woebot

flavorpill arrived the other day, and way down at the bottom, mention of the WOEBOT top 100 albums of all time list caught my eye. i beamed over, and sure enough...a kindred spirit. the list is a work of art. so i dropped master woebot a line to express my appreciation for his meticulously-crafted labor of love, and in return, he called me plucky. i couldn't be more flattered.

dorkbot jan 4 @ location one

i'll be giving a sonic fabric talk/demo for the dorkbot folks next wednesday night, january 4th, at 7pm in soho at location one.

location one
26 greene street between canal and grand
subway: A-C-E-N-R-6 to canal street

article in venus

there's a very nice little article about sonic fabric in the winter issue of venus magazine. i don't know if it's quite true that i'm an "accidental artist" or that "i don't know what to call myself", but that's okay. it's a real sweet piece anyhow.

trendease feature

such a lovely article about sonic fabric here.

italian magazine article

this morning i received the translation of a magazine article on sonic fabric that was recently published in an italian magazine. the translation itself is just so good, i couldn't resist posting it here (click below for a pdf of the original article in it's native tongue):


Sonic Attitude
" Wearing music is the forbidden dream of who, of music, lives. It is just from this desire (conscious and unconscious) that we are push when we buy the merchandising of our preferred musician. T-shirt, buttons, bags are only the tip of the iceberg of the imaginary from which they are born and they represent a immediate and clear message for who observe us. There is someone then, equipped of talent and creative abilities, nozzles in do-it-yourself and decorates Ts-shirt with love, writing some lyricsof the preferred song, when not the complete text. It is or it is not a way to dress itself of music? Sure, the ideal would be to be able to dress in music, but how we can do it? Alyce Santoro has made it. Grown in the New Jersey, Alyce often went in boat on the Greenwood lake and its father used the magnetic tape of the musicassette in order to understand from which part the wind pulled .Little Alyce, while, was wondering on the possibility that the wind, hitting in the right way the tape, could make sound in the air the recorded songs. Growing, Alyce discovered that in Tibet the prayers are written on the flags (calls, for this, prayer flags), because the wind, hitting them , would make the prayer flying in the world. Just from the union of these two experiences is born "Sonic Fabric": a tissue in which the tape of the cassette - in which is recorded the music that has influenced mainly the life of Alyce - the tissueit is woven with the cotton, in order to realize dressed, bags and flags. The idea is brilliant, above all is it possible to hear the recording with an old one walkman , making to slide the head on the woven one, to hear"Sound of (1/2) life". Draft of one collection of chosen songs from Alyce Santoro: her adolescence punk band , sciamanic music from the Peruvian forest, the waves of the ocean, The Beatles, some classic music... This creative young person, beyond to a bachelor in marine Biology, has one specialization in scientific illustration and a remarkable number of exposures and performance. In her website www.sonicfabric.com there are several the models , always available in more colors, buyable also from Italy! The Monk/Messenger bag (in the photo, the model in pink) is inspired by the bags of the buddhist monks, but also to those of the messengers of New York. Realized with Sonic Fabric, it has various inner pockets to put iPod, keys of house, etc. Good part of the woven thai is necessary in order to realize this bags is hand-made from one cooperative of women in Nepal. John Fishman, the eclectic drummer of the Phish, has asked to the vulcanicAlyce a "Sonic Rythm Dress". In Las Vegas, the musician "has played" just the dress in front of more than 20.000 persons, thanks to a pair of gloves equiped by wireless heades. On the tape used for realize this dress had been recorded with pieces choosen by Phil. The result has been really cool!"


ARPA - Mensile di informazione culturale
www.ARPANet.org/ARPA

italianmag.pdf

experimental eco-design

a new book just came out, called EXPERIMENTAL ECO-DESIGN, by cara bower. i haven't seen it in person yet, but sonic fabric is included, and the sonic fishdress is on the cover!! it's available at amazon.com.

swap-o-rama-rama

this past sunday i had the greatgood fortune to be part of a phenomenal event called "swap-o-rama-rama". it was conceived by my friend wendy tremaine who had been holding less-formal clothing swaps among friends in her apartment for many years. this one was enormous...there were sewing workshops and demostrations (i gave one myself...all about the sonic fabric). it was held on the lower east side of manhattan at a community center/theater. literally hundreds of people came with bags of clothes to swap, and each went home thrilled with the treasures they'd found. it was more than a successful community event...it was a cultural movement, a undermining of the capitalist consumer machine, where all of us new yorkers got to create an entire aesthetic around the notion of sharing, up close and in person.

more at gaiatreehouse.com
and some fantastic video clips here and here

9/29 talk and demo at parson's

this thursday evening, september 29th, i'll be giving a little talk and demonstration of sonic fabric for a group called "21F", a bunch of folks who are interested in the intersection of fashion and technology. more info on them here . Parson's School of Design, Design Lab, 7pm, 55 west 13th st, 9th floor.

article in fall issue of BlackBook

sonic fabric on cool hunting

today a nice article and link appeared on the cool hunting website:
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2005/09/sonic_fabric_1.php