Monday, January 25, 2010

The Imaginary Foundation


First things first, I would like to apologize to my friend who sent me this exactly 61 days ago. I'm sorry I took so long getting around to it, but here we go.

The Imaginary Foundation is a Swiss think-tank who holds dear "a belief in human potential and seek[s] progress in all directions". Supposedly founded by the father of Dadaism, the IF, to me at least, seems like a bizarre pseudo-government for the left whose headquarters is probably in a cave in the Swiss Alps. So why are we talking about this? Because they make damn cool t-shirts!

"Avoiding direct publicity, the team has sought clothing as an unlikely vehicle for bringing their ideas beyond the academic realm and into popular culture."

So far so good; Jay-Z rocked an IF tee this past September.

And Usher was seen sporting one in the July 2008 of Japenese magazine Woofin'.


The designs are extremely intricate and most are very colourful. But besides being aesthetically appealing, the t-shirts are usually designed to create some sort of intellectual stimulation either through a repeated pattern or a combination of seemingly seperate things that create an illusory idea. Besides appearing on a variety of clothing, many of the visuals are available as posters as well. Here are just a few of the ones I liked.

Dream Machine

Let's Roll

Bolt of Inspiration

Higher Education

Balance

Besides their online shop, Imaginary Foundation is available at two Toronto boutiques: Lavish&Squalor (235 Queen St. West) and North Trooper (69 Yorkville Ave. #102)

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