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ew, issey, really?
issey miyake has always been one of the driving forces behind avant-garde design and has made me a blip prouder of my azn roots. however, his newest venture into, i want to say ‘playful accessories’ (?) is so…repellent. i’m not going all isaac mizrahi cray-cray (see unzipped for the most hilaaaaarious fashion documentary e-v-e-r) over silly fashion, but still - really haphazard folding, and it’s…patent. p-a-t-e-n-t. i hope bao bao goes bye bye soon.
very creepy, but i was just browsing through a design magazine i had sticky-noted in a few places — and re:paused on the interior architecture of ylang ylang, a fashion store based in toyko. oddly enough, the architect behind the design was again, yuko nagayama. guess i have a slight aesthetic crush on her. this photo doesn’t do the space justice — the clothing, focused on draping and structural minimalism is echoed through the larger spatial organization of the store. here, nagayama creates a sweeping garland-esque structure from stainless-steel looping chains that slope down to create a cave-like effect — intimate, yet airy and non-intrusive. the effect — a seamless drape throughout the store that functions both as a structural support for the clothing, as well as a reinforcement of the brand’s message and aesthetics.
still in love. #302 — buried — by yuko nagayama.
why is japan still THE best in terms of interior architecture? always so stream-lined, thoughtful, and humble. the spaces are never over-exposed or too eagerly activated. this is sadly not a real room, but part of a temporary exhibition entitled llove. it’s a collaboration between japanese and dutch designers as a remembrance and reinforcement of cultural relations and respect between the two. this piece by yuko nakamura is my favorite — but i also adore #308 — by pieke bergmans. see below —
as one (still) enamoured with spirit animals and animated food, this would be THE best valentine’s day gift e-v-e-r. air lifted from japan to mah lap. thanks mom!! anyways, totoro reigns the bakery waves in japan, happily sitting a top cute little strawberry shortcakes and creme rolls. here, one japanese bakery does it right with totoro creme puffs. ooooeeeeeeeeee!
i loathe you youtube, but…i just love h-e-l-i-u-m! think it spawns from my pubescent love for emily-the-strange — convinced we were soul sisters of another age where darkness loomed and girls with dark hair and brooding eyes ravaged daylight…just something cute. pink puffy animated balls are unstoppable…
http://www.strindbergandhelium.com/
video: Takuya Hosogane, music: :cubesato
ok, you are amazing. parametric animation/design. such a clean, evocative, playful aesthetic. you win, i am enthralled. schwing!
see: http://sszh.tumblr.com/
beautiful posts and thoughts. thnx!
part of a whole series of ‘exactitudes’, documenting the shared dress codes of distinct social groups. some are pretty blah, but others are quite hilarious…and humbling…ha ha.
in this series, called ‘carry daddies’, ‘mobility rules with convenient click-clack design. proud daddies spending father’s day in the city…with their mini me’s…togetherness.
so bad, but soo gooood.
happy family
viennese photographer, alexandra hager, creates hyper-eerie mash-ups with an atmospheric victorian touch. kind of like the evil twin-sister of loretta lux. bit darker and glossier.
i’m not really into ‘online learning tools’, but this site actually seems really helpful. it has a cute interface and full of lessons that are pretty extensive. language seems to be the majority of programs, but there are a wide array of subjects.
shameful.
side-by-side of japan’s postal service website vs. ours. why can’t we have more enjoyable web design experiences across the board here? would be so nice to incorporate some design and savviness into more gov’t/corporate sites. and better train systems too!
simply. incredible.
whilst some of you poor souls might think hellmann’s is the only ready made mayonnaise available, you are mistaken. aaaaand your life hates you for it. in japan, they have this mayonnaise called kewpie mayonnaise (has a kewpie doll on it, creepy!) and it’s just so superior, people even dip their vegetables into it and glop in on their salads. sounds gross…until you tryyyy itt. kewpie mayonnaise is made with rice vinegar, instead of distilled vinegar, so perhaps that’s the secret to the taste differential. japanese pips who adore this mayonnaise are called mayora by their friends. best champion pet name e-v-e-r.
um, embarrassingly, the reason for this post was not because of the actual mayonnaise product, but their website (!) even for just mayonnaise, this site is beautifully thought out. it’s more interactive than a typical product site. the web designers wanted to create an ‘interactive cooking show experience’, displaying high quality photos paired with nice music and blurbs on recipes, seasonal vegetable pickings etc.
mikihiko kyobashi’s site designed by form::process
minimalist website of a japanese photographer, whose site design echoes the essence of his work — fluidity, tranquility, nature. what so many japanese design sites are about - blending minimalism and savvy design into some powerful, yet muted.
and in other typical japanese fashion, their super cute mission: ‘we will be happy if we can leave behind design that is etched into the memories of those who see it’. kampai to that!
‘the methodical task of writing distracts me from the present state of men. the certitude that everything has been written negates us or turns us into phantoms…I believe I have mentioned the suicides, more and more frequent with years. perhaps my old age and fearfulness deceive me, but I suspect that the human species – the unique species – is about to be extinguished, but the Library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, equipped with precious volumes, useless, incorruptible, secret.”
borges. poetic, tugging on the deepest strings of reflection - on the liminal spaces of inclusion and exclusion, both within our world of relations and well as within ourselves.
i’ve missed you, hong lei
it’s been a while since looking at his work, but he still remains one of the few artists for me who can conceptualize decay and loss so humbly and effortlessly. after becoming more interested in traumatic residual spaces in architecture school, his surrealistic photographs seem even more spatial, spiriting a resigned tension that’s so delicately layered, you’re afraid to tear into something too fragile, too ready to be lost and forgotten…
Autumn in the Forbidden City (West veranda)
