Matali Crasset's Open room for Established & Sons is reminiscent of the Reitveld Schroeder House in Utrecht and Piet Mondrian's paintings.

Photo: Established & Sons

Branding: The Next Generation

via Branding Strategy Insider

From USPs to HSPs (Holistic Selling Propositions). Martin Lindstrom proposes that: "HSP brands are those that not only anchor themselves in tradition but also adopt religious characteristics at the same time they leverage the concept of sensory branding as a holistic way of spreading the news. Each holistic brand has its own identity, one that is expressed in its every message, shape, symbol, ritual, and tradition -- just as sports teams and religion do today."

David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945 Opens at the International Center of Photography

David Seidner, Robert Piguet, Raphaël, Pierre Balmain, 1990. © International Center of Photography, David Seidner Archive.

NEW YORK, NY.- David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945 presents photographs of a collection of couture-clad dolls made for the Théâtre de la Mode, a wildly creative effort by the French fashion industry to broadcast to the world that they were back in business after World War II. In 1990, contemporary fashion photographer David Seidner (1957–1999) was asked to photograph the dolls for a reconstruction of the original project. Through September 6, 2009, fifteen of these color photographs from the David Seidner Archive, along with one of the original dolls, are view at the International Center of Photography.  After the liberation of 1944, the French couture industry was badly weakened. Shortages of food, electricity, and supplies brought production to a virtual standstill. During the Occupation, strict fabric rations were imposed on the couture houses, which faced the constant threat of foreclosure. To help revive the international stature of the business, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne conceived of a small exhibition, Théâtre de la Mode. With limited access to materials, the organizers commissioned wire-frame dolls just over two feet tall as the models and invited the major fashion designers of the day, including Balenciaga, Jacques Fath, Lucien Lelong, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Pierre Balmain, to create exquisite miniature dresses.  The exhibition of over 230 dolls, displayed in artist-designed sets, opened in Paris on March 27, 1945 in the Pavillon Marsan at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. The international creative talent involved in the project included the Frenchmen Jean Cocteau, Christian Bérard, and Éliane Bonabel; the Russian Boris Kochno; and the Catalan Joan Rebull. The show was an instant sensation, and traveled to London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, New York, and, finally, San Francisco. Within the year, the French fashion industry had been revived. The dolls had completed their work spectacularly and were donated to the Maryhill Museum near Portland, Oregon, where they disappeared from public view.  In 1990, the dolls were rediscovered and returned to Paris, where they were recoiffed and restyled for an exhibition at the Musée de la Mode. Because of his pioneering work photographing French fashion and historical gowns, David Seidner was asked to photograph the little dolls. In his images, Seidner captures the essence of French postwar style. The rough, abandoned sets he used echoed the backdrop of the original exhibition, and also stand in for the environment in post-Occupation Paris. Like the postwar fashion photographs made in front of bombed buildings, the coiled ropes, splintering wood, shards of glass, and exposed wire in Seidner’s photographs attest to the precariousness of life and fashion at the time, and underscore the courage and spirit of the people who persevered.  David Seidner (February 18, 1957–June 6, 1999) was born in Los Angeles and worked as a photographer for twenty-five years, spending much of his time in Paris. Among the world’s top fashion photographers, he was perhaps best known for his work with the fashion house of Yves Saint Laurent, his striking formal portraiture and nude photographs, and for his orchid series, the final project before his death in 1999. His artwork and portraiture were largely inspired by the chance-based philosophy of composer John Cage, whose work considered the classical Chinese book the I Ching as the basis for musical pieces. via Artdaily

Find a job via Twitter

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Resonance by Continuum

Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.

Priests Retreat

Photos by Miguel de Guzmán

Miguel de Guzmán, Andres Jaque Arquitectos & Enrique Krahe renovated an abondoned seminary in Plasencia, Spain, into a residential house for retired priests.

They transformed a 15th century building with an 19th century extension into a gorgeous and frisky place where debate and participation within and without the religious community can take place.

The residential house is colorful, has an undeniable sense of humor and is downright iconoclast under several aspects: old washing machine doors are used as windows in the laundry space, some of the corridor floors are made of rubber, counter screens from a bank are recycled and used in the “self-service chapel”, the benches have wheels to make them mobile, light comes from every corners and is reflected in bright green, pink or yellow, etc.

via Coolboom

“Best of Milan Furniture Fair 2009” Slideshow | Fast Company

“Best of Milan Furniture Fair 2009” Slideshow | Fast Company

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Couture & Interiors by Thomas Voorn

New Collection by designer Thomas Voorn
This Collection is called Fashion Herbarium - Coming Home Series 0.3.

Kolumba Art Museum by Peter Zumthor

The new Kolumba Art Museum designed by Peter Zumthor transfers the sum of the existing fragments into one complete building.

The Kolumba Art Museum in Cologne’s city center, holds a secret garden, stone ruins, a uniquely dense archaeological site that are the most impressive symbol of the

city’s almost complete destruction during the Second World War.

The warm grey brick of the massive building unite with the tuffs, basalt and bricks of the ruins. Inside the building a peaceful courtyard takes the place of a lost medieval cemetery. The largest room of the building encompasses the two thousand year structure of the city as an uncensored memory landscape.

The sixteen exhibition rooms possess the most varying qualities with regard to incoming daylight, size, proportion und pathways. What they all have in common is the reduced materiality of the brick, mortar, plaster and terrazzo in front of which will appear the works of art.

Photos by samba

Via world architecture news

Landmarks Cone / Landmarks Roof by Sylvain Willenz

Designer: Sylvain Willenz

Year: 2009

Production: Established & Sons

Types: LandMark Cone / Landmark Roof.

Materials: Steel, opal acrylic / Cone versions available in full Black Soft Touch finish

Dimensions: Tall: 175cm, Reading: 125cm, Table: 38cm

Colours: Orange: RAL: 2004 / Grey RAL: 7038 / Also Black Soft Touch for the Landmark Cone

This series of lights is inspired by outdoor functional devices designed to be seen from the sky. The Landmark Roof light, is inspired by signs found along roads which usually indicate milage and underground gas conduct trails. The Landmark Cone light takes its shape from the well known windsock, a simple textile tube on a pole, used to indicate wind direction. In low winds the wind sock droops and in high wind it floats horizontally, hence the articulated top of the light.

Landmarks development sketch

Barbie Store

Architect/Interior Designer: Slade Architecture

Location: Shanghai, China
Client: Mattel
Architect of Record (company name): AD Incorporated (China) Ltd (Danial McCahon)
Store Concept Development and Creative Direction:BIG/ Ogilvy & Mather
Activities (Fashion Runway and Barbie Design Center Activities):Chute Gerdeman
Retail Consultant:Vertical Retail Consulting (Formerly KSA Shanghai)
Restaurant Consultant: David Laris, Founder. David Laris Creates
Graphics: BIG/ Ogilvy & Mather (façade frit pattern)
MEP Engineer (company name): Scott Wilson LTD
Structural Engineer (company name): Scott Wilson LTD
Lighting consultant (company name): Radiance Lightworks
General Contractor (company name): EDG
Furniture Fabricator: Strads Design Co, LTD
Fixtures vendor/fabricator: Kingsmen
Woodwork (company name): EDG
Façade Supplier/Installer: King Glass Engineering Co, LTD
Construction area: 2,790 sqm
Completion: 2009
Photographs: Iwan Baan

New York-based Slade Architecture has designed the first ever Barbie Flagship for Mattel. The 35,000 square foot store holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Barbie dolls and licensed Barbie products, as well as a range of services and activities for Barbie fans and their families.

Mattel wanted a store where “Barbie is hero”; expressing Barbie as a global lifestyle brand by building on the brand’s historical link to fashion. Barbie Shanghai is the first fully realized expression of this broader vision. Mattel worked with BIG, the branding and design division of Ogilvy & Mather, to develop creative concept, identify project location, explore featured activities and identify creative partners.

The central feature is a three-story spiral staircase enclosed by eight hundred Barbie dolls. The staircase and the dolls are the core of the store; everything literally revolves around Barbie.

The staircase links the three retail floors:

The women’s floor (women’s fashion, couture, cosmetics and accessories).

The doll floor (dolls, designer doll gallery, doll accessories, books). The Barbie Design Center, where girls design their own Barbie is on this floor. This activity was planned by Chute Gerdeman Retail and designed by Slade Architecture.

The girls floor (girls fashion, shoes and accessories). The Barbie Fashion Stage, planned and designed by Chute Gerdeman Retail, where girls take part in a real runway show, is also on this floor.
The Barbie Café, also designed by Slade Architecture, is on the top floor.

via ArchDaily

Kid Chair Poster

Limited Edition Children’s Vintage Chair poster by Trenton Duerksen and Daniele Frazier.

Prophets & Penitents – CONFESSIONS OF CHAIR

From making-up to breaking-up, Prophets & Penitents: Confessions of a Chair has now made the move from a 15th century chapel to the small screen. Featuring the debut of 35 chair prototypes, and assorted established & emerging designers.

Prophets & Penitents: Confessions of a Chair took place in Milan between 22 – 27 April at the Oratorio della Passione Sant’Ambrogio and was an initiative of DAMn° magazine and Galleria Blanchaert with Elena Aguido & Alexandra Waldburg-Wolfegg.

www.prophetsandpenitents.com

An initiative of:

Elena Aguido & Alexandra Waldburg-Wolfegg

via DAMNmagazine