Born Free

Model: Pierangeli Méndez

Photography: Quique Cabanillas

Styling & Creative Direction: Melissa Hernández

Clothing: www.shopcoyotenegro.com

Jewelry: FiLiLí & Witness Company

 This Born Free collection is about everything badass about this country. Let yourself go, don't look back, set yourself loose and don't get attached. Buy the ticket, take the ride. Featuring truly vintage Harley Davidson shirts & amazing leather vests found all around NYC, sweet handcrafted brass form our brother Witness Company, hot body jewelry from FiLiLí and of course super rad bikes from our friends and neighbors from The Shop.

We're super excited with this new space these guys from The Shop are going to open soon in our neighborhood in Bushwick. They are going to be right in front of us.. literally.  With ice cold beers, BBQs, bikes, and the All-American thing.. The space is huuugee! So make sure to like them on FB so you can go to their opening and get properly wasted. 

Also special thanks to Chris and Jason Goodrich for your sweet bikes and kindness. Check out Jason's photography.. featuring Iggy Pop along with other great portraits.

Waterworld

This is the kind of utopian thing you think only exists in movies. Reminds me of  "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (Which is actually a great movie btw). But what we got here is the real thing. This is the end result of the part art project part experiment of the street artist "Swoon" and other super talented artists. All the pictures are from Swoon's friend Tod Seelie who has been traveling with them and documenting the trips. 

"The group have organized three different trips so far. The first two were down the Mississippi. The plan was to take the rafts from Minneapolis to New Orleans, but the farthest the group ever made it was St. Louis because the river proved to be too strong. The third trip went down the Hudson from Troy, New York to Queens. The fourth trip went from Slovenia to Venice and was meant to coincide with the Venice Biennale. All these trips took place several years ago, but there is a new one in Oregon planned for mid-August. 

The rafts are made from recycled materials and essentially artfully made-up pontoon (their pontoons are wood with styrofoam inside instead of metal). The motors are old car engines that have been hacked to run propellers. On some of the trips, the boats were designed to not only move through water and house a crew but also host live theater and music performances. On the Mississippi trip, whenever the boats would dock near a town, the crew would invite locals to the boat and teach them trades like silk screening or costume making."

Kind of utopic right? I believe, once you get in the boat, you're in another dimension, another world where some rules don't apply. Where you can breathe a sense of freedom only the ocean can bring.  I would love to take a trip here or at least catch them to see performances & the whole thing in real life..

Via Wired

☼ SONOSOLAR ☼

BUSCABULLA SONOSOLAR MIXTAPE PLAYLIST

Vikki Carr - Cuando Calienta El Sol

Ralph MacDonald - Calypso Path (Sofrito Edit)

Rafael Cortijo Y Su Bonche – Sorongo

Elia y Elizabeth - Alegria

The Nigerian Police Force Band – Asiko Mi Ni

Various Artists – Toma Que Toma

Groundislava – Weekend In The Tropics

Lucia - Marinero (Spanish Version)

Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking

Celia Cruz & Tito Puente - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

Los Sonset – Tema Sonset

Los Teenagers - Amor De Verano

Palmbomen - Black Safari

Buscabulla – Sono

Bomba – Grupo De Loiza Aldea (P.R.)

Empress Of – 2

Bob Marley - Jammin: 8-Bit

A pesar del calor infernal y algunas pestes que trae el verano.. creo que todavía lo considero como mi estación favorita del año... no se.. me trae felicidad tener días mas largos llenos de sol y poder disfrutar de la naturaleza en todo su apogeo. Todavía es verano y es por eso que hay que seguir en el veraneo mode y sudar hasta la ultima gota y para eso.. este mixtape veraniego llamado "SONOSOLAR"

Este fabuloso mixtape fue creado por la super jeva Buscabulla.."Sonosolar es un vueltón por Piñones en acido donde temas viejos caribeños y experimentos sonoros nuevos se combinan en un viaje que evoca playas perdidas y galaxias tropicales." Dice la dj, artista, diseñadora puertorriqueña radicada en Brooklyn; Raquel Berrios aka Buscabulla.

El proyecto de Buscabulla es una influencia de la música latina de los sesenta, setenta y ochenta, como la salsa gorda, tropicalia, nueva trova cubana y el rock argentino, incorporando sonidos electrónicos, análogos y progresivos. Su último tema esta incluido en ese super mix titulado "Sono" y esta bien cabrón.. Que lo disfruten :)

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Aside from the infernal heat and bad smells that accompany the summer time, I think it still holds its place as my favorite season of the year. I don't know, it brings me happiness having longer days drenched in sun and being able to enjoy nature at it's fullest. It's still summer and that's why we gotta keep our summer mode on and sweat every last drop...and what better way than with this summer mixtape: "SONOSOLAR".

This mix was created by the super babe Buscabulla..."Sonosolar is a ride around Piñones, on acid, where old caribbean rhythms and sonorous experiments are combined to evoke a journey through lost beaches and tropical galaxies" says the DJ, artist, singer-songwriter, designer native from Puerto Rico and based in Brooklyn, Raquel Berrios, aka Buscabulla.

Buscabulla is a project influenced by the latin music of the sixties, seventies and eighties, like Salsa "Gorda", Tropicalia, Cuban Nueva Trova, and Argentinian Rock, incorporating electronic and progressive sounds. Her latest single "Sono" is in this mixtape and it's fucking awesome. 

Enjoy :)

Check out Buscabulla on Soundcloud, Tumblr and Facebook

Una vida tropical..

The Caribbean.. This place immediately brings to mind colors and happiness. Blue above, blue below. White from the sand, green for the coconut palm trees. But most predominantly.. the yellow of the sun.

Before paint was made widely available in the Antilles, the color of the houses were determined by the raw materials.. dry straw and natural wood that where used to build them. Paint became a common imported item in hardware stores between the two world wars. Then soon bright colors replaced the natural hues.  Brighter colors where more of Haiti while the French influenced islands where more pastels.

>>FOREIGN INFLUENCES<<

..in the search for gold, some of the europeans stayed as colonists.. and they where living good.. really good.

THE POPULAR HOUSE

 I bet these ladies know how to cook amazing food..

Meals are often taken in the gallery, which is open to the interior. Doors on three sides of the small house allow the maximum of air and people to circulate.

Near the kitchen, a scale for weighing the fresh produce and seafood brought in by the local farmers and fishermen.

Direct access for produce sellers to the kitchen by a doorway in the courtyard that leads in from a small back street.

I love these tiles and the tall wood windows / doors. I would spend hours here.

And this living room!!

I love how the bathtub here is only divided by a sheer lace curtain. I would probably have the mop handy but.. that's usual.  

The gleaming array of pots and pans reflects the owners' pride in her cooking.

This house was built by a carpenter for his sister, a school teacher. Made entirely of wood.

I believe this one is circa 70's early 80's house because of all the electronic gear.. I love this one!

When we were shooting our summer lookbook "Tropicaleo" in my grandma's friend's house I found this book called "Caribbean Style" by Suzanne Slesin & Stafford Cliff. My mind immediately started blowing away! Then I bought the book and here it is. I almost uploaded the whole thing! There're so many more amazing images! This book represents my ideal living.. I'm not a fan of fancy brand new houses. Im so much happy on a wooden house with plenty of windows and plants.  Not the most ideal plan since Caribbean island weather is so unpredictable and we get many hurricanes or at the least, tropical storms. That's why most of them right now are simple cement boxes. The more colonial houses are more of what Old San Juan and Ponce (Central South of Puerto Rico) looks like.. They are this type of lofty caribbean / spanish look. They really are like dream houses.. the huge problem is the parking. But really.. my ideal plan would be to live in one of this houses and be able to grow my own food.. and of course.. cook a lot! I love to cook.. now the question will be.. where do I get money from? I'll just keep dreaming and working for that dream.