September 2008

Staircase gallery in a New York residence by Common Room

September 1, 2008. Opening Friday at the Center for Architecture, "New Practices New York" will present the winners of AIANY's recent emerging architects competition, for which applicants' studios had to have been founded after 2002 and be located in the five boroughs ...

DOROTHY COSONAS redefines luxury at KnollTextiles.

The cover of Wonderwall No. 2

September 30, 2008. Last night at the Colette shop in Paris, Frame Publishers celebrated the sequel to its Wonderwall: Masamichi Katayama Projects monograph, simply named Wonderwall: Masamichi Katayama Projects No. 2. Designed by groovisions (GRV2450), the book provides an overview of 40 of Japanese interiors firm Wonderwall’s 2003-2008 projects...

On show at Archifest Singapore next month: Chedi, Chiang
Mai by Kerry Hill Architects with Tandem Architects

September 15, 2008. This October, the month-long, second annual Singapore Archifest 08 will celebrate man and the built environment ...

The Hall of Fragments at the entrance to 11th Venice Biennale

September 8, 2008. Visitors to the opening of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale on September 14 will be greeted by a site-specific multimedia installation designed by David Rockwell, in collaboration with Reed Kroloff and Casey Jones. At the entrance of the Corderie dell’Arsenale, the main exhibition facility, the 4,624 square foot Hall of Fragments project responds to the title “Out There: Architecture Beyond Building” chosen by this year’s director Aaron Betsky and suggesting that architecture transcends physical constructions...

Invitation to the opening of the time-share gallery, W/------------

September 25, 2008. Opening in a storefront in Manhattan's Chinatown on September 27 and running for a maximum of two weeks is art/design hybrid "It's Time to Play W/ ––––––––," which christens a teensy gallery that will actually be time-shared among three designers: Yale graphic design graduate Jiminie Ha, Whitney Museum design director Rebecca Giminez, and Brooklyn-based graphic designer Macgregor Harp, who together curated the first exhibition ...

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

A new article in the IBM systems journal is out on SOMA that describes the method in a bit more detail than I did in 2004. This article describes a method that has now exercised hundreds of projects successfully and thousands trained worldwide in its delivery. This edition also features a number of articles on SOA.

Here is the abstract:

Service-oriented modeling and architecture (SOMA) has been used to conduct projects of varying scope in multiple industries worldwide for the past five years. We report on the usage and structure of the method used to effectively analyze, design, implement, and deploy service-oriented architecture (SOA) projects as part of a fractal model of software development. We also assert that the construct of a service and service modeling, although introduced by SOA, is a software engineering best practice for which an SOA method aids both SOA usage and adoption. In this paper we present the latest updates to this method and share some of the lessons learned. The SOMA method incorporates the key aspects of overall SOA solution design and delivery and is integrated with existing software development methods through a set of placeholders for key activity ...

A new article in the IBM systems journal is out on SOMA that describes the method in a bit more detail than I did in 2004. This article describes a method that has now exercised hundreds of projects successfully and thousands trained worldwide in its delivery. This edition also features a number of articles on SOA.Here is the abstract:Service-oriented modeling and architecture (SOMA) has been used to conduct projects of varying scope in multiple industries worldwide for the past five years. We report on the usage and structure of the method used to effectively analyze, design, implement, and deploy service-oriented architecture (SOA) projects as part of a fractal model of software development. We also assert that the construct of a service and service modeling, although introduced by SOA, is a software engineering best practice for which an SOA method aids both SOA usage and adoption. In this paper we present the latest updates to this method and share some of the lessons learned. The SOMA method incorporates the key aspects of overall SOA solution design and delivery and is integrated with existing software development methods through a set of placeholders for key activity areas, forming what...

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

It’s unlikely that Prince Charles heads the Richard Rogers fan club, but Lord Rogers recently received validation from another luminary when the Royal Institute of British Architects named the Rogers Stirk Harbour–designed Maggie’s Centre the winner of its RIBA Stirling Prize 2009.

artTherapy.etsy has added a photo to the pool:

MAN presented spring/summer 2009 at the NCP car park Brewer Street - the fashion pack unashamedly stopping traffic and causing chaos in Soho.
We dutifully climbed the narrow stairs to the top floor and hey presto, it had been transformed into a catwalk. Bit of an annoying moment when having leant over to air-kiss a friend sitting in the front row and realised I couldn't stand up again as someone was standing on my priceless peacock coat. Gave the gentleman concerned a shove and realised it was Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen giving an interview - he was not amused! But hey, most importantly the coat's ok.
Christopher Shannon, Hans Christian Madsen and Topman Design all showed and James Long gave us a fabulous collection teaming fine wrap-around shorts with cool macramé armour in his signature leather. There were gunmetal gossamer tops and all the models wore his own range of sunglasses.
The minute the show finished a team of security agents whisked the collection away to a secret destination. Having had it all stolen last season, nothing was going to be left to chance.
Supper at Momo and then the MAN House Party at Portland Place. Every floor heaving, we just wanted to party and celebrate a great week and really let off some steam.

Two white grand pianos were the centrepiece for Erdem's unbelievably romantic show. Faded toile de jouy prints, ruffles tiers of lace and floral chiffons. We were immediately transported into the gardens of a stately home with the girls probably dying to be naughty.
After the show joined the queue of admirers desperate to congratulate Erdem, who looked overwhelmed by the attention.
Just around the corner from Susannah Hunter, so popped by for a cuppa. Her bags the perfect accessory for the season this and next. Fascinating to watch the bags actually being made at the back of the shop and had a sneak preview of her collection before Paris.
Erdem's after party at Soho Hotel was completely decked out with flowers in the theme of his show; A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Roksanda Ilincic had her show at Battersea; in spite of I running an hour late, all was forgiven.
The collection was beautiful, hats and headdresses by Noel Stewart, a protégé of Stephen Jones. The models draped in silk organza with long trains or onion shaped skirts made the audience gasp with appreciation. A bit of a scramble getting out of Battersea, fashionistas fighting over cabs to get to the Lanvin party in Savile Row.
Then back to The Natural History Museum for Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief, in Aid Of The White Ribbon Alliance.
Alice Dellal modelled a Thirties tulle wedding dress from Virginia, which she wore over black ripped tights and biker boots, such a great look. Brides to be, please note! I hope it raises lots of money.
The star piece made entirely from peacock feathers by Zac Posen and worn by Naomi raised £25,000. The show did go on for some time and I was very grateful for the delicious Melrose & Morgan gingerbread man, complete with white ribbon, and greedily swiped my neighbour's too.

At last a sunny day and the Crystal Palace house by the Serpentine the perfect venue for Luella's show. Lavender balloons line the paths and guide us to the venue, tea and coffee served with pink meringue pigs, a delightful appetiser.

Sweet with a twist is how you'd define the show - very taken with the short veiled headdresses, perfect for masking a tired look.

A walk to the Natural History Museum and I'm doing brilliantly in new Louboutins. Check out the tents before collecting my hat from Stephen Jones' stand.

Then over to Victoria for Temperley's Romantic Odyssey. I arrive just as Alice steps out of her car. Congratulations Lars and Alice! The collection, a riot of colour with bold graphic details, historical references of enchantment - wearable and wonderful.

Dover Street Market gave a party to celebrate the arrival of Stephen Jones' first perfume, The Meteorite Crashing into a Violet, and that about sums it up. Fashionistas "hatted out" to pay their respects to the master and admire the little hatbox, which contains the perfume wrapped in netting.

"Google" meant nothing ten years ago, but the word was recently added to Oxford's English dictionary and it's hard to imagine life without it. While I would not describe myself as a lover of technology, when it comes to using the internet as source of information or shopping I am lost without it.
Despite my dependence, there are still things best done in person; making eye contact, reading a book, kissing and trying on a pair of jeans. But even the high-tech naysayers cannot deny how important the web has become in booking a holiday, finding a vintage dress, sourcing a good doctor and keeping in touch.
Bursting bubbles and slow dial-up connections notwithstanding, many fashion brands took a wait-and-see approach to the web. Clicking and dragging seemed utilitarian compared to the luxurious experience found in their flagship stores. Yet a handful of premium sites have changed these perceptions and ushered in a new generation of luxury websites.
Time is one of the greatest luxuries. NETAPORTER.COM built saving time into the business model and helped pave the way for premium e-commerce sites to be taken seriously. One of the first successful websites to sell designer collections online, any doubt about size or fit is easily justified with a perfect return po...

Off to Paris for Fashion Week. Eurostar a bit too fashionably late for my liking. Arrive at L'Hotel same time as Dior scheduled. Drats!
However, determined to make it and race with difficulty across the sandy gravel to the Tulleries. Arrive as show starts, so don't get my seat and in the darkness find somewhere up in the Gods to perch and catch what I can of the show. Short, brilliantly coloured pleated chiffon skirts, beautifully tailored jackets and sleek Ginger Rogers-style gowns - utterly gorgeous, utterly sexy.
Scramble through the throng of admirers to pay homage to John Galliano and deliver packets of English tea for the studio.
Then on to Antonio Berardi but I'm feeling a migraine coming on. Sit next to Antonio's sister, an amazing lady, who on seeing my ashen face gives me a head and neck massage, restoring me enough to see the collection. Sublime elegance with a naughty twist in vibrant colours. It's all about the tailoring, tres chic.
His father, to whom he dedicated the show, would have been proud.
Somehow m...

Fashion Week is not really hectic for me these days - when it comes to spring/summer 2009 I've already done it all and sold it all and by this stage I'm pretty heavily in to autumn/winter 2009-10. We all have to work so far ahead now as everybody wants such early deliveries every season.
So I've got the women's and men's catwalk mainlines for winter in the early stages and the diffusion lines are pretty advanced - we have to deliver the winter collections in July - my hope is that they'll get earlier and earlier and turn a full circle so we can catch up with ourselves!
It's great when people don't play to the buyers and refuse to stick to the rules though: Azzedine Alaia is a true inspiration: he sticks to his own rules and creates these beautiful fantasies of fashion. I love his work.
Our show will happen in Claridges this time which is nice because I think we're seen as the elder stateman of the fashion schedule in London. It's amazing how the womenswear label has established itself considering we started off as just a menswear brand.

I must admit I'm happy that London Fashion Week isn't being reduced to the length of our English summer (all four days of it!). There's definitely something about London when the sun is shining that you just don't get in any other city - it certainly seemed to bring out the best of our Londonistas, who were all strutting their stuff in the capital over fashion week.
It seems to have been and gone so quickly - oh, the joy of being a ready-to-wear designer, putting heart and soul into a collection which rests on a five minute show, slotted in at some point during all the mayhem.
Parties, store openings and Champers aside, the highlight of the week had to be Louise Goldin's show. The talented Miss Goldin approached me a few months ago to do the shoes for her collection and I was so bowled over by her imaginitive, innovative designs, I couldn't resist getting involved.
Steering clear of all things "backstage" at the show didn't stop me feeling the buzz as the lights went down and the show began. The collection was fab, and t...

One of the inescapable things about making the sort of shoes I do is that you have spend a lot of time in Italy - this is what I love doing and this is ultimately where I love being. From the time I entered into the shoe business, I have worked with the same factory and two years ago, through a happy coincidence of star allegiance, blissful ignorance of Italian bureaucracy (do you have any idea what a Notary does?), and cold hard Euros, it became my factory.
I now travel physically and mentally between London and Bologna almost at will (our computers are on the same server so I'm told). I feel that I lead a sort of double life which is perhaps why I'm so interested in Sir Richard Eyre's new film, The Other Man, which sees Laura Linney play a shoe designer who conducts an affair with Antonio Banderas' character while on her work trips to Italy.
Linney spent some time with me so as to pick up a few "characterisation" tips - sadly I only knew about making shoes in Italy and nothing about conducting affairs with Zorro! I also made all the shoes for the film so we are waiting with bated breath for a release date.

Today is the day that the gallery we have been hosting in our Bruton Place store moves out. When I first took over the lease of Bruton Place it was always part of the plan to occasionally transform the space into an art gallery, give it over to book signings and host interesting events - it only took four years to get around to actually doing it! I feel it was a real success - especially due to the hour long queue that formed outside during the opening night.
The T1+2 Gallery, normally based on Hereford Street, London E2, is run by the fabulously named artist, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz and curator Lisa K Samoto, who flows with a swan-like grace. They installed La Bete: Or the Object of Desire, an exhibition which paid homage to Walerian Borowczyk's controversial film La Bete.
The private view was a hit. To get technical: "We woz mobbed: Chapmans, Camerons, Putnams and Fawcetts all over the gaff!"
Bruton Place was so packed the taxis couldn't get through - it was a truly special London moment: cabbies in slanging matches with the paps, who in turn were shoving through the hoards trying to get a good snap.
After a week of h...

You know by now that I'm always obsessed with seeing all the latest art exhibitions in London and there is masses going on in the next couple of months. Firstly there is the Hales Gallery exhibition of work by Spencer Tunick that runs until October 4 - he's the man who photographs all those naked people. They're really interesting pieces - but I'm not sure I'd join his crowds, I'd be far too embarrassed!
Steve Lazarides - the guy who found Banksy and now has a gallery on Greek Street in Soho - is having a huge party on October 16. It's £5,000 per ticket and for every one you actually get a piece of art. It's a pretty good deal - he works with some of the best artists of the day, including Paul Insect, Miranda Donovan, Jonathan Yeo, Banksy, Antony Micallef, Conor Harrington, Faile, Invader and JR.
The party's at the Milk Factory in Bloomsbury and the invite says there is a one in ten chance of winning a work of art with a value of up to £300,000. Plus it says that "those of a nervous disposition and the unadventurous should look elsewhere" - so I definitely want to go!
The Frieze Art Fair is coming up, from October 16-19. I'm always in Japan so sa...

Hoy estoy acá para decir la palabra "escarabajo". Porque me di cuenta de que en lo que va del año, no la dije nunca. Inclusive me atrevería a decirles que casi seguro que hace más de tres años que ni siquiera pienso en esos pobres insectos. Sí en "cucarachas". U "hormigas", "langostas" o "arañas" (y por supuesto "mosquitos"). "Caballos", "elefantes", "leones". Hasta "unicornios" o "Volkswágenes". Siento que a todo eso lo he nombrado o al menos pensado una vez en este último año; pero nunca"escarabajo".Tenía que nombrarlos porque no era justo. Pobres bichos.

See you in Venice at Arsenale Novissimo on Friday 12th, for Check-in Architecture final exhibition. Here, what remains of the post.REMOVE SPAN TAG IF YOU DON'T USE THIS FEATURE! :-)

Cloud Cuckoo Sky installation by Frida Fjellman

September 19, 2008. Sometimes modern architecture needs a little extra warmth—to say nothing of medical researchers drowning in casework. The atrium of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital medical research center in Gothenburg, Sweden, and its occupants were just such an unhappy case until local designer Frida Fjellman, sponsored by the Swedish National Public Art Council, brightened up the place with a series of puffy multicolored clouds...

Dominic Wilcox's Xylophone Bin for Vipp charity auction

September 16, 2008. Danish company Vipp and supermodel Helena Christensen have rallied a diverse roster of creatives—from rockstars to five-star chefs and furniture designers—to customize Vipp's classic pedal trash bin for a charity auction benefitting the Food Bank For New York City and Chernobyl Children’s Project International. Among the contributors who painted, splashed, jewel-encrusted, doodled on, clad, and prosthetized cans were Jason Miller, Karim Rashid, Dominic Wilcox, Leon Ransmeier and Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny...

Rendering of MMA's 10x10 Jonker House in Cape Town

September 5, 2008. A new international design award administered by the University of Kentucky College of Design for innovation on humanitarian projects, the Curry Stone Design Prize recently announced its five finalists. They'll be recognized at this month's 11th International Venice Architecture Biennale, and the winner will be revealed on Sept. 25th at the IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky...

Japanese models are mainly well know for there natural beauty. There are many teen model from Japan who have made a successive modeling career. Some of the Japanese model have tried there luck in TV Film and movies. Recently only, the Miss Universe Of 2007 is a Japanese model - Riyo MoriRiyo Mori is miss japan began dancing at the age of She has studied at Quinte Ballet School of Canada Country and also is a graduate from Centennial Secondary School in Belleville a town, Ontario, Canada. Riyo Mori also completed her Grade 11 year at Mount Douglas Secondary School in Victoria, Canada. She still possesses her first pair of ballet shoes.Photo Of Miss Universe – Riyo Mori

Adriana Francesca Lima was born on June 12, 1981, in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. The blue/gray-eyed Brazilian beauty can attribute her exotic good looks to her French, Portuguese, Native-American, and Caribbean heritage.Her climb from obscurity to glam girl occurred after placing second in the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest at the age of 13. Three years later, she headed to one of the fashion modeling centers of the world, New York, and signed with Elite Model Management. Once there, her modeling portfolio began to expand exponentially, after appearing in Vogue (Italy) in 1997, as well as Vogue (UK), I-D (UK), Marie Claire (Brazil), and Vogue (Italy) in 1998. Adriana also appeared in Vogue (U.S., Germany, UK) and Marie Claire (Italy) in 1999.

Nowadays you can see many models in fashion modeling shows, but some of them only are able to make a high pay future. Many few of them are know as supermodel. They are living with high standards and inspires to change others life also.Here is Super model - Naomi Campbell...