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These American Optical modified sunglasses are one of my favorite arrivals at Self Edge this spring. They’re deadstock AO frames that we had bath dyed black and then bead blasted to give them a matte finish. The original plastic lenses were then replaced with deadstock glass UV-protective lenses – altogether, they make for a really unique and well-built pair of sunglasses. I scooped up a pair for the sunny days ahead.

While there are plenty of things from Restoration Hardware that I am into, this boom sconce modeled after a lamp found in a French architect’s studio really caught my eye. It’s something that works well with RH’s rustic, weathered look but could also flow nicely in a room modeled after a clean, mid-century aesthetic. I am also liking the fact that it’s a wall plug and thus installation would be a breeze (most of their other sconces are hard wired installs), as well as the flexibility of placement that it affords.  I imagine it’d go perfectly in our new living room positioned directly above our couch, especially since we don’t have a ceiling fixture already present. Its price, however, is proving to be a preventative factor. The hunt continues.

Johan let a friend of ours at Converse know that I was fiending for these Schott NYC / Converse collaboration shoes – much to my surprise they showed up at the office in my size last week. Converse has done a few iterations of the leather jacket style (see here and here), but the roughout leather and the matte black hardware on this one get two thumbs up from me. Thanks guys.

I caught Miguel (Ghostly) sporting these headphones at Coffee Foundry this week; they intrigued me greatly for obvious reasons. I had heard of the company – AIAIAI – before, and had assumed them to be a lower end earbud collection as their pricepoints were quite affordable. These are not cheap, though, and I wanted to see if the audio quality matched the price.  I asked Miguel if I could take them for a quick test drive and he was gracious enough to let me give them a try. I’m no audiophile but I liked what I heard, and the audio cord that disconnects on both sides is an extremely useful feature.

You can scoop up your own pair at the Ghostly online store.

I see this Thruxton parked by our old office on Allen & Rivington quite often. It doesn’t look like much work has been done to it, but I like the little aesthetic touches that have been made – more flat black is always ok in my book.