Monday, August 2, 2010

Surrealist Mash



I was looking at the Designboom Sunday edition email (get on their website to join their daily emails, they are great). The work of Norwegian artist Are Mokkelbost caught my eye.

He makes the most arresting collages from magazine clippings. The way he produces them is really sophisticated, transforming the faces of beautiful models into skulls without eyes. His composition is really complex, layed and reminds me of Rococo frescos on the ceilings of catherdrals.

It also brought to mind the surrealist work of Australian James Gleeson, the late great surrealist painter and his figurative works. I really enjoy the way Mokkelbost's collages are so sharp and digital looking yet cratfed tediously by hand, some taking upto 3 years to complete. They are a contemporary and fresh approach to working with the age old subjects of mortality, beauty and death. 

For more on Mokkelbost's work, link to Designboom above or see more images of his work on an earlier web article from Booooooom


 
 

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Pieces of Eight on Twitter



Hello All! Just in case you didn't know, I started a Twitter account for the gallery last Wednesday. It's an interesting medium and a little like a very succinct blog. If you are on Twitter, please follow us for snippets of news, links and general good stuff!

Play Time by Jacques Tati


Play Time is a brilliant film by Jacques Tati, full of witty visual and audio gags in a artfully artificial urban Paris.  Shot from 1964 -1967, I highly recommend this film, watch it while sipping red wine and nibbling on terrine and cornichons! Stylish fun! Look out for the end restaurant scene, it's an outrageous mess!
 

 
 
 

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Bathboat


As I adore baths and bathing (see previous posts for evidence of this!), I instantly fell in love with this beautiful Bathboat. Designed in 2005 by Weiki Somers it is made in an edition of 30 only. Constructed in oak and red cedar, I found it on a beautiful Parisian Design Website called Galerie Kreo. They see themselves as a 'research laboratory' where they exhibit and hold the rights to the production of the works shown. Some amazing creativity to explore on their site- if only I had a stash of Euro to play with...!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Issey Miyake: Sushi Pleats Please Campaign

Genius! I love this ad campaign and have had it in my inspiration file for some time. Now it's time to share! Garments folded to mimic sushi, only the Japanese could be so brilliant!







 

Friday, March 5, 2010

Pothole Garden



I love this concept of filling potholes in public roads with small flowering gardens. Created by British artist Pete Dungey and curtesy of Yellowtrace blog

As he states, 'If we planted one of those in every hole, it would be like a forest in the road'.

See more of his work here

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Japan Trip Random Images




I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted- last year go the better of me. It's been really nice to relax into 2010 and reflect on last year. 

Nick and I went to Japan in Oct/Nov 2009, here are some random pics of places we visited and things we saw. It was our third trip there together, when we went in 2008 we were engaged on Naoshima Island. We could happily go back annually!
 
















 


 

 



 

 






Friday, September 4, 2009

The Poladroid Project



For those of you missing and reminiscing Polaroid, there is always The Impossible Project to look to for hope!! Also, there are several fun free applications you can download to create a Polaroid experience- not nearly the original, but pretty fun all the same! I just downloaded the free app from Poladroid, in this post are some quick examples of the results, including cranes from our wedding day.

You get a little Polaroid camera which sits on your desktop and makes shutter sound when you drag an image into the camera, it then slowly develops on your desktop and your nostalgic journey is complete!


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Hakone Novelty Bathing

The newest attraction at The Yenessun is the ramen noodle spa!

Bathing made me think of my ultimate bathing pilgrimage in Hakone, Japan. While I've been lucky enough to visit Hakone a couple of times, I've still not been to what looks like the funniest bathing venue ever! The Yenessun is a hot springs amusement water park and you've got to see it to believe it! We actually drove past it a couple of years ago and from what we could see over the fences, it looked like we should pull over- didn't have time :(

Now for your viewing pleasure, here are some images to show you what I will one day visit. Now i bet you'll put it on your must-see list too! Imagine experiencing this place?!


The tea spa

The coffee spa

The beer spa- lots of kids in this one!

The wine spa- very popular by the looks of things!

By the way, they also offer more traditional Japanese style outdoor nude bathing (segregated) as well as slippery slides and health orientated treatments.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Bath Time



Oh how I love bathing! I think lots of women enjoy a long soak in a tub, and now we have been suffering from years of drought in this country, I feel so guilty about filling the tub (we're trying to stick to 3 min showers!), I haven't had a bath all winter- or all year from that matter!

So tonight, I think I will fill the our lovely deep tub 3/4 full and enjoy every moment. I'll then siphon out the water in the morning in buckets for our little roof top terrace.

Some nice inspiring bathrooms in this post. My dream tub would be in my bedroom, with a view to a garden and in front of an open fire pace. Decadent!!