Melancholy-Made In Japan

Posted on March 9, 2012 by tara

In the hours, days and weeks following a natural disaster, the collective eyes of the world are fixed markedly on the affected area and its people. News channels worldwide provide constant updates, foreign correspondents flock like seagulls to the point of disaster in search of greater understanding and an influx of material aid and physical back up flow. A globalised world mourns the lives of those lost and pray for their loved ones until suddenly…we hear nothing.

The 11th of March, 2011 marks a day in which a tsunami, earthquake and nuclear disaster rattled the quiet and determined nation of Japan to its core and claimed the lives of over 18,000 people. You already knew this though. What you are unlikely to know is what happened next. What happened when the debris was cleared, the camera crews went home and the local residents instructed to stay indoors to avoid possible nuclear radiation were allowed outside once again and began to pick up the pieces of their shattered existences? Brooklyn-based, Japanese artist Yuki Kokubo has some answers and she wants you to help her share them.

Kasama-Yaki (Made in Kasama) showcases the beginnings of a longer project through which Kokubo hopes to learn more about her own family as well as provide a glimpse into the sobering strength and resilience of the Japanese people. The piece so far is a melancholically beautiful ode to Kokubo’s parents, Katsuji and Shigeko, two Japanese potters who reflect on the 2011 disasters and how they have affected both their own lives and the Japanese identity as a collective. The film is permeated by an aching sense of resignation and sadness-the futility of the human race against the wrath of mother nature is accepted. Somewhere in the middle of all this sadness, there is beauty and a sense of hope that spawns from the joy one finds in making something new. “People who make things pull themselves up by creating”, offers Katsuji, with a business like sense of finality. And that is exactly what she is doing.

To help Kokubo finish and release her film, donate to the Kickstarter campaign here.

Shit Garance Dore Says

Posted on March 8, 2012 by tara

A man once explained to me that he could not understand what I was saying because of what he described as my “female pitch”. At first I was offended and taken aback but the man went on to explain that it wasn’t my fault and that he had the same problem with the octave, pitch and tone of both his wife and daughter’s speech.

I never quite grasped this apparent phenomenon…until I watched photographer, illustrator, blogger and general fashion daah-ling Garance Dore and her friends pow-wowing about the recent New York and Paris fashion weeks. From what I grasped of episode three of Dore’s latest fashion series, Pardon My French, presented by Net-A-Porter and Garance Dore studios, they may as well have been speaking in tongues—or fashion royalty Swahili.

Somewhere amidst a whirlwind of cupcakes, “I love Derek Lam!” and school girl giggles I gathered that all grown up posse Amanda, Caroline, Lisa-Marie, Holly and Marina felt that many wearable designs came out of fashion week, brocade was heralded the next big thing and Diane Von Furstenberg reigns supreme. Oh, and Maria Sharapova finds Fashion Week intimidating as everyone is sitting around, “concerned about, like, their eyebrows.” Hash tag first world problems, immediately. Despite potential ear drum damage, Dore’s enthusiasm remains, as always, infectiously adorable.

Behind Corinne Drewery With StyleLikeU

Posted on March 6, 2012 by brodie

This week, our friends at StyleLikeU invite us into the London home of Corinne Drewery, whose timeless sense of style and spitfire attitude is altogether engrossing.

Raised in the English countryside by an equally chic mother, Corinne grew up idolizing 60s icons like Twiggy, The Beatles, Dusty Springfield and Diana Ross. Her adoration of the era lives on in her Marimekko shift dress and severe bob haircut. As she grew up, Corinne pursued a career as a fashion designer, abandoning this path in the 80s when the opportunity arose to become the lead singer of beloved duo Swing Out Sister.

StyleLikeU co-founder Lily Mandelbaum shares her impressions of Corinne;

I love how Corinne is ageless and timelessly hip. She is still the lead singer of her band after 26 years, wearing the same 60s clothes that she has worn since her teens, mixed with a little avant-garde Commes Des Garcons. Because she doesn’t try too hard and sticks to what she loves, Corinne lets life and success come to her naturally. And even with all of her fame, she is so humble, as she drove us and walked us all the way back to our hotel from the opposite side of the city when the shoot was finished.

The Violin-Father

Posted on March 6, 2012 by laurenv

A violin maker does not simply make violins, no, a violin maker lives and breathes violins, nurtures and cares for them throughout their lives. At least that’s the feeling you get from luthier Sam Zygmuntowicz, violin lover extraordinaire and creator for the musical elite. This short profile from Dustin Cohen gives us an insight into the arcane craft.

Working from his small studio in Brooklyn, Sam’s cutting and carving the belly of the eloquently curved string instrument. He talks about his craft as you would an old friend, listens to its music akin to a lover’s voice. You believe him when he talks about the violin as a dynamic living, breathing object—he’s been doing this for years. He’s been working in partnership with musicians since he moved to New York and opened up shop in 1985, not just making and selling violins, but offering ongoing maintenance and support to his clients.

This video—what with its golden tint and flow, is somewhat musical itself—was filmed by New York photographer slash director Dustin Cohen. The Violin Maker is the first episode in Dustin’s ‘Made in Brooklyn’ series, and the intimate shots and mellifluous sounds reflects Sam’s passion for the violin. This isn’t the first time his work has been documented, with a nonfiction book of the same name being published in 2007 about Sam creating a violin for renowned musician Eugene Drucker.

Laurence Fishburne And Ozwald Boateng In The Kitchen

Posted on March 5, 2012 by angela

Ozwald Boateng: In the Kitchen on Nowness.com.

The first time I watched this video I really didn’t get what was going on—Laurence Fishburne + lots of quick cuts + avocado + truffle oil ‘just because’ + wine + “find me some basil” = …? I’m still a bit baffled by the whole ordeal.

It turns out this clip is just one of many snippets from the life of legendary men’s fashion designer Ozwald Boateng, unveiled in the intimate documentary about the designer titled A Man’s Story. A colossal twelve years in the making, the documentary started off as a short term project for director Varon Bonicos. As creative projects tend to elongate themselves, Bonicos’ project rapidly snowballed into twelve years and resulted in 580 hours of Boateng’s private and professional life documented. It’s no wonder Boateng sustained Bonicos’ interest—at 23 he opened his first store on the Savile Row, and erratically and ecstatically never paused for a moment since (Bonicos insists that Boateng’s energy was the most difficult element of the project to keep up with.)

A Man’s Story covers all the raw terrain that Boateng travelled in twelve years—through career highlights and tragedies, as well as his volatile divorce: an incident that inspired Fishburne’s insane cooking lesson (as he says in the beginning—so Boateng can “be a better husband and father.”) Bonicos’ documentary promises to be one of the most revealing portraits of the fashioin world, about a deeply fascinating man and his devotion to fashion. Watch the trailer for A Man’s Story here.

Margherita Missoni’s Explosive Home

Posted on March 2, 2012 by laurenv

Clearly inspired by those geometric patterns her grandpa dreamed up all those years ago, Margherita Missoni‘s house is an explosion of colour and pattern. Lifestyle Mirror has this exclusive peek into the Missoni heir’s exquisite Milan apartment and, obviously, it’s awesome.

It’s not every day that we get to see inside a Missoni’s house, and the accessories designer slash model does not disappoint. From the floral wallpaper to striped cushions, the patterned sofa and tapestry hangings, the home—located in the Brera district—is a mishmash of fabric and style genius. “Growing up in my home was always like an explosion,” she says. “Full of colour, full of paintings and pictures.”

When she’s not rolling in her shoe collection, Margherita speaks of the family business and her love of fashion. The vid was directed by Robert Rabensteiner, fashion editor of L’Uomo Vogue, and is featured on new editorial e-commerce site Lifestyle Mirror, which launched last month.

Looking a bit like a market or a killer vintage store, Margherita’s house is chock-full of shoes, paintings, extravagant rugs and so so many accessories.

Setting Brooklyn A-Buzz

Posted on March 1, 2012 by angela

Third in the Brooklyn-based documentary series, The Beekeeper is part of Made by Hand, showcasing inspiring individuals and what makes up their specific, environmentally sustainable identities.

Made by Hand was created out of the belief that the things we collect, consume, use, and share are part of who we are as individuals. For example, the food that we eat says something about each of us, as do the tools we use and the chairs we rest on. Objects that surround the space we dwell in tell stories, and not just about us. Where did they come from? Who made them? How were they made?

Part three focuses on the unusual career of Megan Paska, a full-time beekeeper in Brooklyn. Paska’s workspace—overgrown flowers everyplace and vegetable patches sprouting up healthily—brings every indoor, nine-to-five office to a bitter shame. Even more envious is Paska’s confident perspective on life and what to take from it, after having successfully found her niche, her love in working life. The close up shots of intricate bee colonies and hives is nothing short of fascinating here—collecting chunks of honey while basking in the honey coloured sunset of a Brooklyn afternoon, I think Megan Paska has found paradise.

Behind Hannah Bronfman With StyleLikeU

Posted on February 28, 2012 by brodie

From her obsession with food as satorial inspiration to her candid anecdotes about being the Upper East Side private school girl who, despite being bi-racial, was not “black enough” for her high school, Hannah Bronfman speaks frankly with StyleLikeU in this week’s closet video. Elisa Goodkind, the co-founder of the site—that is constantly reminding us of all the non-fashion elements in our lives that influence and affect our personal style—tells us:

I love how outspoken and honest Hannah is about all of her personal issues and the hard things she’s gone through in her life. She wants to publicize her feelings about her past struggles with Anorexia, being bi-racial, and the legalization of marijuana, in order to create change in our culture. With regards to her style, I love how it reflects whatever is on her mind, like the food she’s into (see Hannah’s fruity nail-polish) and her politics (she wears snakeskin boots to rebel against the stereotype of it being tacky to wear snakeskin as a black woman). Hannah doesn’t blindly accept the status quo, and that’s what I love about her most.

Nicolas Jaar’s PS1 Dome Piece

Posted on February 24, 2012 by octavia

Music and art can be sight-specific. We can experience each of them differently based on a unique setting and how this brings something new to the table. The same can be said if you combine the two with a choreographed dance performance and powerful visuals to boot.

Nicolas Jaar is the New York-based electronic musician who collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 contemporary arts institution to create a sensory experience inside a dome earlier this month. He describes the show as an extended improvised jam session with dance choreography, saxophone, synthesizers, voice, light installations, and projected wall images. Jaar discusses how the dome setting wasn’t planned, but the point of the show was improvisation, so he just went with it, as he was planning on also feeding off of the audience’s vibe to continuously create the music for the piece. Jaar was featured to discuss “From Scratch” on Pitchfork TV web series +1, a series dedicated to featuring intimate interviews with artists regarding their performances.