let technology inform design

Incredible video and article about 3d printing in the NY times.

If only i could...

 afford Visionaire's Alexander McQueen edition.
I'm a sucker for poetic touches and this one wrenches the heart like no other.
Images inspired by McQueen that, when planted and nourished turn into a bed of wildflowers... The idea itself is just incredible (Personally, I would wish for a flowering tree  - not for a long long long time please, but anyway...) and a poignant reminder that death begets life, life begets death and so the cycle continues, the living a memorial to those who lived.

From QS

Postcards from Paris - Lacroix

Christian Lacroix, known for his deliciously extravagant haute-couture ladies wear - dripping with embroidery and lace, is also a highly regarded illustrator.
What excites me is the way that he uses modern technology to a traditional effect, as seen in these postcards picked up at the Lacroix exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in 2008. Using a program such as illustrator or photoshop he has 'painted' these figures in a freehand style that one might ordinarily create manually with ink pen and watercolour. The lively, loose illustrations go against the grain of regular digital illustration as they do not aspire to perfection or tidiness, but take advantage of the crazy  unpredictability of mouse and digital brushes.

Postcards purchased at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
Want more? Check out the book cover for the Christian Lacroix tome @ Polyvore
and for a little bit more info on designers' personal sketches - this article @ nymag.com

looooove

Organise

 This is what I did today:

Reorganise my past, filing trips, memories, tickets, postcards and assorted scraps according to place and date.

I think this may mean a new start for my blog. I was starting to find the way in which I was blogging to be unnatural and tedious. So here's to a new start - curiosities from everyday life. 

#1. 

From my time in Strasbourg, the 'centre of Europe' and stronghold of the EU parliament,  a town which for me is filled with brilliant sunlit memories which seeps through every crack and corner of my mind. 

From the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain - for their Art is Arp exhibition (dedicated to one of the most renown dada families  - the Arp family). 

This delightful poem, printed on the back of the brochure is at first apparently simple, then amusing, confusing and whimsical... it is also beautifully clean and clear in design. 

Configuration Strasbourgeoise

je suis né dans la nature.

je suis né à strasbourg.

je suis né dans un nuage.

je suis né dans une pompe.

je suis né dans une robe. 

j'ai quatre natures.

ja'i deux choses.

j'ai cing sens. 

sens et non-sens. 

nature est sans-sens. 

place à la nature. 

la nature est un aigle blanc. 

place dada à la nature dada.

je me modèle un livre à cinq boutons. 

le tour de force du sculpteur est une sombre bêtise.

extrait 1931

My translation : 

Strasbourg Configuration

I was born in nature.

I was born in a cloud.

I was born in a pump.

i was born in a dress.

i have four natures.

I have two things.

sense and non-sense

nature is without sense.

space to nature.

Nature is a white eagle.

dada place to dada nature.

i mould myself a book with five buds (my note: could also be buttons).

the tour de force of a sculptor is a sombre foolishness.

Instrumental

 Opinions are divided. Many would say that fashion designers and fashion students do not work, AT ALL, many would say that we work our behinds off. My personal experience  - which is informed by my 'work' ethic, tells me that I do both. The 'Break' I am now on, is precisely that. A time to o work and not to work - it is a time to relax, recharge, to find inspiration and motivation and to get started on a major project that will dominate my physicality and mental state for the next few months. My time is now split between doing errands - which I do not enjoy, and designing - which I do.

As a dreamer, I enjoy taking flights of fancy, putting my imagination onto paper and cloth, letting my hand act as a medium for my subconscious. Images captivate my attention on the verge of sleep and force me to emerge from my downy refuge to lean on the cold wooden bedside table where my notepad rests. I wake up in the morning, my mind still heavy with sleep and try to make sense of the boggled scribbles i had previously made, i take delight in unravelling the confusion. On the other hand I do not find the realisation of these dreams to be an enjoyable process, especially when my limited skills and patience cannot help me physically conjure up the sparkling phantom images in my mind.  But sometimes I come across something that seems to express exactly what i am thinking...

Underwater scene with the Cristal Bachet, Glass Harmonica, Ondes Martenot. 

Body Art

 I'm not entirely sure how I came upon Nicole Tran Va Bang's work, but it was on one of those prolonged surfing/researching sessions. When I saw it I was struck by the beauty and  of the images and was immediately reminded of a friend and her interest in body mod and tattooing.

Playing with people's perceptions of their bodies and the ways in which the body can be 'altered'. Nicole Van Ba Trang's shows more than just beautiful women, her un-traditional way of capturing a traditional subject (the nude) is thought provoking and witty. 

Check out more of her work @ http://www.tranbavang.com/photography/

Fashion and Intellectual Property

 While Post-modernism has most certainly made its mark, the creative industries, particularly the fashion industry, are profoundly modernist. Constantly searching for the new, the individual and the unique, fashion designers often go to extremes only to have the fruits of their labour imitated by fast-fashion chains within moments. While some may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it an also be highly annoying. Imagine putting your heart, soul (and money, blood, sweat and tears) into a work, only to see it being copied and sold on the streetside below. Not nice. But as fashion designers, we'll all willingly and sometimes thoughtlessly or subconciously 'draw inspiration' from the works of other designers, often many at once, and piece these little bits of inspiration  - in the form of a sleeve, a collar, a cuff - together to create something with which we can express ourselves. We create and ride along with trends, waves of communal thought in which many designers share ideas.. "It's not copying, it's the zeitgeist" we say. 'Exaggerated collars are so very NOW!' We often come up with our own versions and see them copied, wish, we could do something about it, but fail to consider that a collar is purely something that goes around your neck  - and that there aren't that many ways to design one (Well you tell me, but I don't think there is) - so there isn't much space for variation anyway. This is why Intellectual Copyright is not prevalent in the fashion Industry, but it may be a good thing...




Here's what Johanna Blakely, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center,  had to say. 


Johanna Blakely; Lessons from Fashion's Free Culture. 

Michael Anastassiades

 It depends on my mood, but I always appreciate those things that express complex ideas through the simplest means .. like maths, direct language and analogies.. Not to say that I am good at any of those. I'd say that Michael Anastassiades' work is a prime example of this. Conceptually motivated but communicated through the purest of means, It's like comparing a haiku and a sonnet - a metaphor and a verbosequasitryhardwannabeintellectualrambling...  I find it really very emotive. 


The Social light and the anti-social light. 

The social light is based on a heart-warming idea, glowing  only when there is conversation in the surrounding environment. Conversely, the Anti-social light only glows in complete silence, noise causes the light to dim and eventually switch off.

The Message Cup - a portable, mobile voice recording and playback device, designed for message exchanges in the household. Individuals record and playback messages by turning the cup up and down.

Michael Anastassiades' foray's into jewellery - Bronze and Swarovski crystal rings ... 

 Geometric, multi-faceted and different from every angle.. Beautiful in so many ways. 
Look further at http://www.michaelanastassiades.com/

Sparkle and Glow

One more for today. Just incredible, like Christmas, the one and only Hussein Chalayan.
I aspire to one day be able do things like this.

Electrified

 Warm colours warm you. Cool colours cool. What if this was to be expressed in the cloth you wear, sleep under and wrap yourself in. A blanket takes on a homely and warm print when heated, a summer jacket cools itself against the skin and refreshes the eye with lively, icey prints. 








wow

Bringing life to design

 I previously documented my discovery of Hafsteinn Juliusson's 'slim chip' a simple, interesting and somewhat kitschy culinary idea which just made me inwardly giggle with childish glee and excitement.   The item I am about to document is perhaps more serious (?) but still simple, imaginative and conceptually beautiful. 

How much closer to nature could you get? Indeed, Juliusson has designed these pieces for the people of metropolitan cities as 'an experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life'. The mossy jewellery brings to mind the innocent and natural play of a simple childhood,  playing in the dirt and on the grass making playthings out of sticks and leaves. The way children innocently wear daisy chain necklaces, leaf bracelets and use paperbark as powder-puff in a non-political way, is evoked here. The person and the plant live, work and play together  in harmony. 

The use of metal and moss together bring together the modern and the traditional, the man-made and the organic. I also love the way they are displayed, placed like little bridges on a pebbly surface. I wonder about the applications of this mini-innovation, how beautiful it could be to transfer other living details to our daily dress, blossoms on a collar, jasmine on neckline, its scent wafting up your neck throughout the day... I attempted to add plants into a one of my designs early on in my university degree  - but the idea was then dismissed as perhaps too kitschy  (that said, maybe I hadn't developed the garment shape well enough in the first place...) But it's definitely an idea I would love to further explore in the future.

While the knuckle duster does have violent connotations, I'd assume that the piece was designed this way a) to allow maximum growing space for moss and boost the impact or b) because Juliusson, like me, has a penchant for the absurd and the satirical. (I am looking forward to the day when someone designs a knuckle feather duster for the tough housewife/husband - ok ok, stupid chindogu idea -  but everyday needs a little bit of ridiculousness). 


Either way, its the perfect blend of the natural and the man-made, nature and culture, a beautiful reminder of the delicate balance of nature, and how it is our duty to live harmoniously with it and not take it for granted.

Falling in Love Again...no.3 Klaus Nomi

 Last but not least! This is the version that set me on this 3 post entry in the first place. The singer is Klaus Nomi  (1944 - 1983) (sadly died from AIDS), a German Countertenor, West Berlin Opera usher, New Wave Vaudeville performer, Back-up singer for David Bowie (!!!) and solo-artist (and pastry-chef by day) known for his bell-clear high pitched voice and 'out there' costumes. 


Nomi combines Marlene Dietrich's famous half-spoken English version "Falling in love again, never wanted to...." with the original German one (spoken) "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt, Denn das ist meine Welt...' (literally: Head to toe, I"m ready for love, because that is my world) with an electronic clang, a boppy base and interestingly nuanced vocals, coloured lights, graphic sets and colourful, clean cut 80's costumes and make-up (WOW- to the electric bodysuits and the lady in them.. breathless wow again) which accentuate and draw attention to and away from the body in all the right ways. It's weird and wonderful and I'd have to say this is one of my favourite versions of the song, because although it may be less melodic, the combination of the visuals and the upbeat, out-of-tune experimental boppiness is definitely appealing to someone who is always searching for something interesting and perhaps slightly odd but beautiful.





Sexy.... 
It's surprising how much innuendo an ice-cream can have.  I've never seen either portrayed so pornographically before. 

If you want to hear Marlene Dietrich's original German version - you can find it after the jump

Around and about

 Out and about. Textures and Colours jump out at me everywhere. The most interesting and often unexpected combinations exist all around you.

The feathery mosaic of abandoned walls. 

The colour of an early autumn afternoon. 

Pumped up!

Kept natural... 

 Or toned down. 

Life in multicolour.

slim chip

 What is food? Some people regard it as pure nourishment (i.e. belly filler) and some as pure enjoyment (i.e gourmets) and some as both (i.e. gourmands).
According to wikipedia, food is 'any substance composed of carbohydrates, water, fats and/or proteins, that is either eaten or drunk by any animal, including humans, for nutrition or pleasure'. 

Icelandic designer Hafsteinn Juliusson has formulated something that fits none of the former categories (I doubt it can be classified as carbs, water, fat or protein) but which can be eaten by humans (and probably animals) for pure pleasure. The satisfaction of mouth watering flavour without the calories (and without the flavour loss and eventual disgusting disintegration of chewing gum), that takes you back to your childhood days... when you used to eat random stuff that your parents didn't consider edible.. i.e paper. 

That's right, they're paper chips. 0 calories and in luscious and exciting flavours - blueberry, mint, cheddar and wasabi... 

According to Juliusson, the design is a tentative solution to thoughtless calorie intake through the consumption of junk food - which is often linked to 'habits and social rituals that help interrupt the flow of routinary (sic) daily activities more than to the hunger impulse"...


Karl Lagerfeld, which I could see as an avid consumer of the 'slim chip' (to fill out his diet of steamed vegetables, tic tacs and diet coke) might possibly want to withdraw his statement: "you've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly"... It could be healthy mothers with healthy bmi's eating bags of slim chips still complaining that thin models are not healthy body role models.. Not that eating paper instead of chips is encouraging healthy attitudes to food or healthy eating habits either (eating only when you are hungry). It sure looks fun and it's imaginative though. Imagine using this as confetti or made into paper plates .. cheddar plate, with a pear and walnut salad piled on top - formed into a wrap possibly? rolled up blueberry paper filled with a ricotta, orange zest and honey mix?


the possibilities are exciting.. Imagine if i could get my hands on some .. wow. 

All info was gathered from Juliusson's website....