MUJI and CB2 Opened in SoHO NYC

The famous Japanese home design store MUJI just opened its first USA store at SoHO NYC. MUJI is everywhere in Tokyo. With its minimalist modern style, it products range from clothing, furniture, homewares to food. I really love the simplicity of its design, but most stuff are beyond my price range. IKEA is much more affordable. My favorite Chicago-based contemporary furniture and home accessories store CB2 also opened a store at SoHO. Should check them out next time I go to NYC.

Who Killed The Electric Cars?

I finally watched this documentary recommended by several co-workers. The disclosed facts were quite shocking: There used to be hundreds of electric cars, EV1 by GM, running on the roads in California and Arizona since 1996. Within 10 years, they were all stripped from their leasers and destroyed in the junkyard by GM. It's pretty painful to watch those beloved fabulous cars being crushed and then shredded into pieces...It was no different than dumping fresh milk into sewers! Thanks to this film, more and more people will learn about the history which the authorities have been trying hard to bury.

Who on earth killed the electric cars? The oil industry, the car companies, the government, the consumers...None of them can get away with the murder. After all, it was our human weakness we have never overcome: the short-sightedness targeting only at short-term profits.

Nanook's Igloo

Watched Nanook of the North, an influential documentary on an Inuit family's everyday life, made by Robert J. Flaherty around 1920. Although Flaherty was criticized for deceiving the audience by staging actions and distorting Inuits' real lifestyle, the film still offered valuable insights into Inuits' world and opened a whole new ground for documentary filmmaking at that time.

Even today, some knowledges on Inuit traditional living skills seem fresh to me, esp. the construction of igloo - the first time I saw the process on TV. It's quite amazing how fast an igloo was done by Nanook: using a sea lion's teeth as the snow-cutting tool, applying the stable dome structure, the igloo was built in less than an hour! The smarter part is replacing a snow block with an ice block as window and putting the snow piece perpendicular to the window to reflect sunlight. Like to try it one day :)

From A Short Animation to Steven Holl Buildings

Just found out the animation for Kunek's song posted here is a French animation called L' Enfant de la haute mer. This short animation was so beautifully done, and I could watch it over and over again. It's very phenomenal and perceptual by catching the flickering moments of light and shadow, rendering the tangibility and subtlety of familiar textures, and thru. the usage of palpable and emotional watercolors. All of the above reminds me of Steven Holl's work: his phenomenal approach in creating space, his enthusiasm in natural light, and his signature watercolor sketches.

I was a big fan of Steven Holl in school years ago, however, I didn’t get to see his built works until recently. I made my first trip to Seattle this past Sept, visiting his St. Ignatius and Bellevue arts museum certainly appeared at the top of my to-do list.

I have to say St. Ignatius is PERFECT. Built ten years ago, the trace of time can be easily read thru. the beautifully weathering skin accompanied with lively vines.

Different colors and shapes of light arrest your eyes soon after you step into the chapel. The interior is perfectly carved to create exotic lighting effects. The sense of devinity is felt everywhere.

Love the exquisite design of the door. The door knob has such allure that you want to touch it, feel it and hold it.

I was quite disappointed to see how Bellevue works in reality: Holl's original idea was to introduce natural light to both lobby and galleries. Unfortunately, the three big light wells are permanently covered, as well as the clerestories along the gallery walls for a much more controlled interior lighting. The random pattern of the recessed downlights inside the galleries were also altered to evenly spaced track lighting.
The hanging curvy stair tube made of translucent glass remains the only highlight of the museum. It felt like stepping into a weightless space, a space blurred and softened by sunlight.

During my last visit of Beijing, I saw the construction site of Linked Hybrid, a sustainable high-rise residential community right off the 2nd ring road of the city.

Years back in NYC, I walked around Little Italy looking for Holl's storefront gallery . It took me quite some time to recognize the building. With all the revolving panels closed, it looked really austere and blended into the surrounding environment.

Now I look forward to visit his new art museum in Kansas City. With the cheap airfares from Skybus, it would be an easy weekend trip :)

Camper's Wabi

I learned about Camper's environmental shoe Wabi from the latest Metropolis magazine. Wabi means "to ask for forgiveness" in Japanese, which reflects Camper's motto: healthy for the feet and clean for the planet. Besides its environmental-friendly components (made of a recycle rubber ousole, a biodegradable insole made of coconut fiber and wool, and tow liners), Wabi also respects the natural shape of human feet which offers more comfort and pleasure in taking a walk. Finally the both organic and sleek look of the shoe just makes it irresistable - I want to get a pair of Wabi and go for a walk now!

more info from Motropolis: http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2984

Stamps Featuring Famous Dutch Design

A series of stamps featuring Dutch design and traditional icons were designed by Amsterdam creative agency staat.

From top-left to bottom-right:
1) the guild glasses of Andries Copier
2) the revolt chair by Friso Kramer
3) Heineken’s Longneck bottle
4) the Bugaboo stroller by Max Barenburg
5) Tea kettle Lapin by Nicolai Carels
6) Milk bottle lamp by Tejo Remy
7) the bakfiets (the Dutch cargo bike)
8) the Philips eco-lamp
9) the smoked sausage by and for Unox
10) the tulip

La Jetée

I saw an exhibition of Chris Marker's photography not long ago at Wexner Center, which made me more eager to watch his masterpiece La Jetée (1962)composed of still images. Finally saw this 28-min long sci-fi on YouTube and was totally overwhelmed! It keeps lingering in my dream. I was amazed by the idea in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, now I know it is just a mainstream movie version of La Jetée.

Rather than feeling inside the filmic time, the viewer remains in a more detached position due to the use of still images. Time gets fragmented and frozen, catching the most memorable images, memory and impressions from the characters, which results in an incredible sense of melancholy, poetry and haunting. The movie is an extreme montage, something between film and photography, between narrative and documentary.