Zipping steel

architecture mon amour......

Heatherwick Studio's Longchamp space

The most inventive retail space. Handcrafted French leather purses deserved to be shown...

Concrete Fashion

Architecturally designed jewelry is always intriguing. Frank Gehry has had a collection at Tiffany & Co. for a few years now. The various themes are; fish (images 1&2) torque, morph (image 3), orchid, flux, etc.

Frank Gehry's jewelry for Tiffany & Co.

The shapes are very reminiscent of his exterior architectural aesthetic. The skin his buildings stretch and ooze leaving to the imagination the interior program. These whimsical stylings are very intriguing, but what if architectural/building elements become adornments?

Frank Gehry's Dancing Building and Music Pavillion.

Canadian jewelry designer Karen Konzuk uses architectural and design elements as actual personal accessories. She has embraced her vision of simple and clean accessories where the materials speak for themselves without the need of overly complicated ornamentation. “Konzuk jewelry, with its highly personal elements such as a subtle use of color and an innovative use of materials, is faithful to the clean, minimalist aesthetic of contemporary industrial design and architecture,” is how the fashion is explained on the Konzuk website. Not only are building materials such as concrete, steel, and powder coated enamel celebrated for aesthetic purposes on this minute scale, but they also use design based mechanisms for production such as CNC machines, laser cutters and photoengraving. The themes that Karen Konzuk portrays effectively to buyers are that of individuality, durability, designed strength, color, and beauty.

Konzuk Jewelry Collections

I love the pieces for their simplistic and clean design and the celebration of strength and beauty of manmade materials. I also admire the truth in her design. The Konzuk blog features an inspiration section posted by Karen Konzuk that include mostly architectural images that sparked each of her collections.

weddings - retro

Faces have been covered to protect the innocent

Death by Terracotta

The Bechtler Modern Art Museum

Of course the professional photography looks amazing (left) but I am not sure this building is meant to be seen by day (right).  I am not exactly saying that I do not like it....there are things I appreciate about it and things that I do not.

The overall textures that the terracotta creates are intriguing, but I was more intrigued when I thought that they were all the same unit flipped and flopped to create all of these different elements.  They are, in reality, cast from different molds. It is much smaller than I thought it would be, but the main gallery is highlighted from the outside with the heavy cantilever being held up by a long but significant column.

The south end of downtown is becoming quite the cultural center.  The Bechtler backs up to the Knight Theater, catty cornered is the African American Cultural Center, soon across the street will be the new Mint Museum and a few blocks away resides the one and only NASCAR Hall of Fame.  These have brought some amazing architectural talent to Charlotte as well as highlighting some local talent, Mario Botta, Harvey Gantt, Clark Patterson Lee, and The office of I M Pei.

*art entry to follow

Love and Architecture

I am absolutely in love.  The head over heals kind. 

I get daily updates from the contemporist.com, which has also quickly become one of my favorite sites along with inhabitat.com. 

This is today's feature from Guz Architects - a new favorite!

The Tangga House

Singapore

Description from Guz Architects:

The house is a contemporary interpretation of a traditional courtyard house, laid out around a central green courtyard with a double height stair and entry area forming the focal point of the project. The L-shaped plan creates open spaces which encourage natural ventilation and offer resident’s views over the courtyard to the verandah, roof gardens and beyond. Lushly planted roof gardens surround the house and add to the effect that nature is evident in every part of the house. The large roof above the courtyard creates an indoor and outdoor space leading to the gardens and swimming pool which wraps around two sides of the house. The tangga house hopefully gives the owners the opportunity to live in harmony and comfort with nature, in singapores hot tropical climate

I love how the pool and garden are integrated into every facet of the house - roof - terrace - back yard.

Soul Shine

The beauty of your soul shines



On the darkest days


When you get back up


To dream a dream


When you have the courage to say


“help me I have fallen”


When you step out of the cage


And feel brand new in your clothes




The beauty of your soul says


No one can hold you down


But yourself


Be yourself


And open your eyes to light


Act upon life with the vision


That can only be created by you



*still under creation

An adventure...

I do not know how or when the infatuation started, but I have been prudently searching for the perfect steamer trunk. Authentic, well-preserved, and well traveled are the traits I am looking for. I began my search where any millennial goes for everything, the internet. I found many things on craigs list all costing about $300, which is more than I wanted to spend so the Louis that I love is way beyond budget!

I had heard about Cline’s Country Antiques through fellow architecture students as a great place to go treasure hunting. There is a great article about the hidden gem in Creative Loafing http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/junk_farm/Content?oid=56606 . Don Cline (the owner) is a retired 67 year old man who has turned his personal plot of land or “yard” into a treasure trove jungle gym for adults. There is no limit to the possibilities of objects. The winding pathways lead in and out of groups of objects and into lean-tos and trailers where furniture and nicer objects are kept. It is the perfect Saturday adventure destination.

I found many many trunks, but mostly all either water logged or falling apart. Then a rainbow appeared and in the midst of broken down pianos I found it. My trunk.

I excitedly bought the trunk from Mr. Cline for $10, brought it home, cleaned it, and media texted pictures to my parents and friends. For some reason I never thought about asking my grandmother if had kept or owned any trunks, but I excitedly called her to tell her the tale of my obsession. She revealed that both of the trucks my great grandmother and great grandfather had used to bring all of their belongings to the U.S. from Italy are hidden in the attic. She insisted that I check them out and told me multiple interesting facts and stories based around the trunks. Without even seeing a picture, these two trunks immediately mean more to me than any other I could ever find. Why? The story. I am sure that every trunk has a story, but I know in depth stories of these two particular items and cannot wait to see what’s inside.