Friday, July 22

"I think it would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor's finger."

Thursday, July 14

Museum of Liverpool

The new Museum of Liverpool, opening on July 19th will not only tell the story of its importance as one of the World’s great ports or about its cultural influence, such as with the Beatles phenomenon. It will also serve as a meeting point for History, the People of Liverpool and visitors from around the globe. Therefore, according to the Architect, Kim Herforth Nielsen, the structure functions as much more than just a Building or a Museum.

Design team: 3XN

Client: National Museums Liverpool

Project partners: Engineer: Buro Happold


The Museum lies along the Mersey River in the center of Liverpool, and will function as a nexus, in that it physically connects the Harbour promenade with the Albert Dock, which today contains restaurants, museums and boutiques. The outdoor areas around the Museum offer seating with views to the water adding to the dynamic urban environment and serving as a meeting point for locals and visitors alike.

The theme is carried through into the Museum of Liverpool’s central atrium, with its sculptural sweeping staircase leading up to the galleries further encouraging social interaction. All of these functions result in Kim Herforth Nielsen choosing to describe the Museum as a structure that unites Liverpool.

’This Museum connects the city together on many levels - physically, socially and architecturally. The idea of creating a Museum as a nexus in both physical and symbolic expression has been central from the start. I am very satisfied to see that this ideal is carried out to the full in the completed structure.’

Friday, July 8

are you lonesome tonight?

if the answer is yes.. then you should probably carry this around your neck when walking to your car:

$12 via therpsajik on etsy

it's true.

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”



-Frank Lloyd Wright

Stephane Rolland‏ Haute Couture A/W11


Influenced by Japanese calligraphy, the new couture collection steers clear of any cliches with neo-kimonos and organic curves

Thursday, July 7

On Aura Tout Vu Haute Couture A/W11

The Bulgarian-born designer duo take their fanciful couture creations to the next level with a kooky line of almost cartoon-like looks. Fave pieces below!




via Dazed Digital

Oh, Karl. Chanel Haute Couture A/W11

Karl Lagerfeld showed coloured hemlines and collars on suits and cocktail dresses in a Grand Palais covered in glitter. Faves below!




Wednesday, July 6

Birkbeck Centre for Film and Visual Media

The Centre is a unique research facility within the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media. The project’s chief objective was to provide the Centre with a range of purpose-designed accommodation that will enable it to expand its activities, recruit additional staff and ensure its long-term future.

Located within a Grade II listed terrace once occupied by Virginia Woolf & the Bloomsbury Group, the project is a refurbishment of the basement and ground floors of Nos 39-41 Gordon Square. This included the underutilized 2 storey 1970’s extension that needed to be brought into beneficial use.

The brief called for provision of an 80 seat, ‘state of the art’ digital cinema auditorium with projection room. This was to be accompanied by a seminar room, new office spaces for the academic staff, a viewing suite, and an open area for informal meetings and social activity. The College had a particular wish for the Centre to engender a sense of community and give a strong sense of visual identity within the Gordon Square site.

The Centre is our most intense formal and visual expression built to date. The vibrant inter-connecting spaces have a rich conceptual origin, the logic of which has been carried through to the detail.

Tuesday, July 5

Aurelie Bidermann, Spring/Summer 2011

French designer Aurélie Bidermann @ opening ceremony, shop here.


Friday, July 1

Deerhoof: Jeff Tweedy (and Sons) Collaboration, Milk Man Reissue, Documentary Film, Tour

via Pitchfork.com

Tonight in London, San Francisco art rockers Deerhoof will take the stage at Alexandra Palace to play Milk Man, their 2004 album, in its entirety for the first time ever. (They're in good company, sharing the stage with the Flaming Lips performing The Soft Bulletin and Dinosaur Jr. performing Bug.) And to celebrate the occasion, Polyvinyl will reissue Milk Man on 180-gram strawberry vinyl, on July 5. Also on July 5, Polyvinyl will release the band's collaborative WOOM on Hoof single, the newest in a series of singles that puts different vocalists over Deerhoof instrumental tracks. This one features the Ba Da Bing records duo WOOM, with WOOM singing over Deerhoof's "Must Fight Current" on the A-side and Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier remixing WOOM's "Quetzalcoatl's Ship" on the flip. A future installment of the series will include a real out-of-nowhere collaboration, with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and his sons Spencer and Sam.

Right now, all the members of Deerhoof are on the Congotronics Vs. Rockers tour, inspired by the Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers: Alternative Takes on Congotronics compilation. The tour links various indie rock entities (Deerhoof as well as Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Juana Molina, and Skeleton' Matt Mehlan) with members of Konono N°1 and Kasai Allstars, the bands of Congolese street musicians who have released records as part of Crammed Discs' Congotronics series. The tour is hitting venues across the world this summer, and it'll also be the subject of a currently in-production documentary called Kinshasa Superband. Below, we've a clip from the documentary (get ready for some untranslated French!), as well as footage of the entire crew performing "Ambulayi Tshaniye" at the first Congotronics Vs. Rockers show in Brussels.


Thursday, June 30

human afterall

Lady Gaga does NORMAL in the summer 2011 issue of i-D Magazine ... and she's absolutely stunning.





lost and found

The Brazilian born, now London-based artist Rodrigo Souto may be known as the co-founder of the acclaimed Black Garden Tattoo Studio on London’s Drury Lane but recently it’s been his historical collage art, created from antique, lost and found items that has put Souto into the spotlight. With over 15 exhibitions in his native Brazil, Souto’s first solo exhibition in London was presented earlier this year by Mas Civiles and Upper Playground at the FIFTY24 gallery.


Wednesday, June 22

Oppressive light

‘La Fabrique’ is a new installation by The Cloud Collective for the 22nd International Post and Graphic Design Festival of Chaumont. The installation fills a small room in La Fabrique, a former textile printing factory, with a soft landscape of projected letters forming the poem “Oppressive Light” by Robert Walser.

A small pathway cuts through the murmuring wave, allowing visitors to “explore the landscape, read the poem in full and immerse themselves in the new connotations that arise between text and form.”


The collective are a collaborative of freelance architects and graphic designers who describe themselves as a “social, open and creative party that measures, explores, experiments, creates, produces and does research.”


The poem, in full:

“Oppressive light”
Robert Walser

Two trees stand in the snow
tired of the light the sky
Heads home nothing nearby
Where the gloom makes its abode

And behind the trees houses
Tower in the dark
Now you hear someone speak
The dogs begin to bark

The round beloved moonlight
Lamp appears in the house
But when the light goes out
A gaping wound stays in sight

What a small life to know
And much nothingness nearby
Tired of the light the sky
Has given all to the snow

The two trees dance with grace
Bend their heads and nod
Clouds race across the sod
Of the worlds silent face

Tuesday, June 21

H&M’s versace Collaboration - first look

Three years after saying that a Versace collaboration with H&M "would confuse the brand," Donatella Versace has announced that (psych!) she'll be designing for the Swedish retailer after all.

The legendary blonde will be following in Lanvin's footsteps by designing both a Fall 2011 line (launching November 17) as well as an online-only pre-Spring 2012 collection arriving January 19. (Side note: How's that U.S. e-commerce coming along, H&M?)

Promising a milieu of "leather, print, color, and exuberance," the lines will include menswear, womenswear, and items for the home.

"I respect everyone who does it," she said "during a New York Times' TimesTalk session. "But the reason I didn't do it is because I work very hard to put the Versace line in the luxury section. I think to put the Versace line in H&M would confuse the brand."

Needle & Thread.

Vivienne Westwood 2012 Menswear

The London 2012 Olympics provided inspiration for the British brand, where sporty symbols and logos were introduced in gold, red and blues