Must See >> "Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen" at MoMA
“Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen,” an innovative new exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is now open and running through March 14.
“Conceived by the museums Department of Architecture and Design, the exhibition explores the ways in which the 20th-century kitchen and its continual redesign reflects social, economic, and political change throughout the world. “Counter Space” features almost 300 works from the MoMA’s collection, including design objects, architectural plans, posters, photographs, archival films, prints, paintings, and media works.”
F. Scott on Zelda
“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn’t all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Kisssing]
Pantone Credit Card
Speaking of functional objects being pretty, I NEED a Pantone Visa. Never before has having a special credit card, like with an image or your school logo or whatever, carried any appeal for me, but THIS, on the other hand, would just make the inside of my wallet look so much nicer. I wish I could have all my cards be Pantone cards so they would all stack up in their little slots in my wallet and make a nice little color story.
[Available here]
Martin Scorsese for Bleu de Chanel
What happens when you give Scorsese only 1 minute to tell a story?
It comes out just like a Scorsese– a man trying to find himself, flashing camera bulbs and shutter sounds, an opening sequence pulled from another point in the story’s timeline, Rolling Stones, etc. The only thing missing is violence, but you wouldn’t necessarily want that in a cologne ad. Pretty fantastic little film.
Speaking of short films, have you noticed the trend of fashion houses hiring big name directors to shoot “short films” rather than “commercials” these days? I like it! I’d much rather watch a little short than a traditional ad!
The GANT film wasn’t a big name director, but it did definitely have this short film feel. If you missed it, catch it here.
PS – I’m mad for the painted patterned floors at 0:30. Aren’t they amazing??
September 30, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Must See
Labels:
advertising, style files, video
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Must See
Labels:
advertising, style files, video
Thomas Pink debuts "The Informal Collection"
Love the happy-go-lucky English weekend-y lookbook for Thomas Pink’s new collection…
“Conscious of the ever blurring line between dress up and dress down, Thomas Pink has created the Informal Collection.”
[Oddly can't find who
the photographer is!]
September 30, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Style Files
Labels:
advertising, Photography, style files
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Style Files
Labels:
advertising, Photography, style files
Take Me To >> Enoteca in Charleston, SC
Loving the looks of this new wine bar, Enoteca, designed by Angie Hranowsky. The mix of rustic wood with the rich grey paneled walls, button-tufted banquette, luxurious curtains, and gold accents makes for an incredibly visually interesting environment. I wouldn’t mind having a glass or two here when the light gets low, would you?
Arts Visuels >> Claire Morgan
In the same way that people often describe experiencing the moments of a car wreck or calamitous accident as though it were in slow motion, so slow that they can recall every detail with supernatural clarity, Claire Morgan’s painstakingly precise installations composed of taxidermied animanls, manmade plastics, and natural elements seem to reconstruct a freeze-frame of the metaphorical factors that collided to cause the death of the animal on display.
September 29, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Arts Visuels
Labels:
artist, Arts Visuels, installation
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Arts Visuels
Labels:
artist, Arts Visuels, installation
Listening To >> Portugal. The Man
Full on obsessed with Portugal. The Man, despite that obnoxious “.” in the middle of their name. (I realize it’s hypocritical for me to critique someone else for reappropriating punctuation since I regularly make up my own words and generally feel free to use punctuation as I see fit, but for some reason that period really irks me. I reappropriate punctuation in order to affect a certain reading of the sentence, whereas I feel like they did it just to be “conceptual.”)
HOWEVER, I am able to overlook this gaff because their music is SO GOOD. I haven’t fallen for a new band, since, well, let’s be honest, the last time I uttered that phrase on this blog, which probably wasn’t that long ago, but I’m blinded my newfound love for them. Their sound is hard to pin down, but if you can imagine a cross between the Black Keys and a grown-up MGMT, and if you ever loved 311 (I swear there’s some faint echoes of 311, it took me forever to figure out who it is, but that’s it), and all of this is sounding appealing, you should check them out.
I was immediately won over by their tinges of neo-soul, but they are nothing if not heterogeneous, building an indie-rock sound from influences ranging from classic rock, blues, and gospel to electronica and psych-pop with floating harmonies and John Gourley’s vocals being the constants tying it all together. Interestingly, the producer was Paul Kolderie, who has worked with both Radiohead and Pixies, and you can hear his influence in their as well.
So the first two songs are from their new album, The Satanic Satanist (meant to be ironic, don’t worry), and I’d recommend starting with that one if you want to pick an album to download. They’ve got their story a little better figured out by this album, paring down the influences slightly and avoiding self-indulgent guitar solos, and it’s more immediately accessible because of it.
Then, if you’re hungry for more, venture on back to Censored Colors, which you might take a little longer to warm up to but is ultimately rewarding. The final song here is from that album. You’ll see what I mean– at first you’re going to be like, “hmmm,” but wait until 0:28 when the piano comes in, and then at 0:52 you’re going to really know I didn’t lead you astray.
Boast is Back
Iconic seventies tennis brand Boast is being relaunched with the help of Partners & Spade, who art directed these awesome photos by Susanna Howe.
Partners & Spade also helped produce this animated video about the history of Boast and its founder, Bill St. John, the tennis pro at the Field Club of Greenwich.
I’m pretty taken by Partners & Spade (and, well, all the Spades for that matter)… they crush it every time. See past post on Partners & Spade here.
September 29, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Style Files
Labels:
advertising, branding, Photography, style files, The Spades
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Style Files
Labels:
advertising, branding, Photography, style files, The Spades
Graphic Fix >> 2010 Rolling Roadshow Posters
Over the summer, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Levi’s collaborated to put on free screenings of “famous movies in famous places.” For the series, they had new, awesome-ly graphic and pared-down posters designed for the films by Olly Moss.
I discovered these through screenwriter John August’s website in his post about what he calls “unsheets.” ”One-sheets” are what Hollywood people call the posters designed for movies that are hung outside of theaters and are solely meant to sell tickets. They are generally formulaic and not very artistic, and almost always use the font Trajan (see hilarious video here about the unending use of Trajan for movies).
“Unsheets,” on the other hand, are movie posters designed by fans after the movie has come out and typically have no commercial purpose, but rather are just designed as an homage to the movie (like these A Single Man posters I loved or this Coffee & cigarettes poster). While one-sheets are often photoshop horrors of scenes from the movie that you would never want to hang on your wall, unsheets are distilled artistic representations that get at the essence of the film and are often quite well-done, like the Olly Mosses here.
I love this concept of unsheets, both because they are often really well designed and because I like that they are commonly done by designers for fun… ie, random acts of creativity!, and will have more posts to come on them…
[2010 Rolling Roadshow]
[Olly Moss]
[past unsheet posts here and here]
September 28, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Graphic Fix
Labels:
Graphic Design, posters, unsheets
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Graphic Fix
Labels:
Graphic Design, posters, unsheets
