Sunday, September 4, 2011

Bespoke à la autrichienne

Vienna came second in the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest survey on the most livable cities in the world. On top of that, I have always admired male fashion for its aesthetics and attention to detail (see my last post about Pitti Uomo) and I have associated this quality obsession with Savile Row boutiques in London. Then, I discovered Scheer shoes - an Austian born concept of measuring-up and trying-on quality of product personalised according to each and every need of demanding feet.

scheer.at

The process of preparing a pair for a customer takes up to 60 hours of work and demands around 3 meetings with the manufacturer in order to make the shoes feel perfect. The company was founded in 1816 and has been now managed by the same family for 7 generations. The firm went under rapid development during the second half of 19th centrury thanks to the management of Rudolf Scheer. In 1878, Rudolf was given a title of "imperial and royal shoemaker to the court" and his business gained such customers as the Kaiser Franz Joseph, the German Kaiser Wilhelm, as well as the Greek and Serbian kings. After the Great War, the family had to pass on the running of the business to the younger generation which implemented changes in terms of health aspects and experimented with new designs.

scheer.at

scheer.at

scheer.at



25 + 2 (RO + BG)








Monday, June 20, 2011

Tomahawk

We are in the middle of the Polish summer. I say in the middle, as Polish summer is usually mixed with weeks of rain, temperatures lower than 15 degrees and sometimes also sun. Every sun is different, 2 years ago and a year ago we had heavy rain that caused severe floods mainly in the South of Poland and in the big cities located by the river Vistula (Wisła). Now, when I am writing this post, it's raining... It has been now 2-3 days of a cold weather, it's also very windy. In contrast, last week it was a very sunny and hot weather, so here in Poland we are unhappily used to unpredictable weather conditions in the summer (though in the winter we all know in advance that it is going to be verrry cold for at least 5 months).

Resuming my introduction, I would like to share with you an interesting, all season campfire that can help you to evoke some warming memories from the winter time (when you were warming yourself up by the fireplace). It can be rather useful when it pours with rain outside, it is cold indoor and you do not feel like doing anything apart from lying in bed, waiting for this time to pass away (especially in June).

Towahawk Studios presents a cosy table: The Campfire Table designed by Tomek Archer in 2002. It's made of solid timber. The feeling that you get using this object can be compared to the feeling of timeless ritual of gathering, Archer descibes. The Campfire Table is very simple, made of simmetrical pieces of timber of equal lengths, they are packed flat and shipped to a customer in a way so it's easy to assemble without additional fixings.



Tomek Archer is not only a furniture designer, an architect, but also a drummer for a Sydney based band Van She. His Campfire Table was launched last year in Milan. The collection of furniture is produced with sustainable and high quality materials assembled in Australia in order to preserve the local craftsmanship. Have a look at some more of their projects.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Do-it-yourself Easter postcards

Looking around Warsaw for some atypical Easter postcards proved to be very disappointing. I decided that I am not going to give up and will take some time and send my friends happy cards with inspiring thoughts for this upcoming celebration.. Below you can see the outcome of my (home) work! I am very proud of them. What do you think? ;)

background arrangements

cards are ready;)

no 1

no 2


no 3


no 4

Saturday, April 9, 2011

From an Alpine Swiss resort...to Japan

I was once said that all fashion trends that the West absorbs and promotes every season have already been tested in Japan. This time is the other way around: it is an European grown idea, made in China, successfully sold in Japan.

It is another brilliant Swiss idea (along with Freitag bags, in my opinion). Bruno Bike is a business idea born to perform Bruno's "pride and philosophy of Switzerland to provide a comfortable riding". It provokes users, preferably office workers, to rethink their daily travel to work. It is a smart alternative to a company car, a 'mini-velo' which shares the style, ergonomics and shape of a normal road bike, with one difference: Bruno Bike is folding (!), small and very light. They sell like hot cakes in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. They have become fashionable as the frames are fabricated from chromoly, a high carbon steel, which puts their prices up. According to an article in Monocle: "Bruno Bike accounts  for 16 per cent of the 50,000 mini velos sold annually" in the Asian countries listed above.

brunobike.jp


brunobike.jp


brunobike.jp

brunobike.jp


The bicycle distributor Bruno d'Arsié is running and promoting the company from the Alpine village of Klosters, close to Davos. He is a retired cycling champion that did represent the Swiss team from the mid 70s. He came second at his last official championship in 1990.

www.cyclingarchives.com

www.cyclingarchives.com

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Lamps - part I

The Artemide Group is one of the global leaders specialising in residential illumination. They started lamp manufacturing in 1960 in Italy. Ernesto Gismondi and Sergio Mazza founded Artemide in Milan and launched their first product, Alfa lamp.

Alfa, www.artemide.it

One of the most famous Artemide lamps is Tizio, usually mentioned in the design books and albums, manufactured in 1972 by Richard Sapper with a halogen light source, became a world known symbol of the label.

Tizio, www.artemide.it
Their first awards were obtained for Vico Magistretti project Eclisse (1967) - see below his similar idea Dalu. These small, colourful, table lamps in a style related to 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kublick (1968), contributed to the history of international design.

Eclisse, www.artemide.it


www.schoener-wohnen.de

Dalu, www.artemide.it
Below you can watch an interesting animation on a famous Tolomeo lamp (1989) of Michele de Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina. This beautiful, minimalistic desk lamp is usually an inspiration for modern office lighting. Tolomeo is one of the bestselling Artemide product worldwide made of cantilevered polished structure in polished aluminium.

Tolomeo, www.artemide.it


Artemide Tolomeo animation - Adrede Art Studio from AdredeArtStudio on Vimeo.

Monday, March 7, 2011

At the Medici Fortress

At the Medici Fortress in the heart of Italian Tuscany, fashion and design met this January to discover new trends for the autumn 2011 collection. Pitti Immagine Uomo is a quality clothing and textile fair organised twice a year in Florence. This initiative attracts fashion designers, fashion admirers or amateurs and professionals working with creative contemporary arts. Through lifestyle promotion Italian fashion remains unbeatable and represents a leading reference of inspiration.


As man's fashion seemed to be neglected in the past when fashion industry was strongly dominated by women. It looks like now it revives and even becomes a source for designers working on the female style. As I personally prefer man style to woman sometimes, the next season must haves are based on a 'dandy' essentials and a 'sartorial' look. What is beyond any doubt is that the jacket is the star of the season. There are specific cold- and weatherproof jackets: from the parka to the navy-inspired pea coat. Sophisticated fabrics, doubled wool fabrics, inserts and lapels, jackets with jacquard linings fitting like a glove. And, the cardigan is not alone: there are heavy cashmere pullovers, hand-made looking knits; along with Norwegian style mohair knits and hand-knit alpaca sweaters.



After being extremely counterproductive, I must admit several changes appeared in my life. We moved to a big and crowded city, the Polish capital which one of my friends (surprising, but born in Warsaw) recently compared to an unruly jungle.. No wonder, I think that the reason of our bad mood and negative approach to life is winter which happily, slowly but surely, leaves Poland. The weather improves indeed and it will hopefully mark a change for all of us!