The Wedding Photographer Dilemma: To Share or Not To Share? |
The Rivington Tables Are Made of Colorful Ceramics
After a long and successful decade of collaboration with Italian ceramic company Mutina, renowned designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby are celebrating the milestone with a new collection, the Rivington Tables. The name comes from the Rivington Bar & Grill Restaurant where Barber and Osgerby had their first meeting with Mutina. Ten years later with five collections under their belt, the duo are adding the Rivington Tables to Mutina Editions, which features entirely handcrafted ceramic objects made in Italy by skilled master potters.
The Rivington Tables collection consists of two wall tables and three freestanding tables, all made using cast molds and colorful glazes. One of the wall tables features a round Tondo top, while the rest of the tables are topped with a rectangular Rettangolare surface. The various shapes that make up the table base, legs, and top are highlighted through the use of color. In fact, the very curated color palette is what gives the collection its defining feature.
With Rivington Tables, we enjoyed the liberty to craft a more compact collection where colour plays a pivotal role. It can be bolder, more vibrant… kind of like candy.
– Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
Like all of Mutina’s collections, the Rivington Tables are made without any Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). The tables also comply with the Restricted Substances Declaration and are packaged in entirely recyclable materials.
To learn more about the Rivington Tables collection, visit Mutina.
Cole Art Center: Works by artist Muñoz to be featured in ‘Twenty’ exhibition
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will present “Twenty,” an exhibition featuring the work of Benjamin Muñoz, running Nov. 2 through Jan. 19 at The Cole Art Center.
Wind Animates Vibrant Fabrics in Thomas Jackson’s Ephemeral Environmental Installations
“Tulle no. 046” (2022), Nantucket, Massachusetts. All images © Thomas Jackson, shared with permission
Ethereal sheets of tulle appear to hover in spectral motion over meadows and in copses of trees in Thomas Jackson’s latest photographs. “If there’s a theme I’m focused on this year, it’s the relationship between the materials I use to make my installations and the landscapes they inhabit,” he tells Colossal. Each ephemeral installation (previously) responds to the surrounding environment, changing shape as it interacts with the wind. Often documented during the golden hour, the layers of thin fabric shift to become more or less opaque, overlapping and into various color combinations in the light.
Recently, Jackson has begun to work with silk and continues to incorporate other everyday materials into his pieces, like plastic cups or aluminum trays. This past summer, he and a team of 60 volunteers coordinated the installation of “Collaborative Nature,” a public art project in a park in Tiburon, California, consisting of about 800 fabric “puffs” that responded to the wind, stuck into the ground with thin fiberglass stakes.
Jackson focuses on sustainability, taking a “leave no trace” approach to dismantling the installations when they are complete and recycling the materials into new projects. He says:
It would not be incorrect to say that I make art about nature with materials that represent a threat to nature itself. It’s contradictory, I know, and to a large degree, that’s the point. In fact, I think we’re all grappling with a similar contradiction in our daily lives. We revere nature and want to preserve it (most of us at least), but we also want to enjoy the comforts and conveniences of our petroleum-based, industrial economy. I want my work to exist in the space between those two incompatible desires. At the same time, I want viewers to consider what a sustainable equilibrium between ourselves and the natural world might look like.
Find more of Jackson’s work on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.
“Tulle no. 51_v2,” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia
“Collaborative Nature,” (2023), Tiburon, California
“Tulle no. 039” (2022), Neskowin, Oregon
“Tulle no. 44_v1” (2022), Nantucket, Massachusetts
“Cups no. 6” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia
Nantucket, Massachusetts
“Tulle no. 052” (2023), Serenbe, Georgia
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Wind Animates Vibrant Fabrics in Thomas Jackson’s Ephemeral Environmental Installations appeared first on Colossal.
Blue Bottle Studio by wrk-shp Serves as a Sensorial Stage
Hiding in plain site within the nondescript commercial husk of a former Melrose dry cleaner can be found Blue Bottle Studio. The coffee brand’s first residency in the United States, the intimate Los Angeles space hosts a mere eight seats, each awaiting to serve a thoughtfully composed and choreographed exploration of the beloved beverage spanning brewed leaves and flowers, to fermented berries, and across numerous surprising expressions of roasted coffee all surrounded by surfaces, sounds, and aromas curated to elevate all of the senses.
Designed with longtime Blue Bottle collaborators Airi Isoda and Ryan Upton of architecture firm wrk-shp, with the support of Capsule Manufacturing, Blue Bottle Coffee’s founder, James Freeman, Global Head of Innovation, Benjamin Brewer, alongside Global Head of Cafe Design, Cary Cheng conspired to impart every detail of their coffee bar with omotenashi, the deeply-rooted Japanese value of hospitality transcending expectations of guests. The intention inhabits every corner of the interior layout, with each piece of serving ware, ceramic pendant, all the way down to the hyphen-shaped brass chopstick stands used to gently elevate each card presented across the 8-course menu serving a sense of serenity.
“The Studio is our answer to this question: How hard can we work to reveal the essential nature of an extraordinary coffee and present it to a handful of guests in a modest room?” explains Freeman. “We wanted to create a space for the experiential rather than the common educational, informational coffee tasting.”
Embodying the concept of ma – the space around/the space between – the Studio unfolds to offer guests a spatial and holistic experience transcending taste, inviting negative space as a participant. Photo: Gregory Han
That experience begins with guests breaching a wall of coffee-dyed curtains into the Studio. Designed by fiber artists Niki and Yusuke Tsukamoto of Lookout & Wonderland, each patchwork panel was dyed with various blends of Blue Bottle coffee beans, creating both a visual and aural barrier between the world from where guests have arrived and the realm of the senses awaiting on the other side.
Blue Bottle Coffee’s founder, James Freeman. For the first course coffee leaves, flowers, and fermented coffee berry are poured to present an entirely new spectrum of flavors unknown to most. Photo: Gregory Han
One cannot but think of a sushi bar upon sitting behind the purpose-built expanse of the Studio’s bar. Designed to serve hot liquids, the wood is paired with an inlaid brass surface dulled into a darkened patina from where the small team of Blue Bottle baristas operates a studied and purposeful choreography of steeping, stirring, and pouring their coffee omakase throughout the 90-minute experience.
The intimacy of the seating and depth of the Studio’s bar invites those in attendance to lean forward to engage in conversation. Photo: Blue Bottle Studio
Photo: Blue Bottle Studio
Aged brass was selected for its durability and timelessness (Freeman exhibits a habit of wiping away the smallest wayward drop with admirable finesse), complementing the row of walnut Windsor chairs situated across the bar, angled ever so slightly to silently welcome guests on arrival.
Selina Viguera, cafe lead for Blue Bottle Studio, speaks with a guest. Photo: Gregory Han
Mobility and adaptability were emphasized from conception, permitting the Blue Bottle Studio team to move the brass coffee bar, architectural partitions, and curtains without too much hindrance when required.
A pair of vintage Altec Lansing VOTT A7 speakers, turntable, and tube amp selected by noted audio specialist Benjamin Brinkman are stationed to accompany every part of the menu, with personal album selections from James, Benjamin, and other Studio baristas’ personal vinyl library adding yet another sensorial layer. Photo: Gregory Han
Reinforcing the importance of sound, the walls of the Studio are designed to be audio baffles with sound dampening materials such as cork to aid with the overall acoustics of the room.
James Freeman concluding with a coffee digestive. Photo: Gregory Han
A small selection of ceramics and extremely limited coffee products are sold at the front entrance. Photo: Blue Bottle Studio
It’s a bit of bittersweet realization that it was twelves years in the making for the Blue Bottle Studio to arise in Los Angeles Studio (a followup to 2023’s Kyoto and Hong Kong outposts serving similarly conceived menus). But impermanence was always intentionally designed into the Blue Bottle Studio. Like a haiku, the Studio’s nature is intended to be brief, and only open until November 5th with reservations.
VIDEO: Candide Launches Over Massive Snow Sculpture
Majestic send by our boy Candide as he launches over a massive eagle made of snow that was made for Tomorrowland festival.
Landscape Photography With the Nikon 24-200mm
A 24-200mm is a zoom lens with such a range of focal lengths that it makes it perfect for a walkaround lens. The question is, how good is it at the extremes and how useful is it in the wild? In this video, Nigel Danson takes it on a landscape shoot to see how it performs.
I want to start by saying that Nigel Danson’s production quality is getting out of control; it’s indistinguishable from a high-end TV show at this point! Perhaps that doesn’t make the reviews of lenses any better, but it makes them a damn sight more enjoyable to watch!
Danson is currently roaming around Ireland and in this video, he is using the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens. With such a broad focal range, this lens lends itself to a lot of situations and is perhaps trying to nail down the “walkaround” lens. A walkaround lens is generally highly versatile without being too heavy. For example, you could shoot wide-angle landscapes, but also telephoto portraits. There was a time — perhaps only a decade ago — when these incredibly versatile lenses were jacks of all trades, masters of none. In fact, the ones I tried were underwhelming in everything they did, they were just easier than taking lots of lenses with you. Now, the latest Nikon to take on this versatile role appears to be doing it very well indeed!
Do you use a walkaround lens? Why or why not?
Celebrating South Africa’s youth culture through photography
CNN
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Recent headlines from South Africa have reported national crises, from rolling blackouts to the highest unemployment rate in the world and housing shortages. But a new photography exhibition shines a spotlight on the rich landscape of innovation and contemporary culture led by young people in the country.
In “A Young South Africa,” (at the NOW Gallery in London until November 19), work from six photographers and creatives document the diversity of style, talent and thriving subculture among the “Ama2000s”, the South African term for Generation Z. But it also shines a light on the evolving cultural identity of a country that is itself young.
“We’re only 29 years of a democracy,” explained Karabo Mooki, one of the featured photographers, over video call. “It’s such a young culture.” Mooki’s series on show, “Island Gals,” documents a skateboarding community of young Black women in his hometown of Johannesburg. Established by 21-year-old skater Thato Moet, Island Gals provides a “safe space” for girls to come together and skate, explained Mooki.
As a skateboarder himself, he had been aware of “the heavily dominant male cis environment” of skateboarding and wanted to give visibility to the growing community of Black women represented by Island Gals. “I felt there was a need to bring truth to light, documenting the evolution of the (skateboarding) culture, the narrative that has not been celebrated by mainstream media,” he said.
Mooki’s richly saturated portraits catch the skaters in still moments of connection, in parks, on streets, and other public spaces of the city where women too often face harassment and violence. Each image is accompanied by the woman’s story, as told to Mooki — from struggles with mental health to standing up to sexist stereotypes in skateboarding. “Black women are often boxed up in society’s preconceived stereotypes,” he said. “I wanted to celebrate the beauty of this community and the boundaries that Island Gals is pushing.”
Mooki, who has also documented the Black punk scene in the city’s township of Soweto, as well as other local skateboarding groups, believes that “community is a cornerstone of Johannesburg’s youth culture.”
In the photo series “Afrogrunge”, 26-year-old designer and creative director Anita Hlazo, along with photographer Luxolo Witvoet, take us to the townships of Langa and Nyanga in Cape Town. As a teenager, Hlazo harnessed her own style — mixing pop and grunge influences with studs, piercings, platform boots and second-hand clothes — to create the fashion label Afrogrunge.
She described the style to CNN over email as “a combination of culture and subculture,” mixing inspirations from around the globe, and dressing in a way that is “foreign within our daily, cultural norm.” Afrogrunge, Hlazo said, shows that “youth culture in South Africa is aware of the global world, and if we don’t manage to come for it, we bring it here and enjoy it for ourselves.”
The photographs on show explore the experience of being an “Afrogrunge girl,” featuring young women expressing themselves through alternative fashion and style, often in stark contrast to everyday urban surroundings.
The photographer Fede Kortez, meanwhile, celebrates the aesthetics and identity of two other Cape Town neighborhoods — Bo-Kaap, a historical center of Cape Malay culture known for its colorfully painted houses, and Woodstock, acclaimed for its art scene — as well as the young people living there.
Portraits on show from Johannesburg-based Nikki Zakkas capture young people across South Africa gaining recognition for their talent, from musicians and football players to ballet dancers. “My aim was to showcase individuals who embody diverse facets of contemporary youth culture,” the photographer told CNN, explaining that she collaborated with her subjects to portray them “as they envisioned themselves.”
Zakkas photographs the young creatives in places that have significant personal resonance: 24-year-old ballet and contemporary dancer Bhungane Mehlomakulu is captured in Sasolburg, where he grew up and discovered his passion for dance; indie musician Red Robyn is photographed at a shuttered beachfront amusement park in her home city of Durban.
In the series “Back to the Soil,” Johannesburg-based creative director Bee Diamondhead worked with photographer Travys Owen to portray three queer male musicians making waves in South Africa: Desire Marea, Muneyi and Thuthuka Sibisi. The images show the men nude, painted with clay and earth, with their poses resembling classical figurative sculptures. The portraits meditate on the musician’s beauty, tenderness, care and vulnerability, as a direct counterbalance to the notion of toxic masculinity.
With “My Liewe Land (My Great Land)”, photographer Aart Verrips celebrates South Africa’s youth-led subcultures through vibrant, multicolored silhouette portraits. Featuring young people innovating in music, fashion and performance, including the local Amapiano music subgenre and voguing nights, Verrips uses his photography to turn them into iconic figures.
The rising global popularity of Amapiano music, which emerged in South Africa in the mid-2010s, was one of the catalysts for the exhibition. “South African music at the moment is having a real resurgence, especially through the lens of Amapiano, and a lot of young people are connecting with the culture that way,” said NOW Gallery’s curator Kaia Charles, walking around the show. “We thought it would be good to expand out the conversation.”
Charles, who once lived in Cape Town, praises the “resilience” of these young creatives, especially considering the challenges – the high cost of living, education and unreliable basic services – which they are faced with. “From a creative industries point of view, South Africa is so avant garde, and I don’t think a lot of people know that,” she said. “I’m hoping through this show that people get to understand the wealth of talent that exists there.”
A Young South Africa: Human Stories is on until November 19 at London’s NOW Gallery.
iRobot’s Insun Hong Wants Their Roomba Vacuums to Feel Right at Home
If the best tools are the ones that you use, it’s also true those very tools should be conveniently at hand – a perspective complicated when it comes to robot vacuums. The cleaning appliances are designed to run with increasing autonomy, but perform best when stationed conspicuously out in the open, a requirement that comes into direct conflict with our propensity to want to hide away devices and appliances that just don’t quite mesh with the rest of the home, in turn making them less effective in the process.
It’s this very dilemma that motivated Director of Industrial Design Insun Hong and her small team at iRobot to design the Roomba Combo j9+ robot vacuum and mop with a base station that softens the line between necessary functionality and welcoming form. We spoke with the iRobot designer via Zoom about the challenges of imagining a smart home cleaning device you might come to love… but don’t necessarily ever want noticed.
Hi Insun, could you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?
Yes, I’m Insun Hong, the Director of Industrial Design at iRobot. I’ve been with iRobot for about six and a half years, and in that time I’ve built a small team of seven designers whose core function is to design the look and feel, alongside the user experiences, around our hardware. We work closely with the software design team, and also have designers in China who work closely with our manufacturers there.
Let’s jump right into the design of the newly announced Roomba Combo j9+, specifically its docking base unit. It’s been designed with a wood(like) top and cabinet style storage that opens like a piece of furniture. Could you share the inspiration behind the design?
With the Roomba Combo j9+ we began with the core question: “How can we really keep the house always clean?” The obvious answer is add more features, improving the sensors, and make the vacuum even more powerful. But the other answer to keeping the house clean is recognizing it’s important to keep those cleaning devices nearby – where you eat, where you hangout, where life unfolds – and not hidden away in the closet or in the basement. We want our product to be right there in the living room or in your bedroom.
This seems very similar to the issue hampering air purifiers, an appliance that can seem like an imposition within the home. The device’s efficacy operates in conflict with the user’s inclination to hide it away.
Yes, we identified that as a major hurdle when we first kicked off this project around two to three years ago. We wanted to design a combination of hardware and technology that not only could co-exist, but integrate into the home environment like a piece of furniture.
We knew we had to come up with a new form factor, because the market was already filled with the same “trash can” docking station form factor that opens from the top. Our inspiration was furniture with a cabinet door that opened to the side. So we designed prototypes with a fixed top surface, and in doing so created a shape that could be identified and used as a side table, an object that makes it obvious you’re welcome to place something on top of it.
Insun Hong also noted the Roomba Combo j9+ robot vacuum and mop includes a physical button rather than touch capacitive design, further emphasizing its tactile presence.
That seems like an obvious direction, but noting the status quo, there must have been reasons why everyone else shares a very similar design?
It seems simple, but we actually had to work with our engineers to develop a new architecture permitting the cabinet-style design. It’s actually very difficult to design a black plastic box made to safely store liquids and house electronics – a design ready for mass production.
While the top looks like wood, it’s not real, is it?
Genuine materials like wood or marble were not an option for us for a variety of reasons. So we had to explore different design solutions to elevate the design. For example, inspired by modern architecture, our design team wrapped the base dock with vertical lines. We integrated a soft leather-style pull tab, a primary touch point the user will interact with to open and store accessories. Those small details create an emotional experience more closely associated with opening a cabinet instead of a robot vacuum.
In the “Co-Exist” illustration the docking base station was taller and more side table in dimension. If the intent was to make this dock more furniture-like, why was the size diminished?
Good question! The design was mainly driven by the the tank volume. We wanted to give users the freedom not to have to refill the tank for 30 to 60 days. So that was what originally informed the dimensions before we began building different prototypes. We had three designers working at different locations at that time, mocking up models with foam core and wrapping each top in fabric or wood, then took them home to test each to see what they looked like in the bedroom, living room and others locations in the house. It was during this time I found myself putting stuff on top of it. I remember testing hundreds of different heights, depths, and widths before landing on the most acceptable size that met our original requirements and that could function as a side table. One version was too low and my son began using it as a stand!
Was there any thought about taking the side table concept even further? For example, making the docking unit cylindrical and hiding the round circular vacuum flush once docked?
Noting there are things like the motor and internal tank required inside, a rectangle is a more efficient use of space. So, yes, we did test a cylindrical model, but the increased size required to accommodate the same volume as the rectangular-shaped tank was not met with positive feedback.
Where have you found most of your users tend to keep their Roomba vacuums?
Mostly in the living room. But it really depends on a home’s layout. For example, if you’ve got a lot of open space without obstacles, walls, or doors, people like to place them between the living room and kitchen. But we’ve also noticed people like to station them in a big bedroom or even in the closet.
Will we see more color options to better match a wider spectrum of decor?
As a designer, I’d love to create more options for the customer. In the North American market we identified black as still being perceived as the most premium color. But we’re a global company, and we’ve noted customers in Europe and Asia, especially in Japan where white is popular, want different options.
But it’s important to note this is not just about color trends. Choosing different colors adds layers of challenges. A brief explanation is the robot’s sensors reacts differently to different colors and textures. Even the glossiness and grain of objects “seen” by the robot can help or hinder how it navigates and returns back to the dock. Any time we change colors, we have to recalibrate the robot.
Finally, I noticed you originally studied automotive design. How did you find yourself designing autonomous vehicles of a much smaller scale?
Designing cars is such a slow process [sigh]. It takes four years to bring a design to market if you’re lucky. I wanted to learn faster and do more. So before joining iRobot I began at HP where I was able to put out five products in the market within one to two years. It was really really fun for me to see my work go from a sketch and to the market that fast. And when I got married and I moved to Boston, I joined iRobot. Seven years later, I can say it’s been a great place to work!
Many thanks to iRobot’s Insun Hong. We plan to follow-up with a hands-on review of her team’s Roomba Combo j9+ robot vacuum and mop in the near future.
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The Art of Landscape Photography featuring Vanelli and Gina Yeo
In “The Art of Landscape Photography,” host Vanelli, Skylum’s Director of Education, introduces viewers to Gina Yeo. Gina is a passionate Canadian landscape photographer who loves teaching and capturing nature’s beauty.
Gina shares her systematic approach to landscape photography. She highlights the crucial importance of preparation, including equipment readiness and meticulous planning. Gina outlines the four essential pillars of landscape photography: fundamentals, technique, composition, and post-processing.
Gina also delves into the intricacies of post-processing. She covers image preparation, construction work, image cleanup, and final adjustments. Her dedication to sharing knowledge and enthusiasm makes this a valuable resource for novice and experienced photographers.
The Art of Photography Webinar Series is an insightful and educational program brought to you by B&H Photo in collaboration with Skylum, the makers of Luminar Neo, and led by Vanelli, Skylum’s Director of Education. This series has been crafted to provide valuable guidance and knowledge to photographers, regardless of their experience level, to enhance their photography skills.
Across a sequence of webinars, we will venture into diverse photography genres, offering in-depth insights into the tools, techniques, and artistic methodologies contributing to creating breathtaking images.
