In 2002 Rémy Hernandez had a life altering skateboarding crash which left him a quadriplegic. After a few years of rehabilitation and reflection he decided to stay focused on his passion of skateboarding by starting his own skate brand.
This is the story of Barbiturik, a fresh new brand that loves attractive and funny packaging and everything that means movements, energy, fun and above all LIFE.
Author : Valentina Matelli
A Golden Day
I Found you and I lost you,
All on a gleaming day.
The day was filled with sunshine,
And the land was full of May.
A golden bird was singing
Its melody divine,
I found you and I loved you,
And all the world was mine.
I found you and I lost you,
All on a golden day,
But when I dream of you, dear,
It is always brimming May.
Author : Olivia Lewit
The Argus Lady Carefree wasn’t actually made by Argus, but for Argus, by Balda-Werke of Germany around 1967. Argus was an American camera and photographic products maker, founded in 1936 in Michigan. Originated as a subsidiary of the International Radio Corporation (IRC), founded by Charles Verschoor, this company was best-known for the C3 rangefinder camera, which enjoyed a 27-year production run and became one of the top-selling cameras in history. A funny creation of Argus was The Lady Carefree. Even though the name sounded like a feminine hygiene product, this plastic camera kind of looked like a maxi-pad for real! A folded one anyway.It had a 126 film cartridges and was compact with double exposure. It was an instant-load camera with brocade face-plate finished in shell-white color which could take sharp and clear photos. The flash was cube and had a smart leather carrying case. Pretty versatile for any use, and like the commercial would say: Perfect gift at Savings! Just 16.88US dollars (in 1967!).
Photo by John Kratz
Author : Isabella Cecconi
Cavo Tagoo in Mykonos island of Greece achieves perfection for a relaxing séjour. Built in collaboration with Aggelos Aggelopoulos and significant architectural contributions from Yiannis Mourikis and George Gavalas it looks like the water element embraces all the Cavo Tagoo structures; the eye balances on the pool’s water level which creates a second horizon across the expanse of the sea. In the center there is the stunning Myconian hotel, which by day welcomes its visitors like a friendly Cycladic home and by night turns into a hub of cosmopolitan gatherings. Nestled into a cliffside, the dominant external element is natural rock, which is preserved in some internal spaces as a natural decorative feature. Particular attention has been given to the interior design: the result is a stunning whitewashed effect with brilliant splashes of color and matte strokes of gold that light up the internal space of the hotel’s luxury suites as well as of each luxury villa. Cavo Tagoo has succeeded in being a cosmopolitan luxury suites hotel and a destination for seekers of unique and relaxing experiences from all over the world.
Author : Francesca Querci
Doug Aitken’s Black Mirror is a place at once sacred and mundane, retro and high-tech, a sort of chapel from the disco era, a human-size jewelry box. Aimed at contemplation and entertainment, the installation consists of a hexagonal structure with ceiling and walls covered by black mirrors. At the center of this space, there is a smaller structure, a sort of coffee table, also hexagonal. Five screens (one on every wall except for one) show actress Chloë Sevigny getting on and off planes and checking in and out of motels. All screens present the same image at the same time, producing infinite reflections. In the video, we see Sevigny as she traverses, suitcase in hand, corridors, drives her car, sits in an airplane, and packs and unpacks her bag. In one instance, she fires a gun in a shooting range, but for the most part, she is on the move or in her motel room, speaking on her cell and using her computer. The change of landscape is inconsequential to her, and, therefore, it is hardly seen. She seems to have no connection to anything but to herself and the worlds contained by her technological gadgets. Thus, the room becomes a micro-cosmos in itself: a stage where acrobats pole-dance around her bed or a couple of men stand outside her window singing, very appropriately, I only have eyes for you, for the song deals with someone unaware of his surroundings. Sevigny looks at the camera and says: “Never stagnate, never stop, exchange, connect, move on”. In its reiteration, exposure has become meaningless to her and nothing seems to register any longer. This demystification of traveling continues in another exhibition room displaying a white plaster wall sculpture with the words “sun set”, and several photographs of dusk, the quinta-essential image of promises fulfilled, new beginnings, romance, and exoticism, that is, of travelling.
Two recent films deal with existential emptiness, Shame (2011), by Steve McQueen, and Somewhere (2011), by Sophia Coppola. In both, the protagonists seem to live an endless repetition of identical, meaningless experiences, which pile up on top of one another but amount to nothing. Doug Aitken may suggest something similar (this thinning of experience in contemporary life), but, to me, he doesn’t quite succeed. There is a sense of self-indulgence in Black Mirror that I cannot pin point exactly. Maybe it is that I find the hexagon excessive (a too heavy rhetoric devise for such a piece) or that the camera lingers too complacently on Sevigny, making it difficult to pass beyond her, but the truth is that, despite its beauty and impeccable facture, Black Mirror ends up falling short.
Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid
www.helgadealvear.com
www.dougaitkenblackmirror.com
January 19th – March 10th 2012
Alpine : Phoebe, Lou, Phil, Christian, Ryan and Tim
They come from Melbourne , Australia
Their label is Ivy Leagues Records (Sidney)
In 1997′s film “Romy And Michelle High School Reunion” two girls are going to a 10-year high school reunion in Tucson, Arizona. Desperately seeking for the fame and lure they never had during those years, they pretend to be successful by showing up in an expensive car and business suits telling everybody they invented Post-it notes. That funny history came up to our mind when we saw Cavallini & Co. Stick It papers. Romy and Michelle, who were stationery freaks like us – (do you remember the feather pen?), would have loved these little pieces of paper reinvented and re-organized . To do lists, appointments, weekly diary, remember: this simple little objects are a must have in everybody’s desk, They are paper masterpieces created to make your life easier. Since 1989, Cavallini & Co. of San Francisco has been creating gift and stationery products with a commitment to quality and uniqueness. After more than 20 years , and despite emails and electronic greeting cards, Cavallini remains an old-fashioned company dedicated to excellence, design and integrity. Glamorize your notes and stick ‘em everywhere.
Author : Redazione
The fashion weeks are quickly following one another between the US and Europe, but I firmly believe the London Fashion Week has always something special if compared to New York, Paris and Milan. Maybe it’s the spotlight on new talents, or a unique taste for experimenting, or maybe it’s just my Anglophilia, but I find the creations of British designers incredibly appealing. Among them, Christopher Kane has been able to establish a reputation for himself thanks to a very peculiar vision of style. Despite being loyal to a certain minimal approach (his silhouettes are always clean and simple), he doesn’t despise (over)decoration – see the fall/winter 2010 collection, for example – and is always able to keep a perfect balance between essential and redundant.
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When a legendary place shut down, there’s a restless feelings of end of an era. But when a music studio shut its doors, something remains: the music. In May 2011, Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, closed as a commercial studio. A shrine of quality music since 1969, through the years Sound City has been used by many legendary musicians, from Fleetwood Mac to Neil Young, from Eric Clapton to Nine Inch Nails. Here Nirvana recorded Nevermind back in 1991. Now Mr. Dave Grohl himself has made a documentary about this cornerstone of music: “That funky old place had the best drum room in the world. The drum sound at the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit? That’s Sound City. I decided to make a film about that feeling when you put five guys in a room, hit ‘record’ and the hair on the back of your neck stands up”. Grohl has managed to enlist a whole stack of musicians for his documentary. Featured so far are Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) and Tom Petty. A teaser trailer has been released. It’s just a taste, short and fast. What should we expect from the doc? Well, simply another rock and roll story…
Author : Federica Mascagni
Stylish, luminous and pocket-sized. A slim, detachable bike light from Bookman, a Stockholm based company that makes accessories for bikes and people on bikes.
This is how simple it is to mount the light on a handlebar or seat post!
The collection of colors includes: Goblin Green, Ghost White, Lemon Yellow, Pitch Black, Raging Red and Heavenly Blue.
The design idea was to use the simplest shape possible and let the colors do the talking.
So here is Bookman Light designed to meet the modern demands of material and energy efficiency, but most importantly to look fabulous on your bike!
‘When the first photobooths were set up in Paris in 1928, the surrealists used them heavily and compulsively. In a few minutes, and for a small price, the machine offered them, through a portrait, an experience similar to automatic writing.’
An exhibition of historical photo booth photographic works are on display at Musée de L’Elysée Lausanne. The collection of images have been assembled to depict the development and inherent quality of the photo booth aesthetic. With over 600 pieces from artists such as Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing, Cindy Sherman, Jürgen Klauke, and Franco Vaccari. Curators Clément Chéroux and Sam Stourdzé have gathered visuals to investigate what they see to be the six major themes of the photo booth aesthetic. Firstly, a compilation of artists seek to answer the appeal of the booth as an isolated space for reflection. It’s a sort of ‘modern confessional’. The exhibition questions the aesthetics of the photo booth through six major themes: the booth, automatism, the strip, who am I?, who are you?, who are we? The booth is an isolated space, closed in as if it were some sort of modern confessional, the photo booth is an invitation to the most intimate revelations. Generally located in public spaces, subway station, department store or train station, it also offers an extraordinary observation point onto the urban hustle and bustle. It is a world in between the intimate and the public, the inside and the outside, the debarred and the open. The autonomatism is a fascinating phenomenon. The machine does the work. The author vanishes behind the almighty technology. Malfunction can occur at times. The result is a form of poetry of the automatism made visible in its faults, failures or blunders.
At the same time, as a series of juxtaposed images, the strip recreates spatial or temporal continuities. It reconstructs improbable spaces: a closer look shows that, in fact, the adjacent image is the following image. Through this succession of images, the photo booth holds, as if folded into it, the principle of the cinema. Putting images side by side is already telling a story. Identity is embodied. It is the space for self-staging, where social, ethnic, sexual, community or any other identity can be strengthened or undone. One can pretend to ascertain one’s naked identity through the mirror of the photo booth, or on the contrary, by pulling faces or in disguise, to establish metamorphoses of the self. The photo booth is the ideal introspective tool. The photo booth is not only a place suitable for self – reflection, it is also a place in which the other can be questioned, in particular through the legal identification system that delivers what is commonly referred to as ‘ ID. While it allows us to reflect upon our own identity, or other people’s, the photo booth is also an opportunity to ponder about the nature of the couple, or the group.
The photo booth reinforces our gregarious instinct; it embodies collective identity.
Behind the Curtain: the aesthetics of the photobooth, Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, Switzerland
February 17th, 2012 until may 20th, 2012
Author : Isabella Cecconi
Moon
Then are you the dense everywhere that moves,
the dark matter they haven’t yet walked through?
No, I’m not. I’m just the shining sun,
sometimes covered up by the darkness.
But in your beauty—yes, I know you see—
There is no covering, no constant light.
Who are you? Where do you come from and what do you do?
I’m Vivì,Vivetta’s founder and designer. I was born in Assisi (Umbria) and I moved to Florence at the age of 15 to study. Then I lived in Bologna and then in Milan where I started my business.
How did you start your job?
I was bothered about working for fashion companies. Working on my own label is much more amusing.
Which is your favorite fashion era?
My favourite fashion era, the ’50s and ’60s . I love lot of things from that period: colours, shapes, objects, music, art.
How do you want your customers to feel like while wearing your creations?
I’d like them to feel good and happy. I’m in heaven when I see pictures of girls wearing Vivetta’s dresses and I love to see the way they wear my creations .
What do you mostly enjoy about your work?
I love to design, to search fabrics and the creative part of all the work. Then I also love to be free on everything. This work is hard but at least I can do everything I want …when I want.
Who do you think has a great style?
I love Peaches Geldof. She is a nice girl and she’s also a cleaver and interesting person.
If you could be the main character of a fairy tale, who would you be?
Little Red Cap, but on that fairy tale I would eat the wolf.
Which song do you like to listen to when you wake up?
“Fish” from Daniel Jonhston.
Where are you living and where would you like to live if you could choose?
Now I m living half in Milan and half in Assisi where I use to produce the collection and to do the samples. If i could choose to live in another place I would move to London, I love it.
Could you please suggest me some cool vintage stores?
Now I use to buy lot of stuffs on Etsy. In Milan I love “Cavalli e Nastri” and I use to go to flea markets like Bonola. When I travel I look for flea markets as well. In Ny I go to “Garage sale ” in Manhattan and… I always came back with paintings, tons of nice stuffs in my bag.
Author : Angela Biani
Alessio’s love for tattoos started when he was sixteen when he went with a friend who was getting a tattoo from an artist working out of his home. He got a tiger on his back and was instantly lured in. A few years later he took a more serious interest in the field of tattooing and in 1998 he met the master tattooer Maurizio Fiorini, who at the time, owned a studio in Florence. Since then, his career as a tattooer began. After working at Maurizio’s shop for a while, he became good friend with another guy that used to work there, Marco Cerretelli. One day Marco told him about the possibilty of working in the United States, thanks to a connection he had in Brooklyn. They both decided to leave a few months later. That was 2002.
The decision to stay in the US was a spontaneous one and after two years spent in New York he decided to move to San Diego, California. Alessio loved to work there since the very beginning, especially for the weather, for the culture of tattooing which is very rich but also because there are a lot of excellent artists that keep him motivated. His favourite style is without any doubt the Japanese one, culturally and aesthetically. He had the possibility to dedicate more of his time to this style in the last five years, when he started to work at Avalon Tattoo 2 in San Diego. Besides Japanese, he enjoys doing American traditional tattoos, and black and grey as well. Marco Annunziata
Avalon Tattoo 2, 3039 Adams Ave San Diego, CA 92116 – USA, www.alessioricci.com
Indian vernacular architecture is the informal, functional architecture of structures, often in rural areas of India, built of local materials and designed to meet the needs of local people. Indian vernacular architecture has evolved organically over time through the skillful craftsmanship of the locals. Despite the diversity, this architecture can be broadly divided into three categories: kachcha, pukka, semi-pukka. Shiv Temple, projected by Sameep Padora and associates, is a contemporary interpretation of temples, merging the symbolism and form of the vernacular while integrating the natural landscape. The building has been constructed with locally sourced basalt and the ceiling culminates with an open skylight. Everything contributes to let the light cover up mind soul and heart of the visitors.
Author : Francesca Querci