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In 1962, acting on a whim, British newspaper editor Brendon Grimshaw bought the tiny deserted island of Moyenne in the Seychelles for £8,000. He moved to the island permanently in 1972 and now, a half century later, the 86 year-old lives there all alone but for with the giant tortoises that he reintroduced to the island. In addition to the tortoises, Grimshaw has planted 16,000 trees,......read more
If you're a design nerd like us, you're probably familiar with Danish-American furniture designer Jens Risom. As the man who created the first-ever Knoll chair, Risom holds a prominent, if sometimes overlooked, position in the canon of mid-century design. At 96, he is “living comfortably doing nothing” with his wife, Henny, in Connecticut,......read more
SHFT compadre and Honey Brothers member Ari Gold (no not the Entourage one) just sent over this moving bit of video based on an idea that came to him in a dream. While sleeping, Ari's unconscious mind offered up the idea of combining the harmonious pop of Beach Boys with the classical avant-garde of Philip Glass. Inspiration in hand, Ari mashed up the 1962 Beach Boys ballad "The Lonely Sea" with......read more
Growing up on a farm in Greece, New York restauranteur George Iliopoulos learned a thing or two about growing food. At 12, he hopped on a ship and headed to America. He finally settled in Staten Island, where his garden now produces plenty of fresh veggies for his family's table. But it wasn't always easy; despite his understanding of farming, things didn't always grow like he thought they......read more
There's not a ton to this video. Actually there's very little. But the song is some lovely, blissful pop, and there's an interesting backstory. The standout single from All Night, Houses' first full-length, "Endless Spring" was recorded in Hawaii where sole bandmember Dexter Tortoriello spent time with his partner living off the grid. In his words: "We moved out to a little cabin in Papaikou,......read more
As food issues go, they don't come more divisive than fish farming. Even within the environmentalist community, there are people on both sides of the argument. Advocates argue that aquaculture reduces stress on wild seafood stocks, while opponents point to viruses and sea lice that spread from farms to wild fish. Nowhere is this fish farm debate more lively than on British Columbia's west......read more
SHFT fave Uhuru Design scores again with this undulating lounge chair that references the Cyclone rollercoaster, one of Coney Island's last remaining functional rides. Constructed from wood reclaimed from the demolished Coney Island boardwalk, the Cyclone Lounger plays off the organized chaos of the rollercoaster's structure. The white laser-cut metal base, finished with a low-VOC......read more
We're not shy about flaunting our fascination (obsession?) with all things Iceland. Between the renewable geothermal energy, the regularly erupting volcanoes, and the interesting pop music, there's plenty about the Nordic island to keep us interested. New York photographer Kris Graves travelled to Iceland last year and returned with these haunting images of the country's singular......read more
Continuing our ongoing obsession with Iceland -- the land of bubbling lava, geothermal energy, and beautiful people with blue eyes -- these muted travel pics offer a beautiful glimpse at the northern island nation. They were shot by Debora Mittelstaedt, who was raised in Cologne, Germany and studied photography at University of Essen before settling in New York City in......read more
Animal friends going for a ride in a green vehicle is never a bad thing, in our opinion. Brooklyn's Tiny Inventions delivers the goods with a fun and fantastic multimedia interpretation of They Might Be Giants' "Electric Car". ...read more
