Talk about cutting edge; it’s rare to find a graphic designer who goes one step beyond the tablet-and-pen rigamarole, but the Brazilian Carlo Giovani and his team of illustrators and graphic designers gladly pull out the scissors and paper for commissions they receive from clients like Havianas and The New York Times. They tap into their collective creative art and technical skill to design colorful paper cutouts, which then get cut out along the dotted lines, folded along the solid and turned into animals and people that comprise the simple settings they produce (also check out the “Motion” section of their site to see some of the paper works in stop-mo animation), resulting in a wondrous, dynamic — and moreover, eye-catching — advertisement. Papercuts sure beat carpal tunnel.

This world is a funny place, and sometimes the people with the funniest names make the most serious sh*t. Take Dust La Rock; we’ve written about his work with Beautiful/Decay and oneonenine before, but we’ve never taken the time to tell you to go to see his full repertoire until today. His new website went public this morning, and it’s a great place to delve deeper into Dust’s (Mr. La Rock’s?) catalog, and to learn a little more about him. (His real name is Joshua Prince, he was born in California and he now lives in Brooklyn. Yes, Brooklyn. Surprise.)

Who’s the star of the show here? Maybe Dust’s website for the Googly Eye Cru or his business cards for Oxy Cottontail…but I don’t like to play favorites with art, so hop on over yourself and have a look. Five minutes out of your day to discover a young graphic designer? Couldn’t hurt.

Last week, I saw Dan “The Automator” Nakamura speak at a panel; you may recall he collaborated with Prince Paul on the highly successful Handsome Boy Modeling School in 2004. While Dan is working on his own projects, Prince Paul recently released his latest project Baby Elephant – Turn My Teeth Up! The signature b-boy sounds are taking down a step in this funk-soul album that is reminiscent of the kind of music Paul listened to in his youth. Working again with a team of specialists including Bernie Worrell (P-Funk, Talking Heads) and long-time friend Newkirk, Turn My Teeth Up! positions itself neatly between cafe music and the club. It’s up beat and at time’s even humorous but not too caffeinated. It’s perfect to get your day started in the office (as I can personally attest to) or for your commute home. The album is available now and well worth a listen.

Well yay for you! The fourth series of UniPo was such a hit that the crew at UNKL have decided to make more; the silver skeleton will be produced in a run of 500 and will be found at various retailers and on the UNKL site, but the pink version will be limited to 200 pieces and will only be available online. You’ll be able to grab one as soon as the calendar reads October, so start saving for that matching Halloween costume, and be sure to watch the UNKL blog for updates.

Sneakerfreaks should waste no time mousing over to Format’s annual Sneaker issue, which pairs the latest urban news with something even more deelishus: shoes. Featuring several lengthy interviews with folks like JB and MDot of JB Classics, sneaker artist Dave White, Scien of 123klan and the Adidas End to End Project (to name just a few), this issue packs the kind of goodness you need to remind you why collecting sneakers is a legitimate pursuit, and not just a shopping obsession. On the subject of obsession, while you’re there you’ll probably want to check out the 50 Signs You’re Obsessed with Sneakers list, and maybe even meander on over to the “Wallpapers” section, where even more sneaker-y downloads have been added to Format’s already huge collection. And on the subject of huge, let’s take a moment to commend Format for throwing out such a packed-out issue. Yes, the 25th issue is certainly worth celebrating, but they’ve really outdone themselves with this one. Nice job Format; you’re killing it!

Warning: do not pop Contexture’s cassette tape nano cases into your boombox hoping to hear all of those sweet tunes you taped off the radio back in 1985, because they don't work like that; while they may look like the tapes you used to record hits like El Debarge's Rhythm of the Night and Prince's Let's Go Crazy off your favorite Top 40 station, you'd have a hard time producing any sound from these audio ancestors. However, if you do own an (older-gen) iPod Nano and happen to have said sweet tunes on your playlist, feel free to rock out with your fancy new technology placed snugly inside one of these shelled-out former cassette tapes and feel the beat of the Rhythm of the Night all day or as Lionel Richie would have recommended, all night long.

swissmiss via Core77

Just a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Rhombus Wear, the clothing line by NY duo James and Lisa Clunie. This is the stuff created for the ultra-dope inner nerd creeping around in all of us. Their shirts feature patterns like “binary” and “standardized test;” there’s got to be a solid pick-up line hidden in a shirt that looks like a scantron test right?

This season’s collection is the first they’ve created and last I’d spoken to them, distribution wasn’t finalized. That’s all changed! They’ve now launched an online store on the Rhombus Wear site, making it uber-simple to find what you want and get it to your door, no fuss. Sweet action.
Related: Rhombus Wear

Visitors to this year’s London Design Week will be able to make some interesting connections when they find themselves searching for answers. Not only will they find support and information through live-video phone chats with Hulger’s Indian Call Centre operatives in Bangalore, but they might find themselves engaged in some uncommon helpline conversation. Produced in collaboration with Applied Fiction, the “call centre executives,” who have undergone a program of “cultural sensitization,” are trained to recognize regional British dialects and even are up to date on the latest cultural references. What this means is: If you call up one of these super-operatives to ask a question about Design Week, you might as well go ahead and ask about the local weather or your fantasy football stats. This interesting combination of visuals and common ground may just make you feel like there’s a real person on the other line, giving new perspective to the generally helpless characteristics of “helplines.” If anyone happens to experience this first-hand, drop us a line and tell us about it; this sounds like an interesting experiment in communication!