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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Trainer Socks

Loving these...


Via The Hidden Persuader

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

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.