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

Pap(i)er Fashion At The Museum Bellerive

The Pap(i)er Fashion Exhibition at the Museum Bellerive takes us through the fascinating history of paper clothes, beginning with the Swinging Sixties in America and, as the trend spread later, to Europe. The paper fashions reflected what was happening in art, politics and culture at the time; Pop Art and Op Art, Company logos, newspaper prints, and even the electoral candidates of 1968.

above: Ηarry Gordon, The Cat and The Rose, poster dresses, USA 1968. Photo: Panos Davios © ATOPOS collection

above: Baby Ruth and Butterfinger dresses, by MARS Manufacturing Company. © ATOPOS collection

above: Nixon, Eugene McCarthy, Romney, and Robert Kennedy election dresses in the exhibit. Photo by Betty Fleck, Studio Publikation, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste © ZHdK

The exhibit educates us on the approaches to using raw materials and textiles, garment manufacturing know-how, and the use of particularly innovative non-woven materials as well as paper-like materials.

Above left: Gouache on Yellow Pages Dress’ (USA, 1968) by Howard Hodgkin, 2010, for ATOPOS Cultural Organization, © the artist. Above right:"LET'S GO" A PAPER DRESS. Published by Lincoln Mercury (FORD MOTORS). © USA, 1969. ATOPOS Collection, Athens

Paper, which was invented in China in approximately 100 A.D., has been used to manufacture garments and accessories in various cultures in the past and also in many modern creations. The exhibition examines the use of paper in contemporary fashion practices through design, art, advertising, video, catwalk shows and the actual creations of some of the most innovative designers of our times including Paco Rabanne, Issey Miyake, Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Akris.

Above: Paper floral headpieces created by Katsuya Kamo for Karl Lagerfeld's CHANEL Haute Couture S/S 2009 Collection, photos © CHANEL

Pap(i)er Fashion at Museum Bellerive, April 30 – August 1st 2010
pieces from the exhibit:

above: Harry Gordon, Uptown New York, poster dress, UK/USA 2007, poem by Allen Ginsberg, first edition. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Robert Wilson, Lisa, USA 2007, commissioned by ATOPOS. ©Robert Wilson and The Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation 2007, ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Campbell’s Soup Company, The Souper Dress, after Warhol, USA 1968, launched for the promotion “Vegetable Soup”. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Universal Fashions, The Big Ones for 68, paper dress, USA 1968, Promotion paper dress with portraits of the Studios popular stars. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Harry Gordon, The Eye, poster dress, USA 1968. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Bob Dylan, Poster Dress, USA 1967. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Sarah Caplan, Twin Towers, poster dress, USA 1999. Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: James Sterling, Paper Fashion Ltd., Robert Kennedy Electoral Campaign, paper dress, USA 1968, Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Harry Gordon, Poster Dresses Packaging, USA 1967/68, Photo: Panos Davios ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Marcus Tomlinson, Stills from the film „Pen to Paper“, UK 2003. ©Marcus Tomlinson

above: Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Tintin, from the collection “hommage à la presse”, FR 1983, Tyvek, hand-painted. ©ATOPOS Cultural Organization

above: Diane Steverlynck, Cardboard covering, BE 2001–07, worn cardboard boxes, 142 x 185 cm. ©Diane Steverlynck

above: Hiroaki Ohya, Wizard of Jeanz, JP 2001, paper dress, printed nylon, cotton, polyester, polyurethane, cardboard. Collection Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Mudam Luxembourg, Photo: Rémi Villaggi

above: Ida Gut, mantō, CH 1998, paper coat, different layers of paper and fleece paper glued together. Photo ©Urs Wyss

above: Miyake Inc., Pleats Dress, JP 2007, paper trial, research process. Donation to ATOPOS Cultural Organization, Athens, Photo: ©Yiorgos Mavropoulos

above: Martin Margiela, Fox stole, BE 2008, Spring/Summer 2008, “Artisanal” collection, party paper balls. Lender: Maison Martin Margiela, Photo: Collection “Artisanal” PE08 ©Marina Faust

above: Sandra Backlund, Top, Spring/Summer collection 2010, SE 2010, Origami paper. Photo ©Peter Gehrke

above: Sandra Backlund, Top Ink Blot Test, SE, 2007–08, Origami paper. Photo ©Peter Farago

above: Michael Cepress, Collars for the Modern Gentleman, USA 2006, commissioned by ATOPOS, created using the “Yellow Pages”. Photo: Michelle Moore ©ATOPOS collection, Athens

above: Stephan Hann, Comic Fan, DE 2008, gefertigt aus amerikanischen Comics der 1970 er Jahre, Photo: Itai Margula ©Stephan Hann

above: Museum Bellerive, Pap(i)er Fashion, exhibition view. Photo: Betty Fleck, Studio Publikation, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ©ZHdK

The Pap(i)er Fashion exhibit runs through August 30, 2010

Museum Bellerive
Höschgasse 3
CH - 8008 Zürich
T: 0041 (0)43 4464-469
F: 0041 (0)43 4464-503

The exhibition was created in co-operation with the ATOPOS Cultural Organization, Athens.

Lean, Mean, Trims The Green & Every Lazy Homeowner's Dream. Husqvarna's Automatic Robotic Solar Lawnmower.

I know it's Mother's Day today (Happy Mother's Day!) and this would be way up there on my wish list. If I had kids. Or a lawn. Regardless, this is one of those luxuries I aspire to own.

It's as though an eco conscious RoboCop gave birth to a lawnmower. Husqvarna's top of the line automated robotic mower is as beautifully designed as a new sports car and it will mow your lawn without complaining. (Plus, I'd love to see it battle with a Roomba).

No emissions, low noise (see the people pleasantly sleeping in the hammock? lol), low energy consumption, weather-proof and can handle slopes up to 35%... oh, and did I mention? You don't have to mow your own lawn!

The Automower® Solar Hybrid is the world's first fully automatic lawn mower that is partly powered by the sun.

The product uses considerably less energy than any conventional mower. That's because in addition to a charging station, it comes with a large integrated solar panel. When there is daylight available, the solar cells enable the mower to extend its cutting periods before it needs recharging. That means a cut lawn in a shorter time, even lower power consumption and an extended battery life. Suitable for lawns up to 1/2 acre, depending on light conditions.

• With the lift and tilt sensors, if it runs into something it will redirect itself without causing damage:

•The Solar Panel is an additional energy source that gives Automower® extra power directly from the sun:

•With the settings panel the mower can be programmed to fit many different lawns and preferences:

• The cutting height adjustment is easily done from above by turning one large knob:

• When the Automower® needs more power, it finds its own way back to the charging station:

Battery type: NiMH
Typical charging time: 45 min
Typical mow time on one charge: 60 min

Like I said at the beginning of the post, this one is their top of the line and the price reflects that. With a suggested retail price of $3,000.00, you'd better have lots of lawn or lots of disposable income, preferably both.

To find where to purchase the Husqvarna Automated Solar Hybrid Mower, go here.

Jean Nouvel's New National Museum Of Qatar

The Qatar Museums Authority has engaged Pritzker prize-winning architect, Jean Nouvel, to design a new National Museum that will preserve the original palace while creating an unprecedented 21st century institution celebrating the culture, heritage and future of Qatar and its people. The museum is presently closed during construction with an anticipated reopening in late 2013.

above left: the old National Museum Of Qatar and right, incorporating the old into the new in Nouvel's design

Jean Nouvel’s design manifests both the active, dynamic aspect of the Museum’s program and its crystallization of the Qatari identity, in a building that, like a desert rose, appears to grow out of the ground and be one with it.

above: a model of the proposed museum, now under construction

Prominently located on a 1.5 million-square-foot site at the south end of Doha’s Corniche, where it will be the first monument seen by travelers arriving from the airport, the building takes the form of a ring of low-lying, interlocking pavilions, which encircle a large courtyard area and encompass 430,000 square feet of indoor space.

above: Jean Nouvel's concept drawing

In its organization, the building suggests the image of a caravanserai—the traditional enclosed resting place that supported the flow of commerce, information and people across desert trade routes—and so gives concrete expression to the identity of a nation in movement. The tilting, interpenetrating disks that define the pavilions’ floors, walls and roofs, clad on the exterior in sand-colored concrete, suggest the bladelike petals of the desert rose, a mineral formation of crystallized sand found in the briny layer just beneath the desert’s surface.

Here are the computer generated images (by Artefactory) of the amazing and unusual looking new National Museum Of Qatar.

The Caravanserai Courtyard:

courtyard detail:

North view:

West view from Doha Bay:

South view:

Architect Jean Nouvel:

Commenting on his design, Jean Nouvel stated, “This museum is a modern-day caravanserai. From here you leave the desert behind, returning with treasured images that remain engraved on your memory. The National Museum of Qatar will become the voice of a culture, delivering a message of modernity, metamorphosis and the beauty that happens when the desert meets the sea.”

Details of the Building

The National Museum of Qatar building will provide 86,000 square feet of permanent gallery space, 21,500 square feet of temporary gallery space, a 220-seat auditorium, a 70-seat food forum / TV studio, two cafés, a restaurant and a museum shop. Separate facilities are provided for school groups and special guests. Staff facilities include a heritage research center, restoration laboratories, staff offices and collection processing and storage areas. The Museum will be surrounded by a 1.2 million-square-foot landscaped park that interprets a Qatari desert landscape.

above: North side entrance

Inspired by the desert rose, the interlocking disks that compose the building—some of them standing more or less upright and acting as support elements, others lying more or less horizontal—are of varying curvature and diameter. The disks are made of steel truss structures assembled in a hub-and-spoke arrangement and are clad in glass fiber reinforced concrete panels. Columns concealed within the vertical disks carry the loads of the horizontal disks to the ground.

Glazed facades fill the voids between disks. Perimeter mullions are recessed into the ceiling, floor and walls, giving the glazing a frameless appearance when viewed from the outside. Deep disk-shaped sun-breaker elements filter incoming sunlight.

Like the exterior, the interior is a landscape of interlocking disks. Floors are sand-colored polished concrete, while the vertical disk walls are clad in “stuc-pierre,” a traditional gypsum- and lime-blended plaster formulated to imitate stone.

Thermal buffer zones within the disk cavities will reduce cooling loads, while the deep overhangs of the disks will create cool, shady areas for outdoor promenades and protect the interior from light and heat. Steel and concrete, the main materials of the building, will be locally sourced and/or fabricated. The landscaping will feature sparse native vegetation with low water consumption. Through these and other sustainability measures, the Museum is working to achieve a USGBC LEED Silver rating.

The Museum’s gardens are specifically designed for the intense climate of Qatar. Plantings will include native grasses and indigenous plants, such as pomegranate trees, date palms, herbs and the Sidra tree, the national tree of Qatar. Landscaping will feature sand dunes and stepped garden architecture to create sitting areas and spaces for the Museum’s programs of tours and garden lectures.

Information about museum and building details courtesy of Qatar Museum Authority

Qatar is a peninsula located in the Persian Gulf.

Metamorfosi Sinks & Origami Tubs From Stocco of Italy

Metamorfosi Collection of wall mounted sinks:

A combination of art and technology: the washbasin base unit and the mirror frame are made of StructuralTM, a high-tech resin employed on boats and aircraft. The METAMORFOSI collection comes in six different "textures", six differently styled illustrations make it an object of art with its own personality. Romantic Florals and Butterflies, Asian-styled imagery, Modern and Pop art Patterns and more.

Also available in solid colors, like the violet one shown below:

From a technical point of view, Metamorfosi includes a 117 cm countertop base, combined with a ceramic or mineral marble, exclusive shape basin, with side tops and "drop-proof" edge. Its structure is in a high technological content material called StructuralTM , used to build parts of airplanes and yacht hulls. The illustrations, drawn on the structure indelibly, are resistant to water and humidity.

These furnishings are available with the Metamorfosi mirror, from 101x72 cm, with frame in StructuralTM, and integrated light.

Metamorfosi is designed by Edoardo Rognoni together with Stocco Research & Development. Illustrations are by Davide Visentin.

The Origami Collection of Cristalplant tubs:

Origami's key item is the bathtub, an absolute new entry for the Stocco world. All in Cristalplant®, it can be transformed into many versions, many of which are fully customisable. Self standing, wall-mounted, with functional sides (for example, with service niches, shelves or practical, coloured chests), customised with logos or pantographed graphics or equipped with a practical extended top, the Origami bathtub unleashes architect creativity.

Scatolata Tub in Cristalplant: