Behind the Scenes

How incredibly lucky we were to hear the sounds of an amazing and emerging new group of acoustic artists/musicians: Elephant Revival. For Børn Fall 2010 “American Revival,” we couldn’t find a more perfect sound to capture the free-spirited, individualistic and authentic inspiration behind our new designs.

From the self-titled debut cd Elephant Revival, we are pleased to share with you: “Currach“, the song we used for our “American Revival” movie; and “Twelve“, the song we used for the “American Revival,” Behind the Scenes movie. The streaming music you hear on our site is the song “Sing to the Mountain,” again from the Elephant Revival cd.

Everything that comes to mind when you think about beauty, art and soulful self-expression is what this band embodies. Here’s a quick bio on the artists who have so kindly allowed us to sync to their sound.

Elephant Revival — Pure Transcendental Folk

Young in age and conception, Elephant Revival carries a fresh sense of creativity and inspiration that is felt by people of every generation. The neo-acoustic quintet is on the cutting edge of an emerging new genre known as “Transcendental Folk.”

The band consists of Bonnie Paine (vocals, washboard, djembe, musical saw), Sage Cook (electric banjo/guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, viola, vocals), Dango Rose (double-bass, mandolin, banjo, vocals) Daniel Rodriguez (acoustic guitar, electric banjo/guitar, vocals) and Bridget Law (fiddle and vocals).

Individually and collectively, the band has performed with some of the most prolific performers of our time, including Bela Fleck, John Paul Jones, Michael Franti, Little Feat, Yonder Mountain String Band, George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic Leftover Salmon, and many others.

In performance, Elephant Revival reveals hidden treasures deep within a vast repertoire of original material and a few carefully selected traditionals. Elaborating on Elephant Revival’s live shows, independent film director Mike Eberle explains: “When I hear Elephant Revival, I am struck by my inability to define it. I am forced to confront the music as it is, connecting to it with a virgin spirit of mind. Consequently, it feels like I am experiencing music and all its joys for the very first time.”

For more on Elephant Revival and to hear their sounds, go to elephantrevival.com,
or visit them on myspace, YouTube and facebook.

Why We Love Elephant Revival (aside from their sound!)

Bessie. She’s currently resting peacefully in tour bus heaven, but for three years, this international school bus was the beloved mode of transportation for Elephant Revival. Band member Sage Cook took Bessie, and converted her to run on waste vegetable oil. As they traveled from venue to venue, they collected vegetable oil from the dumpsters of countless fast food restaurants along the highway, all in the spirit of burning cleaner fuel and reducing their carbon footprint. Sadly, Bessie is missed by all who knew her, but for now the band is traveling in “Ivan Dured,” a former First Baptist Church bus from Mount Shasta, California. The band is spending time resourcing bio-diesel outlets across the country in hopes of burning as much clean fuel as possible, as they travel country wide to spread the music they love. If you are interested in sponsoring “Ivan Dured,” and his quest for a cleaner footprint, please contact Elephant Revival.

Please join us in welcoming our first featured artist on bornshoes.com. Our Spring 2010 Campaign soundtrack is performed by SWIRL – We hope you enjoy their music as much as we do.

SWIRL is Jimmy Vasilopolous on acoustic guitar and Alan Johnson on hand drums, percussion, and triangle. Both musicians are native to the New York/Connecticut area.

The name SWIRL captures the band’s sound – a blend of Mediterranean influences as interpreted by skilled pop/rock musicians. SWIRL also aptly describes the passionate and romantic wave of sound, melody and rhythm that envelopes listeners.

SWIRL was born during an impromptu rehearsal in a home studio in 2007. The choice of traditional instruments – a classical guitar and an assortment of drums, shakers and other percussion – was the only pre-determined factor. An hour later the duo had a clear musical direction – six hours later they had melodies and working arrangements, under girded by a chemistry formed over a decade of gigs and shared stages in rock bands. The organic, fast flowing writing that night resulted in themes that remain permanent parts of the SWIRL musical tapestry.

Visit the band’s website at http://www.swirlmusic.com/.

We’re honored! Our Børn Fall portfolio has been selected as one of 208 winners among 7,092 entries in the Communication Arts 50th Anniversary Design Annual. Communication Arts is the industry’s most respected design authority, and we’re truly honored to have been recognized by this prestigious panel of judges who award the best design solutions from around the country.

Click here to see our award winning design.

Fall is here, with winter quickly approaching, so we invite you to take a look at our autumn and winter 2009/10 collection. Following is the link to our amazing new collection in beautiful imagery. View our Look Book

With all of the beautiful images the Look Book takes some time to load, but we assure you it’s worth the wait!

We’ve just launched our beautiful new website inspired by our fall 2009 collection.  We invite you to explore our gorgeous men’s and women’s fall styles, along with the many new and exciting features our site has to offer.

You’ll discover a rich site with stunning images shot amidst the rugged serenity of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state. Each season our inspiration takes us to uncommon locations to capture the essence of the terrain, and now we’ve brought it to life for you as well.

We’re very excited about Behind the Scenes, the best place to discover more about what goes on while On Location at our photo shoots, and look inside the locales where we capture the Børn vision each season. This is also where you’ll see Videos from our shoots and season previews. As part of Behind the Scenes, we also feature our Journal – a place to explore for the latest news and information about Børn. Read More