South Park Style In Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's New JC/DC Collection

I love writing about the fashions of designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac because they are so downright fun. Wacky and irreverent, JCDC plays off of pop culture in his couture and RTW fashions. Lego®, Disney characters, Hello Kitty, The Muppets, Snoopy, celebrities, singers and most recently, Bambi have been featured in his collections. He even designed an Obama dress last year. His clothing has always enjoyable to admire but are rarely affordable.

However, earlier this year Castelbajac created a new diffusion line called JC/DC by JC de Castelbajac. A creative, pop-rock, playful, quality, and affordable clothing line for a new generation, available through a new online store.


above: Charles de Castelbajac, photo by Kathy Le Sant

For the second season (Fall Winter 2010/2011) of his JC/DC line, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac chose the characters of South Park to be the music icons of his collection “Holly boys and naughty girls”.

”I discovered South Park and Nirvana at the same time; I would mute my TV to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit”loudly. The fusion of the two made perfect sense for me! My JC/DC line is about rock and roll; and South Park with its characters, its colourful range, its brutality and its noisy drawing seemed to encapsulate the world I wanted to portray.” -- Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.

The playful and affordable collection incorporates Kenny, Stan, Kyle and Eric (even Butters, Token, Chef, Jesus, Timmy, Wendy, Mr. Hat and more can be found in some of the designs) into cotton and silk shirts, knits, dresses, and outwear for both men and women.
















Shop for the South Park JC/DC clothing and more here.

Award-Winning Animated Short Film "Love & Theft"

This seven minute animated short film has been the recipient of numerous awards for both music and animation. With script, direction and animation by Andreas Hykade and artwork by Natalia Eck. (Full credits at the end of this post)



The name of the film, Love & Theft, was inspired by the Bob Dylan album:


"And I'm still carrying the gift you gave,
It's a part of me now, it's been cherished and saved,
It'll be with me unto the grave
And then unto eternity."
(Bob Dylan)




stills from the video arranged by colored backgrounds, courtesy of Andreas Hykade:




CREDITS
Script, direction: Andreas Hykade
Design, animation: Andreas Hykade
Animation assistance: Angela Steffen
Art work: Natalia Eck
Compositing: Christof Hoffmann
Sound, Music: Heiko Maile
Funding: MFG and FFA
Production assistance: Simone Fischer
Production: Thomas Meyer-Hermann
Studio FILM BILDER 2010

Awards:
Sacem Award for original music
Vienna Independent Short Film Award
Music Award, International Film Festival Annecy, 2010
Music Award, International Short Film Festival Hamburg, 2010
Special Award, Animafest Zagreb, 2010
Music for Animation Award, Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart, 2010
Honorable Mention, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, 2010

And the short film has also been nominated at the Fantoche Festival, Animator Festival, FEST Espinho and Anima Mundi Festival,

Judson Beaumont's "cartoon" Furniture

Furniture Filled With Whimsy & Straightline designs

Above: The Accordian dresser


Meet The Master of Furniture Whimsy; Judson Beaumont

If you've ever wanted to live in a Looney Tunes Cartoon or have your children's room resemble a scene from Beauty & The Beast or Alice in Wonderland, then Judson Beaumont's quirky and well-crafted furniture is the thing for you.


Above: Judson with his wares at a Japan trade show


With a vivid imagination and the ability to execute and bring the idea to fruition, Judson's company, Straightline Designs (even the name is a jest) has created some of the most fun and unusual dressers, tables and more.


Above: The Boom Dresser, 6 pieces mounted on the wall.


Above: The Bridge bookcase


Above: The Brian Dresser


Above: the Whitney dresser


Above: The Melting Cabinet

His children's room furniture consists of many different dressers, some clocks, and beds that resemble everything form Cinderella's carriage to a locomotive.




In addition to the fun stuff for the nursery, he creates conceptual furniture filled with wit. My favorite being the "Bad" Table (seen below):



Above: The Burnt Legs Table


He clearly has an adult sense of humor as well, check out his Custom "munny" (now sold out) for Voltageland, of the evil Charlie Brown:


After successfully designing furniture with a straightforward approach for years, this artist set out to create something unique for friends who were expecting their first child. He wanted his creation to capture the baby's imagination for years to come. Today, like his first kid-inspired piece, Judson designs some of the most offbeat, whimsical furnishings in the world.

Cartoons like Looney Tunes’ Bugs Bunny and Roger Rabbit, along with the work of innovative architect Frank Gehry, inspire his work.

He has also designed several props for movie and commercial sets and finds his greatest joy in designing play areas for children’s hospitals. “Children always get my work. They respond very positively, unlike adults who often say ‘You can’t do that.'”

Click here to read a nice online article with Judson from Woodworking Web.

Click here to purchase many of his pieces.

Click here to see newer pieces for 2009-2010


Judson's got some competition with Randall and Sharon Porter's new collection called Cartoon Furniture®, see it here.



Another line of stunning whimsical cartoon-like furniture is that of Vincent Thomas Lehman's. See that here

New 2010 post on his new pieces here!