Sunday, November 17, 2013

LOGO ENVY // SO WHAT?


While lost around Goodge Street I stumbled upon the 'SO WHAT?' studios, a market research company in the heart of London, just around the corner from Saatchi & Saatchi and other advertising/marketing giants. 


Isn't this the most beautiful logo? No? Well you're mistaken. As I've said a thousand times, I'm a sucker for a circular logo, for reasons unknown to myself. So this with a combination of wirey, clean cut type and you're golden in my eyes. 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

GALLERY VISIT // iniva

A friend of mine at St Martins took me to Shoreditch for my birthday. He had bought me tickets to a concert for an arts punk pop band from Brooklyn, and on route, visited a couple of galleries.

Honestly, I can't remember the first, but it was the opening night, so free Belgium beer and oil paintings..

Onwards we went to iniva to see a fine art exhibition inspired by an Indian poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore:



Tagore's Univeral Allegories is an exhibition inspired by the life and work of Indian poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941). It features individual responses from artists Anna Boghiguian and Goshka Macuga to Tagore's legacy, and suggests how his work and ideas still resonate for practitioners today. While shown in separate galleries, these two installations were conceived in relation to one another, with each artist engaged in the discussion and development of the other's work. Through these works perhaps it is possib to consider how Tagore's approach to art and literature as well as subjects including ecology, education, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, can be reviewed in relation to the contemporary world


In all honesty, I didn't get the exhibition. I just liked the vintage dairy pages and old family portraits.



ANNA BOGHIGUIAN AND GOSHKA MACUGA 
TAGORE'S UNIVERSAL ALLEGORIES // CURATED BY GRANT WATSON

Thursday, October 17, 2013

THE MICRARIUM // GRANT ZOOLOGY MUSEUM


Went for a gander around central London and walked past a UCL biology building. Being the nosey bugger that I am, went inside, unearthing a treasure trove of taxidermy and skeletons. You can 'adopt' certain species for a year, for yourself or for a whole family - contemplating adopting the hippo foot for a Christmas present for a dear friend of mine..  



My favourite section of the museum was The Micrarium, containing hundreds of slides of microscopic organisms, making this beautiful illuminated tower of animal pieces. I want a wall like this in my imaginary future home..


Mirrored ceiling to The Micrarium


Sunday, October 6, 2013

GALLERY VISIT // ALISON JACQUES


// In heart I'm an American artist, and I have no guilt. I seek pleasure. I seek the nerves under your skin //
PATTI SMITH - BABELOGUE


My obsession with the relationship between Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith will never die. So being the loyal follower that I am, went into London to the Alison Jacques Gallery just off of Oxford Street, exhibiting pieces and photographs connected to Robert's love of fashion. 

The pieces which I were drawn to were his necklaces which he made originally for himself, to portray the kind of creative he wanted to be seen as. Made from found objects, dices, skulls, tackle flies, bone, glass beads and anything he deemed to be beautiful, as gifts for those he loved. Although he was encouraged to take them further, always being a topic for conversation, he never did, wanting to remain an artist and photographer. 

• Robert was always in fashion. Classic and timeless. Then and now 
David Croland


Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white dresses and morn his curls. He will be condemned and adored. In the end, truth will be found in his work. It will not fall away. Man cannot judge it. For art sings of God, and ultimately belongs to him •

Patti Smith // Just Kids

Monday, September 9, 2013

10 FACTS // ABOUT ME






Part of 'things to include' for my blog project for Kingston University is..

"Ten key facts about you. This can be as mundane or as sensational as you like but it needs to be truthful and it needs to b as visual as possible"

So I took some photographs and used some of my older ones to visually link to a fact about myself. Some interesting. Some not. All true. 




In the Next 10 Year I Shall Be..


Most likely living in a cardboard box trading pieces of graphic wisdom for  noodles. 

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Design I love // ARTIFACT UPRISING

As un-original as it is to admit, I found this company on Instagram. 


"ARTIFACT UPRISING // inspired by the disappearing beauty
of the tangible / bettered by a community of inspiredstorytellers / driven by the belief everyone has a storyto tell. Tell On."


They're mission statement pretty much sums them up. Their products include; soft and hard cover books, wooden photo boxes, wooden calendars and Instagram friendly books. Apart from generating beautiful designed products, they use dead wood. Doesn't sound too sexy at first, but the dead pine wood from the Rocky Mountains turns from green to red to grey, giving the paper they use a grey-ish blue tint - yum!


With their core beliefs including:

CREATIVITY / for all things, endless possibility. for every story, endless ways to tell it.

COMMUNITY / we seek to cultivate a community of inspired storytellers - of movers, shakers, do-ers, designers, creatives, artists, thinkers, joy-makers.

LEAVE A LEGACY / we believe in the story that is archived for future generations. we believe in moving stories off our computers…and into our lives.

THE POWER OF ONE / to create art. and change the world.

PASSION / without it, we are nothing.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY / we strive to be kind stewards to mama earth and her happy forest. we are committed to using environmentally responsible papers and are always seeking ways to minimize our impact on the outdoors

AUTHENTICITY / in all things. in our communication. in our company. in the transparency of our supply chain. in our own story.