Prada Wallpaper

From Prada:

The north wall is covered with custom wallpaper, whose theme and colors change with the years, providing both variety and an element of temporality

Prada (No direct link, hobbled by Flash. Go to Projects, then Wallpaper.)

Garage Sale Report: June 26, 2010

A very, very well spent dollar. It is impossible to look at the chart of helmet schematics and not start planning your helmet design. Very Edward Tufte.

Lacoste Porcelain Polo Shirts by Li Xiaofeng

From Highsnobiety:

Lacoste invited Chinese porcelain artist Li Xiaofeng to create two different polos for their Holiday 2010 Collector’s Series. The first is a printed polo, created from photographs of blue and white porcelain shards with lotus and children designs from the Kangxi Period (1662 – 1772 AD) of the Qing Dynasty. The printed polo is limited to 20,000 pieces for both men and women and comes packaged in a silk pouch stamped with a red seal logo. The second, is an actual porcelain polo inspired by the early Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644 AD). The most expensive and most exclusive Lacoste polo to date, the piece took Xiaofeng three full months to paint, fire, fragment, shape, polish, and finally link together. The porcelain shirts are currently on display in France at the Musée des Arts et Métiers and will then head to Bejing in the Fall at Li Xiaofeng’s first one-man at the Red Gate Gallery.

It looks like porcelain armor.

Lacoste Porcelain Polo Shirt at Highsnobiety

Bücher-Zelle is apparently a thing

I spotted flickr user photoelectrique's photo on Half Letter Press's tumblr. Unlike the likemobs on tumblr, however, I like a little context.

This Bücher-Zelle, or Book Cell, is what it looks like: a used book shop/exchange in a disused phone booth. This one happens to be located in Krimmensen, just the type of tiny German village where phonebooth-based retail is apparently catching on.



A cursory Googling turns up Bücher-Zellen in a churchyard in Bölzke [above]; and a schoolyard in Ingolstadt; an undisclosed geocaching site in Niedersachsen; and, uh, here.

With such fine-looking phonebooths, I can understand not wanting them to disappear.

From The Unknown Wrought Iron Master Of California

Viewed from the inventory of San Diego modern craft & design dealer Objects USA, California's Future was once simple, wrought iron and glorious.



Designer/Maker - Unknown: Iron and solid wood adjustable level shelving unit.
Designer/Maker - Unknown: Wastepaper basket with tripod iron frame with red canvas sack. [objectsusa.com via andy]

BMW/Kvadrat Dwelling Lab Concept

The BMW/Kvadrat Dwelling Lab concept,
by Patricia Urquiola and Giulio Ridolfo.
Image courtesy of Henrik Jauert.

Shackitecture? Shackitecture mechanic's shop?

Concorso d'Eleganza 2010, Lake Como via Wallpaper

War and Peace

From 4Q Roadtrip

Vintage Panniers

Vintage Made in the USA Panniers on eBay

Paul Frankl Console

Paul Frankl Magazine Console, Sold for $5000

Important 20th Century Design at Sothebys (Results)

SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT D'EPOQUE LOUIS XV ESTAMPILLE DE PIERRE ROUSSEL

From the previous link from Greg. He is right. This is fancy like only the French can make sense of fancy. These are the sorts of objects that collect dust and which you die among. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Not for the timid.

Mobilier et objets d'art Auction

J.M. Weston Argenté

In my more business-y days, my fighting-of-the-power manifested itself in things like, preferring to buy my timeless dress shoes from J.M. Weston (FR) instead of John Lobb (GB).

So even though there are only two pairs in existence, seeing these extraordinarily inadvisable oxfords, executed in cuir argenté, is like a swift kick in the joailles.

On the bright side, the Artcurial auction in which they appear is possibly the greatest assemblage of unnecessary collectible luxury items I've ever seen.

Une Histoire d'Homme III [artcurial.fr]

Lot 95
WESTON/MICHEL PERRY
Paire de chaussure en cuir argenté édité à 2 exemplaires. Taille 40.
Estimation 500 - 700 €

Anyone? Mirrored Garden Orbs?

I've been on a backroad or two in my day, so I've seen smaller mirrored orbs scattered artfully across a lawn.

But seriously, what are those things, why are they, and where did they come from? Or to ask the real burning question, where can I get me some big 19th century silver ones, like they used to have in Woodward's Garden, the San Francisco ur-amusement park where Eadweard Muybridge took this photo of himself?

[Spotted at the first-ever Muybridge retrospective at the Corcoran, which is fantastic. Also, the real probability that this is not, in fact, Muybridge, and that many of his earliest photos were not, in fact, taken by him, is an entirely fascinating, other story.]

Image: UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library Collection, via Calisphere [cdlib.org]

Vampire Dog

Vampire specialists have long insisted that a dog, once bitten by a vampire, will transform into a vampire-dog... or a chupacabra. Despite the supposed sightings of chupacabras, or the alleged discovery of chupacabra corpses (such as the one above, found in Texas), proof of vampire-dogs has remained elusive. Until now...

The Frito Kid

It's funny the circuitous routes we sometimes have to take to find what's right in front of us. Or am I seriously the ONLY person who didn't know about the sheer Disney + Tiki awesomeness of D+R permaguestblogger Kevin Kidney's flickr stream?

The Frito Kid? What conspiracy of cross-promotional silence kept this Disneyland character off my radar my whole life? The Casa de Fritos?? [Which, by the way, was serving Frito Pie in 1955, a full 45 years before it was served in the West Wing of the White House. True story.]

Photos tagged "Disneyland" in Miehana's flickr stream [flickr via mathowie]

Spotted In The Wild: The Kia E500

Driving home from the Outer Banks yesterday, I was perplexed by the car rapidly approaching from behind. The headlights looked familiar enough--since we were driving a Mercedes E-Class at the time--but the grille, oh, what chopshop was behind that mesh travesty? And that embedded star looks smaller than the normal, if still inadvisable, sports packages.

It was only when it went blazing by that I realized what it was. Or more precisely, what it wasn't. I didn't know exactly which Korean clonejob it was until my car-blogging buddy Dave analyzed the pictures.



I imagined our gas pump conversation, where I pointed out that this car was copied from the W210, which went into production in 1995, and that the E500 moniker was only used for the last year (1994) of the previous model, the W124, so maybe an AMG badge of some kind might be better. But as we repassed, I saw the driver lift a bottle of Jack Daniels to his lips, and I thought it best to confine my commentaries to the blogs.

2008 Kia Amanti Review [the truth about cars (sic)]

Pendleton x Opening Ceremony

Pendleton Meets Opening Ceremony

As You Were: Birdwell Beach Britches

Look, I'm sympathetic, even supportive of the whole "made in USA," "made like they used to," OG throwback brand trends or whatever, but mostly I see it as a spectator sport.

So imagine my surprise when I found one of my own staples at the center of just such a nostalgia/quality hypestorm. That would, of course, be the nylon boardshorts I grew up with in North Carolina, Birdwell Beach Britches.

I laughed to see them show up on the NY Times' T Magazine blog. And displace those Brazilian Speedo things as icons of Fire Island abs culture. Because the only place to buy them is at Bert's Surf Shop in Atlantic Beach.

Except that I stopped at the Bert's in Emerald Isle, because that bridge is closer to the cottage, and the girl's all, "What? No, I don't know when they stopped carrying those," putting me into a swimsuitless panic for the weekend. And I don't even know all the neon beach shops that have sprung up since [i.e., everything built in the last 30 years]. And whoa, speaking of throwback, have you seen Birdwell's website? Those folks are awesome, but it's a bit like the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap label over there. And not a retailer list in sight.

So I emailed Evelyn Birdwell on Sunday morning, and patron saint of aging lifeguards that she is, she emailed right back, saying that she sure sent Bert's a few hundred suits a couple of weeks ago, what'd they do with them? And sure enough, I hoofed it to the main location, and the owner's like, "Right over there. Makes a grown man squeal like a little girl when they see that rack full of Britches, haven't changed a bit." Except for the size, of course.

iPad HyperCard

This modded Mac Classic iPad stand suddenly makes me realize how badly I want HyperCard (or at least something like it) for my iPad.

via Macgasm

Race Car Transporter

Cheetah, Mercedes and Citroen Race Car Transporters (Thanks, Brian!)

Mr. Greg "20x200" Allen!

D+R permaguest blogger and all round great guy Greg Allen has a piece on 20x200! Yes! Congratulations, Greg Allen!

For those not familiar with the reference image(s), Richard Prince showed a blown-up Marlboro man image as his own artwork. When Slate reviewed MoMA's Into the West show, Prince denied permission to use the image. Prince appropriated the image from a Marlboro ad but was not allowing his credited artwork to be used.

So, Greg repurposed the Prince piece by resizing it again. Now, it is multiple generations of reuse. Now, Greg had a low-res reuse of the Prince piece that reused the Marlboro ad. And offered that to Slate to use in the article.

If Prince made art, by resizing and framing it in a larger 'art' context, was Greg also making art by resizing and framing it within the smaller 'reuse commentary' context on a blog? Greg figured the idea would likely die within a few days of head scratching, chuckles and armchair pontificating.

But it didn't! It is now a 20x200 version!

Greg's email about the 20x200 colab:

Those of you within or familiar with the art world will recognize immediately what the image and initial concept are; so did I. What surprised me is the ensuing discussion and most of all, the process of trying to realize an object that could justify its own existence.

And I hope you'll understand when I say I have no claim on the image, or the idea, or the technical skill of making them, and yet I feel incredibly proud of these prints. They look really nice in person, and especially in various sizes, which is one of the ideal features of 20x200's approach. It's been a lot of fun figuring this project out, and working with the folks there.

20x200 presents Greg Allen
Greg's Greg.org Explains

Sid Barnett's Place

As Mondo Blogo demonstrates all too well, an object blogger is never on vacation, least of all when there's a corrugated tin time capsule like Sid Barnett's Machine Shop to poke around.

Holy Hoopty Rides, Mister Jalopy!

Sid's Place [mondo-blogo]

Chanel Balloons

I was originally going to post a picture of "The Chanel Sofa," because the "The" holds out the frail hope that maybe, for just $4,500, we could ensure that there will only ever be one of them.

But then I threw Chanel into the 1st Dibs search engine, and these twin-lobed Chanel balloons, apparently rescued from a 1980's window display, came up. So until I hear otherwise, I will assume that, during a family vacation to Los Angeles, the future inventor of Truck Nutz passed by that window as a child.

$650, and worth every penny. [1stdibs.com]

Making Rope, Marking Time, Conrad Shawcross

The atrium of the IBM Building in Midtown is one of my favorite spaces in New York. Right now, it houses a remarkable ropemaking machine, 25 feet across and 50 feet high. It's called The Nervous System (Inverted), and it's a sculptural project by the British artist Conrad Shawcross.

The contraption creates a massive pile of rope as thick as my upper arm, at a nearly imperceptible pace. Shawcross explores the human compulsion to measure and mark the passage of time. Which is kind of funny, because the entire 57 Street side of the building, which houses the Tourneau store, is covered with 19 big-ass clocks.

Conrad Shawcross' The Nervous System (Inverted), organized by Pace Gallery [pacegallery.com]
There's a brouchure-ish iPhone app for the project for $0.99, but why? [itunes]

Wash Lady of Tucumcari

Photographed this week by my sharp-eyed mom and dad while driving through New Mexico.

Love the "overhead" perspective of the table!

Edward Gorey Illustration at Auction

At auction today, so it may have slipped by already, but this Edward Gorey original is modestly priced with an estimate of $3000-$5000. Not cheap, I realize. That is a lot of money. When the auction is over, we shall see learn the confidence of would be Gorey buyers. Maybe somebody tried a Mister Jalopy-style low-ball, take-a-flyer, nothing-to-lose insulting offer and managed to steal it.

Edward Gorey at Swann

UPDATE: Our man Ryan alerted us that the Gorey auction came in well above the auction estimate at $7800.

Hermès Citroen 2CV

From inautonews:

To celebrate the event, Hermes France has designed a made-to-measure outfit that highlights the vehicle’s ever-friendly and generous forms.

The 1989 2CV 6 Spécial, repainted in brown, gains a natural leather trim on the door facings, interior rearview mirror, gear knob, steering wheel and driver’s sun visor. For an even more elegant finish, the two seats are upholstered in Hermès grey-beige cotton canvas and natural leather. As a finishing touch, the bonnet and interior trim at the rear of the vehicle also feature Hermès cotton canvas.

Citroen 2CV 60th Anniversary + Hermes

Nancy Gonzalez Crocodile Box Clutch

Nancy Gonzalez Crocodile Box Clutch

Prada Pocket Billboard

Last night, my friend Chris was telling me about the Prada cell phone. I was not familiar so poked around this morning. I love the first review on this assessment. I am tempted to find a broken Prada phone that does the exact thing he mentions. Remove from pocket, power up, view Prada logo and put phone back in pocket. Just a portable electronic talisman.

Prada LG KF900 Phone

Mockett 5-3/16" Projection Door Stop

Door Stop at Mockett Hardware

Fun for Boys

Fun for Boys includes a chapter on moneymaking enterprises such as raising pigeons for profit. However, the gold of the book is not the text but is the list of other Padell titles. It appears a library stocked with the full selection would be a sort of compendium of essential world knowledge.

Alreadymade? Duchampian WWI Tripod

Lately I've been delving into the history and details of Marcel Duchamp's Readymades, the ostensibly off-the-shelf objects that Duchamp famously turned into art merely by declaring them to be so, thus altering the discourse of artmaking for much of the 20th century.

The first Readymade--or really, its nearest ancestor, since its 1913 incep date comes two years before Duchamp coined the term, and obviously, it involves some making, not just conceptual declaring--was Bicycle Wheel [above].

Though I'm a firm believer in Occam's Razor, there's something odd and invigorating about the fact that all of the original Readymades [begun starting in 1913-15] were discarded or destroyed, and extensive historical research of the 19th and early 20th century commercial manufacturing landscape has turned up precisely zero actual products that match up with Duchamp's. So a mystery of some kind, perhaps.

Fellow Duchamp fanboi and armchair art historian Stephen Fawcett has gone deep in his freshly published online paper, "the telescope stand inspiration for marcel duchamp’s bicycle wheel readymade".



After finding a 1918 photo of some RAF officers using a remarkable improvised telescope tripod in France [detail above], Fawcett surmises that Duchamp must have seen something like this and replicated it. Or that he backdated his work, or just cold made stuff up about where the idea came from. Or--really, it's fascinating, but when the tale you're casting out there starts resembling an art world version of La Jetee, it's time to reel it back in.