Yesterday evening, in the middle of too much green tea at a local sushi spot, a friend asked me what today’s interview was going to be about. I kind of mumbled the answer; “Krudmart, with this guy Steve,” expecting the response of a few politely interested, half-garbled-sushi grunts. However, I was met with the opposite reaction, as several of the table’s occupants mentioned they’d been to Krudmart, or emailed with Steve, or had “…really wanted this one v-neck t-shirt there, even though, ugh; hate v-necks.” I was kind of shocked, because Krudmart is a young streetwear shop located in Buffalo, NY — making it about 3,000 miles away from the location of our little dinner party — and a strange-ish subject on which to find common ground.

That conversation solidified what I was already thinking about Krudmart: Aside from being a ground-up operation that has made a huge name for itself (with a very un-huge amount of people power), the small store has one very big thing going for it. This is sort of a risk, but I’m going to say it anyway; that “thing” could very possibly be a man who calls himself Steve Kay. Krudmart’s founder, visionary, and voice (though in all fairness, I have to point out that the entire team over there kills it), Steve has taken a place to buy jeans and turned it into something worth knowing about… even on the opposite coast.

This interview is probably going to make you laugh. That’s an awesome thing, because it’s Friday, and we all need to shake off the shoulder tension that’s been building over the work week. If you quit laughing long enough to experience befuddlement over the question regarding a brick, it will help to note that that is in reference to a little act of vandalism that recently befell the shop. If you want the juicy details of that story, crawl over this way; if you’re ready for another tasty SpearTalks, scroll on down…

Joshspear.com: Walk us through Krudmart; its roots, its progress, its future…

Steve: I started out in 2002. I’d just come off a year and a half stint of moving around (Australia, LA) and learning a bunch of random life lessons but had no real direction, money or college education. I went back to the skate shop I worked at right out of high school and talked the owner into letting me sell some of his inventory online and taking a percentage of the sales. Shit blew up pretty quickly and even though we were friends, he and I weren’t seeing eye to eye on where to take the project so I went off on my own.

From there I started working out of my dad’s apartment. Growth was slow but steady for a year or so then it just kind of went nuts again. READ MORE…

If you’re going to be in Denver in mid October, you’ll want to take a stroll down California Street — it’s the site of this year’s Urban Forest Project, in which 24 local professional designers and 24 local design students will create banners that will hang up and down the street for two weeks. Each banner references trees (or tree-ness) in some way, and the results are sure to be eclectic.

Last year’s Urban Forest Project took over the area around Times Square in New York (you can see what those banners looked like here) and this year, the project is working to put their beliefs into practice. All the banners will be made of Ecophab, a material made from recycled plastic bottles; when the banners are taken down at the end of the event, they will be turned into messenger bags and sold by Alchemy Goods (proceeds going to charity, of course). So good work all around here. Maybe nobody’s actually planting a tree, but these designers are working to place the idea of a tree in as many heads as possible. And Denver residents and visitors will finally have something to look at besides the Rockies. Sorry, Denver.

Let me just open with this: a priority postage-shipped package painted especially pour vous! Its “contents,” maybe Freedom or Love or Happiness, even. The simply named The Priority Boxes project, realization of painter Franck de Las Mercedes, is a public/global art series that steps outside of the box and addresses art to you.

A cardboard container his canvas, Mercedes abstractly paints and then thoughtfully dedicates each piece of the perpetual series. The dedication, a “Fragile” message: Fragile: Contains Peace, for example. He then priority mails the Priority Box to you, to me, to anyone; someone at NOTCOT jumped on board and received Happiness. Although the wait is between 4 and 8 weeks, you could (receive Happiness) too. Something to think about…

–Thea Beemer

Many thanks to everyone who came out to the Imprint Culture Lab here in LA yesterday — great seeing lots of familiar faces and meeting many new ones. If you missed it, you missed a stellar day diving deep into Asian pop culture, blogging, street wear, and a whole bunch of other good insight into an amazing culture. The panel I hosted couldn’t have been more fun — guys like Brian from Gizmodo, jeffstaple, Danny Choo and Rob Heppler make me proud to be a part of the blogging community — really great job everyone! (Fly Photo Credit goes to new friend, Bobby Hundreds)

mono.kultur, a bi-monthly magazine from Berlin that features intensely long/interesting interviews, just released their thirteenth issue. Entirely dedicated to a 32-page chat with GZA (who some of you may recognize as the founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan), issue #13 offers readers a no-holds-barred conversation with Wu-Tang’s wordsmith, chatting about topics as diverse as their upcoming album, The 8 Diagrams, the early days of hip-hop/the Clan, and the “meaning of a pyroclastic flow.” I like the idea of a magazine that assigns itself to just one topic, particularly topics involving music, film, art, and literature… but I don’t like that mono.kultur is yet to be distributed anywhere in the U.S. However, hope can be found here (in the form of a single issue shipped to your door), or here (for a year-long/6 issue subscription).

Need some help adding a little extra power to that power suit? Or maybe just the power torn-jeans-and-t-shirt? There’s no time like the present to battle your personal kryptonite. And designer Roman Ficek’s Super hanger is sure to help. I can just imagine pulling a favorite jacket off the hanger on my way out the door to reveal this gleaming red symbol for truth, justice, and the American way. How very Clark Kent!

The Super hanger is available from Comunistar, a design group based in Slovakia.

Last Fall, Quebec born Ridehouse Clothing impressed us with their thoughtful and functional Heartwood line. With board sports brands a dime a dozen these days, it’s refreshing to run across a brand that stands for something unique. Ridehouse has nailed it in that department; their feature film, Funderful, will explain it all. This year, they’ve added even more features and understated flair to their clothes, and the Broadband Hoodie is a prime example: limited edition (514 of ‘em), chin-saving collar, embroidered labels, styled out shadow print, super soft fleece inside, and hidden iPod pocket make this my pick for that necessary winter insulator. C’est magnifique!