Inspiration board: Andree Putman
Design
At home with Margiela, Diesel and Nicola Formichetti
I’m not sure what to make of the news that Maison Martin Margiela has launched a home collection. Is it selling out? I do love Margiela’s all-whitewashed utilitarian house style but ready-made and boxed up for people to buy off the rack? I thought I wanted it, but now I’m having second thoughts. (Fickle, moi?)
Even more confusingly, I find myself strangely drawn to the Diesel furniture shown at Salone in Milan last week – it’s just so un-Diesel! In fact, it’s more Margiela than Margiela!*
All this interiors talk brings me neatly to a new book I browsed through in Topshop yesterday on my way to the Mywardrobe press day.
A compilation of creatives’ live-work spaces in London, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Berlin and Tokyo, it comprises the dwellings of Nicola Formichetti, Julie Verhoeven and Gary Card among many others. Conclusion? A creative is not a creative without a higgledy piggledy mound of magazines and/or books taller than Trellick Tower (guilty!), an Hermes box or ten for storage and display (I have that too!), an abundance of cheeky retro toys (yup) and a carefully considered hotch-potch of found-in-skip furniture (check!). Hang about, why the hell aren’t I in this book???
*PS: yes, I know they’re owned by the same company…
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Koto Bolofo’s clothing collection
I have been waiting for the right moment to mention photographer Koto Bolofo’s fashion collection and now seems a good time. Inspired by and utilising found objects, clothing and textiles, I discovered it on the Wonderland blog and love his description of it here:
“It has a lot of relevance to now in the sense that in this “modern” world one does not seem to be really going forward, but going forward in creating disposable art and items, here today gone today. I feel society is led into not taking their time in looking at what is really good, but rushed into what is so called “next”.
“My inspiration is created from found objects that hold memories from the past and with this I try and find a contemporary way or “switch” to bring it into the present. I could be using combinations of old and modern fabrics. For example there is a long tail coat which comes in baby blue cotton velvet. The special thing about this tail coat is the interior which has a genuine unused vintage British Union Jack which bears the face of King Edward from the thirties. This is stitched to the inside of the tail coat. There are 6 flags that I found at an antique market and were never waved by the patriotic crowds due to the fact that King Edward gave up the throne of Great Britain. Only 6 tailcoats will be made, hence making this a collectible garment. All these pieces in the collection have a story to tell and my aim is to bring this forward. My nature is that I like good design that lasts and has this respect of really understanding the word timeless.”
Check out these pictures:
Images via Wonderland and Chewing The Cud
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Earl Grey and Architecture: inside the Le Corbusier Cabanon
To say Thursday was a whirlwind of activity would be an understatement of preposterous proportions. As well as press days, the Alexandra Shulman FBC talk, a whizz across town to a digital lab and an ICA charity gala dinner, I somehow managed to cram in tea at the RIBA.
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a building I have passed dozens of times but never had time to venture inside. Big mistake. Aside from its elegant interior and charming cafe (where we had tea and brownies surrounded by textbook architects complete with Mac laptops and Moleskine notebooks) we browsed the Le Corbusier exhibits which comprised various classic chairs, tables and sofas from the Cassina I Maestri collection.
On the first floor was a reconstruction of the famous Le Corbusier Cabanon. The architect designed and built this sexy little hut in 1952 as a holiday home for him and his wife Yvonne in Cap-Martin. The outside is pretty basic and anonymous while the interior is widely recognised as a superb example of micro architecture. (Did I impress you with my knowledge there? Don’t be fooled, I totally read that in the notes. However, I’m determined to sneak the phrase ‘micro architecture’ into everyday speech…)
After donning the comedy showercap-chic shoe covers, we explored inside the Le Corbusier Cabanon and took a few sneaky snaps. You would never think to look at this now, that it was designed over half a century ago. All its nifty nooks and crannies and built-in storage ideas are now commonplace in day-to-day living but were the height of innovation 50 years ago. The building itself is not that big (15 square metres) but you really get a sense of space and function. This Le Corbusier mini-exhibition is on until 28th April so if you like a bit of culture with your elevenses, I highly recommend the RIBA (and the bookshop is rather tasty too).
