Mayamada Kickstarter

Regular readers will probably recognise the name Mayamada - I’ve featured their brilliant t-shirts on Inspirational Geek before.

Now the Japanese-inspired clothing brand is looking to branch out and they’ve recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to take their brand up a level (if you are unaware of how awesome Kickstarter is then take a look here).

Take a few moments to watch the video below from brand member Lao K explaining how they want to create a grassroots manga based on a collection of stories from the Mayamada brand, then head over here to pledge your support and back them.

If you need any further endorsement, this is the first Kickstarter campaign I’ve actually backed (so you know it must be good!).  You can pledge from $1 upwards and there are some fantastic incentives offered to spur you on.

Full info on their Kickstarter here and, as ever you can follow their Twitter and Facebook escapades too.

Wind Knitting Factory

Some fantastic “outside the box” thinking here from product design studio Merel Karhof. I mean, it’s not something I’ve ever thought about, or even mused that it could possibly solve day to day problems, but as designs go you have to admit it’s rather impressive.  I give you the Wind Knitting Factory.

Using the power of the wind, a knitting machine knits from the outside towards the inside of a building. The knitted material is ‘harvested’ from time to time and rounded-off into individually packaged scarves. Each scarf then has its own unique label which tells you in how much time it has been knitted and on which date.  A rather neat take on bespoke tailoring, of sorts.

The machine has great aesthetic appeal too, the exposed mechanics offer a raw and industrial feel while watching it in motion demonstrates a smooth running and gentle reminder as to the oh so practical outcome.

Forget receiving a new knitted scarf from grandparents, creating bespoke weather-related apparel in real time is now what you should be expecting.  The real beauty is that the colder and more blustery a day it is, the sooner you’ll get your scarf as the wind propels the machine into overdrive.

It’s also a completely sustainable production method, being as it is wind powered, which is something that consumers are increasingly looking for.  Yes, it may not be ideal if you’re after an immediate fashion fix, but with a bit of planning (and assistance from the weather forecaster) you could grab yourself a fantastic winter accessory.

There’s a rather cool, and somewhat mesmerising, video of the machine in action here.

More details on their blog.

Mayamada

It’s always nice to get home after a long day at the office and find a parcel waiting for you.  Perhaps it’s something you’d forgotten you’d ordered, or perhaps a genuine gift or surprise.  My delivery from recently launched brand Mayamada was neither of those, I knew it was coming, but that didn’t dampen my delight in receiving it at all.

Mayamada is a quirky Japanese inspired clothing brand set in a world of television parody.  The t-shirts (and soon to be hoodies) are all there to represent a theme and tell a story.  Mayamada “don’t do one offs”, all of the designs fit together influenced by pop culture, a quirky sense of humour and a little sprinkle of Japanese flavour.

Of the available designs I opted for Samurai Chef.

Samurai Chef is, well, a chef who judges dishes by attacking them with his samurai sword.  Excellent.

You can see a sneak preview of some of the other designs over on the Mayamada blog.

The attention to detail in the packaging is great too.  Yes it’s not unusual to have clothes orders delivered wrapped in quality tissue paper, but when it’s hand stamped with genuine ink imported from Japan – then you know these guys know what they’re doing.  It really is the little things that can make the difference, and Mayamada have excelled in this aspect.

They also lovingly threw a couple of badges – “one for me and one for a friend”.  I mean, who doesn’t like badges! If you’d like to proudly wear one of my Mayamada pins, then leave a comment below and I’ll sort out sending it over to you.  Alternatively place an order over here and you’re bound to get a couple in your delivery (this is the only sure fire way of collecting them all as the badges are specific to which clothing design you order!).

There’s also a fab letter included, welcoming you to the brand.  I won’t spoil all the secrets though, if you want to know what it says you’ll have to place an order and see for yourself!

Mayamada are all over the relevant social media sites too – keep in touch with them on both Facebook and Twitter for all the latest info.

Phosphorescent T-Shirt

I really like it when glow in the dark ink is used on things.  It isn’t used very often and no that doesn’t disappoint me, it just makes the cases that do use it slightly more special.  Not every situation calls for phosphorescent ink however, but this t-shirt does it delightfully well.  I really want it, but it’s sadly sold out on Threadless at the moment.

Found via Full Beard and Monster Munch.