The YZA

Shawn Feeney used to be a police sketch artist. His pencil drawings are realistic and ridiculous, and his carved pumpkins look scary and delicious. He just announced that he’s offering his first set of limited prints: 60 female and male noses from arrest photos of people aged 16-90. If you don’t love art, you can see it as an investment that you can turn around for big bucks when his work is hanging on the white and well-lit walls of contemporary art museums. If you don’t love your own nose, this could be your daily reminder that your nose is actually not that bad.

Shawn Feeney Sketches

Link: Shawn Feeney Store

My friends Alessandra and Vanesa have a business selling handmade goods from Nicaragua and Argentina. They work with artisans in those countries and pay them fair prices for their work — a rare instance of globalism without exploitation of the poor. It’s called Via Nativa, and and some of their fair trade practices include:

• Paying a fair wage in the local context to the artisan(s) that crafted the product.

• Engaging in long-term trading relationships with artisans

• Increasing economic stability by paying 50% up front to underwrite material and production cost.
• Guaranteeing that no child labor is used in production-unless the entire family is involved in the craft and the children are still attending school

• Ensuring gender equality.

And of course, as I’d expect from their obsessive-designer personalities, Ale and Vane sell really good looking and finely designed stuff. It’s such nice stuff that Daily Candy put a link to one of the hammocks that they have for sale in their newsletter today entitled “The Gift of Giving (to Her)“. If you’re looking to buy something unique and nice to touch and look at for the holidays and want to save the world at the same time, buy a hammock.

Whatever you're drinking will taste better out of one of these