Feast or Famine

Can it be so long since I last ventured into the Blogosphere armed only with my rapier like wit? Hmmmm. Well here we are in another year and I for one have resolved not to make any more New Year resolutions which will only become self defeating prophecys.
Anyway, on to business. Here in the Yucky Country the natives have been plagued by floods of almost biblical proportions.
Many people will have seen footage of the terrible conditions the inhabitants of rural Queensland faced recently. As a passive observer of these scenes I could not help feeling somewhat goulish as I watched people being swept away and in one particularly awful scene a family trapped inside their four wheel drive as it seemed to float amid a torrent of swirling brown water which, as the camera pulled away, revealed itself to stretch as far as the eye could see. It was the close up shot of the despairing driver slumping onto the steering wheel that made me turn away in horror.
As usual the Australian media, particularly the more sensationalist elements have feasted on this, reveling in the spectacle of people losing their homes and in some cases their lives. This is a country of such strong contrasts, as many people affected by these floods have pointed out. For years the country has suffered from years and years of drought and finally when rain does come it is in such quantities that it overwhelms whole communities. In Australia it truly is a case of feast or famine.

Karim Rashid AKA Huggy Bear

"The prosecution rests its case M'lord."

Why does Karim Rashid exist?

Karim Rashid is a successful New York based Furniture and Product designer. I say he is successful in the sense that he has somehow convinced companies to give him large amounts of money while he in turn churns out appalling designer pap.

I have included an  image of furniture by Rashid. He specialises in a kind of dumbed down organic design, so badly thought through it makes Michael Young's work look good. It's all bright colours and curves all over the place in order to give the impression of hip design.

Rashid plays up to this image by dressing like the Design worlds answer to Snoop Doggy Dog. If you saw him you would have thought he was a pimp rather than a furniture designer. Still it seems to be working for him as reputable companies queue up to employ him. It's all about walking the walk and talking the talk and not about trying to create objects that are more useful, efficient or enviromentally responsible. This is a man who has published books about himself called 'Evolution' and 'I want to Change the World'. Based on his work, if Karim Rashid did change the world it would only be for the worse.

Coolest cars of all time! Part One.

For me the sixties and seventies was a halcyon age for automotive design, well for design in general to be honest. Each manufacturer imbued there cars with a particular look and style that was uniquely their own. They weren't limited by the requirements of today's consumer and so they were able to inject real personality into their design.

For me one of the best looking cars of all time is the Jensen Interceptor, just the name evokes something fast and deadly, though not deadly to drive. Jensen was one of those legendary British companies that built stylish and totally individual cars, some like Bristol are still making cars today though their exclusivity not to mention eccentricity means that they have a low profile.

The Jensen Interceptor is the sort of car a 1970s TV superhero would be driving as he pulls up to a Mayfair townhouse to attend a cocktail party. This is a sort of car that demands you wear a pair of calf skin driving gloves before you even touch the steering wheel. I love the single piece of curved glass that formed the large back window. It made it look kind of futuristic in the 1970s and would be adopted by Renault in their nasty but nice Fuego. The Interceptor had a very powerful V12 engine and handled superbly for a car of it's size and power. Being a semi hand built car the standard of trim in the cabin was very high.

These cars are still very highly prized today and sell for high prices. I have seen two for sale in Australia recently, both circa 1974 and apparently in good condition. One was selling for $40,000+, the other for $16,500 was snapped up damn quick.

Gravity and Grace

This is a great store in Swan Street, Richmond. They have a selection of stylish, well designed furniture from a range of smaller, European manufacturers. This is furniture you won't be sick of the sight of within a couple of years, made to a high standard.
They also have a great range of local and European accessories.
Highly recommended!
www.gravityandgrace.com.au

The cult of Scentology.

It's getting to be that time again. My bottle of Comme des Garcons, MAN2 is starting to run dangerously low and I need to think about what my next "smelly" purchase will be.
I must admit to being a bit of a Comme des Garcons groupie, especially their incense influenced perfumes. I would love to try Kyoto or Avignon, but, here at the arse end of the world there seems to be no one who stocks these scents.
At least Mecca have the new Tom of Finland scent from Etat Libre D'Orange. This is supposed to be the scent of a masculine man as he steps out of the shower and puts on his leather pants (I'm not joking!). I had a snifter the other day and boy is it interesting. It starts overpoweringly, then starts to smell kind of like a sweaty body, then smells a bit like Chanel's Egoiste, before it settles down to something typically French. Thing is the Aldehydes in it gave me a headache, which is a shame as I would have loved to have been able to tell people that I was wearing Tom of Finland!
The other choice is Monocle/ Hinoki, the new scent which is a collaboration between CDG and Tyler Creme Brulee's new vanity publication, Monocle.
Hinoki is a lovely scent, it is supposed to evoke Japanese bathhouses and forests. It starts off with a touch of eccentric Turpentine but settles down to a different but pleasant scent in which the Hinkoki wood is apparent. It doesn't last as long as Tom of Finland but that may not be a bad thing. Of course you cannot buy it here so I will have to get it on the Internet. This is not such a bad thing as being shallow I like to think that few other people here will be wearing it.

State of Design.

Melbourne likes to think of itself as a pretty hip, design destination. I don't know why. I suppose for a city of it's size there is a good concentration of design orientated companies but it doesn't mean that their output is of great note.
There are a lot of Chinese copies around, not just of the tired old classics, Eames, Wegner, etc, but also of contemporary designs. In some ways I don't blame people for buying this stuff if it's well made and a good facsimile of the original. What is an original anyway? We are talking about mass produced furniture after all.
The furniture from the big players, Space, Hub, Euroluce, etc is horrendously overpriced and appeals to Melbourne's middle class snobbery and oneupmanship.
It's a very insular design scene here. The only trends they tend to pick up are the glaringly obvious ones they see at their yearly visit to the Milan Furniture Show. These are then transplanted lock, stock and barrel, without any subtlety or imagination. I have lost track of the number of neo baroque horror interiors I have seen recently. Black walls and furniture, trendy floral wallpaper and endless chandeliers.