ThingsAmongMany

I got an email this morning from a reader, Danielle, who runs a boutique/gallery in Brooklyn called Fact & Fancy. A quick glance at her site reveals that her shop is likely well-worth a stop. I immediately recognized a couple of the designs that she’s featuring from my previous hunting. A couple of jewelry designers stood out in particular; the ZipTie ring from MetalNat made the rounds a while ago, and the pieces from Metalicious caught my eye recently when I stumbled onto their Supermarket shop.

And, to help you get through those last-minute holiday gifts, Fact & Fancy is holding a series of trunk shows with a variety of artists through next tuesday. Here’s the schedule:

RSVP to one or more of these shows by emailing
factandfancybrooklyn at gmail.com
and get a free gift!

jewelry by danielle maveal
friday dec.19th 6pm-8pm

fine art and ceramics by louche lab
saturday dec.20th 3pm-5pm

housewares by cakehouse
sunday dec.21st 3pm-5pm

felt & knit accessories by nguyen le
monday dec. 22nd 6pm-8pm

bags and wallets by callieco
tuesday dec.23rd 6pm-8pm

Despite being a little (5 years?) late on the uptake on these, we have to share them! Created in 2003 (part I) and 2005 (part II) by Woodpecker Film, a Helsinki-based production company, the Rare Exports short films were originally intended as a holiday greeting for clients. However, the films took off in popularity and have since been included in a variety of the world’s most renowned film festivals.

The production value is top-notch, making Rare Exports the perfect piece for those slightly cynical holiday goers (like yours truly). The first explains where all of those “Father Christmases” (mall Santas) come from, and the second reveals the birth of the Christmas tree.

Part I:

Part II:

It’s that time of year again. Yup, the holiday season when all of those creative shops around the world start cranking out their version of “the best, most creativest holiday ‘card’ ever!” They’ve started to pop up here and there, though we haven’t been over-run by them yet. The first couple to cross my desk were AKQA’s Microwaves and the hilarious spoof title A Charlie Brown Ad Agency (anyone know who’s claim to fame this one is?).

But - and yes, I am completely biased in this statement - I think we’ve got ‘em beat. Sure, a short video hosted on YouTube to show clients that you’re in touch with the digital world is fun, but here at POKE, we prefer something that you can actually sink your teeth into. You know, something that you can use to persecute your friends (and enemies) across the interwebs. And since we all know that the reality of Santa Claus is limited to the drunk guy in a red suit puking his guts out after Santacon, we went ahead and took over some of the workload…

Ladies and gents, may I present to you the Global Naughty or Nice List! Now it’s your turn to declare which end of the list your friends should be on. The idea is simple really: you add your friends to the list along with a vote (or two) in the right direction to get them started. Be careful though - karma’s a bitch as they say!

Despite my rather cynical bashing of the ideals of Cyber Monday over at BrandsAmongMany, I did get a kick out of this email from Urban Outfitters this morning. Titled simply “typecasting”, I of course assumed that it would be an attempt to shuffle more of their enamel letters out the door (which I happen to be a fan of). So when what I found turned out to be a far more tongue-in-cheek interpretation of “type”…

I immediately clicked through to see what I could find. Pick the type of person you want to shop for and UO has put together a selection gift ideas that fit their personality. Of course, I’m not sure if I should agree with their decision to put those enamel letters in the “narcissist” section, but that’s where they are…

Who do you need to shop for this season? What can you find for them under their given moniker?

Well, its officialy. There’s carols playing, trees decorated, and windows being revealed across the city. Call me bitter, call me Scrooge, but I’m just not ready for the holiday onslaught yet. I’d be much happier if it would wait until after Thanksgiving (or at least the week-of).

But since I’ll clearly have little effect on the situation, I might as well embrace it right? And what better way to embrace the holidays than by planning to do all of my shopping online?

To make that a little easier, the crew over at NotCot has kicked things off with a holiday coupon book. The range of coupons covers a variety of brands from Hard Graft (I still prefer “Working Class Heroes”) to Hulger to WeJetSet. There’s definitely enough there to ensure you’ll be able to find something for everyone on your list. Yeah, some of the discounts are better than others, but that’s to be expected. Shop smart and you could score as much as 25% off!

Let us know what some of your best finds are!