Slow

Albam

Last month, Albam, the classic British menswear brand which was founded in 2006 by Alastair Rae and James Shaw, released the imagery for the upcoming season, and instead of the usual lookbook approach they decided to create this clean cut series of portraits, which represents where the brand stands right now. Shot by longtime Albam collaborator and photographer, John Spinks, the portraits which were taken both in the Midlands, where John grew up, and in London, where Albam has stores in Soho, Shoreditch and Islington, aim to reveal the essence of what Albam is. Styling was done by Lynette Garland and art direction by Mark Tappin, the portraits, landscapes and still lives give a snap shot in to the relationship between Albam’s clothes and the wearer. It features normal people, friends or friends of friends of Albam, making them people, landscapes and objects that actually inspire Alastair and James instead of just people and places. [ Continue reading ]

Inspirations — Sergei Sviatchenko

We've been following the very talented Kharkiv, Ukraine-born and Denmark-based Sergei Sviatchenko since he stepped into the limelight about five years ago. This starting point was the foundation of Close Up and Private in 2009, Sergei's online art project in which he shared his collage-like photographic vision on style, which quickly rose to fame through both the created aesthetic as Sergei’s own impeccable style. Based on this fundament of Close Up and Private, Sergei recently decided to take his endeavors one step further, in a concept which features continuing collaborations with an international rage of heritage brands and skilled craftsmen. With the new project, named Private Classicist, Sergei aims to create a solid range of classic menswear items that verges on pushing the boundaries of current minimalist fashion towards the classic style championed by Sergei himself and through his work. Being highly inspired by Sergei for all these years, today we can share some questions we've asked him to find out what inspires a master like him. [ Continue reading ]

Kokeshi dolls by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Yesterday during Tokyo Designers Week designer Ronan Bouroullec and Japanese architect Kengo Kuma presented their collaboration for the East Japan Project which the latter started after the Fukushina disaster in 2011. The inspirational project aims to get the artisans of the region back on their feet by creating lifestyle products that are manufactured by the local craftsmen. One of those traditional objects combining aesthetics with craftsmanship are kokeshi dolls, which we’ve been collection for quite some years now. Inspired by the extraordinary dolls Ronan and his brother Erwan Bouroullec designed a series of kokeshi dolls which are exclusively produced for the East Japan Project. The Bouroullec brother’s interpretation moved away for the super enlarged head and has a more human shape, with its torso separated in two elements, connected by a hinge which allows them to bend at the hip area, resulting in a more modern, moveable, but nevertheless familiar kokeshi doll. Such an elegant interpretation of one of our favorite Japanese traditional objects. [ Continue reading ]

Nucleo for Gabrielle Ammann Gallery

The inspirational Torino-based art collective Nucleo, which is directed by Piergiorgio Robino, recently collaborated for the second time with Gabrielle Ammann Gallery for PAD 2014, the fair for 20th century art and design. With these last amazing creations by Nucleo, which were exclusively produced for the gallery, they explored the the symbiosis of wood and resin, while the new pieces also incorporate references to stone and metal fossils, resulting in the Nucleo's representative blend of opposites; old and new, light and heavy, lost and strong and arousing the law of gravity and in their unique aesthetic which combines a highly futuristic sentiment with elementary organic forms. Stunning! [ Continue reading ]

Past Present

We really like the new Australia-based headwear brand named Past Present, which was launched this summer in July, and is inspired by the name itself, merging the old school dapper of the past with the present day modern man. Pair that with the relaxed culture of its city of origin, Perth and you are left with an effortless range of premium headwear. Past Present’s first collection was a selection of five and six panel caps, focusing on quality materials and details. The materials used are a mixture of tweeds and wool sourced from Ireland and produced in New Zealand. Finding a common interest in quality and old school style, Past Present also collaborated with the famous Ebbets Field to create a six panel ballcap to help debut their first collection which shows great promise for the years to come. [ Continue reading ]

Iris van Herpen Spring/Summer 2015

We are blown away by this extraordinary ready-to-wear collection by the Dutch designer Iris van Herpen, which she presented in Paris on September 30th of this year. For the collection van Herpen found inspiration in a visit to CERN's Large Hadron Collider, whose deadly magnetic field exceeds that of earth’s by 20.000 times, forming the essential spark and motif for the collection which she named Magnetic Motion. The designer, who often joins forces with like-minded artists from other fields then fashion collaborated with Canadian architect Philip Beesley and Dutch artist Jolan van de Wiel, which resulted in a dream team for the exploration of the boundaries between nature and technology and a simply stunning collection. [ Continue reading ]

Flower Contemporary

Flowers are associated with all the major events in life, whether celebratory or commemorative, but they also color our everyday existence and enliven the spaces around us. The extraordinary 'Floral Contemporary: The Renaissance of Flower Design' by the very inspirational curator Olivier Dupon and published by Thames & Hudson, gives an amazing overview and wide array of options how to implement flowers within all those occasions. Through the work of 38 floral designers, flowers for every occasion are presented in an utmost elegant manner; whether public decorations for weddings, arrangements for banquets, installations for shops and hotels, accessories for fashion shows, exhibits for art shows or private, in the form of simple but special displays for the home: which resulted in one of the most beautifully curated and designed books on the beauty of flowers we have seen. [ Continue reading ]