Pallalink

More great content from ping mag. This time it's an article about a fellow by the name of Kazuhiko Kawahara who photographs local architecture and street scenes, before manipulating them to create beautifully composed and layered images.


Its a treat to see an artist using photoshop to produce something far superior to the normal computer manipulated tat. Thouroughly recommend a visit to his site and particularly this sequence showing the original photos followed by the tweaked versions.

Cracking Nuts

I enjoyed an incredible night out at the English National Ballet last week. We saw a contemporary version of the Nutcracker, with extraordinary stage and costume design from Gerald Scarfe.


I was transfixed from start to finish, a reaction I was totally unprepared for (it was my first visit to the ballet). The astonishing physical skill, combined with fantastic stage craft, a 30 strong orchestra and the aforementioned talents of Mr Scarfe created one of the most absorbing live performances I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

Thumbs Up For Muffins

The good people at SkySkraper sent us a Muffin the Mail package this morning, lovely they were too.

Commuter Snooze

Last one from the old mobile…

Flying Digger

Is it a bird…

DIY Sign Writing

Cleaning out my old mobile phone so there might be a few random pictures coming this way…

Wheels of Wonder

Just came across this…


Everything you need to transform your wheels into a personalised light show is available here.

I love the attention to detail of the instructions and the thoroughness of the descriptions, something that doesn't always follow with the home build / open source approach, even the step by steps are beautifully photographed and impeccably detailed.

Just wish I had a bike and the time to pimp it in such a stylish manner.

via core 77

Volume

I manged to get over to the V&A last night to visit Volume - a sculpture by UVA and Robert Del Naja situated in the museum's courtyard. It's one of a series commisioned by Sony as part of its Playstation Season, designed to reposition the console as 'an ideal vehicle for broader entertainment' rather than a 'kids toy'


It's a really inspiring piece of work that seemlessly links sound and light in a wonderfully emotive and engaging manner. Watching other visitor's reaction to it proved to be almost as enteraining as the installation itself.

Sony have managed to resist any overt branding or badging and just let the artists get on with it, creating a thouroughly enjoyable, credible experience in the process.

Design Porn

The people behind Frame manage to uncover a vast range of innovative interiors projects from across the world, photograph them beautifully and (most of the time) find an interesting angle for any accompanying copy. All our back issues are liberally scattered with post-its and we've probably used imagery from most of them on various inspiration/style boards.


As such we're chuffed to bits they have created an online version of the magazine (trial version available here). Not because they've discovered how to make screen-based versions of existing magazines as readable and absorbing as the printed format (they haven't), but because you can download each and every glorious image at a reasonable resolution, uncluttered by page numbers, captions or creases. They also provide nifty direct links to relevant information and specifications of advertisers product, saving us a fortune on post-it notes in the process.

Madrid Airport

I flew into the new terminal at Madrid Airport last weekend.

Very high profile buildings such as this (a Richard Rogers designed Stirling Prize winner) tend to get large amounts of coverage in the media, as such because we've all seen the photos there is often little 'surprise and delight' left in an actual visit.


The reviews and critiques ment I knew what to expect before I arrived - a cavernous space punctuated by beautifully coloured Y-shaped supports and topped with an undulating wooden ceiling. All of which created a pleasant, visually enaging journey through the airport.

However, the thing that really caught my imagination were the 'wok' lights used in the baggage reclaim area, they effectivly lower the ceiling and hide all the cabling and services from view (while keeping them accesible for maintenance).


A grid of these fittings, custom designed for the job, strech out over a vast area, creating beautiful regular vistas and lining up to produce patterns and shapes that unfold as you walk through the space - a bit like the experience of driving past a perfectly planted orchard.

As I'd not seen or heard anything about this particular feature of the building it made 'discovering' them for myself all the more enjoyable - I guess it's a lesson in the power of holding a little something back…

Barber Osgerby Interview

I've lusted after the beautifully crafted and thoughtfully detailed furniture of Barber Osgerby since falling in love with their Corian topped table for Isokon - available in any colour as long its white.

The good people over at pingmag have an insightful interview with the pair, in which they talk about their work and methodology.

Well worth a read.