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Meet Rasmus Fenhann: A Contemporary Craftsman




In my usual scouring of the web, I came across a young and very talented craftsman named Rasmus Fenhann. His work is beautiful and I wanted to share it with you.

He's been the recipient of many danish design awards and has had his work commissioned for several projects and is a gifted antiques restorer as well. He also does custom work.


above: Rasmus in his workshop.


above: Some of his tools in his workshop.

Theatre chair
Graduation design project by Rasmus Fenhann
laminated Maple veneer, Stainless steel, H:850 W:600 D:600


This chair is made for the new National Theatre that is going to be located near the harbour in central Copenhagen.

Rasmus says "I wanted to make a chair that looks light in the space as an individual element. The chair is saving space so that the audience can come closer to the actors. It is possible to make the chair with upholstery inside for concert hall acoustics."




He makes other beautiful wood furniture products and custom commissions as well. The custom pear wood Architect's Portfolio he made for his sister way back in 1997 is stunning.




His hiKARI collection (2005) of lamps crafted of Oregon pine are an elegant homage to japanese lamp design:





Lamps in Oregon pine:

The minimalist design comes from geometry. Rasmus Fenhann is using the old polyhedral shapes in a new way. The 6 lamps are made by equilateral polygons, which make the lamps simple, poetic and functional: the light is allowed to spread to all sides, and the handmade paper gives a soft and pleasant light.





http://www.fenhann.com/

Contact info:
Rasmus Fenhann
Classensgade 65, 1 th. -3
DK-2100 København Ø

Workshop address:
Mariendalsvej 25b, Baghuset
2000 Frederiksberg
Tel. +45 35 38 81 24
Mobile: +45 26 54 06 04

E-mail: rasmus@fenhann.com

Student Projects in Porcelain. Manufactured by Bernardaud.




From the 18th to the 22nd this past April 2007, as part of the Milan Furniture Fair, the Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud and the ECAL-Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne University of Art and Design Lausanne presented (at the Grand Hôtel et de Milan) projects in porcelain by students produced by the Bernardaud Factory.

These projects were selected following a workshop run by Alexis Georgacopoulos, head of the Industrial Design department of the ECAL, and Augustin Scott de Martinville, a professor at the ECAL.
 
“The idea initially was to look again at the traditional image of porcelain, which tends to be associated with tableware, by integrating it in different ways into the day-to-day environment,” explains Alexis Georgacopoulos. Students rose to the challenge by designing a range of varied and original objects: finely sculpted dominoes, a vase consisting of stacked plates, a chandelier with eight hundred small porcelain discs exploiting the material’s transparency, an enamelled cone in which to enjoy an ice-cream, four vases transformed into loudspeakers around an ingenious acoustic system… With humour, elegance, poetry and bravado, each piece questions lifestyles while subtly integrating the manufacturing constraints of porcelain.

The mission of the Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud, set up in 2003 by Michel Bernardaud, is to renew the way porcelain is perceived. Based in Limoges, it invites designers of all nationalities from around the globe to re-invent this material, to generate bold interactions, to explore new territory and ultimately to find new uses for this material. “We have been delighted with this collaboration which combines innovation and know-how and greatly appreciated the fact that the ECAL, one of the most prestigious design schools, wished to conduct a study of this still largely unappreciated material…” explains Hélène Huret, the Fondation’s director.











“Carte Blanche”
Private viewing was Tuesday 17 April 2007 from 7pm “Au Grand Hôtel et de Milan”,
Sala Verdi, (1st floor), via Manzoni 29, 20121 Milan.
Exhibition ran from 18 to 22 April 2007 (11am to 8pm).

This exhibition is supported by the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO) and the Economic Development unit of the Vaud Canton
High-definition images available from the sites www.ecal.ch or www.bernardaud.fr, and on CD-ROM on request.

Information:
Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne
4, avenue de l’Elysée
CH-1006 Lausanne
Tel +41 (0)21 316 99 33
Fax +41 (0)21 616 39 91
E-mail pierre.keller@ecal.ch
www.ecal.ch

Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud
11, rue Royale
F-75008 Paris
Tel +33(0)1 43 12 52 06
Fax +33 (0) 1 43 12 52 01
Press e-mail: sdufresne@bernardaud.fr
www.bernardaud.fr

Sony Bravia's Bunnies- A Rip Off? You Tell Me.


So, like many bloggers this morning, I came across this wonderful ad and was going to post it as follows:

Fabulous new stop-motion animation with Clay Bunnies for Sony's Bravia tv:


Credits
Title: Play-Doh
Client: Sony Bravia
Ad agency: Fallon, London
Creative director: Juan Cabral
Executive creative director: Richard Flintham
Agency producer: Nicky Barnes
Account director: Ben Cyzer
Director: Frank Budgen
Production company: Gorgeous Enterprises
Producer: Rupert Smythe
Song: Rolling Stones, She's Like A Rainbow

And, of course, the making of:


And then the controversy began.
At first I thought that the post on Gizmodo was an overreaction.

Given that I'm an Advertising Creative/Art Director (yes, that's my "real" job) I was ready to defend creatives in the business for often using artists as their source of "inspiration". Something that has been happening in all art forms for centuries. After all, Kozyndan's work is clearly inspired by Hokusai, so why can't Fallon London be inspired by Kozyndan?


Above: Kozyndan's Bunny Tsunami


Above: Hokusai's Wave

Given that this is not Sony Bravia's first spot to use lots of colorful animation as a metaphor for a good color television, and that Kozyndan works in a static medium and this is tv, I thought maybe they initially intended to use Kozyndan as the actual animator (which, perhaps is why they requested samples of his work).

After all, I could see the process happening as such. But then decided that "illustration' wasn't a good metaphor for high def tv, so they decided to go with stop motion animation.

This is all a guess from having sat through hundreds of pre-production meetings.

But then the ugly comments began to appear. And frankly, I'm not sure how I feel now.

Do you think the spot should have credited Kozydan? Do you think it should say "Inspired by Kozydan? but then should it really say "Inspired by Kozydan, who was inspired By Hokusai"?

First from Gizmodo:
Sony Bastards Ripped Off the Bunny Tsunami Ad


What the Hell. When I saw this morning's post on the awesome Sony Bravia Bunny Ad, featuring multi-hued rabbits climbing through a cityscape transforming into a tidalwave, I assumed it was the work of my favorite artists, the LA-based kozyndan. By my front door, I have a framed print of one of their limited edition NYC bunny panoramics, which I've put below. Aside from this, they're probably best known for reworking of Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kana gawa" with bunnies inserted in the place of the white wash, which was featured on a Giant Robot magazine cover. I was only half right about kozyndan's involvement with this Sony project, unfortunately. They were robbed: For pretty damning proof, watch the video, and read on.

Usa_chan.jpeg

Apparently, the Passion Pictures animation studio ripped off kozyndan's after requesting samples of their work and never called them back. Dan just wrote me an email about it to confirm that this is pretty much the story, at least from their side.

I hear this happens often in advertising, but that doesn't make it fucking right. I guess it's not Sony's fault, but they should at least get their money back or get Passion Pictures to give a fair chunk to the artists. I'm pissed and not sure what I, or anyone else can do about it. Thoughts? [Passion Pictures vs KozyNDan]


Then from Core77:
Will the Real Bunnies Please Stand Up?
Posted by: Michael Doyle on Friday, October 05 2007

Why does that new Bravia ad look so familiar? Oh, right... KozyNDan did it years ago.

Here's what they say:
Its hard to think that people at Passion Pictures did not have this early panoramic of ours in mind when they created this new spot for the SONY Bravia line.

To add insult to injury, someone from Passion Pictures contacted us almost two years ago asking to see samples of our work (including this panoramic) as they were interested in working with us. We sent them samples and then heard nothing from them ever again. (It should be noted though, that the more likely culprit is the ad firm who hired Passion Pictures, Fallon.)

Still, its a clever ad.

Related: the original Bunny Tsunami for Giant Robot

It's not like KozyNDan are so outside of mainstream media that nobody would eventually notice. I still love the ad, but this certainly takes some of the magic away. I've seen it happen so many times at big agencies - there is little regard for the line between inspiration and flat-out plagiarism, and often a complete lack of conscience or even understanding why it's wrong. (Some people call it "business", but psychiatrists call this kind of behavior "psychopathy".)

And comments from Kozyndan

So, what do you think?

'Gina Ads Are All The Rage. Or: How Coochies Sell Cosmetics


Because of the suggestive nature of the visuals and videos in this post, it cannot be viewed here because it is in violation of Google's Ad Sense policies.

To see this post in full, please visit it here on out Tumblr site.



Better Flock To David Tomb's Next Art Show: Birds Of The Sierra Madre


David Tomb
February 22 - March 22, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, February 22, 6-8pm
Electric Works of San Francisco

David Tomb, the SF/Bay Area artist critically acclaimed for his figurative painting, has a new show at the Electric Works Gallery of San Francisco next spring and the subject matter is.... birds.

Now given all the bird "crap" out there, this may come as no surprise. But what IS surprising is that these are a wonderful departure from most of the 'cutesy cartoon' or 'Victorian' style bird art and crafts that proliferate galleries, the internet's indie art sites, and even retail home decor stores these days.

Using the same interesting style he often employs in his figure paintings, Tomb (rhymes with bomb) mixes detail with innuendo and energetic strokes with precious attention. His birds, colored in an almost Audubon-like veracity sit again half rendered backdrops which both show off the birds and create space that seems boundless, like that of a real birds' habitat.

Suffice it to say, I just love them. And they're nice and BIG. (you really need to see them in person for their detail)
Clearly I'm not the only since many have sold and the show doesn't actually open for 5 months!

Below are the images listed on the gallery's site. The names and descriptions are taken from there as well.


Mob Scene: Steak-backed Oriole, Blue Mockingbird, Yellow Grosbeak, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl,
2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 30 x 44"


Blue-crowned Motmot, El Triunfo, 2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 44 x 30"
Sold


Black-throated Magpie-Jay, 2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 44 x 30"


Ringed Kingfisher, 2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 44 x 30"



Bat Falcons, 2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 44 x 30"
Sold


Resplendent Quetzal, Chiapas, 2007
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
Overall Dimensions: 44 x 30"
Sold


David Tomb
Birds of the Sierra Madre
February 22 - March 22, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, February 22, 6-8pm
Electric Works of San Francisco



So, if you're anywhere in the SF/Bay Area in February, be sure to stop by and see the show .
Attend the opening reception and tell David Laura Sweet sent you!

Better yet, snap up one of his paintings before the show has sold out! See more of David Tomb's work by clicking here.

Hotel Chevalier by Wes Anderson:
Free on iTunes






If you've got itunes, you can view Wes Anderson's Short Film, Hotel Chevalier, starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman. This is a prequel to the upcoming movie in its entirety.
Click here to view.

Funky Find Of The Week: Love Hate Gloves

LOVE & HATE knuckle tattoo gloves!

Wanna look tough?
Like an ex-felon or gang member without permanently marring your skin?
Or without the pain of having a needle repeatedly pierce your knuckles?

Then get these gloves that have love and hate tattooed on the knuckles for you!

Then when the cops show up, you can just take them off and voila! Back to your old, non-gang-member self.

By William Warren for Design Against Trend


buy them here.

Luxury Pubs Continue To Grow- Offline.

For the Rich, Magazines Fat on Ads
By DAVID CARR for the NY Times

The rich will always be a good bet in publishing. First, they have the money, at least most of it. Second, they have the time, which is the by far the biggest luxury of our age.

So until the rich hire other people to read for them, a magazine is a good way to get their attention. Particularly now, it turns out.

Last week, a new Trump Magazine was announced by Ocean Drive Media Group. The week before, The Wall Street Journal announced Pursuits, a magazine supplement, which will compete with the baldly named How to Spend It from The Financial Times and the cryptically named T magazines from The New York Times.


Above: Trump at his magazine launch party, Sept. 25, 2007

Forbes, a publication that would seem to know a thing or two about rich folks, began publishing ForbesLife Executive Women last month.



Condé Nast Publishing is currently investing many millions in Portfolio, a business-inflected lifestyle magazine that suggests that the rich and powerful like to read about the rich and powerful.

Coming on top of magazines like The Robb Report, which is full of impossibly expensive goods, magazines like Gotham and Hamptons from Niche Media and the Modern Luxury chain of moneyed local publications, it would seem that while the rest of the industry is scrambling to fight off the Web and irrelevancy, there is a bull market in wealth.


Above:NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Vanessa Trump and Donald Trump Jr attend the launch party for the holiday issue of Hamptons Magazine on November 15, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

During the 1990s, magazines like Money, Fortune and Red Herring got fat on wealth how-to’s, but the current crop skips that icky middle part about actually earning the money. Look for other publishers to cash in on the already arrived: maybe there’s still room for magazines called Lucky Stiff, I’ve Got Mine or Born on Third Base.

And it’s not just the guys. As reported in The New York Times, a recent study by a professor at Queens College pointed out that women in their 20s working full time in many American cities earn more than their male counterparts, creating a more gender-neutral wealth base that certainly has helped luxury women’s magazines. Pity the poor mail carriers who have to deliver Vogue, W, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar, which all put out huge September issues that seemed to weigh more than models in them. Vogue weighed 4.9 pounds and had 727 advertising pages, a 16 percent increase over last year; W was 4.5 pounds with 477 pages of ads.


Above: The UK's special Swarovski Studded Harper's Bazaar Magazine Cover

“Luxury continues to be a lush tropical island in a sea of complaints in the publishing industry,” said Reed Phillips, a media investment banker.

What gives? And, more important for the magazine business, will it last?

There is, as has recently been noted in The New York Times, no shortage of swells. The number of millionaires rose by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005, a total of more than 303,000, which is a lot of rich people.

America used to have a corner on wealth, but Russia and China are minting millionaires by the day, and they covet luxury in all languages. And it is worth remembering that much of the advertising that is jamming American luxury magazines is coming from foreign brands that find even the most expensive advertising buy can look mighty cheap given the feeble American dollar.

Part of the flight to luxury magazines is simple me-too, the most persistent trend of all in publishing, and maybe that alone should tell us the end of the boom is near. But luxury also represents one part of the business that will not succumb to the Web anytime soon.

Luxury is all about sensation, about touch, about look. Advertisers may look for efficiency in all of their buys, but in the publishing world, it is all about environment. They want to smell the money coming off the pages.

An aesthetic is being offered, one that suggests, as Mason Cooley did, that the rich are just naturally happier than we are because, well, they should be.

But it is not just about rich people. Luxury has been defined down any number of ways. “Sex and the City” is now in wide syndication, which means that most of the country now knows that Jimmy Choo is not a kind of beef jerky. BMW is introducing the 1 Series next year with a lower point of entry for the aspirant. Even if you can’t afford a baby Beemer, you can express your taste in finery in everything from coffee to chocolate. And while other teenage magazines folded, Teen Vogue proved that brand aspiration can be baked in at a very young age.


Above: the BMW Series 1 Coupe, set to launch in 2008

“It’s true that there is a small percentage of people who continue to become wealthier and wealthier, but just underneath that, there is a very large percentage of people who are completely enamored with luxury goods,” said Robert Burke, a consultant on luxury in New York. Mr. Burke said that the surge in desire for precious things is not unlike what happened in Japan 15 years ago. “People want those things that give them a feeling of luxury in all sorts of products and at all kinds of income levels.”

Even with the sub prime mess and question marks over big merger deals, the ferocious and fundamentally undemocratic concentration of wealth still seems unstoppable. But the French Revolution proved that it is difficult to preserve epic economic imbalance.

The skeptics might point to other cultural indicators that the luxury boom has topped out. The ka-jillionaire Mark Cuban appearance on this season’s “Dancing With the Stars” comes to mind, as does Damien Hirst’s $100 million diamond-encrusted skull, a totem of an excessive age that was snapped up at the end of the summer.


Above: Damien Hirst and his Diamond and Platinum Skull

Excessive wealth is providing fuel for an otherwise impoverished industry. Like fossil fuels, it is bound to peter out at some point, but no one knows exactly when. In the meantime, let them eat Coach.---DAVID CARR


Artist Julia Lohmann's Headless Bovine Benches




Artist Julia Lohmann of the UK explored the threshold between animal and materials and came up with this collection of leather wrapped wood benches designed as headless cows.

She even names them; Rosel, Belinda, Raul, Eileen, Carla, Elsa, Radia.






more work and info about the artist here. or here.

Two are available for purchase from Galerie Kreo, Lucy and Olivia:



Above:COWBENCH “luzy”, 2005 — julia lohmann
UNIQUE PIECE IN ITS SHAPE AND COLOR
MatERIALS: HANDSCULPTED FOAM UPHOLSTERED WITH LEATHER AND UNDERNEATH BASE IN WOOD
dimensions: - longeur: 63,9 INCHES (160 cm), - largeur max.: 35,3 INCHES (88 cm), - hEIGHT: 27,5 INCHES (69 cm), - WEIGHT: 50 kg



Above: COWBENCH “olivia”, 2005 — julia lohmann
UNIQUE PIECE IN ITS SHAPE AND COLOR
MatERIALS: HANDSCULPTED FOAM UPHOLSTERED WITH LEATHER AND UNDERNEATH BASE IN WOOD
dimensions: - length: 59 INCHES (151 cm), - max width.: 33,8 INCHES (86 cm), - hEIGHT: 26,4 INCHES (67 cm), - WEIGHT: 50 kg

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