Gifu Lamps

Called Gifu Lamps, these lamps designed by Pilar Velasco and Pau Stephens have been designed to resemble a long necked animal......who are they kidding, they resemble Giraffes. They were on show as part of Salone Satellite at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. Pilar Velasco, is a British educated, Madrid based industrial designer.

Gifu Lamp

Giraffes

The simplicity of the construction is quite elegant because it is wooden batons joined by wing nuts, which gives the joints flexibility. If I was the packing a lamp and taking it on holiday kind, I would have theses for this purpose. Our instant gratification society though is heading in the direction where not just cushions and curtains and vases will be changed every season, but I believe small electronic accessories like lamps will be changed according to season and mood and these would be most suitable for that.

Fold away lamps.



Konzuk: Timeless and Versatile

So I was reading my weekly dose of a friends' contribution to the online mag www.studio83.co.za and she featured this jewellry. Now you must understand, my friend and I have completely different style, hers is a love of the neat and clean and mine is a love for the combination of unusual materials and colours. So every once in a while, we meet. Below is the concrete and steel cuff links that I saw first and thought I want those as earrings!!!! I would wear them as earrings they are so beautiful. I wonder whether that would be sore...?

Then I went to the website and found....earrings. They are below.

And then my life got interesting; the colours the use of material, the cleaness of the designs, so androgynous. I want a platinum and concrete wedding band now. No I am not getting married, but if I did, I would. The bigger hops are bangles. Concrete and stainless steel bangles or bracelets, depending on where you grew up.

Most of the images above are from their collection, 'Concrete.' Concrete! But now my 3 favourite items, from their collection 'Embellished, which is sadly no longer available. It is industrial frivolity. Frivolity is a good word!

The necklaces above are coloured by automotive paint. Below is more eye candy.

Now I must state that the necklace, bottom left, I think is so beautifully balanced that I want to call it a symphony. You must understand that I do not enjoy symphonies, too loud for my taste, but I thought, if someone had to represent a symphony graphically, it would look like that necklace. She is a Canadian based designer called Karen Konzuk.

Blue Jeans: Lana del Rey

I do love this lady and I am glad that she is finally starting to get not only air-play, but famous. It is like silverscreen grundge music to me, love it even though to some it may seem 'depro'. Enjoy the Weekend.

Gotye: Somebody That I used to Know

A friend of mine called us concept junkies. It is the perfect way to describe my melancholic friend and I concept junkies. We are more intrigued by concepts than reality sometimes. Enjoy Easter holidays. I will be at home, the middle of nowhere, that I love still because there is no pressure for me to be seen because I do not tell people that I am home.

As for this music video, when they start erasing her from the picture, I got goosebumps. I do not get goosebumps unless, if I am cold.

Below is the cover version that I enjoyed just as much as the original. I normally play them back to back on my playlist because it just shows that you do not need a lot of anything to create sometimes. You just need to use your 'medulla oblongata' as my mother is fond of saying.

Natural Architecture: Maruyama House, Atelier Sano

The wooden house designed by the Japanese Architectural firm, Atelier Sano. The house has made me decide that floor to ceiling windows are the new balconies. Now I just need someone to design a balcony within a house then I never have to get cold because I am standing on a balcony, but it is too hot inside, so freeze I must. Climate controlled balconies essentially. The pictures give me the impression that I am purched on a mountain. Restrained only by the spaces of wall that hold up the roof essesntially. I also enjoy uncluttered spaces with everything in it there for a purpose and easily accessible. I'm only good with useless things that are going to cover a wall.

Im not a purist but....

I am not a purist. I love colour. I love colour so much that I see people in colour and being called colourless by me is not a complement. But this house, got me because of the little images,....everywhere, and the little pictures that fool you into thinking you are looking at a picture of a reflection in water, or the X-ray shower door. And yes I am cheating on my natural architecture series, but I could not contain my excitement.

Too clean for me

Is there anything more beautiful than this basin. contours!

I see little people and little animals

The horizon

The waters edge

The X-ray shower door

Alright I will be honest the house did not impress me much, but its the little touches that made me like it. Ill stop saying little now.....

Natural Architecture 1: wNw cafe

I have decided to do a feature on great buildings built with natural materials. I would like your input on their aesthetic, their longevity, functionality and anything else you can think off. I will start off with the vietnamese Architect Vo Trong Nghia and I will try not to do more than three posts on him throughout this series. Seriously I will, if i fail, o' well at lease I tried...This is cafe wNw near Hanoi in Vietnam, constructed predominantly of bamboo and very little steel. The roof is made of little pieces of bamboo. 

What I enjoy most about this project in my post 'tree hugger, save the planet lets recycle anything' is the fact that it's a very good representation for me of indigenous architecture. Because (yes I start sentences with because) of the material used very little energy was used to construct the building, therefore it is truly a green building, according to the Green Star Rating system. Let me explain what I mean; bamboo grows fast as a result material costs are low and material manufacturing process' do not harm the environment. The highest skills required to use it is semi-skilled labour therefore it promotes the use of local labour. Traditional means of treatment have been used, therefore again less harm for the environment; I hardly think that in the olden days they had JIK, the bleach follow my thought pattern. Its a traditional building that fits into the modern architectural fabric of a city and as for longevity,....i do not know enough about the longevity of bamboo to comment, but should deconstruction be requried, its a plant! It will go right back into nature, without harming it.

 

Photographs: Vo Trong Nghia website and other sources