Sara & Adam

hometapes:

“…that makes me realize every day the freedom I’m fighting for.”  

- Nadine Nakanishi

Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi are SONNENZIMMER. Based in Chicago, they’ve been a part of the family for almost as long as we can remember…always orbiting nearly a half-continent away, always making things that knock us clean off our feet and into artistic ecstasy. And that’s just when we look at their website.

Daniel Sinker, founder of the late, great Punk Planet magazine, is crafting a new video portrait series called Hanging By A Shoestring. One of the first portraits is of Sonnenzimmer, Nick and Nadine’s print and art studio. We’ve been lucky enough to visit, to peek in the drawers, to see the experiments and the rugged equipment that Nick and Nadine weave pure beauty out of. Now, through the magic of video, we can share this with you.

Nick Butcher is also responsible for groundbreaking music. We released his The Complicated Bicycle hand-printed-and-bound book and CD a few years back. In fact, Daniel’s video features a track from that album, which you can download here! We have a few copies of this limited release still available.

That was followed just last year by his new LP, Bee Removal, which features art by Chris Kerr - printed by Nick at Sonnenzimmer. It’s white vinyl to boot. Get it here.

Virtually visit Sonnenzimmer and go check out their poster store. 

You’ll be seeing more from Sonnenzimmer + Hometapes soon in the form of Shedding’s new LP!

As for Daniel, he has this to say about his series. It’s so right on - so Sonnenzimmer, so Hometapes - that I can’t bear to edit it. I actually wish there was a way to copy-and-paste with more fervor:

In this era of economic meltdowns, it seems important to remember that you can still follow your heart, still carve out a life for yourself creating things of passion and building things anew. The money may not be there, but look around you: the money isn’t anywhere right now. So why not make something you love?

Most of the people, businesses, and ideas profiled in Shoestring don’t have business plans. They didn’t get an MBA. They don’t have investors, and probably never got a loan. These are people that build businesses because they couldn’t do anything but: they had the drive to create.

Shoestring aims to capture the thoughts and ideas/ideals behind that drive: to present portraits of those that are building a life for themselves against the odds and helping to remind all of us that true freedom comes from grabbing a chance with both hands.