This evening, I joined a bunch of friends in celebrating my good friend Albert‘s birthday at a dive bar in Williamsburg. The large outdoor patio featured two grills for us to cook up our own food, and the weather made for easily one of the nicest summer evenings we’ve had in NYC this season.

East River Bar
97 South 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

A few weeks ago, Kiya told me that he and Demitra were  venturing up north for the weekend, and that along the way they were going to be visiting a gun shop that had a cigar lounge in the back (he mentioned this knowing my affinity for cigars). The following week, I got a package from him:

Inside the package was a Colibri Enterprise, easily the nicest lighter I’ve ever seen. It’s got a burled wood handle, single action ignition and a 7mm stainless steel punch on the bottom.

The triple-jet flame the lighter produces is intense.

Whenever I’m vacationing or trying something new, I’ll often think of family and friends who’d enjoy what I’m currently experiencing. It’s nice to have friends who feel the same way.

This weekend we had a crawfish boil to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Over 60 pounds of fresh mudbugs were overnighted in from Louisiana for the occasion, and we were in good hands being that our organizer, Talida, has had prior experience. Coupled with red potatoes, kielbasa, corn on the cob, and some cold beers, it was the perfect meal for a summertime backyard party.

ilk aka Ludovic Prigent is a Parisian graffiti writer-turned-graphic designer/art director. His resume spans some impressive companies: Virgin, Fujifilm, Nike, Dior, Konami, Lacoste, and more. Several years ago he began purchasing 3sixteen pieces from us off our webstore, and reached out via email to see if he could work with us on some things. He’s ended up designing several graphics for 3sixteen – my favorite of the bunch is the custom typography work that he did on the piece below, which has found a permanent home in our denim pocketbag print (which he also designed):

You can check out more of his work on his website, as well as some daily snapshots of his life on his blog.

My good friend and business partner at Self Edge New York, Kiya Babzani, was recently interviewed by Eugene Kan for Hypebeast. I’ve always appreciated Eugene’s unique perspectives and observations – I believe that being a very well read guy (check out his weekly link dumps) allows him to ask informed questions. I particularly like that this interview gives Kiya the room to talk openly about his opinions on trends in menswear, how certain styles have disseminated and where he’d like to see the market go in the future.

Read the interview here.