sundance

Joe Zee on Nicole Miller

Her Challenge: Nicole Miller is a totally different case study altogether. First of all, she isn’t struggling at all in the same sense as the other designers I’ve worked with. She’s a hugely successful brand that is already carried in every major department store with incredible sales. So where does my role come in exactly? I wanted to help Nicole make her business EVEN BIGGER.

Joe Zee on Designer Aysha Saeed

Her Challenge: I found Aysha an extremely interesting case from the moment I first arrived to meet her. She seemed very confident, poised, in control and yet she wanted my help, which intrigued me. After listening to her story and seeing her clothing, I had a better understanding. First of all, she’s invested almost one million dollars (one million!!) of her own money into the company and just wasn’t seeing the return on revenue she was anticipating. Sure, she was selling SOME of her collection but it wasn’t the blowout success she had anticipated. And in terms of her collection, she had some pretty shift dresses but that was it – just pretty shift dresses. I could see this being a bigger business for her in the dress departments of major retailers but she wanted to make a splash. And a splash requires creativity – which means taking her designs out of the confines of her personal dressing and into something that will stand out in a bigger way on a department store floor. But you can’t even begin to make that splash if you’ve closed yourself off to any creative brainstorming. Aysha was strong-willed and often apprehensive when it came to taking advice so welcoming ideas from her team wasn’t always top of mind for her. She needed a creative intervention – and quick. Enter a new inspiration exercise.

Joe Zee on Kathy and Erik Wilson:

Their Challenge: When I first met husband and wife design team, Kathy and Erik Wilson of Kathy Wilson Atelier, it was very clear who wore the pants in that design family. Erik, a law student, ex-Marine and devoted husband, was loyally standing by his designing wife as she explained enthusiastically to me her concepts behind their men’s and women’s collections.

Joe Zee on Qristyl Frazier

Her Challenge: Qristyl Frazier dubbed her plus-size collection “Plus Sexy” and in the world of fashion, we can definitely use more fashion-worthy plus size collections. This has been a market that I personally feel has been underserved with great fashionable options in recent years and Qristyl had the opportunity to step in there and be an integral part of that budding industry.

Joe Zee & Designer Angelo Lambrou

His Challenge: Angelo was an interesting designer. He had earned his fame, almost overnight, designing the pageant gowns for Miss Universe.  And then Angelo was smart to quickly translate that notoriety into a custom eveningwear and bridal business where he eventually, opened a small shop in the East Village area of Manhattan, gaining success in that world. But when he tried his hand at doing a contemporary ready-to-wear collection, it was a different story.

Sundance Channel Signs on to Co-Produce Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE

Sundance Channel announced today it has signed with BBC Worldwide to co-produce Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE, an original scripted project. The seven part mini-series will be directed by Oscar® winner Jane Campion (The Piano, Portrait of a Lady) and Australian director Garth Davis, and written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee (Sweetie). The project stars SAG® winner and three time Emmy® nominated actress Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, On the Road). Holly Hunter, who won a Best Actress Oscar® for her performance in Campion’s The Piano, also stars alongside BAFTA® nominee Peter Mullan (War Horse, Trainspotting) and AFI Award winning actor David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings, Australia).

The announcement comes on the heels of two Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award for Sundance Channel’s first scripted drama CARLOS, as well as the recently announced scripted dramas RECTIFY and APPROPRIATE ADULT. Produced by Academy Award® winners Emile Sherman and Iain Canning (The King’s Speech, Shame) of See-Saw Films, and Philippa Campbell (Black Sheep) of Escapade Pictures, TOP OF THE LAKE is a powerful and haunting mystery about the search for happiness in a paradise where honest work is hard to find. Set in the remote mountains of New Zealand, the story follows the disappearance of a five months pregnant 12-year-old named Tui who was last seen standing chest deep in a frozen lake. In this classic mythic struggle, investigating detective, Robin Griffin (Moss), must lose herself in order to find the missing girl. During the investigation, she collides with Matt Mitcham (Mullan), Tui’s father, a local drug lord, and G.J (Hunter), a guru at a local women’s camp. Robin will find this the case that tests her limits and sends her on a journey of self-discovery.

Sundance Channel Greenlights Original Scripted Series RECTIFY

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF AWARD-WINNING BREAKING BAD, THIS PROJECT IS SUNDANCE CHANNEL’S FIRST WHOLLY-OWNED PRODUCTION

PREMIERES SIMULTANEOUSLY ON SUNDANCE CHANNEL GLOBAL

Further solidifying Sundance Channel’s commitment to high quality scripted programming, the channel today greenlit original scripted series RECTIFY with a six episode order. The hour-long legal drama was created and written by Academy Award winner Ray McKinnon (The Accountant) who also serves as executive producer on the project. The series represents the first wholly owned Sundance Channel scripted production. In addition, it will be the first project to premiere simultaneously on Sundance Channel in the United States and on Sundance Channel Global in countries throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

Veteran producers Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein of production company Gran Via will also serve as executive producers. This marks the second project for Johnson and Bernstein with AMC Networks. The first is AMC’s Emmy Award-winning series, Breaking Bad.

Sundance Channel’s THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS Premieres December 5th at 8p

AWKWARD CHILDHOOD PHOTOS, PROFANE DIARY ENTRIES AND EMBARRASSING POETRY TAKE CENTER STAGE IN SUNDANCE CHANNEL’S THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS AS CELEBRITIES SHARE THEIR PERSONAL ARTIFACTS AND ANECDOTES OF THEIR YOUTH

Ed Helms, Eric Stonestreet, Mo’Nique, Will Forte, Cheryl Hines, Alanis Morrisette, Megan Mullally and more reveal seminal moments and little known secrets to host David Nadelberg in this Original ten-part Series

Facebook and Twitter have made keeping your past in the past a thing of the past. Keeping secrets has truly become a lost art, so one might ask why the display of a celebrity’s diary entry or unsent love letter can carry so much weight? Sundance Channel’s new interview series, THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS, premiering Monday, December 5th at 8:00pm ET/PT, provides a fun look at these artifacts and demonstrates that our adult personality began taking shape in our early years – and that even the coolest celebrity was once a geeky adolescent. The series offers a first person account of these life-changing moments from the past and showcases a new and irreverent side to some of Hollywood’s favorite personalities.

Countdown to the Emmy’s for CARLOS star Edgar Ramirez

Since its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010, the five and a half hour long CARLOS has earned rave reviews; “Both the LA and NY film critics named it Best Foreign Language film last December and this January it won the Golden Globe for Best TV Movie/Mini.” CARLOS aired last October on Sundance Channel as a three-part series, and it’s to its credit that people are still talking – and talking excitedly – about the series, especially about its leading man, the very talented (and very hunky) Edgar Ramirez, who nabbed an Emmy…

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Pure Water bottle

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of the Pure Water bottle, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Social Impact. Designed by Timothy Whitehead.

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Solar Puff

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of the Solar Puff, runner up for the Core77 Design Award for DIY/Hack/Mod. Designed by Alice Minsoo Chun of Studio Unite.

Kick your un-creative butt into high gear

Based solely on the fact that Stefan Sagmeister dropped his name in a sentence to this effect: he helps me get ideas – I picked up “Creativity Workout: 62 Exercises to Unlock Your Most Creative Ideas,” by Edward “master of creative thinking” De Bono. It’s basically a book of exercises to help you generate ideas, whether you’re looking for business solutions or a little kick in the pants in a creative project. All the exercises are based on tables of random words that you select randomly, the idea being that in order to think outside the box you need to approach your problem from the outside as well. De Bono posits that totally unrelated words will shed new light and lead to active ways of thinking and creative solutions.

When I read through his introduction and discovered that this was the concept for the entire book, I was pretty let down. It seemed so hokey, like problem solving tricks your fourth grade teacher might use in class. But no matter how much I cringed at De Bono’s self help speak, I just kept thinking: Sagmeister. Sagmeister does this stuff, so who was I to turn my nose up at it without even trying it out?

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Project Aura, bike safety lights

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of Project Aura, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Transportation. Designed by Ethan Frier, Jonathan Ota.

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Euphemia, cradle-to-cradle fashion footwear

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of Euphemia, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Soft Goods/Apparel. Designed by Helen Furber.

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Bamboo Load Carrier

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of the Bamboo Load Carrier, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Products/Equipment. Designed by Vikram Dinubhai and Panchal-Nid.

Designer Q&A: Laptop Sticks by Dice Yamaguchi

Ben Kaufman’s company Quirky is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s, like Diceke Yamaguchi and his Laptop Sticks.

Q&A with Core77 design winner: Bespoke Fairing for below-knee amputees

Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the Quirky series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of the Bespoke Fairing, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Soft Goods/Apparel. Designed by Scott Summit of Bespoke Innovations.

Get ready for Quirky, our next original series

Though we’re sad to see Ludo go (the series finale of Ludo Bites America airs tonight at 9P), we’re very excited to announce the premiere of the upcoming Sundance original series Quirky, as well as our series-long partnership with Core77. Ben Kaufman’s company, Quirky, is all about finding great ideas from regular people and turning them into real, marketable products, and Core77 is all about covering the best and latest in design and technology. Throughout the series, we’ll be bringing you stories from designers, inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve either already brought their product from concept to completion or are right in the middle of that process – and all without the help of a company like Ben’s.

Today we bring you the story of Skatecycle, winner of the Core77 Design Award for Transportation. Designed by Alon Karpman of Brooklyn Workshop.

Ludo Bites a buffalo

Watch LUDO BITES AMERICA Tuesdays at 9P

More mouthwatering bon mots from guest blogger Zach Golden, the creator of the incredibly popular website, What the Fuck Should I Make For Dinner?

If you have an aversion to things getting shot, things getting skinned, hearts being eaten or French chefs, you may not want to continue. Or you may want to, we really don’t know each other that well, but consider this your formal warning.

Buffaloes and Bison and Ludo, Oh My!

Watch LUDO BITES AMERICA every Tuesday at 9P

More savory wit from our featured food blogger Diana Hossfeld, who writes the food blog Diana Takes a Bite.

“There’s buffalo by my house!” I piped up in the middle of Mrs. Johnson’s fifth grade U.S. History lesson about Native Americans. Heads whipped around to stare, Mrs. Johnson swallowed what I immediately identified as a skeptical snort and guffaw, and my confident declaration rapidly disintegrated into a physical declaration of embarrassment. My cheeks burned as I tried to explain how it was conceivably possible for there to be buffalo roaming around near my house in Newport Beach, California. I did not do well in pleading my case.

LUDO BITES AMERICA – Grouper Po’boy Sandwich

Watch LUDO BITES AMERICA Tuesdays at 9P

More masterful cooking from our guest blogger Justin, who, along with his wife, Lori, writes the food blog The Gastronomic Duo, a blog dedicated to couples cooking together in the kitchen and enjoying food with one another in their home.

One might not think we Minnesotans know much about the po’ boy and I’m gonna have to tell you, you’re wrong. If the po’ boy sandwich is about the fish, Minnesota has just as much knowledge as all of those Southerners, probably more considering the 20,000 lakes our state boasts.

It’s a bold statement. I am aware. It’s bold because unfortunately the po’ boy is not about the fish. For Lance it wasn’t about the bike and for the po’ boy sammy it’s not about the fish. That said, the same rules always apply when purchasing fish – source the highest quality and the freshest available.

Paul Rand on design

Want more design? Stay tuned for QUIRKY, premiering in August on Sundance Channel

If you don’t know the eminent graphic designer Paul Rand by name you definitely know his work. He created the logos for IBM, UPS, ABC and Enron, to name just a few. He’s also one of the originators of the International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style (though he’s a Brooklyn native), which was created in the 1950s to emphasize minimalism, sans-serif typefaces and gridded, asymmetrical layouts.

Potato chip, meet chocolate

Watch some sweet chocolate on potato chip action.

The salty-sweet thing is officially as ubiquitous as the time-honored PB & J sandwich, and everyone has their own favorite combo, be it the humble street cart kettle corn, sea salt caramels, chocolately-nutty granola bars or, my personal indulgence, dipping pretzels into buttery, rich Nutella. One time I even saw a guy pour one of those movie theatre concession-sized boxes of M&M’s into a big ol’ bag of popcorn. “Ooh,” his date cooed, “you do that salty-sweet thing, too?” The pairings can get downright bizarre. I won’t even go into the retch-inducing chocolate-covered pickle-on-a-stick I once saw a street fair, but it’s safe to say that the combinations are seemingly endless.

THE KILLING marathon on Sundance Channel

Sundance Channel will air a marathon of the hit series THE KILLING leading into the June 19 season one finale on sister network AMC. Our marathon of THE KILLING will air the first six episodes starting Saturday, June 18 from 4-10PM E/P, and the subsequent six episodes on Sunday, June 19 from 4-10PM E/P. Then catch the season one finale on Sunday, June 19 at 10PM E/P on AMC.

Quirky is Coming!

It’s almost time to get your quirk on. The all new original series QUIRKY is coming to Sundance Channel June 28! Quirky is the unique technology company that has re-engineered the business of innovation. They’re fast-tracking the product development cycle to new extremes. To check out the buzz, click here.