Category: A Little Light Relief

Walker & Bromwich…

Enter the “other world” of Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich.  These two British artists explore the place of art in effecting social and political change through engaging comunities and members of the public to examine their relationship to the environment they inhabit and reflect on a global context.

Within this liminal space we create objects and situations that lead our audience on transformative experiences inviting them to consider an ‘other’ way of being.

The three images above represent three quite separate ’social sculptures’ and performances.

Celestial Radio is a seductive and functional sculptural object, a radio station housed
on a sailing boat whose surface is covered by 60, 0000 inch square mirror tiles; she
splinters daylight as if transmitting Morse code messages.

Love Cannon is a pink inflatable cannon, designed
to shoot balloons into the skies in an action for peace.

Sci-Fi Hot Tub – A floating hot tub contained within an inflatable iceberg. Designed
to cocoon participants within warmth and comfort whilst floating amid sublime and
sometimes hostile environments.

www.walkerandbromwich.org.uk

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Newson’s New Year: Sydney 2012

2012 is upon us and Sydney rang the new year in with a powerhouse creative display directed by Sydney born designer Marc Newson.

Click here to watch the midnight finale (the second of two displays in one evening)  - mind blowing!

Famed for his works for Ford, QANTAS, Nike, Alessi and many-many more, 2011/2012 NYE in Sydney saw his experience across interiors, spacecraft, products and furniture broadened to ignite a party atmosphere for over 1 million Sydneysiders on the Harbour foreshore as well as being televised to a global audience of 1.1 billion.

As creative director for the evenings firework and entertainment display, Newson drew on the theme of  ”Time To Dream”, harnessing the firepower of over $6million in pyrotechnics and a catalogue of australian music as a backing track – the results were phenomenal.

Australia was built upon dreams. From the dreamings of past millennia to the dreams of recent settlers. Whether day or night-time, dreams are our minds in free-flow, uninhibited and reflecting what we truly aspire to. From little babies to old people, we all dream. New Year’s Eve is when fantasy and aspirations flow. A vision for the coming year, with designs on a better life. The moonstruck and lovestruck may dream of fulfilment. The stargazers dream of the worlds beyond ours.

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The Pretty Tent City…

As far as holiday options go…  camping is an aquired taste.

Some love the promise of peace and quiet and willingly jump at the chance to escape into the wilderness and quite literally… switch off.  For the rest of us there is Field Candy.

Field Candy, out of the UK, first caught our attention over at designboom®, so we went exploring and discovered there was much more to these high-end homes away from home than merely fancy wrapping!

Bridging kitsch to quaint to “camp”, these youth oriented tents boast built-in internal storage for mp3 players, mobiles, a breathable cotton inner-tent, assembly instructions on indestructable paper and the choice of limited edition digitally printed fly covers from emerging designers as well as some well established artists.  One such indivdual is Australia’s Jonathan Zawada (long time collaborator with The Presets also having worked widely in fashion as well as for Playstation and Coca-Cola) who was commissioned to design a tent cover that is currently being sold in a limited run of 50.

Coming in at over $1030AUD they are no small investment… but for the luxury of being able to spot your tent with ease in a vast festival campground or find your safe-base amongst dense bushland folliage -  it’s a small, whimsical price to pay really – we just don’t see these becoming military standard any time soon.
We’ve picked out some of our favourites here, but pop over to their website and check out the collections for yourself.

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Two To Tangerine Tango…

It’s that time of the year again!

The aesthetes at colour HQ: Pantone, have announced the annual Colour Of The Year!

Hot on the heels of last years “Honeysuckle” comes the racy “Tangerine Tango”!  Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute® has the following to say of this years shade:

Sophisticated, but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it…. Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.

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Designer Golden Arches…

Brands of mass consumption have long seen the benefit in aligning themselves with notable designers in a bid to edge themselves up the ladder of credibility and extend their appeal to a more discerning buyer.

We’ve had Zaha Hadid for Lacoste, Jaime Hayon’s long standing collaborations with Camper in both their products and their stores, and Marc Newson for QANTAS but perhaps the most peculiar pairing in recent years is Patrick Norguet and McDonalds.

The mammoth all American brand has taken a rather tangential approach to overhauling its French eateries by commissioning one of the countries biggest design exports: Patrick Norguet.

Having cut his teeth on all manner of product designs from lighting to lounge chairs, his exploration of interior design sees the rollout across France converting McDonalds stores into a more family friendly environment with upholstered booths, larger tables, more dynamic use of each locations space and absolutely no sign of Ronald or the Hamburglar!

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Project Projector…

Who doesn’t love dinner and a show?  It seems that in the face of global  economic downturn, there is still plenty of money down the back of the couch where the big brands are hanging out!

Recently the intricate work of 3d mapping and animated projection has been employed to great effect, both as artistic installations and increasingly in advertising.  You’re probably familiar with examples from firms like LG, Bacardi and Mattel who have a penchant for big events that culminate in the facade of an historic building being turned into a whirlwind of colour and optical illusions, which invariably is filmed and virally makes its way around the web – marketing 101: get the customers to do the advertising for you!

In New York City last month at the launch of a’ humble’ sports shoe: the Carmelo “Melo” Anthony M8 Jordan Sneaker, the bar was raised considerably!  An explosive use of water projection on The Hudson River, 3D mapping on pier 54 complete with a helicopter, DJ’s, bars, games and stuntmen… click here or the image above to watch the spectacle play out.

With all that investment in one launch party ( a production team larger than some Hollywood productions), Nike will be wanting to see some considerable return… and have left their competitors with big shoes to fill!

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Making Your Marquee…

Tomorrow Australia stops work, downs tools, dons a fancy hat and cheers on as 24 horses and their riders bolt around a racetrack in Flemington for the annual Melbourne Cup.

Whilst all eyes are on the horses for approxomately three and a half minutes, most attendees are clambering to gain access to the exclusive “Birdcage” tent city that springs up trackside.  This year, the vast expanse of bitumen will play hosrt to more than thirty-nine, multi-million dollar marquees, designed to wine, dine and woo celebrities, nobodies and anyone in between.

Beyond the premium (fortunate few) fenceline will stand a further 66 corporate marquees with each brand from Emirates, Mumm, Lexus to Lavazza proudly boasting a celebrity guest list from Sarah Jessica-Parker to Joan Collins and each holding nothing back in one of the biggest branding circuses this country sees.

Perhaps misleadingly titled, the pop-ups are more accurately described as sizable clubs and restaurants with legions of staff and years of planning and strategy behind them.  Themed and styled immaculately, it is not uncommon for leading designers such as Hecker Guthrie, Gloss Creative and Herbert + Mason to be brought on board to design the most outlandish, eye-catching and memorable space.   In 2011’s Dulux Colour Awards Herbert + Mason even won best colour for a commercial interior for “Bleu” a commission by the Victorian Racing Club.

With each year it seems the stakes are as high off the track as on – even in the face of a rather considerable economic downturn, there seems to be no stopping the serious business of fun and frovility!

Images courtesy of:
www.glosscreative.com.au/
www.heckerguthrie.com
www.herbertmason.com/

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Sweetness and Light…

Artist David Kenworthy is producing pop art with a rush – a sugar rush.

It is my intention to create a new kind of pop art experience inspired by discount stores and clearinghouses and our consumption of their cheap and mass-produced commodities.

So it is that his playful collection of sculptures – made from cut-price jelly beans and Gummy Teddy Bears – glow so vividly it is as if the sugar itself were emitting an eerie glow.

Back lit by LED and Fluoro lamps these cubes and sugary bricks are pure neon-pop!

For more info visit David’s site.

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So. Much. Pretty…

The beautiful people, in beautiful locations draped around the beautful designs of Spain’s VONDOM, check out these short films.  Little rays of sunshine to get you through the week… Summer cant come soon enough!

Designs by the likes of Karim Rashid, Ramon Esteve, Javier Mariscal and A-Cero all being shot on location with groovy backing tracks.  It’s the best kind of catalogue out there: So much pretty.

Click the image above to see the short films on VONDOM’s youtube channel.

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Monday Music…

Hands up if you’re struggling to face Monday?  Fear not, Mr James Brown would actually like to see your hands up!

Feeling down?  … Mr James Brown would like to see you get up!

If this doesn’t lighten your day then you’d probably be best advised hopping back into bed.

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