ORU KAYAK

A dreamy design. A foldable kayak to take anywhere without knocking ppeople over or being blown away when on your way to a windy lake... Take a look:

PRODUCT

THE STORY...

Our story started when designer and founder Anton Willis moved into a small San Francisco apartment, and had to put his fiberglass kayak into storage. Inspired by an article on recent advances in origami, he started sketching ideas for a folding kayak. A few sketches turned into countless paper models, and eventually—over 25 full-scale prototypes that were tested on waterways in the Bay Area and beyond.

In 2012, over 700 amazing Kickstarter supporters helped us launch Oru Kayak. We quickly set up an assembly facility right here in California, and have now shipped thousands of kayaks all over the world.

As our team grows, we stay guided by our passion for the outdoors, the simplicity of great design, and the community that has made our company possible. We’re excited to be part of an incredible movement of making and local manufacturing; we’re out on the water testing our products almost weekly. If you see an Oru Kayak around the Bay Area, say hello: it may well be one of us.

FILMS: the official video

Or make one yourself... unofficial.

STICKY-TAPE PERSPECTIVES

Multidisciplinary artist Damien Gilley creates sculptural installations

 

Multidisciplinary artist Damien Gilley creates sculptural installations that quickly redefine space through the use of optical illusions. By combining math with various materials including paint, masking tape, drywall, vinyl, wood, and foam core, he finds all kinds of ways to alter his viewers' perceptions of reality. The installations, which feature fake walls extending out from real walls, tape drawings, and imaginary hallways emerging off of flat surfaces, are Gilley's attempt to "reconfigure the built environment to provide alternative viewing experiences that complicate rational space."

 

The Oregon-based artist doesn't limit himself to four enclosed walls. He finds ways to travel beyond the limitations of architecture and he invites his viewers to come along for the visually intriguing experience. Each of Gilley's constructed walls are purposefully placed to react naturally with the existing interior and, from a distance, it's quite difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion. All of his deceptive, incomprehensible spaces are simply mind-blowing!
 

All to be found on mymodernmet.com LINK

MIRANDA JULY [2]

 We Think Alone

 

It's Miranda July again. Doing another project, called 'We Think Alone'.

I

I

I'ld say subscribe now and receive

I

I

20 e-mails over 20 weeks from the Sent mail folders of:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Lena Dunham

Kirsten Dunst

Sheila Heti

Etgar Keret

Kate and Laura Mulleavy

Catherine Opie

Lee Smolin

Danh Vo

First emails arrive July 1st / First subject: AN EMAIL ABOUT MONEY

So go to: We Think Alone quickly...

The initiative to do this project came from the Swedish Stockholm Konsthall. 

FOLEY ARTIST

If your artistic aspirations don't take you any further. 

Your canvas stares at you... blanc. 

Your books are not published...

There is an artistic career in stock for you.

Foley artist. "What I love about it is the fysicality."

How to be a Foley Artist on YouTube

LIST OF LIST

Ever had the idea [who hasn't?] to make a list. 
Any list! 
Things to do...
Things you shouldnt' have done...

Well this is the palce to make it.

The Bucketlist...

You know all those things you swear you're going to do before you die? Bucketlist is where you go to keep track of them all.
Bucketlist is a social network, a warehouse of interesting stories, a way to kick-start your life goals.

IMPORTANT ARTEFACTS AND PERSONAL PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LEONORE DOOLAN AND HAROLD MORRIS, INCLUDING BOOKS, STREET FASHION, AND JEWELLERY

The rise and fall of a love affair described in terms of an auction catalog: this is 'important artifacts ... et cetera'. Few people will have a conception of this book. And that is all too understandable, because Key artifacts ... is a book that is unique in its kind.


Important artifacts ... is the description of 1332 lots that once belonged to the (fictional) Lenore Doolan, culinary editor at The New York Times, and Harold Morris, much sought after commercial photographer. These gifts they each have given, clothes they wore, the books they read [together], CDs, knickknacks, theater programs, menus, photographs, letters and printouts of e-mails they each sent when Harold visited a distant corner of the world again for a job. In short, all the costumes and props from the drama of their love life.


Because it is a tragedy. In the description of all these objects draws slowly the story of love between Lenore and Harold, how they each have experienced how their relationship intensified and when and where the first cracks showe. How their relationship slowly but inevitably had to break down, with dire results as the 'sale' of everything to remember their love, and still on 14 February 2009, Valentines Day, auctioned at Strachan & Quinn.

< The page about the stuffed squirrel

Link to the author: Leanne Shapton

IMPORTANT ARTEFACTS

Describing the rise and fall of a love affair, au forme d'une auction catalog: this is what  'Important Artefacts, etc.' is all about. 
A book, unique in its kind.

Important items ... is the description of 1332 auction lots that once belonged to (the fictional) Lenore Doolan, culinary editor of The New York Times, and Harold Morris, much sought after commercial photographer. The gifts they gave eachother, the clothes they wore, books they read, CD's, knickknacks, theater programs, menus, photographs, letters and printouts of e-mails they sent eachother, when Harold visited a distant corner of the world. In short, all costumes and props from the drama of their love.

Because it is a tragedy, the description of all these objects emerges slowly into the story of the love between Lenore and Harold. How they each got to know eachother, how their relationship intensified, when and where the first cracks showed and finally how their relationship slowly but inevitably to broke down, with dire results in the 'sale' of all these 'Artefacts in the sale at 14 February 2009, Valentines Day, at auction Strachan & Quinn.

The link to the author: Leanne Shapton

JIM DENEVAN [LAND ART 1]

Today I discovered Jim Denevan. Some pictures on FaceBook / design-dautore.com made me curious. Jim makes temporary drawings on sand earth and ice that are eventually erased by waves and weather. Contrary to the seventies land-art, this, in my opinion doesn't try to bear more importance then it can offer us: an extra way of seeing the specific beauty of a place...

There is also a certain kind of contemplating quality in the making of these works. Listening to the story in this film, you recognize the meaning of the work for himself.

200 COUNTRIES / 200 YEARS / 4 MINUTES

Visualizing some development always catches my eye. O, that's what's going on... This film in a way is sort of reassuring. The world is not doing so bad. Well, eh, a lot of people are doing great, even. But that creates the next problem... And so on, and so on.
 Watch and enjoy!

GARDENING [1] PATRICK DOUGHERTY

Sculptor Patrick Dougherty has been creating stick-work since 1982. He has exhibited all over the world, from the swamps of Ireland to American city centres. The scale and beauty of his work has kept him in constant demanD. There are films of his works op both YouTube and Vimeo.

Present absences: A peripatetic video of a temporary site-specific sculpture by Patrick Dougherty from Ian Russell on Vimeo.

ABOUT DANCE [3] 1234

This film has been able to cheer up so many people, I showed it too. The clever clip, combining a well build up scenography, non chalance, happiness, colour styling, dramatic development, ending into a 'deus ex machina' like disappearance, keeps you watching till the end...

ABOUT BOOKS [1] SAFRAN FOER / TREE OF CODES

Tree of Codes - A Visually Stunning Read

Praise to this incredible work of art/book.  I have never seen anything quite like this - and feel I'd have to see it in person to truly appreciate it.
Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer.  The story is literally carved out of another book - I think it is just beautiful.
 Excerpt from Wallpaper:
"Tree of Codes' multi-layered narrative explores 'an enormous last day of life'. Told from the perspective of a boy coming to terms with the death of a parent, it's a haunting story, full of intense imagery. 'My father would walk along like a gardener of nothingness outside of the surface of life,' he tells us. 'He would scatter into fragments."

"'Visual writing' might be at the core of new publishing house, Visual Editions, but it doesn't let its devices become gimmicky or extraneous. In Tree of Codes, the die-cuts are key to the tale. The powerful voice that Safran Foer has exhumed from Schulz's text is made all the poignant by the gaps in between words, which have an extraordinary resonance. They give each phrase space to breath."

"Safran Foer first considered using dictionaries, encyclopaedias and even his own works to construct his story. 'But any of those options would have merely spoken to the process,' he says. 'I was in search of a text whose erasure would somehow be a continuation of its creation."
I expected this book to be in the $50+ range, just based on the amount of work it takes to print such a piece.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to see it for just over $26 on Amazon.  Do you think you would purchase this book?  I found a copy on Bol.com for € 42.

MOSCHINO'S DALI SALUTE

The New york shop of Moschino showed a Dali inspired windowdisplay this year. Soft furnishing as a salute to the man and his surrealistic art. 

It reminded me of a great story I once read;

It was summer, 1939, when Dali was asked to design a window display for New York 5th Avenue, department store, Bonwit Teller. They may have gotten more than they bargained for, but management might have anticipated the interest the window would create. Salvador Dali was at that time, one of the most famous and notorious painters of his day. 

The theme of the display was Night and Day. But here no ordinary depiction. A four-poster-bed covered with black sheets, scarred with burn marks, symbolized night. The canopy over the bed was a buffalo; in its mouth was a pigeon dripping blood. The feet of the bed were the four feet of the buffalo. Across the bed, covered in cobwebs and dust, lay a wax mannequin, its head propped up on artificial burning coals.

The depiction of day was even more extraordinary. A bathtub lined with ermine and filled with water

occupied most of the window. A mannequin in a voluminous ball gown was stepping into the tub, her features reflected in a mirror held in front of her by two wax arms that reached up from the floor. Flowers sprouted from every available surface of the display.

Once the display was set up, Dali left the store for the night. But when he returned the next morning, he could not believe his eyes. His precious work had been tampered with by an overzealous employee concerned that the window display did not focus on the ballgown. The bed had been removed, the decor altered, and the wax mannequin stepping into the tub had been repositioned so that her gown could be seen to better effect from the street. Dali felt that the whole display had been ruined. 

So enraged was Dali that, without waiting for an explanation, he stormed through the store and forced his way past the store assistants into the window display. In protest he tried to overturn the tub of water, but his foot slipped. In the ensuing melee, Dali and the bathtub crashed through the plate glass window out onto the sidewalk, showering the watching crowd with cold water and splinters of glass. The police were summoned and Dali was arrested on charges of wilful destruction.

Brought into court, Dali was given a suspended sentence. 

CREATURE COUTURE

I simply love Nick Cave's pictures called Creature Couture here on Man Made Creation [recommendable site BTW]

NARCISSUS

This little bewildering piece of film already left quite some of my friends in awe...
It rumbles through your mind...
What do we see?
Is this what we see?
Is it what we want to see? 
What does the actor want us to see?
Does he want us to see this?

I [honestly] did not know James Franco, so I did my googling and first of all found quite some articles about him; putting the G question... Is he, is he not? To tell the truth, this film gives an answer. To put it bluntly, he loves himself. We see a boy leaning over in a pond, staring at his reflection and falling in love... The fascination comes from the privilege presented to us, to be able to witness this...

For meeting Narcissus.... Watch: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html#2

MATHEMUSICIAN = DROODLING

Vi Hart, who presents herself as a Mathemusician on YouTube does some awsome droodling. Once you catch up with the tempo of her talking and drawing, the lesson is simple and fascinating. You can droodle more focussed and you'll probably get quite into dicovering the laws Vi Hart lays out...

I know how I'm gonna spend my next boardmeeting.

Oh boy... She has some more breathtaking droodle principals to share with us... Watch also Stars!