A Day at the Moma

The Moma can always be counted on as a source of knowledge and inspiration for me and all of the struggling designers trying to make it in the big city.

Archigram, Plug-In City

Laurids Ortner, City 47

Morphosis

Toyo Ito, Sendai Mediatheque 

Sea Shelter, click photo below for more info:

 Sketches I Loved

Barcelona Chairs and Pilates Reformers

I had a great time visiting Gratz Industries for a meeting last week (for a top secret project!).  Gratz began in 1929 and is the original manufacturer of the Barcelona Chair and the Pilates Reformer machine.  They also design and fabricate custom furniture and other interior components such as the glass wall shown below. I'm excited to work with them on my current project and hopefully more in the future.

To read more about the history of the company, click here.

source

Love this Giant

Of course David Byrne and St. Vincent should collaborate!! Why didn't I think of it myself! I can't wait until the whole album, Love This Giant, is out.  But until then we have this video.

Great Finds at the Flea

I had a great time discovering the old and new at the Brooklyn Flea Market this weekend.

Murder of Crows

Last week I went to see the life changing, mood altering "sound play" entitled Murder of Crows at the Park Avenue Armory.  In the vast hall there is a small, dim pool of light, with a circle of chairs.  Half occupied by speakers, half are empty, inviting visitors to sit and be enveloped in a world of sound.  You can sit in the chairs, lay on the floor, or walk through the forest of speakers clustered in the center of this large room.

In the center of the circle is this lone phonograph, with a woman's voice speaking from within. 

Major Lazer/Dirty Projectors

Those are two of my faves. Also two completely different ends of the musical spectrum. Amber Coffman of the Dirty Projectors works with Major Lazer on this great song from their new album coming out on November 6!

Astral Converted

This past Friday I went to see Astral Converted at the Park Avenue Armory, my favorite art venue in the city.  The choreography is by Trisha Brown, set design by Robert Rauschenberg, and music by John Cage. Quite a combination!

"...eight metal towers, two each in heights of 2, 4, 6, and 8 feet.  They would be self contained and house all our theatrical gear, most of it from the auto industry: car batteries, headlights, stereo systems and sensors.  The sensors were pointed to trigger the lights and sound to turn on or off when a dancer passed.  Small control boards were added to achieve a degree of randomness to the dancer/sensor relationship."

"The costumes are shiny silver and white skintight unitards marked by white reflector stripes that augment visibility in the piercing striated lighting of the headlights. The women have a white triangular piece of fabric attached to the inseam of their costumes suggesting a skirt. Bob always differentiates between women and men.  In this case they look like a species, both genders present, and out there somewhere in deep space."

Excerts from "Collaboration: Life and Death in the Aesthetic Zone," by Trisha Brown, an essay that appears in Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective (1997)