Rabbit Heart

I can't tell you how much I am enamored by Felicity Brown's SS12 collection. Love the inclusion of jewel tones with nude shades, love the ombre effect-which the strategically placed hand dyed fabric strips create, love the soft neo-raphaelite styling. I can totally see Florence Welch in some of these pieces!

              

               

              

                                                   

A graduate of the revered Royal College of Art, Felicity Brown is a fairly recent addition to the LFW schedule. She has stuck to her signature of working with hand-dyed pieces of fabric, but in contrast to her AW11 collection her SS12 one has a more refined commercial direction.

A look from her AW11 collection

I really wonder how she will use this technique going forward. Absolutely beautiful, I say!


Via vogue.co.uk

Scrap Metal Curiosities

Haribaabu Naatesan is a home-grown artist who turns E-waste into intricate engineered sculptures. 

I'm increasingly drawn to art inspired by mechanical objects, and Haribaabu's work is my current fixation.

 

The auto-rickshaw is a common subject in Desi popular culture, often featuring in artwork. His depictions of the vehicle are the best I have seen yet!

Via mymodernmet

Bahasa Pilotto

I was immediately drawn to the prints and textile choices at the Peter Pilotto SS12 show. The first thought I had was that these enigmatic linear prints closely resembled the style of Indonesian Batik.

The duo were in fact inspired by their recent trip to Indonesia, and we can see hints of the country in their collection. If I were to imagine what elements of their trip influenced their collection; I'd say that the prints were inspired by Batiks and touristy island culture, the lace came from the top half of the traditional costume, and the scuba silhouettes were inspired by the vast diving sites surrounding the islands.

My favorite part of the collection is the way the printed body-con bodices are woven to contour the frame. I love how all elements have come together, to fit ideally into a modern wardrobe. 

Sources:

vogue.co.uk

http://weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com

70's Bloom

My days have been really full up over last month or so. Work and then a work related trip to Cape Town left me little time or mental energy to put together any posts. I'm still catching up on the SS12 collections.

Summer's over now that the big fashion weeks have come and gone. I can't believe that we are heading into  Autumn. The Seventies were a big inspiration for me this season, a sort of refined flower power aesthetic. Daisies & Dandelions dancing with the wind in faraway fields, perfectly depicts my frame of mind over the past several months.

Images pulled from all over the web.

Here's an excerpt from an SS11 design project I did for my portfolio a while ago, entitled 70's Bloom. If you are interested in seeing anymore of my creative exploits, you can find them here. A direct link will follow shortly, on the side bar.

All rights reserved.

Cape Town by the way is an amazing city. I really hope to visit again for leisure in the future.

Fab Wrap

I'm not really the sort of person who puts much thought into packaging presents, so this genius idea for wrapping paper by Fabio Milito & Francesca Guidotti,is an answer to all of my gift wrapping woes. Multipurpose and interactive; Universal Wrapping Paper, is essentially a word-search puzzle in the form of wrapping paper. Phrases used on common gifting paraphernalia are integrated into the puzzle, and all one has to do is pick out the phrase corresponding to the occasion. 

The duo have further developed the idea to include Universal Greeting Cards. You can buy both products under the brand name 'Wordless', here.

It is so uncomplicated & brilliant, you have to wonder why no-one thought of it sooner!

Mechanical OCD

There seems to be a micro-trend in design for super organized layouts. Precise shapes with clear definition of lines, reboots the mind in the same way minimalist fashion counters a more kitschy aesthetic. I don't have a preference for one or the other; but I think what makes this 'resurgence of clean' meaningful is the usage of subjects that are usually not associated with simplicity.

An example of such visuals in recent times, is the widely hyped - making of the Ikea cookbook video 'Homemade is the Best'. It certainly changed my perceived notion of baking being messy. If you haven't seen it already, you must...its really a treat for the eyes!

IKEA – Homemade is Best. from Forsman & Bodenfors on Vimeo.

Backtracking to the intended artist of this post:  

Todd Mclellan's 'Disassembly' project is a series of images depicting the deconstruction of period mechanical objects, shot in two different ways. The first is where the object appears to shatter apart in mid-air, revealing it's component parts. The second is what actually drew my attention to Mclellan's work; the said component parts laid out on a plain background, in an almost OCD-like manner. The two sets of images together create a stimulating graphic impact, where the viewer attempts to put the parts together; like pieces of a puzzle.

For the Love of Africa

I spent a fair portion of my childhood in East Africa, and with that came proximity to expansive wildlife reserves. South African born Greek artist: Dimitra Tzanos's 'For the Love of Africa' graphic illustration series, evoke memories of safari trips sighting endless Wildebeasts, while hoping to catch a glimpse of a Lion.


Nostalgia aside; her use of negative space, colors, patterns and shapes are magnificent in their own right.

Sleep Elevations

A photo series, which already made its rounds in design blogs many moons ago; 'Sleep Elevations' by Maia Flore has a moody dreaminess, capable of putting anyone into a hypnotic trance.