Inspired by the Japanese 'Mottainai' (もったいない) tradition which is centered around the idea that every object has a soul and should never be wasted, we are beyond the moon, together with optical expert Bijan Azami, to finally present the Mottainai Nº 1: a timeless pair of sunglasses created to last a lifetime.

It has been a long time coming, as we first mentioned the project here over a year ago, but it turned out a bit of a long-term effort to finally share the passion project which is the result of a relentless quest for (our) perfection. Nevertheless, the big moment is eventually here and we feel beyond proud to introduce to you what we have been working on together with Bijan for the last three years. Hopefully this will be the first of more materializations strongly rooted in the fundament that was slowly built since the inception of Another Something & Co, with everything that has been shared and created in the last 9 years being its field of reference. It is safe to say that this project approximates synthesis of the different fields we aim to be positioned in as close as possible.

Less but better: the Mottainai Nº 1 is one single frame, carved from the horn of the Indian water buffalo by gifted craftsman in the world’s best natural horn atelier in the West of Germany. Every frame individually given a unique hand-finished distressed vintage appearance, which will continue to show an evolving beauty over the years of use. [ Continue reading ]

Opening today, the great Danish-Icelandic visionary Olafur Eliasson returns with another prestigious show taking the exhibition of his creative vision to the next level, being located in the most remarkable environment until date — having been the home of cutting edge art and design from different eras since the moment it was finished by French King Louis XIII in 1623: Château de Versailles. Herewith he follows the likes of Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Anish Kapoor, amongst others, who in the modern art program that started in 2008 have brought their vision to France's most famous chateau and gardens.

Earlier shows by Eliasson in contexts like the Louisiana and Fondation Louis Vuitton underlined that he is undeniably part of the most influential artists of this time — the show in the Versailles could be seen as a marker that he will continue to be seen that way even in the far future. Seeing the highly aesthetic creations full of narrative by Eliasson in the historically charged context, having (and still does so) housed centuries of French aristocratic splendor, forms a fascinating clash of representational icons of different stretches in space of time, without it feeling unnatural in any way. The different creations that can be found in the estate, partly having been created exclusively for the exhibition, came to life in Eliasson's head while wandering the grounds, sometimes alone at night, when no one was around. Among the most impressive creations is the structure named 'Waterfall', fulfilling an original idea of the 17th Century landscape architect André Le Nôtre, which couldn't be realized at the time when the Château and its gardens were originally constructed. Finishing a story which first grew in someone's imagination centuries ago and seeing the for the artist familiar immaculate execution of such idea hits a delicate nerve, which inspires us deeply.

Looking backwards, sketching out what lays ahead.

Make sure to travel to Versailles and step into this remarkable collision of past and future before the show closes on the 30th of October. We will. [ Continue reading ]

Last Saturday, an inspirational new exhibition opened in Antwerp's current temporary new platform for its creative community named Born in Antwerp. After some of the city's younger creatives were given (literally, in several former warehouses at the former harbor area named Kattendijkdok) space to present their vision, now renown fashion designer Bruno Pieters took the stage to put together an exhibition which explicitly portrays the new direction he has taken in his discipline. Formerly known for his namesake label and three years as menswear designer of HUGO by Hugo Boss, in 2010 he stepped away from it all and took a sabbatical, in which he spent a lot of time traveling through India in search for peace of mind. In January 2012, he returned to make what Oliver Horton in The New York Times described as a “revolutionary” new statement in the fashion world with his new company, Honest By - the world's first 100% transparent company and pioneer in price transparency. Honest By publishes its entire supply chain for every product it creates and translates this into total price transparency.

'(Behind) the Clothes' distills this inspirational new vision of the designer back into the large exhibition space at the Kattendijkdok. With the insightful exhibition, Pieters shows how he not only offers totally ethical, environmentally-friendly designs, but also leads the way in offering 100% transparency to the consumer. There are two parts to the exhibition: ’The Clothes’ and ‘Behind the Clothes’, which combined form a remarkable insightful representation of what the future of fashion should be, and hopefully at least partly will be. [ Continue reading ]

Oki Sato's Japanese studio Nendo is among those institutions that never cease to surprise and inspire us through their ever-evolving design vision and truly perfected holistic approach in their practice. The day before yesterday, to our great excitement, the studio succeeded to outstrip itself once again, presenting its biggest-ever project: the exterior and interior renovation of a department store in Bangkok that Sato believes represents a new way of shopping. Going by the name of Siam Discovery, the department store is operated by Thai retail and development company Siam Piwat, which invited Nendo to oversee the refurbishment of the interior and exterior of the 40.000 m² shopping mall on Bangkok's Rama 1 thoroughfare. The studio was tasked with implementing a radical vision for a new retail experience built around curated environments rather than the familiar branded concessions. Instead of categorizing products by brand, as is typical in traditional department stores, the different retail points present customers with a range of lifestyle experiences, including a digital lab, street lab, creative lab and play lab. The result is very likely the first real peek into the future of (department / multibrand) retail in which a physical location will need to have this level of experience to not totally loose its relevance as has become the trend in the last decade. We would literally fly to Bangkok just to see this with our own eyes. [ Continue reading ]

Two years ago we discovered the unique magazine named Collective Quarterly, with an inspirational focussed approach in creating stories on travel, design and everything that applies to the overhauling leitmotif being the concept of discovery and wonderment — which proves to one of our favorite new niches in independent printed matter. Each issue of CQ spotlights a single geographic location in the United States by focusing on the artisans, music, food, and natural wonders that make it special. It took them and therewith the readers to Marfa for the debut, followed by the Absaroka Mountains, the Mad River Valley and the triangle between Santa Barbara, Ojai and Ventura in California.

For their recently released fourth issue, named Pisgah, the team traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, an area where, "carefree vacationers exist alongside deeply philosophical counterculturalists, who in turn live next to artisans quietly practicing their craft as they have for generations." The issue's subjects include itinerant buskers passing through town via railroad, neo-primitive communities seeking to live outside of civilization, a French World War II survivor who has devoted her life to building an art cathedral, and much, much more. It has resulted in yet another rich perspective on a place on earth which we didn't know before laying eyes on the remarkably insightful new issue. Make sure to get your hands on it and travel to the wonderous town from wherever you are. [ Continue reading ]

We just discovered the inspirational work of Danish painter Lars Tygesen, who last week opened a new solo exhibition named 'Svundne tider' ('Bygone times') at the Viborg Kunsthal in Viborg, Denmark. Two years earlier, Tygesen showed a series of remarkable paintings named 'Nøgen' ('Naked') in the Copenhagen-based Ringsted Galleriet, being the specific works which recently, by coincidence, we stumbled upon to discover his extraordinary artistic vision. Subsequently, seeing all of his creations of the last few years on his website definitely made an impression. Tygesen works with oilpaint on canvas, which in a signature fashion he affixes in numerous thick layers of paint. The images he creates are figurative, but through an interesting use of different color surfaces and the multiple layers on the canvas an abstract collage-like effect is created, resulting in a intriguing level of ambiguity which we really appreciate.

His 'Naked' series deals with the specific subject matter of female form, which he approached by creating collages out of old erotic pictures from the 1940’s and 1950’s portraying lush, fertile women that formed the basis of his own abstracted colorful naked depictions. This method, creating on the basis of collage imagery, can be detected throughout the artist's career, having collected numerous motifs from magazines and uncountable pictures of royal interiors, forming the fundament in the paintings he creates from his fascination with the representation of the grandiose, the pompous and even snobbism. We love how in recent years a new level abstraction can be detected in this captivating artistic vision, showing Tygesen's discerningly intuition for colors and the interaction between different surfaces in the creation of incredible composite imagery.

We can't wait for more by this inspirational new discovery! [ Continue reading ]

We discovered the inspirational creations of Berlin- and Tokyo-based olfactory platform AOIRO when they released the ceramic coal dripper set under their HAKUDO label, which comes in an incredible Powlownia wooden box. It was the elegant container that caught our attention in the first place, but what comes in the box, next to the scented woodwick candle that was released in the same series, forms a small but fine collection of remarkably well-balanced scented products. The scent of the HAKUDO line is inspired by the invisible layers of the mountain ground - the earthy and green-velvety moss, the soils that are rich in organic material, and the roots that distribute their lives deep beneath. Its profile offers dark and rich impression, dry and moist temperament with a hint of smokiness in the background.

Recently the German-Japanese brand introduced a perfect addition to the HAKUDO line with a remarkable new container for the scented candle: the Hasami Porcelain Edition. Created out of distinct Japanese Hasami porcelain (from the town of Hasami) the collaboration was formed in the pottery and atelier of porcelain craftsman Kyohei Baba after a visit by AOIRO founders Shizuko Yoshikuni and Manuel Kuschnig. The remarkable new container that resulted out of the dialogue that followed is directly based on the Yunomi cup, traditionally used in Japan to welcome guests and express gratitude when serving tea. An elegant and sophisticated gesture that is easily abandoned nowadays, which became the direct source of inspiration to breath new life into the almost forgotten item and revive the subtle yet contentment in the form of the scented candle. [ Continue reading ]