13/12/2010

Prada Private Customizable Sunglasses

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Prada Private Customizable Sunglasses

As a society with common interests and fashions, we struggle to set ourselves apart. There is the timeless search to acquire distinctive possessions, whether tangible or metaphorical; and with this desire swings back a cornucopia of options, the most recent being the way one wears their sunglasses as an exclusive and private affair. Customized design to showcase your own visual representation.

Prada likes to woo and dazzle us; and they never falter in presenting the things we have not seen in ways that are refigured with trinkets of unexpected imagination. With indicative subtle expressions, you let your fingers do the creating with their latest seduction, Prada Private Customizable Glasses. The mechanisms are removable arms where you can scrabble your declarations by plugging in two symbol inserts on each side of the frame. Made in two distinctive styles for both men and women, classic frames and your choice of black, white or tortoise-shell and sold exclusively through Sunglass Hut. With a multitude of symbols, letters, numbers, hearts, stars and skulls to choose from, your framed statement provides distinctive luxury for an ever-changing expression. So the question is, what will you say in just four frames? B for badass Blogazine!

Coco Brown, images courtesy Prada and Sunglass Hut.

13/12/2010

Mini Interview with Phil Pinto

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Mini Interview with Phil Pinto

The forecast predicted a rainy day but not a single drop had fallen when 27 year old Phil Pinto filmed the music video for “Infinity Guitars” by Sleigh Bells. Living in Brooklyn, NY he has worked for a variety of clients including 2×4, AR New York, GOOD, Details Magazine, Human Rights Watch, HunterGatherer, Incase, MTV, Mom+Pop Records, Nike, New York Magazine, Print Magazine and VH1.

But Phil Pinto is not just a producer. He is also a maker of things. Most artists unconsciously draw inspiration from things they grew up with, childhood moments that even now seem to be freshly minted. The Infinity Guitars video is strongly influenced by movies 80’s kids can all relate to; things we all grew up with: high school comedies, and Beverly Hills Cop II with Eddie Murphy.

For one full day the Red Hook district in Brooklyn NY had been sent back to the future à la Marty Mcfly, and served as scenery for this electrifying music video.

How did the collaboration between you and Sleigh bells come along?
The whole thing came together really quickly. I knew Derek through some mutual friends before the band had played any shows. They were out on tour & I got a late night phone call from  him telling me that they wanted me to do their video. Two weeks later we were blowing up mailboxes.

Where are your favorite spots to hang out?
I spend a lot of time at my studio in Williamsburg, around there I like to eat at Five Leaves or Egg & I’ll get a drink at Enid’s. Otherwise, I really like Lovely Day & the Jane Hotel. People watching on the benches by La Esqunia & of course Film Forum. In LA, Animal on Fairfax and the Taco Zone cart in Echo Park have the best food. The Cha Cha for dancing & drunk people.
I also love the old Baixa neighborhood of Lisbon, Portugal – I’d love to film something there.

So, photography or videography? Where do you stand?
I’m a huge fan of both mediums. I don’t think one could ever replace the other. As much as I love how complex or simple a film can be, there’s something about being able to capture an exact moment & freeze it. It punctuates the scene. Whereas if you had filmed what you photographed it might be less striking…

Safia Brown, Images courtesy Phil Pinto and Sleigh Bells

10/12/2010

Design In Italia: L’Esperienza del Quotidiano

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Design In Italia: L’Esperienza del Quotidiano

We’ve finally gotten our hands on Ottagono and Giunti‘s new design book, Design in Italia: L’esperienza del Quotidiano. Written by Porzia Bergamasco and Valentina Croci, and curated by the indefatigable Aldo Colonetti, the nearly 300 page volume is a sprawling, comprehensive adventure through design in the Bel Paese. The particularly salient nature of Italian design’s creations and contributions are clear on a walk down any of the world’s high streets, or in a passing glance at any would-be sports car unable to ape the magic lines and proportions of a Ferrari. And while its more iconic objects have been disseminated far and wide (or at least emulated and lusted after, as in the cases of architecture and interior design), this book is, in any case, squarely focused on the more narrow sociological context of design as a primary shaper of Italian life, Italian habits and Italian identity. This is design as patrimony, and a complex look at the pervasive creative fertility that has made the country not only a perpetual hotbed of clever innovation, but also a particularly nice place to live.

Split into sections covering spaces places, objects and people, the volume is curated through the lens of standard, everyday life – the experience of the quotidian, as the story goes. It is filled with spaces that continue to inspire, essential objects, and some of the major protagonists behind them. The objects within are the industrial, inclusive, quintessential icons of the day-to-day in the country, from the indispensible Bialetti moka to Barilla’s iconic pasta boxes and Campari’s tiny tasty jewel-like bottles, all the way to Milan’s metro cars, the diminutive Lancia Y, Castiglioni’s Arco lamp and Ponti’s Superleggera chair. All strokes of genius, none terribly exclusive or terribly rare.

Adeptly written, fresh and thorough, the book paints a picture of a very particular dynamic, a perfect storm of social, geographic and economic scaffolding that continually results in exceptional design, and which, extraordinarily, remains relevant to everyone, design fiend, Italian or not.

Tag Christof

10/12/2010

Salvatore Cuschera / Galleria Biffi Arte

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Salvatore Cuschera / Galleria Biffi Arte

From this Saturday, 11 December 2010 to 6 January 2011 Galeria Biffi Arte will present Salvatore Cuschera’s “Shaman Roosters” sculptures. The artist – starting from his idea of modern shamanism – has been modelling clay to create these colourful cocks, which embody the power of the shaman himself.

The zoomorphic figures are the result of the artist’s will to bring some changes to the traditional cucù made in Matera (Basilicata, in the south of Italy). In many cultures the cock is recognised as a sacred animal connected to the sun and characterised by a fighting spirit. It is also seen as a symbol of virility and often used to make offering to the gods.

The sculptures by Cuschera, through their fantastic shapes, reveal all the artist’s spirituality and cultural background – even if they are not explicitly religious and are made with a certain rationality; volumes, lines, colour and, sometimes real bird feathers are mixed together in a way that recall shaman masks. Creating a parallel between the roosters and the shamans, Cuschera’s wish is to express the charisma of these human beings that are recognised as guides and intermediaries without time.

The works by Salvatore Cuschera will be displayed with the Nativity scene by Enrico Pulsoni in the show called “Il sacro e il profano fianco a fianco per il Natale 2010” (The sacred and the profane side by side for Christmas 2010”), where the sacred and the profane are blended. The “profane” animals, through their rugged and colourful surface, reveal their spiritual nature, reflecting, at the same time, the need of contemporary artists to represent their own particular way to perceive spirituality.

Via Chiapponi 39, Piacenza.

Monica Lombardi, images from the bureau.

09/12/2010

Museo del 900

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Museo del 900

Milan’s newest cultural crown jewel, il Museo del Novecento, opened its doors for the first time over this week’s holiday. Within metres of the city’s flagship Palazzo Reale museum, it is a rare bright spot in the the city’s mostly unimaginative public exhibition spaces, and is at long last a Milanese institution to butt heads with the likes of Paris’ Palais de Tokyo or even New York’s New Museum.

Showcasing an innovative, constantly refreshed collection of exhibitions from what were unquestionably human history’s most radically transformative 100 years, inside are the 20th century’s (novecento in Italian) masters of fine art (with a particularly sharp focus on Futurism), its pop culture, its history and its technological breakthroughs. The museum is housed inside the spectacularly remade 1930s Palazzo Arengario, a suitable example of one of Milan’s many stern, stark Futurist structures constructed at the height of fascism. Flanking Piazza Duomo, the white marble temple is now decked out with a glass façade encasing a spiraling Smithsonianesque staircase, vivid light installations, and a bookshop. Free admission for all until the end of February.

Palazzo del Arengario, Piazza Duomo, Milano.

Tag Christof

09/12/2010

Imagine a Tree House

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Imagine a Tree House

And with winter and rain comes along that nostalgic feeling, that reminiscence of our childhood looking for a special place. A place to hide or be safe.

A wooden house is the perfect shelter, but in reality it was always more… a blanket hung from a special corner of the house. Or a garden, where our most precious valuables were kept. Director Marco Mucig, a brilliant multi talent, brings us back, ¨à la Michel Gondry” to that magical feeling. The key is vintage, though, not childish. It’s very personal, that special place, our own world of discovery and sharing. The Tree House is a place not only to discover, but also to make your own, where, as the story goes, we can keep our fantasies growing…

Twice a year in Milan Chérie’s Tree House creates a perfect platform to support the growth of emerging artists. This Saturday, they open the doors on their 6th edition and will be featuring a pirate’s ransom of treasures including new and vintage fashion by Toxic Toy, Neroli Cashmere, Até Jà, Alessandra Modarelli as well as toys and design products from Drawflowers, Sunettes and many more.

This Saturday and Sunday, December 11th and 12th, at 247 Showroom, Via Pestalozzi 4, Milan.

Juan Alvarado & Tag Christof, short and photos courtesy Chérie’s Tree House

07/12/2010

Bar 25 Berlin: In meinem Garten an der Spree

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Bar 25 Berlin: In meinem Garten an der Spree

When New Yorkers talk about Berlin, they do not discuss the opera but rather reminisce about the good times they had at Berghain or Bar25, two clubs that embody what Berlin is all about: a freewheeling lifestyle of music, creativity and individuality. “Bar 25 is like a love song to a bygone place in the heart of Berlin.” Forget about club managers, head of PR, accountants: this place is run by a community of 15 people that live and work at Bar 25, reinvesting every penny they make back into the Berlin Neverland.

A parallel world, or mini universe, 3000 square meters of jubilation and prosperity, offering 21st century hippies a 360º party landscape right on the Spree’s waterside, open solely in the summer. Seven years ago Bar 25 started as casual Berlin love boat, today it is an institution, an endless story of famous after parties that are simply unforgettable, a never ending dreamland, the personification of a carefree lifestyle. It comes as no surprise that regulars identify Bar 25 as their family, a place where to spend their weekends, since the doors open thursday nights and close down on tuesday mornings, the day reality comes back into the picture.

Sadly summer 2010 was the end of an era. Big investors, politicians, businessmen with a different idea a what should happen along the Spree, have decided to close Bar 25 down in order to develop Mediaspree project, building offices, lofts and hotels. On midnight, September 13, 2010 with a final foghorn blow and a shower of confetti, Bar25 closed its doors for good.

But this was not the definite end. Bar 25 along with Inkubato is now making a coherent movie all about these incoherent moments. “Over those seven wondrous years, there was a group of videographers who realized that we were part of something unique, magical and, yes, ephemeral.” In order to realise the project, Bar 25 needs help from all of us in order to afford editing facilities and finance the soundtrack.

All there is left to say is: Eins, zwei, drei, vier, Fünfundzwanzig!

Safia Brown, Trailer courtesy Inkubato.

07/12/2010

A Euro-NY couple

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A Euro-NY Couple

Creative gurus running side by side in a New York City stride. They are the influencers, carving stylistic decadence that we eagerly eat up with flittering voracity. Delfina Pinardi and James Timmins are the admired and sought after, the desirable doublet.

Pinardi fostered a riveting working timetable from the blooming age of 19 where she skipped between Paris and Milan and began her styling yellow-brick road under the eyes of Giambattista Valli at the Maison Emanuele Ungaro. It was a beauteous precursor to the years that would follow at Elle Italia. Pinardi then turned her sails after this European surge and blew west to New York City where she currently resides with her striking partner James Timmins of Atelier1880. A former model with edible good looks, Timmins’ portfolio feathers extensively over the designing of print, web, and branding for fashion editorials, with served up specialties such as art directing Dossier Journal and acting as senior designer at CoolGraySeven, the boutique advertising agency.

Celebrations of their own romance, Pinardi and Timmins’ ingenuity is contagious. Pinardi’s influence spreads broadly over the Vogue Italia family, but where the heart and business of creativity so efficaciously collide is at Ponytail, where she calls the shots as fashion editor at large, and Timmins as art and design director. Turn the pages and each simmers with energy. This twosome is on an upward escalade inviting the young and sophisticated along for the escapade.

Coco Brown, Images courtesy Atelier1880 and Ponytail.

06/12/2010

Wooliweiss + Casarialto at Verger

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Wooliweiss + Casarialto at Verger

We met designer Catherine Urban, créatrice behind the complimentary Casarialto and Wooliweiss lines, at her temporary shop inside Verger this weekend. The French-born, Institute Français de la Mode alumnus, who worked for more than a decade at Louis Vuitton and Chanel, has a well-honed penchant for detail and a conviction that finer things shouldn’t be relegated to occasional use. It is precisely this aversion to prohibitiveness that has driven the creation of a truly welcoming, everyday luxury brand. Urban partially credits her success to the the unique Italian business ecosystem, which defies economics to remain a patchwork of small, focused and nimble companies. This along with its unrivaled manufacturing savoir-faire, enables responsive, detail-driven boutique businesses to emerge, and allows companies like Urban’s to personalize, quickly adapt and maintain superfluous quality.

The at once cosy and luxurious Wooliweiss was born of a delightful children’s line (doesn’t the name even the name sound warm and inviting?) but has grown to include womenswear, as well as cashmere “Cashpets” and a squeezable and engaging “Hug Me” line, which cleverly encourages the re-imagination of forgotten cushions. The dovetailing Casarialto line, on the other hand, includes deceptively svelte Murano-made glassware, linens, cushions and sumptuous merino blankets. With a word-of-mouth impetus, a real familiarity with her clients and a well-deserved reputation for quality, Urban’s clientele has steadily, organically grown to stretch from end to end of the globe. And with a fountain of fresh ideas on tap, a continuing evolution of product, a new line of kitchen accessories in the works, and the possibility one-offs and personalisation, we see good things in store!

Text and photo Tag Christof

03/12/2010

Vicky Trombetta / Young Designers

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Vicky Trombetta / Young Designers

YOUNG DESIGNERS by Vicky Trombetta from Vicky Trombetta on Vimeo.

While on assignment for Wonderland’s September/October issue special on young designers in London, 2DM’s gallant Vicky Trombetta orchestrated this dreamy-delightful short. 

Styled by Julia Sarr-Jamois, the sequence was mostly shot above the canopy of the city. The resulting etherial dreamlike sequence speaks volumes about the artist’s sensibility and connection to subject: his ability to charge with emotion, yet step back and reveal fleeting glances of sublime beauty, works especially well here with Ford NYC/ Premier newcomer Hilde Gifstad. From the visceral, textural, structural space she inhabits to the raw light and erratic lines of the majestic, organic spliced-in scenes of nature, this is a haunting blend of the elemental and the rarified, of intimacy and distance. More, please.

Vicky Trombetta, edited by Daniele Testi, text by Tag Christof.

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