| Whoever said you can't reinvent the wheel wasn't thinking hard enough. Today we're inspired by founders giving old industries a necessary refresh, from promoting diverse models to finding a better way to pop popcorn. Plus, the power couples to know. *Special thanks to our sponsor Anytime Mailbox. | | 01. How much would you pay to make a new friend? The cost of a workout class? A meal out? At the higher end of the scale, membership to a social club? Increasingly businesses are thinking about this question and selling friendships as part of their offering – targeting young adults in particular. Spend five minutes browsing the topic online and lots of new brands show up. Take RecCreate Collective, which just opened in Brooklyn and advertises itself as a 'space to make arts, crafts and friends'.
02. La Montgolfière in Paris would also be a nice place to make new friends. In the daytime it's a gym offering unusual classes from handstands to pole fitness; at night, it's transformed into a wine bar, restaurant and music venue. If that wasn't unusual enough: it's set in an old hot air balloon factory.
03. Another smart use of space: Estonian pizza restaurant Õu Osteria has made the most of a small triangular courtyard in Tallin's old town. Bookmark for next summer. | | | Simplify Your Life with Anytime Mailbox With a virtual mailbox, you can access and manage all of your postal mail and packages right from your phone. No more rushing to the post office or worrying about missed deliveries and focus. Try Anytime Mailbox today and discover the simplicity of hassle-free mail management.
Make your life easier today. | | | 04. Romany Francesca started diversity-focused casting agency Rare Select Models while studying photography at university in London. 'Especially as a black British Nigerian, I didn't see an identifiable community of people like me and my friends on screen,' she says. Six years later, she's landed models in campaigns for Burberry and Valentino. Here, she tells us what's next:
What's the reception been like from the fashion industry?
'We felt an open reception from the big casting directors in London who predominantly worked with the big established agencies only, as well as a better reception from international casting agencies. We didn't feel like we had to prove ourselves to be recognised or to be "allowed" to work with them.'
'We did two campaigns with Burberry last year where they used our queer model who is 5'7 for an accessories campaign and e-commerce shoot. [There was] another campaign with two of our black skater boys [who have] head-to-toe tattoos and dreadlocks on the front page of their landing site with Naomi Campbell. [It's] not typical to see Burberry using talent from marginalized groups at the forefront of their British heritage brand. That's when I felt like our vision for our models and what the industry could evolve into was recognized.' Where do you want to push the fashion industry next?
'As an agency, we'd like to push the industry as a whole to take it back to basics and look at what true identity through fashion and beauty means. Less of using influencers to sell, sell, sell. More working with broader talent to inspire audiences of what it means to feel like a person in the things you buy rather than just part of the commodification of self.'
'That means clients working with broader talent for campaigns – not just conventionally good looking talent with thousands of followers but content creators/models who can be super relatable to various groups of people in our society.'
05. Meanwhile: the Australian non-alcoholic spritz company Grupetto went to a bocce club in Melbourne to source the stars of its recent campaign.
06. Let's talk power couples: Frederik Bille Brahe is the founder of some of the best spots in Copenhagen – including Atelier September and Apollo Bar – and recently hosted a fashion week residency at Hotel Amour in Paris. He's married to Caroline Brasch Nielsen, the founder of womenswear label Caro Editions.
07. Another duo to watch: Arthur Groeneveld and Bamboo van Kampen are partners in work and life. Their photography has been used in campaigns by Our Legacy and they've featured in magazines such as i-D and AnOther, plus they make photobooks and sell prints on request. They're based between Paris and Amsterdam, but spend time in the Mediterranean and European mountain villages working on projects. A dream life.
08. Jordy and Julia Kay are the husband and wife co-founders of Great Wrap – a compostable cling film made out of potato waste. The couple weren't materials scientists by trade – Julia was an architect and Jordy was a winemaker – but shared a mutual frustration over the tons of plastic wrap used to cover pallets of building materials and product shipments. Their redesigned dispenser is also an aesthetic improvement on cling film's usual cardboard containers. | | | Your best sleep yet You know that happy, warm, blissful feeling that's perfect for crawling into your cozy blankets and wrapping up the day? Mood is a tasty, vegan, and US federally-legal blend of Delta-9 THC, CBD, CBN, and a bit of melatonin to help you fall and stay asleep, without next–day drowsiness. Use code FIRST20 for 20% off your first order.
Get the Mood. | | 09. Skate videographers for the likes of Palace and Supreme are becoming increasingly influential. Take Austin Bristow – he started filming in his early teens and by 16 was approached by Nike to shoot across the UK. Now 25, he's filmed all over and has carved out a signature style of ambient recklessness and uninhibited fun. But he'd still be filming even if he didn't earn money. 'If you take it too seriously,' he says, 'it starts to feel like a job. And you don't want it to feel like a job because, if you started skateboarding in the first place, then you're just doing it for fun.' Check out the full interview here.
10. The Shadow Work Journal – a self-published workbook based on Jungian principles by 24-year-old Keila Shaheen – has been blowing up over the past two years. Keila is a brand strategist with a background in psychology and frequently posts on TikTok. A lot has been written about how bad TikTok is for your mental health; less about how popular the app is becoming with a huge community of people sharing and discussing mental health challenges. Green shoots for the platform.
11. Long hours, variable pay, thankless tasks: the personal assistant industry has had a bad rep for a very long time. But one former celebrity assistant is giving the industry a refresh. Having previously worked for the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Madonna, Meghan Grimm launched Clyde Staffing, 'an elevated staffing agency for the entertainment industry,' aka a first-of-its-kind personal assistant matchmaking service for celebrity clients.
12. Reagan Yorke and Jillian Nicole Smith gained a following for their cinematic TikToks – so much so that they decided to actually produce a short film. It turns out they were on to something: their first film went on to win four awards at a festival and now they've started their own production company.
13. Another way into movies, without actually producing one – build a community of film lovers instead. The Cinema Sorority is a fast-growing digital film club, focused on women and nonbinary film fans. It also hosts in-person themed viewing events.
14. A trend that seems to be sticking around major global cities: mini cocktails. A few examples: London's Tayer + Elementary has a signature 'one sip' martini for £4, North Charleston Chinese American restaurant Jackrabbit Filly offers a $6 soju-boba cocktail, San Francisco's For the Record has several 'cheekies' (drinks small enough to fit in a cheek). Why? Mini versions of the classics speak to consumers drinking and spending less.
15. Another brand that's playing with form: Iowa-based Cheerie Lane's popcorn pods are made with non-GMO corn and healthier cacao butter, shaped into a pod engineered for ideal popping. And we thought it was impossible to improve on perfection.
16. Finally, we've got a new email launching very soon, all about dream businesses around the world. First up, a burger chain that wouldn't look out of place in Architectural Digest. Stay tuned… | | More from us (and elsewhere)
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