Pitchfork   The Dissolve   Festivals: Chicago | Paris
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Images via Gant Rugger Instagram

The historically collegiate Gant Rugger is a flurry of activity this fall—they've even got a collab salsa going (you'll have to get your chips off the rack, though). The youthful Gant brand is also staking its claim in bricks and mortar. Following on the success of the Chicago opening this summer, Gant Rugger has opted for Paris for a new outpost. And we tend to think the Parisians are just as taken with the oh-so-American brand as the rest of us. While the goods might be American, the interiorlook is French—Gant Rugger says it has preserved the original architecture as much as possible. The space features custom floors, white-tiled walls, copper detailing, and vintage furnishing in a brasserie-inspired design at 116 Rue Vielle du Temple.

Visit Gant Rugger for more info.

It's a misconception that all ghost towns were once thriving cities. The traditional narrative of the ghost town, in wich cities are suddenly emptied by war, economic pressure, or an environmental catastrophe, now includes new varieties with bizarre political backstories.

Pyramiden, a remote coal mining city was built by Sweden in 1910 on Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago next to Greenland. The city, sold to the Soviet Union 17 years after its construction and shuttered in 1998, now stands preserved with its full basketball courts and schools completely empty. It has inspired at least one album by a member of Peter Bjorn and John. And Efterklang went so far as to record an album there.

In Angola, Kilamba New City is a massive real estate development built by a state-owned construction company from China, and paid for with oil exchanges. Currently, it's largely unoccupied, but has the capacity to house half a million residents and boasts 750 apartment buildings. 

Head to i09 for photos of more deserted places.

Famed Japanese stationery brand Midori and American menswear titan Nigel Cabourn have come together to release a special Traveler’s Notebook edition. A Midori staple for over 50 years, the Traveler’s Notebook is a leather-bound journal that can hold notebooks or a range of different inserts. Its design is simple, yet unmistakably effective, and is loved by many for its character and worn-in aesthetic.

The collaboration version is passport-sized with a Broad Arrow emblem embossed on the front, a symbol famously used by the British Army and thus also Nigel Cabourn. The package also includes a bullet-shaped, military matte green brass pencil, complete with branded pencil holder.

The Midori x Nigel Cabourn Army Edition Traveler’s Notebook is available at Miscellaneous for €89.90.

Anyone who’s traveled an itinerary with multi-country stops knows that a travel adapter is one of those small but necessary accessories. We pass on any doodads where plugs pop out with a push of a button; moving parts break easy on the road.

Instead, we’re about these colorful 4-in-1 adapters from Flight 001. They’re solid, compact, and, perhaps most importantly, thoughtfully designed. Perhaps more obvious than required, a color-coded system matches the right plug to the corresponding country. You'll have power on whatever side of the world you're on, jetsetter.

Visit Flight 001 for more details and grab 4-in-1 Travel Adapter for $25.

Ace Hotel and Ace Atelier have already shaken up the boutique hotel biz in the States with a quirky, vintage-inspired aesthetic that favors local flavor and unique character over the facade of luxury or predictable uniformity. This month, Ace Hotel London Shoreditch opens. Ace's first venture outside the U.S. will establish the name in a prime hub of creative London—and likely, we're guessing, be a stepping stone to a wider presence in Europe. But the Ace won't be a case of porting Portland to the East End. Rather, the Ace Hotel Shoreditch will be built on collabs with London locals. Here's what we know thus far.

• Local florist Hattie Fox will open a flower shop at the hotel.

tokyobike will produce a small fleet of bikes for guests to use in exploring the neighborhood.

• David Waddington and Pablo Flack of Bistrotheque will collab on the restaurant, restaurant bar and Lovage juice bar.

• Square Mile Coffee Roasters will open a lobby cafe and supply the coffee beans.

• Ace Hotel says the design for the exterior and interior will involve "local makers using traditional UK craftsmanship in a contemporary expression." Design firms Universal Design Studio, Crittall, Winchmore, Benchmark, Brockway, and Max Lamb, amongst others will create for the Shoreditch space.

• Room products will include Farmers' for Ace Hotel bath products, Rega turntables, custom Revo radios in all rooms, and a custom change tray by Ally Capellino.

• Designers John Smedley, Hancock, Assembil, Mr. Start and Gloverall designed the staff uniforms, but we've yet to see them ourselves.

Ace Hotel Shoreditch soft opens September 9 and accepts reservations for that date and beyond.

 

We'd bet the new Stumptown x Poler coffee travel kit works just as well in an apartment as it does in the field. It's also a useful set for the traveler that stays in hotels and doesn't like to risk a strong coffee in the morning. The full kit includes a grinder, a pound of Stumptown's Holler Mountain roast, the AeroPress brewer, and a specially branded bag and mug set. 

Pick one up directly from Stumptown, see the kit in action at Poler





Airstream2Go, a new company that rents iconic Airstream trailers exclusively, was designed for those who haven't yet reached road warrior status, but like the idea of trying out life in an RV with design icon status. The Airstream2Go package includes a trailer, an SUV with which to tow it, and an iPad pre-loaded with a travel guide. While road trips should always allow for a little exploration, detailed preplanned routes are available. Right now Airstream2Go offers pick ups in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with future locations in the works.

The Airstreams are available in two sizes: for four or six passengers, with planned trips through the Southwest Desert or Coastal California.



Photo by: John Schabel | Passengers

About 16 years ago photographer John Schabel had the habit of taking his telephoto lens to the airport and shooting grainy black and white portraits of unsuspecting travelers as they sat on the runway. As Visual News points out, the photos were taken in the time of pre-9/11 airport regulations, and the most trouble he ever he ever found himself in was occasionally being asked to leave the airport. The passengers' faces are all mostly obscured to the point of anonymity, but their emotional states are very much intact. 

More portraits are available in his book, Passengers.

It seems as if everyone we know has been jetting to warmer zones this month. If the option was available, we'd put Mojave Sands Motel on our winter roadtrip itinerary. 

The five-room desert motel in Joshua Tree, CA is an alternative on the Gram Parsons fan's pilgrim trail to the Joshua Tree Inn & Motel, but more importantly, it's been updated in a really unique way. The bones of the space, an abandoned 1950s motel, were kept, but owner Blake Simpson (former furniture designer for Marc Jacobs) spent nine years renovating the place. The doors, windows, gates, and furniture were designed and built on site giving it a real personalized feel. The walls feature cedar plank, the concrete floors were refinished, and the new beds are made of black walnut. All five rooms are completed with a mix of vintage, mid-century furniture. Each room has unusual amenities such as a typewriter, record player with vinyl, and various objet d'art that encourage us creatives to find inspiration. 

The hotel is already a hit with L.A. creative industry types looking for a getaway. Nearby, a music and film production studio beckons and Simpson says solar power and a diner are in the works for his compound.

This oasis isn't suited for the pampered. It's dusty, windy, laidback, and on the main road, evidently, but offers plenty of space for hanging out and making your own good times. That's what it's all about, anyhow.

Rooms begin at $200/night at mojavesands.com

The van represents a carefree, mobile, active lifestyle to which we all secretly aspire—that plus a convenient place for make out sessions. Van Life collects images of blissful, adventurous, and often solitary vans—Vanagons, Microbuses, and custom Dodges in farflung, picturesque locales. This is one vehicle you'd be advised to start tailing.