At the NY Tech Meetup in February, we got a peek at a new mobile service called omgicu. After its launch a few weeks back, there has been a lot of buzz–and debate–about it. omgicu can be described as a real-time version of Gawker Stawker, enabling anyone to “spot” celebs and blast it out Gossip Girl-style to anyone who has opted in for area alerts. We recently sat down with Hugh Dornbush, the company’s founder, to talk about the evolution of celebrity media, our genetic drive to gossip, and birdwatching.

What inspired you to create the service?
I was in mobile for [...]

We had the privilege of having Marc and Sara Schiller, founders of Wooster Collective and MEET at the Apartment, at PSFK Conference NYC sharing the story behind their esteemed street art blog and the pieces that have inspired them over the years. We caught up with them to learn more about how their new space, MEET at the Apartment, was evolving.
Since we first had the opportunity to see MEET last October, how has the space and your vision for it changed?
Our intent was not to just open up just another “meetings venue” in New York City. Our goal was for [...]

The documentary “Addicted to Plastic” is the result of three years and over 400 hours of footage that took filmmaker Ian Connacher around the globe seeking answers to the host of problems that surround one of the world’s most ubiquitous materials – plastic. The film takes a very sobering look plastic’s environmental impacts, providing glimpses of the detritus polluting our oceans and contaminating marine life to the human costs of trash pickers in India trying to eak out a living beside burning landfills. But woven into these indelible images, are inspiring stories of people who are trying to find solutions – [...]

“Twenty4 Hours of Perfect Content” (www.twenty4.tv) is a new digital art project that aims to turns your browser into a TV set using crowd-sourced content.

The brainchild of Michael Romanowicz (right), Twenty4.tv creates a channel-surfing experience by streaming a slideshow of preexisting websites. Next he’s asking you, “the crowd,” to help him populate a database of sites like these. When he has more than enough to work with, Romanowicz will attempt to curate 24 Hours of Perfect Content contextual to time of day and a number of other themes.
We caught up with Romanowicz to talk about his inspiration and why [...]

PSFK is happy to feature RENTAL Gallery at our NYC Conference taking place on Thursday. RENTAL, founded by Joel Mesler in 2005, embodies an alternative vision of the traditional gallery model -based on artist representation – by offering a full-service platform for art galleries from the US and abroad to produce temporary art exhibitions within their NYC space. In support of our conference, RENTAL will be showcasing a special selection of selected works from their past exhibitions on the second floor. We asked Philip Deely, RENTAL’s Director since 2007, to share some of his insights and explain a little more about what the [...]

When we were in New Orleans recently, PSFK met probably the most important person setting the avant garde agenda in the NOLA art scene. By buying up abandoned homes in the St Roch neighborhood and converting them into galleries, Kirsha has built one of the most exciting art spaces in the country, if not the world. We spoke to her about her work at the New Orleans Biennial, her plans for her gallery and the importance of supporting New Orleans.
Recently you supported the Biennial where you trolleyed tourists and art lovers around some of the most desolate parts of New [...]

Gallery owner and artist Jonathan Ferrara, from the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, is pushing the city’s creative forces to the edge while relying on the strong foundation he has built for over a decade. While allowing young artists to exhibit their individual voices, Ferrara’s gallery is speaking volumes nationally with sales reaching 80% out of state.  The gallery is currently showing Camouflage by artist Sidonie Villere, whose minimalist paintings are a portrait of self-preservation. The all-white collection reflects ideas of blending in and masking oneself, which is relevant in a time where privacy seems to be near extinction.  [...]

When PSFK found itself at the far end of Magazine Street in New Orleans, we visited one of the creative businesses helping to reinvigorate the city. Dirty Coast is a design company best known for their graphic tees. As part of our ongoing NOLA Changemakers interview series, we talked to co-founder Blake Hanley about how the city inspires his company and how he spreads awareness about NOLA across the country.
It was great coming across your store on our recent trip to New Orleans. How would you describe your business?
We are a merchandise company that concentrates on custom-designed shirts, posters, stickers [...]

As so much content migrates to the web, we can’t help but think that something must get lost in translation. Without being overly nostalgic for what some may claim is a dying medium, we still have love for the typefaces, a nice paper stock, the way images and copy are laid out on the page. But can this be replicated online? Will it ever?
Recently, PSFK sat down with Francesco Cavalli of Leftloft, a noted Italian design firm known for having a foot solidly planted in both camps – physical and digital. The talk ranged from the importance of infographics to the [...]

The economy has hit the traditional brick-and-mortar book business especially hard. Even landmark literary institutions like Cody’s have not been spared. In contrast, Avalon.ph – a Manila-based online specialist in second hand books – has been thriving. Its founder, Jasper Ong, manages to maintain an independent shopkeeper’s touch by giving customers the chance to close transactions personally in select coffee shops during weekends. We sat down with Jasper to see if we could learn something from his success (which seems to be out-of-print these days).
1. What guides you in your book selection process? Does the weakening economy influence that process [...]

Like fellow Frenchwoman Colette Roussaux, Christiane Celle has mastered the art of curation. Each piece in her Calypso boutiques is an instant classic–easy, chic, and versatile. Her latest project, Clic Gallery, marks a shift from fashion to photography. This Noho store, opened in October 2008, has already earned a reputation for its careful selections and eclectic taste. You can find photography books from publishers such as Verlag Schaden, Rizzoli, Phaidon, Taschen, TeNeues, and Steidl, as well as small independent publishers,  signed trade titles, limited editions and artists editions with signed prints.
Last month, Clic St Barth opened near the banks of [...]

You know those people who are so full of cool, creative ideas that you wonder what they eat for breakfast? and whether it’s legal? Naveen Selvadurai  is one of those people.  The prolific software architect/Socialighter/jack-of-all-trades  is always dreaming up something, then churning it out-usually just for fun.
He was recently telling us about Novels in Three Lines, a form of TwitLit in which he tweets 3-line news items written by  Félix Fénéon for Le Matin. Translated by Luc Sante, the blurbs read like existential poetry.
“Catherine Rosello of Toulon, mother of four, got out of the way of a freight train. She [...]

Inspiration can strike at any time, but it’s often hard to find. So how do creatives bake up ideas? And can they cater to all clients equally (and on time)?
Sometimes, even the best chef orders out. That’s the premise behind Fat Muffin a “creative playground where users get paid to play.” Started last year by Rahul Panchal (creative) and Jonathan Sadlowe (strategy), the start-up aims to crowdsource advertising (a model that his since been mimicked by some larger shops). As they put it, “We have convinced some fun companies to let you come up with their advertising. Now, all those [...]

We’re excited about CollabFinder.com, a recently launched site that offers creatives, web designers, and developers a simple, straightforward way to to find one another and collaborate on projects. The site makes finding and working together on creative endeavors – from launching a website to designing a new logo – easier for both those in search of collaborators and those looking to participate.
We asked co-founder Sahadeva Hammari, also one of the thinkers behind Rumplo.com and founders of Boy Girl Talk, to tell us a bit about where he finds his inspiration in creating tools like CollabFinder and what he hopes it [...]

Do people read books anymore in an age of Kindles and Twitlit?
Or are they turning into objects of art–an expression of personality to display?
Well, Jane Mount has turned books into art quite literally. When we saw her “Bookshelf” series on 20 x 200 the other day, we judged them by their covers: clever, subversive, beautiful. For our ongoing series, the self-described “product strategist, graphic designer, illustrator, entrepreneur, info architect and user experience planner” answered our one question about her paintings:
“What’s your inspiration?”
I’m inspired by all the things in the world people know and do, and by all the time and [...]