Monday, we’ll be setting this up in Las Vegas at POOL Tradeshow for Badge Bomb’s booth (we’re in booth #805 nudge nudge). We hired the folks down at Sirrocco Labs in Los Angeles to build us this cardboard 3/4 scale rendition of the city of Portland. Okay, maybe 3/4 scale is a bit of an exaggeration, but my math doesn’t take away from how sweet it is.

Keep an eye out for their new movie “Red Moon”. Yes, the submarine cockpit featured here is also completely made out of cardboard. We can’t wait to see it. Maybe it really will play at the Laurelhurst Theatre? One can hope.

Badge Bomb recently kicked it with Tesha Beaudry, creator of “Cute Institute,” for a quick interview about her artistic inspirations and, of course, her love of buttons.

-What does it take for Badge Bombers to enroll in The Cute Institute?
Not more than 2 dollars; the price of a badge!

-What classes would I need to pass to attain a Master of Cute Arts?

For my students to get that far, they need to be hard working and loyal pupils for many many years. Having a sweet tooth always helps!

-Most of your designs seem inspired by a Japanese design aesthetic.  Can you pinpoint any specific moments of your life that inspired you to embrace this style?

One night, after a cupcake too many, I dozed off and I had vision of this cute pirate girl dressed in a bear costume that came to me with an important message: bring kawaii, cupcakes and joy to the world! That was my calling…

-Your mushroom buttons seem very Zen. Are you influenced by Eastern culture beyond the pen and paper?

I don’t consider myself a zen person, but I do seem to have been influenced a lot by eastern culture; I do martial arts, collect kung-fu flicks, have japanese tattoos and love japanese art and fashion….

-Who would win in a fight- a tough Samurai warrior or a brigade of smiley faced cupcakes?

I think the samurai would overdose on the cupcakes- the smiley ones are usually poisonous, so beware!

-Have you ever run across anyone wearing Cute Institute buttons?

Do my friends and parents count?! if so, yes and it makes me very very happy!

-Do you wear buttons yourself? If so, what was the first button you loved to death?

I wear them all the time! My favorite button I made has a closeup of my cat’s face. It was adorable! I put him with the rest of my badges during one of my craft sales for just for fun.  Believe it or not, someone bought it!

-How/where do you wear your buttons?

I tend to lose em’ often if I put them on my purse or hoody…  I’ve decorated some cute ballerina shoes, used them to attach my tops and dresses to my bra (yes, very classy, but practical!), and they work perfectly to replace that missing button on your pants. When I feel sweet, I’ll put on a cupcake badge, if I feel badass, I’ll put on a skull!

-Have you had any problems with fans trying to sneak off with handfuls of your dessert themed buttons?

I caught a bunch of ninjas one night trying to steal my new stash of pins. That didn’t end well!

-Have you had to expel anybody from the Cute Institute? I need to know what heinous acts to avoid- I pride myself on being a model student.

I rarely expel my pupils, so no need to worry!… But, I do not tolerate art theft. Just be original AND be yourself!!! cheers! +____+

Visit Tesha at The Cute Institute!

While participating in this years infamous SXSW Indie Rock extravaganza in Austin, TX, I had my eyes peeled for any festival goers with particularly interesting button stylez.  I figured someone would be thinking outside of the button box at a week-long festival showcasing the newest of new and hippest of hip in the music-verse.  It wasn’t until the final day of the festival that I spotted this beauty at the roller rink show on Cesar Chavez Blvd.

Matt, of Toronto based band dd/mm/yyyy (spoken aloud as day-month-year), doesn’t seem to think one button is enough, or even that the front of a button is what’s important.  To me, Matt’s DIY masterpiece is a “meta-button,” or a button about buttons; by velcro-ing smaller, building block buttons together to form one mega, franken-button, Matt forces us to focus on the buttons themselves rather than the images they display.  Thanks Matt for being so rad!  Check out dd/mm/yyyy’s myspace here. I recommend the “Imagine” video.

We at Badge Bomb are ecstatic that our buttons, button packs,  & button boxes have made it to one of our favorite locals, Carnaby St in London! And not only that, the ladies of the Lazy Oaf shop are the best!

Meet Gemma and Alex of Lazy Oaf, a rad retailer and designer specializing in the cute, bright, & hip designs that Badge Bomb can’t get enough of. Here’s a bit of history about Lazy Oaf from their website:

“This East London based creative label was started by Gemma Shiel back in 2001 with hand screen printed tee’s and a market stall in East London, skip to the present and lazy Oaf is available in over 150 stockists worldwide. 2004 saw the opening of the lazy oaf store in Soho which houses all of the collections and further Oaf oddities sourced from Japan and the US.”

UK Chapter of the Badge Bomb Squad:  keep your eyes peeled for fabulous buttons by Jeremyville, Retard Riot, & Gama-Go at Lazy Oaf.

“London Calling to the Underworld, Come out of the Cupboards, you Boys and Girls…” -The Clash

Hey Badge Bombers! Streets of Jeremyville button sets have arrived and they look sweet! We’re going crazy over this fresh Badge Bomb loot.  Behold!

Streets of Jeremyville goodies will be available for pre-sale at Badge Bomb’s booth at the POOLTRADESHOW and soon here at Badge Bomb.

All Streets of Jeremyville eventually lead here.

Manufactured in the USA by One Inch Round.

Look, these came out awesome! Thanks Bro Prints, Clean die cut!

Even though stickers are an inferior enemy combatant of buttons, we’re giving them away for free with every order in an effort to embrace product diversity and dominate more than your garments.

Actually - we’re lying, we just hope you put them all over things you own, for sport, just like we did the second we opened the box!

Check out these awesome one inch buttons from Gama-Go in their brand new button box!

Rad right?  Pick out individual Gama-Go button badges at our various retail locations, or shop for them online individually or in our custom button packs here.

USA Made by One Inch Round Custom Buttons

Check out Retard Riot AKA artist Noah Lyon’s awesome pinback button packs!

These six button packs feature some of Retard Riot’s coolest one inch art buttons!

Check out his home-grown button collection!

Check out the new button packs from Montreal’s “the cute institute”! Featuring Samurai, Geisha, cats, and more sweet treats!

Button packs available on the button packs page.

Or visit the cute institute’s button store here.

USA Made by One Inch Round Custom Buttons