Concrete Hermit (London)

Found this site a few days back. Nice website, nice designs, nice ideas, hairy faces. Based in London they work with the best British and international illustrators and artists to produce original products. Concrete Hermit have been around for a while, since 2004 I believe but they are still as fresh today as i expect they were when they first appeared on the scene. They set out to create a platform that promoted interesting work fairly and with respect for both the artist and the buyer. I think they did it. Theres loads of other cool stuff like books and badges on the site too. Go on give them some of your time.

http://www.concretehermit.com

ORIGIN68 New Design

The second shirt from newcomers Origin68.

Titled Consume Everything, its the 21st century mantra. Buy Buy Buy. Gotta have it, gotta have it all, gotta have it NOW!. Well you can, it's available, and its waiting for you to slip it over your ears and waltz down the high street. Live the dream.

We are really loving the originality of this design.

www.origin68.com/consume

BOOBOOKACHOO (Wales)

Who the hell are these guys? - you may be asking yourself! Well we'll try to explain:

They are a small t-shirt design company based in the Welsh hills who are inspired by their imagination, popular culture and the wilderness surrounding their homes. Their designs show an emphasis on both human design and nature.

They aim to produce clothes that will appeal to city dwellers and village bumpkins a like. They also dabble in music by supporting a variety of different up and coming musicians and bands by designing album covers, posters and of course t-shirts.

Theres a defininate style to their work. A nice simplistic, colourful and bold approach makes the whole thing very refreshing. It's nice that they have a huge colour range for each shirt which is a real bonus. And more importantly they are nicely priced which always helps. Have a butchers.

http://www.boobookachoo.com

misformanc (Manchester)

As most people know (even those that don't even live in this beautiful city) it rains alot in Manchester. It's got itself a reputation as one of the rainiest places in Britain. It's probably faired income. It rains alot. Fact.

So yeah, taking this weather issue in hand the guys at misformanc have come up with these little beauties. I guess you could say they're a re-working of the ten a penny 'I love NY shirts', but they're much much better. It's a nice idea and it's nicely executed and I've no doubt the people of Manchester will lap them up.

misformanc is, in one sentence, 'cool tee's inspired by all things manc'. It's that simple. I will be checking back to see what else they serve up.

www.misformanc.com

RaNdOm: Optical Illusion

On a complete tangent now.......someone sent me this, I'm not a huge fan of the forwarded attachment emails that circulate our offices around the globe but this was a goodun.

Follow the instructions:

1/ Relax and concentrate on the four small dots in the centre of the image for about 30-40 seconds

2/ Then take a look at a wall near you or any smooth surface

3/ Start blinking your eyes and you will see a figure emerging

4/ Do you recognise them?

Negrete (London)

We had these puppies shoved under our nose in the last couple of days. I rather like them. They're by an up and coming London based outfit that goes by the name of Negrete ('Ni-gre-tay').

There's a nice collection going on. Plenty of threads to spice up any day of the week and no obligatory competition in sight. Just good old fashioned t shirts designed by some nice chappies/chappesses for the all consuming t shirt enthusiast, for the sheer love of it all.

Negrete isn't about just one thing. It's not about one place or one people. It's about everything and anything. They may be based in London, but they take their inspiration from everywhere. It's about looking good, feeling good, and doing what you like.

My personal favourite is 'Drugs'. Te he. I'm talking about the name of the shirt. Seriously. It's a great image with some fine detailing, the powder is spot on.

Even if you don't buy anything it's a nice site to have a wander round. Each shirt has a nice bit of spiel to go with it which gave me a chuckle or two.

Anyways, have a look for yourselves....

www.negrete.co.uk