Thursday, 2 October 2008

Time Traveler's Wife


I finished this book recently after being riveted to it for a good few days. The book follows Clare Abshire, and her husband Henry DeTamble, who met when Clare was 6 and Henry was 36, andmarried when Clare was 22 and Henry 30.

Henry has a very rare genetic disorder known as Chrono-Displacement that causes him to involuntarily travel through time. He is unable to control when he leaves, where he goes, or how long his trip will last. His destinations are tied to his subconscious, as Henry most often travels to places he has visited or will eventually visit. Very often, Henry is taken back to the moment his mother died in a car accident he survived, and is forced to observe the car crash again and again.

It sounds a bit 'sci-fi' gone wrong, but in fact it is intensely moving. They are both present in different era's each other's lives, and so help each other grow throughout the novel.

A film adaptation of the book staring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams will be released in December, and I can't wait. 

Jules Vernacular


Jules Vernacular is the 'typo-pseudonym'  of French graphic designer Jack Usine. Some very nice bits of type are on his blog.
http://vernacular.free.fr/blog/index.php

Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Three Trees

I came across this group a while ago in CR.

I emailed one of the founders when researching for the Ted Baker environmental packaging D&AD brief (a brief I actually didn't end up doing), and was surprised to actually receive a very helpful and in-depth response. 

Their website is definitely worth a look, as there is practical advice on how to save money as well as the environment.

http://threetreesdontmakeaforest.org

Another 'Starry Night'

Pictures

I think that there are some works of art that you have to see up close and for real to 'get'.

Van Gogh's 'Irises' is one of them.

It was painted in the last year before his death, while he was at the asylum in St Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Remy-de Provence, France. He called the painting "the lightning conductor for my illness", as he felt painting kept himself from going insane.

Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints with the strong outlines and unusual angles, I felt the painting was simply breathtaking - mainly due to the deepness of the blues, something that is done no justice in reproductions.
Similarly, in the same room as 'Irises' at the Getty Centre, LA, Monet's 'Haystacks' is housed. Its colour is also simply beautiful, colour that is also completely lacking in reproductions.

At the Getty Centre, I also was lucky enough to see David Hockney's famous piece 'Pearblossom Highway', a piece that has never failed to astound me. However, seeing the piece in the flesh gave me an even greater sense of wonder due to its sheer scale. It measure 198x282cm, filling a whole side of the room. Also, with the opportunity to see the piece so close, you can see all the very fine details in the photos and just how much work Hockney put into the piece.

Checkpoint Charlie Museum


A stark contrast to the Warsaw Uprising Museum mentioned in my previous post, is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin.

It opened just outside the Berlin wall in 1962 in an apartment with only 2 and a half rooms. But since it has been added to bit by bit to create a maze-like documentation of the wall as time went by. Similarly to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, it has a very personal feel but it is achieved more naturally (at the expense of being less organised and with less aesthetic value), housing stories of some of the people who were killed at the time of the wall, and people who escaped. 

Warsaw Uprising Museum





From a young age, I've been dragged around many a war museum due to my Dad's fascination with anything WW2. However, I found the Warsaw Uprising Museum a refreshing change. Opened in 2004, it is considered the most modern museum in Poland.

It is home to hundreds of artifacts relating to the struggle of the Polish people during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, ranging from love letters to weapons and planes. The museum is full of tactile design, inviting the visitor to become involved, complimenting the written and spoken accounts of life in 1944.

There was also student art in the gardens surrounding the museum.

Historical museum design is never something I have really ever considered, but I was inspired by how the design of the exhibitions, and the building itself, really made the museum touching as well as interesting.


Sony Centre - Potsdamer Platz, Berlin






After WW2, Potsdamer Platz was left destroyed after originally being a bustling city centre, later becoming a wasteland - with only the Berlin wall as a landmark.

The Sony Centre was built in 2000, part of a redevelopment effort for the area. It contains a mix of shops, cinemas, restaurants, hotels, museums and offices.

Designed by Helmut Jahn (a German-American architect) the building is just stunning.

Stalin's 'Palace of Culture and Science'


A 'gift' from the Soviet Union to the people of Poland. The architecture is closely related to several similar skyscrapers build in the Soviet Union in the same era (such as the Moscow Kremlin), however the main architect incorporated Polish details into the project by traveling around Poland and noting its architecture - the monumental walls are headed with pieces of masonry copied from renaissance houses and palaces of Krakow and Zamosc.

The Polish people initially hated the building - considered a symbol of Soviet domination, and this feeling still exists today. Some Poles still feel that the building should be demolished. Slightly amusingly, it seems as though skyscrapers have been cleverly positioned to hide the 'Palace of Culture' from the skyline.

Reichstag - Berlin





The Reichstag in Berlin was constucted to house the Reichstag (the first parliament of the German Empire). It housed the Reichstag until 1933, until it was severly damanged in a fire. The Reichstag became the seat of the German parliament again in 1999 after a reconstruction by the British architect Norman Foster.

Often, I feel the contrast between 'old and new' can be forced, look and contrived. However the Reichstag is complimented by the modern additions, creating a tasteful clash of old/new.

Berlin World Time Clock



Located in Alexanderplatz in Berlin is their World Time Clock, erected in 1969 as part of the square's redevelopment and has become a popular meeting point. It a continually rotates showing the time throughout the globe.

Weighing 16 tonnes and 10 metres tall, it features a revolving cylinder with the world's 24 time zones bearing the names of major cities in each zone. The mechanism constructed in a way which enables the current time in each zone to be read.

The clock looks quite dated now, but I loved the textures on the metal and the way that the type has been cut out.


Calvin Klein shop front


Not the best photo, but I must admit I felt awkward taking a photo. This is the Calvin Klein store in the Trafford Centre.

The models in the window are actually people, occasionally moving to change position or a quick chat. 

Obviously installations like this are to raise brand profile, but as I said, it just made me feel awkward and slightly intimidated.