May 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Peter De Cupere: Olfactory Art

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Where to begin? Not since John Waters’ 1981 film Polyester with scratch ‘n sniff ‘Odorama’ have I seen anything like Peter De Cupere’s Olfactory Art. Apparently, a growing number of artists around the world are incorporating scent into their works. Belgian artist De Cupere creates smell installations, scent sculptures, olfactory performances, smell-movies and scented painting. He generates a sort of meta-sensory experience that goes beyond purely seeing or smelling. He started playing with, and noticing, fragrances as a child, fearing that he would lose his vision. He attributes his fascination with the combination of smell and visual to that early-life fear. De Cupere is also fascinated with people’s desire to change or cover their natural smell with perfume in order to be more attractive to others. He seems to be a firm believer in the natural, and not over-washing.

I find all his work very interesting, if a bit bizarre. From top to bottom here are some of his works:

Sweat: Peter De Cupere collected the sweat of dancers wearing plastic suits during a 15-minute performance choreographed by Jan Fabre. He applied the concentrated essence, enclosed in a glass box, to a wall at the dance company’s home base, in Antwerp. Visitors can smell it through a hole in the glass.

Air Polluter: an interactive smell installation which allows the visitor to decide in how far he or she contributes to pollution of the air. By means of a control panel at the start of the installation, visitors can activate good as well as bad smells. This subdivision into two so called Smell Fields is based on the socially accepted appreciation of the various smells.

Smoke Room: a smell installation made of more than 750,000 cigarette butts.

Smile Room: a smell installation made with 3400 tubes toothpaste, pu-components, creating an intense minty toothpaste smell.

Tree Virus: Smell-installation with intensive peppermint smell. Visitors start to cry by entering the plastic dome. The main fragrance is an intense mix of peppermint in combination of black pepper.

Flower Fragum Cardamomi: first Scratch ‘n Sniff Sculpture in the world, 9 meters high. Made of epoxy, metal, 1000 strawberries and cardamon.

Olfactory Tree: scented sculpture made completely of epoxy and fake. Fragrances: pine, cedre, forest, mushrooms, grass

Garbage City Holiday Jina Park: a smell installation made to look like garbage but smelling of pine & cedar, honey mustard, and peach-cassis.

Smell Me Project: People’s necks are stamped with the words “smell me” and everyone goes around sniffing each other exploring others’ scents and which attract and repel.

Olfactiano: A piano-like instrument that emits different smells when played called ‘Scent Concerts.’

There’s much more to explore if you find this as fascinating as I do. For older work check De Cupere’s website, and for more recent his facebook page. Click through the links above for more on the individual projects.

Oh, and he’s making a perfume called ‘Peter’ of his own smells, coming out soon, so keep an eye out for that!

via saatchi online

May 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

JIA: Contemporary Chinese Tableware

I’d have to say that I pretty much love everything on the JIA kitchen and tableware site. JIA, based in Hong Kong, means ‘home’ in Chinese. The company has invited international designers with different cultural backgrounds to re-interpret Chinese object culture and its traditional craftsmanship for a new and modern housewares market relevant to both the Asian and Western dining tables.

From the seafood set up top, (how beautiful are those tools, eh?) to the chunky Ding casserole and salt & pepper shakers, it’s all just lovely.

April 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Design-y Sushi: Lasercut Nori

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This has been posted all over the place, but I just love it so, here it is! The Umino Seaweed Shop commissioned creative agency I&S BBDO, who developed this laser-cut nori, to respark the sale of nori. This could do the trick. Design Nori is intricately patterned laser-cut seaweed for sushi rolls. Such a simple idea and yet so brilliant! Not that sushi needed much prettying-up, but it certainly does add a little more pizazz to the already appealing rolls.

The lasercut seaweed designs are on exhibit at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo as part of the Katagami Style show on view through May 27, 2012.

via swissmiss and designboom

April 23, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Alison Knowles: Make a Salad (Follow-up)

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Tempted to skip it due to the rainy-day wetness, at the last minute I bussed on over to the High Line for the special Earth Day Make A Salad event with fluxus artist Alison Knowles (see previous post). I arrived in time to witness the chopping (though not exactly to the beat of the music) by the crew who ranged in age from around nine to upwards of sixty. The covered, two-tiered Chelsea Market Passage was the perfect spot, both for avoiding the rain and the required dramatic height for pouring the salad contents onto the mixing tarp. The reasonably large crowd (I’d say over a hundred people attended) gathered around the tarp, some vigorously shaking and tossing the lettuce, celery, carrots, mushroom, radishes and onions, while Ms. Knowles added a couple of pitchers of dressing and the rest of the crowd cheered them on. Knowles came down to put the final raking touches and the salad was then shoveled into large salad bowls by Jessica Higgins and served up by the young High Line staffers.

It was a fun event, with lovely music “DJ’ed” by Joshua Selman with his lettuce covered guitar and nori shredder around his neck. How was the salad? Very tasty, though I personally would have preferred it onion-free. Good ol’ NYC fun.

April 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Simone Decker: Chewing in Venice 1 + 2

These photos are a lot of fun. Luxembourger artist Simone Decker created them in 1999, but I just happened upon them for the first time now. Decker is interested in perspective shifts and often explores the way public space is arranged. Much of her work appropriates said space as in her photographic series shown above: Chewing in Venice 1 + 2. Using photographic trompe l’oeil devices, Decker includes the streets and squares of Venice as the backdrop for her oversized gum sculptures; a proposal for sculptural work, or at least that’s the way I understand it.

From an article translated on her website:
All of these works consist of photographs, mostly series of photographs, that propose sculptures or architectural elements for the public domain. They are documentations of real outside installations of these objects. But it is only the perspective of the camera that lends the works a visual presence and a dimension that puts them in the relationship to the urban or architectural environment desired by the artist. In Chewing in Venice, for example, the chewing-gum objects only become sculptures that fill squares and lanes by virtue of the fact that they are photographed right in front of the lens.

Those big bubbles remind me a bit of the RedBall Project. I think the realization of these sculptures would be a huge hit.

via chiquero

April 16, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Alison Knowles: Make a Salad on the High Line

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If you find yourself in NYC this coming Sunday, you may want to head on over to the High Line to see Fluxus artist Alison Knowles restage her 1962 Make a Salad performance piece in honor of Earth Day. Knowles will be chopping lettuce and other ingredients, in collaboration with Jessica Higgins, to the beat of live music by Joshua Selman. Originally premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1962, the artist has repeated the event over the years at such venues as the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Wexner Museum in 2004 and most recently at the Tate Modern in 2008. The vegetables may vary from event to event, but the music is typically Mozart.

Having taken part in (and thoroughly enjoyed) the High Line’s last communal food event —the Social Soup Experiment—this past fall, I imagine this will be a lot of fun.

This Sunday’s event (April 22, 2012) will take place on the High Line at West 16th Street in the Chelsea Market Passage. Salad prep will begin at 10am through 12 noon at which point Knowles and her team will toss the salad for spectators. 12:15 to 1pm the salad will be served up to audience members. Oh, and it’s free!

Photos courtesy the artist and the High Line.

UPDATE: See follow-up post here.

March 21, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier

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This is a fun design for a bakery! Adriano Zumbo, who has four locations in Australia, creates desserts that are unique in concept and execution, and so it would seem that designers Luchetti Krelle (Stuart Krelle and Rachel Luchetti) set out to design a space unique in concept and execution as well for Zumbo’s latest location at the Star Casino in Pyrmont. Full of humor from the windmill boots in the window to the dessert conveyer belt and the “In Case of Emergency Break Glass” cases of French Macarons, the space is sure to lure in any passersby.

Photos by Murray Fredericks and Adriano Zumbo’s website.

March 8, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Sprinkles 24-Hour Cupcake ATM

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Not being much of a dessert person myself, I can’t really imagine a 4am craving for a cupcake, but I guess it’s reassuring for some of you to know that now there is a 24-hour cupcake ATM to assuage such a desire. The Beverly Hills bakery Sprinkles has recently installed the cupcake vending machine as part of their storefront and judging from a photo posted to their facebook page, the late-night lines are insane. We’ll have to ask our LA correspondent, Moni, to check this out for us.

UPDATE: Apparently there will be three of these ‘cupcake automats’ opening in NYC within the next year, the first one opening this summer on the Upper West Side. (Thanks, Breger!)

You can watch the video below to see it in action:

You might also like these other unique vending machines here.

Photos: Sprinkles facebook, we heart, and Sprinkles

via @mrfidalgo

February 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Sonja Alhaüser: Food Art

German artist Sonja Alhaüser at times makes food her subject matter, as in many of her watercolor paintings, and other times makes it her choice of material. She has created sculptures from butter, chocolate, and marzipan, as well as performance pieces using milk and melted chocolate.

Taking food, a major part of our everyday lives, and using it in art converts it into a new medium that departs from its normal associations. It becomes about the process and about the relationship between art and other aspects of life. In many cases, Alhaüser’s works are edible, encouraging the viewer to eat them, as in the green pedestals made of chocolate (pictured above) included in the Eat Art exhibit at Harvard some years back.

Alhaüser will be part of an upcoming group show at Galerie Gesellschaft in Berlin this year.

Photos courtesy of the artist; Georg Kolbe Musem; and Galerie Michael Schultz

via Harvard Gazette

January 30, 2012 by collabcubed - 7 Comments

New Pantone Home and Office Products

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Just when you think there is nothing left to Pantone-ify, ROOM Copenhagen comes out with a new tableware/kitchenware and desk accessories line. I spotted these lovely pieces—the silky matte feel of the polypropylene is hard to resist touching—at the NYIGF yesterday. Sure, the Pantone products are always fun and appealing, but these objects would even be appealing sans the Pantone aspect, that’s how nicely designed they are. The Pantone colors and style are just an added perk!

From the placemats and coasters, to the triangular water jug and stackable boxes, all these pieces are just great. And how is it that no one came out with the business card holders before?!

The new line of products should be online soon, once ROOM Copenhagen gets their site up.

Gift show photos by Collabcubed: catalog images courtesy of ROOM Copenhagen.

December 21, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Will Nolan: Everything is Melting

I find this series of photos, titled Everything is Melting, by Australian artist Will Nolan quite lovely. Nolan likes to explore the impermanent nature of found objects, in this case: melting ice blocks or popsicles.

From the exhibit catalogue:
“Everything is Melting, and its depiction of melting iceblocks, evokes the nostalgic memory of childhood but remains as a quiet reminder of the inescapable future of decay and death. The work explores the essence of transformation, harking back to the various incarnations of the evertold allegory of death and rebirth…”

via saatchionline

December 15, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Antonio Cos: Déjà Vu Glassware

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Originally from Strasbourg, designer Antonio Cos lives and works in Milan. As an industrial designer he has designed everything from door handles, to kitchenware, to lamps and furniture. In his glassware collection titled Déjà Vu he experiments with traditional glass techniques and shapes, giving it that already-seen-it-before quality but adding a contemporary twist by piecing those familiar components together in an unconventional way, giving them new life and creating imaginative shapes that are beautiful, modern, and fun.

Photos: Antonio Cos, At Casa and Interni

via rua confettora 17

November 24, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Etelvina: The Bag-storing Chicken and more

It’s not exactly a Thanksgiving post, but it does involve the kitchen, poultry and cooking. Last year Em brought back one of these Pla! Etelvina plastic bag-storing chickens from Buenos Aires that we have hanging in our kitchen, and though plastic bags are out, somehow we still accumulate enough to see our Etelvina plump up as we gradually stuff her, and trim down as we use the bags for garbage. Along with the chicken came CheF, (much to a cousin’s horror) the politically incorrect apron that’s ridiculous enough to make us laugh, and that I am donning today as I cook our Thanksgiving dinner.

If you’re into these kinds of quirky, and we think, fun objects then you might want to check out the rest of the Argentinean company’s items: there’s a cotton ball dispensing bunny and a corrupt policeman piggy bank that takes coins in his side pocket while looking the other way.

In the meantime, have a nice holiday!

November 7, 2011 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Julia Kissina: Fairies

Russian-born, and now Berlin-based, artist Julia Kissina photographs, creates actions and documents them as a form of performance art, and makes installations. Her photographic series Fairies gives new meaning to the term ‘meathead’. These photographs feature young girls and women in the style of Renaissance portraits, with all the nobility and grace of the classic paintings but with a twist: replacing their elaborate hairstyles, or even simple ones, is raw meat. The result is a little disarming. A prevalent theme in Kissina’s art deals with the perception of beauty and the changes in that perception as we get closer to freely modifying appearance through genetic experimentation; beauty or monstrosity?

You can see more of Julia Kissina’s work on her site, including her other meat-based series Clouds and Gourmets & Predators.

Photos courtesy of the artist, mutual art, lost at e minor and Lumas.

via Lumas

October 11, 2011 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Aldo Bakker: Beautiful Tableware

I have admired Dutch designer Aldo Bakker’s beautiful tableware for years and recently came across his site to discover some newer designs. They are all so lovely. If I had one, I’d probably keep it out all the time as a sculptural piece more than a serving one.

September 13, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

PSLAB: Mybar

Lebanese design firm PSLAB designed the lighting concept and fixtures for HGroup Architects on the restaurant/bar project MyBar in downtown Beirut.

Three distinct areas needed to be addressed: the long entrance corridor; the bar; and the dining area. The challenge was to provide a trendy and edgy atmosphere for the evening crowd while keeping it sophisticated to avoid alienating the business professionals who work in the same building and have lunch there.

All the lighting and decor is quite striking, especially the oddly shaped hanging lights. I’d say they succeeded in mixing trendy and sophisticated.

via restaurant and bar design awards

August 30, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Roll & Mix

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Here’s a nice, as well as smart, design from Belgian designer Marcial Ahsayane. It’s a three-in-one piece: each half functions separately, one as a pestle for mixing or grinding, the other as a container for liquids such as oil, that can be mixed in. When screwed together, the whole functions as a rolling pin.

Clever, attractive, and functional!

via Behance

August 25, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

BMW Guggenheim Lab (follow-up)

I finally made it over to the BMW Guggenheim Lab earlier tonight to see a screening of Garbage Dreams, a film about the Zaballeen (garbage people) living in the outskirts of Cairo. The film was very good, but what I was most excited about was the Lab itself.

For a description of what the BMW Guggenheim Lab is, and is setting out to do, you can see our previous post. What the BMW Guggenheim Lab felt like, was an oasis of tranquility off the bustling, hectic thoroughfare that is Houston Street, especially at rush hour. The minimalist structure (designed by Atelier Bow-Wow from Japan) is surprisingly cozy, and remarkably quiet considering its few steps from Houston Street and Second Ave. Only the occasional mufflerless motorcycle disrupted the film and/or speakers. Also surprising was how well the screen projected even in the daylight. And once the sun did go down, the Lab was warmly lit by spotlights.

It’s these sort of things that make NYC such a wonderful place. Free, interesting events in a lovely setting, open to everyone, with something for most everyone. There are lectures on architecture-related topics and sustainability. There are family-oriented events. There are screenings of films as well as guest speakers that range from authors to television directors to inventors and much more. The BMW Guggenheim Lab is open Wednesdays through Sundays until October 16th in NYC before moving on to Berlin. Check their site for the calendar of events. Oh, and there’s a café run by Roberta’s and bathrooms on the premises as well, so there’s really no excuse for not stopping by if you’re in New York.