HAZE's Custom Lotus

For over a decade, design maverick and branding visionary Jeff Staple has been vertically integrating every aspect of New York’s creative culture. If you’ve ever been buzzed into his lower east side Manhattan hub of downtown cool, Reed Space, you’ll agree—the boutique is a choice destination for urbanistas looking to score exclusive kicks, premium street fashion, international art ‘zines and books, Lomo flickers, and Jeff’s own Staple Design menswear collection. More about lifestyle than anything, the Staple Design brand is forever expanding to include the most relevant cultural references. With last week’s Downshift Session event, Staple threw automotive design, gaming, and music into his stew of influences.

The experimental Downshift Session event was a celebration of the 10-year anniversary of Gran Turismo, a highly acclaimed series of auto racing video games, and the game’s creator, Kazunori Yamauchi. Jeff explained, “There’s not much of a car culture in New York. I want to present the world of automotive design in a way that’s interesting to a New York scene, by including video games, art, and music all under one roof, and see what happens.” Held at Manhattan’s Classic Car Club, the evening featured a timed trial Gran Turismo competition (the game was projected onto a movie-sized screen), sounds from DJ’s Soul and Neil Armstrong, and the unveiling of a Lotus Exige performance vehicle, hand painted by iconic graff artist Eric HAZE, to be auctioned off. Later on, Chicago club-hop sensation Kid Sister would command the stage with several aerobic renditions.

While complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres kept everyone well lubed and fueled, Jeff provided further insight into his vision. “On the scale of aesthetic design influences, I’d rank video game and auto design pretty high up there. They’d probably come after movies, but video games are becoming more and more like actual movies…and yes, I still play them!” In a further effort to spread artistic influences, proceeds from the auction portion of the event will be donated to the Studio In A School organization, which provides visual arts programs to the city’s youth. Staple Design once again serves up proof of what can be accomplished when creative worlds coalesce.-Devin “Pan” Barrett