More colour and more innovation!
Have you seen Wired Magazines recent Features Cover by Lo Siento, Spanish graphic design studio? It’s simple genius! However no doubt quite the laborious process. To obtain the final result of the Features Cover, Lo Siento covered a wall in the humble but oh-so-appealing (!) bubble wrap, inserted coloured liquid dye into the air-filled pockets and slowly formed the design over the wall.
Rockin.
Furniture Free Friday goes a bit clothes free this week. What?! Why not.
Imagine waking up in the morning, have a little breakfast, get dressed to go to work make your way to work, follow the same routine, all in the norm. Until boom! German artist Milo Moiré’s latest curated performance “The Script System” happens upon you.
Moiré recently sent a naked model to the streets in Dusseldorf with the names written on the skin of clothes to wear, confusing commuters with his provocative piece.
Aimed to draw attention to fighting stereotypes, the performance art piece forces us to take stock of our routines, what we may call mundane or a chore and re-analyse our world… nothing that every day is different, and that the world around us may hold more interest than we sometimes realize.
We’ll be on the look out for something special next time we’re travelling, be it nude or not!
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We found this place a few years ago and it has stuck with us. Without a doubt we know that it’ll do the same to you. A wondrous feat of architecture and a prime example of design within a complex landscape of sand and water.
Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan designed this spectacular holiday residence in 2009. Located in one of the hundreds of rocky islands near the colonial town of Paraty, near São Paulo.
The brief: design a holiday residence which leaves the natural surrounding untouched, not an easy feat given that the residence is built on a plot of 5 acres and surrounded by dense jungle and ocean. The house extrudes from a mountain, in a chameleon like way forming two concrete boxes which resemble rocks positioning themselves at the bottom of the mountain, genius given the topography of the site.
Access to the main entrance is by boat. From the sand, a metallic bridge built over a pool of clear water leads you to the lower level of the house. The façade, of clear glass stares luxuriously over the sea, protected from the sun by Eucalyptus (let’s hear it for home grown wood, right?!).
Not to be left behind, the interior arising from the spectacular exterior architecture is filled with natural light and bears an air of the greats Barragan, Wright and van der Rohe and is littered with mid-century furniture (sorry, we know it’s Furniture Free Friday, give us a break) designed by the likes of George Nakashima, Luis Barragan, Lina Bo Bardi, Sérgio Rodrigues, Joaquim Tenreiro and José Zanine Caldas.
Like all that wasn’t enough, (and here’s the part we really love) Kogan declares part of the influence for the architecture of the house to be from film, from the greats of history, Bergman, Fellini and Warhol.
It’s heaven, right?
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Join us for a nostalgic trip today. Surely, this blog Editor wasn’t the only one who had a bookshelf at home with his parents as a youngster filled with the vibrant yellow of the National Geographic Magazine. Many weekend days spent pouring through them, no matter how outdated and wondering about the world at large. I have my parents to thank for that.
Now however, with any luck all those beautiful magazines probably comprise the recycled coffee cup you bought this morning. Luckily for everyone however, is that we found NatGeoFound. The delicious Tumblr site devoted to sourcing and publishing photographs which graced the pages of National Geographic since its inception.
Scouring its collection the same warm feelings about our world at large return. Here are a few of our favourites.
South Africans relax on a sunny, cabana-lined beach in Cape Town, South Africa, August 1953.
Victoria Amazonica water lilies can reach 20 feet in circumference and support up to 300 pounds each. Perching children atop the massive leaves was all the rage in water gardens of the time. Salem, North Carolina, c. 1892.
The post office and general store in Castolon, Texas.
Children circle around an ultraviolet lamp to get a dose of vitamin D in Murmansk, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, August 1977.
Servicewomen read National Geographic Magazine at a beauty parlor in Illinois.
Soldiers at Camp Shelby military base in Mississippi dance with local girls, July 1941.
Bathers read magazines near shoreline while floating in the Dead Sea, December 1964.
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Furniture Free Friday couldn’t come sooner, coming off the back of Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2013 and bringing with it a a reprieve from the inundation of incredible furniture on show at the moment which has more than just a little excited!
With the Milano sensory overload continuing, we thought we’d bring to you a special piece for FFF.
This amazing isolated little wonder is located on (in, at times) the Serbian Drina River. The tiny wooden house has been perched upon an exposed rock in the middle of the River for more than 40 years. The house was brought to the limelight in a National Geographic photographic exhibition (pictured above), and has since garnered some well-deserved international attention.
The wonderful little creature was built by a group of teenage boys in 1968 for the purpose of capturing more sun throughout the day in order to sunbathe. Rather than utilizing a river bank or a raw rock, the house was constructed from reclaimed wooden boards found locally. In addition to the heavenly sun-bathing deck, the house incorporates just one small room. The magic of the story is that each time the river floods, the house is somewhat damaged and rebuilt by adoring locals and fans. A beautiful story for a Friday, no?
Another Friday has rolled around and today being our self-imposed ‘Furniture Free Friday’ we of course set out to find a suitable topic for discussion.
Inspiration for these weekly entries comes from all over. We see, we hear and, we discover things of note and we write about them. This week, two interesting things of note were thrown at us and a decision had to be made.
So, here it is, the Furniture Free Friday post this week is an image based collection of 3D graffiti art taking buildings ,sidewalks and other public spaces and throwing them on their heads. And let’s be honest, these awesome works are probably more palatable than an opinion piece on the moon landing and its existence.
Aren’t some people clever! We love these amazing pieces…
FFF is always about ditching the furniture for a day. None more so than today’s FFF where we celebrate an Aussie icon on her 39th birthday.
We assume you’ve guessed by now, it’s Elle Macpherson’s birthday. We imagine at 39 that the Aussie actress, model, clothing designer, TV host and mum is still being asked for ID at bars which puts our nose slightly out of joint – but that’s okay, cause she’s great. Here’s some little known things we know and love about our Elle over time …
Elle was born “Eleanor Nancy Gow”
Her first job internationally was in 1982 for Tab Cola (excuse the 1980’s resolution here).
Elle appeared in every issue of Elle for six consecutive years.
Elle’s first movie role was in Hollywood’s 1994 period film Sirens.
Elle has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated a record five times.
One thing we love most about Elle – she’s still just Elle.
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We do take to things that are a bit different here at KE-ZU. Further, we carry a bit of a love for the creator of the unique – which is why today we love the Sydney based photographer Rebecca Ryba. Ryba is one of those gifted creative types with an eye for catching the things in life that we just don’t.
Rebecca Ryba is a Fine Art photographer based in Sydney. Ryba completed her bachelor of Fine Arts with honours Sydney’s COFA in 2009. Since then we understand she has traveled South America, Paris (working as a photographer teacher) and New York City (assisting renowned curator Neville Wakefield). Basing herself back in Sydney, Ryba works as the creative director of amagazine.com.au an entirely online magazine exploring “the quirky side of life” – in reality the online platform is far from quirky, erring more on the beautiful and quality side of publishing. The future looks bright for this young talent – what isn’t always bright is the subject she turns her lens to.
Exploring the subjects of emptiness, stillness and temporal spaces, the quiet qualities that these pieces hold is simply awesome. From mysterious landscapes in the ‘masked frontier’ collection to the warped social motion of ‘crowd studies’, the sexily eerie ‘the bacchae’ to the almost Lynch-like lighting effects in the soulful ‘in between’ – the entire portfolio (available here) is a tick in the box of talent.
Ryba says her work
searches for identity and history against a background of nothingness and void. She searches determinedly but possibly vainly for dreams, intuition, archetypes and impulses expressed through culture, sex and religion
Whether that means anything to you or not may be irrelevant, the work expresses itself so deeply that we can’t wait to see what she’s shooting next.
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We love Pantone. Who doesn’t?
Pantone is finding itself everywhere; tables tops, wall dividers, A colour guide based on the Queen’s frocks(!), iPhone covers – we’re surrounded by it. Next is the Instagram project by US based graphic artist David Schwen.
However unlike the others, it’s not colours that he’s playing with – Schwen has taken to pairing foods we associate together to make physical food Pantone paint chips, which (perhaps after photographing and eating), are soon to become available prints.
Utilising the obvious complementary food options we so often consume and transforming them into paired paint chips doesn’t always mean that they become complementary colours, but that seems beside the point. Is Schwen perhaps following in the footsteps of pop artists of the 1960’s and holding up a mirror to us as consumers and asking us some questions? Maybe it’s not so deep, and we’d just love a ham and cheese sambo or some mac and cheese. Check out the entire series here.
Yum!
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New York City. For so long arguably the most famous city of the world. A powerhouse of many things important; commerce, finance, media, art, fashion technology, education and entertainment – New York City is home to some of the worlds most recognized landmarks and buildings – aided of course by the uncountable amounts of films and television filmed in the Empire State.
A melting pot of residents who call The Big Apple home, this monumental city is a hub of creativity and forward thinking. Some of the worlds well-known creative professionals reside in New York City, forcing it to maintain its crown of cool, but arguably it’s the lesser known residents of the City who really hammer it home.
Enter Humans of New York.
An online destination started in 2010 by Brandon Stanton, a bond trader turned photographer. Stanton walks the streets of NYC everyday shooting portraits of strangers he meets – the plethora of remarkably out of the ordinary residents who gravitate in the city that never sleeps.
Stanton accompanies his images with quotes from the exuberant subject which brings a further edge to the images and assists us to understand just how awesome this city is.
A few of our recent favourites are below.
I’ve been photographed in the same dress as Kim Kardashian. I wore it better, though. She was too short for it.
We ordered her those pants, and as soon as they arrived, she cut off the bottoms and made a pair of gloves
I live with a bunch of senior citizens. All they do is play cards and bingo. That doesn’t sit too well with me
We run a yoga studio for couples
I’m in the middle of a spiritual process. I can’t wear color for another six months
Share on FacebookI’m studying to get a PhD in Neuroscience, but in my free time I like to perform in burlesque shows.
