The Magritte Surrealist Collection For Men and Women at Opening Ceremony.

For the past two months, there's been some media buzz about the Surrealist capsule collection of 'wearable art' inspired by Rene Magritte for men and women from hip retailer Opening Ceremony set to launch in May. Now the apparel pieces are in and available for pre-order and I've got a look at all of them here for you.


clockwise from upper left: Many of Magritte's well-known works are incorporated into the collection such as Sheherazade, Blow To The Heart, Lola de Valence (Hegel's Holiday), The Beautiful Relations, La Cascade, The King's Museum, Discovery of Fire and The Lovers - to name but a few.

The Capsule Collection:




The above images, courtesy of Opening Ceremony, have been cropped for better visibility

details, prices and pre-order the above items here

High heels, Vans and even Birkenstocks with Magritte's imagery are also part of the collection, but those are not yet available for pre-order.

The Vans:


The Birkenstocks:

Birkenstock images courtesy of stylebubble

Perceptions of Reality: A Collection Inspired by the Work of René Magritte by OC Family



Belgian surrealist painter, René Magritte, sought to make "everyday objects shriek aloud." Almost fifty years after his death, his work still creates this effect on everyday items—this time in the form of clothing and shoes. The weird and wonderful world of Magritte is coming to Opening Ceremony stores in May 2014 with a limited edition ready-to-wear collection alongside three footwear collaborations with brands Birkenstock, Vans, and Manolo Blahnik. The range takes twelve of Magritte's iconic paintings and translates them directly into fashion; it continues the poetic and humorous nature of the artist's original work, and continues a theme that Magritte was most interested in: extreme juxtapositions between combinations of objects, and the ordinary versus the abstract.

Magritte's iconic painting Scheherazade is featured in the form of a dress, top and pearl-embroidered bomber jacket. Other of his famous paintings in the collection include The Lovers, featured on an open-toe Birkenstock and The King's Museum on a classic Vans lace-up sneaker. Manolo Blahnik has designed an exclusive stiletto that will feature the painting The Blow to the Heart.

Shop the Surrealist Collection

100% Natural Hand-Crafted Wood Watches From JORD.

Wristwatches so often fall into two distinct categories: High-end titanium, ceramic, stainless and gold watches that cost a fortune or cheap plastic, rubber and metal trendy watches. Finally, there's an alternative and it's perfect todays' fashionable yet eco-conscious consumer: premium timepieces hand-crafted from natural woods in multiple styles suitable for men and women.



The first automatic watches made from 100% natural wood, JORD puts an immense amount of time and effort into manufacturing automatic mechanical movements combined with styles that don't look too earthy, too crafty or too chunky. Surprisingly streamlined and hip looking, the watches come in a variety of woods such as maple, cherry and bamboo as well as in a variety of styles. Wood frames, bezels and bracelets are coupled with hardened, scratch-proof glass, hidden stainless steel butterfly clasps, stainless, carbon fiber or wood faces, open skeletal faces and date windows.



Details such as the initialed crown, the engraved back, the packaging and even the little wood hang tag are a testament to the impeccable attention to detail found in their products.



Ranging from $120 -$249, JORD watches would make excellent gifts for Mother's day or Father's day - or just for yourself. I love my Fieldcrest in Green bamboo and get compliments on it daily.


above photo by if it's hip, it's here

The JORD Limited Edition Series
To add to their collection of wood watches, the JORD team has designed and developed a full line of watches that we call the JORD Limited Edition Series. All of the JORD Limited Edition models will be equipped with 20+ Jewel automatic movements. Our perpetual movements provide our customers with the accuracy and durability they demand in their everyday lives.

94A SERIES in Natural Green & Maple or Chocolate with etched metallic face ($159):

746 SERIES with open skeletal face and movement in black or chocolate. The 746 has 60+ individual pieces of wood making up the band. ($249):
above photo by customer Steffen Melsen Braüner

DELMAR SERIES with slick carbon fiber faces in various woods and colors ($149)

SULLY SERIES with contrasting woods, various faces and luminescent hands ($139)

ELY SERIES in a compact, smaller face design with a date window. Available in various woods ($129)

FIELDCREST SERIES in a unisex size with various wood options ($120)

How Does an Automatic Mechanically Driven Watch Work?

An Automatic mechanical watch is powered by an internal mainspring that is wound automatically as a result of natural motion of the wearer's arm. The eccentric weight (the rotor) pivots on its staff that is attached to a ratcheted winding mechanism. The movement provides the energy necessary to have the JORD watch function properly. The automatic watch movement has surpassed other mechanical movements and made the manual winding watches unnecessary or obsolete.






Shop for JORD Wood Watches here

Packaging For The Happy Show's Typographic Films by Sagmeister & Walsh

These beautifully designed limited edition Blu-ray packages for three of Sagmeister & Walsh's typographic films, currently shown as part of the traveling exhibition "The Happy Show", each contain a unique earthenware USB drive (specific to each film), the disc and a certificate of authenticity. All the black boxes were individually written on by Stefan.








Centered around the designer's ten-year exploration of happiness, the traveling exhibition of Sagmeister & Walsh's The Happy Show presents typographic investigations of a series of maxims, or rules to live by, originally culled from Sagmeister's diary, manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms. To contextualize the maxims that appear throughout the exhibition, Sagmeister has gathered the social data of Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Steven Pinker, psychologist Jonathan Haidt, anthropologist Donald Symons, and several prominent historians. In addition to individual works, some of which have been custom-made for this exhibition, The Happy Show includes a personal narrative, as Sagmeister's individual experience is portrayed beside social data detailing the role of age, gender, race, money, and other factors that determine happiness.


above photo of Stefan Sagmesiter and partner Jessica Walsh, credit to John Madere (johnmadere.com)

Stefan Sagmeister talks about The Happy Show exhibit:


Bill Rodgers of C-file reports that "The Happy Show was a 2012 traveling exhibition by the New York design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Spearheaded by Stefan Sagmeister, the show premiered at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in August 2012 (and has since traveled through Los Angeles, Toronto and New York). In addition to being a personal narrative of Sagmeister’s quest for happiness through meditation, therapy and pharmaceuticals, The Happy Show also looked at happiness through social data with factors such as age, gender, race and money. Sagmeister’s work employed graphic design, graffiti, bright yellows, free gumballs and activity cards suggesting things such as cutting out of the show early to go home and have sex.



Video was also a feature of that exhibition. Three of those films are now available in a limited series of boxed USB drives. Each box was written on by Sagmeister; they bear individualized therapeutic reminders to be present, flexible and to ask for what you want. The USB drives themselves are made of ceramic and resemble horns, or tentacles or worm specimens. They look like exhibits taken from the mental health wing of the natural history museum.



Physical media is dead. The conventional wisdom among people who produce this soon-to-be-ancient material is that physical media works best when it enhances the experience of the song or video contained within. Within the last decade we’ve seen musicians release albums that are pressed on X-ray images or are part of a vast alternate reality game. Sagmeister, who has worked within the music industry creating album art for musicians such as Lou Reed and OK Go, seems to be working with similar logic as he created a highly-personalized artifact from his exhibition that draws the experience of his work forward, even if you’re only viewing it from your home computer."

Credits:
Creative Director : Stefan Sagmeister
Art Director and Designer : Santiago Carrasquilla
Designers: Christian Widlic, Esther Li, Thorbjørn Gudnason
Ceramic Production: Janine Sopp
Box Production: South Side Design and Building

Check out the fun title sequence on this one Happy Show video:


all images and information courtesy of Sagmeister&Walsh