Suits and Mr Porter

I am totally hooked on the legal drama Suits! I discovered the serie which is now in its second season on the UK channel Dave (with catchy yet maybe not so likeable slogan - the home of the witty banker). Very entertaining legal drama (and the fact that the two main characters are very uhm sexy has nothing to do with it aaaaat alllll)

The on-line luxury men's wear shop Mr Porter (the male equivalent of the female net-a-porter) has also noticed the show's appeal and collaborated with them to create some witty content for the online shop - all about suits of course!

Boys, you can finally get an answer to those questions that haunt you at night:

• What is the difference between an expensive suit and a cheap one?
• How do you know when a tie is too skinny?
• How often should you clean a suit?
• How does one tell if a suit fits properly?
• What is acceptable neckwear at a black tie event?
• I just dropped a ton of money on some English-made shoes - how do I look after them?

Find the answers on Mr Porter!

And you can download an app to Suit Yourself!!

Love this marketing!

Lights! Let the show begin!

Today, the much anticipated new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank opened: LIGHT SHOW. And what a show it was! Now that all Christmas decorations have disappeared from London's high streets and shops, an infuse of light was much needed to battle the darkness outside. 

 

This exhibition drives away gloominess. And if all that blinking, buzzing, and sparkling of the artworks does not put a twinkle in your eye, their ingenuity sure has to! Some of the pieces I saw were pure brilliance, both literally and figuratively. The manner in which these artists employ light to create illusions, atmosphere and perception is beyond compare! 

This exhibition is a must if you live in or are visiting London! It runs until the 28th of April!

Let me give you a sneak preview of what you can see. There are no videos or pictures that can do the artworks full justice, so if you can I would advise you to go experience the brilliance yourself!

The exhibition opens with Leo Villareal's Cylinder II (2012) of which its 19,600 white LED lights shine in ever-changing patterns and showers you with sparkle as of falling star dust. 

Jim Campbell's Exploded View (Commuters) really amazed me! "His 'exploded views' conflate elements of sculpture and cinema, stretching the moving image and the position of the viewer. Seen from most perspectives, the works appear as a random array of lights that blink on and off. But from a certain distance and angle, a discernible image emerges. In the case of Exploded View (Commuters) (2011), the impression of shadowy figures that dissolve and resolve as the viewer moves around is created by more than a 1000 LED bulbs. Each light flickers as a pixel, collectively they appear to coalesce as an image." from the LIGHT SHOW booklet. 

Carlos Cruz-Diez' Chromosaturation puts you as spectator in three monochrome situations. Fierce Blue, Red and Green lights act with all their force on the walls, objects and the viewers. "For the artist, colour does not consist of pigment on a solid surface, but it is a situation caused by the projection of light, and the way in which the light is perceived by the human eye. Colour becomes a situation happening in space" from the LIGHT SHOW booklet. 

Panoramic view of Carlos Cruz-Diez' 3 monochrome lighted rooms

Philippe Parreno's Marquee (2011) acting as an 'electric tiara' for Ann Veronica Janssen's Rose (2007)(don't you just love the word 'electric tiara by which they refer to the illuminated marque!!! :) )

Philippe Parreno's Marquee (2011)

Ann Veronica Janssen's Rose (2007)

Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden (2011) in which fountains are lit by stroboscopic lamps in an otherwise completely dark room, gives you the impression that your eyes are transformed into slow shutters. The flashing stroboscopic lamps create an effect of frozen images. Very cool! Because of the intermittent lighting, a panoramic picture produces the effect of a barcode :)

Panoramic view of Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden

Still of Olafur Eliasson's Model for a timeless garden

These were only a couple of the 25 art works you can go see, to

 find more information go to the Hayward Gallery's website

(all pictures and videos made by myself)

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Healthy Noodles

In Selfridges' Food for Thought section, I found these amazing noodles! Zero Noodles! I am not going to lie, I love pasta but the love handles that come with it, not so much. Especially with wedding dress fittings planned. So I am extremely excited with this alternative! I tried them out for lunch today and prepared myself a stir-fry with these noodles, spinach and string beans as well as too boiled eggs and a dash of soy sauce- simple yet very tasty and healthy! 

Lunch! Zero noodles with spinach, string beans and egg

These noodles consist mostly of water actually (96%), the other main ingredient is Konnyaku (or Konjac) Glucomannan Flour (3.8%). I researched a bit what these noodles were, are they seemed too good to be true and I found this funny article about them: The Shambulance: Zero-Calorie Noodles? by Elizabeth Preston who is the editor of MUSE, a kids'science magazine and also writes her own blog Inkfish on various scientific subjects. 

The main take-away of my short research is that it is a vegan product made from mostly water and flour originating from the root of  the Konjac plant which is grown mostly in Asia. The calories are negligible and also the taste is almost absent but that's ok if you use the noodles in a miso broth or you add soy sauce to your dish. I'll definitely prepare them again!

Yogi Tea Wisdom (1)

Juergen Teller: Woo at ICA in London

Last Wednesday, the 23rd of January 2013, the new exhibition Woo featuring photographer Juergen Teller's work opened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. 

Kate Moss by Juergen Teller

Teller's photography has penetrated both the art and the commercial world. You probably have come across his work in glossy magazines. He has been the photographer for the campaigns  of celine and marc jacobs. The last for which he has shot the iconic campaigns for at least the last 14 years.  

Celine Fall-Winter 2010-11

Celine Fall-Winter 2012-13

Teller's style is very distinctive, and you could label it very honest and fragile. His photos are almost always harshly lit and almost never retouched. So the images are not always the most flattering for the models in them, but this makes them more approachable and even more likeable, a tactic that is not often used in fashion photography. 

His distinctive sytle was developed in the early 90s in collaboration with stylist Venetia Scott - his then partner. The two of them spearheaded a movement that challenged the world's preconceptions of fashion photography throughout the 1990s. Their use of down-at-heel locations (often their own homes), idiosyncratic models and insistence upon creating a narrative that appeared to go beyond simply "showing the clothes", was in direct opposition to the status-driven aesthetic of the Eighties. Call it grunge, real-life photography or – most infamously – heroin chic. None of these labels are valid or do their work justice. More than any other of the school's main protagonists – David Sims, Corinne Day, Nigel Shafran among them – Teller turned this approach into an art form cfr. (1)

Elle Fanning for Marc by Marc Jacobs 2011

Sofia Coppola for Marc Jacobs Perfume

While the pictures may look spontaneous, they are far from it. For the Jacobs campaign Teller may work with a skeletal team – often just with his subject and without the elsewhere-requisite hair and make-up and aforementioned art director, creative director, CEO and so forth. He also has enough faith in his ability to produce an end result to create an environment in which a story is allowed, organically, to unfold. But there is always a story – generally a romantic story or "fairytale" as Teller describes it. These are rather more than mere snapshots, then, even though, on at least some occasions, their appeal lies in the fact that they may, at first glance and to the more naïve onlooker, look that way. At least part of the reason for this is that Teller is pretty much alone in the industry in that his work is only very rarely – if ever – retouched. cfr. (1)

In the end the calibre of the lead character each season – be she or he an actor, musician, artist, photographer, film-maker – is such that we could all be forgiven for wanting to be them. And that, in the end, is precisely the point. The casting of these images is certainly amongst the most significant things about them and, given the strict adherence to youth and beauty that fashion photography for the most part subscribes to, it is also ground-breaking. cfr. (1)

But the exhibition at the ICA is not only about his commercial work. It also showcases Teller's non-commercial photography where themes such as family, history, nationhood take center stage and this seems to mark a big divide between that and his fashion work. cfr (2) 'Irene im Wald' and 'Keys to the House' are Teller’s most recent bodies of work, revealing the photographer’s more personal world in his hometown in Germany and family home in Suffolk. cfr (3) Teller was inspired to photograph the woods where he grew up after turning his lens on the Suffolk landscape a few years ago, where he and his art-dealer wife, Sadie Coles, with his two children Lola and Ed, rent a country house. "I had been going back to Germany and photographing the environment that is close to my childhood but I could never photograph the forest for some reason. Somehow, these landscape pictures in Suffolk opened up the trees in Germany for me." cfr (4)

From 'Irene im Wald' by Juergen Teller

The exhibition at the ICA is free, and it is really a gem that you should go see as it brings together his two kinds of photography, one with more glamorous subjects than the other, but both equally real. 

Kate Moss by Juergen Teller

For this article I am referring to he many articles that have been written about the artist, here are the links to the most entertaining ones:
There is also a link to a video reportage on the artist

(1) Article in the Independent of 30th of June 2009, 

Juergen Teller: Fashion's provocative photographer reveals all

(2) Article in the Guardian of 6th of January 2013

Juergen Teller: fame laid bare

(3) Exhibition Review on ICA website

Juergen Teller Woo

(4) Article in the Independent of 12th of January 2013

Photography: Juergen Teller's on the right path with new show
(5) A video of Juergen Teller on Nowness magazine
Juergen Teller Exposed

Happiness in a Cup

I realize it's the second day I am writing about coffee :) But at least you know how much I appreciate the black brew that enlivens my mornings and treats me in the afternoon. And all who knew my mom well know that this is probably something that is just baked into my genes... 'koffietje' anyone? I  blame it on genetics :)

But what I wanted to share with you were these new Illy totally sweet sugar sticks: live happyilly. Can't argue with that!

I've always loved Illy's art collection espresso cups. Coffee just tastes better when you drink it out of a beautifully decorated cup. At home I enjoy drinking coffee from the little cups decorated by the Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar. It just makes me happy in the morning :)

Mademoiselle Moustache

If you have experienced withdrawal symptoms since the end of Movember, I have discovered the perfect place for you! 

Mademoiselle Moustache in Antwerp! A coffee shop completely moustache themed and without a doubt one of the cutest coffee shops I have encountered! Situated on the Paardenmarkt 21, it is located right at the heart of Antwerp's student area and very close to the historic center (5 mins walk) and the new MAS (2 mins walk). 

Although the retro interior takes you back to the 50s/60s, the cool 'soundtrack' and the walls adorned with funny articles and pictures bring you right back to present. It really is well worth the detour if you are visiting Antwerp and want to recharge with a coffee and some sweet or savory homemade goodness! But don't blame me when you're schedule is overturned because you end up staying too long with you're nose in the magazines, battling your friends at scrabble, or counting the moustaches all over the place ;)

Interview with a Jewellery Entrepreneur on a Mission

Everyone has a story, especially in London – a city that attracts such a diverse group of people with talent, ambition, creativity and smarts! Today, I would like to share with you Yilin’s story. I met Yilin here in London as she is doing her MBA in the London Business School, and I was amazed to hear her journey so far. A journey of beauty, entrepreneurship and social engagement and ultimately, a story of growth!

Yilin Choo

Fascinated by human behaviour, Yilin decided to study psychology in her native Singapore.  Upon getting her university degree, she started working as a political analyst with the Singaporean Ministry of Defense. In 2007, her husband got posted to Bangkok for work so she left her career in Singapore to join him. For the first time in her life, she was at complete loose ends. Not one to sit still for long, she became immersed in developmental aid work. This work exposed her to communities in Thailand that she would never have otherwise discovered. It was during this journey of doing a lot of non-profit work that she came across a related concept of social entrepreneurship – a concept that because of its potential for the world “blew her mind”. 

Inspired by “social entrepreneurship” and driven by the need to do something “meaningful”, Yilin combined her jewellery design skills, developed in Singapore as a hobby, with the access to the traditionally marginalised communities in Thailand to create a luxury jewellery brand with social impact. Choo Yilin – a sustainable luxury label was born. 

Vine Trellis Cuff. Studded with london blue topazes and amethysts.

 Leaves gilded in 18KT yellow gold

“There really wasn’t any strategy.

I was just doing what felt meaningful”

Without former business experience or any formal training on the subject, she “just made it up” as she went along – intuitively correcting her mistakes whenever she made them. It has been a very iterative process so far, but a process in which she says she has learned a lot and one which she’s learnt is characteristic of being an entrepreneur.

Her desire to scale both her bottom lines – profit and social impact nudged her to pursue an MBA at London Business School. She really wanted to attain strong business fundamentals important for growing her business. “We were very lucky to get the market traction that we did. To grow the way we did in three years, completely through our revenues. It was quite unexpected. However, I knew that if we wanted to scale, the current skillset that I had was not enough.”

She has loved the MBA experience, “every second of it”. She adds, “It is such a cliché because everyone who talks about the MBA says something similar but this has truly been one of the top three watershed moments of my life. The lens through which I view the world has dramatically changed and as a result the thinking process I now go through to come to my business decisions has also altered”

From finance, operations management, to even design and brand management, every aspect of her business will see an overhaul when she graduates.  But what will always remain is the social aspect of her business. She will continue working with heritage and marginalised communities, bringing the social impact and luxury worlds together. It is exciting to see where Yilin’s drive and creativity is going to take her company. And it is equally inspiring to see how she will attempt to weave social impact into every aspect of the business, whilst growing it.

Fancy Cabochon Branch Ring. 

Fancy-cut lemon quartz checkerboard cabochon with rhodolite garnet

18KT antique yellow gold gilding.

Of all her collections, the Tree collection is my absolute favourite! It is why I choose to picture two of the collection’s jewellery items  in this article.

The Tree collection was launched in 2011 during the UN International Year of Forests. The jewellery label continued its commitment to social outreach and sponsored a baby tree through World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Plant-A-Baby-Tree campaign for every client who made a purchase through them. Reforestation is important for preserving eco-systems and the communities that live in them, and “Jewellery, being such a personal item, is a powerful and visual reminder of the natural world's beauty and the importance of preserving our heritage of biodiversity," according to Kevin Ong, assistant designer at Yilin Choo. I couldn’t agree more!

You can see the full collection on the luxury label's website

And you can also follow the launch of new designs on the luxury label's blog

On Planning a Wedding

I am getting married in the fall! My sweets asked me to marry him on a desolate walkway in Venice next to the the Canale della Giudecca last November. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks and a soft ‘of course’ crossed my lips.

But people are starting to spook me and I am almost getting afraid that tears of frustration will run down my cheeks with all the wedding planning that has to take place. If their predictions are right, I will be fretting about the thickness of ribbons on the wedding invitations in two months’ time and turn into a total bridezilla in three. I doubt it. Really. But who knows, I might have hidden depths I didn’t know about :)

I just keep ‘zen’ with two pictures in my mind! My wedding mood board consists of exactly two pictures, and they revolve around people, not things. So as long as I focus on that, all other material elements will be fine. 

Except for the wedding dress, that needs to be perfect ;) , oh and the photography of course because that stays with you forever, oh and the food – as a total foodie I could not bear bad food, oh and the music – I want a blast of a party so I need the perfect DJ, oh and the flowers!! They need to be colourful and abundant….Oh nooooo, there we go…the transformation to bridezilla is starting… 

Just kidding, I have the essence captured in my mood board pictures. It’s enough to guide me.

I’m really dreaming of a small wedding, a wedding where we are surrounded by the people closest to us - the people we love and love us back. I imagine our wedding as a celebration of us being together and of our promise to each other; the promise that we will build a life together as a team and that we will love each other through the good and the bad moments. I am picturing a wonderful day with lots of smiling people, lots of hugs, lots of dancing and laughing, plenty of jokes and the making of many memories! Us, friends and family dancing a sparkling night away! It would make me so happy to see everyone having a good time! So that at the end of the evening I can kiss my love and scream with happiness while looking at some fireworks :)

In any case, since so many of our friends are coming from abroad, I will make sure they will have a good time - and that requires some planning - so back to work and my lovely timeline that will help me through this as efficiently as possible :)

Alber Elbaz + Lancôme

I am buzzing with excitement to see the cosmetics line that will be conceived by Lancome and Alber Elbaz, Lanvin's artistic director! For now I will have to do with Elbaz's cute teaser video and I will be couting down the days until the 15th of June when the limited-edition color cosmetics collection is out in stores worldwide.

I am of course curious about the colours of the make-up line and I am dreaming of sweet pastels and soft textures, but even more so I am dying to see the packaging design and the campaign! Will they use spokesperson Emma Watson?  I believe she would be a good pick and I think if she had the chance the collaborate with Elbaz on the campaign, that we could see some joyous and fun results! I really hope the campaign will reflect Elbaz' humour, joy and lightness - his joie de vivre that twinkles in his eye! And that it will be that bit more than just a headshot of a beautifully made up model (even if it is the lovely Miss Watson)

Alber Elbaz self portrait

I love Alber Elbaz' vision on beauty and I really hope it will be reflected in this limited edition cosmetics collection! 

Alber Elbaz on beauty: 'It seems as though every time you want to be a modernist you have to make something a little bit ugly. And if you make it really ugly then it's really modern and really cool. But beauty is never démodé. Beauty is the one thing I think everyone is seeking. That's it — to touch beautiful things, to make women feel beautiful. And this is power, you know, to feel beautiful. I always say that women are very strong and men are powerful. But beauty gives you both strength and power. I never think of it. It's just one of those natural things. It's the only thing I know how to do ' from Julia Reed's interview with Alber Elbaz - original article here

Alber Elbaz playing hide and seek

Bunnies

I came across this video ‘Chocolate Bunny’ by Dutch artists Lernert & Sander and I just had to share it with you!

Still from the Chocolate Bunny video by Lernert and Sander

I really like the use of one soft and sweet pastel colour for all décor elements as it enhances the contrast with the poor brown melting bunny. I also love the music by Nathan Larson underscoring the whole melting process, it makes the scenes that extra haunting and for some reason gives it a bit of humorous twist because it underlines the absurdity of the whole. What do you think of it?

They not only make videos and commercials, but also create installations - always with a humorous twist. If you were already living in London in 2010, you might remember the sculptural installations they created for the Selfdridges window displays drawing attention to the launch of the new Selfridges Shoe Galleries. Mundane household appliances were given a glamorous make-over!

Dustbuster Stilettos

Iron Stilettos

The video of these chocolate bunnies melting also reminded me of the dark humour cartoons that I really liked when I was studying for exams at university. I used to have a copy of The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley next to me for giggles when I needed a break from the dry formulas in the study books.

Still of the Lernert and Sander "Chocolate Bunny" video and the

photos of the artists'Selfridges installations by Lex Kembery taken from Lernert and Sander's website

Cartoons of Bunny Suicides from Andy Riley's website

Cloud Imagination (2)

A while back in my first Cloud Imagination article, I wrote about clouds and how they can spark your imaginiation through the forms that it can take. I mentioned two creative "Cloud" pieces - the "Cloud - Made of More" advertisement for Guinness by AMV BBDO UK  and the photographs by Christopher Jonassen

Now I would like to add another artist to this "Cloud" repertoire! Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde invites clouds into indoor spaces and takes their picture before they mysteriously vanish. You can go see his work at the Ronchini Gallery in London where he is featured in the exhibition The Uncanny: Adeline de Monseignat and Berndnaut Smilde that opens to the public on the 16th of January.

Berndnaut Smilde's Nimbus II

‘Dutch artist, Berndnaut Smilde produces striking images of ‘real’ Nimbus clouds suspended within empty rooms. Using a fog machine, he carefully adjusts the temperature and humidity to produce clouds just long enough to be photographed. There is a unique ephemeral aspect to the work where the photograph captures a very brief moment before the cloud dissipates and disappears again as mysteriously as it was formed. His choice of lighting and viewing aspect enables him to create a representation of the cloud’s physicality. Smilde’s work looks at transience and challenges the physicality of space.’ –text from the website of the Ronchini Gallery

The following video show's the artist at work (the video is in Dutch)

  

Go see:

The Uncanny: Adeline de Monseignat and Berndnaut Smilde

@ The Ronchini Gallery in London

Exhibition Dates: 16 January – 16 February 2013

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 10am–6pm, Saturday 10am – 5pm Location: 22 Dering Street, London, W1S 1AN

George The Poet

Yesterday evening, after a long day and another channel train trip, I came home to London and turned on the tv to wind down. Not really watching and more focused on the relay of the day with my fiancé, the warmth and rhythm of a man’s voice (but not my fiance’s this time) caught my attention. I heard a poem rhythmically spoken and saw simple but beautifully shot and chosen images and a great visual highlight at the end! Thank goodness for digital tv where you can rewind instantly and as often as you want. I watched this short film three times over!

This short film ‘Impossible’ is the result of collaboration between George The Poet who wrote and performed ‘Impossible’, Robert Ryan who directed and edited the film, Jeremy Hewson who was responsible for photography, Tom Rafferty who did graphics and Naughty Boy who managed sound production.

‘Impossible’ was George The Poet’s  third poem featured on Channel 4’s Random Acts. He is an up and coming act from North-West London and only twenty-one years old. Through his poems he offers politically conscious and often humorous social commentary. He draws from his life in London's inner-city as well as the Politics, Psychology and Sociology course he studies at Cambridge University. You can follow him through his blog or on twitter.

Random Acts is a short-form daily arts strand on Channel 4. Short films are chosen for their bold and creative expressions of creativity. Random Acts features both established artists and emerging talent and allows them to create their own pieces, unmediated by presenters and unfettered by the conventions of conservative arts television. Content includes, but is not restricted to, spoken word, dance, animation, video art and music. Visit http://randomacts.channel4.com/#home to see more short films.

George The Poet’s other Random Acts all of which – like ‘Impossible’- were produced by Duece Films and include 'My City' and 'Passion Fruit':

‘My City’
'My City' highlights a part of London that is often forgotten; the gap between the rich and poor, street crime, the rich melting pot of cultures, rundown urban spaces and how expensive it is to really enjoy our capital... at least while the city celebrates the world's largest sporting event.

 

‘Passion Fruit’

Against the backdrop of Europe's largest carnival, George the Poet celebrates the vibrancy and creativity that emanates from London.

 

(I would want to share it with you the short film ‘Impossible’ but am guessing that copyright law doesn’t really allow me to do so legally, so you will have to wait until it comes onto Channel 4’s website)