If you haven’t made any plans for Sunday 1st July, then get yourself down to the De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill on Sea for Midcentury.Modern organised by Showhome. 35 dealers will descend on Bexhill where you’ll be ale to purchase Scandinavian and European mid-century and modern design classics for your home. The design junkies’ definitive seaside trip.
Nathan Usmar Lauder
Posted on Thursday, 14th of June 2007 Permalink
When I first saw these beautifully composed shots by French photographer Denis Darzacq I presumed they were captured moments of street dancers in action, I’m so nieve! apparantly they are all about the broken social elevator, the elasticity between body and desire, the riots in Paris and how life hangs in precarious balance! I still love them! View the whole set here.
Dave Brown
Posted on Tuesday, 20th of February 2007 Permalink
It’s the largest because it’s on the side of the Renzo Piano KPN Telecom Building in Rotterdam, the smallest because they are all 22 x 41 pixel animations. Get some popcorn, turn you phone off and enjoy. Another Graffiti Research Lab spectacular.
David Rainbird
Posted on Monday, 19th of February 2007 Permalink
Forget the rather freaky looking new +Teamgeist ball (far right) from adidas (what is the plus about anyway?). Think about Bucky instead. That would be Buckminster Fuller he of the geodesic dome and Dimaxion car fame (okay so the Dimaxion is kind of ugly but…) Still the modern soccer ball (though probably not the +Teamgeist) owes its existence to him. Early soccer balls (that would be pre 1960) were all made of leather, that laced up and were brown (far left—first World Cup ball), but Fuller thought there was something better possible.
At the same time he was developing the geodesic dome, he reinvented football. Based on hexagons, pentagons and triangles, his new ball used those shape, fitting them together to make a perfectly round surface. (Though of course most advances in football technology are all around trying to make a more perfect sphere). The Bucky ball had 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal surfaces, and the black spots on the ball helped players catch the swerve the ball was making. Now of course when Adidas (those behind Teamgeist and every World Cup Football since 1970) adopted the shape, they did it not simply because it was a more perfect sphere, but also the black and white shapes were easier to see on telly. Hence it was named the Telstar (in the middle) short for the ‘star of television.’
Jennifer Kabat
Posted on Friday, 9th of June 2006 Permalink
When I first saw Olivo Barbieri’s work, I couldn’t believe it myself. So I googled him…and found that he shoots real locations from a helicopter, using a tilt-shift lens technique that shrinks metropolises into toy-town fabrications. I showed a few colleagues and asked their opinion on what they saw. The response was universal – ‘that’s not real!’ but one chap in particular just would not have it. He still thinks I’m making it up! I’m not, I can assure you. You can see for yourself at Barbieri’s first major solo show at the Bloomsberg Space. The press release for the show (including opening times and address) is here.
Ruth Kent
Posted on Friday, 26th of May 2006 Permalink
Habitat have opened a new store in a disused cinema building at 123 Regent Street. The grade II listed building has had a remarkable history – from meat market to Gallery to Cinema to Church. The store design is the first from Habitat’s Non Executive Creative Director Tom Dixon who has been involved with the project at every stage, from the interior restoration to the fittings. A number of original features have been restored, these include the magnificent auditorium and significant remaining features of the cinema including the original gallery space with a vaulted plaster ceiling, Neo-Egyptian light fittings and original Wurlitzer organ. The Film Society held its first meeting at this cinema in 1925. Founder members of The Film Society included H G Wells, George Bernard Shaw and Augustus John. The first show included the feature film The Waxworks (directed by Paul Leni) and Champion Charlie, a Chaplin short.
Infact the building looks so good after the renovation, it’s hard to know which is the biggest draw: the building or its contents.
Nathan Usmar Lauder
Posted on Wednesday, 24th of May 2006 Permalink
There’s a general rule of thumb about architects (okay two rules of thumb—two hands, two thumbs). Architects are rarely women, and even more rarely successful before 50. The exception to the rule is Barbara Bestor (she’s 39 and doesn’t look like an architect). There are none of those Corbu style-heavy black glasses going on. So, she wears skinny jeans high heels and is all about modernism—but doing it with interesting materials. Plywood for one. Or cardboard. Both used to great effect in her building for Grand Royal and stores for XL. And now she has a gorgeous book out—Bohemian Modern Living in Silverlake, which is great not just for the cool houses (Eli Bonerz’s Neutra one for one and Barbara’s own iconic shack in the hills), but also for its cover and illustrations. The cover has that heavily textured feel that makes you think of math textbooks in the 7th grade (or if you’re British your second year of secondary school) – and the illustrations are all by the legendary Geoff Mcfetridge. And you can buy it all on Amazon.
Jennifer Kabat
Posted on Tuesday, 9th of May 2006 Permalink
BOOSH LIVE TOUR 2006
65 Gigs in 51 venues over 12 weeks. In almost every venue, before the doors opened, I took a shot from the stage looking out into the empty theatre. A great momento of the tour, a great insight into UK theatre design & a great set of images.
You’re so much better than last nights crowd!
I’ll be here all week!
flickr set
Dave Brown
Posted on Tuesday, 2nd of May 2006 Permalink
Over the years, architecture practice, FAT, have carved out a reputation for a body of work that is unique and charismatic. Their latest installation at RIBA, London, is no exception.
‘In a Lonely Place’ takes the form of a 7-metre inflated black sphere punctured by a half-timbered structure. Inside, a stair leads up to a viewing platform, from where the surrounding void is broken by small pinpricks of light, made by transparent panels cut into the sphere.
In their own words “the sphere’s tiny transparent windows form what seem to be constellations. But rather than referring to a natural phenomenon, they mark out a tourist map of Hollywood stars homes. This plan of Los Angeles takes on a planetary scale. This banal man made pattern becomes sublime when viewed from the centrally positioned platform within the sphere”.
Ruth Kent
Posted on Thursday, 6th of April 2006 Permalink
Sir Norman Foster’s ‘gherkin’ is now a familiar feature upon the landscape of the City of London, but have you ever stopped to consider what this iconic structure replaced? Well, it was built where the Baltic Exchange once stood, a building from a very different era but no less iconic in its time. Erected in 1903 by Smith and Wimble, the building set out to demonstrate the wealth and solemnity, not to say solidity, of London’s maritime trade.
So what happened to the Grade II listed building? It was removed (at a cost of £4 million), brick by brick, marble pillar by marble pillar, and is now sitting in a great many wooden crates in a 35,000sqft warehouse located in Kent. For those who like a challenge, the complete building (dismantled) is now offered for sale by Pavilions of Splendour – price on application, viewing essential. One can only hope that the instructions manual has been approved by the Plain English Society.
Nathan Usmar Lauder
Posted on Friday, 31st of March 2006 Permalink