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I’ve become that person, or reached that age where I find writing about luggage creatively rewarding. Judge me if you wish, I understand. Like a handkerchief, a cane, a well crafted flask, money clip, pocket watch or monocle – luggage is something I’ve come to admire and value as my hair turns grayer and my perspective on life changes. It’s time I owned some quality luggage.

Back in October of last year, I wrote about luggage, but with a little too much swagger in my opinion. It focused on an old fashioned throw down between Rimowa and Tumi, two high end luggage companies. It was an offer for me to demo, test drive and travel with their brand – providing honest feedback via this site. Neither bit. And I moved on, not convinced I had found my next luggage maker.

In December I found myself in New York City for work, and as luck would have it, staying just blocks from the Muji store.  I have a strong infatuation with everything Japan – food, vending machines, robots, culture, the country, soap balls, the people, technology, and fashion. Muji is the manifestation of all this, and as a result, I spent a lot of time and money in their store. During this in-store experience, I caught a glimpse of their luggage. Boring story, I know. But it sets the tone, or more specifically, foreshadowing.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I’m at my laptop searching for Muji luggage and after a while, Japanese luggage. It didn’t take long to stumble upon Hideo Wakamatsu.

The Muscular 28" in Silver

This is man of many layers and talents. He not only studied art,  but also literature. And it wasn’t just Japanese, but also French. He spent a decade working in Europe, earning his design stripes – then brought this all back to Tokyo. Imagine that design aesthetic – Paris combined with Tokyo. I love it.

Mr. Wakamatsu is an artist, a scholar, an Asian and European creative, and most importantly out of all this, a brilliant designer.

His work is primarily Japanese in design, but you’ll notice elements of Parisian subtleties. Some of it’s a detailed focus on modernism, some of it’s unexpected, some of it’s quirky and some of it’s just simply, perfectly French and Japanese. Browse his entire body of work and you’ll see – it’s all evident from the his luggage, to briefcases, to backpacks, and even wallets.

His work isn’t mass produced because he plays a part in the process. It’s a finished product with a story and a real designer behind it. It’s got a soul, a personality of sorts. It has French confidence with Japanese coolness. That’s where it becomes a connection to me. It’s different from all other luggage brands.

Now I can finally say, I’ve found my future luggage. Phew.

Now I wonder if Mr. Hideo Wakamatsu will be on one of my flights? That’s actually one person I’d like to talk to while flying.

Filed under: Japan, Travel by Daniel
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In 1997, I walked into a painting class in Cavanaugh Hall on IUPUI’s campus. I took my seat and looked to my right. I met Dan Wonderly.

First of all, his last name is Wonderly. Not Superbly, or Greatly or Ironically. Wonderly – possibly the greatest surname in the history of our species.

Me and Wonderly in Times Square

Dan and I connected instantly – films, creativity, photography, humor, thrift store clothes, robots, surrealism, odd haircuts and great conversation. We collaborated on lots of things together. We worked like comrades in arms on an exhibition for Indy’s 1st Jazz Fest. He was the recipient of my first ever sculpture. He photographed my wedding. And along the way, despite not being a follower, I have landed in Dan’s many worlds in some form, including Portland, Oregon, Santa Barbara, CA and New York City.

Dan is a wonderful friend that not only taught me how to bush dive, but showed me that leading a creative life is okay. He has embraced creativity fully, allowing the path to unfold as he experiments, innovates and takes the leap that comes with creative expression. In that regard, I have always looked up to him.

As I got older, I looked to Dan’s world for inspiration. Without knowing it, Dan has shown me a creative path. I’m incredibly thankful for that.

He is prolific. He is ever changing. He is a caterpillar that became a butterfly that became a sauropod that became a robot. That might be jibberish to you, but Dan speaks this language. His work speaks this language too – paintings, photography, video, sculpture, drawing and in his thought. Besides being an artist, he’s also a philosopher.

Mr. Dan Wonderly

He paints. He writes. And he shoots. I urge you to explore. He’s been an explorer his entire life.

I’m forever thankful I took a painting class. Everyone needs a Wonderly in their life.

Get to know this Biscuithead a little more – some of my questions and his answers below. ENJOY!

BTW, you can read more in this Series, here.

May I present to you, Dan Wonderly.

What drives you?
I’m driven by a slightly hyper-active, imagination.  It’s just always been that way.  Somewhat of a running dialogue of thought (not always that intelligent) streaming in combination with normal conversation and visual interpretation.  Kind of like having a moving filmstrip in a type of overlay-heads-up-display…

Window or aisle seat?
I would say 75% window.  Unfortunately, I’ve started to feel trapped by the window seat recently.  I love my clouds though, so the window seat always draws me back in.  I also have a fascination with aerial/overhead patterns and how they relate to macro photography.  So it’s always fascinating to be so high above and imagine how a system of fields or rivers looks fairly similar to sidewalk cracks, and gutter streams from an alternate, close-up vantage.  I think if there was a window seat that had an attachment to a high end digital-capture back/camera I would leave the aisle seat in the dust.

What has the internet done for you?
The internet has made me think long and hard about the branding/marketing/publicity strategies of my past, present, and future work.  I’ve designed, built and deleted about 10 websites that have ranged from visual diarrhea to very sparse image based interaction.  It was necessary to go through that breadth of basic design to narrow down my focus.  Mainly for me, it boiled down to personal, professional, and then random.  I have about 4 different URLs that encompass those themes.  So, in a way the internet has made me think about my career/work trajectory more than anything  else.  I try and do the google search about once a month to see how my buck-shot approach to threading my name and art is working.  So far it is pretty interesting and the immediate interactive quality of the “web” never ceases to amaze me.

Are you an artist? Why, why not? What are you?
Yes.  It’s always been in the cards, and I’ve fought it for a long time.  In fighting it, I think I became more of the stereo-typical artist that I hated.  The whole tortured part is actually real and rather narcissistic.  All that aside, at 33, it’s what I do and will always do.  Create images and objects because it is more out of function and daily habit rather than a forced effort.  I’ve just really not had any choice-which is good and bad, but coming to grips with this has been pretty liberating.  Art can be really therapeutic and it can also be really silly and selfish.  I try and keep it silly in my mind

What influences your work?
Open spaces with clouds-thanks to Indiana.  Alternate Dimensions.  Science Fiction.  Machines and our relationship as a race with them.  The calculated random quality of chaos. Macro/Aerial photography.  My daily environments…NYC has had an interesting affect on my sense of space over the last five years.

If you could go anywhere tomorrow – where and why?
Giant’s Causeway.   It’s in Ireland and it is named, “The Giant’s Causeway”  I’m pretty sure that I belong somewhere in those highlands between N. Ireland and Scotland.

Robots. Go.
Let’s just say one of the first memorable drawings I made was probably in Kindergarten.  It was a profile of a motorcycle with a front fork and wheel, and then a rider, but instead of a rear assembly to the bike, the rider had four legs and was this weird minotaur man-motorcycle.  So, I’m a big fan of robots and cybernetics in general.  From personal mythologies that I’ve been developing for years and even more out of escapism, I love the mechanical and efficient quality of robots.  Friends will refer to me as Danbot-partly out of dancing styles and partly because my voice and expression are sometimes rather robotic.  I’m screaming with emotion and vigor on the inside, but it just never registers in a physical, outward way.  I just attribute that to years of admiring robots. 

How do you make it living in the Big Apple?
In 2003 I took out an expensive gamble on myself and went back to school.  That has afforded me entrance into a world where I get to work in the commercial-photo industry.  In a given week I’ll retouch, assist, shoot, video-edit, web-design/maintain, archive, or tech-support for myself or other clients and photographers.  Most of the last 5 years has been working for other people and making a living in more of a secondary position.  It is slowly transitioning into a more primary role, where my work is from projects that I create and finish for a client.  That is the goal with the freelance dance.  It has been a rough and challenging road, but I can say that I’m working in a creative field and am setting the future up for continuing that work in the years to come.  That was the idea in the long gamble of going back to school and student loans.  As far as living in the Big Apple-it is a literal grind.  I can say that I’ve never dreamt-and remembered-as vividly and crazily as I have since living in NYC.  It’s a fairly good companion to my overactive imagination.

Choose (3) people, dead or alive, to eat dinner with.
Nina Simone, Clint Eastwood, Egon Schiele

Describe your creative process.
It can be extreme in terms of pace.  I’ll either process information, contemplate, gestate, and then execute a project over a period of years or speed that process up into a couple of months.  Much of that depends on deadlines, or upcoming shows.  It is a great work-lesson in how setting completion dates can greatly effect one’s process.  I tend to procrastinate, but can also turn out high quality and volume in tight time allowances.  Not the greatest motivator, but sometimes that push will open my creative flow into the “zone.”  When I’m in the zone it is fairly fluid and it marries into the whole explanation of natural vs. forced art or creation.  When you don’t have to think too hard about what is happening on canvas or screen or in the darkroom, then you know it is good.  Also, usually when projects or ideas scare the shit out of me, I usually know it will be a beautiful end result.  The trick is to just keep barreling into that fear.  It can be crushing if I let it.  I think in the end you have to have vision as well.  There are decade-benchmarks I want to hit into my 60′s or 70′s if I’m still around.  Knowing that this one project or moment isn’t the end of the entire body of my  work definitely helps my process.

Filed under: May I present to you by Daniel
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Flickr has again created the yearly group, Your Best Shot. Members of the community are invited to submit their best shot of 2011. Here are 10 photos I’m considering – not sure which one I’ll pick, but please feel free to chime in.

Sit back and enjoy. Mostly pictures here on out. Thanks!

1) Some images are down to luck and timing. This is one of them. An adoring fan looks on as Takuma Sato signs autographs. It was one of the few times the lensbaby lens actually did what I wanted it to do.

Happy fan

(more…)

Filed under: Flickr, Photography by Daniel
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Take a small group of brilliant, creative, beautiful and talented designers.

Add in a special nod to Andy Warhol and The Factory.

Top it off with a sustainable, contemplative and an innovative approach to fashion.

Voila! You’ve got The Factory 2.0 – the unstoppable trio of Devin VanderMaas (what a great last name), Ione Fuzzell (the girl’s got skillz) and Ryan Miller (he looks like a cool cat). Ione happens to be my sister-in-law, which of course makes me even prouder of what she and The Factory 2.0 is doing.

The Factory 2.0 - Ryan, Ione & Devin

So why am I writing about this? Here’s why.

(more…)

Filed under: Random by Daniel
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Want to the know the back story on Walter? Click HERE.

Want to read Part 1 of this story? Click HERE. Part 2, HERE. And 3, HERE. Even, 4, HERE. Otherwise, enjoy…

He followed one of the paths in the direction of the hotel. Along the way he passed rollerbladers, people walking dogs, couples in love, joggers, walkers and an unhappy looking horse. Yes horse! Walter passed a horse and a carriage that had just dropped off a couple. The horse stared at Walter until Walter looked away.  He felt uncomfortable. When he looked back at the horse, he was still looking at him. “Can I help you?” Walter asked.  “Please can you get me some water, I’m terribly thirsty?” The horse did look tired so Walter trotted off to find some water. “This has been quite a day,” Walter thought and it seemed to be getting stranger. Across the street, Walter saw a convenience store so he went in and bought the biggest bottle of water they had.

The horse smiled when he saw Walter approaching carrying the water. “Thank you Mr. Warthog, by the way, I’m Harry the Horse.” “Please to meet you Harry, I’m Walter, Walter the Warthog.” Gulp, gulp, gulp. Harry grabbed the bottle in his mouth, tossed his head back and downed the entire bottle.  “Aaaaahhhhhh!”  “I needed that.” “Why are you so thirsty?” Walter asked.

Harry paused to collect his thoughts. “The owner of this horse and carriage business does not allow many breaks.” Harry went onto explain that the owner didn’t allow breaks because it meant he would lose potential business. Many horses had quit because the work was too hard. Harry couldn’t leave he said, because he had a family to support – a wife and triplet-horsey girls. “That doesn’t seem fair,” Walter said and added, “Have you tried talking to the owner about this?”  Harry shook his head very fast, his mane went all over the place.  “The owner has a bit of a temper.” Walter closed his eyes to think.  Harry looked at him with anticipation. Tick tock, tick tock, time passed and Harry anticipated more and more. Walter kept thinking.  Until…..”I’ve got it,” he said.

“How many animals do you know in Central Park?” Walter asked Harry.  Harry said that he probably knew every animal in the park. “I would like to purchase a ride around Central Park, Harry.” And they were off.

Walter the Warthog and Harry the Horse rode around Central Park stopping along the way to speak to every animal they saw. It was all very top secret. Each time they spoke to someone, whether it was a turtle, rabbit, squirrel, sparrow or butterfly they said “Please pass along the information and see you in an hour!”  Harry and Walter continued through the beautiful Central Park, nestled in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. It took about an hour for Harry to do his route and finally came round to the end of the journey.  When they arrived back at the drop-off point, there must have been a 1000 animals waiting and one very upset owner. Harry stopped the carriage and Walter hopped out.  The owner met him immediately, “What is going on here Warthog?”  “Harry, you’re in big trouble.”

Walter shook his head. “Stop right there Mister.” “Your days of mistreating employees are over.” All of the animals cheered. They cheered so loud, even Frankie the Fish could hear them.  Walter told the owner that he would like to make a deal with him. “I don’t make deals with Warthogs or animals,” was his response. Walter smiled, he wasn’t the type to lose his temper, and said “Look around you, how much business will you get done with thousands of animals bugging your customers.” The man squinted with anger because he knew Walter had a point. “Here is my offer,” Walter said, “If you start giving your horses water breaks and time to rest, I’ll make sure none of the animals ever interfere with your horse and carriage business.”  “And if I don’t?” the man replied. The animals giggled and Walter couldn’t help from letting out a snort.

Walter gestured to some of the animals. A skunk walked up to the man and said “Do I really need to explain what I will do?” The man shook his head. A family of giant bullfrogs hopped over and sang the worst song ever heard. The man covered his ears, in fact almost everyone covered their ears. A mosquito flew over: “I’m Marty the Mosquito, the most annoying creature you will ever meet.”  Upon saying that, Marty flew all around the owner, buzzing, zooming and in general pestering the man. “OKAY, OKAY!!!” “I’ll take better care of my employees.”

Everyone cheered and Walter asked if Harry was satisfied. Harry tapped his hoof and asked “I would also like a sun hat.” The owner smiled and said “Of course you can have a hat.”  He walked up to Harry, patted his head and said, “I’m sorry for mistreating you Harry, you’ve been one of my best employees.”  “I’m promise never to be mean to you or any other of my staff ever again.”  They both smiled and the man turned to Walter. “You’re one special Warthog, little fella.” “I’m Walter, Walter the Warthog.” And then out of nowhere, Walter grabbed the man and hugged him snorting loudly in his ear. The man couldn’t stop laughing. When all of the laughter had stopped and the owner had stopped smiling, Harry the Horse asked for one final thing.  “I would like to give Walter a ride to his hotel.  He’s had quite a day.” The man agreed, placed Walter in the carriage and also grabbed his big suitcase. Harry pulled away and Walter waved goodbye to everyone. “Thank you so much Harry, I am absolutely exhausted right now.”  “No problem,” Harry replied, “Sit back and enjoy the view.”

Walter did just that. He for the first time really looked at the city – all of the buildings, people and cars. He was very impressed.  Walter then did what he loves most, he drifted off into a sleep. Zzzzz, snort, Zzzzz, snort.

STAY TUNED FOR THE CONCLUSION

Filed under: Walter the Warthog by Daniel
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