Fresh and Raw

There's a boy. It's nothing yet but he has great taste. I like this table. And want a shimmering foam iceberg chair I think he will too. Nothing more than surface deep.

I like that Kwangho Lee takes inspiration from his friends and family. I love that he is simple too. That his art is about the search - for possible change and new meaning in ordinary things. The belief that mundane things have boundless capabilities and can be transformed and can transform. That simple becomes something else via transformation.

Lee also aims to express the quiet beauty and combination of design and craft. There is no machinery. Just crafting from his hands.

Copper

Blondie

French. Passion. POP.

Synchronize Time that heals and destroys Your wristwatch sparkles and shines We dance to organised noise Each beat a moment in time Synchronize tonight Yeah, you timed your move just right Synchronize And the hands of time are just your hands held in mine Take your time you will see We were destined to meet We move through time every day We move in time - to the beat It's high time you occurred Make your move here and now A wristwatch falls to the ground Time stands still in the heart of the crowd The lights flash in time with the beat And your heart beats in time with the drums And it's only a matter of time Yeah you timed your move just right Yeah the lights flash in time with the beat And your heart beats in time with the drums And it's only a matter of time

Synchronised.

Discodeine "Synchronize - feat. Jarvis Cocker" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq2L-tlNUNA&feature=related

Old is new

They say that everything old ends up new again, but I tend to agree with one former Magazine editor who points out that when it comes to style it's important to look forward while looking back. Sometimes, when you reference the past, you need to modernise to be fashionable. Or in the case of Henry Wilson's 'Things Revisited' design collection – give things a new lease on life.

After graduating from Eidenhoven – the prestigious Dutch design academy - Wilson' modernised six different design icons adding simple modern elements to give them all new life. My favorites? The addition of a smooth, caramel leather cover to the Tolix 'A56' chair (designed by Xavier Pauchard as an inside or out chair, in the 1930s). And the addition of an elegant and simple base to the Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 5-1/2-Quart Round French Oven (the pot of my life!) – to allow for dinner to be brought directly to the table so that diners can help themselves without fear of burnt tablecloths.

thumb of approval

The new year has got me thinking far beyond the next twelves months and way out into the ether that is the future. It brings me full circle to "no man is an island" (thank you Clueless) and makes me feel like its time to focus on what's next rather than the right now which I've dedicated my time to.

Multicolour hues, on heavy white board and black frame. Pinned high, pride of place, linking together the memories and the hopes and the dreams of a family rather than the fences that have lined a life. Lori Danelle is a mother and a wife. I feel like these paper prints are a present from the heart of good fortune.

iWrite

Christmas, gone by a few days, has also taken with it the steady stream of snail mail paper trail. Back to the days of online banter which makes me mourn for some handwritten kindness... and reminds me, I really need to get my letterhead sorted.

Elvis - one word says it all
Frank Zappa - the American creative allrounder

Pixel Flix - Australian animators and tv people

Atmosfär Produktion - tv kids from Sweden abroadSpike Milligan - UK funnyman and Monty Python's Flying Circus influencer
Star Wars - no explanation needed
JK Rowling - a little too involved in the Harry fantasy

new? year

What was your new years resolution? Mine was to master the art of simplicity - to pull things back a bit and take a harder look at the bigger picture with the aim of Alice-ing myself right through that looking glass into a more relevant place.

It's ironic then, that I stumbled on the name of the artist of some incredible vehicle paintings, whose aesetic seems to lie firmly in enhancing anarchy in the world. Kevin Cyr seems to stand against the "culture in which people are easily lured by the appeal of status-enhancing symbols", instead finding relevance and beauty in the trashy urban around his NYC abode. His focus in taking vehicles from their original and everyday context to give them them portrait status, while capturing the imperfections perfectly is simply gorgeous.

If you're in Canada, check out Cyr at Show&Tell Gallery
ATROPHIC EXISTENCE
December 11, 2010 – January 10, 2011.
Show&Tell Gallery, 1161 Dundas St. W, Toronto, ON, CANADA