Wednesday 26 September 2007

Luke My Son

Nothing needs to be said...



Via the ever enjoyable Tak blog

Thursday 20 September 2007

Well Done Us

Last Friday Catherine collected a silver Event Award at the National History Museum for the best outdoor/public event in recognition of our work on the T-Mobile World Cup Fan Park last summer.


That's a very pleased looking Catherine in the middle with client Will and Adele from Birmingham City Council. Our first award and a very nice feeling it is too.

Blocked

Saw a lot of screens like this during a recent return trip to Dubai.


It's amazing how much you come to rely on flickr, youtube et all - especially when putting a pitch together. A fact you are only made aware of when they are unavailable.

Burning A Million Quid

Another one of those 'isn't the web great for finding old stuff that I've really wanted to see for ages' posts.

This time it's the very wonderful K Foundation film of them burning a million quid. Never got to any of the original screenings and as far as I am aware it was never widely available on video. So seeing the whole thing in all it's glory was a bit like finding a long lost treasure. Very strange feeling whatching them mechanically destroy all that cash.



It does make me wonder how much more of an impact they would have made if all the web based sharing tools we have now had been available to their twisted minds...

Thursday 16 August 2007

UPDATE: You Mug

Bordering on genius...


A simple solution to an age old problem, I really hope it functions as well as these pictures suggest. I believe the designers name is Jonathan Aspinall, but I haven't been able to find a site for him or any information on production / purchase.


via core77

UPDATE - link for Jonathan Aspinall's home page, many thanks to CTH for helping track him down.

Rodney

Had a bit of sleepless night and found myself in front of YouTube very early this morning watching this..


Now I'm not really into skate boarding and freely admit to knowing very little about it, but I have always admired Rodney Mullen and this 'best of' clip shows why. He just seems to do things differently from everyone else, each trick leaves you trying to work out what happenend and some of the slow motion stuff blows your mind.

Well worth watching all the way through.

A bit of Ibizia comes to Clerkenwell

Not content with bringing back some rather wonderful biscuits Guy C has been recreating his Ibizian voyage with the help of Radio Sonica.


Apparently they provided the soundtrack to his holiday and thanks to 24 hour streaming via itunes they have been providing uplifting moments to one and all at Flourish HQ.


A pleasing mix of all things baleric with an anything goes playlist and a distinct lack of spoken content makes the station very listenable. The site also has some on the money mixes available for download.

Tune in here

Biscuits of the World Part 6

Well Guy C outdid himself this time, after his two week sojurn on the white island he returned to Flourish HQ armed with these little babies...


A fine selction of all things almond (which seems to be a bit of a running theme in Spanish confectionary - see earlier BOTW posts). My personal favourite was the long tube type thing - a great dunker that remains crispy even after a good soaking in coffee.


The packaging wasn't quite as beautiful as other offerings in the series but boy did they taste good.

Thursday 26 July 2007

What I did on my Holidays

Well mostly I ate and drank and slept and eat and swam and read and ate again.


I'm a big fan of eating and as such a pilgrimage to San Sebastian has been on the cards for a year or two. Home to the highest density of Michelin stars per head of population and (more importantly) the heartland of Pinchos - the Basque equivalent of Tapas - San Sebastian is a wonderful place to pass a few days thanks to it's beach (right in the heart of the town) and general laid back vibe.


We star hunted at lunch (Arzark and Martin Berasategui) and went Pinchos crawling at night. Popping into a bar, eating a plate or two of what looked good before moving off and repeating the process many times over proved a remarkably enjoyable way to pass a good few hours and try a vast array of seasonal, local food.


We also found time to get on the Frank Gehry tourist trail with a visit to his remarkable vineyard hotel in Rioja (a triumph of exterior style over interior practicalities) and the inevitable trek around the Guggenheim in Bilbao (a triumph of exterior style over interior practicalities).

A wonderful relaxing break and my longest sojourn from Flourish since we started.

Now it's back to work with a vengance.

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Zipping Up My Boots...

Well I'm heading home after a few days working in Dubai. It's been a great experience, I've met some interesting people, made progress on a very exciting project and enjoyed myself of an evening.


It's fascinating trying to get your head around a totally different market, you can't make any assumptions based on your own experience - this has the extremely positive effect of making you question every stage of an idea, checking it works in this environment, making sure it's viable and relating it back to the customer's situation. Of course it should work like that on any project, but without being able to take anything for granted it really makes you work hard for a solution.


The city itself is changing at such a rate, the amount of development is truly mindblowing, the maps have vast areas marked as UC (under construction) the scale and ambition of the projects is awe inspiring - creeks are dug, miles of new coastline created, mountains built, beaches cooled - whatever it takes to get the desired result. I found this attitude began to affect my thinking - it grew bigger in ambition and less rooted in practicality, you truly begin to believe that anything is possible. and that's a really healthy mindset with which to come up with big ideas.

I look forward to coming back one day soon.

Tuesday 24 July 2007

A Stroll Down Green Lane

We've spent a considerable amount of time over the last couple of months working for the lovely people over at Live.


They asked us to help with the creative elements of the launch of EDF Energy's partnership with London 2012. The EDF group are using their support of the games to try and persuade customers to reduce their carbon usage by 15% by 2012. They are promoting this remarkable commitment through a campaign called Green Lane.

To celebrate Live built a "Green Lane" (from recyclable materials and with a zero carbon footprint) in Greenwhich Park. It provided a stunning backdrop for the announcement as well as an opportunity for the company to demonstrate the vast array of technology they are developing to help meet the challenge.

You can get involved here

Monday 23 July 2007

Open on Friday

In Duabi for a few days work - very hot, very different, very enjoyable.


Even the weekend is different so being open on a Friday is worth shouting about.

Did I mention it's hot.

Biscuits of the World Part 5

Well here they are - my contribution to the office international biscuit collection - a kind of sweet, crumbly, almond affair that turns to a dusty powder in the mouth, not the most pleasant taste experience I have to admit.


A real victory of style over substance I was sucked in by the tin and didn't really consider the content


Guy C returns from "having it large" in Ibiza next week and with a bit of luck he'll deliver the goods.

Thursday 19 July 2007

Dekotora

I once spent a very enjoyable month in Japan. During the trip I became increasingly fascinated by the wonderfully modded vehicles you would see in pretty much any major metropolis - low slung, tricked out and with plenty of body parts that seemed to focus on changing the silouette of the original vehicle.


As such it was with utter joy that I stumbled upon this photographic ode to the art that is Dekotora (love the way every niche activity in japan has it's own name). These folks take it one step further with spectacular results.


Can't imagine what it does to the efficiency and aerodynamics but I suppose that sort of practical thinking is most definitaly not the point...

via healthytext's delicious

Fly Smart

Great bit of site specific advertising for Smart, really suits the cars personality and makes use of it's natural urban habitat. I believe it's by one of the BBDO offices.



Via this blog

Monday 9 July 2007

From Plot to Plate

We had our first food from the allotment on Saturday - in the form of one whole bunch of radishes.


Hours and hours of digging, raised bed construction and careful attention resulted in the topping for a salad.


Looking forward to further rewards, just need to find a way of keeping the slugs at bay - suggestions gratefully recieved.

Friday 6 July 2007

Biscuits of the World - Part 4

Miss Hoskins has been jetsetting again, this time to the sunny idyll of Mallorca. As we all know holidays mean biscuits and here's Catherines offering...


As you can see from the photo by the time I got a look in there wasn't much left - the scraps I managed to scavange where very almondy and pleasantly crunchy on the tooth.

I'm off on my travels next week and Guy C the week after so plenty more bisucit action coming this way.

Thursday 5 July 2007

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Wind Power

Another tip from Mr Bass



Remarkable feats of wind powered enginering from a dutch artist called Theo Jansen, one can only imagine the amount of time and dedication required to create something so beautifully complex.

More videos and info on the artist here

Sunday 1 July 2007

Heatherwick on Sea

Had to be on the South coast a couple of weeks ago for a family thing. So we headed down early for a spot of breakfast at the East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton.


The Cafe is housed in a remarkable building created by Heatherwick Design Studio. As you can see it's an extraordinary steel structure hunkered down on the edge of the coastal path.


The front face is made up of large picture windows protected from the elements (and, I presume the local youth) by electric shutters - we arrived as they where opening so we got to see it reveal itself to us.


Only downside was that the interior seemes to struggle to match the excitment of the exterior.

Sunday 17 June 2007

Flattery, Coincidence or Plagiarism?


Selfridges


House of Labels

Are you looking at me?


Rabbit and Crayfish Stargazy pie at Scotts.

A great meal and a wonderful way to spend a rainy London afternoon.

Thursday 14 June 2007

Amos Blogs

The fine people at Amos - makers of wonderful figures and enchanting graphic novels have launched a blog.


As they are a considerable drain on my disposable income, a free and easy way to get a fix of all things James Jarvis seems worth shouting about.


Find it here

Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo

I'm not sure, why, what or how.


But I do know that the Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo rocks with greatness.


Full specs, how to and a video of the beast in action here.

Via the thouroughly enjoyable Kanardo

We Came, We Saw, We dug

Promise this won't turn into an alotment blog but thought I'd share progress. We've done a lot of digging, built a couple of raised beds, sowed our seeds and we are now the proud parents of some shoots...


if all goes well a crop of Radishes will be on our plates in three weeks.


This weekend we start construction on our Bean Support System. More pics here.

Sky Typing

Apologies if this has been all over the shop and I missed it, but I'm loving skytyping...


Essentially it's dotmatrix skywriting. Five planes fly in a straight line with computer controlled "smoke machines" attached to the back of them. Switching them on and off for differing lengths of time results in simple text.


Means they can produce 10 MILE long lines of type. More info here.

via Leftywill's del.ic.ious

Wednesday 30 May 2007

Commuter Envy

Had a meeting in Greenwhich last week and was dreading the drudge from Chiswick so much that I was moaning about it loudly in the office. Someone suggested Thames Clippers and a journey of dispair became one of absolute joy.


They run regular boats from Putney through to Royal Arsenal at peak times and weekends. I was whisked past all of London's finest sites in absolute comfort.

I have rarely enjoyed a journey more, those who get to travel this way every day have a truly wonderful commute. The view from the top of Greenwhich park wasn't bad either...

Monday 21 May 2007

Twisting My Mellons

Bit of a lifetimes ambition filled last Thursday night, I got to see the Happy Mondays play live in all their glory.


T-Mobile sponsored the mighty Great Escape Festival - we were lucky enough to design the identity and look after the T-Mobile branding across the event - including a wonderfully kitsch Beach Hut that acted as the ticket office.


As part of the festival the Mondays played a Street Gig to 300 lucky punters on the end of Brighton Pier.

Considering the life they've been living for the last couple of decades they were surprisingly together (all be it with a little bit of help from an autocue to get the words right). All the classsics were present and correct and some great new tunes got an airing - Shauns voices still powerfully poetic and Bez "having it" on vibes as always.


Great night had by all, can't believe this was work...

Young Man

Well we got one..


I am now the proud tennant of half an allotment (16b). Not the one written about below with the luxury shed but a slightly smaller plot with what can only be described as a very un luxury shed.


On Sunday, my green fingered partner in crime and I spent our first day toiling the soil. It was wonderful on many levels, we are throwing ourselves headfirst into the allotment life style, highlights as follows...

1 - We listened to Test Match special on long wave Radio 4
2 - We met several of neighbours, all of whom were more than happy to offer advice, tips and general banter - we pretty much ignored it all and ploughed on
3 - We shared a pack of Werthers Originals during our tea break

Other highlights include the fact that because all the other tenants are of a certain age we get refered to as "young men", something that hasen't happened to either of us for a while.


In all we managed to dig and weed about half of our patch. Next steps are to build the raised beds and then get planting.

We have a clearly defined mission for year one - to grow our own Christmas lunch, we're even investigating how much space a turkey needs to grow. I'll keep you posted.

Friday 4 May 2007

Steaming

Am fascinated by this...

As always with "stuff" of this nature I'm in awe of the time, dedication and innovation put into something without any obvious purpose.



Full spec and more photos here.

Via the ever eclectic vi-R-us

Wednesday 2 May 2007

Skyline Sculpture

Antony Gornley has managed to get permission to install thirty sculptures of himself perched on rooftops across London. Each likeness faces his exhibiton at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank.


To my mind they are magnificent additions to the London skyline and visible from a surprising distance. I spotted a couple while travelling along the Embankment on Sunday afternoon and was wowed by thier pose and elegance.

I had a powerful urge to go and stand alongside them, as though they had some pied-piper type power drawing me towards them (though this may well have had something to do with the couple of sherries I had enjoyed at the magnificent El Faro in Limehouse).

I think it's wonderful that this can happen accross so many sites in London as does Mr Gormley...

"it's a tribute to everybody that I've been allowed to get away with it. I feel so grateful to all the people who said, 'Why not?' That attitude - 'Let's do it' — seems to be possible in Britain at the moment"

You can see them for yourself at the following locations…

80 The Strand,
Arundel Great Court,
Brettenham House,
Bush House,
The Howard Hotel,
Thistle Hotel,
Waterloo Bridge (Westminster side)
Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Hayward at the Southbank Centre,
Southbank Centre Square,
Union Jack Club,
White House Apartments at the Shell Centre,
Waterloo Bridge (Lambeth side),
The National Theatre,
King's College London - Franklin-Wilkins Building and the Waterloo Bridge Annexe,
The London Television Centre
United Grand Lodge of England

Friday 20 April 2007

Roller Coaster

Top find from Mr Bass...



The roller coaster represents US house prices from 1890 to the present day, it's a remarkably powerful way of representing a potentially boring graph - linked to a motion simulator it could be very interesting...

Much more of this type of thing available here

Green Fingers Crossed

After a two year wait me old mukka Jonno and I think we may finally be on the verge of scoring an allotment.


As you can see it looks a bit of mess but I'm sure we can wip it into shape. I'm particularly exitied about the possibilities presented by the shed.