OPULUXELtd.com LIFESTYLE===}}{{=== DESIGN
___oOo___EVENT Planning___oOo___LUXURY eStore___oOo___TRAVEL Agency___oOo___Archive for November, 2010
SEXY Pizza Recipes for 2 : Caviar & Lobster Pizza / Fig & Gorgonzola Pizza via [funkiefood]
Be the first in your friends to like it
OPULUXE Lounge Grooves™ PlayList
Romantic Recipes for Two …
Over the years I have collated a whole bunch of romantic dinner recipes. Some of these are my own and some are my favourites from chefs who truly understand sexy food. So if you are planning a romantic dinner for two, then take a browse through my recipes below and find that romantic recipe for two that suits your taste and mood.
Our readers would be most greatful if you shared your romantic dinner for two experience also. Just click here and drop me a line. Also, if you would like to contribute your own Romantic Recipes for Two, please don’t be bashful.
| For pure indulgence, here’s a pizza recipe from John Lanzafame. John is the current World Pizza Champion.You should definitely buy this book. Lobster and caviar pizza
Coarse semolina for dusting
Place a pizza stone in the oven and pre-heat to 500F (250C) Lightly dust your workbench with semolina, then roll out the dough into a 12 inch round (30cm) place on a pizza tray and prick all over with a fork (dock it). Spread the shellfish glaze over the base, then top with dollops of mascarpone, lobster, capers, olives, smoked eel and grated mozzarella in that order. Place on the pre-heated stone and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the base is golden or crisp. Meanwhile heat the oil to 350F (180C) or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil browns in 15 seconds. Dust the calamari in cornflour, shaking off the excess, then deep fry for 30 seconds, or until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towel and season to taste. Remove pizza from the oven. Toss the watercress sprigs with the lemon dressing and scatter over the pizza, then top with the fried calamari, sprinkle with the caviar and serve.
|
|
|||
| Another great Sexy pizza recipe from John Lanzafame. This one using one of the most popular aphrodisiac foods… figs
Fig & Gorgonzola Pizza
Coarse semolina for dusting 1 1/2 fl oz (45ml) Bechemel sauce
Place a pizza stone in the oven and pre-heat to 500F (250C) Lightly dust your workbench with semolina, then roll out the dough into a 12 inch round (30cm) place on a pizza tray and prick all over with a fork (dock it). Spread the bechemel sauce over the base, then top with dollops of gorgonzolla cheese, parsley, and the grated mozzarella in that order. Place on the pre-heated stone and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the base is golden or crisp. Remove pizza from the oven. cut the pizza into 6 pieces. Place quartered figs quickly onto the pizza followed by the proscuitto slices. Using a microplane, grate fresh pecorino cheese over the pizza and then drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar. and serve. |
||||
|
||||
The Winter 2010 Haute Hair Restoration Project via [HueKnewIt]
OPULUXE Lounge Grooves™ PlayList
| Follow us: |  |
 |
 |
 |
HAUTE HAIR: The Great Weave Debate
Photo Credit: Russ Einhorn/Splash News – Omarosa
To weave or not to weave. That is the question.
The level of discussion that surrounds a black woman’s hairstyle (relaxed or natural, short or long) is one that is never-ending. But whatever side of the issue you fall on, one thing is true – you still need to wear a style that you makes you look your absolute best and what better person to be the star of today’s discussion than reality television star, Omarosa.
Omarosa (or Lady O as she is called on The Ultimate Merger), has worn a variety of weave styles as evidenced here, and has done so unapologetically. But many struggle to take the first step in donning a weave because they’re afraid of how they will be perceived by others. The entry entitled, Hair Problems Solved: Combat Premature Balding which talked about the damaging effects of neglecting one’s own hair while wearing a weave spurred some debate among women and some brave men – just check out the comments on:
Celebrity stylist, Sophia Alston shares her expert opinion on which styles do and don’t work for everyone’s favorite villain.
Off the face is a no-no: The first look isn’t the best style for her, however, the brown color is a do.
The bang is too severe: This weave looks well done, however, the black color is too harsh and the straight bang isn’t very becoming. An off-black color might have been a better choice.
Sophia loves Omarosa’s look with the side swept bang because it softens her appearance.
To keep your weave in the best condition for as long as possible, just follow Sophia’s suggestions:
1. Treat your weave like your own hair by shampooing it at least every two weeks with Pantene Pro-V Color Hair Solutions Color Preserve Shine Shampoo ($5.97, walmart.com) and sit under the dryer so your hair and braids avoid mildew. If you don’t let it dry, then you risk an odor-filled scalp which is a smell that’s hard to remove.
2. Keep the color of your hair looking shiny and healthy by using The Pantene Color Nourishing Treatment ($3.97, walmart.com). These Pantene products (and really any product from the entire color line) is perfect to use to keep your weave in tip-top condition.
Should you or shouldn’t you? Synthetic or human hair? These questions and more will plague you until you come to grips with not caring about what anyone else thinks and going for it. Your concern should only be what style looks best on you.
HAUTE HAIR: How to Get Beyonce’s Volume
Long, straight hair is one thing, but waves add an interesting textural element that also softens your look. To get cascading, sultry, sexy hair like Beyonce’s, you just need the right tools of the trade and to follow these steps:
Step 1: Divide your hair into 2-inch widths.
Step 2: Curl them in opposite directions with Hot Tools Gold Curling Iron 2” ($37.59, ulta.com). Make sure to curl the pieces along your hairline away from your face.
Step 3: Spray your hair with Samy FAT Hair 0 Calories Amplifying Hair Spray ($12.99, walgreens.com). Fat Hair shapes, holds and is an amplifying mist that adds extra volume and shine to all styles and leaves it feeling soft.
Step 4: Brush your hair lightly with Goody’s Pro Dual Bristle Oval Brush for Volume (walmart and target stores).
Step 5: Finish by raking your fingers through your hair for a slightly unfinished look.
HAUTE HAIR: Rehab Dry & Brittle Hair
Hearing your hair snap as you comb through it can be as traumatic as having a loved one do the unthinkable and play in your hair and you hear the comment, “wow, your hair feels a little rough.”The horror!
Rather than worry yourself into a craze, concern yourself with reviving your dry & brittle hair and turn it into shiny & lustrous hair like Kenya Moore’s. If you don’t have an appointment lined up with your stylist, it’s easy to do a series of at-home treatments to make this transformation happen on your own.
No time. No problem. Do a one-step treatment if you suffer from hair breakage with ApHogee’s Keratin 2 Minute Reconstuctor ($9.99, sallybeauty.com). It’s made specifically for home use between salon visits, so there’s no way you can make a mistake. This product is a concentrated blend of keratin amino acids, botanical oils, and vitamins that does a wonderful job of restoring strength and softness to hair that requires a deep, penetrating treatment. It’s recommended on tinted, bleached or relaxed hair. ApHogee Keratin 2 Minute Reconstructor even helps to repair damage caused by chlorine and hard water. It soothes irritated scalps and can be applied following each shampooing until the healthy condition of the hair is restored.
To use, just apply to clean hair in the shower and rinse to treat brittle hair with cuticle damage and moderate breakage.
If you need a root to tip treatment and you have no time commitments, Phytospecific Intense Nutrition Mask ($28, sephora.com) is a good option. It improves strength and elasticity. The ingredients include an interesting mix of (but aren’t limited to) mango seed, plaintain, quinoa oils which hydrates and fortifies and vitamin E which sooths the scalp. There is also wheat amino acids and wood cellulose which help lock in moisture and detangle your hair. After using this product you will notice that your hair will feel hydrated, soft, and very strong.
To use, shampoo hair and towel dry. Apply a generous amount of product to your entire head and then put on a plastic cap. Sit under a dryer for at least 10 minutes. Rinse and continue styling.
Queen Helene Hot Oil Treatment (local beauty supply stores) is a product that many have used in their homes for years, but for those of you new to the Queen Helene phenomena, a hot oil treatment is yet another way to lock some moisture into your otherwise, dry, drab hair. It also restores softness, shine, manageability, breakage and split ends.
To use, simply shampoo your hair and towel dry. Place bottle in a cup of hot tap water for one minute. Massage 1 oz of warmed oil into hair and scalp. Cover hair with a dry towel for three minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water. Towel dry and style. This heat-activated treatment penetrates deep into towel-dried hair to control damage caused by chemicals, over-processing and weather exposure.
HAUTE HAIR: Turn Fine Hair into Fuller Hair
Not everyone’s blessed with thick strands of hair which is why weaves and wigs have become the norm, and in some cases an unfortunate crutch. What would you do if you had fine hair like the chanteuse Toni Braxton, who from her early years as a recording artist never had the fullness that she boasts as of late (with the help of a weave no doubt)? Would you treat your underlying issue and use some of the following products to bring some fullness to what nature blessed you with or add superficial fullness to give you a little extra confidence?
Folicure Moisturizing Conditioner ($6.39, sallybeauty.com) is part of line that was formulated to develop fuller, thicker hair for men and women. This particular moisturizing conditioner is the first everyday use, rinse-out Folicure conditioner. It leaves your fine, delicate hair smooth, shiny and full while it stimulates your scalp with a refreshing tingle.
Many of you have of the Bosley System for men’s hair loss, but there’s a line specifically made for women as well. Bosley’s Professional Strength Bos Defense Nourishing Shampoo for Normal to Fine Hair for Non Color Treated Hair ($18.99, haircarechoices.com) is a sulfate free cleanser helps to promote hair growth by removing buildup and toxins like D.H.T. (a male hormone that stops hair growth, in other words it stops hair growing from the roots) from the hair and scalp. This shampoo nourishes, strengthens and fortifies your hair follicles to result in thicker, fuller looking hair.
Marc Anthony’s Instantly Thick Hair Thickening Cream ($7.99, ulta.com) is a little different in it’s ability to thicken your hair. If you have what is typically called “wet & go” hair and you get blow outs then this may be the perfect product for you. This product is formulated with phytokeratin which wraps a secondary layer around each and every hairstrand. Also provides heat protection and shine. This heat activated cream is used after you shampoo and condition your hair. To use: Apply the cream from roots to ends on damp hair, the hair is thickened by the blow dry process. For added lift and hold, combine with other Instantly Thick™ styling products.
Hue Knew It? I did.
Miami Art Basel Events Guide The Art World’s Winter Playground via [Social Miami]
OPULUXE Lounge Grooves™ PlayList
via [YouTube]
From Fairchild to Wynwood, the Design District, MiMo, Brickell, Downtown, Mid-Town, North Beach and South Beach, all of Miami-Dade is ready to host inarguably the largest convergence of people from the international art world to descend upon a single locale for the entire year. So, get your calendars ready and support as many of these unique events as you can – oh, and invest in a piece, or two, while you’re at it!
Uploaded by vernissagetv. – Discover more animation and arts videos.
Monday, November 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Sheila Elias will open her studio for a reception to preview her new exhibition, Reconstructed Visions, an exhibition called The Wall which was given last year during Art Basel A selection of sketchbook works ranging from 1993 to 2010, as well as a number of large canvas pieces (2010), will be on display. Work by Elias, a multi media artist, is in numerous collections including the Brooklyn, Bass, and Lowe Museums and has also exhibited at The Louvre in Paris. The opening is hosted by Deepak Sony, head of the Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors. RSVP please.
Studio of Sheila Elias
1510 N.E. 130th Street, North Miami
305-892-9198 (RSVP)
Monday, November 29 at 7 p.m.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Mandarin Oriental, Miami will show a unique exhibition of Contemporary Asian Art curated by Brian Dursum, Director and Curator of UM’s Lowe Art Museum. The Mandarin is the official hotel sponsor of Art Miami, the city’s premier anchor art fair held November 30 through December 5. The hotel exhibition will feature work from some of China’s most exciting contemporary artists, and an exclusive preview in the hotel’s atrium lobby on Monday will benefit The Lotus House, a women’s shelter that offers sanctuary for homeless women and infants. The exhibition will be on view November 30 through December 5.
Mandarin Oriental, Miami
500 Brickell Key Drive, Downtown Miami
305-913 8288
www.mandarinoriental.com
Monday, November 29 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Eleven artists are joining forces for an exploration of self-identity through visual art and film with a portion of proceeds from sales to benefit the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Participating artists are Thom Wheeler Castillo, Roberto Catasus, Dennis Dean, Daniel Garcia, Lidia Godoi, Israel Guevara, Pablo Hernandez, Rock Hudson, Armando Pedroso, George Rodez and Evelyn Valdirio. RODEZart.com Gallery is located at Coco Walk where Art Starts in the Grove will celebrate Art Basel week with all galleries, restaurants and bars participating daily, beginning on Monday, followed by an after-party at the Mayfair Atrium from 9 to 11 p.m.
RODEZart.com Gallery
3015 Grand Avenue, Suite 237, Coconut Grove
786-467-7111
Monday, November 29 at 8 p.m.
Brazil’s leading closet, bath and kitchen design showroom and fabricator, Ornare, will host its Tastemakers Showcase, honoring the most prestigious architects, designers and builders of 2010. Renowned for raising the bar of custom, organizational design, Ornare will showcase the professional styles, ideas and perspectives of 21 design firms who are leaders in the industry. View works from all the distinguished honorees from this year’s Showcase and celebrate design at its best!
Ornare
3930 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Suites 102/103
Miami Design District
Tuesday, November 30 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Join the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and Vanity Fair International to kick off Art Basel Miami Beach and to celebrate the opening of Jonathan Meese: Sculpture, his first major solo exhibition in the United States. Also opening is Bruce Weber: Haiti / Little Haiti, an exhibition of photographs of Miami’s Haitian community by celebrated photographer Bruce Weber taken from 2008 to 2010. Open to all MOCA members, North Miami residents and city employees, and Art Basel VIP cardholders and exhibitors. $25 admission for all others.
MOCA
770 N.E. 125th Street, North Miami
305-893-6211
Tuesday, November 30 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Meet contemporary Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov at their solo exhibition of Someone under the Carpet. The work recreates an installation originally staged at the Museum van Hendendaagse Kunst Antwerpen in 1998. Viewers stand around a roped-off, carpeted area of the gallery floor where a human figure slowly twists and moves beneath the carpet in circles, manifesting a moving sculpture. Also on view will be four large-scale carpets from The Flying series (2005-6), occupying an adjacent 8,000 square-foot space, handcrafted books created in the mid-90’s, documentary films and a miniature model of The Ship of Siwa, built with the participation of local children and students from Manchester College in the United Kingdom. The work will be on display through January 15, open Tues – Sat from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wolfgang Roth & Partners
201 N.E. 39th Street, Miami Design District
305-576-6960
www.wrpfineart.com
Tuesday, November 30 from 7 to 11 p.m.
Amy Alonso Gallery will host an opening party for the Eighth Edition of its popular Most Wanted Art Basel Exhibition. The exhibition features the works of a diverse group of seven contemporary surreal, fantastic, abstract expressionism and pop-surrealist artists: Carla Fache, Victor Mahana, Rodolfo Edwards, Valentina Brostean, Joseph Firbas, Tomas Valdivieso and Raymond Fuentes. Enjoy complimentary drinks and live entertainment. The exhibit will be on view through December 17. Special hours during Art Basel week are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Amy Alonso Gallery
750 N.E. 124th Street, Suite 2, MOCA Plaza, North Miami
305-975-6933
www.alonsored.com
Tuesday, November 30 from 7 to 10 p.m.
ArtDecemberMiami.com will sponsor Extraordinary Journey Into 3D, an art exhibition of more than 24 works of art by Miami artists Brigitte Andrade, Mamushka, Galaxy Girl and Giovanni DeCunto. The work of these artists, not usually exhibited in 3D, has been transformed into 3D by Ramesh Kannappan, of 3DPhotoFlip, for this exhibition. The work will be on view through December 3.
Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce
1920 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach
786-222-7834
Tuesday – Sunday, November 30 – December 5
Miami’s longest running contemporary art fair, Art Miami, returns to the City of Miami with a compelling array of modern and contemporary artwork from over 100 international galleries and prominent art institutions. Now in its 21st year, Art Miami is a “can’t miss” event for serious collectors, museum professionals, curators and art enthusiasts. Exhibitions at the fair will include paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography and prints from Europe, Asia, Latin America, India, the Middle East and the United State. Distinguished for its depth, diversity and quality, Art Miami maintains a preeminent position in America’s contemporary art fair market. Art Miami will kick off Art Week with a benefit for Lotus House Women’s Shelter ($25 entry) on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., followed by a VIP preview 7 to 10:30 p.m. open to Art Miami VIP cardholders. Hours are Wednesday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 to 6 p.m. One-day pass is $15 ($35 including catalog) and multi-day pass is $20 ($40 with catalog).
Art Miami Pavilion
Midtown Boulevard (N.E. 1st Ave.)
Between 31st and 32nd Streets
Midtown Miami Arts District
1-520-529-1108
info@art-miami.com
www.art-miami.com
On View beginning November 30
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden will present the U.S.’s largest outdoor exhibition of works by French sculptors Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne. The exhibition, Les Lalanne at Fairchild, opening to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach, will feature more than twenty sculptures, including works never before publicly exhibited in the U.S., and one multi-piece work comprised of more than a dozen individual sculptures, to be installed throughout the Garden’s 83-acres of lush, tropical landscape. Drawing surrealist imagery from flora and fauna, the Lalanne’s sculptures will create an extraordinary element of surprise and wonder set within Fairchild’s botanic paradise of rare palms, cycads, and flowering plants. Fairchild is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $10 for children 6-17 and free to children 5 and under and Fairchild members.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables
305-667-1651
www.fairchildgarden.org
Tuesday – Sunday, November 30 – December 5
Graffiti Gone Global 2010 presents Fresh Produce, an urban contemporary art exhibition powered b SUSHISAMBA. In its 4th consecutive year, Graffiti Gone Global is produced in collaboration with Primary Flight, Operation Design and Haas & Hahn, is curated by Cristina Gonzalez, a/k/a She Kills He, and features work from today’s top street and graffiti artists. Fresh Produce blurs the line between the street and the gallery, presenting a multifaceted exhibition highlighting the freshest and most undeniable influences of urban aesthetics and contemporary design with a roster of international artists. Opening preview is Tues from 5 to 8 p.m. Fair hours are Weds & Thurs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fri 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., followed by an Artists Party from 7 to 10 p.m.; Sat 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sun from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.
70 N.W. 25th Street
(Between N.W. 2nd and North Miami Avenues)
Wynwood Art District
Tuesday – Sunday, November 30 – December 5
SCOPE Art Fair has established its name by curating cutting-edge contemporary art from around the world. Returning to Miami for its 10th year, SCOPE Miami’s 80,000 square foot concrete foundation is next to Art Asia and across the street from Art Miami. This year’s fair will present 85 international galleries upholding SCOPE’s unique tradition of solo and thematic group shows presented alongside museum-quality programming, collector tours, screenings, and special events. The experience will expand this year in partnership with cultural organizations to feature film, music, installation and performance. The fair opens to Press and VIP’s on Tuesday (3 – 9 p.m.) with a FirstView benefit ($100, free for ABMB VIP’s); Wednesday – Saturday (11 – 7); Sunday (11 – 6). Admission is $20; students $15; free for ABMB VIP’s.
3011 North Miami Avenue, Wynwood Art District
212-268-1522
info@scope-art.com
Tuesday – Sunday, November 30 – December 5
Sculpt Miami 2010 showcases outstanding large-scale indoor and outdoor sculptures by prominent modern artists from around the world. The fair focuses on the newest aesthetic tendencies in contemporary sculpture highlighting innovative techiniques and the use of original materials. Opening Reception is Tues from 7 to 10 p.m., open to VIP cardholders, media and guests who RSVP. Fair hours are Tues – Sat from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free; catalog available for $5.
46 N.W. 36th Street
Wynwood Art District
305-448-2060
info@sculptmiami.com
Tuesday, November 30 from 7 p.m. to midnight
Artist Daniel Arsham will debut three new bodies of work: Objects from Antiquity, Push Puppets and Pixel Clouds. Arsham makes architecture do things it’s not supposed to do, mining everyday experience for opportunities to confuse and confound our expectations of space and form. Simple yet paradoxical gestures dominate his sculptural work, and structural experiment, historical inquiry, and satirical wit all combine with consummate technical skill in his ongoing interrogation of the real and the imagined. Objects from Antiquity, a new series of gouache on mylar drawings, was inspired by a trip to Athens; his life-sized push puppet figurines from his childhood collapse and reform again, recreating his memories architecturally; and his Pixel Clouds that hang overhead in the gallery continues his ongoing exploration into the relationship between architecture and nature. The work will be on view through December 11; open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through December 5 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through December 11.
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
194 N.W. 30th Street, Wynwood Art District 305-573-2130
November 30 – December 15
In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, Miami Dade College will present smART, a landmark art exhibition and sale worthy of this historic milestone. smART will focus on the work from emerging and established Latin American artists including Luís Gispert, Juan Iribarren and Flavia di Rin. In all 86 artists and 32 renowned galleries from 8 countries will participate. All proceeds will benefit the American Dream Scholarship Fund, aimed at providing a better opportunity for quality education to students who could not otherwise afford it. Preview the works online and visit the gallery, which is open regular hours Tues – Fri from noon to 5 p.m. and on Sat from noon to 4 p.m. Special hours of noon to 6 p.m. are in effect on Fri – Sun of Art Basel week. For more information please contact Amaury Zuriarrain.
Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College
600 N. Biscayne Boulevard, Downtown Miami
305-237-3657
Wednesday, December 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bisazza and Oppenheim Architecture + Design will host Tropical Modernism to showcase a selection of forthcoming projects. Founded by Chad Oppenheim, OAD is based in Miami but operates globally with worldwide experience in hospitality, office, high-rise, retail, residential and mixed-use design, as well as the complete master planning and design of new cities. To accompany the exhibition, Bisazza and OAD will run two architectural tours on Tropical Modernism. Each tour will last one hour and culminate in a private visit to Villa Allegra.
Bisazza
3740 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami Design District
Wednesday, December 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.
In celebration of Art Basel, The Design and Architecture Senior High School (DASH) will put a fresh spin on old Grimm fairy tales, including Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Tom Thumb, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin. Students from this award-winning school will create a series of dynamic, site-specific multi-media installations, allowing the legendary literary characters beyond their own stories into each other’s worlds. On view through December 11.
Las Tias
2834 N. Miami Avenue, Miami
Wednesday, December 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Preview the season’s cutting edge fashion, beauty and lifestyle trends at a chic lounge hosted by Vogue Magazine. This shopping experience is presented by Trina Turk, Sam Edelman, bebe, Canon, Curve Boutique, Shari Liu Handbags, Honey Child, the American Cancer Society and Latisse®. Opening champagne reception with music by South Florida’s stylist female DJ duo, Ess and Emm, kicks off the 3-day fete (Weds – Fri) when the lounge will be open from noon to 9 p.m.
The Raleigh Hotel
1775 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
305-864-3434, Ext. 123
Wednesday & Thursday, December 1 & 2 from 8 to 11 p.m.
Artist Miguel Paredes, notable pop and multi-media artist, sculptor and urban realist, will launch his most recent artistic endeavor in partnership with the National Hotel in the heart of South Beach. It’s Paredes’ largest exhibition to date with his multi-colored and vibrant works covering the hotel’s outdoor façade as well as its indoor walls and chic pool garden area. The VIP reception is Wednesday from 8 to 11 p.m., and the exhibition will be open to the public December 2 through 5. In Paredes’ solo gallery space in Wynwood, the artist will host an Art Basel launch event on Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m., and the gallery will remain open to the public through Art Basel. At both spaces the artist will unveil select pieces from his new series Elements of an Artist, as well as never before seen works and sculptures.
National Hotel
1677 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
Paredes Fine Arts Studio
2311 N.W. 2nd Avenue, Wynwood Art District
www.miguelparedes.com
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5 from noon to 11 p.m.
Wynwood Walls, Miami’s epicenter for cutting-edge museum quality contemporary murals, builds on the street art tradition already established in Miami’s Wynwood Art District. The result of a collaboration between Tony Goldman of Goldman Properties and Jeffrey Deitch of Deitch Projects, the open-air art park launched during Art Basel 2009. Using primed walls of buildings as their canvases, internationally respected artists from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States, including Aiko from Japan, Os Gemeos and Nunca from Brazil and Stelios Faitakis from Greece, as well as Jim Drain, Shepard Fairey, Futura, Barry McGee, Ara Peterson, Clare Rojas, Kenny Scharf and the team of Swoon, David Ellis and Ben Wolf from the US, created the park’s original 12 expansive murals. For Art Basel 2010, Wynwood Walls will roll out even more exciting and innovative works.
N.W. 2nd Avenue
Between 25th and 26th Streets
Wynwood Art District
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
The Wolfsonian–FIU will present Seduce Me, a collaboration with Isabella Rossellini, Andy Byers, and Rick Gilbert in celebration of Art Basel | Miami Beach 2010. The site-specific installation project takes its name from a series of short videos created by Rossellini exploring the unconventional seduction rituals of creatures ranging from bugs to cuttlefish. Commissioned for The Wolfsonian, it features complex and imaginative paper sculptures made by Andy Byers that are used in the videos for sets, props, and costumes, and the Seduce Me videos created, produced, directed, written, and performed by Rossellini and produced and art directed by Rick Gilbert. Elaborating on the themes of the videos, Andy Byers has designed a fantastical landscape, populated by awe-inspiring creatures made primarily of paper, that conveys the complex, ingenious, and precious attributes of nature. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except for Friday when the hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Wolfsonian-FIU
1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach
305-535-2684
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
A thought-provoking, curated experience, Arts for a Better World features works by more than 30 visual artists from many countries, with the common mission to contribute to a better world for future generations. In addition to the fine arts, visitors will encounter a dynamic educational program of workshops dedicated to developing a better world awareness for children and adults. The elegantly designed 42,000 square foot exhibit hall will also house special areas dedicated to four major international charitable organizations directly benefiting from the expo, as well as several local organizations that support the better world mission. Open Wednesday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10; free for children under 18, members of the Armed Forces and Art Basel VIP badgeholders.
Soho Studios
N.W. 22nd Street and 1st Avenue, Wynwood Art District
305-751-9641
www.ArtsForABetterWorld.com
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
Littlest Sister, in its third edition, is Miami Design District’s only art fair, consisting of just 8 booths that house over 40 of today’s most provocative artists from unknowns to seasoned veterans. This year a VIP Project Room featuring a solo project by artist Marc Dennis will be added, appropriately dressed with an extensive selection of art publications and Cafe to converge, lounge and unwind. Another new highlight will be the Littlest Sculpture Project with works by Pablo Cano, Eric Doeringer and Pachi Giustinian, to accentuate the fair’s overall concept. Special events are the Littlest Vernissage on Tues from 7 to 10 p.m., a VIP Collectors’ Brunch on Weds from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Design District Opening Night reception on Thurs from 7 p.m. to midnight. The Fair opens daily at 9 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m. on Weds, Fri and Sat, midnight on Thurs and 3 p.m. on Sun.
Spinello Gallery
155 N.E. 38th Street, Suite 101
Miami Design District
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
Art Asia, established in 2008, has hosted fairs in Miami and Basel, and in only its third edition, the Fair has welcomed more than 75,000 visitors. Art Asia is the premier and only Asian contemporary art fair in the US, serving as a platform for galleries from around the world to showcase the best of established and emerging Asian artists, working both inside and outside of Asia. It has positioned itself as a forum for international galleries, curators, artists, collectors and educators to exchange ideas and see fresh and exciting works by contemporary Asian artists. VIP Vernissage on Tues from 3 to 9 p.m. Fair hours are Weds & Sun from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thurs – Sat from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. One-day admission is $15 and $10 for seniors and students; multi-day pass is $20.
Art Asia Miami
2901 N. Miami Avenue, Miami Midtown
212-268-6148
www.artasiafair.com
Wednesday – Saturday, December 1 – 5
Design Miami/ is the global forum that brings together the most influential dealers, collectors, designers, curators and critics from around the world in celebration of design culture and commerce. At the core of the Design Miami/ forum is a marketplace for limited-edition design, amid which international design galleries present curated exhibitions on museum-quality furniture, light and objets d’art, attracting the highest level of private and public collectors of historical and contemporary design. The galleries invited to exhibit deal mainly in design objects from the advent of Modernism (circa 1900) to the present day with select galleries specializing in 18th and 19th century antiques. Design Miami/ has a new exhibition venue, and fair hours are Weds – Sat from noon to 8 p.m. and Sun from noon to 6 p.m. One-day tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors with ID. VIP opening on Tues and Nocturne on Thurs from 8 to 10 p.m. are by invitation only.
Design Miami/
Miami Beach Convention Center P-Lot
Meridian Avenue & 19th Street, Miami Beach
305-572-0866
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
In its 5th year, INK Miami is a contemporary art fair that is unique among the satellite fairs in Miami for its forcus on contemporary prints and works on paper by internationally renowned artists. Sponsored by the International Fine Print Dealers Association, exhibitors are selected for their ability to offer collectors a diverse survey of 20th century masterworks and just-published editions by leading artists. This year’s dealers will present a coordinated show of works on paper that feature language as a compositional element. The fair opens with a Preview Breakfast on Weds from 10 a.m. to noon. Fair hours are Weds from noon to 5 p.m., Thurs – Sat 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sun 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.
Suites of Dorchester Hotel
1850 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
212-674-6095
www.inkartfair.com
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 -5
Red Dot Miami strives to create a fair for galleries specializing in works by emerging, mid-career and established artists who seek to present work of lasting value and beyond current trends. International modern and contemporary art galleries will exhibit paintings, sculpture, photography and works on paper in the luxurious layout of Red Dot’s 30,000 square foot tented venue. Opening Reception on Tues from 6 to 9 p.m., to benefit GreenMiami, a project initiated by former Miami Mayor Manual Diaz with proceeds going to the City of Miami Tree Trust Fund. Tickets for reception are $25 which includes daily access to the fair. Fair hours are Weds from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thurs – Sat from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Complimentary cocktails, courtesy of Camarena Tequila will be served daily between 6 and 8 p.m.
Red Dot Miami
3011 N.E. 1st Avenue (Midtown Blvd. at 31st Street)
Wynwood Art District
917-273-8621
Wednesday, December 1 from 8 to 10 p.m.
ArtCenter/South Florida ACSF celebrates Art Basel Miami Beach with eye candy galore: Good N’ Plenty, a group show featuring current and alumni artists-in-residence and Sweet Jesus Unfair, an installation by Alex Heria about religion bedazzled. Good N’ Plenty (800 Lincoln Road), curated by Kristen Thiele, spotlights 25 years of ACSF artists and includes foundting artist Ellie Schneiderman; luminaries William Cordova and Luis Gispert; Haitian Diaspora artist and community leader Edouard Duval Carrie; and many more renowned artists. Sweet Jesus Unfair by Alex Heria (924 Lincoln Road) blends religious iconography with jewels, glitter and gold, and mixed media artist Alex Heria illustrates the age-old relationship between Catholicism and money with visual effects and photography, found objects and carnival lighting. Other highlights at ACSF include Gift of Art – the Center’s 40 artists-in-residence have created limited-edition prints that will be given to visitors who obtain vouchers at the opening event; Art Dummie by David Rohn, a interactive piece based on his experience with Facebook; and a Good N’ Plenty Brunch, provided by Ghirardelli, on Sunday from 11 a.m to 3 p.m.
ArtCenter/South Florida
800, 810 and 924 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
305-674-8278
www.artcentersf.org
Wednesday – Saturday, December 1 – 4
CIFO will host a series of daily breakfasts from 9 a.m. to noon with not-to-miss art happenings throughout Art Basel week. Weds: Artist Talk with photographer Luisa Lambri and Douglas Fogle, Curator of the Hammer Museum at UCLA. Thurs: a cake performance presented by Kreëmart, in which contemporary Cuban artists, Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodriguez, Los Carpinteros, explore dessert as an art medium, followed by a tour of Inside Out: Photography After Form with CIFO’s guest curators Simon Baker and Tanya Barson, Curators of the Tate Modern in London. And on Sat at 8 p.m. the outdoor screening of PBS Art:21’s documentary about renowned South African artist William Kentridge.
CIFO
1018 N. Miami Avenue, Miami
305-455-3380
www.cifo.org
Wednesday – Sunday, December 1 – 5
Zones Art Fair is a niche fair with a strong local flavor, offering a detour from the labyrinthine art-fair set-up. Expect anything from sculpture and painting to video and performance art from up and coming artists. Added this year is Fast Forward with curators and artists presenting an array of subjects. Events range from food-tasting to talks to cocktails and music. Fair hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Admission is free.
Edge Zones Space
47 N.E. 25th Street, Wynwood Art District
305-303-8852
Thursday, December 2
Hosted by Gary Nader, a selection of sculptures by world-class contemporary artists, ranging in size from medium to monumental scale, will be displayed along the Biscayne Boulevard corridor in downtown Miami, from the InterContinental Hotel to the American Airlines Arena. The City of Miami Mayor Tomas P. Regalado will officially inaugurate the Sculpture Biennale, celebrating the importance of sculpture in contemporary civic life. The Biennale exhibition will be open and free to the public. It will include didactic materials which will enhance the general public’s appreciation of the works on display. A partial list of artists includes: Fernando Botero (Colombia), Sandro Chia (Italy), Keith Haring (USA), John Henry (USA), Julio Larraz (Cuba). Lina Leal (Argentina), Roy Fox Liechtenstein (USA), Enrique Martinez Celaya (USA), Henry Moore (UK), Mimo Paladino (Italy), Carolina Sardi (Argentina), Frank Stella (USA), Rufino Tamayo (Mexico), and Hans Van de Bovenkamp (Germany).
Miami InterContinental Hotel
100 Chopin Plaza, Downtown Miami
305-576-0256
www.biennalemiamis.org
Thursday, December 2 from 9 a.m. to noon
An Art Basel tradition, the Rubell Opening Breakfast presents Just Right, an interactive food installation by Jennifer Rubell. Just Right addresses the question: What if Goldilocks were an artist? The focus is on the fact that Goldilocks assumes the authority to determine the perfect form of everything she encounters, one of the defining strategies of the contemporary artist. Located in a derelict house just behind the Rubell Family Collection, Just Right is accessible only through a hole broken through the back wall of the Collectionʼs courtyard. Once you go through the overgrown backyard and enter the house, you’ll encounter thousands of bowls, porridge, brown sugar, raisins and milk. The temperature of the porridge, the size of the bowl, the shape of the spoon, and all the toppings are just right! Sponsored by illycaffè and open Weds – Sun. In the galleries: How Soon Now and Time Capsule, Age 13 to 21: The Contemporary Art Collection of Jason Rubell. Art Basel hours: Weds – Mon from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Rubell Family Collection
95 N.W. 29th Street, Wynwood Art District
305-573-6090
Thursday, December 2 from 10 a.m. to noon
An unexpected and captivating site, the tranquil gardens of Casalin may seem an unusual setting among the galleries in Wynwood that are showcasing work during Art Basel. This serene oasis, however, will be bustling with outstanding cutting-edge exhibitions carefully curated by NWSA faculty and gallery owner Fredric Snitzer. The exhibition Rock and a Soft Place features more than a dozen art works and covers most of the newly expanded grounds. The show is free, open to the public and will remain open through Art Basel week.
The Yard at Casalin
55 N.W. 30th Street, Wynwood Art District
305-237-3597
Thursday, December 2 from 10 a.m. to noon
Pacific Standard Time fosters an understanding of Southern California art through panel discussions with Los Angeles artists. From 10 to 11 a.m., John Baldessari and Analia Saban, moderated by Glenn Phillips from the Getty Research Institute; and from 11 to noon Eleanor Antin and Kaari Upson in conversation with moderator Ali Subotnik from the Hammer Museum.
Rubell Family Collection Sculpture Garden
95 N.W. 29th Street, Wynwood Art District
305-573-6090
www.rfc.museum
Thursday, December 2 from noon to 7 p.m.
This year art and fashion unite for the Masters Mystery Art Show with a collection of canvas totes decorated and embellished by 25 top fashion designers joining the mini masterpieces on sale for $50. More than 1500 original artworks, each 6”x9,” created by 300 artists from 31 countries will be on display for purchase to benefit Florida International University’s Masters in Fine Arts program. The mystery is an artistic whodunit since the artist of each piece of art or canvas tote is unveiled only after it is purchased. Works will be created by artists and designers Amrita Singh, Adriana Castro, Lisa Pliner, Richie Rich, Ryan Paul Simmons and Romero Britto. A private cocktail reception coincides with the opening of Art Basel on Wednesday, and the show opens to the public on Thursday.
The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach
One Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
305-777-0217
Thursday, December 2 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Locust Projects will present Saturday’s Ransom, an ambitious new project by Miami-based artist Jim Drain. The 2005 winner of the prestigious Baloise Art Prize, Drain has exhibited at institutions and galleries across the US and internationally. This will be his first solo exhibition in Miami; on view through December 4, daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Drain also collaborated with students from Design and Architecture Senior High School to create a vinyl wrap scrim that evokes majestic stained glass. Commissioned by Carlos & Rosa de la Cruz, Craig Robins of Dacra Development, and Asi Cymbal of Cymbal Development, Small Reprieve is located at N.E. 41st Street and 1st Avenue.
Locust Projects
155 N.E. 38th Street, Suite 100, Miami Design District
Thursday, December 2 at 8 p.m.
Internationally acclaimed artist Rirkrit Tiravanija will curate an exhibition of emerging performance-based artists especially for the Miami Design District. Selected were three former students – Lior Shvil, Aki Sasamoto and Naama Tsabar – who are all currently making a wide range of performance works that tap into today’s culture. Performances will be Thurs, Fri & Sat at 9 p.m.
4141 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Suites 101C, 101D, 101E
Miami Design District
Thursday, December 2, from 8 to 11 p.m.
Miami Art Museum will host Art Basel VIP’s and other invited guests for its signature Art Basel event, Party on the Plaza featuring live music, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres under the stars. On view, Susan Rothenberg: Moving in Place, Between Here and There: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, Focus Gallery: Robert Rauschenberg, and Galaxies Forming Along Filaments, Like Droplets Along the Strands of a Spider’s Web, 2008, a large-scale installation by Tomás Saraceno. Party on the Plaza is by invitation only – open to Art Basel Miami Beach exhibitors’ pass, VIP card and special VIP cardholders, PULSE VIP cardholders, as well as Contributing ($250) and above MAM members and MAM Contemporaries. To become a member, contact membership@miamiartmuseum.org.
Miami Art Museum
101 W. Flagler Street, Downtown Miami
305-375-1709
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
Fountain Miami 2010, the 5th anniversary of the show launched during Art Basel 2006, features 25 projects by US-based and international galleries and artist collectives. Fountain has become known as the go-to venue for nighttime live music and performance art during the fair week. VIP Preview on Thurs from noon to 6 p.m.; Opening Reception on Fri from 7 p.m. to midnight; Miami New Times Party on Sat from 7 to midnight; and Closing Party on Sun from 4 to 7 p.m. Fair hours are Fri – Sun from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Fountain Miami
2505 N. Miami Avenue, Wynwood Art District
www.fountainexhibit.com
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) will host the NADA Art Fair featuring 88 emerging art galleries from 19 countries, as well as performances, lectures and events. a diverse, high quality group of professional exhibitors. Discover work of emerging contemporary artists in an intimate setting with an entire section of the venue set aside for solo presentations. Admission to the fair is free; fair hours are Thurs from 2 to 8 p.m., Fri & Sat from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Deauville Beach Resort
6701 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
212-594-0883
www.newartdealers.org
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
Presenting over 80 of the world’s premier contemporary art galleries, along with a dynamic cultural program, PULSE Miami connects art enthusiasts to works by leading and emerging artists. The Fair is divided into two sections and is comprised of a mix of established and emerging galleries vetted by a committee of prominent international dealers with the Impulse section presenting solo exhibitions of new artists’ work. PULSE develops original cultural programming with a series of large-scale installations, its PULSE Play Video Lounge, PULSE Performance Events, and PULSE Profiles series of artists and curators talks. Fair hours are Thurs 1 to 7 p.m., Fri & Sat 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sun 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $15; students/seniors/groups $10.
The Ice Palace
1400 N. Miami Avenue, Miami
212-255-2327
www.pulse-art.com
Thursday – Saturday, December 2 – 4
Talented students participating in the Arts for Learning programs will showcase an exhibition of their work during Art Basel. A majority of the work will come from students from the Lewis Arts Academy, a program launched by Arts for Learning and supported by the Jonathan D. Lewis Foundation, that offers at-risk students an opportunity for continued artistic growth. The exhibition is free and open to the public and will be open Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Friday from noon to 4 p.m.; and Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Whale & Star (Studio of Enrique Martínez Celaya)
2215 N.W. First Place, Wynwood Art District
305-576-1212
Thursday, December 2 at 6 p.m.
Visionary art, music and performance are happening at the Moksha Art Fair during the week of Art Basel. The opening reception features the gallery expo of visionary artists and a panel discussion moderated by FIU Pre-Columbian Art Professor Constantino Manuel Torres, Ph.D. Admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the door. On Saturday at 8 p.m., the Moksha Art Fair multimedia experience gets underway with live painting, music and performances and video art. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. The gallery will be open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
7th Circuit studio
228 N.E. 59th Street, Miami
305-757-7277
www.mokshafamily.org
Tickets available through www.brownpapertickets.com.
Thursday – Saturday, December 2 – 4
Art Whino will join the Multiversal show this year, presenting The Takeover in Multiversal’s outdoor courtyard. Art Whino’s “Elite Delta Force” of artistic leaders will create a unique 11,800 square foot outdoor art exhibition packed with an enormous series of installations/murals. 20+ artists will paint large mural/installations 8’ high x 20’ wide each, with smaller art pieces exhibited in each of the artist’s installation areas. There will be live painting events throughout the exhibition, as well as the Kickback Lounge, featuring custom furniture with artists’ artwork as the upholstery, full scale arcade games with customized artwork on the cabinets, and a full bar and snack area. Free admission; open from noon to 8 p.m. daily. Show reception is Saturday night from 8 p.m. to midnight with DJ and band performances and live painting by participating artists. Free admission with prior RSVP.
Awarehouse
550 N.W. 29 Street, Wynwood Art District
Artbasel2010@artwhino.com
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas. Art Basel Miami Beach combines an international selection of top galleries with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events featuring music, film, architecture and design. An exclusive selection of more than 250 leading art galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa will exhibit 20th and 21st century artworks by over 2,000 artists. The exhibiting galleries are among the world’s most respected art dealers, offering exceptional pieces by both renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Special exhibition sections feature young galleries, performance art, public art projects and video art. The show allows you to both discover new developments in contemporary art and experience rare museum-caliber artworks. Vernissage Weds from 6 to 9 p.m. Fair hours are Thurs – Sat from noon to 8 p.m., Sun noon to 6 p.m. One-hour guided tours available in English and Spanish, call 305-891-7270, Ext. 4.
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach
305-674-1292
www.ArtBasel.com
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
Aqua Art Fair presents innovative programming from the greater US and abroad, with an emphasis on West Coast young dealers and emerging artists. See a number of new dealers, as well as exhibitors and artists who have never shown in an art fair before. Special events include Preview Party sponsored by Modern Painters on Weds from 8 to 11 p.m.; art bloggers@ on Thurs from 4 to 6 p.m.; and The Art of the Book on Sat from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. General admission is $10 good for entry all week; free to Aqua and Art Basel VIP’s. Fair hours are Thurs – Sat from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Aqua Hotel
1530 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
www.aquaartmiami.com
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
This first-time fair will become the first U.S. art fair to showcase the contemporary art of the Middle East. ZOOM Contemporary Art Fair will present exhibitions, educational programming, and curatorial input that brings a fresh voice and perspectives of a burgeoning art scene to the mainstream art circuit. Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Shamim M. Momin, who together with Director Angeliki Georgiou, have produced an intimate collection of 20 exhibitions showcasing artists from 11 countries. Fair hours are Thurs – Sat from noon to 8 p.m. and Sun from noon to 6 p.m.
South Seas Hotel
1751 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
www.zoomartfair.com
Friday – Sunday, December 3 – 5
PooL is the premier fair in the US dedicated to un-represented artists. Its simple approach offers an exciting alternative to the art fair experience, as PooL presents a meeting ground for artists who are not affiliated with a gallery. Exhibitors are provided rooms in which to display their work creating an intimate setting. PooL is produced by Frère Independent, nonprofit art organization. Vernissage on Fri from 6 to 10 p.m. Fair hours are Fri – Sun from 3 to 10 p.m.
Carlton Hotel
1433 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
212-604-0519
www.poolartfair.com
Thursday – Sunday, December 2 – 5
Verge is an international platform for new and emerging art, focusing on the best new ideas and practices of those marginal or newly emerging to international art audiences. VIP Preview on Thurs from noon to 6 p.m. Opening Night Preview Reception Thurs from 6 to 10 p.m. with $20 tickets available at the door. Fair hours are Fri & Sat from noon to 8 p.m. and Sun from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 and $5 for students and seniors.
The Catalina Hotel and Beach Club
1732 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
www.vergeartfair.com
Friday, December 3 at 3 p.m.
Harlem Stage’s Makandal, an opera centered on legendary Haitian revolutionary Francois Makandal, won’t debut until 2012, but South Florida gets a sneak peek for the opening of Art Basel Miami Beach 2010. The 30-minute piece will be performed in English/Creole/Spanish; libretto by African-America writer/performer Carl Hancock Rux, score by Afro-Cuban composer Yosvany Terry and design by Haitian visual artist Edouard duVal Carrie. The “Makandal” music is both operatic and folkloric. It tells two stories – one about the man who led a failed slave revolt in the 1750s, the other about a group of 21st century emigrants from Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic who embark on a dangerous boat ride to Puerto Rico. Thematically the show touches on subjects universal and timely: the impact of colonization, slavery and their myriad consequences; and the striving for ideals of freedom. Duval-Carrie will lead a discussion at 3, and the showing at 4 p.m. Free and open to the public.
Little Haiti Cultural Center
212 N.E. 59th Terrace, Miami
305-960-2969
Friday, December 3 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Laurence Choko will present Ten is One, which brings together the work of ten artists, working in a variety of mediums, who demonstrate a common aesthetic approach free from art-world trends. On view at a temporary residence from November 30 to December 6, view the works of Lester Cadalso, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Soly Cissé, Beauford Delaney, Henri Guédon, Ibrahim Miranda, Arturo Montoto, Santiago Rodriguez, Olazabal, René Peña and Frank Stewart. This traveling exhibition will be featured at the Intemporel Gallery from mid-December until the end of January, 2011.
3811 N.W. 2nd Avenue, Miami
786-201-7470
www.galerieintemporel.com
Friday, December 3 at 6 p.m.
Meet French photographer Gilles Gerbaud and view his work which will be on display through December 15. Reception courtesy of Alliance Francaise. Free and open to the public.
Alliance Francaise
618 S.W. 8th Street, Miami
www.afmiami.org
Friday, December 3 at 6 p.m.
Am From Miami Bitch!!!, an art exhibition curated by Yamel Molerio, will showcase the work of Abstrk, Abdiel Acosta, Frank Garaitonandia, Jose Luis Telot, Jovan Karlo Villalba, Juan Travieso, Lu Gold, T. Eliott Mansa, Vincent Serritella, and Yamel Molerio. The exhibition will be on view from November 29 to December 5 and open Mon – Fri from 3 to 6 p.m. and Sat & Sun from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Am From Miami Bitch!!!
12 Ave SW 6th Street, Little Havana
305-987-7787
Friday, December 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Libero, as a show, puts its focus squarely on the art and how the works define the word. The freedom to explore an amalgamation of new contemporary art and to deliver content and concepts within the pieces is what Libero achieves as a movement. The work of three powerful artists goes beyond the comfort zone of the norm and delivers a diverse cross section of the core of the Libero concept. See the works of Carol Adrianza, Ed Crowell, II, and Dan Monteavaro/ Libero is on view Fri – Sun.
The Art Space
7610 4th Court, Suite 105, Miami
305-965-4438 (RSVP)
info@caroladrianza.com
Friday, December 3 from 8 to 11 p.m.
Art Basel Miami Beach VIP cardholders and Wolfsonian Diplomat-level members and above will be the guests of The Wolfsonian at an open house for Seduce Me, a performance art collaboration by Isabella Rossellini, Andy Byers, and Rick Gilbert. The installation project takes its name from a series of short videos created by Rossellini that explore the seduction rituals of creatures ranging from bugs to cuttlefish.
The Wolfsonian
1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach
305-535-2631
rsvp@thewolf.fiu.edu
Friday, December 3 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Digital media artist Laurence Gartel has translated his innovative imagery to couture clothing and will premiere his collection with a fashion runway show. Celebrate with Gartel and toast the pursuit of artistic ingenuity. Enjoy all sorts of entertainment, including singer/songwriter M’Dela, a percussion drum performance, live body painting and a silent auction of one-of-a-kind Gartel produced live to benefit TWK. VIP reception from 9 to 10 p.m. hosted by Chivas Regal.
Nikki Beach
One Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
786-285-5976 VIP Guest List
Friday & Saturday, December 3 & 4 from 9 a.m. to noon
Each year during Art Basel Miami Beach the Craig Robins Collection attracts hundreds of visitors throughout the week. Guided tours are offered of the Robins Collection which features some of the top artists and designers working today, including John Baldessari, Marlene Dumas, Richard Tuttle, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Marc Newson, Ron Arad and Zaha Hadid, to name a few. By appointment only.
Craig Robins Collection
3841 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 400, Miami Design District
RSVP@dacra.com
Saturday, December 4 from 6 to 9 p.m.
The ACND Gallery of Art will host an exhibit and conversation led by award-winning Miami Herald Photojournalist Carl Juste and members of the Iris PhotoCollective under the theme Discover Photojournalism. Discover Ourselves. The exhibition will feature a group of black and white photographs from Juste’s latest project, Invictus: Haiti Unconquered, taken during his coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath. The event will bring together high school and college students, photojournalism professionals, educators, and members of the community who support the visual arts and wish to help inspire and motivate aspiring photographers. Admission is free with complimentary parking provided by the gallery. Registered guests are welcome to attend the event and continue their walking tour from the school into the Design District a few blocks away. The exhibition is open Mon – Fri from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
ACND Gallery of Art at Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School
4949 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami
305-751-8367
Saturday, December 4 from 6 to 10 p.m.
UM’s College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Art & Art History, will present Mechanomorphic: Environmentally Minded Man\Machine, exploring the role that man/machine plays in our current Green Age. Mechanomorphia, or the concept of the machine changing into something else over time, questions man’s relationship to the machine and to nature. This exhibition will run from November 29th – December 27th.
Wynwood Project Space
2200-A N.W. 2nd Avenue, Wynwood Art District
305-284-2542
mcardoso@miami.edu
Saturday, December 4 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Markowicz Fine Art will host Eric Mourlot, the grandson of Fernand Mourlot of the prestigious Atelier Mourlot. Founded in 1852, the lithographic print shop in Paris was involved in the printing of illustrated books and high quality posters for the French National Museums. By 1937 Mourlot had established its reputation as the largest printer of lithographs and worked with major 20th century artists, including Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Miró, Chagall, Léger, Dubuffet, Calder, Le Corbusier and many more. During this cocktail reception, Mourlot and Markowicz Fine Art will present a unique collection of vintage lithographic posters and lithographs printed by the Mourlot.
Markowicz Fine Art
1 N.E. 40th Street, Miami Design District
786-362-5546
www.markowiczfineart.com
Saturday, December 4 from 7 to 10 p.m.
The work of 16 college and high school students from New World School of the Arts will be highlighted during The show, comprised of performance and installations, delivers a plethora of unexpected surprises that run the gamut from situational living arrangements to bigger than life sculptures. Curated by Dean Maggie Cuesta and Fredric Snitzer, the exhibition is free and open to the public.
Artseen Gallery
2215 N.W. 2nd Avenue, Wynwood
Saturday, December 4 from 7 p.m. to midnight
Coinciding with Art Basel each year, the MAM Ball is Miami Art Museum’s single most important fundraising event of the year, providing suppory for vital public programs that bring art to life for visitors of all ages, throughout the year. Diana and Robert Moss will serve as chairs for the 2010 Miami Art Museum Ball, celebrating the groundbreaking for the Museum’s new, expanded facility at Museum Park. Tickets range from $750 to $1000. Email for more information.
Mandarin Oriental Miami
500 Brickell Key Drive, Downtown Miami
305-375-5935
events@miamiartmuseum.org
Sunday, December 5 from 9:30 a.m. to noon
The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University will again host Breakfast in the Park, an official Art Basel event that is free and open to the public. Enjoy a complimentary outdoor breakfast, an informal lecture by Enrique Martínez Celaya, and guided tours of The Sculpture Park and the Museum’s current exhibitions. Celaya’s work consists of paintings, sculpture, photography, poetry, and prose, directly reflecting his personal experience with a diversity of fields. His work is often characterized by solitary and autobiographical figures seemingly displaced in surreal and symbolic landscapes. Through his background in science, Martínez Celaya investigates the interaction between modern science and the subconscious is his work. On view at the Frost Art Museum is Embracing Modernity: Venezuelan Geometric Abstraction; La Habana Moderna; Xavier Cortada’s Sequentia; and Florida Artists Series: Selections from Anomie 1492-2006 Arnold Mesches.
The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at FIU
10975 S.W. 17th Street, Miami
305-348-2890
Sunday, December 5 from 10 a.m. to noon
The Lowe Art Museum will present its Annual Art Basel Champagne Brunch hosted by LAM Director Brian Dursum. At 9:30 a.m. multi-media sculptor Alison Saar will give an artist’s lecture in the Storer Auditorium, UM School of Business. On view at the Lowe are the temporary exhibitions, The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper and Usable Art: African Aesthetics in Daily Life. This event is open to the public, but RSVP is requested as space is limited.
Lowe Art Museum at UM
1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables
305-284-3603
www.lowemuseum.org
Sunday, December 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Making a contemporary artwork is not simply (and at times not at all) fabricating an object. The artist’s negotiations with curators and conservators are often crucial in determining the artwork’s very nature. Sherri Irvin, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma, will present Making Contemporary Art: Fabrication and Negotiation, examining how the hybrid process of fabrication and negotiation has shaped works in MAM’s collection. This lecture is free, and open to the public. Doors open at 11, and the lecture begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by refreshments.
Miami Art Museum
101 W. Flagler Street, Downtown Miami
OPULUXELtd.com™ Tribute to FABulous Dead People via [nyt]
Fabulous Dead People | Mary Wells
Michael Ocs Archives/Getty ImagesMary Wells circa 1970.While not every Motown aficionado thinks Chris Clark got all the obscurity she deserved, there is other glue that binds. No one disputes that romanticizing the eat-or-get-eaten early days of the label’s artists was a great act of myth building. Diana Ross’s father got so tired of hearing what a rough childhood she had in Detroit’s Brewster Projects, he told one of her biographers how nice the lawns and courtyards there were. “The apartment we were in had three bedrooms, a full basement, a living room, kitchen and dinette,” Fred Ross said. “It wasn’t so terrible at all, believe me.”
The problem is that sometimes it really was terrible — too terrible to put in a press release. Mary Wells (1943-1992) once defined misery as “Detroit linoleum in January — with a half-frozen bucket of Spic and Span.” Wells was 12 or so when she began helping her mother on her rounds as a cleaning woman. “Until Motown, in Detroit there were three big careers for a black girl,” she said. “Babies, the factories and daywork.”
Wells was fabulous on many levels. She recorded “My Guy” – along with the Ronettes’s “Be My Baby,” one of a handful of pop masterpieces that cannot be improved. On two songs that, like “My Guy,” were also produced and written by Smokey Robinson — “The One Who Really Loves You” and “You Beat Me to the Punch” — Wells was swept along on Robinson’s love of calypso and of Harry Belafonte, creating a sultry musical mini-genre whose compass points were halfway between the Motor City and Trinidad. Together she and Smokey taught Detroit to cha-cha.
Mirrorpix/Courtesy Everett CollectionWells sang with a pout, which isn’t easy, that made her seem almost dangerously sophisticated. On stage and in publicity stills, she had a tendency to dip, assuming a charming, slightly crouched pose that was all her own. In the language of the day, the Beatles were completely “gone on her.”
“Hey, ask any one of the Beatles who his favorite girl singer is and he’ll give you just one answer,” Shindig’s announcer cheered in 1965. “She’s the girl they recently invited to England to appear with them. And here with her first million-seller.”
The subject of a biography by Peter Benjaminson to be published next year, Wells was in (1960) and out (1964) of Motown before she knew what hit her. Having reigned so briefly and disappeared from the charts so suddenly, she seems a distant figure, part of an earlier era — grainy, black and white, and crowned with bad wigs — than she actually was. Yet if Wells were alive today she would be only 67.
If her run was short at least she was first. When Wells had her own car and driver, the Supremes were literally hitching to gigs. Mary Wilson of the Supremes recalled how Wells would swan through the lobby of Motown with “her entourage behind her and we’re standing there like, ‘Wow, yea, that’s, that’s the way we want to be.’”
It meant nothing at the time, because the Supremes were nothing, but in the ’80s, when Wells’s career was on the skids and she was limping along on the oldies circuit, smoking two packs a day, there was some satisfaction in being able to say that the boss’s mistress had done her grunt work. Diana and company are behind Wells on “You Lost the Sweetest Boy” and, I’d bet because only one person sang through her nose so alluringly, “My Heart Is Like a Clock.” Because of Wells’s association with Robinson, I always assumed the men who sang backup with such suave complicity were the Miracles. In fact it was the in-house Love-Tones. Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations was a Love-Tone for the time it took to cut “Two Lovers” with Wells, filling in for a group member who couldn’t make the session. “The lead singer got stabbed to death, and they kind of fell apart after that,” Wells remembered.
Michael Ocs Archives/Getty ImagesMary Wells circa 1970.She could claim other victories over the Supremes — and over the Motown founder Berry Gordy. In the label’s waste-not tradition of recycling musical tracks, Wells was there first with “Whisper You Love Me Boy.” Dying of throat cancer and evicted from her home, she took on Gordy, filing suit for breach of contract and infringement of right of publicity. For 25-plus years Motown, which Universal acquired in 1988, merrily operated on the belief that Wells’s contentious exit deal with the company included a name and likeness clearance, which it used to sell a monumental number of records. According to Wells’s lawyer, Steven Ames Brown, there was no such clearance. Mary’s husband, the singer Curtis Womack, says the $100,000 out-of-court settlement she obtained was split 60-40 with Brown.
“Universal protected itself against any claims by demanding indemnity prior to buying Motown, so resolution was funded by Gordy,” says Brown, a royalty recovery specialist who has represented assorted Vandellas and successfully litigated for the return to Nina Simone of many of her masters. “I told Mary when we sued, ‘Don’t worry, sooner or later Berry will call me: My father was his podiatrist.’ And he did call. Some of the Motown artists were no better than their oppressor. But others were abused. Mary was one of them.”
Coached by her first husband, Herman Griffin, Wells sought to disaffirm her contract when she attained majority. Gordy paid her 3 percent of retail, less taxes and production and promotion costs. As an advance on a two-year deal, 20th Century wrote her a check for $250,000 — more than $1.7 million today. Accepting a portion of her royalties for the years remaining on her Motown agreement was maybe the worst business decision Gordy ever made. It’s fashionable for Motown partisans to dismiss “Never, Never Leave Me,” one of Wells’s two 20th Century releases, but with Wells turning up the pout, it’s a uniquely charismatic record.
Atco, the label she jumped to next, should have been a good fit. But when after one so-so album Wells was told to get in line behind Aretha Franklin and wait a year for studio time, she walked. “We could do nothing with her,” Jerry Wexler, the Atco chief, says in the notes to the excellent Wells compilation, “Looking Back.” “The fault wasn’t Mary’s. Nor was it ours. She was an artist who required the idiosyncratic Motown production,” which could not be duplicated. “Most importantly we didn’t have Smokey Robinson.”
Mary had a thing for the Womack men, and when she switched labels yet again, it was to work with her first husband, Cecil Womack, on two forgotten albums for Jubilee. Womack went on to eclipse Wells, writing the Teddy Pendergrass smash, “Love T.K.O.,” and teaming with his second wife as Womack & Womack.
By the time Wells was told she had cancer, she had burned through her 20th Century advance and more. With no health insurance, a trust was set up at the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, with contributions from, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Ross and Gordy, whose $25,000 check Wells singled out in an interview on “Entertainment Tonight.” “He did come through,” she said.
Wells “knew little about the trust,” Brown says, “except that someone else seemed to be using the funds for something other than Mary’s care. My reaction to the interview is that she was being gracious because of the settlement” Gordy made with her. Curtis Womack says Aretha Franklin insisted on bypassing the Foundation, sending $15,000 directly to Wells.
Doctors told Wells they could save her by removing her vocal chords, an option she rejected. “I miss my voice, you know, but hopefully it will come back,” she said in the same “Entertainment Tonight” appearance the year before she died. “I’ve been singing all my life. I don’t know any other trade.”
Photo by Dezo Hoffmann/Rex Features, courtesy Everett CollectionFabulous Dead People | Decorator Bill Willis
Lisl Dennis/”Living in Morocco,” Thames & Hudson Working with designers Bill Willis in Marrakesh and Jacques Granges in Paris, Yves Saint Laurent turned his villa into a museum of Moroccan handicraft, the Villa Oasis.
Bill Willis.For four decades, the architect and decorator Bill Willis was the unlikely point man in Morocco for voluptuous houses redolent of concubines and the woozy, opium-fogged dreamscapes of 19th-century Western painters like Georges Clairin. Nothing in his background — Willis was from Memphis and spoke French with an unforgettable Delta drawl — suggested that one day he would be reviving zellij mosaic work or polishing rendered walls with river stones and waxing them with savon noir to an alabaster sheen.
Having jump-started high-end Islamic architecture and rescued those Eastern design elements on the verge of extinction, Willis prompted a hundred style books (of which even he would probably agree 97 are redundant). An Orientalist in the tradition of Clairin, he appropriated an aesthetic language, then reinvented it. If anyone in the West beyond decorative arts scholars knows what zellij is today, Willis, who died last year at 72, gets the laurels. Gettys, Rothschilds and Agnellis queued up for his services, employing him to share his fastidious knowledge of keyhole arches, honeycomb vaulting and Moorish garden pavilions.
“Everything at Dar es Saada is laid out with an order in which I can safely deposit my disorder,” Yves Saint Laurent said of the first Marrakesh house that Willis designed for him and Pierre Bergé. Willis’s oeuvre made an important contribution not merely to the lush life of North Africa, says Bergé, but also to the Moroccan arts: “It was Bill who coined the design vocabulary of today’s Morocco. Even if he was from the South and drank too much bourbon, he was not American. He struck America from his life.”
When Bergé and Saint Laurent hired Willis a second time, it was to collaborate with the decorator Jacques Grange on Villa Oasis, built by the painter Jacques Majorelle in 1924. Grange is fond of saying that his late colleague had so many disciples, “we can speak today of the school of Bill Willis.”
Paleys and Rockefellers braved the dust and chickens of the Marrakesh medina to visit Willis in his thickly layered lair, once the harem of a minor 18th-century royal. American interior designers, from David Easton to Stephen Sills, also made the trip — part pilgrimage, part primer. I met Willis in his adopted city in 1986 during a marathon of celebrations for King Hassan II’s Silver Jubilee. “You think the royal palaces are grand,” Mary McFadden, traveling with the society decorators Chessy Raynor and Mica Ertegun, could be heard to crow. “There’s a rotunda at Marie-Hélène’s as big as a cathedral.” She was referring to Baroness Guy de Rothschild, for whom Willis built a villa from scratch. He was also meant to furnish it. But as he was infamous for never making an appearance before 2 p.m., artist and patron fell out. Darling Bill was replaced by Geoffrey Bennison.
Lisl Dennis/”Living in Morocco,” Thames & Hudson Few surfaces in the Villa Oasis remain unadorned. Walls and ceilings are frequently decorated with hand-painted tiles made in Fez and showing traditional Moroccan motifs.“His energies and his appetites were prodigious, his hours unusual,” Christopher Gibbs, the British antiques dealer, said in his eulogy for Willis. “There was just enough time left to entertain delightfully and almost enough left over to work on the projects he took on.” At fete after fete during the Jubilee, Willis — who was notorious for his withering two-word character eviscerations — held the ladies in his thrall. But by then he had traded his almost impossible beauty for a prematurely ravaged look — very Keith Richards, hippie-eyeliner chic — that became as much a trademark as the fireplaces he created using hundreds of tiles laid in a dozen eye-bending patterns. In the 1990s, Willis received Sills at home at the end of a long candlelit hallway dressed in a caftan and lying on a sofa with several hundred pillows “like something out of The Arabian Nights,” says Sills. “It was ingenious of Bill to bring back all those exotic Moroccan color schemes, like peacock blue with goldenrod and terracotta. He was a rarefied bird — very charming, grand, very clever. And kind of mean.” Easton met Willis in New York in the ’60s at the jeweler Fulco di Verdura’s. They dined together decades later at the Marrakesh restaurant Dar Yacout, whose Willis-designed cocktail of low-slung banquettes and giant colored-glass lanterns remains intact.
Much of Willis’s work is seen admiringly as an homage to the French writer Pierre Loti, an observer on the French mission to the court of Sultan Moulay Hassan in 1889. Out of that trip came Loti’s “In Morocco.” Willis never reconstructed, as Loti did, a mosque whose stones were hauled to France from Damascus. But he would have understood.
Willis was the only child of parents who divorced when he was still a boy. He was sent to military school and orphaned in his teens, “told on returning from a wild, illicit night out,” Gibbs says, “that his mother had slipped down a cliff” and perished. In 1956, he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, returning to the States to work for the powerhouse dealer-decorator Roslyn Rosier in New York. In 1963, he opened an interior design practice and antiques shop in Rome, where he also designed home accessories for Valentino. (For Saint Laurent, it would be bath towels). Three years later, Willis gave his best friends John Paul Getty Jr. and his wife, Talitha, who would die of a heroin overdose in 1971, a Moroccan honeymoon as a wedding present. Willis tagged along. The “gave” is part of the Willis mythology: He was always broke.
Lisl Dennis/”Living in Morocco,” Thames & Hudson The living room of the Villa Oasis is formal.The trip ended in Marrakesh. “None of us wanted to leave,” he said, so the Gettys bought the Palais de la Zahia, commissioned by the Glaoui of Marrakesh in the 18th century. Willis waved his wand and set up housekeeping with the couple “to live a kind of dolce vita.” Entertainment for their legendarily druggy parties was recruited from the Djemma el Fna marketplace. “Tea boys” balanced trays of mint tea and burning candles on their feet. Willis did up the Zahia twice more: for Alain Delon, who purchased it from the Gettys, and for its current owner Bernard-Henri Lévy.
Willis got his own palace in 1973 and never budged. In his eulogy, Gibbs went on to say that because of his pal’s “willful nature, his unusual mix of indolence and exigence, the way he allowed his desires and enthusiasms to rule his life,” he was “surprisingly unsung in the great wide world, never having achieved the material successes granted to many infinitely less gifted.” Willis in recent years had stopped working and his health had declined, according to Marian McEvoy, a minor member of the Saint Laurent cabal through her long friendship with the garden designer Madison Cox. “He didn’t leave the house much and stopped answering the phone,” she says. The designer died of a brain hemorrhage with scarce notice of his death anywhere, “more or less forgotten,” Bergé says. No beautiful room goes unpunished.
Fabulous Dead People | Laura Ashley
“Laura Ashley,” by Martin Wood, published by Frances Lincoln A portrait of Ashley, with her husband, Bernard, taken in 1976.People tend to think of Laura Ashley as being ironically fabulous; actually, she was genuinely fabulous. When Ashley introduced mix-and-match home furnishing fabrics in tiny florals in the ’60s, it was the shot heard ’round the world. Prints with reversible ground and motif colors became her signature. Some of them were twee, but they raked in millions. It’s a look the industry has been feeding off ever since.
Ashley (1925-85) is in the news again for the other cap she wore, that of fashion designer. (She was that rare double whammy, a powerhouse both in ready-to-wear and in the home sector.) While cargo jackets blooming with roses caused the Times’ fashion reporter Eric Wilson to hear Laura “corralling the troops” at Donna Karan’s spring show, the awning-striped muumuu that Prada showed last month is a dead ringer for one of Ashley’s first dress designs, as documented by Martin Wood in the monograph “Laura Ashley.” She wasn’t the bubbliest woman in the world, but surely Laura deserves a livelier writer than Wood: “As Laura Ashley became well known and gained what in marketing circles they call name recognition…”
“Laura Ashley,” by Martin Wood, published by Frances Lincoln A patchwork dress, probably produced in the late 70’s.The wonder is that despite an overheated climate in Britain in a decade that brought dolly birds, Biba and the Beatles, Ashley gained a massive following for her canny take on Victorian gentility. (She would also become an immense success in America, but not until the early ’80s.) A brilliant forecaster, she knew before her customer did what colors she would want to wear, what flowers she would want to see on her curtains as she glanced out from her fourposter bed. It wasn’t grannies who made her rich. Armies of young women wore Ashley’s pin-tucked nursery maid bodices and bought bolts of S24, a botanical lifted from a fragment of a 19th-century blue-and-white transfer-printed soup tureen.
“Surely you want to leave some contribution of the age we’ve lived in?” her friend Terence Conran once needled her.
Laura replied, “I’m only interested in reopening people’s eyes to what they have forgotten about.”
The company was Ashley, and she was the company. It was made in her image — or one of them, anyway. According to Anne Seeba, the author of “Laura Ashley: A Life by Design” and the writer Ashley did deserve, there were two Lauras: the painfully diffident homemaker she presented to the public and the imperious rage-aholic at the office. Employees who were also friends could call her “Laura” after work but were firmly instructed to address her as “L.A.” during the day. And as Ashley’s purse grew, so did her taste, becoming so rich and sophisticated that it risked sending her fan base running for the hills. It’s the old Lady Gaga problem. You start carrying a Birkin bag and expect everyone to understand.
“Laura Ashley,” by Martin Wood, published by Frances Lincoln A rare sketch for a room design, for the 1987 catalog.Once Ashley’s business took off, she lost interest in the fashion side and immersed herself ever more deeply in the home division, developing high-calorie fabric collections and otherwise raising the bar in ways that the firm feared would alienate her constituency. Having acquired a 22-room chateau in Picardy in 1978, Laura demanded 100 percent cotton for the bedding that carried her name, pooh-poohing objections that it was too onerous to launder: “Oh, but surely everyone sends their sheets to a laundry these days?” Not 20 years earlier she had been living in what a friend described as “grinding, almost Dickensian poverty,” drinking out of jam jars not because it was quaint but because she had nothing else.
As Sebba writes in a book whose frankness is all the more remarkable given that it was approved by Ashley’s notoriously bullish husband, Bernard, who died last year, Laura believed “fervently … in the universality of her own experience.” But as with bedsheets, she could be wide of the mark. To animate the chateau’s 25-acre park, she imported a flock of Texel sheep. She also bought a Welsh pony with the airy notion of harnessing the animal to a trap and doing the marketing in it, a fantasy that proved unworkable. Despising accountants and always looking to save her customer a penny (“I can see what you’re doing,” Laura once famously told her controller, “you’re trying to make excessive profit”), she insisted on using an old-fashioned abacus. Then there was the time she got a Jersey milker and taught herself to milk. But as nobody could bear the stuff, the milk went rancid and the cow was sold.
“Laura Ashley,” by Martin Wood, published by Frances Lincoln A Welsh cottage kitchen before and after it was restored for a publicity shoot. The wallpaper, which was called “Cherries,” was featured in the 1986 catalog.Laura knew what she didn’t like. When a dress found its way into the line without her consent, she went berserk, storming out of a Paris boutique where she had spied the offending garment and Telexing headquarters to ax the design. Later, she wanted to give her daughter a nightdress for breast-feeding and was mortified that her stores offered nothing that was functional and attractive. Though a reasonable concern, it was communicated in almost violent terms. “I have asked for this so many times,” Laura seethed at a flunky, “and if you don’t produce a sample within a month, I shall go to the Clapham workroom and make it myself and put it into huge production.”
None of this sticks with the picture most people had of Laura. When I started thinking about her again, I couldn’t even remember if she had been there when I did a story on the chateau. It turns out we did meet, but that’s how little of an impression she made. From her point of view, she had succeeded: invisibility was desirable. A fault-finding media only enforced Ashley’s belief that journalists were not even a necessary evil. Branded a tax exile in the British press, she was at pains to explain that if she and Bernard remained in the U.K. and either of them died, it would be virtually impossible for the empire to be passed wholly on to their children. Her son Nick, then design director, thanked his parents for the sacrifice by telling the Daily Mail in 1984 that “my mother is totally subservient to my father,” who “has to be king of the jungle.”
Sixteen months later, Laura fell to her death after mistaking the stairs for the bathroom in the middle of the night. Plans to take the company public went forward anyway. The Malaysian investors who today have a controlling interest celebrated a pretax profit this year of $17.4 million, earned with the help of licenses for insane products like medical scrubs and none of the family’s DNA. There were 271 boutiques worldwide when the business was floated as opposed to 488 today. Save for a few fabrics Laura might grudgingly sanction, her Arcadian legacy has been lost. The brand she created is chillingly unrecognizable.
Amid all the excitement at the Chatsworth Attic Sale earlier this month, everyone forgot that 25 years ago the Duchess of Devonshire led Laura through the back stairs, where they discovered bundles of old maids’-room prints that Ashley re-edited. She was there first.
Fabulous Dead People | Mark Hampton
In “Interior Decoration,’’ as far as anyone knows the only play ever written about a decorator, the characters Gerald and Phillipa Detweiler (rhymes with Rottweiler) are at a job site waiting for a client when Phillipa reminds her husband what he owes his success to.
“We are a couple, Gerald, and that is what makes us different, and approachable and fun in a way that simply out-enriches what even the most talented of the unattached can bring to the connubial decorating experience.’’
It’s a toothless line, unless you know that “Interior Decoration’’ is a play à clef. The comedy’s author, William Hamilton, best known for his New Yorker cartoons set in the 10021 ZIP code, was once on the same cocktail-party loop as Mark Hampton (1940-98) and his wife Duane, who inspired the Cowardesque clink-and-tell. Mrs. Hampton claims she is unaware of Hamilton’s tribute, but if she were, she wouldn’t be pleased.
In their heyday 30 years ago, the Hamptons were either toasted as worthy social aspirants or roasted as archetypal social climbers. “Nobody worked a room like Mark and Duane” is something you still hear on the banquettes at La Grenouille, whether as criticism tinged with admiration or admiration tinged with envy. Whatever your feelings about the Hamptons, the point is that with their eye on the prize and Mark’s undeniable star quality, the undertaker’s son from Indiana and co-editor of the “Vogue Book of Etiquette” made it to the top.
As a unit they conquered high society. Princess Margaret came to dinner. Professionally, Mark reigned as a wolfish defender of what is still just barely known as Park Avenue decorating. Jackie O., Brooke Astor and the Kissingers asked for help with the drapes. Did Mark have any ideas for a scheme in Bush père’s White House sitting room using a rug Barbara had needlepointed? He did. Work in Kennebunkport followed. The Hamptons were the first guests to stay on Pennsylvania Avenue after Poppy’s inauguration, “in the Lincoln bedroom, of course,’’ writes Duane in “Mark Hampton: An American Decorator” (Rizzoli), out this month. For a weekend in Maine with the First Couple, the Hamptons flew on Air Force One. Rich stuff. All that shoulder rubbing must have gone to Mark’s head, right? With relief we are told that he ‘‘loathed pretention’’ and ‘‘had no time for grandeur. ’’
From “Mark Hampton: An American Decorator” (Rizzoli)Gayfred and Saul Steinberg’s library in their 34-room triplex on Park Avenue.While you won’t hear an echo of Gerald Detweiler’s poisonous thoughts on his marriage in ‘‘Mark Hampton’’ (‘‘Philly, did it ever occur to you that except for the business we are completely incompatible?’’), there are other reasons to own it. Included is the impossibly opulent library the designer considered his chef-d’oeuvre, explaining, ‘‘ I wanted the room to be very consciously a 19th-century fantasy of the kind that I hope Sir John Soane would have liked.’’ (The piling on of words is a perfect capsule of the way Hampton spoke.) Mahogany bookcases climbed 14 feet, the shelf edges ribboned with leather. Hampton faced the walls in red wool, then earned his reputation as a maestro of furniture placement with quantities of Edwardian upholstery, sofas so big they had to be built on the job and Empire stools that resembled overripe melons. For its creator, the room was an act of love.
When Vogue published the library, the client was unnamed, but everyone knew it was Carter Burden, one of the original Beautiful People. Hampton is pictured with French cuffs shooting through the sleeves of an Anderson & Sheppard suit, arms folded, one leg cocked, toe stabbing the floor. He looks like the cat that swallowed the canary.
I knew Mark slightly. Like him, the book has a smug, let-them-eat-cake atmosphere. With sofas so big they had to be built on the job, how could it not? His interiors were never rich in the crude, tape-à-l’oeil way that, say, Scott Salvatore’s are. All of Mark’s idols were patricians. If you said ‘‘mansion’’ (so Non-U!) instead of ‘‘big house,’’ it was like you’d slandered his mother. Still, his rooms packed a lot of calories, as documented on page after page of “Mark Hampton.” It’s smarter and better organized than the usual decorator monograph, though not without its rhetorical howlers (‘‘The Hegelian progression from thesis to antithesis …’’). The book’s other failing capsizes every woman who sits down to write about her beloved dead husband. We take for granted that she thought he was fabulous. But there is something unpleasant about the widow saying it, and saying it often.
From “Mark Hampton: An American Decorator” (Rizzoli) Hampton created this room for Carter and Susan Burden in the 1970s. The art included works by Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland, 17th-century bronzes, a Korean deer, and Asian and Greek objects.Hampton was raised a Quaker. He was a precocious child and not athletic. His mother remembered how during a bridge foursome one day, he told two of her friends how pretty their dresses were. When the third asked why he hadn’t commented on hers, Hampton said, ‘‘Jean, it doesn’t do a thing for you.’’ He was 6. At Indiana’s DePauw University, the future taste broker alarmed his roommate by performing an elaborate toilette on his rubber plant involving milk. In the same period, Mark ‘‘only took out girls who were ‘hot, rich, pretty and talented,’ ’’ Burden wrote in a catalog accompanying an exhibit of Hampton’s art work. (I’ve never understood the fuss people make over his twee watercolors.) Things started clicking in 1961, when he took his junior year in London and worked for David Hicks, who had recently married Lord Mountbatten’s daughter. In that hothouse environment, it might actually be impossible not to become a snob.
It took Duane a day to fall in love with Mark after meeting him at an American Express office in Florence the same year. In 1963 he charmed the pop pearls off Sister Parish and scored a summer job. The Hamptons married in 1964, nesting in a $125-a-month walkup with $45 “Louis XVI” Door Store armchairs while he acquired a master’s degree in art history at New York University. Mark went on to run Hicks’s New York office before joining the silk-stocking firm McMillen and forming his own company in 1976.
Hampton wrote two books, “On Decorating” and “Legendary Decorators of the Twentieth Century,” both indispensable. The second reveals why, by his own definition, Hampton was a good designer but not a great one. Everyone in “Legendary Decorators,’’ from William Pahlmann to George Stacey, broke new ground. Of course, Hampton had a ready answer for critics who found his work lacking in news and, well, boring. “I don’t consider myself very ‘original,’ ” his wife quotes him as saying, a tad defensively, “but I maintain that doing what comes naturally, what grows out of precedent, has led to more good design than innovational overreach.’’
Maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that Hampton — as my old boss John Fairchild once said cruelly but accurately of Valentino — never had an original idea in his life. Valentino was an exquisitely talented couturier, but he did not change the way women dress. That’s how I’ll always think of Mark Hampton, as the Valentino of decorating.
Fabulous Dead People | Bubbles Rothermere
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Lady Rothermere in her New York apartment in 1978.As with many society deaths, there was nothing strange or startling about Lady Rothermere’s when it was first announced. The former B-movie actress universally known as Bubbles, for her favorite beverage and her effervescent personality, had died of a heart attack in her Riviera villa — once Garbo’s — on Aug. 12, 1992. If French doctors had been believed, that would have been that.
But as is also often the case with society deaths, details disputing the first announcement came hard and fast. The 63-year-old wife of Vere Rothermere, who at his own demise in 1998 had holdings of $1.7 billion in the Daily Mail newspaper empire, was not allowed to go without an inquest. According to The Independent, when Bubbles hadn’t appeared by late afternoon on that August day, her maid, finding the door to Madame’s bedroom locked, entered through a balcony window. Her boss lay in a heap on the floor. A month later, the Westminster coroner declared a verdict of “death by misadventure.” Bubbles had been traveling with some 2,000 pills in 75 bottles. “Society hostess died following drug overdose,” trumpeted The Independent.
Even if you were barely sentient in the ’70s and ’80s and only had a doctor’s-waiting-room relationship with Tatler, you can’t help but recall Lady Rothermere engulfed in the frills and furbelows confected for her by Zandra Rhodes, Gina Fratini and that dreadful couple who did what’s-her-name’s wedding dress. With the kind of pert, retrousse nose beloved of fashion illustrators like Fred Greenhill, Bubbles had gone from being the astonishingly beautiful film starlet Beverley Brooks (ever see “Reach for the Sky”? I didn’t think so) to, well, Miss Piggy.
The most enduring images of Bubbles — who at her happiest moments literally bubbled over, as if she were about to unleash a giant, wet guffaw — are from this, her Hogarthian period. In everything you read about her, no one makes the connection between her tremendous weight gain and wild clothes choices. Maybe it’s too obvious. One year when I have nothing to do, I’ll lock myself away with three decades of Tatlers and all will become clear. In any case, the assumption remains that having become indecently fat, Bubbles called attention to the fact with ever more extreme frocks. In this way she was the first to comment on her chubbiness, thwarting, if not silencing, critics.
Who can shake the picture of a desperately jolly woman in her 960 Fifth Avenue penthouse buoyed by a tent’s worth of watered-silk taffeta? (Bubbles also had homes in Beverly Hills, East Sussex, Round Hill in Jamaica and on London’s Eaton Square.) As only her head and hands emerged from the tent, she looked positively celestial, as if she might take to the heavens as a plus-size putto.
If anything, Bubbles was too easy a target. “An Unlikely Hero,” the book Lord Rothermere commissioned on how he saved The Mail, pulls back the curtain on Bubbles’ history of depression and feelings that she was misunderstood. Assailed by a nervous ailment called tricholtillomani, she pulled her hair out, literally, disguising the damage with wigs.
The Kobal Collection Beverley Brooks, in the 1950s.Bubbles wanted to be loved for her mind, not for her parties, and not for the crazy Rhodes getups that could make her look like she was wearing the curtains. In “People Like Us,” Charles Jennings roasts her to a crisp, drawing on his tenure as her daughter’s tutor. Greeting him at home at noon, surrounded by awards for her charity work, Bubbles wore a “nightie covered in make-up and food spillages. … The physical evidence … contradicted her wishful thinking so completely, it was like Lytton Strachey putting school boxing cups on his mantelpiece.”
Laugh all you like, but Bubbles often had the last word. In 1980, she upstaged all the women at a grand fete for more than a thousand guests at Versailles, including Princess Grace and the Maharani of Jaipur. Of course, stealing the show and being the best-dressed girl at the party are not the same thing. Bubbles took what she could get.
As the ambitious and fearless daughter of a middle-class architect growing up in Hertfordshire, Bubbles wanted it all: rich husband, sparkling social life, splendid career. “How to Win Friends and Influence People” was her handbook. At 17, she enrolled in secretarial school, dropping out to become a model. In 1953, she wed Christopher Brooks, a charismatic, good-looking and wealthy captain in the Coldstream Guards with whom she had one daughter. He and Vere Rothermere had been at Eaton together, and when Rothermere expressed interest in Brooks’s wife, she said her husband advised her to have an affair with Rothermere but not to marry him. He may have guessed how difficult the world would make it for them to bridge their class differences. “Talk about bitchy and cutthroat,” Bubbles roared to The Times decades after her 1957 marriage to Rothermere, which furnished three progeny. “I’ve never seen anything like it.’’
Bubbles consoled herself with the spotty power she wielded as the spouse of a press baron. Suzy Knickerbocker had Bubbles in her pocket, and when The Mail relaunched in 1971, Bubbles was instrumental in getting her a (failed) column. In 1975, on the occasion of “Funny Lady,” the most embarrassing film Barbra Streisand has ever made, if you don’t count “A Star Is Born” (but what about “Meet the Fockers”? you might well ask), Bubbles gave a party in her honor. The Mail later ran a negative review. Humiliated, Bubbles leaned on her husband to fire the paper’s editor. David English issued his resignation, but it was all for show. English stayed. Bubbles’ humiliation was redoubled.
Yet she needed people like English, if only to clean up after her. When it looked like “Hero” might be suppressed following Vere Rothermere’s death, a former senior Mail executive noted how “the great fascination of the book would be … the extraordinary lengths to which the paper would occasionally go to keep some of [Bubbles’] activities out of other newspapers.” One London daily reported that her name had been excised from the address book of the gay hairdresser Michael Lupo before he was convicted of four murders. The Rothermere’s son Jonathan had veto power over the contents of “Hero,” and while it does not shy from a discussion of Bubbles’ warts, there is no mention of her requiring disaster control, or of Lupo.
“Mere Vere” rescued The Mail, but wasn’t Bubbles the real hero? In 1967, her sister-in-law Mary threw down the gauntlet, proclaiming she was pregnant. If Mary supplied a male, the hereditary title and control of the empire would pass to her branch of the family through her son. Bubbles had almost died delivering her second daughter, but no risk was too big, given the prize. She and Rothermere got busy and produced Jonathan.
The pair legally separated in 1978 but kept on excellent terms. After Bubbles died, Rothermere wed his longtime mistress, a onetime hand model from Korea. Officially, Bubbles’ coroner ruled out suicide; the overdose, he said, was accidental (“misadventure”). She was found with twice the prescribed amount of a sleep aid in her blood and five times that of an antihistamine she took as a sedative. Rothermere paid her a seven-figure sum, in sterling, every year after they separated, so funds weren’t the problem. Or were they? “Money is a fantastic thing,” Bubbles once mused, “but it can make you kind of dead sometimes.”
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: September 16, 2010
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the school that Christopher Brooks attended. It is Eton, not Eaton.
Fabulous Dead People | Millicent Rogers
©Bettman/Corbis Millicent Rogers was among the 10 best-dressed women of 1947.
In this new monthly column, Fabulous Dead People, T looks back at the movers and shakers who once had the temerity and gall to break all the rules, so that today’s fashion faithful can break theirs.
It seems like we’re always coming off, or having, a Millicent Rogers moment. Her grip on style is that strong. Born in 1902, Rogers died just 51 years later, succumbing to what her doctor only half-jokingly suggested was a romantic heart. Three husbands (including a gold-digging Austrian count and a wealthy Argentine aristocrat), Clark Gable, Roald Dahl, Prince Serge Obolensky, Ian Fleming and a twirl around the dance floor with the Prince of Wales had taken their toll.
Rogers, the Standard Oil heiress, gave high fashion a good name. She was an aesthete with a fine, searching mind, not a ditz or a brat (like some of her more tabloidy colleagues one could mention). Nor was she particularly troubled, psychologically or otherwise, about having a colossal fortune she did nothing to earn, as her friend Cecil Beaton observed in “The Glass of Fashion.” No one ever called Millicent Rogers a poor little rich girl. On the face of it, at least, she took a (relatively) healthy, straightforward pleasure in the sometimes obscene luxuries indulged by her inheritance. These numbered a 24-karat-gold toothpick she did not hesitate to use at table (the one habit no one has ever been able to square with her merciless chic); traveling with a pack of seven dachshunds; and a penchant for the same four-figure Charles James couture blouse, which she literally ordered by the dozens. (Not incidentally, Rogers wore those blouses; never for a second did the blouses wear her.) When gas rationing made it impossible for Rogers to keep her usual car and driver during World War II in New York, she found her elegant way around this inconvenience by hiring a yellow cab and cabby full time.
Rogers favored Mainbocher, Adrian (whose wife, Janet Gaynor, was a BFF), Schiaparelli and Valentina, but she is best remembered in fashion terms for her unique association with James. This association tended toward collaboration, which was all the more amazing considering how proprietary and unbending James was about his work. Both client and designer are on the brain again — as the inspiration for John Galliano’s spring-summer couture collection for Dior and as a focus of “American High Style,” an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum opening May 7 and running through Aug. 1.
Louise Dahl Wolfe Rogers in a Charles James blouse.The new exhibit promises plenty to chew on, maybe even a glimpse of how the building of a James frock for the likes of Rogers was a ‘‘mathematical problem solved with calipers and equations,’’ as Elizabeth Ann Coleman noted in the catalog of a 1982 show about the designer, also at the Brooklyn Museum. In a remembrance of his patron published in The New York Journal-American after her death, James wrote that she “as no one else did” brought out the best of his talent, despite withering competition from Mrs. Randolph Hearst Jr., the Marchesa Luisa Casati, Babe Paley, Chanel on her way to becoming Coco … the list goes on.
Rogers lived as well as she dressed, in settings equal to her wardrobe. She grew up in Manhattan, in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., and in Southampton at Black Point, a 1914 Italianate villa on the ocean commissioned by her father, with gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted. In the 1920s, Col. Henry Huddleston Rogers II went on to consolidate a breathtaking 1,200 acres of meadows, ponds, woods and wetlands rich in wildlife on Southampton’s Cow Neck, a peninsula reaching into Peconic Bay. He christened the property Port of Missing Men (which takes the prize for the most flummoxing name ever harnessed to a piece of real estate.) It was the largest tract on Long Island until 1998, when the financier Louis Moore Bacon purchased nearly half of it for $25 million.
Port of Missing Men, designed by John Russell Pope in the style of a hunting lodge, was originally intended as a manly retreat from formal life in the big mansion on the beach, according to Ann Pyne of McMillen, the blue-chip firm that decorated it in an 18th-century country vernacular, with hooked rugs, Windsor chairs and the kind of collectibles that a ship captain might have brought back from his travels. Almost everything remains in the house, which is now owned by Countess Salm, Millicent Rogers’s daughter-in-law. Bacon donated his 540 acres as a conservation easement.
Preservation was an impulse Rogers understood. At the beginning of World War II, she exchanged the charm of her Hansel and Gretel period in an Austrian chalet (where her uniform was a dirndl, an apron, an embroidered vest and a peaked Tyrolean cap) for the colonial grandeur of Claremont, the 18th-century country estate in Tidewater, Va. ‘‘I consider it a desecration in Virginia to change even one single architectural detail,’’ Rogers announced. ‘‘Inside, you can do whatever you want.’’ The family friend Van Day Truex, later president of the Parsons School of Design and design director at Tiffany & Company, hung the rooms with Rogers’s ravishing collection of Watteaus, Fragonards and Bouchers and furnished them with ceramic stoves, a desk that once belonged to the poet Schiller and the museum-quality Biedermeier furniture that was a spoil from Rogers’s marriage to Ludwig von Salm-Hoogstraten, the playboy count.
McMillen decorators re-entered the picture when Rogers acquired an apartment in one of the Phipps tenements on Sutton Place that Dorothy Draper famously painted glossy black with white trim, giving each door a different brilliant color. In her living room Rogers reached back for inspiration to the draped salons of the Empire period, cloaking the walls with miles of crimson satin swagged from rosettes at the cornice. It was not a tame look.
No professional decorator is linked to her last house, Turtle Walk, an ancient adobe fort in, of all places, the high desert of Taos, N.M. Surrounded by the Spanish Colonial furniture and native American textiles, pottery, jewelry, baskets, santos, tinwork and paintings that she lovingly amassed, Rogers secluded herself here in 1947 after concluding it was time to stop falling in love. (She divorced her last husband, Ronald Balcom, a stockbroker, in 1941.) In Taos, her uniform was an authentic Navajo blouse, a long and full skirt propped up with multiple petticoats, a shawl and bare feet.
Soon after her death in 1953, one of Rogers’s three sons created a local museum in her name to showcase his mother’s trove of regional artifacts, a collection acquired in record time. Not that long before installing herself in New Mexico, Rogers had been racing around New York in a chauffeured, custom Delage coupe that Billy Baldwin said was so stuffed with throws and other sable accessories he could barely squeeze in. Our heroine was nothing if not adaptable.
Fabulous Dead People | Rudi Gernreich
Rudi Gernreich (1922-1985) is a great example of how far we haven’t come. Forty-six years after he introduced the monokini, public beaches in America are still scrubbed clean of naked breasts. Women who want to seem enlightened and “European” but are no more likely to air their chests than install a dance pole in their basements are lucky. The law gives them cover. Impress your friends! Keep your clothes on! It’s never been easier.
There are no topless swimsuits in the April 21 auction of Gernreich designs at Leslie Hindman in Chicago, but there are fireworks; they just won’t get you arrested. Even if the knit coatdress goes for the high estimate of $900, it may be a good deal: an identical one brought $1,245 in 2008 at Christie’s. Doyle’s holds the record for Gernreich, set in 2002: $8,500 for two minidresses with peekaboo vinyl inserts.
Vinyl was one of the many elbows that the Austrian-born Gernreich thrust in the side of French couture, which he loathed for the physical restrictions it imposed on women. There were other jabs: body decals, thong bathing suits, a trippy palette and the “no-bra bra” that torpedoed the torpedo look. Giraffe-spotted panties matched the suit, which matched the shoes, which matched the tights. Then there were all those minis. What the Hindman catalog calls a tunic is actually a dress. When Gernreich designed a mini, he meant it.
Dennis Hopper Leon Bing with Gernreich.Twenty of the Gernreich lots on the block are from the collection of his muse and model. No, not that one. You’re thinking of Peggy Moffitt, the Van Dongen sylph with racoon eyes photographed by William Claxton in a monokini. No, it is Leon Bing, who is letting her Rudis go. Bing is one of fashion’s great second acts. With “Do or Die,” her account of infiltrating muderous teen gangs, she remodeled herself as a gritty nonfiction writer. In “Swans and Pistols,” a rather pungent memoir, she recalls how she, Moffitt and Gernreich appeared on the cover of “Time” in 1967. One naturally wonders how it works when two muses attend the same designer. A long, loud silence followed when I asked Bing about her relationship with Moffitt. “Peggy was an exemplary model,” she said eventually. They can both be found on YouTube in “Basic Black,” regarded as the first, all-Gernreich fashion video. If you miss the charm and naïveté of the ’60s, it will just about do you in.
An only child born in Vienna, Gernreich had a privileged but anguished youth. He was 8 when his father, a hosiery manufacturer, committed suicide. Gernreich learned the grammar of feminine adornment in his aunt’s dress shop. “He told me about his first childhood images of sexuality,” Bing writes, “leather chaps with a strap running between the buttocks of street laborers’ work pants and the white flesh of women’s thighs above gartered black stockings.” Following the 1938 Anschluss, Gernreich and his mother fled to Los Angeles as Jewish refugees.
Courtesy of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers Gernreich designs up for auction.They survived on the pastries she baked and he sold door to door. Gernreich’s first job was washing cadavers for autopsy. “I grew up overnight,” he remembered in an essay by Marylou Luther in Moffitt and Claxton’s “The Rudi Gernreich Book.” “I do smile sometimes when people tell me my clothes are so body-conscious I must have studied anatomy. You bet I studied anatomy.”
Captivated by Martha Graham, Gernreich joined the Leslie Horton Modern Dance Troupe from 1942 to 1948. Three years later, having been convicted in an entrapment case, he became one of the five original members of the Mattachine Society, the gay-rights organization founded by Harry Hay, then his lover. But Gernreich never declared himself publicly. He did not come out, as it were, until after his death, when his estate and that of his partner of 31 years, Oreste Pucciani, provided an endowment for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Gernreich finally hung out his shingle in 1952. Soon after, he met Pucciani, who as chairman of the U.C.L.A. French department was instrumental in bringing Sartre to the attention of American academics. Obviously, the two were not your average fashion household.
The furniture in their Hollywood Hills crib was by Eames, Van der Rohe, Bertoia and Rudi himself. Under license, he designed tables that resembled doors and crates, arranging them on squares of burnished leather sewn together to make luxurious floor coverings. For his friend Pucciani, the photographer George Hoyningen-Huene conceived a “floating” reflecting pool. Bing called the place a “walled fortress,” a reference to her boss’s mania for privacy.
On page after after page of “The Rudi Gernreich Book,” its short (5-foot-6) subject with the chiseled head and full toupee looks borderline grumpy, the opposite of the burn-the-candle-at-both-ends caricature of a dressmaker in the Halston mold. Well, Gernreich did take his job seriously. But when he showed his last collection, in 1981, it was clear he had overstayed his welcome. By then, Gernreich only resonated with people who could make a dime slapping his name on some irrelevancy. Bing wishes he had gotten out earlier, so there would be no evidence he once donned a chef’s toque to promote a line of soups. Gernreich’s taste for wigs and jumpsuits wasn’t doing him any favors either. Posing with a model wearing his pubikini, a garment whose name should leave nothing to the imagination, he looked like Tracy Ullman as a porn entrepreneur.
Fabulous Dead People | Rory Cameron
Roderick Cameron — “Rory” to chums like Somerset Maugham and the media empress Anne Cox Chambers — would have liked to be remembered for the eight travel and history books he wrote, including “The Golden Riviera,” a sometimes delightful, often unreadable look back at the Cote d’Azur. But in death, as in life, Cameron’s flair for what Balzac called “the science of living” as it is applied “to the most trifling material objects” keeps getting in the way.
Was the waspish Cameron, as confirmed by the handful of people capable of judging such things, the man with perfect taste? Those laurels are usually settled on his close friend Van Day Truex, who shared the same quivering domestic sensitivities. Both men were crazy about Imari dishes as ashtrays, Moustiers faïence, Royal Worcester Blue Dragon china, bamboo-handled cutlery, Chinese everything. But unlike Truex, a high-profile teacher and prodigious designer, Cameron — an American who died of AIDS in 1985 at age 71 — never needed or wanted a commercial platform for spreading his gospel: His great wealth freed him from ever having to earn a living. The houses he decorated, mostly for himself and mostly in France, had that rarest of qualities: an atmosphere of inevitable chic, of absolute rightness, of un-strived-for, well, perfection. Run off his feet meeting the obligations of world-class host, collector and bon vivant, Cameron left it to Truex to bottle the look, which, of course, he famously did at Tiffany.
As suggested on An Aesthete’s Lament, a blog whose demise we’re still suffering, Cameron was “the aesthete’s aesthete” (if not quite Harold Acton). Most firsts of the kind credited to him are a nightmare to verify, nay impossible, but it seems churlish not to award him the infinity pool. For pure theater, the pool he designed at La Fiorentina — the Palladian-style villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat he shared with his scandalous mother beginning in the ’40s — has never been eclipsed. A sisal doormat Cameron spied at a restaurant in nearby Eze inspired him to have the material woven into vast floor coverings, a shot heard ’round the world.
Long before David Hicks, a frenemy to the last, coined the term “tablescape,” Cameron was composing emotionally resonant tableaux on any flat surface that offered itself up. In his last house — the ruin he restored in the late ’70s in Ménerbes, a pocket of Provence that Peter Mayle would soon turn into a comic strip — a tea caddy lamp presided over a brass barque-shaped dish, a spoil from one of the Chinese Opium Wars; a Utrillo tempera of a mouse in a worn gilded frame; a dark stone bust of a child; and a couple of small round objects that might have been boxes but could have also been stones.
“An inlaid ebony and mother-of-pearl powder horn from the Rajasthan might look well on an embroidered cloth from Ispahan,” Cameron once remarked in Vogue, struggling to explain his elusive art, “and quite pointless lying on a majolica-topped table.”
An intuitive gardener, Cameron also launched the fashion for daubing tree trunks with lime, an ancient method of discouraging insects in the Mediterranean. But he had his own reasons for adopting the custom: He simply liked the way the milky wash harnessed the light sifting through the rough dark leaves of the orange trees at La Fiorentina. Yet the idea of painting other people’s tree trunks, of hanging out his shingle, made him shudder. Pulling himself up to his full 6 feet 3 inches, Cameron told a reporter three years before his death, “I just can’t see myself … being nice and charming to people whose taste I can’t fathom.” When Maugham, a Cap Ferrat neighbor, asked him to vet a purchase, Cameron could be unsparing, says Pat Cavendish O’Neill, Cameron’s half sister. “Willie,’’ he would say with a sigh, “you’re going to have to take that back.’’ No one had a lower threshold for ugly.
Fabulous son, fabulous mother. Cameron’s was the Australian-born Enid, Countess of Kenmare, a k a “The Lady Who Killed All Her Husbands.” For years she was alleged to have finished off one of them, Marmaduke, Lord Furness, with a morphine overdose at La Fiorentina in 1940. But an apologetic letter uncovered in 2004 and signed by the party seeking conviction, Furness’s previous wife Thelma, acknowledges that the allegations were baseless. Enid’s name was cleared.
Countess Kenmare, who died in 1972 at 80, had a thing for shipping heirs, whether from Leicestershire (Furness) or Staten Island (Roderick Cameron, Rory’s father). Mother and son spent World War I on the move, skipping between Egypt, France, Australia and India. One of Cameron’s earliest memories was of his mother descending the steps of the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo in a cumulus of gray chiffon, a bunch of Parma violets tucked into her tiny waist. English boarding school and Swiss prep school led to studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In World War II, Cameron was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the intelligence agency that morphed into the C.I.A. On loan to England, Cameron was a regular at the dinner parties given by the irascible Emerald Cunard in her Dorchester Hotel penthouse. “Providing you weren’t getting yourself blown up,” he remembered decades later, “World War II wasn’t all that bad.”
Cameron enjoyed both men and women. Princess George Chavchavadze, born Elizabeth Ridgway to a hugely rich American family, was a mistress. He was also extravagantly smitten with the diplomat Donald Bloomingdale, who died of a heroin overdose supplied, but not administered so far as we know, by Cameron’s mum. His last love was his gardener Gilbert Occelli, who quickly followed him to the grave. O’Neill says many of his possessions “disappeared” after he died, including a Stubbs painting left to her. “Gilbert took them,” she told me.
As with all taste titans, Cameron was not universally loved. A serial guest at La Fiorentina, Taki Theodoracopulos, recently called him, on his online Taki’s Magazine, a name that cannot be printed on a family Web site, claiming that his host had used the villa as a lure to fill his bed. But Cameron could give as good as he got. Touring the villa after it was sold to Mary Wells Lawrence and decorated by Billy Baldwin, he found the lamps too big, the colors brash, the whole thing “strident.” Baldwin might have slapped back with a send-up of Cameron’s prose, which has a tendency to curdle on the page. “So much for these time-misted beginnings,” goes one passage from the “The Golden Riviera,” “and from here we swing right into the pre-Christian era.”
He should have stuck to decorating.
Fabulous Dead People | Frances Faye
In the late 1950s, the cabaret scene on the Sunset Strip was so feverish, you could hear Christine Jorgensen and Frances Faye in different rooms on the same night without leaving the building. Jorgensen played the Interlude; Faye the Crescendo downstairs. Jorgensen’s set included “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” sung, apparently, without irony. A robust performer even on a bad day, Faye could be heard through the floorboards, violently slapping the piano keys and inquiring, “Gay, gay, gay, is there another way?”
Frances Faye was that rare thing, a white chick who could not only shout but swing. She had a dry, gruff voice she put in the service of a deadpan, declamatory style, nudging listeners to consider standards in a different way: stripped of obvious sentiment. Is Faye’s brash recording of “Am I Blue” the most knowing version on the books? People who thought Teddi King and Mildred Bailey and Felicia Sanders said it all have concluded “yes.”
Faye made more than a dozen albums, collaborating with the aristocrats of pop-jazz arrangers, Dave Cavanaugh, Marty Paich and Russ Garcia, and musicians like Maynard Ferguson and Herbie Mann. Faye was partial to a Latin beat, and Jack Costanzo, the great bongoist, often supplied it. If you own nothing of Faye’s, “Caught in the Act” is a good place to start. So is Terese Genecco, who performs songs identified with Faye at the New York club Iridium. Please don’t stop reading. Genecco is no dumb tribute act. She does not want to be Frances Faye; she does make you understand why she’s so important. With Nick Christo it’s more the other way around. Christo is an Australian singer whose entire show is devoted to Faye. His chirpy, wide-eyed approach is at odds with her material. Also, he’s not a girl.
Collection of Tyler AlpernFaye’s music and sexual identity were inseparable. She had been married twice when, in the mid-’50s, she met Teri Shepherd, who was some 20 years her junior and became her manager. As Shepherd tells Bruce Weber in his film “The Chop Suey Club,” she and Faye were a couple for 31 years when Frances died in 1991 at age 79. (Shepherd still has the house they shared in the Hollywood Hills.) Onstage, Faye — one of Weber’s all-time heroes — mischievously changed “him” to “her” when singing love songs and peppered her sets with L.L.J. (Lite Lesbian Jokes). “That’s why I never go with girls,” she’d say when a woman hollered from ringside. “They’re so aggressive when they’re drinking.” The gays loved Fraaahncis. They still do.
For Faye’s longtime fans as well as those new to the party, all roads lead to Tyler Alpern, 45, of Boulder, Colo. Alpern began listening to Faye in 1988 but was frustrated by the lack of information about her. Ten years later he found a mention in a biography of Peter Allen. Since then, Alpern has traced Faye’s life in a rambling essay that runs to more than 18,000 words on his Web site, though if you dig deep you will also find some adamant score-settling: “I keep reading that although a top-notch entertainer, Frances Faye ‘did not have a great voice.’ I disagree!” As there is no biography of Faye, Alpern’s site will have to do.
If you knew nothing of Frances Faye, saw a clip and thought, That woman could only be from Brooklyn, like Fanny Brice could only be from Brooklyn, you’d be correct. Faye’s mother was a Russian immigrant, her father an electrician and arsonist familiar with Sing Sing. David Daniel Kaminsky — Danny Kaye — was a second cousin. Faye scored her first gig at 15, quit school and before she was 20 played the Cotton Club and speakeasies like the Calais Club. Gangsters, including Al Capone, adored her, some paying $1,000 a pop for requests. Discounts were neither demanded nor offered. Eight thousand dollars bought “Love for Sale” eight times. Faye was so at home with goons, she wed one, Abe Frosch, who did time for running a gambling syndicate. Her second marriage, to Sam Farkas, who had been a professional footballer, got off to a bad start. Faye was “broken to bits,” Alpern says, in a car accident on their honeymoon. Also, Farkas beat her.
Splitting the bill with Bing Crosby at the Paramount on Broadway in 1932 led to Faye’s first movie, “Double or Nothing,” which starred Crosby, and to her first record deal, with his Decca label. Visually it was hard to know what to do with Faye in that era. She wasn’t thin, and the camera did not love her nose, which was never small. (Faye went on to make her appearance part of her shtick, with flip deprecations like “I think when you’re pretty it doesn’t matter how you wear your hair.”) All of 24 in “Double or Nothing,” Faye doesn’t look a minute under 50. She wasn’t so much costumed as slipcovered. Playing a nightclub performer, she has one delirious scene in the film. For nearly five minutes, she and Martha Raye engage in a barkfest, scatting their brains out, two aliens from planet Zazz Zu Zazz.
Collection of Tyler AlpernThe ’30s were also Faye’s big years on West 52nd Street, where she shuttled between the Hickory House, Club 18 and Leon and Eddie’s. Back on Broadway in 1943 in “Artists and Models,” she was joined for one big number by four female jazz harpists. (Not the novelty it sounds: Daphne Hellman made her debut at Town Hall around the same time.) In about 1950, fed up with orchid corsages and portrait necklines, she scalped her hair and dyed it blond, earning an attack from Leonard Feather in Downbeat when Capitol Records signed her. “After studying the physical characteristics of typical recording stars,” he wrote, “… you wouldn’t be likely to pick … a matronly looking woman with a Brooklyn birth certificate, arthritis, a tough vocabulary, a quarter of a century in show business and hardly any records at all. …” Feather later tried to make it up to her by crowning Faye “the consummate nightclub performer.” Which she was.
In 1958, Faye tripped on the carpet in a Las Vegas hotel room, broke her hip and walked with crutches or a cane for eight years. Still, she worked. She’d be carried to the piano with the lights down and discovered by the audience when they went up. She was out of hope when a third hip operation proved successful. In 1977, parts of her act were filmed for “Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn,” a TV movie about gay runaways, and before retiring in 1981, she was cast as the madam in Louis Malle’s “Pretty Baby.” A series of strokes that silenced Faye seemed especially cruel.
For Nick Christo, Frances was “like a sequined piece of driftwood.” But to quote the lady herself, “Does that sound too camp?” Having floated a fragment of music ripe with innuendo, it was the question she often asked just before leaving the stage. The way she framed it, it sounded aspirational.
Fabulous Dead People | Richard Olney
Susan Heller Anderson for The New York Times Richard Olney in 1979.If you were lucky enough to be invited to Richard Olney’s for lunch in the dry and scratchy hills outside Sollies-Toucas, north of Toulon in Provence, two things were certain: That you would have a meal you would never forget, and that he would greet you in his herb and vegetable garden in a pair of beat-up espadrilles, a ravaged shirt left completely unbuttoned and a tiny excuse for a bathing suit. Because he was always running back and forth between the garden and kitchen to check on whatever was on the hob, a dish towel hung in his waistband.
Born in Marathon, Iowa, but a resident of France almost his entire adult life, Olney (1927-99) was a locavore 50 years before the designation was coined, a champion of seasonality, terroir, purity and authenticity before those terms were hijacked by even the corner burger-flipper. If you have never heard of him — and if you lift fork to mouth, I really don’t see how that could be possible — consider this: Alice Waters has said, in so many words, that she wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for her great friend Richard. His food politics became hers. Hers became ours, Michael Pollan’s and Michael Moore’s.
Gerard de la CruzOlney’s reputation rests largely on one book, “Simple French Food,” published in 1974. The “simple” is relative. If you don’t know how his brain worked, you might think he meant it as a joke. The first time my mother became seriously ill and went into the hospital, I asked friends to dinner and made a Provencal gateau de crespeus from “Simple,” a cold loaf of five layered omelettes, or crepes, each no more than a half inch thick with a different filling (courgettes, spinach, mushrooms, black olives and a hamless piperade: onions, tomatoes and sweet peppers). The omelettes are stacked in a charlotte mold, and a mixture of yet more eggs and butter-stewed sorrel is poured between and around the tiers. The gateau is then cooked in a bain marie. The procedure fills four full pages in my Penguin paperback edition of “Simple” and requires 20 eggs. The dish was not good (nothing to do with the recipe, which couldn’t be more precise), but it did distract me on a day when I needed to be distracted.
“Tap the bottom of the mold smartly against a muffled tabletop:” That line from the recipe caused me to fall a little in love. I had never seen language like that in a cookbook. (Charmingly, Olney goes on to recommend placing a couple of folded towels on the table to cushion the blow.) In “Reflexions,” his erratic, undernourishing memoir, he uses a flamboyant word like “ravish” in straight-faced ways one would not have thought possible in a food context: “The baby adored the limp waffles … but no one else was ravished,” and, “Julie, to her ravishment. …” Musing on bouillabaisse, Olney sniffs that “the Marseillasis drink the white wine of Cassis with it, but I thought that a tannic young red wine with an adolescent edge of sparkle could better support the alliaceous, cayenne, saffron and acid-sweet tomato onslaught.” Adolescent sparkle! Alliaceous onslaught!! Now I was really in love.
Olney wrote “Simple” on an ancient manual typewriter. He lived without a telephone almost till the end, didn’t drive and owned neither a radio nor a television. He was an old-fashioned personage but also a polarizing one, and not just because of his fetish for deboning, mousseline forcemeats, turning chickens inside out without damaging the skin or flesh and poaching birds in pig’s bladders.
Gail Skoff Olney’s kitchen fireplace.While his neighbor in the Midi, Simca (as Simone Beck was known), adored him, her co-author, Julia Child, was not ravished. My opinion of Child was greatly adjusted downward when I read the quote she gave R.W. Apple for Olney’s obituary in The Times. Until then I had no idea she could be so mean. “He could be absolutely charming,” Child sniped, “if you treated him like the genius he considered himself to be.” She didn’t know it at the time, but Olney had been yet meaner about her and her husband, Paul, slamming them in a 1975 diary entry that was folded into Olney’s posthumous memoir. “The Childs appear to be more bitter, more destructive and more irrationally anti-French than ever,” he seethed. What really galled him was the couple’s assertion that only Americans — i.e., themselves — understand French cooking. Should there ever be another movie about Julia, perhaps it will engage with this less cozy side of her.
Whether you agreed with them or not, Olney’s contrarian opinions made you question your own. As his assessments were based on personal, often long experience of the demigods he dismembered, they could not be dismissed. He found M.F.K. Fisher likable enough but without a lot upstairs. Her writing was “silly, pretentious drivel.” Drinking tumblers of sweet vermouth all day would have destroyed her palate, if she’d had one. O.K., Richard, now tell us what you really think. (His own fondness for the bottle could be disruptive and embarrassing. Had Olney’s reputation been any less bulletproof when he appeared on French television soaked to the gills, the incident would have brought him down.)
From the book “Reflexions” by Richard Olney/Courtesy of Brick Towers Press Olney with Alice Waters and Elizabeth David.James Beard fared only slightly better than Fisher. Olney accused Beard of brashly using him to advance his own agenda, resorting to lies, even, if that’s what it took. Elizabeth David was one of the few holiest of holies who escaped intact. To Olney, she was magical, witty, generous, literate and kind, her “devastatingly accurate” observations “funny” but “never cruel.”
After meeting Olney in Sollies-Toucas in 1988, I returned to New York thinking I could get him some magazine assignments. I had no motivation beyond wanting to read him. He didn’t need the work, but he wouldn’t have refused it. Here was this fabulous, legendary figure, I thought — if you have to pay someone $2 a word, it might as well be a world-class authority, right? Actually, no.
My idea probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Olney was used to having his say. If he thought a puréed and boiled sauce of rabbit lungs, heart, liver and red-wine marinade “looked and tasted like vomit,” he said so. Thanks to his harsh, categorical words, Pont l’Eveque will always be ruined for me. “I haven’t tasted a decent one in twenty five years,” he once wrote. “It is not I who have changed, it is Pont l’Eveque.”
OPULUXELtd.com™ Featured Website:Orgami Blog
a web site dedicated to the joy of origami – concepts, products and inspiration
- 2d graphics (10)
- 3d art (11)
- architecture (4)
- fashion (30)
- food & drinks (1)
- home & garden (36)
- lifestyle & media (22)
- news & events (16)
- origami paper (17)
- technology (10)
3d art, fashion
Banknote Jewellery
A graduate of London’s Royal College of Art Tine De Ruysser, Ph.D spends her days investigating production methods and folding patterns with a metal and fabric, a new material she invented while she was a student.
“Banknote Jewellery” is a conceptual and even political piece articulating the relationship between paper money and gold. A timely piece during our world’s financial crisis, Tine explores the symbolism and relationship between the value of paper money and gold.
2d graphics, 3d art
Flower of Life
A symbol of sacred geometry, the Flower of Life is composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles, that are arranged so that they form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry like a hexagon. The center of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter. Because numbers carried symbolic significance in the Old World, geometric shapes became a visual representation of these symbolic numbers and was involved in the planning and construction of many religious structures, including churches and temples. (Read an article written last year regarding Islamic Architecture.) Natural examples of the Flower of Life include: honeycombs, sunflowers and rocks. And lastly, a contemporary example of the Flower of Life can be seen in origami tessellations. Below is a piece by Andrea Russo, titled “Stars in a Sky of Hexagons” – a perfect example of what the Flower of Life is.
3d art, fashion
Geomorphology by Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana’s Professor Claudia Fernandez and Mauricio Velasquez Posada explores the use volume, space, and environment to recreate the meaning of origami and the human body. Learn more over here and here. It really makes me pause and say, “hey! whoever created this amazing piece has a truly unique mind!”
2d graphics, 3d art, technology
Origami Maze Puzzle Font
Erik D. Demaine, Martin L. Demaine, and Jason Ku over at MIT created an origami maze puzzle font, which is a template that shows you how to fold 3D letters of the entire alphabet.
(c) Crease Pattern of the Alphabet: Dark lines are mountain folds; light lines are valley folds; bold lines delineate letter boundaries and are not folds.
(c: Crease Pattern) folds into (b: 3D extrusion), which is an extrusion of (a: 2D maze)
3d art, lifestyle & media
Paper Planes
Paper planes are so simple, yet it inspire admirers for different reasons. The act of folding paper planes and testing its aerodynamics is so satisfying and fun! Jamming to the paper planes song by MIA is pretty hip too. May I suggest, the stylish flying paper plane wall decals by Mel Lim from Blik? And lets not forget Dawn Ng’s art installation “I fly like paper get high like planes.”
3d art, fashion, origami paper
Modular Origami
Modular Origami created with paper (by H.W. guth) and one in a form of a necklace (by Claire & Arnaud)
home & garden
Brooke Woosley’s Oru
Los Angeles based Environmental Designer Brooke Woosley is another amazing designer who challenged herself by creating a dynamic piece of furniture with a flat sheet of metal. In this process, she experimented with paper, basswood, light, and chipboard and finally concocted this awesome piece called Oru. It is waterjet cut, bent aluminum, painted in an auto finish: gloss white top with a matte blue underside. An excellent piece of furniture for a modern loft or studio.
lifestyle & media, news & events
Memorial Day @ New York Times
It’s Monday, May 31st, Memorial Day and in today’s New York Times article “The Great Unknowns” by Robert M. Poole, he addresses the unknown fatalities of war and how lovely there are origami flowers to compliment this opinion piece.
2d graphics
Bored? Make Love
After all the love making, sleeping and staring off into space, might this poster inspire some more love making activity? Lovely origami hearts that is.
2d graphics
origami typefaces 2
graphics
Origami Typefaces
Fun origami typefaces from designers in USA, Germany, and Japan. My favorite ones are the the ones from Japan – it reminds me of my modern alphabet jewelry collection.
lifestyle & media
Surface Magazine Origami Covers
Known for featuring top and innovative designers, New York-based design magazine Surface was inspired to use origami to grace their magazine covers!
fashion
With a Shoe, Marloes ten Bhömer Influences What Beauty Can Be
London-based Dutch product designer Marloes ten Bhömer who studied at the London College of Fashion and the Royal College of Art produces the most eye-catching and swoon worthy shoes. What makes Ms. Bhömer’s shoes so different is that she researches and works with materials, forms and construction methods that are rarely seen in shoe design. What’s more is that she works with our favorite friend origami in creating some of her couture shoes. You can also visit her at the Virtual Shoe Museum.
The first special edition MARLOESTENBHOMER® shoe will be available to order very soon. If you would like to be amongst the first to know about the launch, please email her!
[left: Foldedshoe / Materials: Wood and tarpaulin / A single sheet of fabric folded once to create an abstracted shoe shape]
[right: Carbonfibreshoe #2 / Materials: Carbon fibre and leather / Shoes constructed from carbon fibre, cladded in leather ]
lifestyle & media, origami paper, technology
Fold Loud by JooYoun Paek
New York-based artist and interaction designer JooYoun Paek created a musical play interface called Fold Loud which combines technology, origami, and sound to create an interactive experience of relaxation, recovery and balance.
While you fold classic origami bases from this unique sheet of paper, it simultaneously creates soothing harmonic vocal sounds. Each fold is assigned a different sound so that a combination of these folds create harmony. Click here to watch the video.
home & garden
All That Glitters is Hanna Nyman
Swedish product and print designer Hanna Nyman lets her talent shine through in creating this beautiful lighting system. Plus it is also very origami and we like that.
fashion
Leather Aligator Fold Clutch by Chloe
Thanks to the awesome fold factor in origami, Chloe offers a new, fun and fashionable way to hold your most intimate belongings!
home & garden
Nenen by Igor Marq for Corian
fashion
Elijah sports tank
If I had a fabulous party to attend this summer, I would wear this origami sports top to go running so that I can fit into the beautiful Dior Dresses. The sports tank is on sale too!
home & garden
no. 973, origami chair by James Dieter
( I know it was 5 years ago, but still very cool to feature )
In 2003, designboom and 100% design organized an international design competition: 100% folding chairs. There were more than 1300 participants, from 84 countries, 470 prototype-entries received, and only one winner. On our blog, our winner would have been entry no. 973, titled Origami Chair from Brooklyn-based design studio founded by James Dieter.
Constructed with polycarbonate and polyester mesh, the chair folds together from a single sheet into a three dimensional structure, strong enough to withstand the weight of an adult.
Check out dform – you’ll find more James Dieter manipulating of flat sheet materials such as wood veneer or plastic and transform them into dynamic three dimensional forms.
home & garden
Origami by Reflex-Angelo
Matteo of Arredo blog was kind enough to comment on the cool origami wall entry, which led to the awesome discovery of Reflex-Angelo. These origami-inspired cabinets also double as shelving units, you will see the various shelf combinations you can create to fit your lifestyle.
(ps. They’ll also offer you a wonderful web experience when you click to their site!)
-
About
In addition to being one of the world’s favorite pastimes, origami offers numerous solutions and ideas in the world of design, fashion, home, and technology. Therefore, we feature innovative origami concepts and products from manufacturers, artists, designers and engineers around the world. These innovators contribute significantly to commerce and media, for they demonstrate that origami is a viable endeavor and worthy of our attention.
-
SPONSORSHIP
advertise on our blog, contact us! -
Stay Connected
-
-
Origami Designers
-
DISCLAIMER
any references or endorsements made on origamiblog.com has not received any payments from the reviewed.
It’s official: Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged! via [usatoday]
After all the rumors and speculation, Prince William and Miss Katherine “Kate” Middleton are now engaged.
Prince Charles announced today that William popped the question in October in Kenya, and the two will marry in “spring or summer” 2011 in London.
The announcement noted that William asked Kate’s father for her hand in marriage. The couple will live in North Wales after they wed. No details were given on the proposal or the ring.
William, 28, and Kate, 28, have been dating for eight years, and Kate had been dubbed ‘Waity Katy’ amid criticism that she was hanging on for a proposal. But now we can all get ready for what will be the biggest royal event since Prince Charles married Diana in 1981.
The Daily Mail reports that we can expect William and Kate to appear in public for photographs soon, when the princess-in-waiting will show off her engagement ring. The first interview with the pair is being broadcast tonight in England,
Already, chatter is going strong about Kate’s dress, Kate’s ceremony and how many babies Kate will have. “She’s going to be breeding up a storm,” said Daily Beast editor and royal expert Tina Brown on Good Morning America.
10 Offices Cooler Than Yours (probably) via [mentalfloss]
by Stacy Conradt
I’m not complaining about where I work – I spend my days in a pretty cool building. But it’s no Google. Then again, not much is. These 10 awesome company headquarters will make you shake your fist at your cubicle in rage… unless you work at one of them, of course.
1. Google. I know, everyone knows about Google, but it seems like a glaring omission to do a list about cool company headquarters and not list them. Among the amenities at the Googleplex? Sand volleyball games at lunch, a ball pit, foosball and ping pong tables, video games, and bicycles to get from meeting to meeting (it’s a huge complex). Not impressed? Let’s talk about the décor – pink plastic flamingoes, doors that go nowhere, a giant PlayMobil pirate, a dinosaur skeleton and lava lamps. Still yawning? There’s more. So much more.
2. Pixar. Tom Hanks recently Tweeted a picture of the bathroom doors at Pixar if that gives you any indication of how seriously they take themselves there. It makes sense that they have a 600-seat movie theater, but the organic vegetable garden and cottage-like cubicles (pictured) are just plain cool.
3. The Cartoon Network. Sure, they might work in cubicle-land just like the rest of us, but at least they have Rosie the Robot smack in the middle of it all. They’re also allowed to decorate their cubes in any manner they see fit. Given the creative types that work there, that makes for a pretty interesting work environment.
4. Red Bull. A fancy color scheme does not a cool company make (though their shiny red, blue and silver scheme is pretty neat) – it’s the slide that leads from the second floor to the first floor that won this headquarters a spot on the list. All I can think is, “But what about the liability issues?!” There’s also a huge skateboard ramp and meeting room tables that double as ping pong-playing surfaces.
5. Nike. The video speaks for itself, but one highlight is an employee store with killer selection and a (allegedly) generous discount.
6. Volkswagen. I bet you didn’t know an assembly line could look so modern, sleek and tidy. I didn’t! The inside of this factory in Dresden, Germany, is so elegant and gorgeous that when Dresden’s opera house was flooded in 2002, they put on Carmen in factory instead. There’s also a restaurant and a simulator that gives test drives, among many other cool features.
7. McLaren. I suppose it just comes with the territory of being a company that produces Formula One race cars, but how many offices do you know that come complete with a 475-foot wind tunnel used to test cars?
8. Selgas Cano Architecture. Want an office with a view? Look no further than Selgas Cano, just outside of Madrid, which lets employees sit in the middle of nature while they work.
9. Bloomberg. Get a complete tour here – at least, as complete as you can get with security stalking you constantly.
10. Zappos. If working for a shoe company isn’t your dream job (If it means a steep discount on shoes, I’m in), consider this: they have Dance Dance Revolution set up as a stress-reliever, themed meeting rooms, nap pods and lots more. Check it out:
Do you have another nominee for the list? Let us know – especially if you work in one!
Pineapple Cobbler via [allyou]
OPULUXE Lounge Grooves™ PlayList
Yield: 8 Servings
Cost per Serving: $.46
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 stick (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk and vanilla extract; stir until mixture forms a smooth batter. Gently stir in butter.
Spread batter evenly in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish (it will be a very thin layer) and scatter pineapple chunks evenly over batter.
Bake until pineapple has fallen to bottom of pan and top is puffed and golden brown and springs back slightly when touched in middle, 25 minutes. Cool cobbler slightly and then serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.
The BIG Turn-On: The Complex Science Behind Sexual Attraction via [psychologytoday]
Fast Forces of Attraction
Attraction is a symphony in which many different instruments—wit, voice, charisma, class, and body language—play a part.
When you’re attracted to someone, your whole body switches on. It’s like hearing the first bars of your favorite song. And though it might feel like magic, it isn’t random. It’s just too complex for us to discern the harmony. Attraction is so subtle that we would trip over our own feet if we were aware of every move. That’s why our brains have set us up to draw instantaneous inferences from tiny nuances of behavior, what psychologists call “thin slices” of judgment. We form first impressions of another’s attractiveness in a tenth of a second, generating a symphonic burst of desire in which everything from voice to wit plays a part.
—Jay Dixit
Smooth Talk
What we listen for in a voice.
The sound of a sexy voice can echo for generations (“Happy Birthday, Mr. President… “). And the dissonance of an ear-blistering cackle can turn away even the most interested suitors (call it the Fran Drescher effect). But between these extremes, how much do we weigh the voice of a potential partner—and what do we listen for when they first open their mouths?
Accents affect our perceptions, as do speed and pitch. We judge fast talkers to be more educated, and those with varied inflection to be more interesting. Men prefer higher voices in women, and women like deeper voices in men (especially when ovulating or looking for a short-term relationship). Pitch correlates only loosely with height, but is closely tied to hormone levels—meaning it’s a good indicator of fertility or dominance, as well as health and attractiveness. “In general, people with attractive voices have attractive faces,” says David Feinberg, a psychologist at McMaster University.
If your voice eclipses your face as your star quality, keep your mouth moving. One study showed that hearing tones that matched men’s or women’s voices made androgynous headshots appear more masculine or feminine. In other words, a sonorous voice can actually enhance your looks.
—Matthew Hutson
In Good Repute
The delicate matter of advance word.
No matter how spectacular your entrance, your reputation got there before you. And it has primed everyone’s reptilian brain to render a high-speed decision on whether you are to be trusted. If the answer is affirmative, that charming chap holding court in the center of the room may be kindly disposed to flash you a smile, let down his guard, and begin the dance of attraction.
But if the amygdala sends up a caution flag—otherwise known as anxiety—you may have to work extra hard to create a positive impression. It may be, finds a team of German and Austrian researchers, that we’re all far more attuned to advance word than to the evidence before our very eyes.
People like people whom others find attractive. You might be inclined to think it’s because socializing with (or sleeping with) the It girl enhances your own status in the crowd. And maybe it does. But a recent study suggests it’s also an effective mating shortcut. Choosing a good partner takes time and energy. When one woman finds a guy attractive, others are likely to flock to him too. Scientists call it “mate-choice copying.” It makes life easier for fish and birds, and it turns out to be the way people operate, too.
—Hara Estroff Marano
Class Action
The allure of shared pedigree.
Most of us are drawn to those who hail from our own side of the tracks, and men and women are marrying within their social class much more than ever.
The outward signs of pedigree have gotten trickier to read, thanks to modern informality in dress and the ubiquity of cheap, high-quality clothing, notes Dalton Conley, a sociologist at NYU. Yet we’re deft at passing style judgments that place people precisely on the socioeconomic spectrum.
We’re attracted to people who look like a class match because we think they’ll validate our own choices and values and share our interests and opinions.
“We all love the story of Pretty Woman, but generally it doesn’t work that way,” says Conley. “How someone does their hair and nails and how they dress is difficult to separate from their innate attractiveness. It’s a package deal.”
—Carlin Flora
The Once Over
Not all flesh is created equal.
Ask five people what they find attractive, and you’ll get a lesson in human variability: girls with ears that stick out; guys with soulful eyes.
But ask 5,000 people and clear patterns emerge. Some traits have universal sex appeal because they’re markers of good genes, health, and fertility: a fit body, clear skin, a symmetrical face with average-sized and -shaped features, and traits that mark sex hormones: Angelina Jolie‘s big lips indicate high estrogen, while George Clooney‘s square jaw signals he’s got testosterone to burn. Women swoon over men with “adult” faces—marked by strong chin and nose—while men like women who look childlike, with smooth skin, small noses, and high cheekbones.
And everything you fear about height and weight is true: A woman’s desirability in a speed dating situation is determined largely by her thinness, while each extra inch of height gives men a 5 percent edge in the number of women interested in dating him.
But we tend to wind up with people of similar stature and girth—meaning short men end up with even shorter women, and people choose partners with similar builds. After all, a warm glance from a charmer who’s within size range is infinitely more alluring than a runway model’s cold shoulder.
—Carlin Flora
In the Mood for Love
State of mind matters, but not in the way you think.
We think of good moods as attractive—the cheerful extrovert with the full smile is more appealing than the moping loner in the corner. But researchers find what matters even more is your own mood.
Your mood affects your perceptions of others, especially in new encounters. Feeling sad, for example, dulls your sensitivity to others’ nonverbal cues, impairing your quick-take judgment and forcing you into a more deliberative, less accurate mode of constructing first impressions.
It does the same in a potential partner. So while you might be your most scintillating self, if the girl you’re closing in on is having a down day, she’s virtually blind to your charms. Which takes us to the heart of attraction. It holds up a flattering mirror to us. We’re attracted to someone when we like the way we look in their eyes. We’re most attracted to those who see us as we want to be seen, who allow us room to stretch—to be, or become, our best self.
—Hara Estroff Marano
The Charm Offensive
When two hearts beat as one.
Charisma is charm in neon lights, a social gift we can’t help but respond to when we see it. A person with charisma—think: Oprah—may bend the light waves in a room, oozing confidence and self-esteem, and we move closer because confidence makes others feel good. A person’s self-esteem guides our instant evaluations: “Hmm, if she likes herself, there must be something there for me to like, too.”
The deep secret of charismatic people, however, may be their ability to create synchrony, to induce you to adjust your bearing, speech rate, even heart rate—through locking eyes, through touch, or simply because you feel a strong rapport. Researchers believe our strongest perceptions of mutual attraction develop in those first encounters where two people have a measurable physiological reaction to one another. It’s not exactly chemistry—it’s more like electricity.
—Hara Estroff Marano
Walking Tall
Confident and friendly movements are key.
Mom was right: Good posture and a genuine smile are crucial elements of attraction. In fact, we register facial expression, hand gestures, and posture even more quickly than looks or style.
Those who look relaxed yet assured are attractive because they put us at ease—perhaps because we interpret others’ movements using mirror neurons in our brains that engender copycat emotions, says John Neffinger, a political consultant who specializes in nonverbal behavior.
“Internally summon up the attitude you’re trying to project,” Neffinger advises. “Think about what you felt like the last time you truly felt confident. Once you’ve recaptured that feeling, you’ll stand tall as you walk into the room.”
And since we’re all suckers for flattery, the easiest way to look good is to look interested. Channel your inner Bill Clinton by using steady eye contact, keeping your palms turned up, nodding, and pointing your feet toward your target.
—Carlin Flora
Playing Hard to Get
When to get your game on.
We’ve all had the experience. You make a connection, you leave a message, and… the other person doesn’t get back to you. You wait, and wonder. Is there something wrong with you? Did they meet someone else? Then, when they finally do call, you’re so relieved you never want to let them go.
“When you don’t seem too available, it makes you mysterious,” says Robert Greene, author of The Art of Seduction. “Anything you do that makes their imagination take flight furthers the seduction process.”
If you’re excited about someone, uncertainty about their interest in you can heighten your attraction to them, explains Paul Eastwick, a psychologist at Northwestern. You have a drive to reduce the uncertainty, which causes you to obsess—which in turn deepens your feelings.
We all want what we can’t have. Someone playing hard to get forces us to invest more, and the more effort we put in, the more we assume it must be worth it.
Playing hard to get works because it increases a person’s perceived value. “It’s simple sexual economics,” explains Peter Jonason, a researcher at New Mexico State University. “You give the impression of lower availability, increasing demand.” But hard-to-get is a dangerous game. We like people who like us back, and if you seem too unattainable, you risk causing the other person to give up. In sum: Stretching out that period of anxious anticipation can be a powerful weapon of courtship. Use with caution.
—Jay Dixit
Woo with Wisecracks
Separating the wit from the chaff.
All it takes is one good joke to break the ice. But while everyone wants a partner with a sense of humor, guys are usually the ones cracking wise. Why? Studies suggest that women think humor-generating men are hot because wit signals intelligence and creativity—but that men value humor appreciation much more because it indicates sexual receptivity.
The prospect of everlasting lopsided banter may not appeal to either sex, but men and women do digest humor differently. Women, the more selective daters, are also more discriminating about jokes. Brain imaging shows they process jokes more deeply and reap a larger reward response from good ones, while rejecting duds without hesitation.
Mirthmaking displays social prowess in addition to brains: knowing what to say, with what timing, in what company. Of course, the joke teller can also use humor for culling contestants: Tell a quirky joke and you’re looking for the person who gets it—and gets you. Humor is serious business: Research shows that humor compatibility promotes marital bliss.
—Matthew Hutson
AWESOME Lady GaGa Worthy Herbivorous Haute Couture Bio-Fashions via [greenopolis]
Haute Cuisine Meets Haute Couture With Bio-Fashion
|
Sebrina Smith
|
|
| by LiteGreen
Crane sees the future of fashion as a time when materials and resources could be severely restricted because of their environmental impact, and she hopes edible clothing will provide an alternative. Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress aside, for many of us, the idea of wearable food peaked with edible panties. But, if you understand how intrinsically wasteful the fashion industry is, and you could have a dress that used fewer valuable resources to make you look good, would you wear a dress made of Gelatin?
Emily Crane, a student at London’s Kingston University, is betting that you would. Crane sees the future of fashion as a time when materials and resources could be severely restricted because of their environmental impact, and she hopes edible clothing will provide an alternative. Crane calls her creations Micro-Nutrient Couture, a blending of shelf-staples, chemistry and imagination, cooked up in her London kitchen.
“I experiment with materials that occur naturally when cooked up from edible ingredients,” Crane writes at her web site, “including gelatines, kappa carrageenan, agar-agar sea vegetable, water, natural flavor extracts, glycerine, food coloring and lusters. This is high-tech kitchen couture.”
Crane’s work is an exotic part of Kingston University’s display during London Fashion Week. And the reviews have been positive. Enough so that Crane envisions a day when each of us can buy a kit to make our own edible outfits at home. So can we look forward to a day when we’ll attend a dinner party where dessert might be served right off the hostess’ back? “Why not?”, says Crane. “Let the banquet begin.” |
OPULUXELtd.com LIFESTYLE===}}{{=== DESIGN 