:::: CHRONICLES OF EIGHT ::::

TED ideas worth spreading

2008-06-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

TED.COM makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

http://www.ted.com/

TEXTILE DESIGNER AND ILLUSTRATOR, KLAUS JURGEN SCHMIDT

2008-06-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Klaus Jurgen Schmidt’s first memories were fored mixing powder paints on his sister’s bedroom floor in 1985, Cape Town. The painting resembled the solar system though it is not know whether this was his intention. Throughou this youth these paintings and drawings were pusshed further toward their realities by self-tuition, eventually applied on interior walls, editorial illustration and ultimately textiles where today’s discarded notions are re-awakened in extreme compositions, repetitions and placements. As the simplistic births the surreal, personified herringbones become conversational chevrons, a hand painted floral is deformed by solarization, while ancestral graphics become immortalized in foil or knitted digital jacquard. Ancestry and tradition adopt a new purpose in the finished print.

(a quote from Klaus Jurgen Schmidt's website)

A look at some of Klaus's amazing visual pieces.

DAZED & CONFUSED COVER

TEXTILE ARTWORK/VISUAL ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS

http://www.klausjurgenschmidt.com/

MUSICAL GENIUS (who might be coming to South Africa sooner then you think)

2008-02-27T04:04:00.000-08:00

An amazing musical genius of electronic building up of sound, has seen Jona Bechtolt crafting music that is beyond fantastically fantasy driven, and amazing. Take some time to hear what the boy has to say...

"YACHT smells wonderful. I must say, all the time he spent in our bus, it was as if a cool breeze was blowing through my mind. and good songs, too!" -- James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem

"YACHT is a true renaissance man, feel his magic zap you with its lightning bolt made of awesome" -- Architecture in Helsinki

"Positive energy rainbow dome music from a next-generation west coast healer" -- Dave Longstreth, The Dirty Projectors

"YACHT = megaphysical." -- Devendra Banhart

"Being indie rock's Timbaland ain't easy." -- VIBE Magazine

"Oh, man, we love this kid." -- NME

"No one combines giddy bubblegum melodies with clinically precise programming quite like Bechtolt." -- Entertainment Weekly

"After spinning Yacht’s new one, I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, we are prepared to echo the album title’s assessment with respect to the artist himself" -- Time Out New York

YACHT ORNAMENTS

YACHT TSHIRTS

YACHT ALBUM

01 SO POST ALL ‘EM
02 SEE A PENNY (PICK IT UP)
03 WE’RE ALWAYS WAITING
04 PLATINUM (FEAT. BOBBY BIRDMAN) listen
05 IT’S ALL THE SAME PRICE (FEAT. EATS TAPES)
06 THE MAGIC BEAT
07 DRAWING IN THE DARK
08 IT’S COMING TO GET YOU
09 IF MUSIC COULD CURE ALL THAT AILS YOU]
10 I BELIEVE IN YOU
11 YOUR MAGIC IS REAL
12 WOMEN OF THE WORLD

MINI GALLERY

VISIT: http://www.myspace.com/yacht

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.teamyacht.com/

UNDERTEN CLOTHING LINE

2008-02-12T01:55:00.000-08:00

The most original take on kids fashion, by far.

Visit

http://www.underten.fr/

2008-02-12T01:21:00.001-08:00

DAVID LINDWALL

Designer both clothes and web, model, artstar, Dj and club promoter. David knows his shit but is he happy with his life. David is in and out of his hard disstorsion with different hang-ups and when he's in one he is very focused.

They ask him what are you going to become when your grown up. well David is already someone and i think he's happy for that. I dont know him that well but if you would like to just get in there and make some noise.

Is he the worlds forgotten boy. the one who's searches and destroys.

welcome to Davids world of fashion.

Visit this site for more information:

http://www.fashionisforfashionpeople.cjb.net/

FASHION

2008-02-12T01:21:00.000-08:00

CatwalkTrash

2008-02-12T01:10:00.000-08:00

The only way to describe this band is:

With a name like CatwalkTrash, this band is bound to have a massive dent on the Cape Town music scene (which has become somewhat bland). This one woman band, is a revival of dirty electronic fashion beats, mixed with some dirty old school rock and roll. Drumer , Guitarist, synth player, Vocalist, Ellenie Eloff, hales from Cape Town/Worcester, South Africa. With her model looks and her very, upfront and strong individual energy, she's a woman who you should dare to mess with. With music titles such as "Postcards to New York," "Lady bang bang," and "Ride the vine" this musical goddess has a future ahead of her in the music business.

To hear some of her tracks you can here them on her myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/catwalktrash

ROCKET SCIENCE is a must see...

2008-02-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

One of last years best scripts and a breakout performance from the natural Reece Thompson ensures Rocket Science is up on 2007's biggest sleepers list. Unlike the overrated Juno, Jeffrey Blitz's stimulating screenplay hardly ever rings hollow, despite the fact some of these high schooler's made that pregnant whippersnapper sound like a three year old. Here though, as unrealistically hyper-articulate as this high school debate team, indie-romance styled dramedy feels, Blitz possesses the rare ability to seamlessly merge it with a whole bunch of tender awkwardness and create something far superior then a wit-fest.

Encapsulating this neurotic whimsy is the gifted Thompson (amongst other very well casted performances) who like a younger, more accessible Jason Schwartzman, takes an annoyingly exploited trait of stuttering unease and mines it into a tender, thoughtful coming of age characterization that should inspire even the most cynical of introverts.

Littered with scene after scene of a simply far more perceptive quirk then what Hollywood's continuously dumbed-down interpretations of independent film used to be, Rocket Science blasts off with personality and style to spare.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477078/

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
http://www.rocketsciencemovie.com/

THE LEADING KNIT WEAR LABEL "PWHOA"

2008-01-31T23:23:00.000-08:00

RICHARD DE JAGER

A little describtion from the designer himself, about himself... "I am a knitwear designer/stylist, i live in cape town. I make crazy knitwear and hang out in dodgy rock clubs with my friends. we go out and steal palm leaves and tikki bars."

What more would you like to know about the leading South African designer, who clothes also describe his amazing yet crazy and loving personality... he is a genius of our time, who works wonders with an age old, fabric that has almost been long forgot, and has revolutionized it to create costums that are just beautiful. Richard has single handedly changed this whole relm of fashion and he owns it...

THE 4th DIMENSION

2008-01-24T01:57:00.000-08:00

Official website: www.4thdmovie.com

View trailer: http://www.4thdmovie.com/qt_lg.html

Contemporary graphic designer/ illustrators

2008-01-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

The works and talls of graphic designer/illustrator Adam Hill

HotAssEmail

2008-01-22T02:34:00.000-08:00

HotAssEmail

Aangesien ons nou hier wonderlike tool het wil ek een van my regular websites met jou deel.. . Mark, aka thecobrasnake woon in NYC en neem fotos van wild and wonderful partytjies, die feit dat sy fotos so nuut soos 2 dae oud kan wees en die tipe events wat hy afneem laat my heeltyd teruggaan vir nog amazing cuttingedge fashion scenery en sommer net party people uit te check in New York en stuff...check dit uit, dis baie cool. Arnold Dietstein

HotAssEmail

send emails to markthecobrasnake@yahoo.com and tell me how much you hate.love.homedepot.carpet.jello. me...

http://www.thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html

FLEXING IT

2008-01-22T02:20:00.001-08:00

Modern day rave, for the whippersnapper.

The rave parties known as NU-FLEX are the creation of, party monster David West. This is the new party that has brought rave back... and change the identity of the scene... thanks to it's themed nights which happen once a month, people get loose and dress up to the core. The flyers are something to talk about as well. All the photography, is by the man himself, including the design.

http://www.myspace.com/thenuflex

From Every Angle

2008-01-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

From Every Angle
Magnum Photographer Paolo Pellegrin
captures the beauty, chaos, and drama of the runways.

To view documentary
www.nymag.com/fashion/look/

Yuniic

2008-01-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

Wing Chair Twist

Yuniic Design is a designer duo from Zurich, Switzerland, developing furniture, lighting and various other objects. Every single created object is defined by its clear forms and a certain wink and playfulness, without cutting down on functionality and utility. Christina Primschitz (*1979, Austria) studied interior design and web design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Thierry Villavieja (*1974, Switzerland) is coming from the field of metal construction, from where he brings designing and mechanical skills. The combination of the different fields of activity makes the perfect sequence of realizing a product, starting from the design process, over technical solutions up to production.

Zürich
Switzerland
info@yuniic.ch
www.yuniic.ch

Virtual Scrapbook

2008-01-18T03:13:00.000-08:00

I just love this. Worth a look at...

www.radiohead.com/worms.php

Computerlove {cpluv.com}

2008-01-18T02:36:00.000-08:00

Computerlove {cpluv.com} is a unique social platform and source of inspiration for talented creatives.

. Find inspiration and get fresh, hot design news
. Share you work with talented and awarded creatives (Population: 15, 000)
. Stay connected with creative people you know and admire
. Promote yourself to find a job or get famous !

Every free account include: Personal blog/ RSS, Gallery & portfolio management tools, plus a networking engine.

ABOUT

Computerlove is an alternative platform, curated by Christophe Martin. The platform was originally created with the technical help of Henrik Rypkema (XHTML Developer), and Man Hoang (Developer).

The Computerlove Newsfeed is a collaborative effort managed by a network of 75 contributors
REGISTER TODAY >>

Visual Diary #1- Mavuso Mbutuma

2008-01-18T00:37:00.001-08:00

Visual Diary #1- Ludwig Breedt

2008-01-18T00:20:00.000-08:00

Celebrating Jan Švankmajer

2008-01-17T02:40:00.000-08:00

Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others.

Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish and yet somehow funny pictures. He is still making films in Prague at the time of writing.

Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses very sped-up sequences when people walk and interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects coming alive and being brought to life through stop-motion. Food is a favourite subject and medium. Stop-motion features in most of his work, though his feature films also include live action to varying degrees.

A lot of his movies, like the short film Down to the Cellar, are made from a child's perspective, while at the same time often having a truly disturbing and even aggressive nature. In 1972 the communist authorities banned him from making films, and many of his later films were banned. He was almost unknown in the West until the early 1980s.

Today he is one of the most celebrated animators in the world. His best known works are probably the feature films Alice (1988), Faust (1994), Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), Little Otik (2000) and Lunacy (2005), a surreal comic horror based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade. Also famous (and much imitated) is the short Dimensions of Dialogue (1982), which shows Arcimboldo-like heads gradually reducing each other to bland copies ("exhaustive discussion"); a clay man and woman who dissolve into one another sexually, then quarrel and reduce themselves to a frenzied, boiling pulp ("passionate discourse"); and two elderly clay heads who extrude various objects on their tongues (toothbrush and toothpaste; shoe and shoelaces, etc.) and use them in every possible combination, sane or otherwise ("factual conversation"). His films have been called "as emotionally haunting as Kafka's stories[1]."

He was married to Eva Švankmajerová, an internationally known surrealist painter, ceramicist and writer until her death in October of 2005. She collaborated on several of his movies including Faust, Otesánek and Alice. They had two children, Veronika and Václav.

Read more:
www.jansvankmajer.art.pl/
www.imdb.com/name/nm0840905/
www.keyframeonline.com/CastCrew/Jan_Svankmajer/4297/

Winterwolken

2008-01-17T02:26:00.000-08:00

 Nils Rainer Schultze is a Berlin lighting designer who transforms the bleak winter nights by using areas that are usually fine weather fountains to produce lighting sculptures. Instead of dispensing water, the fountains shed colourful light that transforms the urban landscape at a time before the solstice when we really appreciate it. Shown above is Winterwolken, an installation that changes colour when people approach. These are great examples of public art that make a difference. 
Artist: Nils Rainer Schultze
+ schultze-krause.de

Brown Paper Bag

2008-01-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

 At first glance the work of Pablo Guardiola could be construed as still life photography. But a second glance reveals the deeper meaning and Guardiola’s worth as a conceptual artist. The grease stains on the ordinary brown paper bag are a dead giveaway for the fast food it contains. But the stains have taken on the form of a world map and the mind leaps from fast food nation to the multinationals that dominate the globe. An old white bucket sits forlorn, but this is actually a red one that has taken three years to record the light, the very act of photography. A postcard on a fence that blocks out the view of the here and now speaks of boundaries, while the gap between fence boards acts as a portal to what lies beyond. 
 Artist: Pablo Guardiola
 + littletreegallery.com

Jaime Wolf on Mumblecore

2008-01-17T01:59:00.000-08:00

       Illustrations By Ryan Thacker     

Mumblecore—the label attached to the current wave of lo-fi, micro-budget American indie films about 20-somethings—is a somewhat misleading term. Hearing it, one thinks of Marlon Brando in The Wild One, or Michael Stipe, interring comprehensibility deep in the mix on R.E.M.’s first records. But mumblecore movies are actually quite voluble, their soundtracks a series of halting announcements, doubtful questions, proclamations fueled by false confidence, drunken blurtations, and sad confessions. Making eloquent use of inarticulacy, films like Hannah Takes the Stairs and Mutual Appreciation happen to be precise (and to the extent of their precision, thrilling) depictions of post-collegiate flailing. They are set in a world populated by overeducated, unaccomplished, chronically ambivalent people who are starting to take grown-up jobs but still need a roommate to pay the rent; whose unfocused ambition and vague sense of artistic integrity propel them to pursue creative endeavors, even as they remain mystified by how a book might actually get published or a CD get made. 
It’s rare to watch a movie and believe it could have been made by one of the characters in it, but mumblecore films have a documentary intimacy and rawness, a level of self-examination that feels new.They’re products of the thinner art/life membrane that affordable digital production tools have made possible, and which the imperatives of self-presentation on Facebook, blogs, and MySpace have made ubiquitous. Of course, it’s not all new. The dialogue in J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey is pure mumblecore; so are the conversational erotics in Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s and the characters’ ditherings in his Boyfriends and Girlfriends; the perpetual hangout milieu of Richard Linklater’s Slacker; and the diaristic songs chronicling Liz Phair’s sexual, emotional, and relationship crises on her album Exile In Guyville. 
The handful of young directors actively cultivating this aesthetic have accumulated buzz on the festival circuit, but the selection earlier this year of Hannah Takes the Stairs, the third feature by the prolific 26-year-old Chicago auteur Joe Swanberg, for national distribution (as part of IFC’s First Take series, which offered the film via OnDemand parallel to its art-house run in selected cities), represents a breakthrough moment. A small miracle of close observation, Hannah follows its title character—played by the New York-based playwright Greta Gerwig in an effervescent star-making performance reminiscent of the young, Woody Allen era Diane Keaton—as she makes her way through three different boyfriends over the course of a summer.
Swanberg and the 29-year-old, Boston-based Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation, Funny Ha Ha) are mumblecore’s leading lights. Bujalski is a writer of subtle grace, the only director of the bunch whose movies contain quotable lines. In contrast, Swanberg barely writes at all, evolving stories in close collaboration with his actors, who extemporize scenes while the camera rolls. He has found that in such situations, nonprofessional actors start drawing on their own autobiographies, discovering and contributing intimate, even mortifying material that Swanberg can then fold into his scenario (typically, all of the actors in his films also receive a writing credit). What this lacks in literary wit, it more than repays in terms of emotional revelation. Swanberg’s work is also noteworthy for its explicit presentation of contemporary sexuality—the daisy-chaining hookups of the characters in his Nerve.com web series Young American Bodies feel like a series of American Apparel ads come to life, while LOL (which also features Gerwig, in a series of arrestingly emo phone-cam pix and voicemail monologues) is a pitiless examination of a trio of guys whose obsession with elusive relationships conducted via cell phone and computer sabotages their chances with the flesh-and-blood hotties who are actually interested in them. 
Embracing mumblecore demands a willingness to forgive a certain cinematic inelegance—wonky sound mixes, awkward acting, uneven, rushed, or unremarkable composition and editing—and to indulge sometimes exasperating, acutely self-conscious characters as they figure out their way, seemingly in real time. When it all works, this rough-hewn approach to situations that don’t admit easy answers makes more slickly self-congratulatory Hollywood versions of the same material—Garden State, say—feel just about worthless. 
It says something about the evolution of film’s place in our culture that 13 years ago, Kevin Smith could make the semi-competent mumblecore movie Clerks (wisecracking script, wildly uneven acting, and Smith’s stunted camera sense—which has persisted through all his movies even when Oscar-winning cinematographers shoot for him) and get a career out of it, while Hannah Takes the Stairs so far has yet to earn $100,000, and Swanberg continues to be supported by his wife’s salary as a public high school teacher. “I’m still sitting in Chicago wondering how I’m going to buy groceries,” he recently told The Chicago Reader. “I’m not getting phone calls from agents or studios saying, ‘What are you up to?’” (Bujalski is—he’s been hired by producer Scott Rudin to write a script adapted from Benjamin Kunkel’s novel Indecision.)
It’s a classic mumblecore dilemma—deciding how to proceed in a world of diminished possibilities and expectations. And while you can only wish a happy Hollywood ending for Swanberg, and Bujalski and other directors in the genre, such as the Duplass brothers (The Puffy Chair) and Aaron Katz (Quiet City), you also have to hope that dedicated artists with such idiosyncratic talent continue to remain as far away from Hollywood as possible.
Mumblecore through the ages:

J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (Little, Brown and Company)
The original mumblecore text; a spiritual quest framed as a series of lengthy conversations, alternately exasperating and riveting, about academics, poetry, theater, ambition, literature, faith, sentimentality, ego, holiness, and, most important, how to separate the phony from the authentic. 
Eric Rohmer, Boyfriends and Girlfriends
Blanche, a young City Hall bureaucrat, befriends a computer-science student named Lea, who tries to fix her up with her boyfriend’s friend—only Blanche finds herself attracted to the boyfriend, while Lea develops a thing for the friend. Trivial and self-centered, these characters can be stupid and shallow and annoying … and yet, in the end, incredibly, radiantly human.

Liz Phair, Exile In Guyville
The lo-fi, livejournal-style indie rock version of a Joe Swanberg movie, Phair seeks self-knowledge via a diaristic series of regrettable hookups, disappointing boyfriends, unattainable fantasies, false hopes, fleeting erotic fulfillment, and meditations on the dichotomy between observer and participant.

Andrew Bujalski, Mutual Appreciation
Seeking new bandmates, Alan, an indie-rocker from Boston, relocates to Brooklyn and causes tension between his best friend and the best friend’s girlfriend. Another friend’s impending wedding starts to feel increasingly ominous as Alan’s dad keeps calling, ever so reasonably suggesting that Alan get a job. One boozy night after a gig, Alan looks into the eye of the aging former music-biz insider who has offered to help, and asks, “Do you want me to end up like you?”

Joe Swanberg, Hannah Takes the Stairs
Over the course of a sweltering Chicago summer, an aspiring playwright named Hannah dumps her boyfriend and takes up with one, and then another, of the writers she’s assisting on a web-based video show. A collection of carefully husbanded moments combine with a star-making performance by Greta Gerwig in the most exhilarating mumblecore picture to date.

Article from GOOD magazine.

Bright Orange

2008-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

Bright Orange Detroit Words By Eva Steele-Saccio Photos By Object Orange Video By Lindsay Utz, Bristol Baughan, Jeff Becker, Tom Van Buskirk, Ian Walsh

It began with a sign: a bright orange traffic detour sign standing next to one of Detroit's thousands of abandoned houses. Four local artists, a group who call themselves Object Orange, realized they could use the shocking color of the sign to draw attention to the city's pervasive urban decay. With up to 15 volunteers they staged clandestine predawn painting expeditions, covering blighted houses in buckets of "Tiggerific" orange paint. "People become blind," says OO's Mike, who, like other members of the group, prefers anonymity for legal reasons. "We want to make them take note." Out of Detroit's more than 7,000 abandoned buildings, fewer than 2,000 are slated for destruction, leaving a long waiting list of properties that have become drug dens, prostitution hubs, and dangerous neighborhood playgrounds.
Commuters have begun to notice the orange houses, as have unhappy city officials. "They may believe they are making artistic statements," says James Canning, communications coordinator for the Mayor's office, "but they are just trespassing and adding to the blight of the buildings." Eyesore or not, the orange is noticeable. Four of OO's first 11 orange houses were almost immediately demolished. Canning attributes this to coincidence and careful calculation (demolition plans are public record); the artists see it as a critical step toward re-invigorating their deteriorating city. "Our part is starting conversations," says OO member Jacques. "Some people do outreach. We paint houses orange."

Object Orange is a group of artists based in Detroit.

What is the graphic thought facility ?

2008-01-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

Graphic Thought Facility

By defining a distinctive graphic style to a diverse range of projects, GRAPHIC THOUGHT FACILITY has emerged as one of the UK’s most influential – and productive – graphic design teams. Founded in London in 1990 by Andy Stevens and Paul Neale, GTF now works for such clients as Habitat, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the Design Museum.

The work of Graphic Thought Facility is defined less by a distinctive visual language than the rigour with which the designers approach the process of developing and executing graphic projects. The defining characteristic of GTF’s finished work is its eclecticism. Drawing on a diverse range of typefaces – from robust use of Helvetica in the Digitopolis gallery at the Science Museum in London, to the curlicue lettering in marketing material for Habitat – printing techniques and materials, GTF reinvents its graphic style for each project.

Founded in London in 1990 by Paul Neale and Andy Stevens after they graduated in graphic design from the Royal College of Art GTF has since combined cultural projects – for Manchester Art Gallery, the Frieze Art Fair and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as well as the visual identity of the Design Museum – with commercial commissions from Habitat and the design of graphic-based products such as the MeBox storage system. Huw Morgan is now a partner of GTF alongside Neale and Stevens.
Visit GTF's website at graphicthoughtfacility.com

Q. What were your early design influences? What drew you to graphic design?
Andy: Malcolm Garrett’s Simple Minds sleeves and TDK cassette packaging.
Huw: Printing. My mother had friends that were printer-makers - in the fine art sense - and I used to watch them avidly. They taught me about litho, we used stones and wax crayons instead of metal plates and films. I liked the process.
Paul: Probably the books and toys I had as a child.
Q. Do you feel that your education (design or otherwise) influenced the way you work now?
Andy: Leeds was very social and unpressured, I aspire to a working day that is like this! I found Derek Birdsall a big influence at the Royal College of Art.
Huw: In all honesty, probably not. It’s a crap cliché but I’ve learned more since leaving, although I’ve probably retained a methodical way of working that comes from learning chunks of exam revision verbatim.
Paul: Yes, it's the same pattern of “discuss, go-away-and-do-a-bit, then come back and discuss” that began in my A-level art group. Our art teacher, Mrs Savage didn’t follow a particular curriculum.
Q. Where did you meet and how did you start working together?
Andy: At the RCA from 1988 to 1990, I shared a studio with Paul and other founder member Nigel after Johnny Barnbrook moved out.
Huw: Paul was my tutor at Central Saint Martins (art school) and three years later I worked with Paul and Andy on an exhibition at the RCA.
Q. What were your earliest design commissions?
Andy: A logo for my best friend - a mobile hairdresser (stolen from an ERCO ad in Blueprint magazine) and local stuff in Leeds, then friends of friends’ shops and bands.
Paul: At school we found a group of break-dancers in an underground car park in Derby. We asked them to come into our school and do a gig. I designed the flyer - heavily influenced by the constructed typefaces in The Face, complete with halftone dots rendered in gouache.
Q. How would you characterise the perfect relationship between designer and client?
Andy: Mutual respect, un-bullshity.
Huw: One that trusts your opinion and appreciates that you are doing everything in your ability to give them the best job you can.
Paul: Relaxed, trusting and with no hidden agendas.
Q. What, if anything, do you consider to be your trademark?
Andy: GTF’s trademark would be the thoughtful consideration of purpose and production.
Huw: It would be good to think that it wasn’t as mannered as a trademark, but in reality, although you might try and avoid it, there are always going to be comfortable places that you go back to.
Paul: Unavoidable as it is, I hate the idea of having a trademark. I think our’s are self-evident.
Q. What would be your ideal job?
Andy: A Camper van concept for the new Volkswagen microbus.
Huw: Ever - in graphic design?
Paul: Probably something geeky.
Q. What is your favourite piece of your own work?
Andy: The Royal College of Art prospectus
Huw: Plenty of things still look good. A selection to follow, though I can’t necessarily take credit for them:

a Jo Gordon Christmas card that was die-stamped through the envelope to make the card
the Macbeth poster that Paul and Andy did before I knew them
Oki Nami neon sign
the Science Museum Digitopolis EL's
The Globe publicity from 2003 with Nigel Shafran's photography
various Habitat press releases
Design Museum logo

Paul: No outright favourite, but the Habitat SS02 press release is a good one because most of the studio was involved in some way: model-making, photography, font-mongering etc.
Q. What is your favourite piece of graphic design in general?
Andy: Nothing stands out, I won’t try and force it.
Huw: Today it’s the General Electric logo and the deli just off the Ramblas in Barcelona with the full-bleed-product window.

© Design Museum

FURTHER READING
Visit Graphic Thought Facility's website at graphicthoughtfacility.com
For more information on British design and architecture go to Design in Britain, the online archive run as a collaboration between the Design Museum and British Council, at designmuseum.org/designinbritain

© Article - Design Museum

• www.graphicthoughtfacility.com

Avant-garde dating

2008-01-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

AVANT-GARDE DATING

KEYWORD: CONCEPTUAL

AVANT-GARDE DATING is a new experimental dating service for artists. In contrast to traditional dating services, the primary aim of AVANT-GARDE DATING is not to match artists looking for a romantic/sexual relationship but to match artists who are interested in investigating issues associated with relationships. In order to apply, individuals must explain how they will explore the conventions of monogamous love, challenge the idea of artistic collaboration and/or explore one of the other numerous stereotypes of human pairing. Based on the application, the Dating Board will match artists with each other and three outstanding 'couples' will be rewarded a 1-week exhibition during the Art Forum in Berlin (Sep-Oct 2007) to further explore the concept of human partnering.

AVANT-GARDE DATING is a project by Wooloo, an artists-run organization based in Berlin, Germany.

Semi-related: GayMobile - another experimental community service.

• www.avantgardedating.com