The idea is simple. Use creativity and collaboration, to create change, to do good… …and to raise money for a worthy cause. Longtime admirers of each other’s work, the members of Grammy-Award-winning rock band, Linkin Park and fashion designer and artist Blaine Halvorson of MadeWorn, have come together to collaborate on a special project to benefit Music for Relief - the non-profit charity organization Linkin Park founded in 2005 to aid survivors of natural disasters and environmental conservation around the world.
From the ineffable MadeWorn studio in Los Angeles, Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Halvorson came together to spray-paint, stencil, and draw by hand - a design that combined both of their unique aesthetics. Using the iconic street soldier from the album art of Linkin Park’s multi-platinum debut, Hybrid Theory as their starting point, the band members and Halvorsoncreated an original design that reflected both MadeWorn’s renowned hand-detailing and the band’s own personal narrative. “The Hybrid Theory street soldier was a team effort between me, Joe and Frank Maddocks,” says Linkin Park co-lead vocalist, Mike Shinoda. “We were working on images for the cover of our first album, and we made it to represent the duality of the band’s sound—the intersection of contrasting elements, and the hard-versus-soft tension in our band’s music. It’s an image that’s synonymous with the band’s name at this point, and one that has become a cornerstone of our group’s visual language over the years.” The result is an exclusive line of shirts available only for a limited time. $10 from the sale of each white t-shirt and hoodie, and $100 from each sale of the special edition black t-shirt in the collection, will go to Music For Relief. To view collection and donate go to: https://charity.madeworn.com “MadeWorn is about the process, about craft,” explains Halvorson of the project.. “and this collaboration with Linkin Park was the perfect way to express that. It’s about putting that kind of intense attention to detail into every piece, integrating artistry and the touch of the human hand.”
ABOUT MUSIC FOR RELIEF In 2005, Linkin Park founded Music for Relief, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to survivors of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters. Since its inception, Music for Relief has responded to more than 30 disasters across four continents including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, China’s Wenchuan earthquake, a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, and the 2011 earthquake & tsunami in Japan. Music for Relief also supports environmental conservation as a means of disaster risk mitigation including the planting of over 1.3 million trees to help reduce global warming. The organization was recognized by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for the Download to Donate program to raise funds and awareness in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. Music for Relief’s Power the World program is a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to provide innovative clean energy solutions to families in the developing world without access to electricity. For more information visit www.musicforrelief.org. ABOUT LINKIN PARK LINKIN PARK is a Grammy-Award-winning, multi-platinum alternative rock band comprised of co-lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, drummer/percussionist, Rob Bourdon, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell, DJ, programmer Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda - co-lead vocals, keyboards, guitar. The band has sold over 50 million albums worldwide, with platinum album sales in 34 countries and 5 continents. Linkin Park is the biggest band on Facebook - with over 62 million fans and counting. In the span of time since 2000, when Linkin Park debuted on the Billboard 200 – no other artist has had more top 10 singles on the Alternative chart, and no other band has achieved more #1 albums this century. The band's first album, Hybrid Theory is the biggest selling debut in the 21st century, and their latest album, The Hunting Party reached #1 in the iTunes store of 67 different countries. Linkin Park is currently in the studio working on their seventh studio album for Warner Brothers Records. Linkin Park’s massive multicultural and worldwide devoted fan base has made them one of the most popular bands in Asia, Europe and South America. The band has sold out stadiums around the world, and headlined some of the biggest music festivals including Download, Reading and Leeds in the UK, Rock in Rio in Portugal and Summer Sonic in Japan. In 2015, Linkin Park became the first western rock band to play a 5 stadium tour in China. Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn, are both accomplished artists in their own right. Shinoda graduated with a B.F.A. in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in 1998, and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2009. He has a hand in most artistic facets of Linkin Park’s artwork and imagery, including art for the band's albums, merchandise, web, and stage. Joe Hahn also studied at the Art Center of Design, where he met future bandmate, Shinoda. An accomplished artist and painter, Hahn has directed over 30 of Linkin Park’s music videos. In 2014, Hahn directed his first feature film, Mall, which was adapted from Eric Bogosian’s 2000 novel of the same name, and released to critical acclaim nationwide. www.linkinpark.com ABOUT MADEWORN Blaine Halvorson is a hands-on creator that dreams up experiences, spaces and tactile collections that are mood, memory and idea, distilled down their essence and transferred into materials - thread and leather, flannel and canvas, cotton and metal, brick and steel. Born and raised on a farm in Montana, he learned to build with his hands—a skill that converges with his artistic talent across multiple mediums. Little stands in his way on the path to an idea's execution, whether it is a painting, a pair of custom-made shoes, a hand-painted scarf, or an art installation. Halvorson's reputation as radical innovator and brand-builder is well known. In 1998, he launched Junk Food Clothing—a global leader in vintage and music nostalgia apparel, which he led to its successful public offering in 2005.
In 2013 he founded his luxury brand, MadeWorn, featuring one of a kind, exquisitely crafted, pieces – hand-tooled shoes with a distinct patina of age and romance, vintage Rolexes hand-carved and etched with delicate filigree, rocknroll concert tees that resonant with adolescent angst. Focusing on sustainable manufacturing and locally sourced materials, MadeWorn is one of the few companies that can boast that all their creations are absolutely and entirely - American made. Halvorson oversees every aspect of production, from the weaving of organic cotton T-shirts at his downtown Los Angeles factory, to the impassioned, by-hand detailing executed at his Fairfax District showroom. This appointment-only, experiential space is a 360-degree world, part designer's studio, cobbler's workshop, art museum, and concert space. The 12,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor compound is a meticulously curated dreamscape, offering products that reveal an intimacy with raw materials and hand processes.
For Halvorson, each project, whether it is a hand-tooled leather hat or a massive experiential installation - undergoes a complex process, an alchemy that transforms everything he touches - into treasured artifact. He creates modern work that hold a deep nostalgia, clothing, art, accessories, and immersive spaces, that seems as if they have traveled through time, arriving to remind us that nothing is truer - than the touch of a human hand. www.madeworn.com