Poke Acupuncture LA

Poke in Hollywood is not your regular acupuncture clinic. Looking more like a library/lounge room than a sterile space to get some needle therapy, the owner Russell Brown says of his space:

"I think most of us feel better when we’re cozied up in our living rooms than in a cold medical office and I want that for my patients when they come here... To that end, I have created this office for my patients, to relax in, to let go of their day, and to be transported into another world where they might be nourished not just by alternative healthcare, but an alternative environment to receive that care."









As he says the website:
"The jig is up: I am not asian. Neither is my clinic. To model my office as a faux-asian zen “spa” seems a tad inauthentic: to cram my space with Buddhist trinkets, Ganesha statues and bamboo, I believe is not only insulting to “real” Asians, but is as completely bizarre as me wearing a silken kimono to the supermarket."

Pokes' refreshing website is here

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William St, Paddington
November 2010

Chill Out Zone II

Below are some of my process photos of the work of my second year interior styling students. Their brief was to style the student 'chill out' zone on campus. There was a range of reponses, across many different looks... one group even went to the trouble of laying timber flooring (they were cursing me for the suggestion when they were snapping the multiple panels into place, but it was worth it for the impact it created). See more of the work here.
Great work all 'round.

l.i.f.e.

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi
November 2010

Stella's cottage in the garden

American Vogue have visited Stella Macartney's country estate. A place to keep her horses, a place for her children to frolic, a place to drink tea in the garden. It's so very lovely (and so very English) and photographer Bruce Weber has beautifully captured the estates' secret garden feeling. See here for the story and more images

Booked

London design studio Raw Edges, rejigging the concept of a book case.
Via Sight Unseen

The Underbelly Project NYC

The Underbelly Project is an illegal street art exhibition happening now, which snakes its way underneath the streets of New York, starting in an abandoned subway station. However, the exact location of the works remain undisclosed and only a handful of people have seen the work of the 103 artists involved.

Jasper Rees from The New York Times writes:

“The show’s curators, street artists themselves, unveiled the project for a single night, leading this reporter on a two-and-a-half hour tour. Determined to protect their secrecy, they offered the tour on condition that no details that might help identify the site be published, not even a description of the equipment they used to get in and out. And since they were (and remain) seriously concerned about the threat of prosecution, they agreed only to the use of street-artist pseudonyms.”

So... is it really an exhibition if the public don't have access, if there is no exhibition attendees?
Rees talks to 2 of the artists and says:

In recent years as the vogue for street art has led to “anything that could possibly appreciate in value being ripped off the street by those looking to cash in,” the old sense of adventure and punk-rock energy has faded. The change isn’t all bad, he said: the runaway market for stars like Banksy has had a nice trickle-down effect for artists like him. But he said he feels strongly that something fundamental has been lost. PAC and Workhorse saw the Underbelly Project as a way to recapture that feeling and evade the whims of the marketplace. Workhorse called it “an eternal show without a crowd.”

The New York Times

Chill Out Zone

My interior styling students have been busy for the past 3 weeks, pulling together looks for the campus' student 'chill out area'. Last week, groups set up and shot their concepts. Some lovely furniture choices, some great installation work and some well thought out concepts.









There will be more photo's next week. Well done everyone!

Backyard Bill

These days, we can't get enough of 'real' people. The world of fashion and interiors are exploring and exposing peoples private spaces and flashing them up for the world to see. Magazines like Apartmento and sites like Style Like U step into people's homes and wardrobes and we lap it up, analysing, observing- What shampoo do they use? How do they store their shoes? and so on and so on.

Street Fashion style photography is everywhere... and the lines between advertorial and editorial are getting more and more blurred. Backyard Bill's photography site depicts "stylish folk in their own clothes". I say, all you need to do is add a stockist list and you have a series of photos fit for a new season campaign. Backyard Bill is clearly a talented photographer and clearly his photographed talent have been blessed with good looks and the ability to dress themselves... but the site just makes me wonder- do we ever stop being sold to?
BB's site also contains his work for campaigns and for magazines, yet they are indentical in style to his 'stylish folk in their own clothes'.

Big name fashion bloggers are constantly posting outfit updates, so blatantly spruiking the wears of labels and retailers who have sent them clothes, knowing that the fashion blogger is the new voice of the fashionable masses.

And I still wonder about the chewing gum brand whose marketing strategy included sending boxes of their gum to key fashion bloggers... "I work back my Balmain jacket with a Wang tote and a packet of mint Orbit gum because it taste great and the flavour lasts".... Odd.

And yes, I totally see the irony in posting something like this right after I posted about the new season at Top3. I did a major in marketing at uni... I should know better!