winners

I have a few friends who are riding the Aids Life Cycle this year. If you don't know what that is, they each raise money for Aids research and then ride from San Francisco to LA. That's like 500 miles! I cannot fathom the chaffing that must happen starting right around mile 6 and then the thought of another 494 to go. Over the weekend we helped these friends raise a bunch of money by donating goods to a raffle. The Heated of course gave some organic tote bags, and I made a bicycle print necktie and bow tie. I'm pretty sure the winners of each of my items were pretty stoked.

sucker for packaging

I'm not going to lie, I'm a total freak for good packaging. If you're like me and will totally pick one product over another completely due to package design, then you should really treat yourself to a little looky-loo over here: http://www.thedieline.com/. I was turned onto it by my friend and design helper Miss Natalie. Together we came up with the concept for packaging my ties and then she took her mad graphic design skills and made it all look right. Letterpress printing by the awesome company Mama's Sauce in Florida and then individually glued together by yours truly, this is a handmade process of love. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Tomorrow I ship out a gigantic order to SF MoMA and all this week I have more orders to fill. Let's make this happen, people!

hey y'all

Graphic Designer Natalie Davis and Salumi Maker Ben Runkle are married and living in Austin, Tx. As if running two small businesses weren't enough, they've joined forces and together started Canoe, a line of men's "vintage American workwear and leather goods." To debut the line, they are hosting an evening Pop-Up event. They asked me to design and make a selection of skinny ties and pocket squares to go along with the rugged, manly look of Canoe. So fun! I seriously wish I could fly to Austin for the party. If you live anywhere around there, I highly suggest attending.

it's beginning to look a lot like x-mas

new shop

ciuccio and The Heated are both available at a fantastic new online shop. Go shopping at Fey Handmade.