If it is creative and cool and has an edge that others don’t, we want
to know about it. This time, we are particularly interested in hearing
from the event industry.
Although we now can experience all sorts of “reality” just sitting down
in our own environments, nothing beats a real live experience of an
awesome party. One of our all-time favorites is the breathtakingly cool
Prada VIP do at the Central Market
in Valencia, Spain, to celebrate the America’s Cup. Talk about
awakening all of your senses in one lavish event!
The Spice Girls landed on our doorsteps more than a decade ago with
promises of ‘girl power’ and telling us what we wanted, what we really,
really wanted.
With the pop and fizzle of The Spice Girls’ stunning rise now a distant
memory, the UK is undergoing a second wave of ‘girl power’.
Instead of pre-fabricated, hyper-merchandised glitz, this new crop of
‘girl power’ artists embody lyrical honesty and authenticity.
Where the Spice Girls relied on sass and cleavage and commercial pop
smarts, the UK’s current crop of female singer-songwriters embody
honest self reflection and realness.
Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen led the way with their upfront,
unforgettable reinterpreta-tions of contemporary pop. In the wake
of Winehouse and Allen’s success arrives the next wave of UK female
singer-songwriters.
20 year old Kate Nash
smashed through with her single ‘Foundations’ and won the hearts of the
indie crowd with her cover of the Black Kids’ ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your
Boyfriend How To Dance’.
Duffy,
currently sitting at #1 in the UK with her track ‘Mercy’, has a voice
that sits com-fortably between Winehouse and Dusty Springfield and
comes with the promise that her music will last decades.
Adele
too, with her soulful croon and anthemic single Chasing Pavements’, is
cramming the airwaves and poised to take her sound global.
All in all, it’s a welcome arrival. It’s ‘girl power’ you can actually believe in. By Nick Christie
At last...an alternative to jeans for men. NYC company Bonobos has
created a range of great-fitting men's casual trousers that'll take you
from the office to drinks. Available only online, the brand uses
lightweight corduroy, stretch corduroy, twill and tigersharks wool -
all comfy fabrics that hug the body without suffocating it. And that
means across the backside too (if you know what we mean)....so if
you've got it good, flaunt it. By Lisa Evans
People have paddled since time immemorial although the gear today
is much different from what it was in ancient times. Soon we will also
see a new type of rest and overnight shelter specifically for canoeists
that will take advantage of the water as a power source yet retain a
pristine and timeless peacefulness. Finnish architect and artist Sami Rintala,
together with architecture student Janne Saario, has created The Mill,
a modern wilderness hut that will be located in the Halikko river in
south western Finland, near the town of Salo, mid-way between Helsinki
and Turku. The wooden shelter even includes fireplaces and sleeping
platforms and the waterwheel in the middle of the stream produces the
energy for use in the shelter. To be completed in the fall of 2008, The
Mill is part of Halikonlahti Green Art Trilogy, which in turn is part
of an ongoing multi-year "Cross-artistic and Scientific Environmental Event"
The 39-year-old Rintala has created experimental and environmentally
sustainable installations and experimental buildings all over the
world, form the Scandinavian countries to Cuba, Canada, Japan and
Korea. By Tuija Seipell
Most of us have a personal image of an ideal escape or getaway. A
secluded beach shack hidden on an island paradise - a tucked away cabin
built into a snowy mountainside - a private chateaux set on the quiet,
rolling hills of a vineyard - basically anywhere we feel removed from
the mundane normalcy of our own daily lives.
X.Pace, a Sydney/Singapore-based design studio is on the verge of
helping us redefine the ultimate lifestyle solution - the highly
luxurious Hingarae residences and resort located in Lake Taupo on New
Zealand's north island. Hingarae embodies everything one would
expect from 6 star standards - the ideal balance of extreme luxury,
privacy and ultra-modern built form set upon a pristine natural
environment.
The development will offer twenty eight opportunities to own a
fully-furnished Hingarae Module. Each individual Module is 200
square metres set carefully within 1 hectare of natural
landscape. Oversized glazing allows uninterrupted views to the
surrounding forest, green countryside, snow-capped mountains and
crystal blue lake. The interior design is equally rewarding
offering an exceptional imported blend of modern and futuristic
furniture. The main living space sits on a revolving disc floor
that allows orientation toward the exterior or the LCD screen.
Numerous additions to Hingarae Module ownership include an electric car
for all on-site traveling, personal use of Hingarae's premium luxury
4WD vehicles for off-site travel, access to on-call helicopter,
on-going membership to Jack Nicklaus' Kinloch Golf Club, ongoing winter
season's pass to Mount Ruapehu's Whakapapa (New Zealand's largest ski
area), shared use of Hingarae's motor launch and unlimited access to
the 6 Star Hotel Hingarae and all its facilities including a recording
studio. Hingarae also fully manages and maintains each Module and its
individual acreage.
Nearly every aspect of a superior style of living has been taken into
consideration during the conception and development phases of
Hingarae. Unlike anything in the world, this New Zealand
destination will soon embody the ultimate expression of escape for
those of us able to get in - as prices start from US$1.9 million. As
for the rest of us, we can always hope for an invitation from a
generous friend. By Andrew J Wiener.
Aspiring mini-chefs take note: now there’s no excuse not to get the
kids involved in the kitchen with this sweet range of kids cookware
made specially for little fingers. Created by Melbourne based brand, Little Kitchen, the range will inspire little people everywhere to help mum with dinner.
The innovative brand also runs a kids' cooking school from their
North Fitzroy retail store in Melbourne, Australia. The space features
a custom-built kitchen designed specially for children where kids can
learn basic cooking techniques and the joys of cooking with fresh,
organic produce. They also hold cooking parties; a great choice for
parents looking for interesting (and healthy!) ways to celebrate their
little one’s birthday. By Lisa Evans
Little Kitchen
371 St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
One of our favourite auto magazines, the ever-stylish Intersection
(think of it as I-D for car buffs), has always made its mission to
mix man and machine, art and design and all things culture into their
its of the automotive world. Its latest project is no exception In an
aim to portray cars as more of a reflection of the
human race then simply a way to get from A to B, Intersection asked 6
different fashion designers from 6 different cities to create a
car cover that represents their individual fashion styles.
The designers were chosen for their conceptual yet sensual, witty
approach and because they each represent the city they're based
in. From the real-size print by Parisian Martin Margiela to
the mammoth box of Sydney's Ksubi, each piece offers a perspective true
to the designer's style and method, while also portraying an aspect of the car's personality.
The car that each cover is modelled on is the Alfa Brera that will now
be parading at events from New York to London, Tokyo to Sydney, Paris to
Berlin, and finally back to Milan where she will be showing off her
exclusive new clothes. If this approach proves popular, look out for a
couture-covered car on a street near you. By Brendan McKnight
Bauer is the newest chic bar and eatery in Södermalm — “Stockholm’s
Soho.” Opened on February 28, 2008, Bauer is a refurbished neighborhood
watering hole on Götgatan’s northern end, an edgy-stylish area
constantly changing and looking for a new form. Suitably, the job of
designing Bauer was handed to Stockholm-based Dizel&Sate,
known for aptly fusing street-art subculture with upscale style for
retail and hospitality clients, including Hotel Birger Jarl, and stores
for H&M, Hugo Boss and Peak Performance. Bold walls are their
signature feature. For Bauer, they took inspiration from the Bauhaus
style and from Berlin’s bar and gallery culture. Bold, graphic images
depicting various forms of enjoyment achieve a casual and fun feel
while punching up the black-and-white space and furnishings. By Tuija Seipell
Samu-Jussi Koski’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection for Marimekko
is a combination of Art Deco angularity and summer-breezy ruffles and
girly pleats. The styling and colourways remind us of the early 80s, but
the two main fabric designs he has used for the collection are much
older. The collection includes pieces made of the Sireeni pattern but
the star is the geometric Attica, designed in 1959 by Marimekkos’ most
prolific and famous designer, Maija Isola (1927-2001). Isola created
more than 500 fabric patterns at Marimekko from 1949 to 1987, including
the iconic Unikko, Kaivo and Lokki.
Koski’s spring collection is a soft take on stylish simplicity with
salmon, pink and black as the main colours. Feather-weight silk dresses
and tops, 100% cotton dresses and tops, and the long cotton Akemi
anorak are all perfect for urban life, which is something that inspires
Koski. He’s designed for Marimekko since spring 2005, and sites people,
old photographs, jazz, cigarette smoke and city life as the sources of
his ideas.
The large Marimekko Spring 2008 bag collection includes two gems by a
14-year Marimekko veteran, Mika Piirainen. The Horisontti carry-all
(size 54 X 47 X 18 cm) and the Ankkuri shoulder bag (35 X 30 X 11 cm)
are both made of 100% cotton canvas in another Maija Isola pattern,
Dyyni, form the 1980s. Piirainen has also produced a fashion collection
for Marimekko this spring. By Tuija Seipell
With their new album 'In Ghost Colours' to be released next month, Cut Copy
are going to be everywhere very soon. Radio, TV, car stereos and who
knows - maybe they’ll go down the Pnau path and put their tracks on
slick commercials.
'In Ghost Colours' is certainly one of the most hyped Australian
electronic albums ever. With the release of the first single
'Hearts On Fire' followed soon after by 'So Haunted', musical appetites
were whetted worldwide. Then came a freely downloadable mixtape which
dropped Cut Copy gems in between indie classics like Panda Bear's
'Bros'.
Backed up by a national tour and a support slot at Daft Punk’s
Neverland shows, Cut Copy have well and truly done the groundwork to
build the excitment. Now when we can't take any more, the clip
for 'Lights And Music' emerges. The tension is palpable. People are
dying to hear the record in its entirety. Bring on March! By Nick Christie
The opening of a museum is just about as much fun as ... what? The
closing of a museum? We can quit this sort of kidding now that we’ve
seen the star-studded opening gala of Lacma — the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. Tom Cruise, Christina Aguilera, Katie Homes and Tony
Bennett were just a few of the luminaries enjoying the lavish Wolfgang
Puck-catered, Lionel Ritchie-entertained dinner as a prelude to the
opening of the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum building of Lacma.
Urban Light, a fantastic forest of vintage lampposts by Chris Burden,
lit up the entry to the cocktail reception where life-size
ice-sculpture waiters served champagne. Event virtuoso Ben Bourgeois of
J. Ben Bourgeois Productions called the party itself a contemporary art
installation and he knows what that means. Just to create the “wrapper”
for the dinner party, he brought in a 22,000-square-foot steel frame
and covered the interior walls, tables, chairs and 12 massive light
cubes with white Ultrasuede. All of the surfaces served as screens for
the evening’s entertainment.
The 72,000-square-foot Broad Contemporary Art Museum building was
designed by Renzo Piano whose work includes Paris’s Pompidou Centre and
the New York Times headquarters. The initial 160-piece exhibition
includes works by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. By Tuija Seipell
Architecture and adaptation go hand in hand - many of the types and
styles of buildings created in the past will not translate into our
current design discourse. Only when architects acknowledges the world
around us is changing, becoming more complex, can they successfully
create functional space.
Japan's NKS architects design
buildings that re-frame space - adapt to changes in their surroundings.
The small wooden Onigiri House in the countryside of southern Japan was
built for an older couple in attempt to keep costs down whilst
maximising space.
The house's main structure forms a triangular tube-shape and is made
from thick cedar boards, traditionally used for ship scaffolding.
Windows are spaced along the top where the boards lean together as well
as in intervals along the base of the house. Additional glass doors
within a glass frame fill the end of the tube. An obvious connection to
nature is essential to most Japanese architects - and here the
placement of windows and doors allows light and wind to penetrate the
entire space. By Andrew J Wiener
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