Abstraction at MoMa NY

Arsene Wargas
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Reading Time: 2 minutes

More than sixty years have passed since the critic Robert Coates, writing in the New Yorker in 1946, first used the term “Abstract Expressionism” to describe the richly colored canvases of Hans Hofmann. Over the years the name has come to designate the paintings and sculptures of artists as different as Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner and David Smith. Beginning in the 1940s, under the aegis of Director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., works by these artists began to enter the Museum’s collection. Thanks to the sustained support of the curators, the trustees, and the artists themselves, these ambitious acquisitions continued throughout the second half of the last century and produced a collection of Abstract Expressionist art of unrivaled breadth and depth.

Drawn entirely from the Museum’s vast holdings, Abstract Expressionist New York underscores the achievements of a generation that catapulted New York City to the center of the international art world during the 1950s, and left as its legacy some of the twentieth century’s greatest masterpieces. Galleries on the fourth floor present Abstract Expressionist paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, films, and archival materials in a display subtitled The Big Picture, marking the first time in the history of the new Museum building that a full floor has been devoted to a single theme. The exhibition continues on the floors below, where focused shows—Rock Paper Scissors in the second-floor Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, and Ideas Not Theories in the third-floor Drawings Galleries—reveal distinct facets of the movement as it developed in diverse mediums, adding to a historical overview of the era and giving a sense of its great depth and complexity. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated publication.

Until April 2011.

LA

Aura, Crystallized by Swarovski. The new Fragrance.

José Amorim
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Reading Time: 4 minutes

Ok, here is perhaps the most wanted launch of 2011. Finally, after 2 years of supositions and speculations, now it is official: Swarovski is launching its First Fragrance. It is called AURA.

Aura by swarovski4 years ago, one of the biggest and sexiest fragrance license was bought by Clarins: Swarovski Beauty. It might be the biggest potential license brand in the world. We are talking here about several million dollars sales. The Central-Europe brand changed a lot on the past 20 years. Swarovski succeeded to make Crystal glass more “valuable, cool and sexy” than any precious stones.

The initial goal with Clarins was Fragrances, make up and beauty accessories. The project is leaded by Thierry Mugler Parfums teams that built a special A-Team for the occasion. As you might know, Thierry Mugler team works already with Swarovski on Angel limited editions for the past 10 years. So a nice interesting marriage.

Aura, that is the name. According to Thesaurus, Aura is an invisible breath, emanation, or radiation. From the Latin via greek auras, aurae: Breeze.

aura by swarovskiThe flacon tried to capture the purity of Crystal into a fragrance. The Flacon designer is Gwenaël Nicolas, a french artist living in Japan for many years now. He was the one who knew how to capture the idea. He already worked for the brand in 2010 during an artistic installation in MilanoThe perfumers are Jean-Pierre Bethouart and Olivier Cresp, from Firmenich. Olivier Cresp is used to the Thierry Mugler teams as he is the creator of Angel. The fragrance is described by their creators as an incandescence Chypre, dixit Pierre Aulas, the Olfactive director of the Brand. Aura evokes the idea of crystals in a state of fusion. Lychee melds with tuberose and a ‘prism of energy’ accord blending amber, benzoin and musk, and a lush, woodsy trail.

All flacons are refillable and the carton packaging was imagined to be eco-friendly and eco-responsible. Aura comes in a range of four body products… As well as three charmingly glamorous ‘make-up jewelry items.’ The gloss and brightening powders for the face and body are presented in crystal-studded medallions you can wear like a necklace.

Aura by SwarovskiFor the Advertising, the brand choosed the english photographer Craig McDean. He already worked for the brand on several occasions as well as for different luxury fashion houses. The tagline is: “The Grace of Light”…. beautiful.

We can see on the key visual some mountains in the background, as a reminder of Swarovski Austrian origins.

Joël Palix, President of Clarins Fragrance Group says:
“Its history, its renown, its unique know-how, and the ties it has forged with the world of fashion and design, all make Swarovski a truly extraordinary brand. To me, Swarovski is the new luxury. The fragrance calls on memory, sensibility, emotion… after jewelry, this really is a whole new dimension added to the Swarovski universe.

The relationship between our two companies has been truly collaborative: we listened to one another and shared the same sense of scrupulous rigor. The fragrance required about 2,000 tries before we found the right formula and Swarovski remained fully involved in the process, from start to finish.

Swarovski and Clarins have both followed singular paths. For both of us, success requires patience. A beautiful product finds its audience over time, and that’s exactly the vision we share with Swarovski.”
The product range will have:
Aura by Swarovski

Eau de Parfum
15 ML Refillable spray EDP
30 ML Refillable spray EDP
50 ML Refillable spray EDP
75 ML Refillable spray EDP
50 ML Refill bottle EDP

Swarovski Make-up JewelMake-up Jewels
Crystal Gloss: Transparent Shimmer and Glistening Pink
Crystal Touch: Silver Shimmer

“Crystallize Your Body” Bath Line
Perfumed Body Cream 150 ML
Perfumed Body Lotion 200 ML
Perfumed Shower Gel 200 ML
Perfumed Deodorant Spray 100 ML

After the Launch of Womanity by Thierry Mugler, now the beauty group starts a new adventure, that we all hope will be facetted and surprising as crystal.
LA

Is Steve Jobs coming back?

Arsene Wargas
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Reading Time: < 1


Ok, this might be the day when the Earth stopped moving! Steve Jobs is going Medical. After a lot of medical issues, finally, Steve jobs is leaving the company leadership for an undetermined time… Is Apple going to survive? Of course. The stock exchange might go pessimist, but users knows that Steve Jobs is not doing it all. Come on! They have thousands of people thinking each day and trying to imagine the world of tomorrow. Check this video from CNN.

At least, even though he was a gourou, we can say that he is leaving behind great projects to come like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5… Wait and see and we all hope Mr Jobs will recover.
LA

Vertu Ascent Ferrari GT, more than a phone

Arsene Wargas
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hi, here we go again with Vertu. Well, definetely Vertu and luxury go well together. It is not the first time I talk about this incredible brand that in less than 10 years opened a new path in the crazy mobile phone industry. My previous article was here.

As you know, Vertu is a Nokia brand run totally independent from the mother group. The concept of the company is to make mobile phones in the same vein as luxury watch manufacturers like Rolex, IWC and Patek Philippe. The most expensive model it has ever made is the Signature Cobra, at £213,000 (~$310,000); the most expensive regular model is the Signature Diamond at £55,000 (~$83,000). Prices start at £3500 for the Constellation model. The mobiles themselves are made from very expensive materials such as gold, sapphire (for the mobile screen), rubies (for the bearings) and fine leather. Each mobile is hand-made in its factories in Church Crookham, Hampshire, England. The company is headquartered in the United Kingdom with offices in Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Singapore, Tokyo, Frankfurt, and Hong Kong. Vertu’s president and COO is Perry Oosting, and the Principal Designer is Frank Nuovo. The company now has over 400 employees (source: Vertu.com).

With the new Ascent Ferrari GT, Vertu shows how far inspiration can come from anywhere, even from the Automobile. As each phone is handmade, all details are in the state of art. Each detail reminds one characteristic part of a Ferrari car. It is masculine, discret yet design oriented, a luxury phone!

Franck Nuovo explains on the Brand website: “Right from the beginning, the Vertu Ascent was inspired by cars. I wanted Ascent to be influenced by power, by energy, by the precision of a beautiful engine.”

They also launched under the Ascent collection, the Ascent TI Ferrari, or we could also call it the “Black Ferrari”. Beautiful and yet low profile.

Both are beautiful objects with the magic button on the side:

One of the services acquired with a Vertu mobile is a year’s free concierge service called “Vertu Concierge”, operated by Ten Lifestyle Management worldwide. It is accessed through a special button, the “Concierge key”, on the side of every phone. This ‘hot key’ puts the user through to a team of lifestyle managers who can book services such as gourmet dining, luxury travel or accommodation around the clock. Nice? Super nice! I would love to experience that service and let you know about it. So, if someone could help me to borrow a Vertu phone for a year…. thanks in advance! :-).

 

China Luxury – the key figures by Luxury Activist

LuxuryActivist
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Hello,

please find here below a video by Luxury Activist about the Cosmetic business in China. The figures are just amazing.
Cheers,

LA

You can also check this video on youtube here.

 

Limewire finally squeezed…

Arsene Wargas
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

limewire

It just came up on Twitter. Limewire, the world well known P2P website and software was closed down by law. I just opened mine and check what I got:
limewire limewire

LimeWire, one of the world’s most popular peer-to-peer filesharing websites, has been shut down after a four-year legal battle with the US music industry.

A federal court in New York issued a “permanent injunction” against LimeWire late on Tuesday, ruling that the platform intentionally caused a “massive scale of infringement” by permitting the sharing of thousands of copyrighted works by its 50 million monthly users.

Founded in 2000 by Mark Gorton, a former Wall Street trader, LimeWireis now restricted from allowing the searching and sharing of copyrighted material. The website will continue “working with the music industry to move forward”, a LimeWire spokeswoman confirmed.

US judge Kimba Wood ruled that record companies “have suffered – and will continue to suffer – irreparable harm from LimeWire’s inducement of widespread infringement of their works”, adding that the potential damages were “staggering”.

The court also ruled that LimeWire should “use all reasonable technological means to immediately cease and desist” copyright infringements still taking place through applications already downloaded.

Yesterday’s court order comes after a four-year legal battle between LimeWire and the Recording Industry Association of America, the representative body for many of the world’s largest record labels.

In May, Wood found LimeWire liable for widespread copyright infringement. The level of damages faced by the site’s New York-based parent company, Lime Group, will be decided in January 2011.

The RIAA said LimeWire has cost the music industry hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

According RIAA figures, US recorded music sales fell to $7.7bn in 2009 from $14.5bn in 1999. The rise to prominence of peer-to-peer filesharing networks is singled out as a primary factor for this decline by the RIAA.

The site’s popularity is reflected in a survey by NDP Group, which found that LimeWire was used by 58% of people who have downloaded music from a peer-to-peer network in the year from May 2009.

Following Tuesday’s injunction, the RIAA said: “For the better part of the last decade, LimeWire and Gorton have violated the law.

“The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely.

“In January, the court will conduct a trial to determine the appropriate level of damages necessary to compensate the record companies for the billions and billions of illegal downloads that occurred through the LimeWire system.”

Earlier this year, LimeWire planned to release a service called Spoon, which would allow users to legally purchase copyrighted tracks. The deal fell through, however, when record labels were told that the site would need at least a year to migrate illicit filesharers to the new service.

Napster, which claimed more than 100 million users at the height of its popularity at the beginning of the decade, collapsed in 2002 under the strain of a number of legal challenges.

What do you think?
LA

Nike – “What should I do ?”

Arsene Wargas
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0
Reading Time: < 1

Here is the new advertising campaign from Nike called “What should I do?”.

As many times, we do not understand a thing about it. Ok, it is for a new pair of shoes, the guy on the screen is James Lebron but what is the concept transmitted by the ad? Unclassified….

LA

Coca-Cola Mystic – By Jerome Olivet

Arsene Wargas
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3
Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Coca-cola bottle is one of the few universal objects that everybody knows. And trust me, you do not have so many. The Swiss Army Knife perhaps and that’s it. But the Coca-cola bottle evolved in years and always got the attention of many artists and
designers. Today, it is french designer Jérome Olivet. Designer Professor of prospective design, he has worked with large international companies, such as Alessi, Thomson, Baccarat, Nissan, RocheBobois… his creations are in the collections of museums of modern art around the world. He created in 2004 his own brand, a collection of fashion accessories with futuristic and functional lines. It is sold today in nearly 20 countries, and shown in several museums of Modern Art (Denmark, New York, Tokyo) and the museum of Contemporary arts in Chicago. Mr Olivet presents a very organic and sexy variation of the traditional Coca-cola glass bottle that reveals a very futuristic side. We could imagine this bottle at Bessons’ Fith Element movie. The project name is Coca-Cola Mystic and we do not know if the american beverage company will produce this one day but at least it represents a great design project. Revisiting the classics always represented a great interest for Designers. Check Jerome Olivet website for more information: http://www.jeromeolivet.com

Check here some cool images. what do you think? Do you think Coke?

LA

Jeff Carter to save Walter Gropius in the Chicago Bauhaus

Arsene Wargas
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1
Reading Time: 3 minutes

In 2016, the Olympic games will take place in Rio de Janeiro, the most beautiful city in the world. Of course I am not very honest  by saying this as being brazilian 🙂 So I checked who lost the competition against Rio and I realized that Chicago had a very serious participation file. They had a huge plan to replace an historical old area of the city with a modern olympic town. Some people, in love with the american Architectural design of the beginning of the century were not happy with all these demolitions.
Lots of great buildings would be taken down to the ground because of a “stupid olympic game project”. So finally some people in Chicago were happy that their city did not win as they thought things would remain as they are.  Unfortunately for them, the mayor has great ambitions for his town and the project remains. So it seems beautiful buildings might be demolished like the
Michael Reese Hospital designed by Walter Gropius.  Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture. Gropius’s career advanced in the postwar period. Henry van de Velde, the master of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar was asked to step down in 1915 due to hisBelgian nationality.
His recommendation for Gropius to succeed him led eventually to Gropius’s appointment as master of the school in 1919. It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world famous Bauhaus, attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee, Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy, Otto Bartning and Wassily Kandinsky.

So today, the city of Chicago wants to demolish this beautiful building, witness of the Bauhaus style. Along with Mies van der Rohe buildings at the Illinois Institute of Technology and elsewhere, Michael Reese Hospital (dig its depressing website) was part of the significant impact Bauhaus made to Chicago and Chicago architecture. Architects, historians, and others have tried to obstruct the demolition, but as of today there are just four of the original eight Michael Reese buildings still standing.

Jeff Carter lives and works in Chicago. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Media and Design at DePaul University. He builds Gropius’ buildings in Chicago thanks to the usage of materials from various IKEA sets to do so. The pictures below are shots of Carter’s Michael Reese power plant (demolished November last year) and the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower proposal (which wasn’t built). The technique’s called “IKEA hacking” and is sort of like those people who can make the Taj Mahal out of a bunch of Lego Star Wars sets 🙂

What do you think? Check the artist website here : http://jeff-carter.net/html/workpage7.html

LA

Four Seasons Tented Camp – Luxury Camping in Thailand

Arsene Wargas
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2
Reading Time: 2 minutes

If you like to escape your city daily life but still keep a luxury lifestyle, here is something for you. If you do not know the Four Seasons Tented Camp, you know nothing about luxury travels! Just 15 tented accommodations – unique in luxury, complete with hand-hammered copper bathtubs – echo the romantic spirit of 19th-century explorers. All-inclusive Four Seasons adventures cover every detail, from drinks and dining to river boat excursions to meet local hill tribes. 15 free-standing tented accommodations spaced at a comfortable distance from each other allow total privacy. Built on elevated ground along a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) hillside trail overlooking the Ruak River, Burma, the mountains of Laos or the jungle and Golden Triangle, each tent is designed as an open space with a large outdoor deck. Furnishings are handcrafted and custom-made, in styles reminiscent of 19th-century adventure expeditions. Each tent features one king or two twin beds. Of course you will need around 2,500US$ per night and per room. But that is the price to live in wild nature with style.

Set in the seclusion of a Thai jungle, your luxury Tented Camp accommodation is part of an all-inclusive package designed for active adults which includes:

  • Private round-trip airport transfer
  • Luxury tented accommodation
  • Full board including house wines and spirits
  • Mahout training and elephant trekking
  • Golden Triangle excursion
  • Spa treatment

Other extra services are also available such as:

  • Complimentary Internet access
  • Down pillows
  • Emergency overnight kits
  • Fax machine on request
  • Flashlight(s)
  • Hypo-allergenic pillows on request
  • In-tent safe
  • Multi-line telephone(s) with voicemail
  • Refrigerated private bar
  • Tea/coffee maker
  • Thick terry bathrobes
  • Twice-daily housekeeping service
  • Wired or wireless Internet access

See here below some great pictures from this incredible place and a video. For more informations you can access the website here:
http://www.fourseasons.com/goldentriangle

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