Threadless t-shirt news: The Select Series Presents: The RISD Collection

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Nov 05 '08 by Threadless

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The Select Series Presents: The RISD Collection

TheSelectSeries.com is proud to announce curated Select Collections. Here's how it works. First, we invite a curator who is a leader in their field. That curator invites 4 artists who they feel best represent the collection's theme to design a tee shirt. First up: the RISD Collection, curated by Rhode Island School of Design President (and amazing artist) John Maeda.

After an open call for submissions and a request for suggestions by RISD alumni and students via his blog, Maeda assembled four RISD professors as artists for this project. He also chose the RISD Scholarship Fund as a charity to which we will be donating $15,000 of the collection's proceeds.

The tee shirts from the RISD Collection will be launched and celebrated in the same way a gallery show would be – with the shirts hung as pieces of fine art. They will be unveiled at an opening reception in the lobby of RISD's new Chace Center this Thursday, November 6 from 7 – 9PM. If you're in the area, we hope to see you out. Food, drinks and fun will be on hand!

Starting next Monday, the 4 tees will be available for purchase at TheSelectSeries.com and also on the RISD campus at the risd/works store.

There are more collections in the works, curated by talented and fantastic people within various fields of art. Keep your eyes peeled, and make sure to check out the new shirts Monday.

Don't forget, if you're in the RISD / Providence area, swing by our party this Thursday. We'll have TheSelectSeries.com gift certificate & Wacom Tablet raffles, plus Faesthetic magazine give-aways.

ISABOA on Nov 05 '08 at 9:22pm

OH WOW!

awesome project

Maltzmania on Nov 05 '08 at 9:23pm

holy crap! Go threadless! Go RISD!

martiandrivein on Nov 05 '08 at 9:24pm

hot dang!

drmtama2 on Nov 05 '08 at 9:25pm

Maltzmania on Nov 05 '08 at 9:26pm

oh man i wish there was more notice on this! I would've definitely gone down for the night!

Perudoesitbetterthanu on Nov 05 '08 at 9:27pm

awesome, i live in RI!!

maybe i'll hit it up.

shakethesheets on Nov 05 '08 at 9:28pm

Maltzmania on Nov 05 '08 at 9:26pm
oh man i wish there was more notice on this! I would've definitely gone down for the night!

agreed. still way cool, though!

upso on Nov 05 '08 at 9:29pm

rad! i'll be there. it's going to be fun!

NomadSlim on Nov 05 '08 at 9:30pm

awesome

ivejustquitsmoking on Nov 05 '08 at 9:31pm

sweet! nice news

bsweber on Nov 05 '08 at 9:42pm

so cool!

i totally commented on this earlier this afternoon, RIGHT BEFORE YOU DELETED IT

valorandvellum on Nov 05 '08 at 9:45pm

WHOA. Sweet!

Snowblowjob and the Freedom Train on Nov 05 '08 at 9:47pm

silverqe on Nov 06 '08 at 12:16am

O_O I go to RISD...

BlameTheSuburbs on Nov 06 '08 at 12:20am

Man, doesn't RISD already get enough attention??? Seems like every illustrator or artist who is anybody has connections there.

Seriously though, should be a great set of shirts. Love to see Select line getting more ambitious.

upso on Nov 06 '08 at 7:02am

Steve The Great on Nov 06 '08 at 7:05am

wat

risd?

booo

wullagaru on Nov 06 '08 at 7:05am

effing RISD ... never cared much for that school after i visited .. too stuck on tehm selves

Steve The Great on Nov 06 '08 at 7:06am

high five, wulla!

squeegebeckenheim on Nov 06 '08 at 12:04pm

Ahhhh that's such an awesome concept!

sonmi on Nov 06 '08 at 12:07pm

awesome!

chelly on Nov 06 '08 at 12:14pm

so...this is the donations that have been hinted at for a while now, for giving back to the community?

please correct me, as this seems cool, i just want to understand it.

1. random school or whatever picked by upso
2. random school or whatever designs shirts/art
3. random school or whatever gets money from threadless
4. threadless prints shirts/art
5. random school or whatever displays shirts/art, general public can buy them (profit goes to random school or whatever)

???

upso on Nov 06 '08 at 1:56pm

hey chelly!

we invite a guest curator to pick 4 artists to work with
the guest curator also picks the theme for the series of 4 shirts
and finally, the guest curator picks a charity that we donate to

in this example the guest curator (John Maeda) picked faculty from RISD as the artists for his series, as well as RISD for the money to be donated to. Since there are so many RISD connections in this first series, it made sense for us to have the launch event on the RISD campus.

In future series, they wont necessarily have anything to do with a school (unless the guest curator chooses so)

Hope that makes sense!
I think you'll really dig some of the ones we have planned. :)

angelito on Nov 06 '08 at 2:03pm

So this sounds wonderful :) :)

chelly on Nov 06 '08 at 2:21pm

ok, thanks for clearing that up! the first selected "curator" really likes RISD, I guess.

i'll keep an eye out for new ones of these. :)

BaronVonMonkey on Nov 06 '08 at 2:27pm

This is an amaaaaaaazing idea- love it!

ginetteginette on Nov 06 '08 at 2:31pm

does this mean there will be more select shirts out in general or are we still stuck with only one a week? i need more select!

upso on Nov 06 '08 at 2:32pm

1 a week for now, except during these curator weeks when it will be 4
:)

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 2:34pm

It just doesnt sit right with me that the 'charity' that the first curator gave money to is his own.

I'd really prefer the money going to charities like oxfam or the red cross.

ginetteginette on Nov 06 '08 at 2:38pm

it's not so far fetched that a design project as this should have a design related charity though.

NomadSlim on Nov 06 '08 at 2:41pm

Are there charities to promote art in underprivledged secondary schools? $15k is a lot of money going to a school that charges you your first born to attend.

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 2:50pm

It makes sense but I agree with Jason I'd rather it be going to the underprivledged I really dont want to the money to go to someone like my sister who doesnt need it.

We get more than enough help from our parents to get by.

A scholarship worries me because theres a possibility its going to go to someone who doesnt need it.

On the other hand if it was going to someone from a lower economic background then I'd be fine with it.

I want to know what the criteria for the scholarship will be.

ginetteginette on Nov 06 '08 at 2:56pm

I want to know what the criteria for the scholarship will be.

you're asking as if you have a say in deciding it, but this was one person's choice and it's been decided and it won't always involve a school. i agree though it would certainly be better if the scholarships are going to people who don't have the money to attend the school but overall i don't see it as a disappointment that the first charity is a design school.

BaronVonMonkey on Nov 06 '08 at 3:03pm

Stubby, from what I' ve heard US uni fees are waaaaay more than UK ones, and a lot of students rely on scholarships to get by. But anyway, as Ginette says, the idea is that the curator chooses the charity, not you- when you're curating a line, you can donate to whomever you like ;)

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 3:06pm

I think we at least have a right to know where exactly our money is going and it is our money because its coming from the sales of tee shirts that we've bought.

From my point of view its going to a design school that I've never heard of (but from what people have said has the money to give out scholarships themselves), chosen by a prof at said school and the money could be going to anyone.

All I'm asking is a promise that it will go to someone who genuinely needs the money.

sonmi on Nov 06 '08 at 3:08pm

I think we at least have a right to know where exactly our money is going and it is our money because its coming from the sales of tee shirts that we've bought.

err, no, i don't believe you do have the right. you pay threadless so you get a shirt, and your business commitment ends there.

BaronVonMonkey on Nov 06 '08 at 3:13pm

^What sonmi said. And anyway, what's the problem? Threadless is donating $15000 of it's own money (not yours), money that would normally just go to shareholders or whatever, and giving it to the furtherment of arts education- how is that not a good thing? You might think there are worthier causes, but that's not your choice to make. If you want to fund other charities, go right ahead, but don't criticise other people's choices of what to do with their own money

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 3:21pm

Whatever, I cant be bothered arguing we'll just say I'm an arsehole and be done with it.

sonmi on Nov 06 '08 at 3:26pm

heh. well. you're not an arsehole. it was just an incorrect statement. so goes it.

silverqe on Nov 06 '08 at 4:05pm

stubby43, I'm a RISD student and I would just like to say that our school charges an incredible amount of money for an art education (due to the reputation that comes with a RISD degree), and that John Maeda, the curator as well as the president of RISD, choosing to donate the Threadless money to scholarship funds for us poor starving artist students is a very noble cause indeed. Just because you've never heard of the school doesn't mean most of the entire art world hasn't. And yes, RISD really does charge your first born to go to school here.

Like sonmi said, you pay for a shirt, and seriously, your connection to your $18 or $25 really ends there. And for the record, Maeda isn't handing the money to the Paris Hilton Debauchery Fund. So don't worry about it. :P

seashellgigi on Nov 06 '08 at 6:27pm

go silverqe ;)

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 7:05pm

Your the one who choose to go to an expensive school if you cant afford it go to a cheaper one.

xiv on Nov 06 '08 at 7:13pm

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 7:05pm
Your the one who choose to go to an expensive school if you cant afford it go to a cheaper one. ...

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 3:21pm
Whatever, I cant be bothered arguing we'll just say I'm an arsehole and be done with it.

Yay for more Select tees!

jess4002 on Nov 06 '08 at 7:15pm

sweet!

stubby43 on Nov 06 '08 at 7:23pm

I know, sorry I shouldnt rise to it, I'm tired, stressed out at work and someone who's supposed to be a friend is acting like a complete peen. I emediatly regreted posting that after I did it but obviously its too late.

Serriously I need a stupidity filter.

I think its great that threadless is giving money away to charity, its one more thing that makes it an amazing company but I honnestly think they got it wrong with this one. You can chew me up as much as you want but its not going to change my opinion.