In the Summer of last year Phaidon released this highly inspirational handbook of contemporary architecture in photography named 'Shooting Spaces', still an important source for inspiration for us. The elegant book is a visual survey of contemporary artists’ photography of architecture, featuring the work of brother Iwan Baan, next to names like Christoph Morlinghaus, Andreas Gursky, Wolfgang Tillmans, Catherine Opie, Thomas Ruff, Hiroshi Sugimoto, amongst others. Since the invention of photography, architecture has proved a worthy subject for photographers. Shooting Space: Architecture in Contemporary Photography showcases the relationship between the two practices. The book presents a broad spectrum of work from a diverse roster of renowned and emerging artists: Annie Leibovitz captures the construction of Renzo Piano’s New York Times building; James Welling revisits Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass House; Walter Niedermayr shifts perspectives on SANAA’s sculptural designs. [ Continue reading ]
A little while ago we became familiar with the fascinating work of the very talented Tokyo-based artist Ei Kaneko, who just opened a new solo exhibition named 'YEN' at the Clear Edition & Gallery in his hometown last Friday. With his moody and slightly surrealist style, Kaneko's work, which he creates strictly with graphite, is at once strikingly beautiful and also a little disconcerting, a combination which we find particularly fascinating. The work of Kaneko often features limbs and facial features cut out and re-assembled, using the fragments of images to create a new ambiguous meaning within his juxtapositions. Through the use of the toned down color palette of pencil graphite the images all inhabit a certain softness in their core which clashes strongly with the hard juxtapositioning of the image fragments, creating something like a second layer of contrast beyond just the fragmentations. Without a doubt Kaneko's work inhabits everything to absorb the spectator and leaving an intrinsic impression. Make sure to catch his show when in Tokyo. [ Continue reading ]
Today marks exactly the fourth year since the east coast of Japan was devastated by the so-called Great East Japan earthquake and the tsunami that it caused. To remember the disaster and pay his respects, writer and photographer Lee Basford travelled to the area only 70 kilometers away from the epicenter - named Tohoku - where after four years the locals are still rebuilding. One of the cities in the region most affected was Rikuzentakata. The ruthless waves destroyed basically everything, and what remains now is an overwhelming emptiness. The city was noted for its tree-lined coast - regarded as one of the most beautiful landscapes in Japan. But after the disaster, only 1 of the 70.000 trees remained. It became known as The Miracle Pine. A year after the disaster took place, in 2012, Rapha Continental shot a film in the devastated area, and there’s been an annual ride in Tohoku since, organized by Daisuke Kitayama, the film’s director, and Seiichi Watanabe, a Continental rider. These outtakes of Basford and his friend's experiences of riding through the area show both the beauty and hardships of riding, one never really disconnects with the surrounding you are riding in - which in this case resulted in an unfiltered perspective on the struggles of the area. [ Continue reading ]
This beautiful new specialty rice shop named Okomeya is located on a diminishing shopping street - Miyakawa Shotengai - in the Togoshi Koen area of Tokyo. The street used to prosper with an array of small individual shops, but it has declined substantially and many have closed. As a consequence, the street has become a so-called shutter street, on the verge of disappearance. Design firm Owan Inc, which also operates a roastery/coffee shop and a café on the street, is striving to reactivate the shopping street and Jo Nagasaka / Schemata Architects was commissioned to renovate a former wooden vegetable shop into their next venture: a speciality rice shop. The designated building has a typical layout, with the shop space facing the street and the residence of the owner located in the back. Due to this traditional design the shop is very small, measuring only 16 m², which was beautifully adjusted into a perfect hybrid of the original building combined with elegant and pragmatic touches for the new purpose of the space. [ Continue reading ]
Although he has been having an impact with his photographic eye for quite some years, we only became familiar with the absolutely stunning work of German photographer Christoph Morlinghaus recently. The buildings which become the mysterious subjects of Morlinghaus's isolated images are often-times the crowns of modernist architecture. Whether it are the American churches in his ongoing critically acclaimed series 'Form/Faith', factory buildings or hotels. Beyond the theme of modernism and questioning its paradigms, Morlinghaus's work investigates how form gives expression to new and old interpretations of faith, from for instance the ghostly interiors of a Brutalist church to the superficiality of the famous Doha hotel. Seeping through the surfaces of the photographer's impeccably crafted photographs is a profound and infectious irony that reveals, rather than creates, the uncanny presence of mortal consciousness inherent in the fissures of our modern human environment. His most recent series even move beyond just the structures and machines in the public sphere, into the highly aesthetic world of microchips and computer motherboards. We are highly inspired by Morlinghaus's totally unique vision on the world around us. [ Continue reading ]
Two days ago the first collaborative effort between Christian M. Andersen's Creative Future and the iconic Parisian concept store colette was launched for pre-order. Compiled as a close collaboration between de two parties involved, the elegant book which was created examines not only colette’s affiliation with art and design, but also the artistic processes, approaches and ideas of the many artists that have worked and exhibited with colette since 1997. The project took more than one-and-a-half years to develop and features a long list of notable artists including KAWS, André Saraiva, José Parlá, Kevin Lyons, Erik Parker, Curtis Kulig, Michael Dupouy, Pedro Winter and Julia Chiang. In addition, the cover artwork of the book is created by the Brooklyn-based artists, KAWS. [ Continue reading ]
Some weeks ago, one of our favorite online retail specialists when it comes to the traditional crafts - OEN - shared this highly inspirational peek into the Hornevarefabrikken workshop in Bøvlingbjerg, Denmark. Founded in 1935, Hornvarefabrikken – which translates to The Hornware Factory – was set up by Peter Husted, a craftsman and visionary with great ambitions. He designed and made many of the spoons and tableware that are still sold by Hornvarefabrikken today. In 2007 designer Sara Brunn Buch acquired Hornvarefabrikken under the condition that she continued the tradition of first-rate craftsmanship. Still operating in the far West of Denmark, the company persists in creating immaculate hornware made by hand in a small set of workshops, valuing traditional craftsmanship in its core. Recently they even named their new collection - Tradition - after this exact philosophy consisting of tableware, accessories, interior and jewellery items, which are all produced in their incredible workshop, opened to us for a fascinating visit through OEN. [ Continue reading ]