Feeling like the perfect hybrid of the figurative, finer, work of Dutch illustrator and artist Jordy van den Nieuwendijk mixed with the abstract strokes of Moroccan-French artist Najia Mehadji, but instead of paper or canvas put on display in the most impactful majestic size of murals — we really appreciate the work of Los Angeles-based visual artist Erin D. Garcia, who's been creating some of his most impressive projects over the course of the last three years. Erin’s geometric abstractions derive from a mother structure of stacked blocks and volumes rendered in a series of colors. He deconstructs this architecture of color into a simpler lexicon of lines, arches, and curves in an ongoing search of other primary structures, which he names elements.

Effortless in appearance, his work is a calculated process of designating, defining, arranging, and permuting elements and colors with algorithmic thoroughness. Lines that edge triangles appear completed, but upon closer look, are actually disconnected and superimposed with unmet corners. When applied directly in the public sphere, as Erin has been doing frequently in recent years, a new dynamic is added to those inherent qualities that make up his elements, both from the (sharp-lined and edged) buildings, but more so the context that lays around them. It results in the most playful and powerful display of Erin's talent, empowered directly by what has inspired its aesthetic in the first place: the beauty and color palette of the Californian sunshine. [ Continue reading ]

After (seemingly) slowly fading away over the course of this month, Summer has found its way back to The Netherlands again in the last few days. With the temperature back at around 30°C, it feels like the perfect time to share another very inspirational (sun blazing!) ongoing photographic series named 'On The Periphery' by Sinziana Velicescu, which we originally discovered a while ago, but came back to our attention when a new selection was on display at AIA|LA gallery in July. The very talented Los Angeles-based photographer has made a name for herself in the last five years, soon after graduating from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor in Comparative Literature and Film, with her steady high quality output being picked up worldwide ever since — both in exhibitions and publications. Throughout her entire catalogue there is a clear signature to be observed; working predominantly in natural (sun)light, always finding those colorful abstract crops in the seemingly ordinary to create a captivating image, all captured directly in the world around her (oftenly Los Angeles, as the case with 'On The Periphery').

In a time in which 'Instagram-friendly' photography (which Velicescu's work clearly is: make sure to follow here) sometimes gets confused with 'made for Instagram', the genre one could categorize her work in might be de facto an ever-growing field with too much (just our humble opinion) mediocre imagery with no real substance beyond the depiction — Velicescu proves with every series that she truly is part of the highly talented periphery of photographers, never failing to succeed in finding those fragmentations of the ordinary that both please the eye and evoke the question what narrative lays underneath that single frame.

We can't wait for more observations from Velicescu's own private Los Angeles... [ Continue reading ]

In April of this year cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann, together with his regular collaborator; editor and archivist Ryan Mungia, presented one of our favorite printed projects which were released in 2016. The incredible 'Shore Leave' is the first photobook to capture Honolulu during the Second World War through a remarkably curated collection of vintage photographs, a lot of them found in personal scrapbooks of veterans, which were collected by Heimann over years and now made public through Mungia's Boyo Press.

It portrays the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific during the early 1940's, in a period when the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. A totally unique place and time, which shows throughout the images selected by Mungia and Heimann.

Binding all these insightful photographs together in the book creates a truly unique insight, elegantly designed moreover, 'Shore Leave' is one of the most captivating books we have discovered this year.
It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. [ Continue reading ]

The last time we were excited about a speaker lays some years behind us, but last week a new piece of elegantly designed technology was presented to the world, which we really appreciate. Beside the Unmonday Model 4.3 in 2014, which had a more sturdy (heritage-like) design, Danish technology frontrunners Bang & Olufsen first hit the right nerve with us when they released three new additions to their BeoLap series in 2013, of which —to this very moment— the subwoofer still forms one of the most elegant creations in its sort. Last week, Bang & Olufsen returned once again with a new release, this time with a series of (one of the two wireless) speakers named the BeoSound 1 and BeoSound 2; being one of those scarce moments in which an applied technological object truly rises beyond its pragmatic function and aesthetic discours into something excitingly new.

The futuristically sturdy (for instance perfectly fitting recently created interiors like Voyager Espresso or the redesigned Siam Discovery — hopefully indicating a new trend in design which we really appreciate), yet elegant aluminum design profile of ‘BeoSound 1′ and ‘2’ forms a promising new chapter and remarkable step forward in its field. Through its conic shape they can be placed anywhere, allowing the remarkable, sculptural forms to be very much part of the interior: on a shelf, floor, by the coffee table or even outdoors. The iconic bodies hover slightly above the ground, letting the thumps of the bass units out beneath. They are slightly open at the top for acoustical reasons, but apart from that with a uniform expression on the aluminum surface.

With function also on the highest level, as with all B&O's creations, we are super inspired by how a totally new silhouette was created, paving a incredible new path in speaker design very likely to be followed by many in the years to come. [ Continue reading ]

We have said it here before and will say it again — with fashion, particularly menswear, currently being dominated by a search for hype instead of innovative ideas, many new brands are still started every week, but less and less are really adding something to the field. When the Paris-based OAMC —which houses its atelier in Milano and produces in Italy, Portugal and Japan— launched in 2013, they approached it by intrinsically staying away from the dominant trends; refusing prominent branding and basically starting an ongoing quest to produce iconic menswear items created from the juxtapositioning of existing ideas combined with innovative touches. Primarily focussing on the marriage of utility wear with traditional luxury elements resulting in an aesthetic truly fit for the future.

Interestingly so, branding was an integral part of OAMC's creative director Luke Meier's earlier life, having worked as the head designer for Supreme before starting the brand that was originally known as Over All Master Cloth and later just as the acronym. Meier's years at Supreme, being the brand that played the undeniable pinnacle role in the revival of brand marketing in the last 15 years, didn't prove to be much of a restraint for the succes of his new, very different and much complexer, creative outlet. In just three short years, OAMC has become one the brands to watch by leading the way. Steadily solidifying its place alongside menswear fashion houses with similar ambitions such Dries Van Noten, Thom Browne and Lanvin. Earlier this year, it was also nominated for the prestigious 2016 ANDAM Grand Prix award, underlining the appreciation of the display of intrinsic creativity that drives the brand forward.

This Summer the brand presented its Spring/Summer 2017 collection in Paris, but we want to take another look at the super impressive Autumn/Winter 2016 that's in the racks of its the numerous woldwide stockist at this very moment. [ Continue reading ]

As we are (to our great excitement!) almost wrapping up (and therewith will be able to finally share) the complete perfume project we have been working on in the last months —which without a doubt turned out to be one of our favorite assignments in the last few years— we would like to share another project that deeply inspired us. Scheduled for presentation during the London Design Festival 2016 from the 15th until the 25th of September at The Conran Shop, in the project created for the festival British artist Zuza Mengham collaborated with fragrance house Laboratory Perfumes, which we wrote about last year, on a highly inspirational artistic exploration of the relationship between scent and the other human senses.

Taking the brand’s four scents: ‘Amber’, ‘Gorse’, ‘Samphire’ and ‘Tonka’, along with a soon-to-be-launched fifth called ‘Atlas’ — Mengham translates intangible fragrances into solid forms with a series of signature resin sculptures. Literally it means that Mengham took the individual notes of the scents and translated them into the sculptural, creating unique blends of colors, angles and effects in incredible crystal-like resin sculptures. ‘Samphire’ becomes an interplay of light through layers of translucent resin; the fresh scent of ‘Gorse’ inspired a clear yellow hue and eponymous beans of ‘Tonka’ are represented in slabs of slate. ‘Sculpting Scent’ additionally celebrates another big moment for the in 2012 launched Laboratory Perfumes with the launch of their fifth scent:‘Atlas’. The fragrance is built around the aroma of pipe tobacco, with layers of rum, vanilla, hay, and fresh ozone top notes inspired by the scents of Morocco’s Atlas mountains, translated into a deep blue intertwined with purple piece by Mengham, reminiscing of that moment right before nights fall in the warm desert of the North African country.

We are in awe of this deeply romantic artistic exploration by Mengham and Laboratory Perfumes, bringing fragrance into highly remarkable physical forms. [ Continue reading ]

As shared by dezeen two days ago, we are very impressed by the second BMW Museum, which will be opening its doors very soon in Beijing, China. Beijing- and Frankfurt-based firm Crossboundaries’ design for the gallery space on the third and fourth flour of the BMW building brings forth the exclusiveness of the cars while it references the Chinese aesthetic heritage in an innovative but elegant way.

The museum exhibition starts on the third floor of the newly built building in the Chinese capital; entering through an grande, almost two floors high and bright area, which houses the reception zone, whose vertical surfaces are accentuated with horizontal lighting strips interpreting the motion of speed. Subsequently the visitor is being absorbed into a lower, more transitional lounge which was created as a cozy touch. The key feature in the design of the space are the hite, light and slightly transparent fabric banners are hung from the open ceiling on this floor. While the fabric’s verticality reduces the high ceiling to a more human scale, the vast amount of white textile surfaces indicates generority and the “Chinese red gate” as backdrop transmits an imperial feeling. The horizontal lighting strips continue into the main exhibition area and information walls, with integrated screens for multimedia presentations at the perimeter walls of the space. Projections can be also screened on to fabric banners in the middle of the space where seating areas are provided around the exhibition pieces, which adds up to a very impressive exhibition space, if you ask us.

Combining references to the old within a contemporary aesthetic, we can only hope for more interior design like this as this is what the future should look like... [ Continue reading ]