We love this insane project by the Japanese artist Makoto Azuma named Exobiotanica. Two weeks ago, in the week that NASA was celebrating the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing, Azuma pioneered a new kind of space endeavor by sending plant life to the edge of space. The result of this enterprise are some of the most beautiful surrealistic, extraterrestrial images since Apollo 8′s famous Earthrise imagery was shot. Using GoPro and Fuji Film cameras, the florist-turned-artist got both film and still shots of the entire process as the plants lifted off from Black Rock Desert in Nevada and traveled to almost 30 kilometer above the earth’s surface, the ceiling of the giant helium balloons used to propel their ride towards the perfect backdrop where these tremendous images were shot. [ Continue reading ]

It is a really good year for one of Amsterdam's more visible entrepreneurs: Casper Reinders. After opening a beautiful new gallery earlier this year, this month he opened yet another restaurant, his tenth, named Nacional. The bistro style restaurant, which is a collaborative effort of Reinders and partners Dobson and Uzcudun, aims to give new élan to one of the more sleazy squares of Amsterdam's city center, the Leidseplein, offering French cuisine with a modern New York-twist. Nacional's spacious interior, somewhat in line with the new Libertine Gallery, shows an eclectic mix of vintage, art and design, among which is a tremendous huge specimen of Piet Parra's beautiful Cold figure, which was released by CASE STUDYO  in miniature size last month. The restaurant can handle as many as 140 guests with its surface of 460 m², making Nacional a little piece of New York right in the middle of Amsterdam. [ Continue reading ]

Last week the official release of the first collaboration between Tenue de Nîmes  and our friend Jason Denham was finally here. With combined forces a special Double Dutch limited edition varsity sweatshirt was created. Triggered by vintage Japanese denim and chambray monogram fabrics, the Tenue de Nîmes ‘cross’ log is represented on the sweater alongside Jason's 'scissors’ and Amsterdam’s triple X logo as a tribute to Japanese textile. The sweatshirt’s design features a subtle twist that employs unconventional single-jersey gussets beneath the arms to increase comfort, movement and breathability. Overall spoken a clean, with subtle repeated grid pattern sweater was created for both men and women celebrating excellence in denim from Amsterdam. [ Continue reading ]

Recently the first issue of Modern Design Review saw light, a great new magazine that offers a considered and curated insight into modern product and furniture design, art directed by Graphic Thought Facility and under Editor-in-Chief Laura Houseley. In the launch issue of Modern Design Review an insightful overview is given of the state of design today. Published twice a year and distributed internationally, Modern Design Review covers the best of the product, people and theory at the effervescent tip of the contemporary design world. The publication offers a considered and curated insight into modern design: original and creative storytelling, plus numerous of contributions from photographers, writers and designers, are what distinguishes Modern Design Review. The focus lays on ideas and themes, whether they are central or peripheral, committed to exploring modern design with the creativity and curiosity that the discipline deserves. [ Continue reading ]

The Italy-based jewelry label Loha Vete, which was founded by Max Zubari in 2012, is inspired by crime, by taking this rather large associative concept and creating unique and beautifully crafted items in their italian atelier. We still particularly love their most recent, and possibly final, Autumn/Winter 2013 collection which includes a skeleton hand ashtray, a smashed glass bracelet and a bootlace knuckle duster. The equally striking lookbook depicts illustrated people wearing the jewelry, perfectly conveying an aesthetic connotated to crime, which was created by the Paris-based fashion designer and illustrator Evelina Romano. [ Continue reading ]

We really like this project by the Tokyo-based architect Fumihiko Sano, located in the Taito-Kut district of the Japanese capital, which was named En yu-An. The eye pleasing light space functions as the salon and showroom for Maruwakaya, a company which produces monozukuri, meaning craftsmanship or art of design and manufacturing, that links traditional crafts to Contemporary art. The central piece in the space is an eye-catching long narrow counter made from tremendous Japanese cedar, which is augmented through the appliance of lintels, sills, and pillars. The diverse arrangement of the lintels and the pillars in the room aims to make visitors unconsciously sense the variation of the space. Yet the structure does not affect the existing surfaces of the space, it is simply placed inside the room, without being fixated to the walls, floor and ceiling, giving the space a very unique and organic aesthetic and feel. [ Continue reading ]

Recently we came across the inspiring Athens-based Kickstarter funded webstore named Daphnis and Chloe, founded by Evangelia Koutsovoulou, which focusses on culinary herbs and spices for chefs and home cooks who are looking for Mediterranean ingredients of the finest quality. Local varieties of Mediterranean herbs are sourced from the areas of Greece where they naturally perform better, making their products of the highest quality. In the seasonings and infusions one finds at Daphnis and Chloe, city cooks can smell and taste the genuine bounty that can only be encountered in the natural state of things, without having to visit the remote islands and valleys where each herb has chosen to grow. Around these exquisite products a distinct aesthetic was created online and in the packaging, making Daphnis and Chloe by far the most elegant choice when looking for the finest herbs and spices. [ Continue reading ]