A New Domestic Landscape: "Model Couple", 1977

With a killer domestic soundtrack.
Enjoying William Klein's Model Couple and Mr. Freedom on Hulu Plus, which if you didn't know has the entire Criterion Collection. 

Pin It

J.G. Ballard pretty much nails social media, 1977

Woah!

From an essay in British Vogue, 1977

via Alexandra Lange, Gideon Defoe, and Anab Jain

Pin It

Episode VII

just a thought...

Pin It

Back to school

Pin It

A/V Magic Show from 2ManyDJs

 SOULWAX 'MACHINE' from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 1 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 2 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 3 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

A multi-layered animated phenomenon.
Have a great weekend!

Pin It

Prometheus

The Space Jockey's Horseshoe Juggernaut, which will finally roll all over our my brain this weekend.

Have a great one!

Art by Walter Simonson, from Heavy Metal presents: Alien, The Illustrated Story (1979)

Pin It

In space no one can hear you quilt.

Vintage Moebius, Heavy Metal, Promethean Sci Fi printed fabric, selectively quilted into the puffy third dimension by a boy's mom circa 1979.
I remember the yard sale where we got this, and how the now-grown-up boy was wearing a "You Are Here --->" outer space t-shirt, and seemed to be longing for his home planet himself. I loved this art, and that his mother made it for him. I remember really going on about it, which made him and his two sisters happy. We even used it and its technique as the basis for the quilted Pucci fabric jewelry box project in our book, where I tell the same story. But as much as I'd like to have it for light years, it's time for someone else to enjoy it, so it's in our awesome FAB.com sale, here.


Related, and fantastically similar, the Prometheus spacescape:



which is itself amazingly similar to the Alien trailer, notably the scream/ping/whistles:




can't wait!

Pin It

Deyan Sudjic's London Spacecraft, 1985

British journalist and author (then) and now Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic's awesome London loft, designed by Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. It actually looks like a small Design Museum itself, or a spaceship that's been travelling around galaxies, curating. The only thing missing is a Braun KF 20 coffee maker. 

from Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff's amazing The International Book of Lofts (1986).
...and not actually designed by Kubrick and Scott, but by Jan Kaplicky in London and David Nixon in Los Angeles, two architects in the transatlantic firm Future Systems.

Pin It

Coil Pots

Working on some coil pots lately (above, in the drying stage)

We have a collection of these (below) but we only ever find a good one once in a blue moon, so we thought "why not just make our own and then we'll have all the pots we'll ever need."
And of course we don't need that many, so they'll be for sale too...
(coming soon)

Pin It

Real Life

Albert Brooks with the Ettnauer 226XL from Real Life (1979), his prophetic foray into the world of reality filmmaking, and a hilarious send-up of PBS's An American Family (1971), which happens to now be showing in its anniversary edition (check your local listings!)

Thanks Kim for the heads up!

related: Austrian Futurist Walter Pichler's TV Helmets (small living rooms) of 1967.

Pin It

Barn

Pin It

Heavy Metal 1977-81

Five years of Moebius' best.

From Ebay.
AAAAA+++++!

Related: Bowie at the Beeb:

Pin It

Braun Aromaster KF 20

Without a doubt the best designed coffee maker ever made.
Designed by Florian Seiffert for Braun in 1972, it was immediately a classic of design and technology, with its vertical automatic drip system, dual heaters, and stunning aesthetics. We bought ours from a man who bought it new at Zabar's in 1972, made 2 pots of coffee and then felt that it was too nice to keep using, and kept it as a design object instead. When he told us that I said, "That's exactly what we were going to do with it!" We made one pot of perfect coffee and then cleaned it up and put it back in its box. Occasionally it'll come out for an admiration, usually after (or during) watching Alien (it was the spaceship Nostromo's coffee maker).

Braun design links:
http://radio.gort.dk/braun/
http://www.braun.com/global/world-of-braun/braun-collection.html
http://www.braun.com/global/world-of-braun/braun-design.html
http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future

Alien (1979) trailer:

Pin It

Where is this place?

And what does it have to do with my story? And what are those pink bulbs?

All questions J.R.R. Tolkien asked when he saw Barbara Remington's cover painting for The Lord of the Rings.

In her defense she hadn't had time to read the books as the publisher was rushing out the paperbacks to squelch the sales of a pirated version. (see here also).

Anyway, the question I asked an indifferent Linda when we found the giant poster in the basement of an estate sale was "Oh my God! Can you believe it?????!!?"

Pin It

Collagical

Collage, signed "RC '76" from a yard sale.

Pin It

3263827 (empty)

This is a painting I did as an idea for the cover of our book Tossed & Found, wherein die-cut photos of some of the projects would be floating in front of it in a clear plastic cover, referencing the book Italy: The New Domestic Landscape and of course the Death Star trash compactor #3263827.

It would've been awesome, but unfortunately it turned out to be too expensive to produce and (likely) far too obscure to understand.

Pin It

Mackworth Island

Closer than the grocery store.

Our summer plan is to hang out here at least once a week.

Pin It

Tensor's Floating Disc? Check.

Pin It

The Ritva Man

Allen Jones

David Hockney

Goat's Head Soup

Patrick Hughes

Liz Frink

 We were looking up something on Christie's London website and came across a treasure trove of awesome Ritva Man sweaters which were auctioned off a couple of weeks ago. I've had the bottom photo of Allen Jones in an images folder for a few years but never new the yarn behind the sweaters until last week. 

From the V&A website:

The knitwear business Ritva (1966 - ca.1980) was started by Ritva Ross, who had the idea of using crochet squares to make a dress, and her husband Mike Ross. The first designs were ordered by Annacat boutique in South Kensington. One was purchased by Lee Radziwell and appeared on the cover of Life magazine in November 1966. Having rented a flat in Chelsea which doubled as a workroom and showroom, Mike and Ritva Ross built up a network of out-workers using hand-operated frames.

The firm offered a limited number of styles but allowed customers to have garments made up individually in a range of colours and patterns. The brand was first publicized in Nova magazine and sold through stores and boutiques in London and in the U.S.A.. In 1969 Mike Ross started the Ritva Man label with sweaters inspired by baseball uniforms, and a Ritva boutique was opened at 8 Hollywood Road, Chelsea. Ritva knitwear was heavily influenced by popular culture and contemporary art and introduced innovations such as the knitted minidress. Mike Ross collaborated with David Hockney, Allen Jones, Elizabeth Frink and Patrick Hughes to produce the limited edition artists collection of sweaters. A Little Ritva label for childrenswear was also started and commissions were undertaken for the film and music industries. Mike and Ritva Ross separated in 1977 but Ritva Ross continued to operate the Ritva business abroad until ca.1980.

Michael Anthony Ross was born in 1936 in Portland, Maine, U.S.A. and was educated at Syracuse University. He settled in London in 1960 and attended the Royal College of Art painting school from 1963-1964. In 1973 he launched the Bear Creek General Store at 10 Hollywood Road to sell imported traditional American goods.

Ritva Ross (née Tera) was born in Helsinki in 1941 and moved to London in 1961 where she attended the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. Prior to starting Ritva she also worked as a fashion and showroom model."

The collage of labels on each sweater is a little work of art in its own right as well. 

All photos are from Christie's except the Goat's Head Soup Ritva Man, which is from the book Vintage Rock T-Shirts, and Allen Jones & friend.

Pin It