I havn't updated my blog in a while- I blame Christmas and being over fed too much by my parents!
I went away for a week snowboarding to Corcheval in France and it was amazing- best break in the world.
It's so beautiful, even if you can't ski or snowboard it's such an amazing place to visit.
So I will share with you a few photographs I took while I was away.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Monday, 20 December 2010
Super Christmas Market
Held at Somerset House every year in the lead up to Christmas, a collection of UK based designers come together to give us the Super Christmas Market.
I’ve been to this event for several years now, but this year was by far my favourite. In the past I have come away feeling I had been robbed of my £4 entry fee. This year I didn’t.
They had a room of designer products, not just the usual tat, but items from well-known designers such as Carl Klerkin and. In the other rooms we had interaction design; ski Somerset where you created your own skiing character out of plastercine and card, and then launched off a ski jump into a sand pit.
They also had reindeer balloon races- you had to rise up and down on a pump to inflate the balloon in the reindeer’s mouth, and the first to pop the balloon wins. I raced against my mother and I came a close first- she claimed her stirrups were too short! Clearly a sore looser.
They had a polygraph machine so that the elves could decided who to put on the naughty or nice list, and Turkey Still Standing; you had to try and take the tablecloth off without disturbing the Christmas dinner on top. If you managed this you got points depending on how little the objects moved. Daddy made it up onto the leader board, so my little brother tried to beat him, but sadly could not. Clearly he was just too tall. Apparently there is no height advantage.
Finally they had the pound store. Every item was a pound- items ranging from Christmas cards, posters, badges to silly novelty items, napkin holders to name a few. Like all pound shops it was crammed with people fighting to find the best bargain, and to get their hands on a designer item. Some of the items were worth their £1, some not, so not too dissimilar to a regular pound shop! I bought a couple of items as I’ve failed miserably this year with my Christmas shopping,
Generally it was a very nice atmosphere, my family and I enjoyed ourselves, however if you hate design or craft fairs and fun, this is not for you.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei
This weekend I visited the Tate Modern with a particular interest in seeing the installation in the turbine hall by Ai Weiwei.
I had hoped that it would have been more interactive, but unfortunatley you are not allowed to touch the seeds. There is an accompanying video in which Ai Weiwei shows the process and techniques used to produce these seeds. This makes the whole exhibit seem a lot more impressive. On their own, if glanced at quickly you could mistake it for gravel.
"Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small works, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain.
Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape.
Porcelain is almost synonymous with China and, to make this work, Ai Weiwei has manipulated traditional methods of crafting what has historically been one of China’s most prized exports. Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon and the geo-politics of cultural and economic exchange today."
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm
I had hoped that it would have been more interactive, but unfortunatley you are not allowed to touch the seeds. There is an accompanying video in which Ai Weiwei shows the process and techniques used to produce these seeds. This makes the whole exhibit seem a lot more impressive. On their own, if glanced at quickly you could mistake it for gravel.
"Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small works, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain.
Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape.
Porcelain is almost synonymous with China and, to make this work, Ai Weiwei has manipulated traditional methods of crafting what has historically been one of China’s most prized exports. Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon and the geo-politics of cultural and economic exchange today."
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm
Labels:
ai weiwei,
photography,
seeds,
sunflowers,
tate modern
Friday, 26 November 2010
Germany
Last weekend I went for a long weekend trip to visit my good friend Nina.
Sadly the weather was a little grey and very cold, but still had a great time.
Here are a selection of the photos that I took, from a mixture of Breman and Hamburg.
Sadly the weather was a little grey and very cold, but still had a great time.
Here are a selection of the photos that I took, from a mixture of Breman and Hamburg.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
V&A
I went to the V&A yesterday to see the Shadow Catchers: Camera-less photography exhibition.
Was really interesting, its a concept that is quite new to me, and I'm not sure that I've quite got my head around all the details of the different techniques, but still a really enjoyable exhibition.
There were 5 different artists: Floris Neususs, Pierre Cordier, Garry Fabian Miller, Susan Derges and Adam Fuss, all with quite different and unique styles.
I think my favourite of the whole exhibition was Susan Derges' Autum series:
Was really interesting, its a concept that is quite new to me, and I'm not sure that I've quite got my head around all the details of the different techniques, but still a really enjoyable exhibition.
There were 5 different artists: Floris Neususs, Pierre Cordier, Garry Fabian Miller, Susan Derges and Adam Fuss, all with quite different and unique styles.
I think my favourite of the whole exhibition was Susan Derges' Autum series:
These were 'C' Prints using water to create the background and sky, and then layering up the flowers and foliage on top. This one is my favourite due to the amazing blue colours.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Knitted Hat
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Knood
Monday, 25 October 2010
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