CONSUME®EVOLUTION

With McDonald’s on the streets of China, Starbucks commandeering almost every New York street corner, and people spending more time with Microsoft than their families, it would seem the majority of Americans agree with The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s opinion of globalization as irreversible. But society’s growing complacency with such monopolistic endeavors has provoked New York designer Scott Ballum to show its seamier side. In July, he published the premiere issue of Consume®evolution, a magazine that focuses on the infiltration of the bland in New York, a city that not long ago was free of big box retailer giants like Home Depot and Best Buy. But the magazine smartly also provides alternative choices for the resilient strain of Manhattan. A detailed map of independent bookshops, mom and pop hardware stores, and coffee shops around town is included. Ballum’s vision makes many dramatic statements through image alone: A comprehensive photo essay on the Starbucks epidemic is striking (all 153 storefronts are accounted for). So is a homely homage to the staid ubiquitous fashion of Gap. In the hands of the right publishing conglomerate, CR could become the next Zagat guide for style-savvy, nonconforming consumers.

A FRIENDLY GANG

When design duo Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval aren’t creating animated TV commercials featuring pixelated robots and baby chicks for funky-friendly clients like MTV, Nike, and Sony, they’re working like a rather tall pair of Santa’s elves in their Miami toy shop. Their famous “Friends With You” line of unconventional plush toys—a variety of cuddly, amoeba-shaped creatures with x’s for eyes and random placement of irregular limbs—has been charming America’s urban youth market since 2002. To release their long-awaited modular wooden toy line, “The Good Wood Gang,” Friends With You chose the grand opening of the store Giant Robot New York to launch the limited edition. (GRNY is the fourth Giant Robot store in the U.S.: There are also two in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco). Brent Fierro, manager of the ambitious GRNY, is helping to build his own brand in the Big Apple by getting exclusive rights to toy designs like The Good Wood Gang. It might all sound like fun and games but the plush toy sector of the $150 billion toy industry is highly mature and continues to grow regardless of the proliferation of electronic toys.

PLAYING IT SAFE

Safe: Design Takes on Risks is being promoted as the first major design exhibition since the Museum of Modern Art’s celebrated reopening in November 2004. This October, MoMA’s department of architecture and design, the mother ship of cluttered curation, will present more than 300 modern products and prototypes designed to “protect body and mind from dangerous or stressful circumstances, response to emergencies, ensure clarity of information, and provide a sense of comfort and security.” Sounds like a mission statement from the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, Futurefarmers’ “Homeland Security Blanket”—a generic-looking woolen blanket with a built-in wireless hub for internet connection—will be on display, as well as several disaster shelters including BBP Architects’ “Life-Saving Station.” That’ll be the friendly-looking emergency hut with thick red and white stripes and a green flag on top to signal accessibility conveniently located in the MoMA lot, which will be visible from the street until Jan. 2.

THE DUTCH TOUCH

For those denied access to the famous, fabulous, invitationonly New York Fashion Week (Sept. 9–16), the Dutch Fashion Foundation is accommodating wannabe fashionistas with a public showing of contemporary Dutch design at the Art Directors Club, just 12 blocks from the iconic tents of Bryant Park. Fashion Universe is a group exhibition featuring the latest from Dutch powerhouses like Diesel, Miu Miu, and Bugaboo. Their clever collaborations with photographers, video artists, and designers like Bas Manders to create world-renowned ad campaigns and specialty products like Manders’ pin-cushion dolls and baby strollers will also be on display. Fashion illustrator Tim Groen, an ex-pat from Amsterdam, is helping organize the show on behalf of DFF in an attempt “to strengthen the cultural, economical, and social role of Dutch fashion on a global basis.” The Dutch Touch will be felt throughout New York: Although the Hella Jongerius show at the Cooper-Hewitt closes in September, it will be replaced by a collection of Viktor Horsting & Rolf Snoeren’s costumes in December.