Flowercraft

After a series of rather bold posts, here is one with all the delicacy of cherry blossoms in spring. Fresh from that crafty American blog Designsponge, bursting with still-life style, is a series of two prints mixing flowers and feathers: the quintessence of the vernal equinox. The artist, Brooklyn-based Kim of The Wild Unknown, silkscreens and hand-watercolours each print, in a limited edition of 100 each.

Kim stays true to nature but also takes poetic licence, mixing here yarrow, echinacea, lavender and peonies, interspersing them with feathers perhaps found in a nest or gathered from the forest floor.

What is interesting about her work is that it is both serial (silkscreened) and handmade. Each one is slightly different. And each is authentic, so to speak.

The mix of animal and vegetal in such a lyrical yet contemporary manner goes a great way to reinvent the somewhat faded concept of botanical prints.

Tied up with string, these are definitely favourite things…

Lisa

INSPIRED BY NATURE

Just opening in Paris at the newly minted Le Lieu du Design is a show by MateriO, the Paris-based materials library. Entitled Inspired by Nature, it showcases a collection of materials and technologies developed from the natural world, from the most artisanal (amazing silicon jewellery that looks exactly like coral formations) to the most industrial. One of the most famous examples of an industrial application from a natural material is Lotusan technology, inspired by lotus leaves, which are water and dirt-proof.

Since 1999, Lotusan surfacing treatment has been applied to everything from concrete to glass and porcelain, allowing these materials to self-clean and thus avoid the use of toxic chemicals on large-scale buildings.

French designer and TED-speaker Mathieu Lehanneur was also present with Andrea, which he developed with David Edwards of Harvard.

Though very aesthetic and enigmatic, I have always been a bit skeptical of this product. What can clean air better than a plant itself? Why is a plastic device needed? Mathieu explained that most plants can only clean the air using their leaves, while this product brings air through the leaves and roots via a special filtering system. The result is 50 times greater air cleaning efficiency (as proven by lab tests).

Other installations featured fish skin leather from Iceland and iridescent pigments that mimic butterfly wings.

Nature is a terrain of infinite inspiration…

Lisa

LETTUCE DRESS

Fashion week has just come to a close in Paris, and before focusing on the horti-cultural aspects of this industry, it is interesting to take a look at the agricultural industry, as it is represented in this image, from Bombay:

This leafy lettuce evening gown was created on the spot to publicize PETA’s encouragement of veganism (not eating, wearing or otherwise consuming anything that comes from animals). Much more positively pro-animal than spray-painting fur coats, this performance uses both plants and fashion in humorous, positive ways that get people to think twice about eating meat. You may have read Jonathan Safran Foer’s excellent book Eating Animals, in which the talented young novelist presents extremely convincing research and arguments against eating meat (you can check it out in the short video here) but there is nothing like a frock to get people’s attention (though I must say PETA’s scantily clad Lettuce Ladies and Broccoli Boys are definitely designed to convince.)

A more formal version of the vegan evening gown is worn by veteran actress Cloris Leachman in the official PETA advertisement:

I wonder if anyone will dare wear one to the Oscars…

Lisa

A NEED FOR NATURAL NUANCE

Ron Arad, one of the first contemporary designers to embrace digital technology and incorporate it, often playfully, in his work, has just created a piece literally embracing the old-fashioned typewriter. Made specifically for his new show, Restless, at the Barbican in London, it clearly stands out from his high-tech work. The planted typewriter is a personal item Arad has had in his collection for awhile, and here he placed it on a rusty garden chair, enclosing both items in a mirrored membrane. Different from yet related to his “Chair by its Cover” piece from 1989, in which he gave an old wooden chair a new identity with a polished steel carapace, this piece rather puts the typewriter and chair inside a protective yet reflective shield.

A very poetic statement, it seems to be an ode to another time, when typewriters were actually symbols of emotional intelligence: the mere presence of a typewriter on a stage set suggested wild feelings tumbling forth or books held inside a tortured soul and never written. This mossy piece is evocative of Tennessee Williams writing furiously in the deep, damp south, or a typewriter from  Miyazaki’s The Castle in the Sky.

Today’s computer keyboards are full of intelligence, but they lack emotion; they are not expressive, and one could even say  they are not lively. This typewriter is literally alive, with green worlds (and words to express them) pushing up beneath the keys. Arad named this installation “The quick brown fox” which alludes to the phrase most used in typing lessons from the last century.

Ron is in his late 50′s, but there is another designer in his early 20′s who is concerned with a similar problem: how to express analog emotion with digital tools? Interestingly, he also incorporated plants into his design process.

In October, Jelte van Abbema won the Rado prize for young designers at the Dutch Design Awards in Eindhoven. He created a digital font that would evolve, like a leaf disintegrating over time and the seasons.

A sort of typographic vanitas depicting the ephemeral aspects of our material world, it is all the more interesting as it invents and expresses the idea of natural transience in a digital era.

This is the way the font looks in black and white, on the computer screen, as it changes over time:

Van Abbema’s preoccupation with translating emotions from writer to reader is all the more appropriate as paper books make way for iPads and Kindles. Another project of van Abbema’s is called Virtureal, in which he has hooked up a Remington typewriter to a computer using motion sensors. A soft touch on the keys is translated onscreen into light, whispery typography, and a passionate pounding of the typewriter into a bold-faced, full-screen shout.

Neither Arad nor van Abbema is being nostalgic; they are expressing a need for nuance in our digital world, making sure that we remember to include gestures and tools from the past and emotions from the present as we fast-forward to the future.

FLOWERING INTO FALL

Spring fashions abound in blossoms, but it is always interesting to see how some designers take floral frocks into fall. Christopher Kane, the bad-boy Scotsman, has succeeded in making flowers not only warm but also tough.

In a sort of Bavarian fraülein meets urban biker, Kane embroidered bright flowers on black leather. The effect can seem kitsch at first glance, but it actually works.

Folkloric and even pretty, the leather makes these flowers tough enough to last through several harsh winters, especially when paired with shearling fleece, this season’s must-have material.

Come Fall 2010, forget them not!

- Lisa

FLOWERS IN A CAN, GARDENS IN A BOX

A weekend trip to Amsterdam’s flower market revealed Dutch flowers at their most industrial. Particularly fascinating were these tulips in a can (there was also canned cannabis, for connaisseurs). This must be a great way to keep the bulbs cool and fresh until planting season!

Also eye-catching is the Garden in a Box–150 mixed bulbs that promise to turn your back yard into a miniature Keukenhof. Plus, they are a steal at 2 boxes for 10 euros.

I am increasingly attracted to very mixed bouquets, à la Dutch master paintings, but in very bright contemporary colours. In the neighbouring Nine Streets, I came upon Gerda’s flower shop, with this lovely bouquet:

She also had compositions of a fascinating iris, the Catharina, which looks very vampy, and whose pattern and shape remind me of Alexander McQueen’s spring collection inspired by wild animals and insects.

STRONG BREATH

Hot off the press from Dezeen UK: the Harvest Chair from designer Asif Khan. A designer-in-residence at the London Design Museum, Asif’s project is to produce furniture from local plants and flowers. For his first try, he chose gypsophila, otherwise known as baby’s breath. Gyp, as it is commonly referred to among florists, has an intricate branching structure that allows plants to densely interlock, which make it the perfect design medium.

In order to shape and preserve the plants, Asif decided to freeze dry the flowers in furniture molds in an industrial drying chamber. After a few weeks, the water was entirely extracted from the gyp and Asif then fused the flowers together using linseed oil resin.

Evocative of clouds or lace, the various chairs and table are nevertheless strong enough to support the weight of a human being.

All are currently on public display in the Tank, just outside the Design Museum, until March 15. For you skeptics, here is one that looks like a “real” chair:

And in case you were wondering if that ubiquitous floral filler known as baby’s breath is really a local plant, here is a photo of gypsophila growing in a London front garden:

It takes your breath away, doesn’t it?

Lisa