Archive for November, 2009

Simon Alderson – Co-Founder – twentytwentyone

Friday, November 27th, 2009
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When you were little what did you dream of being?
Mark Spitz for the swimming and moustache. I soon realised the impossibility of both in favour of David Attenborough’s profession.

What motivates you?
To be happy, fulfilled and well-travelled.

If you had a spare five minutes what would you do?

Rest, reflect and have a tangerine.

How has the recession affected your approach to design?

The approach hasn’t changed dramatically, its been harder for business but it’s also had a positive cleansing effect, to filter some of the extraneous aspects of the wider industry.

Is there anyone you’re watching?
Slyvain Willenz, Marina Bautier and many others, though there’s still so much historical wealth to draw upon.

What are you working on?
On the project side quite a few private clubs and restaurants here and overseas, a resort in Portugal, several retail interiors and some interesting private houses. Our retail shop has just grown an extension which is exciting for us.

What are your current favourite materials/looks/moods?

Egg cartons…..hopefully the future for all packaging.

What are you tired of in the world of design?
The terrible waste of resources and individual creativity.

How has the internet affected your business?

Entirely positively.

What is your favourite dish?
Nothing singular, but something authentic, served in a simple and basic environment.

Who is your hero?
My dad (and Robin Day if I’m allowed two).

Latcho Drom – BFI

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
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Tony Gatlif’s 1992 feature length documentary dispenses with words and focuses on the use of images and music. Latcho Drom ‘Safe Journey’ in Romanian is a cinematic chameleon: travelogue, musical, part ethnography, the film is a romantic, idealised view of gypsies starting in Rajasthan, Egypt, Romania, Istanbul, Hungary, France and finally Spain.

Boomerang desk

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
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This desk was designed by French sculptor, designer, urbanist and architect Maurice Calka, 1921-1999. During his career more than fifty monumental pieces of work of all types were created.

The Boomerang Desk, pictured, was a smaller version of his iconic P.D-G desk, (Président Directeur Générale), which received worldwide acclaim. Both are recognised as highly influential pieces of 20th century design and were the forerunners of the objects designed during the rest of the following decade.

Designed in the late 1960s, the materials are moulded plastic and fibreglass. Only 35 were manufactured in varying colours by Leleu-Deshays. The design was based on the form of a polished stone. President Pompidou owned one of the four or five P.D-G desks in the 70s, and shocked traditionalists when he placed it in the Baroque interior of the Elysée Palace.

Boomerang Desk

Ed Ruscha – Fifty Years of Painting

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
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Ed Ruscha (pronounced Rew-shay) as his announcement card for his first exhibition made clear exhibits at the Hayward Gallery.  I had forgotten about the brilliance of the brutalist architecture at the Hayward, my Friday night visit would have been worthwhile even if the gallery had been completely empty.

Ruscha use’s banal words as shapes, treating as them as objects, noting that they ‘live in a world of no size.’  ’Noise’ (1963) alongside ‘Boss’ were my favourite paintings from this series. ‘I always looked at a word like it was a horizontal bunch of abstract shapes, which is really what it is.’

The Mountain series started in 1997, the mountains were there to support the drama of the abstract words.  The idea being that if you looked at the words long enough, they lost their meaning.

The frames are also brilliant, notably glass-less canvas in deep aluminium box frames.

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