Under the umbrella banner of the Dwell Store, A+R shared real estate with Flight 001 and Skylight Books and bonded over the invasion of design fans who turned out over the three-day event.
A+R pals JC Obando and Michael Cioffoletti came out early Saturday to catch Andy on a design innovation panel, while others arrived later in the day, including Bryan Rabin, interior designer Bret Witke, Lisa Edelstein and jewelry designer Michael Schmidt. Sunday was another day of surprises, from Kathleen and Dave of Meow to Will Koppelman. We also loved meeting Peter and Roz, parents of Eli Bonerz of PAD, whose newly release spun aluminum planters were also quite a show hit.
We were also thrilled to see A+R designers Kelly Lamb (she of the amazing new geo-birdhouse now in our Venice store window); Dominic Symons and Allan Kiesler (the innovative creatives behind Blue Lounge whose new desk we premiered at the show), Chris Stiles (who's followed up his bones salt and pepper shakers with new shakers in the form of spinning tops was another show debut), Peter White (whose Le Petit Dejeuner tray is also an A+R launch), Enrico Bressan of Artecnica and Jeff Liu of Mollo Space.

Thank you all for swinging by!

Troubadour Pop

Long live the King of Punk. And he's living quite well these days in Miami. He's also banging the drum for his new musical deviation, the most punk of all sounds: Jazz.

Great Q+A in New York Mag about his new album, his new home and what irritates him.















Photo: Xavier Martin

Install starts today on our pop-up at Dwell on Design '09. A+R is one of three shops invited to do this, and we'll be sharing the selling stage with our pals at Flight 001 and Skylight Books, as well as hawking Dwell T-shirts and notebooks. This is the second year DOD has taken place in L.A., and the second time they've invited us to participate in this showcase.
Andy will also be speaking this Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Design Innovation panel with two of our favorite fellow design shop owners, Fitz of Fitzu and Keiko Shinomoto of Tortoise.
Note the codes in the image above for entry discounts.
Drop by the convention center and say hello. We'll be there through Sunday when it all packs up until next year.

Award-winning art photography of shit, unchecked murders by a pathological citizenry, government wiretapping, urban pollution and the little (or, well, major) madness it all incites might all seem like contemporary matters. But it’s really fodder, both hilarious and horrifying in the wildly absurd and brilliant 1971 film “Little Murders.”
We caught a revival of it last night at the cozy Silent Movie Theater here in L.A., with the film’s writer Jules Feiffer and leading man and producer Elliot Gould making surprise appearances, and, following the screening, sharing their experiences in getting Feiffer’s original play to celluloid.
Feiffer’s acerbic commentary cuts from his cartoons for the New Yorker, Playboy and The Village Voice (a decade run that earned him a Pulitzer) to screenplays such as "Carnal Knowledge" and "Little Murders" (for which he received a WGA nod for his adaptation). We were treated to his Oscar-winning animated "Munro" before the movie, and if you can find a copy of it, do.

Before there was a film, "Little Murders" was a failed novel and then a failed play, in 1966, shuttering after a week of performances, Mr. Feiffer recalled. It found an audience and, not long after, new life in New York when the Royal Shakespeare Theater group took it up in London. While Gould and his producing partner Jack Brodsky went after Jean-Luc Godard to write the screenplay and direct it, buzz from Alan Arkin’s directorial staging stateside got him the gig, thankfully. Arkin also appears in front of the camera, in one of the more memorable moments in a film packed with wickedly indelible monologues and scenes. Donald Sutherland’s turn as a reverend is fantastic.

In fact, the entire cast in this hyper-colored, hyper-real movie is pretty damn terrific. Loved the costumes and sets, too (both are great references for wardrobe stylists and interior designers).
The copy we viewed last night was a bit worse for wear in places. But Gould pointed out to a remastered DVD that finally emerged a few years ago. As much as we laughed through the film, it’s definitely a disturbing story and not for everyone. But in the realm of black comedies, it tops the list.

Shoes are no more a mad obsession for women as they can be for men, as fully on view at the little soiree Andy and I hosted for George Esquivel Thursday night.
From wardrobe stylist Miles Siggins to new media brand strategist Will Kopelman to fashion-art photographer Mike Rosenthal, there was much sole-ful longing going on at Esquivel’s Third Street salon in mid-town L.A.

Some 150 steps go into crafting each pair of his bespoke brogues and boots, in the highest tradition of those made in Italy and the UK’s North Hampton and all made in George’s studio just an hour south in Orange County. To George, and his many fans, who include The Killers and pro basketball players including size-19 star Yao Ming, quality is about the people not the place.
Even a Paris-based designer such as Tim Hamilton seems to think so, having rung up George just the day before with a major order for some two dozen pairs of sandals for his runway show in Paris. And he needed them in less than a week. (“I should be working,” George sheepishly whispered during the party.) When his Italian shoe factory flaked, Tim got a tip about Esquivel and the buzz surrounding the line, and called.
The hum includes a feature in the June issue of Vogue, and style.com’s recent shout out proclaiming Esquivel’s women’s oxfords the “new flats.” George’s women’s collection might be a capsule compared to the men’s, but it’s a striking one and even has a new convert in Dita Von Teese, who popped in pre-party with someone else in mind and was soon contemplating a pair for herself, even though she’s rarely if ever out of the highest heels.
Arianne Phillips and Raven Kauffman were similarly gobsmacked with the quality (Raven works with Italian factories on her couture bag line, and couldn’t believe what George was pulling off so close to home), as were Lisa Bush and Scott Vineberg of Mona Moore, a trove of bleeding edge shoes (Demeulemeester, Van Noten, Rick Owens), and who also know their way around a great pair of lace-ups.
In the end, in fact, it wasn’t a man who scored the night’s complementary pair of Esquivels. Andy stirred the box of cards, and I chose the winner: Tasha Nita Adams, a fellow fashion writer and natty gal-about-town. Guess, in the end, when it comes to a to-die-for pair of shoes, the cosmos always favor the ladies.