We decided to unfold ourselves with something close to us. Something intimate. Something familiar. Something honest. A piece of paper and a pair of hands — how we start every story and every journey — with these we tell a tale in a spectrum of hue.
Welcome.
This is solitude in the most poetic way. Welcome, to the silent world of Michael Kenna.
Hillside Fence, Study 5, Teshikaga, Hokkaido, Japan. 2004
Well, it seems Sigur Rós knew exactly where the summer went.
Catch the free video download of Sigur Rós’s first song, Gobbledigook, from their 5th album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. For more information about this mean as keenly anticipated album, tour schedules and a reason for living, visit their official album press release here
It’s going to cause us pain so bad.
This beautifully designed three-volume boxed set presents new photographic work by Hedi Slimane, the iconic fashion designer who, during tenures at Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, has infused men’s fashion with an androgynous, rock n’ roll verve.
The first volume is an album of Slimane’s photographs of the Lollapalooza-esque three-day Festival Internacional de Benicássim on the east coast of Spain, the second is devoted to images of the new British and American rock scenes, and the third contains essays on Slimane’s work by art critic Vince Aletti, and music critic Jon Savage.
In a 2003 conversation with Interview’s Ingrid Sischy, Slimane discussed his beginnings as a photographer: ‘I started taking pictures before I even began in fashion. I didn’t start with clothes until I was 16, but I had my first camera when I was 11. I’ve always taken pictures, almost like some people take notes or write down their thoughts.’
As this collection reveals, Slimane’s photographs of the international music scene are as fresh as his paradigm-shifting work in fashion. Published with MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Leon (Spain).—cornerhouse
If you’ve seen Control, you’re probably wondering where she is as well.
We like how apt it is for Natalie Curtis to find love in taking photographs (above), and might we add, rather rich and almost foretelling ones too; as if something is about to happen. Much respect due, to a karmic symphony of twined lives coming full circle.
Given 20 secs for 20 slides (6 mins 40 secs in total) for the first Pecha Kucha Night in Singapore, come hear us gloat about how we artfully tip-toe into the office when we’re late every morning, have long lunches with the additional 5 teabreaks a day, and skillfully surf design blogs and Martha’s recipes when boss is not looking. He’s probably doing that himself.
Pecha Kucha (the sound of Japanese chit-chatting) Night was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), it is the first time Pecha Kucha happens in Singapore, and we’ve been fortunate enough to be given this opportunity to present.
So see you there!
Seems like only Ryan McGinley knows. And seems like only he knows how to capture the golden days of youth. The lost, the confused, the audacious, the insane, the ardent youth.
I Know Where the Summer Goes, Ryan McGinley’s latest exhibition, is running from the 3rd of April through the 3rd of May in NYC. Last summer, he took a beautiful and mesmerizing photographic journey with sixteen models and three assistants. Among the resulting 4000 rolls of film, or 150,000 photographs, fifty were chosen for the exhibit. The amateurish images were inspired by those in nudist magazines in the 60s and early 70s, and McGinley once again shows us what he’s best at. Emotional young adults frolicking in the middle of nowhere, against vast and surreal landscape, like how one’s youth was seemingly endless and dreamlike, and one morning when you wake up, it’s gone.
Go run wild in the golden field till your heart aches and never look back, and while you’re at it, go listen to I Know Where the Summer Goes by Belle and Sebastian, and be remembered that the youth is still with us as long as the summer comes back.
Aitor Throup’s fascination of the human anatomy is articulated through his rather wearable costume garments that breathe of fictional characters in their own space and time. His CSM MA collection, “When Football Hooligans Became Hindu Gods”, is based on his conceptual comic book story of 8 remorseful football hooligans that transform into Hindu gods after taking the live of a Hindu boy.
Imagine personifying the Hindu man/lion god Narasimha by shaping the hood of a jacket like a lions head or the Hindu god of death Shiva by adorning a jacket with skulls that double up as bags. Do see and read more about this impressively authentic collection from Katie’s well researched write-up here.
His most recent collection “The Funeral of New Orleans” is a two part story about 5 musicians who die while protecting their instruments during hurricane Katrina. Part 1 displays garments made from instrument cases that transform in shape and function according to the musician’s needs. Pocketed-gloves to supposedly help the musicians protect their instruments. All the “musician’s garments” were sculptured to fit their pose while playing their specific instrument, so they may seem ill fitting when normal but when the musician is playing his instrument in pose, it fits perfectly. You can see the film and read more about this collection on ShowStudio’s blog here
We’re absolutely itching in anticipation for Part 2 which will be a collection of what we believe to be, after the musicians pass on. We sincerely cannot honour enough respect to how original, how well conceived, how playful and yet how functional his collections are. Now all we need is Guillermo Del Toro to turn Aitor’s comic book drawings into movies and Jonny Greenwood to produce the soundtrack and it’ll be a blockbuster for sure. In the meantime, stay tuned for Part 2.
What happens when heavy Helveticas drop into water?
They turn into sinking minutes and seconds and run out before you realize it.
Dropclock is an aesthetically intriguing clock screensaver designed and art directed by Yugo Almighty Nakamura.
Go download it and observe the slow and graceful movement of time.
We’re not big fans of Björk, so we’re rather concerned that Encyclopedia Pictura is ruffling our latent interest with their ambitious undertaking of her nomadic “Wanderlust” journey in 3D. We were promised a premiere in February but due to “technical complications”, we heard that only the normal aka 2D version has been featured so far. The production involved in anything 3D isn’t as complicated as rocket science, but it sure comes close. You can read about their extensive production process here. You can also watch the making of Wanderlust here.
Don’t run out and get your RGB sans G shades just yet. See the normal version here first with the online premiere out today.
In his true black and white fashion, Hedi Slimane shoots the ever overdressed Kate Moss, for French newspaper, Libération, in celebration of International Women’s Day March 8th, 2008.
View the rest of his monotone achromatic snaps here.
You’ve done the D.A.N.C.E.
You’ve dived deep into Nazareth’s waters.
You’ve found new friends and now you know, you’ll Never be alone again.
So do us Justice and tell us please, what the † does DVNO mean?
We were losing our patience waiting for the DVNO video and now that its finally out, we cant help but give respect to their simple concept of bastardizing classic american icons. But honestly, we really think SO-ME should be the four capital letters printed in gold. We’ve too, signed up for Machine Molle membership… have you?
Some call her Hitler, some call her Mother.
Here’s a peep into the 14 departments of Miss Kawakubo’s brain.
After the eat-and-be-merry-party-season, Harmony Korine is looking refreshing for Marc Jacobs. We are no big fans of MJ but this beautiful LCA-esque shot by Juergen Teller definitely changed our mind a little.
We detail where every cent of our yen went in our contribution of this month’s Catalog magazine, (pg 38-45).
Ripe for picking now.
Impactist is Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing, and they produce pretty amazing motion and audio work.
One day, a geometric visitor from another planet came to them.
Regardless of how silly the name sounds - for all you know Steve could call it MacBook Pony and we’d still buy it - we are loving every inch (0.76 to be exact) of the new MacBook Air.
Visit Apple.
We’ve lost count of the number of times watching Heima since we bought it, erm, yesterday.
The graciously flowing streams, the slowly melting ice, the abandoned aircraft on a forsaken land, the deserted herring factory at Djúpavík, the 25000-year-old Ásbyrgi canyon; Sigur Rós‘ ethereal soundscape is beautifully blended in with the vast and surreal Iceland-scape.
Every frame of this film is picturesque, every sound haunting, but we figured no words could/would justify this whole aural-visual experience that we’re so overwhelmed with, so please, watch it.
And watch it again. And again. And again.
Visit Heima.
And again.
Here’s to all you people who’ve been there with us on this whirlwind madness ride, let’s brace ourselves for the harder better faster stronger years to come. Happy 2008!
Love,
HJGHER.
Inccident 01
Some time in December we received a flyer from our beloved Zouk. It was a promo for the Christmas Eve Party, with all the Christmassy graphics and types treated in paper-cut style. We thought it was a lovely piece, then we paused for 3 seconds. It was hard not to be reminded of something we saw just one month back.
We came across this book, This Is For You by Rob Ryan in November 2007, it was filled with hearty messages completed with playful and adorable graphics all cut out of paper; and we instantly fell in love with it. Below is another piece by Rob Ryan for London Seventeen Gallery’s Exhibition in July, 2006.
Inccident 02
This is the “Last Look” section of Juice, December 2007 issue. Juice is a free monthly magazine from Singapore with articles on fashion and music news. Every month, different designers or artists are invited to contribute to “Last Look”, and yet again when we saw this, we immediately thought of our favourite design studio from Spain, Serial Cut, and what they did for Perplex City a few months ago.
Oh well, we reckon coincidence could really be accidental… right?
Another neat little package arrived on our tiled doorstep today.
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This was the teaser for our X’mas greeting this year.
No, its not a load of crap that we sent out (although I must admit that it does look a lot like crap) , but it was the result of a week long brainstorm which ended with two hours of shoot preparation, execution and as you can see, much cleaning up after.
Our concept for our X’mas’07 greeting is essentially about “Excess”. Especially during the festive season where there are parties galore, as we eat drink and be merry, all excess becomes waste. But before excess was waste, it was pleasure. And food was the obvious choice as the main element of our concept.
We prepared a “picnic” setup, gathered all our excess (aka expired) food products from our refrigerator and whipped up our “feast”. The various colours, textures and viscosities of food products helped with the randomness of the handwritten typeface (not forgetting the uninvited invasive smells too!) and best of all, because we just went at it without planning the layout, we had absolutely tremendous fun doing it.
And we sincerely hope you have fun watching the full clip too, HJGHER X’mas’07 wishes with all our love here at HJGHER.
We found a package at the doorstep today.
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The launch of the Julius 2008 S/S collection was reinforced with a photo exhibition over at Midwest Tokyo, Tokyo and Mind Thrive, Kyoto.
Aptly titled “Pilgrimage“, the monotone exhibition displays the 2008 S/S collection in what seems like a fashion editorial spread executed with grandeur. Coming together for this project was the trinity of photographer Muga Miyahara, stylist Tetsuro Nagase and Julius head designer Tatsuro Horikawa. The Tokyo exhibit ended yesterday but catch the Kyoto leg if you can, from 17-20th Jan 2008.
He who wears Julius would probably have a manifesto that reads, “I’m really in touch with my feminine side but ask me again if I’m ‘un-straight’ and I’ll kill you”. It’s absolutely poetic architecture in metrosexual motion.
And yes, if it isn’t obvious already, we are religiously ardent fans.
We were asked repeatedly throughout the night what our artwork on display was about.
If you stare at it long enough, you should see 13 flying midgets in speedos eagerly chased by a walrus in a tophat. A larger view?
Dear boss, I apologize for the sudden drop of my job efficiency. I’ve been playing this the whole week.
Constructed by one of the most cutting edge web designers now Yugo Nakamura, Uniqlo_Grid is the latest interactive project from our by-default-wear-to-work brand, Uniqlo, after the popular Uniqlock project.
After signing in, you get to create, rotate, combine or break the Uniqlo logo on the grid, together with any users from all around the world. With straightforward motion and cartoonish sfx, Uniqlo_Grid is as simple and quirky as any japanese can be.
Go ahead, play this when your boss isn’t looking.
Reception party for Dual City Sessions: Null this Fri 30th Nov, 7.30pm onwards at Old School, Singapore. 
Expect no less than sashimi, sukiyaki, fugiya miyagi, california hand rolled delivery and sake to me, all served in one 2000cc suzuki party. So see you wannabe tokions there.
Already wishing we never left Toyko for what it means to us, in pops an e-card greeting from Shun of Artless, reminding us once again how essential it is for us to never forget why we set out to do what we do. Another extremely simple concept executed with due diligence. Do take a look and just remember to breathe.
Artless for Issey Miyake’s Love for 2007
26 artists designed the 26 letters of the alphabet used as key elements for DesignTide 2007.
We really like the letters D (ASYL), N (Donny Grafiks) and W (Gento Matsumoto) for their well thought out simplicity.
So we’re back from the land of extremely polite and the insanely good looking, where we had our first ever out of Singapore exhibition. Still overwhelmed by the whole experience, we’re taking our time to sort out the 3 million amazing people we met and 5 million cool things we saw. We’ll do our best to write as much as we can over the weekend. Meanwhile, check out some of the photos from the opening night of DualCity Sessions: null.
We’re all set to fly off to Nippon right now.
In a couple of airline packed meals later, we will be running amok down Tokyo town, especially National Stadium where it is the main site for DesignTide. This is the third year running for DesignTide. Based on the continued ideology that is
As part of DesignTide, our contribution for DualCity Sessions: null is now being exhibited at the giulianoFujiwara store at Minami Aoyama, Tokyo. This is Masataka Matsumura’s first ever flagship store in Tokyo, and we are proud to be within space of his Milanese crafted label. The exhibition is coordinated by design studio, Artless and architectural firm, Upsetters Inc.
“Null” is the brainchild of Shun Kawakami who also is the founder of renowned design studio, Artless. This is the seventh exhibition of “null” which also includes the collaboration of 13 other artists from Singapore (14 including us).
More to come about all things Nippon when we return. And we promise no less in translation.
Have a look at Mark Simonson’s take on the type master Adrian Frutiger.
Download the presentation here.
Read more about Frutiger here.
YangTan shows us his latest commercial work with his recently updated website.
Yangtan’s craft is his meticulous eye for detail and colour, but what truly separates him from the rest is his finishing treatment; a polished austerity with a dubious undercurrent of childlike wonder. Hire him now before he gets famous and charges too much.
Image taken from YangTan’s site.
Watch this music video done by Mauro Vecchi for The Whitest Boy Alive’s “Golden Cage”, an interesting take on optical illusion.
The third TV commercial for Sony Bravia’s “Colour like no other” campaign.
First we were enchanted by José González’s “Heartbeats” with the rubber balls bouncing down San Fran, then we got high watching 70,000 litres of paint exploding in Glasgow. Now, we have over 200 bunnies made of Play-Doh, ranging from 6-inches to 2-feet, hoping all over New York City.
Watch it hare at Sony Bravia’s site.
The hugely anticipated (by us and for certain many others) READINGS movie, spawned from the zeitgeist collaboration of Nick Knight, Hussein Chalayan and Anthony Hegarty is finally out today!
The showcase movie premiered this evening in Paris at Hussein’s show and was launched simultaneously on the site at 7pm (GMT+1). What was truly intriguing about this project was the invitation to the general public audience of SHOWstudio’s blog, to submit their treatments for READINGS, based on a brief provided by Hussein Chalayan himself. Dare we say we had a part to play in the result? Watch it and find out.
Be forewarned, it’s already been 79mins, and I’m still waiting for the full movie to finish loading. This better be worth it.
Along with 14 other artists/designers from Singapore, we were invited to participate in Dual City Sessions: Null.
We were tasked to produce a visual artwork using elements found in Singapore, based on the theme “- = +” (to subtract is to add). We finally submitted our artwork few days back, having worked on it for the past few weeks and were told earlier today that it had been sent to print.
Curated by the ever progressive Silnt, Dual City Sessions is a platform for international collaboration and cross-pollination from the diverse creative disciplines. It aims to showcase the collaborative effort between two creative communities, bringing together emerging and innovative practitioners in the field of art, fashion, design and music.
Having exhibited throughout Japan in cities such as Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka and Nagoya. The first installment of Dual City Sessions marks the first overseas collaboration for null. This is the first time they are exhibiting out of Japan and also the first time it involves foreign artists.
Dual City Sessions launches at DesignTide Tokyo on the 30th October - 4th November 2007, and we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll be able to convince our clients that we’ll still be able to work from Tokyo during this period.
Read more at:
Dual City Sessions’ official site.
DesignTide Tokyo’s official site.
We just received our invites to the opening reception of the AIGA 50 Books / 50 Covers exhibition in New York.
Dear J, will be showcased during the exhibition at the National Design Center, followed by Next: AIGA Design Conference in Denver. In addition, selections become part of the AIGA Design Archives, and are documented in 365: AIGA Year In Design 28, an annual print publication. The physical artifacts join the AIGA Design Archives in the Denver Art Museum.
The exhibition starts today and runs through November 21, 2007. We’re unfortunately bound here by our work and won’t be able to make it (unless of course we dump everything and head over, which we just might). If you happen to be in New York during this period, please do drop by and give our book a little pat, rub and a flip.
Check out the AIGA 50 Books / 50 Covers 2007 selections.
Agathe de Bailliencourt’s 2nd exhibition at Taksu Gallery, Singapore, titled “Urban 64″ runs from 21 September till 11 October 2007. Her solo show will feature a series of her paintings done in Berlin in the last few months.
Agathe’s work is unnervingly poignant, unassumingly primal and unmistakably indelible. And if you ever chance upon meeting her in person, you will not fail to know why.
In adoration, always.
More about Agathe here.
Found this interesting article over at Design Observer by Michael Bierut.
Are you
a) a stylist,
b) a strategist, or
c) a stylist and strategist?
We’ve long been big fans of Ron Mueck, and we were blown away when found this video, filmed during his residency at The National Gallery, London.
How he gave life to mere fiberglass and silicon. How he captured the intensity of an expectant woman coming to term. How he took kindly to patience and perfected the “imperfect” specimen of our human form. We are in truly in respectful awe.
Video courtesy of The National Gallery, London.
Good day, people. Guess what greeted me this morning before I ran off to work?
Yes, it’s called the iPod touch, the iPod with multi-touch screen and 3.5-inch display. Basically, an iPhone without the call button, and thinner too. It was announced at Apple’s “The Beat Goes On” media event just a few hours back. Along with iPod touch, Steve Jobs also introduced us the new shuffle with colour, the chewing gum-packaging looking nano, and iPod classic - your retro iPod without the touch screen function - with 80 or 160GB of storage.
As for iPod touch, besides your normal music/photo/video functions, it will be Wi-Fied, with built in Safari browser, YouTube player, and Wi-Fi iTunes Music Store.
Learn more at Apple’s official site.
Colette Paris is currently running Helvetica at 50, an exhibit curated by Gary Hustwit, director of the documentary film Helvetica.
As read from Gary’s official blog:
We are unfortunately stuck on this island with our work and unable to make it to the show. However, having been waiting too long for an official screening to reach here, we’ve already ordered our Helvetica DVD boxset Deluxe limited edition, which includes the retail DVD, three letterpressed mini-posters, a color C-print of a still from the film (one of ten different stills) signed by Gary Hustwit, two love/hate Helvetica buttons, and a letter of actual Helvetica metal type! Now all we can do is wait…
Colette’s exhibit running from 3rd to 29th September.
Image taken from Helvetica’s official site.
We thought it’d be apt to have them as our first ever post as they never cease to move us to tears. Makes us want to move to Iceland and die happily there. If they ever tour closer to our shores again, you’d be sure to hear it from us first… and see us there as well.
Images and words extracted from Heima’s trailer.
Good Morning, we hope you enjoy what you see, read and hear, as we share our world with you.
