Tuesday 21 April 2009

SUPER TROOPER


After being sent an email to check my van/blog the night before it was by remarkable coincidence that Nikolai, the founder of Rift Trooper should find the next day on a visit to London that I be the first thing that greeted him exiting his taxi in Marylebone. After a cup of my finest and a Portuguese pastry he told me that he is no longer doing the original and pioneering site that strove to highlight all that was good about sneakers, streetwear and general stuff but last year started doing his own blog.
With its snub nose, the resemblance of the H-van to Darth Vader is quite obvious. So why someone would want to transform a perfectly good looking vehicle to look like this is beyond me. It should be melted down into bats and the owner given a right good hiding.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

PLUS ONE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

Plus One magazine did an interview with me a couple of weeks back. To have a look download the latest issue.

Friday 3 April 2009

SELECTISM

Steve Monaghan, one of the lads I used to know from Duffer, has kindly let me babble on about Cwtch and the H van on his Selectism blog. Check it.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO

In fact they do, in Hungary. After the death of the original owner who passed it on to his sons, Velosolex were bought by Yamaha who in turn closed the plant and ceased trading. The original tools, however were sold and with them, a new company, Impex has started production again now in Hungary.

Complete with 50cc's of guff this bad boy can get up to a quiff shifting 24mph! The fact that it's a motorised bicycle and not a moped doesn't mean that you can skirt around the contentious issue of insurance or having to look a plum in a helmet. Which is why, for a design classic, I think that it never really took off in the UK and probably wont on it's re-introduction.

Although marketed as virtually bullet proof the reason why the Velosolex was so popular in Europe and Scandanavia was thanks to its post-sales service. In addition to a network of servicing centres, Velosolex used workshop vans to tour towns and villages to provide free adjustments and inspections.

Still looking at the breasts aren't you?

SQUARE MILE ROASTERS

Having found inspiration from Gwilym Davies the recently crowned UK Barista of the year my coffee journey has led me to East London based Square Mile Roasters. Recently started by James Hoffman (himself a former UK Barista champion) and Annette Moldvaer, SMR has already made serious in-roads into becoming one of the most up-front roasters in the UK today. From his coffee tinged teeth and the fact that he was brewing on a super rare Synesso machine that is the price of a small car I could see that he was very serious about coffee. His passion oozed into his patter like a freshly brewed espresso when he explained that they operate a system whereby they produce seasonal blends rather than same one throughout the year. They've just moved in to the Spring espresso which is composed of two different lots of coffee from two different origins (80% Del Obispo from Huila, Columbia and 20% Fazenda Monta Alegre from Minas Gerais, Brazil). It is a very clean and sweet espresso with notes of black cherry, toasted nuts, treacle and chocolate, with a soft buttery texture.

I've just taken stock of the new blend so if you would like to try, come see me.