Shakespeare & Company

The legendary English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company was relaunched in 1951 by George Whitman, he has continued the legacy of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company bookstore originally established in 1921. The bookstore unlike any other housed a bed on the third floor, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, and Pound were frequent visitors; until the store closed due to the war. George was an American in Paris who decided to stay on in Paris, rather than return to America at the end of WWII, and was happy to rejuvenate Shakespeare and Company. (And, in turn, rejuvenated himself after war service and living to the grand age of 98 years). Set in the Parisian creative quarter, perfectly situated in the heart of Paris on the Left Bank, opposite Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. This bookstore is like no other! It’s a kind of sanctuary, George, like Sylvia Beach before, openly welcomes writers; aspiring writers and artists. George’s kindness and hospitality beckoned and attracted writers like William Burroughs and Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell and Allen Ginsberg. For its history and generosity, it is undoubtedly the most famous bookstore in the world.

“When a bookstore opens its doors, the rest of the world enters, too, the day’s weather and the day’s news, the streams of customers, and of course the boxes of books and the many other worlds they contain—books of facts and truths, books newly written and those first read centuries before, books of great relevance and of absolute banality. Standing in the middle of this confluence, I can’t help but feel the possibility of the universe unfolding a little, once upon a time.”  The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (by Lewis Buzbee).

Shakespeare & Co is now managed by Sylvia Whitman, George Whitman's daughter.

Shakespeare & Co bookstore

Lindsey Yankey (signage) illustration

Photojourneyling: polaroids 

MAÎTRESSE blog

Made With Love

Olympia Le-Tan is a true artisan. She enjoys making these beautifully crafted clutches, based from tracings of the original book cover designs. They are about twenty per cent bigger than the original cover versions. The artwork is made using silk threads and a colourful mix of felts as a fill colour. The slight enlargement makes crafting the typographic elements a little more easy to produce; she perfects the art of hand embroidery with silk threads. Aided by a trusty assistant to help her keep up with this ever-growing enterprise, as pieces are seen modelled by celebrities in magazines, more orders are placed.

The inspirations for her pieces are based on the original iconic book covers, the works have a vintage feel to them, Dazed magazine sums them up as placing the aesthetic of literature in fashion. There’s also a cookbook range. I think she’s made the right design choices, best suiting the handcrafted medium. It’s perhaps a little ironic comparing today’s things seen on a computer interface to the aesthetics of Olympia Le-Tan’s handcrafted pieces, they just seem so much more appealing! The reinterpretation, colours and texture make these pieces come to life.

interview here

website

Dance Dance Dance

After reading an article in The Guardian, about the recent controversy involving the authenticity of Natalie Portman’s Black Swan’s dance performance from double Sarah Lane. A ballet dancer who didn’t receive any recognition or credit directly from Portman herself, who seemed to be thanking everyone in her Oscar speech without crediting Sarah Lane. Sarah now claims, “she said Portman’s face had been superimposed on to her body for the majority of shots.” The director states counting the shots that it’s eighty per cent Natalie Portman. Natalie very admirably stressed how hard it was to dance.

This got me thinking of other films such as James Bonds 007 that very typically uses stunt doubles and computer graphic effects to enhance the film's possibilities to marvellous effect (without killing off the lead, which is vital in the case of 007, as he never dies) pushing the medium forward. There is never any discredit to Connery, Moore or Craig the Bond actor playing this role. It’s a pity that there’s a shadow of doubt on Natalie’s performance. And, this is why I enjoyed the performance of master cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck, so much more.

The filming entitled The Dying Swan is a very simple affair, but the collaboration of talent reaches new heights. Filmed outdoors suits the street dancers’ domain, also it suits Yo-Yo Ma, who did a filmed recording outdoors for Joe Wright’s film The Soloist. Alas, the sound quality is not perfect, due to background audience sounds, trying to hold their baited breath in awe. What a beautiful live creative performance merging the cellist solo musician with an LA/Memphis street dancer.  Presented by none other than the inspirational Spike Jonze. The occasion: To bring the arts back into schools—simply amazing. At the end of the film, Yo-Yo Ma says to Lil Buck, “Natalie Portman would be proud!”


references:
Natalie Portman on the set of Black Swan. Photo: Ray Lewis
Costumes were designed by Mulleavy sisters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/apr/18/natalie-portman-black-swan-double
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/natalie-portmans-dance-double-speaks-blackswan-hollywood-13377710
M.I.A. Paper Planes Lil Buck Memphis Jookin‬ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXbXQLv2xqU
Yo-Yo Ma plays the prelude from Bach´s Cello Suite No. 1‬
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY

Amigurumi

“The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features.”

These have become very collectable since 2003 on sites like Esty, they have no practical use and are created for aesthetic reasons. The most interesting Amigurumi creations are about looking closer at natural forms, rather than duplicates of known characters. The individuality in the making of… is key; they’re not super cute per se. It’s more about the playful sense of design characterization, and the most collectable are perfectly executed. The crochet is made up of using odd bits of yarns, sequins and buttons. Each creation is individually handcrafted. They are used like greeting cards to lift the spirits. Online you can download patterns, helping you to start creating your own patterns and designs. I like the way that Chity Soy Yo’s Amigurumi toy designs have travelled, adding to the charm and mystery that is made up of different places and situations with these little things.

http://www.behance.net/chitysoyyo/frame/1082657

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amigurumi

New Typographic Forms

Andrew Byrom demonstrates how his inspirations and studies of every day mainly interior objects are reinterpreted into tactile 3D textural typographic forms. These new typographic forms are clearly pushing the boundaries of conceptual typography, his works showing the physicality of letterforms and openness to the interrelatedness of design disciplines.

Byrom sees type potentials in virtually everything, in his design thinking he’s constantly striving to create things that could potentially form a complete alphabet the only possible restrictions are following the basic x-height or baseline typographic rules for readability, often this makes the projects more challenging and exciting, experimenting with different ways of manipulating materials. He seems to have fewer restrictions with regard to his designs from clients when they see his stuff they can see the fresh and unique approach of his typefaces and design content around his typefaces. Rather than text elements being placed over photographs and illustrations to fit on the page, although his portfolio demonstrates a very disciplined graphic approach to design, with traditional print stuff from logos to book covers and menus.

The concepts behind his typefaces are familiar functional objects that are ubiquitous in all our home environments. Things such as chairs, the designer’s favourite source of reference (ref. The Genius of Design), he also makes the typefaces from things like handlebars, Venetian blinds and a towel holder. Interestingly the typefaces though handmade into 3D forms are photographed for publications and or sometimes filmed, though not yet in 3D that could happen very soon:

I always design a full alphabet set, so my work functions in the same manner as most typefaces. Like any type designer, I want my letters to be arranged by others for their own needs. These communications may well be photographs (flattening the work back onto the page), but they might also be arranged in a built environment, attached to a wall, or flying in the sky!

 His personal website has a shop where you can purchase low relief folded aluminium numbers for doors interior or exterior. I really like the idea that these letterforms are being used within the context in which they were originally inspired:

Working in three dimensions so as to force myself to find new forms. My work does not recreate existing typefaces in three dimensions. Instead, I allow the constraints of materials and the limitations of creating physical structures with these materials to help guide me toward new typographic forms.

Undoubtedly they are unique highly crafted pieces, it’s interesting and exciting at seeing how they can be as adaptively used as they are conceptualised and assembled.

Typefaces: Byrom Tss

Letter-box-kite

Numbers

Grab-Me

Venetian Blind

http://www.andrewbyrom.com

Phoebe Unwin: Anything can be a Painting

Aeroplane Meal, 2008 spray paint and oil on linen 97.5 × 107.5 cm

If I could transfer my digital abstract layered Photoshop pieces into an exciting array of fine art paintings, this is how I’d love them to be. There’s something very beautiful and fascinating, bold and confident about these I'm drawn to. Phoebe Unwin uses abstract shapes and colours with layers that are built up. Visual elements overlap endlessly, the Illusion doesn’t enhance the visual perspective; it forms visual connections and contrasts within the piece. The paintings are titled in a very generic fashion: Man with Heavy Limbs, or Day, because of this I think the viewer is able to create and interpret the pieces more personally.

“Unwin once said that she found it, ‘…exciting to think that anything can be a painting’ and indeed it seems that the most insignificant of objects are made subjects in her works.” The smallness of the subject matter is just like how the author Haruki Murakami describes the seemingly insignificant mundane, mixed up with contrasting sublime and profound thoughts.

Also looking at these paintings evokes the feeling of pausing or slowing motion, a bit dream-like, maybe Phoebe Unwin uses different media to help maintain this illusion by combining: sprays, oils and acrylic mediums. Creating a beautiful blurring movement, it’s as if time is passing and in those few seconds, you are caught in the moment.

Desk oil, 2008 aluminium leaf and spray paint on linen 183 x 153 cm

Man in Jacket, 2009 acrylic and oil on canvas 145.5 × 120 cm

Turn to Pastel, 2008 acrylic on linen 70 x 80 cm

Man with Heavy Limbs, 2009 acrylic, ink, charcoal & on glossy card & printed paper

Soft Person, 2008 gold leaf and acrylic on canvas 220 x 185 cm

Day, 2007 acrylic on canvas 145 x 125 cm

 Bicycle at Night, 2009 oil and spray paint on canvas

further reading Escape into life