Tell us about Furni, what do you guys do, what’s the Furni philosophy?

We’ve been designing and manufacturing design-driven goods ever since we saw space in the market about 6 years ago… since then we’ve also chosen to team up with other like minded businesses to offer cool collaborative products that allow us to keep on creating relevant stuff.

Tell us about the space, are you designing and making there? Describe your studio for us.

Right now “espace 215″ is Furni’s home, we founded the workspace about 4 years ago with some other friends, currently we share the space with a number of graphic designers, a product designer and a pair of interior designers. It makes for an awesome working atmosphere as well as allows us all a group space where we can share resources and bills!

What does a typical day look like at Furni?

Well as of Jan 1st I became the sole proprietor of the company (up until that point I shared the business with a friend who has decided to focus his time on contract work) so it’s quite interesting as I report only to myself…. having said that as I’ve always been one to “hussle” so I am always busy!  Most days I get to the office about 9am and work will about 1pm at that point I head home to have lunch with my girlfriend and 10 month old daughter….then the afternoon is usually spent in my home office e-mailing and working on design and logistics…

Currently on the playlist?

Really liking the Cults album and was also recently turned on to Malvina Reynolds, she was a folk singer back in the 50′s (she was actually born in 1900 and only discovered her love of music when she was 40!)

You live and work in Montreal. I’ve only heard amazing things about the city, but, haven’t been yet. What are some favorite places, where would we go if Angie and I came over?

I always ask friends who visit what kind of experience they would like while here, basically there is something for everyone…. shopping, dancing, design, adventure you name it. Personally I like to take people to quaint little restaurants and some of the less “travelled” landmarks here, most of the architecture in the subway system is from the 60′s and every station was designed by someone different, so on a cold day you can ride underground and look at some cool stuff! In summer we’ve got festivals up the yin yan, comedy, jazz, then there’s the Francopholies (French music) as well as fireworks twice a week at the theme park “La Ronde”.

On the same island as the theme park is the Expo 67 Dome that is by Buckminster Fuller, it’s a rad landmark. If people are down for a bike ride you can go around an check architecture and see some forgotten buildings like the Esso gas station by Mies van der Rohe!

Three words that describe our collaboration together, The Colorparty Watch…

pure unadulterated fun.

Check out the Poketo x Furni watch here.
More from Furni at FurniCreations.com

Last month, we embarked on our first-ever open call for a Poketo wallet design in collaboration with Booooooom. Today, we’re proud to announce our five amazing finalists.

We had such a hard time choosing between all the great submissions that it took us a few back and forths between Booooooom and Poketo before we could trim it down to the final five.

Now, it’s your turn to decide. Which one do you think deserves to be the winner? Vote for your favorite design and you might even win one of the wallets for yourself! Head on over to Booooooom for all the details. Here’s what you have to choose from:

Design by Jake Pauls

Design by Alice Maca

Design by Jessica Fortner

Design by Andrew Lawandus

Design by Heiko Xylophone

Found what you like? Don’t forget to vote!

If you haven’t popped by his site yet, do check it out. It’s a great community filled with a lot of creative energy. Every day, we’re amazed at Jeff’s finds, but also the amazing submissions on his “Projects” page. We got together with Booooooom creator Jeff Hamada to ask him what his site is about and how his projects figure into the whole picture. Here’s the rundown:

Hi, Jeff. Could you give our readers quick one liner bio?
I am a Japanese-Canadian artist and I spend way too much time surfing the internet.

You’re also an artist yourself right? Could you tell me more about what type of work you do?
I like to draw with pencil crayons and enjoy playing around with text. Lately I’ve been working on some drawings of my childhood experiences.

Do you consider yourself more of an artist or a blogger?
I am an artist who became a blogger who hopes to return to being an artist at some point.

What the initial inspiration to start Booooooom?
It was just a way for me to collect creative images and share them with my friends, I never intended for it to become what it is today.

Why the name Booooooom?
I thought it would be funny to sort of hi-jack a url by adding a stupid amount of letters to a small word.

So, last week, we launched the Afterlife series of wallets. Could you tell us what the inspiration for that was?
The theme of this series is the “Afterlife”. I have always been interested in what people think is going to happen to us after we die. This was also kind of a sneaky way to have artists make self-portraits without telling them that’s what they were making.

Sneaky indeed. How did you choose the artists?
I wanted to work with a few artists who hadn’t already worked with Poketo so I decided to highlight some emerging Canadian talent! We aren’t all friendly hockey players, and dog-sledders, there are amazing artists living here too. I chose Josh Holinaty, Andrea Wan, Winnie Truong and Howie Tsui because they each have a really distinct drawing style, quite different from one another.

You also have some pretty cool projects through the site, what was the idea behind them?
I wanted to encourage people to get out and do stuff, make things. If everyone sat around on their computers everyday it wouldn’t be long before there wasn’t anything new to look at. The projects are also just opportunities to have fun.

Could you share your top 3 favorites?
I could go on and on if I pick 3 so I’ll just talk about my favourite project. When the “Where The Wild Things Are” film was coming out I joined forces with Spike Jonze’s blog We Love You So and launched a fort building project. People built forts out of trees, blankets, rocks, couches, anything they could get their hands on. I really like giving people license to go and do things they used to do when they were a kid but could be embarrassed to say they would still enjoy now. There were hundreds of submissions in the first four days of the project and the images spread like wild fire around the internet.

That sounds awesome! What do you hope the Projects will affect the Booooooom community?
I’d love it if the most interesting images posted on Booooooom came from submissions to our own projects. So far the projects are doing a great job of cultivating the kind of positive people I want engaged with the site and I think as the projects get bigger and word spreads about them, the quality of work submitted improves too.

What kind of submissions are you looking forward to seeing for the Poketo x Booooooom “Before Life” project?
I’ve never really seen this done as a theme so I’m really excited to see where people go with it. It’s cool to learn about Booooooom’s audience by having them make things. I think you can tell a lot more about a person by looking at something they’ve made than you can by reading something they’ve said.

True that. We’re looking forward to seeing what everyone’s going to come up with too! Thanks, Jeff!

Here’s how to submit your Poketo wallet design.
See the Poketo x Booooooom Before Life submissions here.
Check out booooooom at booooooom.com

This got us thinking… What would the afterlife be like? So, to celebrate our milestone partnership, we’re giving away all four awesome wallets to the best, most imaginative answer. Tell us: “What does your afterlife look like? What would you be? What would you do?”

Answer on our Facebook Wall. The contest ends tomorrow, June 17!

Poketo is proud to announce our newest collaborator, Jeff Hamada of Booooooom. Each day, Jeff introduces us to great new work from around the world on his site and pairs it with a few well-chosen words. That great taste (and tone) has made Booooooom one of the largest blogs on the internet, with over 3.2 million pageviews each month. But it’s not just the many eyeballs that stop by Jeff’s site that appealed to us, it’s really abundance of creativity and the sense of community evident in the site.

Our collaboration with Jeff started with our previous collaboration with Club Mumble. In the awesome way the world works sometimes, a friend can sometimes introduce you to another person who shares some of the same passions you do. In Jeff’s case, that’s certainly true. Booooooom is a virtual home for people who are excited to go out and be creative, a theme that certainly rings true with Poketo.

In this collection, Jeff introduced Poketo to four amazing artists from Canada: Howie Tsui, Andrea Wan, Winnie Truong and Josh Holinaty, who all were given a simple concept to dwell on: the after life. Whew!

That’s a daunting task to be sure. How does one capture something so nebulous? Will it be filled with castles, sweetness and light? Or will it be something else entirely?

Here’s what these four came up with:

To say that we’re excited about this new Poketo wallet collaboration with Gary Baseman is a major understatement. Gary’s massive fanbase reaches far and wide, and we at Poketo are no exception. To prepare you all for the awesomeness that is to follow, we attempted to condense Gary’s impressive career and history into a brief introduction, to be followed by an interview, and exclusive peeks into his sketchbook.

Some might classify Gary Baseman’s work as Lowbrow, or Underground. He has coined and prefers to call it Pervasive Art, and himself a Pervasive Artist. It is his belief that clear vision and strength of voice enables an artist to bypass the stringent rules of the art world.

They can work in any medium, in any context. We have seen Gary and many of his contemporaries work in this manner and defy many rules. Indeed, his art has been seen in the permanent collections of major world-class galleries, on products, as sculptures or toys, as performance or interactive installations, fashion, animation, anything you could imagine.

Gary’s aesthetic is distinct and his voice insistent in all of his work, commercial and personal, whatever the medium. Gary is frank about his many artistic influences, which range from Hieronymus Bosch to Walt Disney.

Take the work we used for this wallet series: populous Boschian landscapes filled with fantastical beings, infused with a playful pop sensibility.

Through Gary’s own filter, these many influences are processed, and his essence remains prominent. His off-kilter work is often morally ambiguous, inhabited by naked girls, creatures oozing bodily fluids, and other inky-eyed animals sporting either grimaces or smiles.

Despite being disturbing at times, his work appeals to children and adults alike, all over the world. It is no wonder that he has built himself an empire. Stay tuned for an interview with Gary and a look into his sketchbook! Check out the Poketo x Gary Baseman wallets here!

An incredible collaboration and fundraiser comes to life. Grammy nominated singer/songwriter, Neko Case is auctioning off her killer 1967 Mercury Cougar for one of our favorite non-profit organizations, 826 National. 826 National is a non-profit dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with creative writing and helping teachers getting their kids get excited about writing!

We are super excited that Neko asked us to be part of this fundraiser. As if her car was not enough to get people excited, she wanted to invite her favorite peeps to fill it with goodies. We are honored to be part of this. All proceeds of the sale/auction of the car will go directly to fund 826 Nationals programs and chapters across the country. Bidding for Neko’s amazing car will begin in the coming months so stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can support 826 now by purchasing the Poketo Mercury Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-’splosion tee shirt designed by Neko Case for this special fundraiser! Yes, Neko Case hand drew these two designs for 826 and Poketo! Singer, songwriter, and artist–Wow.

Check out the special edition Neko Case x Poketo shirts at 826national.org. Learn more about the auction and check out more pics of this famed 67′ Mercury at nekocase.com/auction. The video below is super cute, super cool and explains it all… and, did you spot it, Neko is wearing a Poketo tee!!

Beginning August 10th 2010, we’ll showcase the complete collection and lookbook on poketo.com. That same day, the Poketo for Target collection will be available at all Target stores across the country. We’ll be posting more about this collaboration with Target and more sneak peeks before the August 10th launch. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest. Stay tuned!