If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Rest In Peace Maurice Sendak

Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for his Caldecott Medal winning book, Where the Wild Things Are, has passed away. We are blessed he has left us with such a heart-warming legacy and that his wonderful work lives on.

Amazon's complete selection of Maurice Sendak Books, Audio books and DVDs

Mondrianesque Metal Shelving By Andrea Branzi Incorporates Real Birch Trees.

above: Tree 4, 2011, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 110 / L 250 / W 27 (cm), H 43.31 / L 98.43 / W 10.63 (inches)

UPDATE: Andrea Branzi's first US Show is now on at New York's Friedman Benda Gallery
Andrea Branzi: Trees & Stones
September 11 - October 13, 2012
Friedman Benda, New York, NY

“When birch tree forests are pruned or agricultural cultivations of fruit trees are picked, they are dispersed or burned. I have always been fascinated by these parts of nature, that continue to give off a grand expressive force, more powerful when they are combined with modern, perfect and industrial materials. They become mysterious, always diverse, unique, unrepeatable and somewhat sacred presences. Trees, trunks and branches are part of our ancient culture but also of actual culture, because in the age of globalization, design searches to trace recognizable ‘anthropological’ platforms. The collection, ‘Trees’ consists to place simple, everyday objects, books, and images next to the strange presence of branches and trunks, like in the reality of the world.” - Andrea Branzi

Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi melds metal and nature in his latest series of shelving, Trees. On exhibit now through May 16th at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris, the seven functional art pieces are sold in editions of 12.

above: artist, designer and architect Andrea Branzi

press release: In a short time, Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris has already treated us to a regular and rich demonstration of Design Art: in March Andrea Branzi was given space to express himself as a free and committed thinker with this new collection, « Trees ».

above: Tree 1, 2010, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 100 / L 120 / W 27 (cm), H 39.37 / L 47.24 / W 10.63 (inches)

above: Tree 8, 2010, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 205 / L 140 / W 35 (cm), H 80.71 / L 55.12 / W 13.78 (inches)

In a space that was once the Galerie de France, a place where contemporary art flourished, Catherine Thieck will come back to pose a few objects from her own collection on the shelves of Andrea Branzi. Works by Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, Méret Oppenheim and Rebecca Horn will fill the shelves of an artist whose personality and preoccupations have remained consistently at the avant-garde of the architecture and design world.

above: Tree 3, 2010, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 80 / L 165 / W 27 (cm), H 31.5 / L 64.96 / W 10.63 (inches)

The Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi, born in 1938, was ahead of his time in Florence in 1966 when he set up Archizoom associati, the first, internationally renowned avant-garde group. In order to define this remarkable character, one must use the vocabulary of projects: theoretical research, new design, experimental laboratory, leeway, mass creativity, new organisation… He also knows how to share his battles, he coordinates and curates exhibitions, he regularly exhibits his personal work, publishes manifestos, teaches generations of students and participates in conferences all over the world. In fact, multiple spaces would be needed to cover all angles of the man: a screening room, an auditorium, a museum and more than a few metres of shelf space.

above: Tree 9 (closed and open), 2010, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 252 / L 140 / W 35 (cm), H 99.21 / L 55.12 / W 13.78 (inches)

Andrea Branzi is passionate about the morphology of urban space; he breaks down the accepted codes and vigorously shakes the foundations of the ever-present conventions. Today more than ever, this insatiable troublemaker continues to disrupt the status quo and places humans and nature at the centre of his thinking.

above: Tree 2, 2010, Anodized aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 100 / L 120 / W 27 (cm), H 39.37 / L 47.24 / W 10.63 (inches)

« Trees » represents a continuation of his thinking on architecture. He creates a minimalist space of shelves, veritable pieces of micro-architecture made from aluminium that spread out in neo-plastic bursts like a Mondrian. However, through the splits in the frame, Andrea Branzi introduces trunks and twigs gathered in the wild. This strange encounter that began in the eighties with « Animali domestici », questions the duality of the nature-culture relationship.

above: Tree 5, 2010, Brilliant polished aluminium, Birch wood, Edition of 12, H 300 / L 200 / W 27 (cm), H 118.11 / L 78.74 / W 10.63 (inches)

above: Tree 6, 2010, Brilliant polished aluminium, Birch wood

With « Trees », he adds a dimension, an extra slice of soul, as nature becomes art, a contemporary icon, an emotional window linked to the knowledge of the vital importance of this precious, common heritage.

Pieces on show:
Seven shelves, in different shapes and formats, in aluminium (annodized and polished) and birch wood.

ANDREA BRANZI / TREES
PARIS / SATURDAY 10 MARCH - 16 MAY 2012
OPENING/ SATURDAY 10 MARCH / 4 - 9 PM
carpentersworkshopgallery.com
54 rue de la Verrerie Paris 75004

above: installation view of Tree 6 and Tree 7 at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York (photo by Jon Lam)

Trees and Stones at the Friedman Benda Gallery

The Sober Scoop Behind That Alcohol Spray That Gets You Instantly Drunk.

The news and blogosphere has been buzzing (pardon the pun) about a new spray that gets you instantaneously drunk created by Philippe Stark and creator of culinary aerosols, David Edwards of Le Laboratoire (and the man behind Aeroshots).

The product, WA|HH Quantum Sensations, is two flavored (Flash and Demon) mini sprays in cartridges which hold 2 milliliters of liquid. When sprayed, they deliver 20-25 actuations that provide an effect equivalent to a volume 1000 times its amount. WA|HH Quantum Sensations can be enjoyed as a spray directly into the mouth or onto foods of all kinds.

But the kids clamoring to find the product online (as witnessed by the numerous requests on their Facebook page) will be disappointed to learn that the effect only lasts a second and wears off immediately. The idea is to experience the sensorial pleasure much like an emotion. All that lingers is taste and a memory of the sensation.

“What happens with the WA|HH? I take my WA|HH and with a single spray I feel a touch of euphoria thanks to an infinitesimal dose, a thousand times less than a glass of alcohol. The WA|HH is a modern and intelligent alternative aligned with our own evolution, as one of the clear signs of part of the intelligent human production is dematerialization”. -- Philippe Starck

above left: Philippe Starck and above right, David Edwards

“WAHH Quantum Sensations contains in each quantum of flavor just 2 ml of liquid, and yet produces 20-25 actuations of vaporous sensation. It’s ability to deliver flavor with each actuation that grows in intensity with the vapor cloud of millions of tiny micro-droplets makes WAHH an exciting food spray for the future”. -- David Edwards

At the conclusion of its 14th experiment, Le Laboratoire presents the exhibition WA|HH, dedicated to the new mini spray of flavor WA|HH Quantum Sensations invented by Philippe Starck and David Edwards. An invitation to experience an explosion of culinary sensation in the smallest imaginable form.

At the origin of the experiment: an encounter. That of Philippe Starck, creator of international renown and David Edwards, founder of Le Laboratoire, Harvard Professor, and creator of the new field of aerosol cuisine. Their commonality? The re-invention of daily experience. Their exploratory ground? The immateriality of taste and texture. From their encounter comes WA|HH Quantum Sensations, a mini spray of flavor that, while extremely small (each cartridge holds 2 milliliters of liquid), delivers 20-25 actuations that provide a gustatory and olfactive effect equivalent to a volume 1000 times as voluminous. WA|HH Quantum Sensations can be enjoyed as a spray directly into the mouth or onto foods of all kinds.

The Briefest Light-Headedness
Imagine the possibility of enjoying the pleasure of alcohol without worrying about negative consequences, to have the sensation of light-headedness, without the risk of losing your senses, not to say utter drunkenness. To have the sensorial pleasure of alcohol without posing a threat to your health. This is the potential of WA|HH Quantum Sensations. The capacity to liberate alcohol flavors and transient vapor with minute quantities of alcohol in the form of tiny micro-particles*. The vapor from a single actuation produces a slight light-headedness, but it passes almost immediately. Taste and memory of an intense sensation remain. The quantity of alcohol that enters the body, what we call a quantum, is so small that the effects of WA|HH Quantum Sensations are transient, like an emotion.

WA|HH Flash Quantum

Above: When freshness offers itself as a revivifying breath, the taste buds reanimate our senses. WA|HH Flash Quantum offers a tonic flavor for a strong and instantaneous sensation. Vaporized directly the mouth, the flavors are freed on the pallet and leave a invigorating and immediate impression. Surprise guaranteed.

WA|HH Demon Quantum

above: Spice up your life? Give an instant sting for a moment of dazzling pleasure? WA|HH Demon Quantum wakes the senses up and kindles the spirit. With its spicy, wooded and slightly fruity flavors, WA|HH Demon Quantum guarantees a surprising feeling of euphoria. Ideal to vaporize on salty or sweet foods alike, WA|HH Demon Quantum offers a truly sensory exploration.

A Sensorial Exploration
Among the videos, images and scientific explanations, the exhibition of the two first flavors of the series, WA|HH Flash Quantum and WA|HH Demon Quantum, invite the visitor to powerful and distinctive sensations. Tested by spraying directly into the mouth or onto sweet and salty bites of food (to experience in the Showroom or at the Ephemeral Bar), the surprise is gripping. As Philippe Starck says - “Everyone has an occasional need of light-headedness, distraction, and another place … But our societies and codes of amusement have led to the over-consumption of alcoholic beverages as a kind of social placebo. The consequences are too familiar. With David Edwards, we asked ourselves whether we might provide the same agreeable sensation as comes with a sip of alcohol without running the risk of drunkenness. And WA|HH was born. Accent life with a magic wand, that was our desire. A spray of WA|HH and the shock is immediate, like a sensorial alarm”.

* An actuation delivers approximately 0.075 ml of alcohol liquid in the form of micro particles. This ‘quantum of alcohol’ is far too small to stimulate drunkenness, being nearly 1000 times smaller than a shot of alcohol (a shot contains approximately 40-60 ml). It would therefore take several hundreds of actuations of WAHH Quantum Sensations to deliver the alcohol content to the body of a standard glass of alcohol.

photos courtesy of Le Laboratoire and AFP PHOTO/Franck Fife

You can try it at the Food Lab in Paris

Denmark Home For Architect Jesper Brask Is Made From 150 Local Trees and Kolumbia Tiles.

Both New Zealand's Elle Decoration magazine and the Stylepark website have featured small glimpses of this beautiful weekend house located on the Kattegat Fjord in Denmark designed and developed by architect Jesper Brask of Brask & Leonhardt for himself. Intrigued by the design, I searched for more images of both the exterior and interior and after much digging, found them.

The home was called the Tree House in the July, 2011 issue of New Zealand Elle Decor and the article mentioned how Brask harvested 150 trees from the very forest in which the home was constructed, cut them into raw beams and left them to dry for three years before beginning to build his long-awaited holiday home.

Stylepark features the home in an article about the "Kolumba" tiles used as building materials. The Stylepark article states that it took two years for a Finnish carpenter to erect the house's wooden structure using only wooden dowels; no screws. The living area is on the ground floor, with a column in the center combining the fireplace and kitchen island.

A large chimney core made of "Kolumba" tiles is now the architectural centerpiece and the anchorage to the plot of land. On the outward-facing side there is a fireplace for cooler days, while inside, where the chimney dominates the interior design, it has a work surface for preparing food and is at once a stove and airless oven. Brask was looking for a suitable material himself to serve as a harmonious counterpoint to the dominant spruce when he came across Petersen's "Kolumba" tiles in an architecture magazine.

"I wanted a stone of the same size and with the same surface effect, and so I visited the brickworks, which, together with the architects Lundgaard and Tranberg had just developed a new version of the "Kolumba" tile for the theater in Copenhagen. "Kolumba" was available in two versions then, but I wanted a stone that looked like another stone from the Petersen range. The brickworks obliged and produced a new version in yellow, English clay: The tiles are shaped and painted with white clay paste by hand before they are dried and fired. The result: light colors and a very special transparency, which blends harmoniously with the light, untreated spruce wood."