Pretty Things Spotlight: * Binary Winter *

Eco-friendly clothing is nothing new, but standing out from the recent onslaught of eco-friendly apparel choices is.

Welcome to the wunderful world of the Binary Winter Press! Their guilt-free clothing is proudly sweatshop-free and printed by hand in a vegan workshop.

"Our designs are an amalgam of the things we love best, from Art Nouveau to robots, satellites and the ballet of flight. We are smitten with willowy lines and charmed by the grace of machinery."

You can tell that owners Cody and Sheatiel have a blast doing what they do, which what I love because it shows in their work. Their cute, quirky designs are fun, flirty, sweet and a little bit Steampunk in a most exciting way.

Spotlight: Binary Winter

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★ BinaryWinter is…
Binary Winter Press is Cody Vrosh and Sheatiel Sarao. Cody draws, Sheatiel writes, and we both do design. We recently escaped from San Francisco to the charming little island town of Alameda. You have to travel on a bridge or an underwater tunnel to get onto the island, so it feels remote and secret, even though it's only a few minutes drive into SF. We love it!

★ What inspires you?
Everything. There is a crushing amount of beautiful things in the world. The hard part is deciphering it all. Our stuff is an amalgamation of all the things we love, from animals to astronauts. We find technology to be delicate and graceful. We especially have a soft spot for displaced technologies, old typewriters and gear work machines that once upon a time seemed so futuristic and are now obsolete. We feel sad for them and try to rescue them whenever we can.

★ Apart from creating things, what do you guys do for fun?
Dancing, reading, and making yummy vegan foods. We also love comic book conventions. Technically, its work for us because we usually have a booth, but we get to meet a lot of awesome creative folks and have so much fun.

★ What has been your most memorable moment selling your clothing/art?
A girl recently got our dove design tattooed on her shoulder, that was pretty sweet. And Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation bought one of our shirts. And seeing any tiny babies wearing our onesies is pretty awesome. It's really hard to say, we're still a pretty young company so every new thing that happens is the best thing that's ever happened.

★ Any advice for fellow artists... Create as much as possible. Inspiration will come when it comes but in the meantime you can practice rendering or new methods. If
possible, never stop, sketch on napkins and write ideas on your hands. Otherwise, set aside time every day when you can practice your craft.




★ What is Binary Winter's Plan for the business future? A new book, definitely. For the apparel line we would like to expand with more styles and get our gear carried in more boutiques and the like. We'll be rolling out some new designs based on our favorite fairy tales soon, as well.

★ What would you say makes your clothing and accessories stand out from others? All of our tees are printed on sweatshop free clothing with water-based inks in a vegan workshop, about as guilt free as you can get. Also, our designs incorporate a lot of science fiction elements without being literal about it, we're mad about the geek pride but we'd like to think stylishly so.

★ Where does the name Binary Winter originate? In our book "The Irrelevant Redemption: A Steampunk Fairytale", there is chapter in which the heroine Emma is lost in a frozen forest. The snowflakes are all 1's and 0's, a Binary Winter that an orphan girl created to keep her angel trapped in ice, until she is ready to fly away with him.



★ Shop: http://binarywinter.etsy.com
★ Official Site: www.binarywinter.org
★ Blog: http://www.binarywinter.blogspot.com

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This Give-a-Way has ended...

This week, one really lucky winner gets a gorgeous tee of her/his choice by Binary Winter. So, make your favourite choice carefully, cuz if you win, that is the tee you will receive.

One such top you might choose, is "Cameo Mecanique".
In Victorian times, a woman's treasured charm was most often a cameo carved with her own likeness. Adorned with graceful gears and delicate blossoms, "Cameo Mecanique" is a modern take on a timeless charm.

All Binary Winter items are printed with environmentally-friendly water based inks onto sweatshop free American Apparel clothing. The winner chooses from sizes S-XL.

To Enter...
Pick your most favourite Binary Winter tee and then comment here to tell us which item you'd like for your very own if you win!
★ For an extra entry into this contest...
Post a comment on any other post on my blog, not including artist features.

Most Important Details... If your favourite Binary Winter tee is not part of your comment and/or some sort of viable contact information is not included, your entry will be automatically disqualified. I DO check every single entry. Winner has 3 days to contact me with their mailing address. Give-a-way is shipped out via the artist. The winner's name is drawn out of a most fashionable hat...the old-fashioned way. One entry per person unless you comment on another post on this blog during the week of this feature/contest. All entries must be received by noon on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 PST. Clock on right side of blog so that you can check Los Angeles {PST} time. This contest is open to everyone everywhere.

Best of luck to you, my Pretties!