Oct 29, 2009

6 Menswear Looks I find Appealing

I can't rightfully tell you what I'm bored with without telling you what I find appealing.

top: motorcycle boots, offhand elegance (minus the cigarette), the black short trench coat
bottom: faux fur collars, red accents, the mod influence

6 Menswear Looks I'm Extremely Bored With



This one goes out on special request for harbourmaster:


top: messenger bag, the blazer hoodie combo, acid wash - this was not cool in the 80s either
bottom: urban plaid, the undersized fedora, the pea coat

Oct 28, 2009

5 Ambitious Designer DIY Projects for You

Patience is a virtue. Think you'd have it in you to attempt one of these beauties?

1. Carlos Alberto Montana Hoyos pull tab and zip tie chair via studio g

2. corrugated cardboard coffin by Egil Packaging look out IKEA

3. Bel & Bel Vespa Chair via auto blog

4. tree branch hangers by Alain Berteau for non-profit second hand store Les Petits Riens

5. Rag chair by Tejo Remy for Droog




Oct 27, 2009

Today I'd rather be...



dancing in Joshua Tree National Park with Bob Fosse to Billie Jean.

Top 5 Design Pieces I'm Extremely Bored Of


1. if I hit my head on this one more time.... ARCO lamp
2. Starck's ghost chairs - Ghostbusters
3. Noguchi table - sigh
4. Oh look, it's an Eames lounge chair and ottoman

5. Barcelona chair - ho-hum
Honourable Mention - the don't make me want you Saarinen table

Oct 26, 2009

Vintage Glenoit

1970
faux fur

Quote of the Week - Crosby Stills Nash and Young



If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

Oct 22, 2009

Trends - Superhero Interiors

Both Spiderman and Superman are doing it.
Red and blue. I foresee a return with accents of gold.





Sorry Vancouver, you're not Brooklyn's bag


How pleased was I to see that Brooklyn Flea has a Design Co-op.

MAPTOTE was formed after an inspirational trip to Europe by Rachel Rheingold and Michael Berick. The duo took their love of maps, travel and design and presto they created a tote. The totes feature various schematic maps of cities, their neighbourhoods, icons and landmarks. Silkscreened on cotton in Downtown Brooklyn there are twenty three cities to choose from - Vancouver, not being one of them.

Vancouverites, which famous neighbourhoods, icons and landmarks would be on our map tote? After all, aren't we holding some sort of event soon that's supposed to 'put us on the map'?

The totes are great idea, they remind me of those kitschy vintage souvenir scarves or better yet - the black souvenir pillows, you could get with city maps on them.

Here's one designed by Grayson Perry for the Tate. It's not vintage but it's still fabulous.

Oct 21, 2009

Taxidermy - Selfish, Scientific or Stylish?

Does taxidermy always expose a longing to capture animals and tell stories about their significance within human lives?

The Museum of Vancouver attempts to answer this question with their latest exhibit, Ravishing Beasts (Oct. 22 - Feb. 28). Viewers are confronted with the 'visual power of taxidermy' and invited to examine taxidermy's cultural aesthetic, scientific history and artistic revival.

Here's a sneak peak from the opening party.

images © stacy reynaud
Fin

*No animals were harmed for this exhibition. Most of the taxidermy that will be on exhibit is from the museum's own collection and was acquired between 1894 and 1950 from Vancouver residents.

The Digs - What you see is what you get

I've had a few requests for some pics of the new digs. Here it is in all its unstaged glory - dark (cause that's the way I like it) and scantily clad with what's left of our furniture. Everything is still where we left it when we brought it in off the moving truck and will probably stay that way for awhile.

Don't you just love wires. My Dad won that lamp when he was a kid for delivering the most newspapers. The hand painted tea pot is a thrift find from years ago. I use it to hold my pens.

One really big slab table and a bent plywood Singer sewing chair.

My old LED clock from the 80s. It's so bright we have to put a sock over it when we go to bed. Part of the husband's guitar collection.

Our highly coveted thrifted $40 rosewood chair and my Grandfather's iron night table. That's Sherman down below. Oh, and there's my Casio Illuminator LED digital watch. Note the gorgeous rental white snagged rental apartment curtains. The emerald black out drapes will be up soon - I hope.

This is our old place.
The studio.

Oct 20, 2009

Vintage Lanvin


1932

I've been had by gelatin

the yogurt I'm going back to

Boiled bones, skins and tendons are not on my plat du jour.

We used to shop at a whole food market but recently switched to a no name box store grocer for financial reasons. It never occurred to me to check the ingredients of yogurt for anything besides cochineal but upon reading the label of a cheap 'house' brand plain yogurt to use for some raita I almost chucked it and my cookies on the floor. Since when did they put gelatin in yogurt, marshmallows or mini-wheats for that matter? Guess I've been out of the loop for the past ten years.

As for those copious amounts of gelatin I've consumed unknowingly - you know who you are and I'm on to you - you can sit with the curried lamb plate I ate half of in London and that ham quiche from Capers I felt the wrath of for three days in the file marked Remember that time...

Oh and ba-bye rice krispie squares you'll fit nicely beside fruit berries in the file marked Food I used to enjoy but won't touch again...

For a list of food additives of animal origin or suspected animal origin visit this site.

Oct 19, 2009

Quote of the Week - Carrie Latet

Souls wouldn't wear suits and ties; they'd wear blue jeans and sit cross-legged with a glass of red wine.

Sanjhih and Taiwan's Forgotten Space Age Modern

The UFOs have now been destroyed.

Originally intended as a luxury beachside resort in the 1970s, Sanjhih's (Sanzhi) UFO residences have now become part of the beach. Levelled earlier this year by the Taipei County Government, the structures now exist only in the image. For a striking pictorial history, including the remains after the demolition,visit Cypher One on Flickr.


Each UFO was constructed of reinforced concrete covered by fiber-reinforced plastic.

The residences were never inhabited, nor was the project completed.

*All photos from cypherone's Flickr set.

Read an article on the Sanjhih UFOs from the Taipei Times here.


Related Posts:
Urban Decay and Abandonment
The Decline of West Coast Modernism

Oct 17, 2009

Goodbye White Picket Fence, Hello Lace


Want to throw your neighbours a curve ball? Put up one of these babies. The Lace Fence is designed by Dutch design house Demekersvan in a variety of themes or give them one of your own to work wonders with. www.lacefence.com

Oct 15, 2009

6 Jeans for Men Fall Winter

The crotch wears out on my husband's jeans about the same time every year. Some sort of physics perhaps...

He's 5'9" and less than 150 lbs. Usually it's pretty easy for him - 30 32 - we're in we're out. However, with the plethora of men's denim hitting the market it seems men's wear is headed in the same direction us women have been navigating for years - non-standardized sizing.

Here are six of the best jeans he tried. We finished the day with pairs of Nudie and Levi's.

Dolce & Gabbana Gold Logo Plaque

buy online



Dior 19cm Nostalgy
buy online


Levi's 511 Skinny
buy online

Acne Black Max Cash
buy online

Cheap Monday OD Black

Nudie Thin Finn Dry Black Coated
buy online




Summer Breeze