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Hidden Art E-shop Spring/Summer 2008 Collection

This summer, not-for-profit organisation Hidden Art E-Shop is full of exciting and innovative new products – an eclectic selection of home accessories that will brighten any living space with a bold print or splash of colour.

Cut-out silhouettes of flora and fauna feature heavily. Nadia Sheltawy’s popular Bouquet Clocks, which are laser-cut from Acrylic Perspex, are now available in sunshine yellow and fresh white. Susan Bradley Design has added the beautiful Blossom and Butterfly Memo Board to her existing range on the Hidden Art E-Shop, which makes the perfect partner to her Creep Shelves. Further designs based on nature include the Salad Plant by black+blum, Birdie Cushions by Selina Rose, Blossom Mini Glo-Canvases by Duffy London and the Fleur Lime Lampshade by Noodle.

For more urban and contemporary designs, Snowden Flood has added some new designs to her London landmark ceramics that include the Albert Bridge Plate and Mug and Battersea Power Station Plate and Mug.

Products with eco-sensitivity have been increasing on the Hidden Art E-Shop in recent months, too. The latest product to combine style with eco-credentials is the Lastra Table Light by RMK Design Office. The design fuses functionality with contemporary style and results in a beautiful and intelligent design.

Many Hidden Art E-Shop designs receive an overwhelming reaction from the public and design industry alike. One such design is the Blaue Blume Teacup and Saucer by Tina Tsang. These delicate ceramics with their touch of surrealism have been a popular recent addition to the Hidden Art E-Shop.

The Hidden Art E-Shop is regularly updated with new products and range of designer-makers selling through the Hidden Art E-Shop is growing all the time, making it a great place to discover the next big name or future classic. Product prices range from as little as £3.75 to over £500, making it accessible to all who appreciate great modern design.

Based in London, the award-winning organisation continues to support and promote UK designers and design-makers. Visit www.hiddenart.com

Ben X

Simon says...  Ben has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism with symptoms manifested in extremely insular behaviour.  He is totally detached from the human experience, overwhelmed by behaviour he soaks up like a sponge but can never understand: touching, kissing, loving, feeling.  Childhood flashbacks give real depth to his illness, as repeated misdiagnoses drive his parents apart and isolate him from his peers.  In his contemporary technical school, he is cruelly and relentlessly bullied for his intellect and insularity.  Ben’s only escape is the fantasy computer game Archlord.  Here, he is an untouchable level 80 master, totally in control of his world: no doubt, no fear.  Here, he has Scarlite – another Archlord player who understands him, although they’ve never met.  Here, he is master not only of sword and shield, but also the romance and wit that desert his miserable days at school. 

Ben X is the first feature film by Danish critic and fingers-in-pies media type Nic Balthazar.  His multi-media background is evident: the film mixes Ben’s real life with the computer graphics of how he would like it to be and a future documentary recalling some vague, dark day – all move towards the same grim end.  The movie is at its best when sliding between these different realities, the computer screens of Ben’s humiliation, his aching silences smashed by fantasy violence, the po-faced expert witnesses in the documentary, the madness leaping from billboards and mirrors, jarring flashbacks of childhood frustration.  Where two bullies guard the school gates, Ben sees obscene, hulking ogres.  Walking to school is the unfolding of a medieval map, marked by the patterns of his nervous behaviour.  When conjured from these dreams, Ben is stranded in his real life, unnerved and suddenly conscious, racking up his reasons for suicide as the bullying becomes utterly base.  Ben is on the edge of self-murder when he finally meets online partner Scarlite, who brings him to life, making him feel for the first time... and urging revenge. 

Playing Ben in his debut role, Greg Timmermans is simply astonishing, his performance verging from uncertain grins to outright terror, from snot-smeared misery to humiliated, howling rage, from the sad sincerity of his computer fantasy to his simple joy at a new email from Scarlite.  It could have verged on pantomime, but he convinces.  The first of my two gripes is the frequent close shots of text messages, reminiscent of Hollyoaks and other very lazy things - but Ben X is heavy on the technology.  And secondly, the movie comes across a little preachy in places, the unrelenting depths of Ben’s bullying simply too callous, his neglect too incredible.  It seems impossible for anyone so pathetic to inspire such cruelty.  That Ben X is inspired by a true story makes my gripe ridiculous and the movie all the more chilling. 

Ben X is released on July 11th 2008.  Check out the trailer right here.   

Absolut vodka celebrates 30 years of rainbow colours

Absolut vodka is widely recognised as one of the first consumer brands to embrace the lesbian and gay rights movements.  Its adverts have appeared in LGBT media since 1981, and the company has long sponsored major gay events around the world.  In Summer 2008 the rainbow flag - the overarching symbol of the LGBT movement - turns 30: Absolut joins the celebrations with their exciting new global initiative: Absolut Colours. 

Absolut Colours will be introduced to the UK in June, with the launch of a limited edition gift pack inspired by the rainbow flag.  The classic shape of the Absolut bottle is enlivened with six brightly coloured bands, and complementing the special edition the initiative will also feature a limited edition cocktail book – the Absolut Colours Cocktail Collection.  The book is a stylish, lavishly-illustrated cocktail guide, featuring drinks based on the six colors of the rainbow flag, and with a foreword by Gilbert Baker, the flag’s creator.  Funds raised from UK sales of the cocktail book will be donated to the registered charity Pride London, to support the organisation's networking, education and support of LGBT communities in London. 

“There are few brands that can honestly say that they have helped to make a difference," said Gilbert.  “In my mind, and with my perspective, Absolut can definitely take pride in being one of few that supported lesbian and gay rights in times when support was needed.  I am glad to see that the support continues and it is my sincere hope that Absolut Colours will help encourage people to let their true personality shine through.” 

We hear that Absolut Colours will be launched with a series of special events throughout London this June... 

Moustaches and muscles - the Ultimate 'Fucker'!

In 1965, Tom of Finland began flirting with the idea of an ongoing character for his panel stories, the ultimate Tom's Man.  He tried out a blond named Vicky—a common male name in Finland—followed by a Tarzan-inspired Jack.  In 1968 Tom settled on Kake, a dark-haired, moustached leatherman who often wore a tight white t-shirt bearing the motto 'Fucker'.   Kake lived up to this moniker as a post-Stonewall, hyper-masculine Johnny Appleseed travelling the world on his motorcycle to spread the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex.  Tom lived out many of his most personal fantasies through Kake, and Kake’s international fans made him the template for what came to be known as the gay clone look of the 1970s.  Between 1968 and 1986, Tom published 26 episodes of Kake adventures, most as 20-page booklets.  For the first time all 26 stories have been collected in one volume. Return with Kake to the days when men were men, sex was carefree, and everyone wore a big thick mustache. 

Touko Laaksonen, the boy who would become Tom of Finland (1920-1991), began drawing cartoons at age five.  His favorite subjects were the rough manly men of his native Finland, as Touko knew from an early age that men interested him more than women.  His talents were further honed by art study in Helsinki.  He found success in the Finnish advertising industry but secretly continued creating his increasingly erotic drawings of hyper-masculine men.  In 1957 he submitted some drawings to the American magazine Physique Pictorial and the "Tom of Finland" legend was born.  By the late '60s Tom's "dirty drawings" became the standard for gay art, and Tom`s Men a template for a new gay masculinity.  Tom`s art continues to play an important role in promoting self-confidence, positive self-image and openness in the gay community.

Author Dian Hanson is TASCHEN's sexy book editor.  As a 25-year veteran of men’s magazine publishing, she edited titles including Puritan, Oui, Outlaw Biker, Juggs, and Leg Show.  Her many books for TASCHEN include Vanessa del Rio: 50 Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior and R. Crumb’s Sex Obsessions.  Check out the Tom of Finland Foundation. 

Oh Laura – A song inside my head a demon in my bed

Simon says...  Comparisons with excellent countrymen The Cardigans are inevitable but ring almost true, Sweden’s Oh Laura exchanging the former’s pure pop enthusiasm for a classic mode of 1970s melancholy – Roy Orbison plays his part and The Carpenters' stripped-down Country & Western rears a bulimic head.  I could storyboard a music video for album closer Thunderbird Motel in about 20 minutes: Frida Ohrn is wearing tattered, dusty jeans and an old check shirt with rolled-up sleeves.  Outside a lonely California gas station, she draws in the dust with her cowboy boots and a sandy dog runs across the deserted forecourt.  The rest of the band drive trucks or flip burgers, pump gas and kick at the tyres of Cadillacs.  Waiting to hitch a lift in the early morning sun, Frida unlatches her guitar case and tunes up, singing about loves lost and won, her vocals clean and crisp with just enough wispy heartbreak to conjure a bit of depth; it’s no wonder that BBC Radio 2 have flipped for Oh Laura with quite such orgasmic fervour.  And please, don’t get me wrong: they beat the holy hell out of Katie Melua.  At least, I wish they would.  It’s inoffensive, pleasantly soporific, and struggles to keep my focus when Bloc Party are playing on the radio. 

Oh Laura release A song inside my head a demon in my bed on 2nd June; the single Release Me is out on Cosmos Records on 26th May.  Try their official site or their Myspace for more information. 

Get in Russell Brand's pants...

Some of the nation's hottest celebs including Russell Brand, Kaiser Chiefs, Peaches Geldof, Paul Weller, Jodie Kidd, Jo Whiley, Jodie Marsh, and Howard Marks are cleansing their wardrobes in the name of charity, giving visitors to www.bigwardrobe.com the chance to own some celebrity clobber.  Having hooked up with the online fashion swapshop that's already gained a cult following, the kind-hearted celebrities have chosen charities such as Refuge, Focus 12, NSPCC and Marie Curie as recipients of the proceeds. 

Kaiser Chiefs have donated a funky brown vintage suit and black bowler hat, as well as a signed Kaiser Chiefs shirt and a couple of signed football shirts, while Russell Brand has donated a signed pair of his famous skinny jeans, and Jodie Marsh has donated the provocative pink top she wore when evicted from Celebrity Big Brother.

Kaiser Chiefs: funky

Stylist to the stars Bradley Taylor said: “I think what the bigwardrobe.com guys have achieved is amazing!  Being able to raise money for charity is great, but when it can be done in such a fun way and where everyone can benefit it's simply brilliant.  I know that the celebrity clients I have love the idea and can't wait to see how much their stuff goes for!”

Launching on the site on 1st May 2008, the initiative gives people the chance to combine the 'looking good' of celebrity with the 'feeling good' of recycling, as www.bigwardrobe.com encourages people to share their wardrobes in a bid to make fashion more interactive and eco-friendly. 

Currently home to over 1000 members, www.bigwardrobe.com houses designer pieces from Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, DKNY, Chanel, and Chloe, as well as high street favourites such as Diesel, All Saints, Whistles, Topshop and Reiss. It's the one stop shop for getting your hands on a new wardrobe without spending a penny, and now members can also get their hands on genuine celebrity togs, whilst also supporting a worthwhile cause.  With members trading free worldwide, many designer items have already travelled the globe and bigwardrobe.com is now well on its way to becoming the world's biggest online wardrobe, and the only site of its kind offering men's, women's and kid's clothes, as well as shoes and accessories for all ages, shapes and sizes.

Russell Brand: skinny

The website is completely free to join and use, with no registration or selling fees, and gives members the option to swap, buy and sell their clothes online, or use a combination - as soon as you add items to bigwardrobe.com, you'll start to receive offers (swaps, cash, or a combination of both) from other members. This new initiative is a further extension to the site that has coined the concept of “shwopping”.

Since its launch, www.bigwardrobe.com has gained thousands of dedicated members worldwide, and the founders of the site are keen to continue expanding into holding clothes-swapping events and more charity initiatives through the website.

Jodie Marsh: evicted 

JUSTIN: the campaign against homophobia in football

Bursting on to the scene at Norwich City, Justin Fashanu – at just 20 – became Britain’s first black million pound footballer when he joined Nottingham Forest in 1981.   The move was a disaster: legendary manager Brian Clough was livid that he “kept going to that bloody poofs’ club” and banned him from the team.  Hounded out of football after coming out in 1990 – the first and still only professional player to do so – Justin hanged himself in a London garage in 1998. 

For a decade, the tragic story of Justin Fashanu has been silenced, surfacing only as a grim warning against coming out for any football player struggling with his sexuality.  Justin is a campaign against homophobia in football that focuses on vindicating the memory of Justin Fashanu, the world’s first openly gay professional footballer. 

Justin will be launched on 4th May 2008, two days after the tenth anniversary of Fashanu’s death, at the Amsterdam in Brighton at 5pm after the Stonewall Equality Walk.  Speakers include gay rights activist Peter Tatchell and Justin co-founder Jason Hall.  Brighton Bandits, a fascinating documentary about the city’s gay football team – which the Justin team ultimately want to show at schools and universities – screens at the Odeon in Brighton on 17th May – the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) - in conjunction with artist Jason Hall’s Open House exhibition (and the FA Cup Final). Jason’s exhibition centralises Justin’s story within a powerful collage of words, images and objects recalling the war on homophobia – and those that fell. 

50 and feeling...FRESH!

Well we never knew that hitting fifty was so reFRESHing!

Our 50th issue hits the newsstands next week with four collectable front covers to mark the occasion.

The covers have been shot by leading fashion photographers Gavin Harrison, Robert Mendolia, Gregory Vaughan and Wander Aguiar and feature some of the hottest male model talent from both sides of the Atlantic.

Our photographic collaborations continue inside the magazine - LA-based Ben Marshall shoots Dantes Cove star Jon Fleming; Troy Phillips trains his lens on All My Children star (and former reFRESH cover guy) Aiden Turner and our very own Cate Hayter presents a black and white study of another former reFRESH cover guy Alex Beer. Alex also graces one of our four covers (bottom left on the image). Our main fashion editorials have been shot by French photographer Eric Sposito and model-turned photographer, Wander Aguiar.

Editorial highlights include: a special focus on dance with interviews with aerialist Ari Levanael and French dance and acrobatic troupe, Les Farfadais. Steven Gdula's series on the fashionable and secret history of gay men’s clothes explores the war years and another new regular J.C.Parrish starts his series on Hollywood Greats with a look at Lana Turner. Regular columnist Arthur Wooten entertains with his Dear Henry letter and we enter the world of Divas (of the 18th century variety) with a look ahead to the new exhibition 'Handel & the Divas' at the Handel House Museum in London.

Editor-in-Chief David Tickner, who launched and has helmed the magazine since the first issue, is pleased to celebrate this milestone for the magazine,  “To retain an unbroken presence on the newsstand for the last six years is a testimony to the dedication and hard work of all the people who work and support the magazine. It seemed entirely fitting that we should therefore do something special to celebrate our 50th edition and since we have always had a top quality photography in the magazine since Issue 1, producing four covers for our readers seemed particularly appropriate.”

The 50th issue hits newsstands on April 30th. You can order a copy via paypal - the price for a single copy is £6 (UK/Europe) or £10 (Airmail Zones 1 &2).