Monday, 14 November 2011
Friday, 14 October 2011
ROUX AT THE PEMBURY
Beautiful Thingamajigs:
Roux at The Pembury is a new cocktail bar in Westminister serving drinks (and some great food) to the highest standard at realistic prices in a beautifully comfortable setting. I'll leave the review of the place to the professionals, 'The London Word', 'The Drinks Business' and finally 'Bar Magazine'. While here's a few photo's illustrating just a sneak of the bar's decor...
Photos courtesy of: Paul Winch-FurnessRoux at The Pembury is a new cocktail bar in Westminister serving drinks (and some great food) to the highest standard at realistic prices in a beautifully comfortable setting. I'll leave the review of the place to the professionals, 'The London Word', 'The Drinks Business' and finally 'Bar Magazine'. While here's a few photo's illustrating just a sneak of the bar's decor...
Friday, 9 September 2011
DEVA
Beautiful Thingamajigs:
There you have it, a new title for things that particularly make me smile for one reason or another, be they aesthetically pleasing or brilliantly functional. Consider this the first post in a series of beautiful thingamajigs, albeit without time constraint or guarantees. It all simply depends when i see, or find...
Sunday, 14 August 2011
GRACE JONES
So it's been a little while since my last post. But i'm back in the building, with aplomb (hopefully). Much like Grace Jones, though really Jones never left, she simply stepped off the stage, took a breath and watched as the modern pop diva(s) of the moment hit the autotuned high notes and pick up where Jones once so definitively left off with undoubtedly more style and originality...
Monday, 28 March 2011
FIGHT FOR LIGHT
Intuitive and inspiring. Rogier van der Heide offers his careful observations on an issue we neglect to entertain on a daily basis. Clumsily we fight darkness with careless light only to gradually diminish the visibility of the natural product we strive to emulate.
Added to the list of human climate contradictions we clearly need to think about for the sake of our well being.
Courtesy of TED talks
Thursday, 24 March 2011
NAOTO FUKASAWA
Watching Gary Hustwit's feature length documentary Objectified, I hit pause, then rewind as industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa speaks in earnest of the influences in his life that have informed his designs. In particular, the origin of the small angular object he holds in his palm, his cell-phone.
Red and symmetrically angular, like a diamond, it was designed to be appealing to the eye but also to the touch. By deliberately not creating such an aerodynamic shape his intentions are that one's fingers would inexplicably desire to touch the edges and explore the unique texture of the object. He continues to add that you might not necessarily realise you were doing it unless it was pointed out by somebody. This approach of using the subconscious interaction as a method to establish a sincere connection to an 'object' is of particular interest to him. Fukasawa thought about the way in which people don't think about the tools they use, as they use them. Such as a pen. A pen is held most naturally the less that the person thinks about how to hold it. Establishing this connection is intrinsic to good design.
The cell phone was born directly from a fond memory and fascination of peeling a potato. As you peel part of the skin you carve a distinct composition, you reveal the inner colour, and cleanse it in the process. Yet the further you peel in search of perfection, the dirtier the potato again becomes. and you sculpt a new identity.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
HELMO
French creative duet HELMO (Thomas Couderc and Clément Vauchez) have a large body of work which spans from illustration right across to installation with certainly some interesting approaches to each task they undertake. I'm immediately enticed by their 'Coloured Smoke' series, shown above and here. Photography that's both attractive and mysterious in equal doses, capturing a sense of obscurity that compliments the ambiguous subject matter...
Monday, 7 March 2011
Anthony Burrill
I have always been a fan of Burrill's work. Sometimes playful, often mood-inspiring and always confidently positive in form, shape and tone. Much of his work is crafted within the realms of printmaking and as a result, colour, composition and simplicity are always astutely considered...
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Shapes
Each shape is a product of straght lines and circles. The only rule governing the way in which the shape is formed is that each remain within an equal sided square. The number of individual lines or circles contained within each design is entirely dependant on my will to stop adding at the point of aethetic harmony. Maintaining a roughly equal balance of white to black. A generous portion of negative space...
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
John Whitney-Matrix III (1972)
The metamorphosis of varying shapes ebb and flow through one another drifting in an out of symmetry with the delicate fluid movement of water. the precision and attention to detail with which Whitney crafts this animation is staggering. I felt transfixed yet calmed by the varying pace in transition between shape and direction and the entire piece is delicately complimented by a piece of music that fits like a glove.
John Whitney is widely considered a godfather of animation, pioneering the development and execution of motion graphics in both television and film using hardware developed and created by himself at a time when such devices simply did not exist.
His known works include the title sequence collaboration with artist and designer Saul Bass in Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Beautiful Geometry
My understanding of geometric figures, functions and equations is basic, let alone at such depth. So to discuss and critique Coxeter's 'Beauty of Geometry' would be rash of me to say the least. Instead, i can observe and assess the fundimental beauty of the product, and admire the structures themselves. By structures i supose i aught to say formations, but by form i suppose i also mean the imagery. I refer here to the sheer beauty and precision of shapes and the harmonious relationship between algebraic type and line diagrams on display...
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Sherif Elhage
I thank Its Nice That for alerting me to the work of Sherif Elhage. This unassuming series titled 'from the ground up' portraits an angle of architecture that we're not so acustomed to viewing, using the sky as negative space. Compositionally beautful. The website prologue demands one to know that there's not a ounce of camera trickery or manipulation used in the method, just clever and interesting photography in all it's glory.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
1898
Back in 2009 students were rallied up to offer work for the launch of the cafe gallery at Camberwell college of art. The brief was simple, '1989' yet time was limited. My one day response to this was two posters' inspired by the consolidation of Greater New York City. Crowded and badly kerned Helivetica, famous and infamous symbols, all of which are deliberate in an attempt to represent the 'city that never sleeps'.
In the mid-70's Milton Glaser managed to conjure up a symbol now so darn famous, it's pretty hard to think of New York without it. Humbled by the impact the iconic I ♥ NY had, Glazer reflects on his early design years, as well as his continuing work in the documentary by Wendy Keys; 'To Inform & Delight'. It's the silhouette of a rare breed designer in this day and age, and it's a lesson for all to see such passion and enthusiasm at 81 years old. Emotionally in tune and artfully directed, well worth a watch if you can find a copy. In the mean time here is the man himself.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Ayamonte
A signage quartet taken mid year in the south of Spain, Ayamonte. Beautiful clear sky and not a tourist in sight.
American photographer Brent Humphreys has developed a stunning collection here cataloging both glorious weather and tourist alike. The work, ongoing since 2004, documents the most prestigious cycle event in the world, the Tour De France. I first noticed this last year however it deserves a revisit as we Britons' come to terms with a continuous stream of not-quite-miserable-enough-to-ruin-a-good-day bad elements. 'Le Tour' is a remarkable remedy and not just a pretty website.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Illustration
A simple illustration to start preceedings. This began life as a pencil sketch with rubbings, lines, smudges to boot. A little clean up and plenty of spruce with 'illustrator' and here we are. More images to follow shortly, as part of an on going series.
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