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

Showing posts with label china. Show all posts

Lipstick Sculptures by Artist Maya Sum Will Leave Your Mouth Agape.

You may have seen some novelty shaped lipsticks such as the cute cat-shaped lipsticks by Paul and Joe and the Pipedream Products Lipstick Penises, but Hong Kong artist May Sum takes the concept of a sculpted and shaped lipstick a step further.

Olly Moss, a designer of whose work I am a giant fan, created these during some downtime. He re-imagined the classic China Willow pattern as dinnerware gamers would eat up.

Olly Moss

$2400 Dog Bowls? Royal Crown Derby ‘Imari’ Pattern Pet Bowls by Peter Ting.

Does your pet deserve the Royal treatment? Lapping up in luxury? If so, then you may not mind dropping £1,476.00 ($2,371.76 USD) on one of these six unique fine china pet bowls by ceramacist and designer Peter Ting.

Especially designed for 20LTD, Peter deconstructs traditional Royal Crown Derby ‘Imari’ patterns and reassembles them into a contemporary collage. He works on the factory floor and personally creates each piece like a tailor - joining, matching, overlapping pattern upon pattern, colour against colour. Each piece may take up to 6 firings to achieve the desired depth of colour and vibrancy.

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He signs each piece (together with Royal Crown Derby Chairman Hugh Gibson), and after the final firing, all the 22 ct gold is burnished by hand (a painstaking and labor intensive task, where all the gold is rubbed with damp silica sand, transforming the dull gold into a lustrous gleaming gilding).

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Previously Design Director at Thomas Goode and long-time artistic force behind Asprey, master ceramicist Peter Ting has an unparalleled knowledge of craft skills and industrial production processes, computer techniques and the history of ceramics. He has won various industry awards, designed china for top restaurants to Royal Households and his work has been exhibited throughout the world. The Victoria & Albert Museum have acquired his work for Thomas Goode for their permanent collection.

above: Peter Ting

The seven individual one-off pieces (one has been sold) have been created exclusively by Peter for 20ltd.com and can only be purchased here.

Whacked Out Willow China By Sweden's Nille Svensson. Fake China Dinnerware.

Adding his own narrative to what at first glance looks like classic Willow Pattern China (a style of dinnerware which originated in England in the early 1800s), designer Nille Svensson has created "Fake China."

The blue and white bone china plates measuring 12.3 inches in diameter were originally created for an exhibition in Stockholm on the theme of identity. The Fake China is a cultural twist on the original Chinaware, adding contemporary elements like planes, boats, factories and automobiles. At the end of this post is a detailed explanation about the plate designs in the designer's own words.

ABOUT FAKE CHINA (by Nille Svensson):

On the 12th of September 1745, the sailing ship Götheborg, part of the Swedish East India Company fleet, returned to Sweden from Canton after more than 30 months at sea. It is believed that over 35 members of the crew died during the journey. Only 900 meters from its home harbour in Gothenburg, the ship ran aground and sank. The cargo of several thousand pieces of china was lost and the sailors who did not survive the journey had died for nothing. This story of the harsh reality of commerce has always fascinated me.

When I was asked to create something on the theme of »identity« for the Notch exhibition in 2009, I first thought a lot about how contemporary China, at least from a Western perspective, is generally regarded as a place were things are produced but not designed. China's design identity is also associated with the issue of plagiarism and fake products. I then came to think about the sad fate of Götheborg, and the extremely high demand of Chinese ceramics in Europe at that time. A high demand created out of the fact that the knowledge of how to manufacture ceramics of such quality was not locally available.

As the understanding of production techniques spread, manufacturing of chinaware started in Europe as well. In many cases featuring designs that looked »Chinese«, or were direct copies of Chinese originals. The design was made with the main purpose to add a quality of authenticity to what was basically product piracy. The most famous of these designs is perhaps the »Willow design« made around 1790. The company behind this plate even invented a fake Chinese legend based on the motif just to further promote the authenticity of the product. The motif and the legend has in turn been copied and spread widely ever since. There is even an animated Disney film based on the willow tree legend. From the early plagiarism, the designs grew and permuted and became the starting point of the British and Dutch porcelain-tradition as we know it.

Contemporary designers and artists even relates to the Willow-motif as a kind of starting point. The copy has grown to become an original and as such carries cultural integrity in its own right as it has transformed through the states of copy - original - culture - tradition. What we today may regard as a highly valuable (collectable) item was originally created as a simple copy.

It is a healthy reminder of how cultural influenses and values shift and change over time. Not only geographically, but economically and demographically, the general presumption that the Western world is where things are designed and originated, whilst the East is where they get produced and copied will not prevail forever.

With all this in mind I went to the Museum of Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, stole designs and design elements from plates in the collection, and created my own »fake china« plates, while convinced that nobody can copy anything without adding something to the story.

The result is a small step of cultural evolution. -- Nille Svensson, designer

Where To Buy Fake China

FAKE-CHINA is included in the Röhsska Museet permantent design collection.

In Stockholm, Sweden FAKE-CHINA are available at Svenskt Tenn

For US sales and retail, please contact Jennifer Garcia

For general questions regarding FAKE-CHINA, please email: inquiries@fake-china.com

iPlates by Todd Borka. Software Editing Interfaces With Food in Four Fun Plates.

French illustrator Todd Borka invites you to play with your food.. or more specifically, edit your food, with his iPlates. Utilizing the interface from popular editing software like Photoshop, Todd has decorated four different china plates with recognizable tools and key commands.

iPlate "Import Food":

detail:

iPlate "Edit Food":

iPlate "Image Size":

iPlate "Ctrl Z":

Not unlike kickstarter, Todd's plates are available for pre-sale at Ulule, a company that raises funds for the production and distribution of creative and imaginative products and ideas.

You can pre-order the set of 4 plates, which includes one of each version and then all the money will be used for production costs, printing, packaging and distributing and Todd will also start the process of finding design stores to distribute the series of plates.

These plates are china and are dishwasher safe. Buy them here
About Todd Borka:

A French illustrator working for both youth literature and magazines, Todd likes mixing the aesthetic of indian ink with the multiplicity of possibilities offered by image editing software.

He says he spends most of his time in front of his screen hacking Photoshop... So, obviously, sometimes, it turns him crazy! I think it makes him creative.

See more of Todd's work at his site

a special thanks to Yatzer for briging Todd's work to my attention!

HOMA - The Hotel Of Modern Art In The Yuzi Paradise Of China.

Thanks to the kiwi collection, a fabulous site of the world's greatest hotels, I have discovered HOMA, the Hotel of Modern Art in China, part of the Relais-Chateaux group of luxury hotels.

In the middle of the untouched Chinese landscape, surrounded by lakes, rice paddies and cone-shaped mountains, lies the Yuzi Paradise. Amongst the two hundred international sculptures found in this extraordinary setting is the hotel, itself a piece of contemporary art.

Various modern art sculptures and installations, amazing scenery, an indoor gallery, atelier, multiple restaurants, a spa, one-of-a-kind rooms and fabulous activities like river trips, art classes, tai chi, horseback riding, rock climbing and bike riding make this a desirable destination for just about anyone.

A large triangular chalet with grass-covered rooftops and smoked glass windows, the hotel is devoted to contemporary creations and home to the large suites, some of which are duplexes and shown later in this post.

The hotel lobby:

Indoor art gallery:

the Atelier (shop):

The Setting

Set against Guilin's emerald hills, the 1000-acre park is home to sculptures from international artists as well as the unusual hotel.

The Rooms

The only Chinese hotel in the Relais & Chateaux alliance, HOMA has 46 unique rooms. Like the postmodern park it calls home, the hotel's aesthetic is clean and contemporary. Though no two rooms are the same, guests can expect plush linens, smooth surfaces, flatscreen TVs, and pieces of inspired artwork.

The Lotus Suite:

The Family Suite:

The Family Room:

The Cavern Suite:

The Dynasty Suite:

The Libre Suite:

Deluxe Double:

Standard Double:

Standard Twin:

The Restaurants

The Cave Restaurant:

The Lotus Restaurant:

Lakeside dining:

The Spa

The Flying Spa exterior:

The spa lobby:

Spa treatment rooms:

And more
Art classes for any age:

The Swimming Pool:

Words from the founder, Rhy Chang Sao:

Many people have wondered why I should throw myself into a quixotic arts project like Yuzi Paradise and the Hotel of Modern Art. I've been called a fool many times over, so I decided to give my park the ironic name of Yuzi Paradise, or "Fool's Paradise" in Chinese. "The fool enjoys doing what he believes is right", as I've said many times over. We all know that private funding for the construction of art parks is rare enough even in developed countries. Many people of means simply decide to rest on their laurels and enjoy material comforts.

But I, the fool, observed that while China now enjoys more material wealth, we still lack aesthetics in our daily life. To enrich the nation and the world's aesthetics is my life's goal.

This may be hard for some people to grasp. Regardless, I will continue in my pursuit of aesthetic perfection. Life means more than wealth or power. Life needs an artistic, spiritual dimension, and an environment in which to experience it.

As a world famous scenic spot, Guilin boasts a beautiful natural landscape, yet until recently, there has been little of cultural relevance. Since the Song Dynasty, people have been coming to Guilin to enjoy the mountains and the rivers, to be baptized by the beauty of scenery. Now, with our world-class art park, visitors can revel to the wonder of natural mountains in dialogue with human-crafted sculpture.

Yuzi Paradise and HOMA have helped set the course for a new kind of culture, joining talents from China, Taiwan, and other artists worldwide. By infusing cultural elements into our beautiful natural surroundings, we offer a new experience of art and nature. --Founder Rhy Chang Tsao