great Grub” book reviews are well-deserved /// Danae Ringelmann, whose good acquisition news about the IndieGoGo funding platform is well worth celebrating this week /// Project H founder Emily Pilloton for getting the Design Revolution Road Show to kids and adults nationwide /// Rebecca Orlov for exapnding Blog Out Loud live events to Northern and Southern California /// and, of course, Victoria Smith for starting this undertaking and launching her vintage Etsy shop last week.
This is just a sample of the women who inspire your work, and I’d like to open this up to mentions of yours. Have at it!
On the morning of their South By Southwest soiree, artistic project fundraising platform IndieGoGo has announced that their San Francisco-based company has acquired Adam Chapnick’s digital distribution service Distribber. The deal, which will allow creators posting projects on IndieGoGo to sell completed works on Amazon and NetFlix from the platform, comes weeks after the founders of the two companies spoke about independent arts distribution at Sundance. Financial terms were not disclosed, though the agreement is said to enable filmmakers to sell to multiple stores simultaneously while keeping more project royalties.
As I write during a flight delay, one of the places that first comes to mind for a rainy afternoon is the independent Market St. bookstore The Green Arcade with its ceiling-to-floor shelves and well-curated selection. It’s quickly become one of my favorite haunts (or “third space,” as iFanBoy co-creator Ron Richards has identified neighborhood comic book store Isotope in describing it as the place besides home and work where one is happy to spend a fair amount of their time).
Tomorrow I’m disappointed to miss a discussion by feminist activist Lierre Keith about her book “The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability” (which Alice Walker described as “full of thoughtful, soulful teachings”). The vegan author and part-time Humbolt resident will describe both the dangers of industrial farming and the risks of a vegan diet before more social justice-focused talks at the space this month, including one about Patrick Reinsborough’s “RE: Imagining Change: How to Use Story-Based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World.” On Monday, a panel discussion on our prospects of winning in an age of environmental and financial crisis includes Tadzio Mueller and Gifford Hartman, authors of the British book “What Would It Mean to Win?” from their movement-motivated Turbulence Collective.
Maybe it’s cliche for Northern California, but in addition to getting closer to safely practicing the handstands that have alluded me, a recent yoga teacher training introduced me to individuals doing notable work in media, medicine, and tattoo design (but of course). One of them was former broadcast reporter Cara Jones, who is launching a collective of journalists and photographers working to share stories about organizations and people who are making a difference. In addition to a kickoff party at 111 Minna on Sunday night, the not-for-profit Storytellers for Good project is offering to create free videos for five Bay Area non-profits to promote their work. One of the first features A Good Idea San Francisco, an endeavor to give away everything from sleeping bags, blankets and random acts of kindness downtown. In the words of one of the featured volunteers: “We get bombarded with negative news–everything is negative, negative–so when we have an opportunity to do something positive, I think it just makes everybody feel better.”
I had read a Wired magazine article a few years ago that described early detection as the best way to beat cancer, and one of the organizations noted for advocating for imaging, The Canary Foundation, was particularly memorable (though it didn’t keep me from mis-identifying it as “Aviary” when talking with the author, writer and editor Thomas Goetz, recently). More intervention evangelist than avatar creation tool, the foundation was started by Cisco C-level executive Don Listwin, who became passionate about the promise of earlier detection after losing his mother to ovarian cancer.
“a research group with the single goal of bringing a battery of screening tests to patients and their doctors by 2015, starting with ovarian cancer and moving on to pancreatic, lung, and prostate. Listwin likes to explain the Canary approach with PowerPoint, and every presentation starts with a slide of the survival curve for cancer. Pointing to the 90 percent, he makes this simple observation: When we see cancer early, we have a chance to fight it.”
The visual image of Listwin in a canary yellow sportscoat at fundraising events to promote this cause was worth remembering, but even more so was the idea that when we identify health (or financial, or relationship) problems sooner, we can be more proactive in changing our subsequent behavior for better outcomes. I’m glad that Goetz included the cancer detection example in his new book “The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine,” which promotes the idea that investing time and energy in understanding our personal data can have powerful effects on our health. more
I have found few online resources where it’s possible to find West African Afro beat, reflections on public transport miscommunications, and interviews with the Dame of Punk (she being designer Vivienne Westwood), and it’s not for lack of trying. As someone with undiagnosed ADHD and an affinity for the search bar, the locally based audio resource The [Un]Observed is a long awaited catalog of auditory enjoyment, and I have radio producer Tania Ketenjian to thank.
Inspired by the Austrailain Broadcasting Company’s Night Air, the BBC World Service and Studio 360 contributor recently launched a radio magazine for conversations and observations that is, to her credit, very hand-selected. “I want people to know what quality they’ll hear” when they listen to the new five pieces The [Un]Observed adds to its archives per week, says Ketenjian, who also hosts the artist conversation series Sight Unseen on KALX.
Audio by journalists, sound artists, and producers of American, Australian, and British descent are well worth a browse (and listen). The Chorus of Refuge online installation by Jason Cady, Kara Oehler, and Ann Heppermann stands out with its combination of stories from six refugee populations relocated to as many American cities, and the experiences of postmodern dancer Anna Halprin and singer Marvin Gaye are also lovingly told. Consider it radio, curatorially catalogued.
International Women’s Day on Monday will bring the launch of the locally-based International Museum of Women’s newest endeavor to highlight the contributions of impactful individuals worldwide. The “Women on the Map” undertaking will invite visitors to name females who inspire them and note their locations, creating a virtual map of the communities of honorees, who will then be notified of their recognition. The tribute process takes approximately 30 seconds, and I’m eager to see who you’ll add. (And, while I watch Oscar acknowledgements by Kathryn Bigelow, my women to watch are Shaherose Charania, who has taught me more at the helm of Women 2.0 than I can tell her, and Rebecca Weeks Watson, whose recent Ignite Bay Area talk was a clear reminder of her humor, smarts and grace). Similarly intriguing, the virtual exhibit “Economica” about women’s global earning power first turned me on to the curatorial work of the IMOW. Following this month’s celebration of Women’s History Month, the museum’s spring benefit on April 27 is one I’m advocating (and not just because “cultural dress” is encouraged). SF’s first couple will be honorary chairs at the Metreon City View party in April with food provided by local female chefs. Donations to the museum–which doesn’t have a brick and mortar space but creates programming around female leadership in sociopolitical change–enable thought-provoking exhibits, to which I’m hoping a discussion about global healthcare is added.
Since moving to SF almost four years ago and after more post-run ales at Kezar Pub than I count, I’ve wondered what took place inside the stadium across the street. This weekend pals and I found out in the form of co-ed roller derby in which the SF Bay Bombers took on Brooklynites with the encouragement of the adult Cheer SF Squad (see them, I implore you). But after more than a few dramatic over-rail plays, the contest seemed more staged than I expected, and I’m eager to see a competition more along the lines of the athletic and fierce nickname competition Micki Krimmel presented at the first Ignite Bay Area.
During Women 2.0′s recent “Will It Launch?” weekend workshop for prospective entrepreneurs, moderator Poornima Vijayashanker spoke about her decision to leave Mint.com (where she was the founding engineer) to create software for small businesses. She discussed knowing when to take a risk–including leaving Stanford grad school to start a company that was later sold to Intuit–and how her BizeeBee co-founder Liz Wiltsie found her by following Women 2.0 on Twitter. More conversations with company founders can be found as part of the In Conversation interview series.
My most recent sleeping bag purchase was for a thin and inexpensive bag (the two often going hand in hand) bought early in college, and I have rarely paid them much thought since. Enter ALITE Designs, a new SF-based camping goods company whose neon backpacks and tents have me eagerly planning for this summer’s Wanderlust. Founded by former North Face design director Tae Kim, the Potrero Hill-based company will be releasing their Spring 2010 line this Friday at a party with Kelly Malone’s Indie Mart.
After creating products for elite athletes and Everest climbers, Kim said he became more passionate about getting everyday individuals outside with friends (and their dogs). “With so many places to be outside in San Francisco, like Golden Gate Park, Dolores Park, Fort Funston and Stern Grove,” Kim said, “it was easy for me to convince my friends to leave their boring jobs and start Alite Designs.”
gs that can be zipped together (for pals, not those nights after outdoor festivals, por favor). I’m a fan of the prices and the color palette, which feel like a rendezvous between Rainbow Brite and classic L.L.Bean.
