Amtraq and Merz b. Schwanen Showroom visit Munich:
Yesterday we visited Uwe and Alex from Amtraq, and Dirk from Merz b. Schwanen in their temporarily Showroom in Munich. What a great combination, just a bit hard to handle all that great stuff in one place, too much to see. The Dehen jackets, the indigo dyed Merz b. Schwanen shirts, the Rising sun stuff … Thanks for the great time!
Merz b. Schwanen, 206 button facing shirt red from Ecke 32: Thanks to Maria for getting this shirt for me and thanks to Lars from Ecke 32 for having this great shirt in stock. See here some details which shows why Merz b. Schwanen is so unique.
Here an interview made by a german newspaper unfortunately only in german.
Nicely put into words the Overview from their website:
With the help of a traditional knitwear manufacturer based in the German Swabian Mountains, vintage fashion aficionado Peter Plotnicki revived the “old way of crafting clothes”.
Driven by his passion for traditional fabrication processes, he and the team created a collection garments solely made by 1920s-1950s circular knitting machines. All tops are based on authentic working man’s apparel ranging from the first decades of the 20th century to army shirts of the sixties — some slightly modified, some copied from the original piece down to the last seam.
Peter Plotnicki sets great store by the label “Made in Germany“: the trimming’s cotton fabrics, buttons, labels, hangtags, and packaging are German-made.
High quality traditional products — manufactured in Germany — without compromises!
Sailor Superstitions:
Today I found a sailing magazine lying around with some Sailors Superstitions and found some great stuff inside, most I didn´t know yet.
For good luck:
– A figurehead in form of a naked woman
– The first drink goes windward (Luv) to Rasmus the god of the sea
– To spit in the ocean before you sail
– Pouring wine on deck before sailing will also bring good luck
– Spiders
– Tattoos and piercing are said to ward off evil spirits
– scratch on the mast – to bring wind
Bad luck:
– Starting a ship journey on a Friday
– enter the ship with the left foot
– whistling
– change the name of a boat
– cutting nails or hair on a boat
– rabbits, even talking about rabbits onboard
Please add some stuff if you know by commenting!
BBQ on the lake & some Unertl beers:
Yesterday we had some nice local fish on the BBQ and some unlocal (be-cause it´s the best) Unertl Weißbier. Another great after work “party”.
Happy birthday mom – French forge de laguiole knife:
Couldn´t post the images earlier be-cause I did not want to spoil her birthday present. Recently I was in France and I saw this beauty. It´s hard to find a fitting present for her, but this time I think I hit it. She is into pocket knifes as well, and probably carry hers more often than I do. Im sure I inherited the fascination for knifes from her. At least she did not do anything against it – im glad for that.
But getting back to the forge de laguiole knife. I always wanted to have one and there is the saying that the best presents are the ones you struggle to let them go. It got a very elegant shape, perfect piece of craftsmanship and nice details. Love the bee or fly, the decoration cuts on the back of the blade and black, gold and silver matched so well together. I do not want to start to talk about the details of a original laguiole knife, there are others who are more versed to do so.
I wanted to check some details on the knife and she had to get it from her handbag. So it seems to be well accepted.
Tw0 Tars – Laurel & Hardy the sailors shortfilm:
Enjoy this masterpiece of this guys coming offboard at New York.
Ships, a 5000 year history told by Brian Lavery:
While being in France and walking trough the streets of Bayonne I saw this book in the window of a bookshop. They had a nautical festival that week and 5 vintage boats down the river on display. So the bookshop rearranged the window for that reason. We were glad to hear about the exhibition (we went there before meeting Mr. MotArt) and to get a present with this book for a friend as well.
The book covers 5000 years of maritime history and adventures in about 400 pages. Loaded with a lot of images and drawings. Perfect to get some basic knowledge and some inspiration.
Lakeside Barbecue & BEEF:
Yesterday night we had another great time at the lake. See how simple it is to get a nice piece of BEEF done.
Straight Razor – my first strop!
About 2 years ago I bought my first strop to hone/sharpen my straight razors. There are some fancy 100 Euro + models out there and my first thoughts were, you got it for decades so – spent the money. On the other side I wasn´t sure If straight razors would be my thing.
Luckily I went for a relatively cheap one. It´s not that I stoped to straight razor shave, but as a beginner you cut the leather so easily. In most tutorials or movies they strp very fast, which makes absolutely no sense esp. if you are not a “master” in it. Just go about 20 times slowly with hardly any pressure over the leather, thats it.
And at the beginning you are a bit nervous or let me say not so focused. So making a false movement with the blade is done so quickly. So my advice is, save the money and buy a nice one after you ruined the first one.
I guess in about a year, I´m ready to buy something more appropriate for my razors. But in ne meantime, this one serves me well.
Seaman Trouser handtailored for Gasoline Alley:
A weekend in Munich and esp. the saturday “morning” isn´t complete without a visit at the Gasoline Alley. So last saturday I was there around 2pm, just to come back again 2:55pm (5 min before closing) be-cause of this seaman trouser/pants. Burkhard Pflug created this trouser with a lot attention for details and I have to say It is perfect. The fabric and the cut feels very comfortable and areas which more stress are reinforced.
I´guess there is no real excuse not to have one. You can chose between navy blue and beige.
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