I have to admit that I have pointed at Tristano di Robilant work since long time ago. Tristano di Robilant is a venetian artist, focused on ceramic and glass. I love his outstanding glass sculptures.  The sculptures are made with a glassblower in Murano, who follows his preparatory drawings.  I love the shape, the colors, the fluid form, the timeless elegance of every pieces. Soon I will buy one piece, in the meantime I suggest you to feast your eyes on the below selection.

Shanghai Express (1932 ) American film directed by Josef von Sternberg with Marlene Dietrich. The film is memorable for its stylistic black-and-white chiaroscuro cinematography, Lee Garmes was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Beautiful photography, scenography, customs, set design, ect.. You can watch 1000 of time and you never get bored. Enjoy

“It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily…”

If you had the chance to travel or maybe to live few years in Asia you  probably might have noticed the Ancestor Portraits. Nowadays these paintings are used as a decorative items, but they were made for an other purpose, in fact they were commissioned by deceased and they were privately display and worshipped. Chinese believe that the spirit of their ancestors could bring them health, prosperity and long life, a kind of commemoration for their ancestors to pay respect to them, Chinese also believe that doing so their ancestors are not tempted to became a ghost to bother them. Most of these portraits are dated from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

It was during the 20th century that westerners started to buy and collect them. Used to decorate many stylish interiors such as,  Valentino  maison, they have started to gain popularity. You can see them everywhere. I have always been interested in these paintings, there is something “regal” about these portraits, they are impressively big. By observing carefully the sophisticate motif and the fabric patterns, colors, you will clearly understand the rank. For example the yellow robes were reserved for the emperor, while embroidered badges with different animals and colorful hats proclaim the subject status and position at court.  You can find a lot of  high-ranking officials, leading experts to believe that loved ones often fudged and had their ancestors painted with elevated status. Hence copies and fakes have become a problem, a part of that there is a debate about if it is appropriate to hang them as a art or decorative item. For an ancient chinese believe there is a strictly connection between the image and the souls of the person.

Personally I think that displaying the portraits of someone else’s deceased ancestors, gives them important and honor. Generally the people who buy these portraits, they have a deeply respect for the image and they are fascinated by them. Of course if you have such kind of object in your house you can not avoid to look at it so it is a sort of preserving memories of human civilization that otherwise it would be forgot.

Valentino Garavani at Château de Wideville, Chinese ancestor portraits from the early 19th century line the curving staircase. [source architecturaldigest.com / Photography by Simon Watson]

Miles Redd

Hermès’ strength has always been the high quality of craftsmanship of its products and deciding to teach the customers the value of their products that they buy it is undoubtedly a remarkable and effective marketing campaign. Festival des Métiers is the traveling Hermès exhibition that started in Seattle in 2011 and until now it is on going. The main characters of this spectacular exhibition are the artisans, who bring to life the visions of the creative team.

If you have the chance to visit the exhibition you can see all famous Hermès products, from screen-printed silk scarves and hand-painted ceramics to the brand’s iconic leather goods.

“This is a celebration of our history, but more importantly a celebration of craft and our craftspeople,” Robert Chavez says. “We’re focusing on the idea that in today’s fast-moving world, some things are still done very slowly, with great attention and great care for detail. And to us, that’s quite magical.”

The value is not in the final product but in the process and it seems that the luxury brands have started to promote it. The value of a luxury products is the quality of materials combined with the artisans’ craftsmanship and it is not just the name of the brand itself.  Luxury brand means to produce a product thanks to artisans, who have achieved their knowledge thru a high education and training. Do not miss the exhibition!

Claire Marie, Leather Craftsperson at the Festival des Métiers | Source: Hermès

Shells are amazing source of inspiration in term of shape, color, texture, layer, patterns and they have always been an evocative object to the beholder’s imagination. In ancient time seashells were used as money and powdered shells were thought to have aphrodisiac powers. Shells were connected to ancient Gods and believes such as god Quetzalcoatl for the Azteca or Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of love and beauty, for Roman and Greek civilizations. Fashion, Architecture, Interior, Design, Graphic Design, Jewelry Design and Art have always found in the shells an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Seashells have always attracted collectors and during 17th century rare shells were a status symbol to  proudly display in the “cabinets of curiosities” from their collectors. Moreover in 18th century the shell influence was stronger during Rococo style, the French style which brings sought to glorify Nature – was named from the rocaille (rock) and the coquille (shell).  Enjoy the mood-board.

Seashell coat from Issey Miyake

Chanel Seashell clutch

Seashell bodice, The Blondes, Spring 2013 whoa

Alexander McQueen, VOSS, spring/summer 2001. Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

Seashell Facade interior wall.

Manny Fontanilla

Cameo Lamp Cameo Factory Near Pompeii

Anne Goldman, Special Edition ‘Seashell’

Cheonggye Fountain by Aaron Brown Photography, via Flickr

Italian Venetian Grotto (19th Cent) silver gilt arm chairs with carved seashell back & seat with dolphin design on arms – Franco Zefferelli Collection -

I love how this huge shell chandelier

The Birth of Venus by Boticelli.

I have a deeply admiration for the geometrical compositions of Iranian artist Shirana Shahbazi. I like her colorful style of composition completely realized without digital image processing. “Her art is no completed synthesis, but a synthesis as endless task – a hybrid entity.”  Below a selection of art pieces. More you can find here.

This weekend Stephen Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra debuts on HBO, the movie is focused on the relationship between the famous performer Liberace and a young boy called Scott Thorson who has written a book about their five-years affair. Undoubtedly, apart his personal life, he was a great showman, famous for his performances and his elaborate taste regarding fashion, interior, cars. During his long career he has worn outfits that “no one else in the show business could afford to wear or would dare to wear”. Before Cher, Elton John, Madonna, Lady Gaga it was the Liberace Era more luxurious and of course more stylish than the others. Among his wardrobe there are tuxedos with diamond buttons, capes, bow ties, and short-shorts, all embroiders with diamonds, gems, electric lights, rhinestones, fur, etc. If you want to know more about his outfits you should buy this book: Liberace Extravaganza!

“When the reviews are bad I tell my staff that they can join me as I cry all the way to the bank”.  [Liberace ]

Below the famous entrance that he did for one of his concerts in Las Vegas, have a look!

Liberace House

King Neptune costume, [picture © Snarkygurl's Flickr Stream.]

Text by Giovanni Morisi, Bologna { Italy } // 14.05.2013

There are a lot of kinds of people, but everyone has gone to an happy hour once in their life and, generally speaking, what they order is what they are. The guy who asks for what he knows is good gets an Aperol Spritz (ndr. a popular drink in Italy); the chick who holds a Cosmopolitan in her hand stands on high-heeled shoes; out of the bar an heavily tattooed arm carries a Negroni while a red Lucky Strike is on fire in the other hand. Then there’s Letizia Cesarini, alias Maria Antonietta, who begins her first solo album, out the 6 of January 2012 with the same name of the artist, published by Picicca Dischi, telling us about her life and her Martini Cocktail (if she wants it “shaked not stirred” like 007, she doesn’t let us know).

{ photo via be-happy }

The LP is introduced by the song “Questa è la mia festa”, which shows us the world of a twenty-something girl who, although she’s out of the “teen years”, can’t free herself from the ghosts of that age. A world made of light feelings of men that “faccio finta di essere convinta di meritarmi” (ndr. “I pretend to be convinced that I deserve”), by too many medicines and cigarettes, musically expressed in a melancholic, biting, happy and introvert bipolarity. Follows up “Con gli occhiali da sole”, a dance tune perfect for someone who’s ready for a change, ready to move on to a new chapter, which is covered by a black cloud that reminds of a past which is not easy to forget, neither writing songs, “perché credevo rendesse in qualche modo migliori” (ndr. “because I thought it would have changed me for the better”). “Estate ’93” is a slow and moving song that tells us about a new theme close to the songwriter: the importance of the religious figures, which uncovers the desire for a pure love, that is betrayed by the cruel nature of her relationships and brings to accuse “Gesù che non me l’aveva detto quando prendevo a modello le sue sante vergini” (ndr. “Jesus who hasn’t told me about when I followed as a model his holy virgins”).

The track “Quanto eri bello” gives us an electric feeling, which comes from the school of the grunge band Hole and from Carmen Consoli, that shouts out the evanescent beauty of an hook-up that can’t kill the memory of a filthy past. On the other side “Saliva”, a sentimental crescendo which begins as a whisper in the ear of a lover, while the sheets are still protecting the couple, and grows as a disgusted howl for her own life choices, or her destiny. Two short tracks retrace the defeat of the role model of the Virgin and saints in the life of Maria Antonietta: the first song, “Maria Maddalena”, confesses the vacuum beyond the mask of beauty; “Santa Caterina” exposes the failure in getting to happiness in a half-throated cry. A tired voice starts singing “Stasera ho da fare”, followed by a tambourine that frames the words of a loser; suddenly “Stanca” begins, that shows all the anger simply repeating the chorus “io sono così stanca” (ndr. “I’m so tired”) and the axes of an amp.

{ photo via grandipalledifuoco }

After 4 tracks two minutes long, “Motel” tells in three minutes and a half the condition of dreariness of a relationship which is lived upon the social borders of love, in the room of a motel, that leads to the final step towards the death of the holy side of the musician, “pur di morire giovane in una vasca di motel come una specie di martire” (ndr. “just to die young in a motel’s tub like some kind of martyr”). The second to last song “Tu sei la verità non io”, characterized by a fast rhythm, rushes to “Alla felicità e ai locali punk”, a sigh of relief after an hellish trip (that goes with the chorus by the singer from the band Chewingum, Giovanni Imparato), admits finally that what it should have been didn’t come true.

The first Maria Antonietta’s album is a bound between fury and melancholy, saints and sinners, songwriting and the 90s. Musically speaking, it refers to the great Italian tradition of the songwriter, for example Carmen Consoli, who Letizia Cesarini says to know quite well, or Brunori Sas, to who the album is dedicated, but she admits her preference for the American grunge of Courtney Love. The coexistence of rock and acoustic guitar trace the contrast between good and bad, life and death, peace and war, paradise and hell, which fight each other all the time in a girl’s life, who has to survive even if she has to use legal drugs as aspirins and cigarettes. This conflict is translated by a LP which jumps from strength to compliance, which is love isn’t it?

{ cover photo by Flavia E. Tullio }

This is a project, one of those you really feel as part of your life, there’re passion, love and dark feelings. This is a photographic and autobiographical project of Sacha Maric and is also something able to “rape” me while I was tired surfing.

The black and white of the images is revealing all those opposite feelings and trying to skip to the next photo you’re still dreaming about the previous one.

Sacha Maric one year ago decided to make a book out of this series “Good Mother and Father“, a black elegant object to tell us the story of her daughter’s first couple of years of her life.

Unfortunately the book is sold out and Sasha hope to re-print a second issue, while we are waiting for it, check out other projects on his website, visit him in Copenhagen or just surf as I did. It’s always healty to let your mind run faster.

A proper gentleman has to know all the secrets for the perfect grooming and shaving is one of his routine . To learn all the secrets, once in your life you should go at the barber’s shop. Not only because sometimes we need to spoiled ourself but also because it is an unforgettable experience. I do remember when I was a child I used to spend a lot of time looking at my grandfather  while he was shaving, I was fascinated by the gestures, the parfum, etc. I looked at my grandfather as he was an alchimist, transforming what I believed it was a normal soap into a soft moisturizing cream and prepare all the necessary for the shaving. Growing I have keep the fascination for the barber shops. I like to enter in such male private space, even if I am a woman…One of the barber’s shops that I have always dreamed to visit it is Antica Barberia Colla in Milan, opened by Dino Colla, a barber from Ferrara, in 1904. For more than hundred years they have provide a five star service for hair and bristly beards. Now the barber shop is owned by Franco Bompieri.

So don’t hesitate to make an appointment at Antica Barberia Colla- TJS seal of approval, we have tried and tested!
{ Antica Barberia Colla - Via Gerolamo Morone 3 – 20121 Milano Italia – tel.+39 02874312 }

All pictures are ©Antica Barberia Colla

The history of the barber shop explained below.

Famous grooming techniques used at that time were: after shaving steaming hot towels, “sfumatura a candela” haircut, the first shampoos made of Marseilles soap flakes, bitter almond oil, egg, rum and salt. Colla pioneered a manicure service in his salon. Colla was not only a pioneer in customer service, he also fostered a mutual association of hairdressers and promoted a successful referendum that set Monday as a day off. After several years, the salon’s success was widely acclaimed and started to be attended as a lounge for meetings, almost like a British club. It was indeed used by authorities for important events such as the inauguration of the Milanese International Exhibition. As the business and success were growing, Colla decided that the salon deserved more room, thus he moved in Via Verdi 2 (at the intersection with Via Manzoni) just right opposite Teatro alla Scala in 1919 (end of the World War I).

In the new location, Antica Barbieria Colla had its greatest glory. It became almost an institution as the salon served all the institutions. Antica Barbieria had the most selected and best-trained team able to deliver the most impeccable service in town. Colla’s success, in Via Verdi, lasted until August 1943, when a dreadful bombing razed Piazza della Scala and the entire neighbourhood to the ground. The shop remained closed for nine months but in April 1944, it reopened in Via Morone 3, the current location.

The second best spot during the Milan Design Week was Spazio Rossana Orlandi, a quiet greenhouse surrounded by design and inside the courtyard (with great food) we met Tobias Gutmann.

He’s a Swiss student at the Konstfack University in Stockholm and he was sitting in front of a strange creature, the Face-o-mat.

What’s the Face-o-mat is about? Well, it’s the perfect mixture of illustration, talent and improvvisation.

Tobias let you sit in front of him and the machine tools, you can choose your preferred settings and let him to draw your portrait.

He’s sometimes on tour, so you’ll maybe have the chance to have your own drawing – while you’re waiting have a look down here and starve for it.

Last friday I had the chance to see an amazing show at Saigon’s historic Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. While I was walking without a fixed destination I suddenly saw from far away a curious installation made by bamboo in front of the Opera House. Soon I have discovered that at 8:00PM of the same day there would be a vietnamese show performance called AO show. It is one hour show with acrobatic dance and traditional vietnamese music performance. I have to say that it has been quite long time since I saw a show with such overwhelming intensity. A non-stop acrobatic performance with a stunning scenography where black is the dominant color through out the show. The reference to the Cirque du Soleil is quite evident even because the show director Tuan Le is the first vietnamese artist to join the world famous Cirque du Soleil. Tuang Le lived and worked in Berlin for many years before he moves back to Ho Chi Minh City. He is one of the three people who created Lang Toi Circus Show, together with Nguyen Lan Maurice, the training director, and Nguyen Nhat Ly, the music director. AO show is deeply related to vietnamese culture and life, the bamboo has a strong role in the overall show, it is not just a prop but it is connected with the movements and emotions of each dance performer. The show is a series of scene describing the transformation of modern Vietnamese society and its people. Performers have different background from acrobats, martial arts performers to street-style dancers, jugglers. Five musicians play live music using traditional instruments. If you are in Ho Chi Minh you can not miss it! We love the show.

After four days around Milan and its design week, it’s good to make a selection of what really is still on your mind. And believe me, they are just few episodes compared to the big circus between Tortona, Lambrate, Brera and Cadorna areas. 

(In)visible Design, a project by Logotel, is absolutely the first: what about the new generation design? What about the untouchable design of every day life? The exhibition investigates those themes and shows 26 projects connected to the invisible world and close to them a selection of other researches – between science, technology, art, literature, cinema and graphics – that give a total look to it.

The most interesting spots go from the 3D printed record (Amanda Ghassaei) to the GPS shoes (Dominic Wilcox), from the Multi-Touch gestures (Gabriele Meldaikyte > read our pevious post) to the Tableware as sensorial stimuli (Jinhyun Jeon).

Butterfly form seems to constantly inspire the world of fashion, architecture, design, find below my mood board.

Magnetized Cyanotype Butterfly installations by Tasha Lewis

Flutter is a really impressive interactive artwork by Dominic Harris of Cinimod Studio.

German visual propstylish and photographer Dietlind Wolf creates beautiful and poetical sets with unique style. She is inspired by never ending curiosity and ancient customs/art/techniques and life itself. Below some of  her beautiful creations, have a look.

concept + production + styling : Dietlind Wolf

photos : jan c. Brettschneider

in print : Architektur und Wohnen 2/06

If you love to wear a characterful contemporary bracelet that is not only an adornment but it is a result of distinctive technique totally handcrafted, you will be captured by them and the story behind. Designed by Gradiska, talented designer with a degree in Architecture, these bracelets have a distinctive style and not only, they are the result of years of determination, passion, experimentations, etc.  Licensed design patent, these bracelets are made  in leather and studs, where the metal parts are not in direct contact with the skin. Thanks to the special design, the wrist is well protected from nickel that it is often the cause of allergies. If you want to know more here is the link to her FB page

Here we are with the second recipe for our experimental project for the Milan Design Week. After the Galliano Lollipop, we tried to realize some traditional ones.

Just few ingredients: 200gr brown sugar, 100ml orange juice, some sticks, a bit of patience and a lot of calm while dropping the caramel on the griddle.

And while we’re waiting for them to be cold and solid – we write post. Easy no?

Recipe created in Bangkok for an event in Milan by TSJ crew
Few days are left from one of the most important event about design, Milan Design Week. This year two of TJS crew are attending the event and all together we have thought to realize a homemade product to survive to the long and never ending kermesse to eat when we need a break. It is a easy recipe that everyone can create at home you just need 30 minutes. Here is one of the 3, the Galliano Lollipop. Soon the other two recipes, keep tuned. Have a nice sunday!

Below the recepe:

1 and 1/2 sugar spoon
1/2  teaspoon of Galliano 

The city of Barcelona is a prosperous place for architecture offices, design practices and creative people in general. There is who choose to be focused just in one topic and then there is someone who decide to easily experience all of them togethere. That’s what APPAREIL does.

One of the most interesting on-going projects is Naves, the proposal for a temporary pavillion for Mons, the 2015 Culture Capital. It looks at the historical gothic signs of the city and re-reads them giving to the light its importance and reducing the structures (arches, pillars, vaults) at their minimum. The lightness won.

Look down here to the very interesting study drawings and static calculation. And then, after architecture – we have design. We pick up 2 nice projects: one is Kink, a table with folded angles and Ver-de, your new small vegetable garden to be placed inside the house.

Appareil is a young practice, but I’m sure we’re going to hear more and more fequently about them.

photo and drawings credits © Appareil

It seems that the new trend in Architecture, Fashion, design and Art is  ”Pleats“! Below our weekly mood-board, enjoy and Happy Monday!

Perforated Pleated Facade created by Architects Universal Design Studio for H&M clothing retailer in Seoul, South Korea.

Pleated Fantasy Gown 

Pleated Turban

Pleated wall, The State Bedchamber by Robert Adam

Pleated Floor lamp 

Folded watercolor paper by Richard Sweeney (2010)

“Minaret” dress by Issey Miyake. Spring/summer 1994

Atelier Versace.

Greta Garbo wearing dress with large pleated silk bow.

Pleated Rafia Chairs

Pleats M SAITAMA, Japan A project by: Hironaka Ogawa & Associates Architecture

Chanel Spring 2012

Office Axis Mundi has designed ‘Cathedral Fold’ in Strasbourg, France. Composed of a series of pleated concrete arches.

Pleats Installation made of 10,000 strips of paper by Daniele Papuli

Kelly Wearstler Jeweled Pleated Clutch

Imagine yourself when you have to submit an essay in order to be accepted for a job or for any education application, it is difficult and take a while, because we want to be sure to get the attention. Somebody was able to finds his own peculiar way to have the attention. This guy, Hugh Gallagher wrote an unusual essay to a college in 1999. His joke-essay has brought him to the fame but on the other hand he was victim of plagiarism from many people around the world. A certain point his essay was considered as “Urban legend” and so Mr. H.Gallagher has to fight back to underline that the text was written by himself.

Here are few lines from 1998. Hugh Gallagher’s ‘College Essay :
[ … ] I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400 [ … ] .

Here is an interview done by WSJ. Have a look.

“Lettera a una professoressa” is the original Italian title of the book written by Don Milani, Letter to a teacher, denouncing the class-based educational system. It was composed by eight young boys from the school of Barbiana, a remote village in the mountains of Tuscany, according to the group writing method after a year project done by Milani. Published in 1969, two years after the dead of Don Lorenzo Milani the book was center of discussion for many years. It is a pedagogical classic that continues to shock and inspire.

David Botsford, on © 1993: Libertarian Alliance describe the book as following : first published in 1969, in which they explained the work of the school, and gave a devastating and bitter critique of the Italian compulsor school system. The book became a best-seller in Italy, and was translated into many languages. Its value is greatly increased by the fact that it is the work of young people themselves, and not that of academics, teachers, parents or ideologues trying to identify the experiment with their own viewpoint. / [ … ] The authors attacked the state school curriculum as being useless for the real purpose for which the knowledge should be acquired, and deliberately making it far more complicated than necessary.

Next month, Italy 19-20 April 2013, at Verona, Teatro Laboratorio [ ex Arsenale Asburgico ] Mr. Claudio Ascoli founder of Chille de la Balanza, a Research Theatre Lab will play on stage “Lettera a una professoressa” an interactive performance, based on the concept of “group writing” . Every time the show will be a bit different according with public, objects and atmosphere on the theatre.

During the show on 14-15 March at Florence, Claudio Ascoli with Chille will show a short movie 1963, Comizi D’amore by Pierpaolo Pasolini.

Below the trailer and this is the link to the complete movie

Thanks to smartphones and tablets our daily gestures list is becoming bigger and bigger. First was scroll, then tap, swipe, flip and zoom have become new actions for our fingers and also our mind.

Designer Gabrielé Meldaikyte has created the Multi-Touch Gestures series: 5 mini interactive sculptures to better learn and understand how we are everyday interacting with those new media interfaces. Idea! Why don’t we use them to teach to our grandparents how to use those new technologies?

It may seems coins, but they’re not. It’s 3D graphics and great illustration.

That’s what Kendrick Kidd, an American graphic designer from Florida have done for the Texas Monthly magazine. A tribute to the peculiarities of the most important Texas’ cities: San Antonio and its Tower of the Americas, Dallas and the money exchange, Houston and petroleum, Austin and its representative role, the West symbol of Fort Worth and El Paso and its no-man’s land.

Won’t you like a reinterpretation of your money identity too?

This world is the real Alice’s wonderland.

You don’t really have to look that far away to discover great things. Better if you look behind you, in our past, in traditions and land full of history. Tuscany is one of those magical places and today we want to show (or better remember) what’s in Lucignano, a small town close to Arezzo, Siena and Florence.

The city is famous for its urban development and architecture, but more than this it’s the preserver of the Lignum Vitae (The Tree of Life). An example of perfect goldsmithry from the XV century, the only jewel-reliquary composed by gold, coral, crystals, glaze and artisanal passion.

It’s a symbol itself and has a lot of figurative symbols in its structure as well, it’s good auspice for young couples and aphrodisiac promise for the old ones.

We remembered about it thanks to Certified Copy, a film by Abbas Kiarostami

and we shift you to another film, The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick. Finally you have three wonders to look at: happy viewing!

Have you ever been fascinated by movable and paper animated books? Don’t you wanna go back to your childhood days?

Well, whatever, Kevin Steele decided to bring your back on time with its Movable Book of Letterforms: the best half-way between letterpress culture and paper motion.

Have a look to the video down here and think that’s art.

Hitnes is an illustrator, a silk-screen printer, but more that anything else a lover of the animal world. He’s doing a great research about animals since many years and he’s able to traslate the natural world in fantastic drawings full of details.

Last week the Museo di Zoologia (Zoology museum) in Rome has opened his exhibition. Pages and pages of old magazines, books, posters, music sheets from all over the world enriched with its illustrations. Paginae Naturalis it’s a new encyclopedia of an half-imaginary world, a contemporary collection that reminds me about Albertus Seba’s “Cabinet of Natural Curiosities“ and Ernst Haeckel’s “Kunstformen der Natur“. 

So, if you’ll be around Rome before April 7th, don’t loose the chance to discover a new natural world.

What happens when design meets food shapes? Studio Lav, a young Greek design office, has the answer.

Their Designer Baking series and Couture Biscuits consists in two olive wood stamps to impress textile patterns on biscuits dough.

The project was realized for the 2013 London Fashion Week  and the fashion designer Haizen Wang. Great concept, good packagind and probably delicious biscuits.

 thanks to Spazio Abo for the suggestion.  

The collaboration between AMO/Rem Koolhaas creative department and Prada isn’t a news, it’s 10years they are working together.

That’s why, after the great catwalk for the AW13 menswear collection in Milan with Knoll design, TheJuiceSqueezer decides to celebrate this solid duo.

AW13 Man

SS12 Man

SS12 Woman

AW11 Woman

AW10 Man

SS10 Man

SS09 Man

SS08 Man

AW08 Man

AW06 Woman

SS05 Man

For this sixth episode of Enel Contemporanea, the Macro Testaccio museum in Rome will host until next winter the Big Bambù realized by the American artists Mike & Doug Starn.

It’s a gigantic sculpture, almost 30meters height, made just with bambù sticks and bows. It has become immediately a new simbol for the district and the queues are longer day after day.

We’ve been there to climb and relax for a bit on the top and we can’t wait to try it again in the summer.

Mary McFadden is a well know as unconventional fashion icon. I find her work extremely beautiful and sophisticate. Named with the title of High Priestess of High Fashion,  due to the fact that her creations have been inspired by ancient civilization, she has always been head of her times. Her luxury creations show rich fabrics, embossed details, printed silk inspired by by ancient Classic Greek, African, Japanese, Indian cultures. Her work can be considered as a historical collection of entire art civilization such as: art of woven, printed silk, etc. I like her not only for her fashion creations but also for her interiors where different styles from different part of the world are merged together. She has designed jewelry, ceramics, interiors, etc.

My next purchase will be her book, here is the link.

You can find screenprinted books, posters, fanzine about everything, now also about porn illustration.

Porno Subito is a really nice work by Flavia Monguzzi aka Miss Goffetown screenprinted in three colors by Print About Me, an Italian small growing reality, dedicated to contemporary and independent graphic work that every years also organizes contests and printing residences.

Have a look down here to the production video.

pornosubitoteaserexp from Filippo Basile on Vimeo.

Pietra Dura is a decorative art using cut and fitted, highly-polished colored stones to create images. It is a technique developed from the Ancient Roman, opus sectile, used on floors and walls. Largely used during Middle Ages and in Italian Renaissance this technique again was used for images.

From Wikipedia:The Florentines, who most fully developed the form, however, regarded it as ‘painting in stone’. It is stated that Domenico Ghirlandaio ”dubbed the medium ‘Pittura per l’eternità’ — that is, painting for eternity”

This technique is very impressing and it can be used to decorate floors, walls small jewelry boxes, paintings, etc. I am definitely addicted to Pietra Dura and I have some pieces decorated items for my home. With this technique you can also use semi-precious stones. Below a selection of examples of Pietra Dura  works, enjoy.

If you have the change I would like to suggest to visit the Opificio delle Pietre Dure  Museum  in Florence.

Leonardo Scarpelli of the Scarpelli Mosaic studio 

Shoes with pietra dura heel

Here is the link for the book.

Last years can be classified as the “food years“. People, designers, sociologists started to look at food as a new way to speak with the world and at the same time to develop new research cheering up our taste buds. That’s why also museums find new ways to express food potential and Italy culture couldn’t just stay there and look.

Achille Castiglioni, Cappello Borsalino, 1980 – courtesy Fondazione Achille Castiglioni

Infact last week the MART museum in Rovereto (IT) opened “The Food Project” exhibition, better if we say a project exhibition about food and its shapes read by famous architects, designers and of course some of the best Italian chefs.

Marti Guixe, I-cakes, 2001 photo: Imagekontainer/Knölke

Delphine Huguet, Speculoos, 2007

Atsuhiro Hayashi, Polar Ice, 2011

The Saint Paul cathedral out of a geleé, a cup made with cinnamon or coffee powder, strange pasta experiment, pictures of good-looking dishes or an effimero sugar spoon are some of the protagonists. You can find more pictures here on the Pinterest Food Project page.

PUTPUT, Popsicles, 2012

Mischer’Traxler Studio, Reversed volumes, 2010

Studio Formafantasma, Autharchy, 2010

The project has also an on-going show cooking the MartCooking. The recap is divine food, strange shapes, crazy colors, beautiful fantasies.

The Dutch airline KLM launched a new project and website in 24 countries dedicated to whom is always ready to depart. Looking at the social media’s trend – people are used to ask friends what they know about the city they’re going to visit.

Must See Map gives everybody the chance to realise their own map filled with friends’ tips and to print it, receive it directly at home for free.

A new kind of “tipped” trip and path to run during your holidays. Let’s start!

Think Space is an interesting reality based in Zagreb and it’s a open space for experimentation and ideas exchange.

Each year they have a specific theme and competitions about it, the last one in 2012 saw the re-visit of three important competitions that have changed the idea of architecture (The Peak, Yokohama port terminal, Blur Building) and we’re having the winners as judges for the new proposals (Zaha Hadid, FOA, Diller + Scofidio). The Think Space Past Forward main objective was to re-reading recent history to find out if it influenced the present.

Until February 15th, the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York will held the exhibition The Competitive Hypothesis about last years architecture competitions, rendering images’ dioramas , short texts and self-portraits of some minds behind the winners. The goal is the same: reading the past to understand the present.

Nothing is normal for Rubelli.
Everything is naturally extraordinary.

Rubelli is a italian luxury textile company based in Venice. In the weaving Rubelli are produced most of the fabric for Armani / Casa or the fabric  for major projects such as La Scala and La Fenice theater. Beside of the fabric production Rubelli produces also furniture, furnishings and lighting.
The standard is not part of Rubelli’s idiom and neither is minimalism in their DNA. A simple line is designed accurately decorated and heavy shaded. I love the new collection, have a look to their catalogue below.

Rubelli 2013. Nathalie Lété.

Rubelli 2013. Barnabé Fillion.

“Minerals” are the latest trend; once again the world of interior, fashion, design, etc. find a source of inspiration from the earth or better in its treasures. I found an interesting source of pattern and facets in stones, agates, quartzs, minerals. These pieces are incredible elegant and sophisticate. In my cabinet of curiosity I am collecting some of these pieces, here is my selection, enjoy it! Maybe you can be inspired and buy as well one of these accessories for you and your home.

“There is nothing more beautiful than nature “ [Designer Jan Showers]

I have already declared my passion and admiration for Ado Chale in one of my previous post (here) once again I have to repeat myself because I really love his Hematite and Brass table lamp

From the Primavera Gallery: ”While traveling through Germany, Ado Chale developed his passion for minerals in the mid 1950′s. A decade later, he opened a small shop in Brussels, selling rare and beautiful mineral specimens. It was around the same time that began to design furniture and lamps incorporating specimens from his extensive collection. This highly unusual lamp combines hematite with a sleek, architectural brass mounting. 25.5″ H x 14.5″ W x 8″ D.” Ado Chale, Belgium, ca. 1960′s

Below you can find an other option form Quattro shop in Bangkok, Thailand

Below a table by Matthew Studios

Agate stacking boxes by Lille

Carlos Miele Spring-Summer 2012

Door pull at Kelly Wearstler

Charles Albert Agate Solid Cuff

Agate wall

Kelly Wearstler

I love this wall decorated as a stone. Design by Gabriel Hendifar

photo by Patrick Lafaiete from TrendTabler

TheJuiceSqueezer loves Pantone colors (here) and food of course. And the work of Alison Anselot fits perfectly with our passions.

There’s not much more to say, just to see and to imagine how can those foody things could be good.

via Dude magazine

Autocomple.ch is the title of the observation regarding the relationship between the word Switzerland and Google done by two students of Master of Advanced Studies Spatial Design (MAS) at Zhdk [ Zurich ]

Below few lines from their intro.

[...] The ten autocomplete suggestions for the word “Switzerland” and “Swiss” in the four
official Swiss languages (German, French, Italian and Romans) plus English as the international language of the internet were transcribed every day for a month. The change is almost imperceptible. The image of Switzerland shifts in slow motion [...] .

credits :
Michele D‘Ariano and Anne-Chantal Rufer at Master of Advanced Studies Spatial Design (MAS) semester 2012/2013 Zhdk

below the full doc

A new project, born just few months ago, coming from Sicily (IT) let people talk about him.

DettoFatto is an on-going workshop/lab dedicated to self-construction architecture and design, basically they play a lot with wood and other simple building materials to realise new kind of structures for traditional design concept.

That’s what last week happened at FARM Cultural Park in Butera. DettoFatto held a four days workshop to build new chicken cages, refuges for poultry in general and a permaculture yard. The easy design is perfect to welcome animals and people. Have a look to the project down here.

What if two architecture pratices decide to start a research about the future city and this city is a “elderly people” designed city? The city is Genoa, north of Italy, sea, port, famous for its history and sang by many songwriters. The architects are Gruppo A12 and Baukuh. The base field is what’s happening to a city that had lost a quarter of its population during the last 25 years and Italy as an example of fast “getting old” country.

The architects have two proposals. Gruppo A12 focus on old age in relation with Genoa and draws a utopic island on the sea in front of the city, it can be seen as a ghetto, as a hospice, but in reality it’s a place for new thoughts, new visions and investigations. Different kind of notes: maps about city morphology, writings about its inhabitants, images on its shape and nature. But at the same time they are notes for a possible manifesto.

Baukuh decides to work with the lack of population and to destroy the 1% volume of the city. The concept is already investigated with the side project Genovamenounopercento. The project are two drawings, one showing the actual situation of the city and the other with the proposed solutions. It’s a small surgery perspective to give prominence to green, public squares and social spaces.

The projects are exhibited in Genoa at pinksummer gallery until March, 23rd.

thanks to Gruppo A12 and Baukuh for the images

Last week I went back to my Tuscany for a few days, but I’m never satisfied to discover new things. Galleria Continua in San Gimignano was my target and I did it. It’s one of the most famous gallery in Italy and out of it and until February 16th they will show Ai Weiwei works. The popular chinese artist is a test driver in different fields – from photography to architecture through docu direction. Galleria Continua presents some unreleased works and others on display for the first time in Italy.

The red line of my visit as an architect starts from one video of his 258 Fake, a series of 7.677 pictures taken between 2003 and 2011 documenting its artist’s life. From all those pictures I’ve been raped by the construction of a reproduction model of the Tatlin’s Monument of the Third International – it’s something I always wondered about and Ai Weiwei reinterpretation made me wonder more and more.

The second stop of the line brings us to Inner Mongolia and the wooden Ordos 100 Model. Another project that sees the artist working with the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, after the Beijing olympic stadium and the Serpentine pavillon, they called 100 architects from 27 nations to realize 1000sqms villas and to imagine different kind of spaces and free shapes.

The beautiful parterre of the old theatre is fulfilled with the model and all around on the walls and up to the side balcony the 100 project boards close the space. Also if my mind would have preferred to have just the strong materiality of the volumes and to have the imagination free to think about interiors and space relations.

To close, just some name of the Ordos “army” – NL architects, JDS, Estudio Barozzi Veiga, Atelier Bow Wow, Dellekamp Arquitectura, R&Sie(n), WORK, Sou Fujimoto.

Down here the film Ordos 100 documents the three on-site inspections for the finalization of the design that has not yet been realized.

Ordos 100 Model, 2011
// legno di pino, video
| pine wood, video // 80 x 1511 x 1357.3 cm, 1h 0m 57s


Courtesy GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin

Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO STUDIO. The reproduction rights of all artworks therein belong to their creators and are protected by copyright

I know that every architect have been in love with Lego bricks, but sometimes all our memories comes back in one moment and they generates skyscrapers. Yes, exactly skyscrapers!

That’s what MVRDV and The Way Factory have done for the Venice Biennale (I missed them there) and now they show them again in Cannes for the MIPIM Innovation Forum.

You could think they’re crazy, that is something already seen, that is out of the hype, that everyone who doesn’t have anything to invent comes out with an idea about Lego. But the truth is: you all would like to realise models like those and, no way, you won’t unless you decide to spend the next years on collecting plastic bricks.

It’s a research, but I want to believe that’s even more fun.

For one of our last projects we (Tommaso Maggio, Laura Perin) had the opportunity to collaborate with B-Floor, thai physical theater company, as production designers and art directors for the stage performance called “Survival Games”, sponsorized by Art in Global Health, Wellcome Collection, { Welcome Trust }. The science performance was directed by Terawat Mulvilai and Nana Dakin, and it took place at the Pridi Banomyong Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. The main subject of this performance were the Malaria and Melioidosis diseases and the human reactions, feelings about it.

Beside the performance there was the exhibition, curated by Bow Nikan Wasinandh, documenting the whole process.

Our intention was to create a link between the exhibition space and the set designed for the stage. To this end we decided to consider both spaces as a journey thru the experience of the diseases starting from the main entrance. To reach the theater space you had to walk through a specific path passing by a semi-open space, where the exhibition was set, then reaching a open courtyard that brings you to the theater space.

The entrance bridge was entirely covered with plastic sheeting and the neon lights highlighted the atmosphere. The bridge floor was partially covered by circular powder dots symbolizing the disease that is spread around. Unconscious guests, visitors were walking through the bridge step on the white dots, leaving a physical sign of their presence.

The exhibition space reproduced a kind of scientific laboratory where guests could collect information regarding the performance. Two videos edited by the director Terawat Mulvilai (Kane) were projected on a metal surface, a clear remind to the laboratory.

The B-Floor’s performance was a mixture of theater, projections, puppet theater scenes, and physical performance with a complex plot divided into 3 main scenes with different locations.
Hence we proposed a moveable stage that gradually interacted with the actors and the script. The stage consists in 4 scaffolding systems covered with white board panels. During the whole performance the stage kept constantly changing.

Have a look to the below teaser and pictures of the performance!

Below some photos of the performance :
Photos credits : B-Floor Theater

Performance Review on Thai Newspapers [ en. version ]
Review of SURVIVAL GAMES by BANGKOK POST
Review of Survival Games by ‘The Nation‘
Review of Survival Games by ‘BlouinArtInfo‘

SURVIVALGAMES by B-floor Cast an crew Credits :
Directors : Teerawat Mulvilai, Nana Dakin
Performers : Jaa Phantachat, Dujdaa Vadhapakorn Boonyai, Sasapin Siriwanji, Sarut Kamalittipang, Thanapol Virulhakul, Vidura Amranand
Shadow Puppetters : Monthatip Suksopha, Sujiittra Prasert, Nutjaporn Swasdiprom, Catherine Friesen
Writers : Jaa Phantachat, Adam Eliot
Producer Team : Duanjai Hirunsri, Pilaipun Thammamitr, Donrudee Jamrashai
Techinical Director : Sarayut Phetsamrit
Production Art Design : Tommaso Maggio, Laura Perin)
Lighthing Designer : Pavinee Samakkabutr
Graphic & Multimedia : Taechit Jiropaskosol, Ekawit Lekviriyakul
Sound Designer : Katenan Juntimathorn
Costume : Nicha Puranasamriddhi
Make Up : Bandit Kaewanna
Stage Manager : Suranya Poonyaphitak
Backstage : Catherine Friesen, Jenwit Narukatpichai, Surat Kaewseekram
Operators : Kemmachat Sermsukchareonchai, Chantiga Chotkajornthai
Set, Props, Lightinng Crew : Lapin Laosunthara, Surachai Petsangrot, Kornchai Menwong, Sirameth Akkarapakulseth, Peerapol Kiijiruenpiromsuk, Punika Rangchaya.
Exhibition Curator : Nikan Wasinondh
PR Director : Varayoo Intrakumhang
PR Video : Chalat Siriwanjj
PR Photos : Withit Chanthamarit
Project Director : Nana Dankin

“If I have chosen the Diamond, It is because it  represents in its density, the greatest value in the smallest volume.” (Coco Chanel)

In 1933 Coco Chanel revolutionized the world of High Jewelry presenting a collection entirely dedicated to the diamond. Still today diamonds are a recognizable sign of the famous French fashion house. In the film below you will see the history of diamonds at Chanel.

“I want jewels that slip between the fingers of a woman like a ribbon”, she is said once. Enjoy the video.

Cover picture: ©Chanel 1932

Are you interested in Art and Culture?
You can not miss the opportunity to support an artistic performance created by tree artists from different fields and backgrounds. They are one musician, Jacopo Gianninoto [ Italy ], and two contemporary performers/actors, Nana Dakin [ USA/Thailand ] and Sasapin Siriwanij [ Thailand ] from B-Floor Theatre.

Topic of the show : The life and philosophy of Giordano Bruno in the symbolic language of Art. To understand completely this performance we suggest you to read something about Giordano Bruno philosophy such as free thinking, here you can find more information. There will be two life performances one in Bangkok, Thailand and another one in Padua, Italy during the theatre festival in July, 2013 [tentative date July 25th].

We truly believe that even a small help can make the difference, so please support and share it. Here is the link with more information: http://igg.me/p/303392

From their website : Notes on the Music
The music will be performed live on the renaissance lute, from the repertoire of G.M. da Crema, Francesco da Milano, S. Molinaro, G.C. Barbetta, J.B. Besard, J. Dowland and other composers of that period with some added improvisations.

“I can imagine an infinite number of worlds like the Earth, with a Garden of Eden on each one. In all these Gardens of Eden, half the Adams and Eves will not eat the fruit of knowledge, and half will. But half of infinity is infinity, so an infinite number of worlds will fall from grace and there will be an infinite number of crucifixions.” – Giordano Bruno (1548 – 1600)

A friend of mine has just posted on her fb page this treaser.
It is a video about a collection called Voltage by Iris van Herpen Haute Couture S/S 2013

Eleven-piece collection featured two 3D printed ensembles. The work is a result of a collaboration between the Dutch designer, and other creative minds. An elaborate skirt and cape are created with professor Neri Oxman from MIT’s* Media Lab, and 3D printed by Stratasys. Another intricate dress was also designed in collaboration with Austrian architect Julia Koerner, currently lecturer at UCLA Los Angeles, and 3D printed by Materialise, marking the second piece created together with Koerner and the ninth with Materialise.

If you want know more about the connexion between fashion and tech here is the full description,

Below some pics from the official website and link to the Voltage Collection Credits

Then let’s see how for the upcoming years the 3D printer machine will be a great gift for your kids/nephews …