Tifmurray

Designer José Manuel Ferrero of estudi{H}ac partnered with VONDOM to take the idea of a rug and make it for the outdoors. Inspired by the look and shape of diamonds, the graphic pattern of the MARQUIS will make a statement on your patio in one of the five color variations it comes in.

MARQUIS is made of fibrillated polyethylene with a backing made of reinforced polypropylene fleece to withstand the outdoor elements. Holes are incorporated into the design to let liquid pass through. Available in two sizes, 2 x 2m or 2 x 3m, and comes in five color variations: Black – White, Red – Green, Red – Black, Gold, and Black – Green.

What bland optimism. Just look at all those smiling, happy white people. If there was ever a more striving crawl towards generic homogeneity, I’d like to hear about it. And if this utopia was built in the 40s and disintegrated in the 60s, then for a moment it existed — for some — in the calm center of the storm of the world, 1950s America. Let’s look at the colors used to sell this story.

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Welcome to Cedar & Moss, a new collection of modern and midcentury lighting forest-made near Portland, Oregon in a design studio surrounded by tall cedar trees. After more than ten years as a designer in the industry, michelle steinback decided to venture out and start her own lighting studio and today I’m thrilled to share her new collection and company, Cedar & Moss.

michelle was inspired to start Cedar & Moss about a year ago when she and her family and moved into an Eichler-style ranch home. unable to find exactly what she wanted for their home, she put her lighting experience to work. The designs she created for her own home led to more and more ideas, and this process eventually led to the creation of Cedar & Moss. This initial collection offers both midcentury classics and minimalist designs that are sparely elegant and composed — they feel at once fresh yet familiar, a blend of then and now.

as you know from my recent travels, i’ve been using airbnb to book apartments. (italy here, rome here, sweden here) i pulled together 5 cute california spots you could stay in case you are headed west anytime soon! or maybe a staycation? a few by the beach, one in a treehouse (!), an artist loft and one in my silver lake neighborhood. i might even rent that place in malibu for our next anniversary…

click to rent them here:

venice beach cottage, SF treehouse, malibu beach house, downtown loft, silver lake apartment

people ask quite a bit on instagram how i find the places that i stay. here’s a few of my airbnb tips:

1. 1. first do research on the neighborhood. location is key! while it’s great to have an amazing place to sleep, you still want to be able to walk around to shops and cafes easily. i usually google the “hip” or “trendy” neighborhoods because it usually means they have a lot going on as far as restaurants and fun sights. then i type that neighborhood into airbnb.
2. 2. i always read the reviews. i am skeptical about places with only 1 or 2 reviews. usually the great places have a lot people giving you their two cents.
3. 3. create wish lists & organize your listings into the “my trips” section. we did this for our recent european trip so we could share our lists with each other and decide our favorites. that way you don’t have to keep all the tabs open, they will save them for you.
4. 4. if i have a minimum budget i always start the filters there. this will shorten the time you have to weed through places. i keep the maximum budget high, just because i like to look. although it’s sometimes torture
5. 5. a couple more things i always check for: is it close to public transportation? does it have wifi? is it up 10 flights of stairs with no elevator (yes, i found that out that hard way, with heavy bags) and sometimes i ask the host if the apartment still looks the same as in the photos. you don’t want to get there and it look completely different because the photos were old.

(this post was sponsored by airbnb, all opinions are my own. photos by designlovefest)

Grand Theft Auto has been crucified in the media for its capability to allow players to rampantly kill and maim civilians and authorities such as their fictional police force. Its latest edition creates a reality slippage with the inclusion of an in-game “selfie” function via a virtual smart phone, the app for which can be downloaded onto your real life phone. Photos taken by players are automatically shared with an online community via the game’s social platform and are a strange mashup of violence and humor. They form a documented snapshot journey of online death, formatted as self-portrait, creating a survey of virtual death tourism.—Georgie Roxby Smith

Australian artist Georgie Roxby Smith has always been fascinated by the concepts of digital identity and role playing. Her newest work exploring virtual worlds and online networks has culminated in a startling set of “photographs” in GTAV, Death Tourism Selfies. Smith turns the game’s new “selfie” feature on its head simply by positioning it in her framework of masculinity and culture of death so frequent in virtual gameplay. By appropriating a game rarely geared towards her own gender, Smith reveals a world that calls for contemplation and a look at our own contemporary psyche.

This post was contributed by photographer and Feature Shoot Editorial Assistant Jenna Garrett.

Their wedding was a lot of fun, 2011

Photographer and Indiana University Northwest professor Jennifer Greenburg has been gathering vintage negatives for years. In her work Revising History, Greenburg appropriates these black and white images by digitally inserting herself as a main character, mimicking the gestures of the moment and the clothing of the period. By circumventing someone else’s photographs and calling them her own, Greenburg exhibits the innately false nature of memory and the family snapshot.

His first haircut, 2011

I think a lot of artists collect old photographs as there is a sort of mystery and unknown to them. What made you decide to insert yourself into someone else’s memories?
“When I look at someone else’s life though the lens of someone else’s camera, I create my own stories. I have done this as long as I can remember. Usually when someone shows you their photographs, they cannot help but narrate the images. I ignore that narration. Instead, I make up a fantasy in my own mind. I idealize everything– becoming quite nostalgic– even if the subjects in the photos are completely unknown to me. I prefer a wistful interpretation. Photography is an interpretation of what is in front of the lens. Yet, as a culture, we rarely acknowledge that. We still believe that what we see in a photograph is truthful.

“The fantasy of all photographs is what I am commenting on through my work. By placing myself in a time and place that could not possibly be real, I address the concept that the lens does not hold much, or any, truth.”

Napping with Floyd, 2011

You have said that Revising History is about the fantasy of family snapshots and the way we remember past events. How do you feel your work illustrates this?
“I know that memory is often replaced with something the photograph has sold to us. I have a vivid memory of something that happened to me when I was 6 months old. I could not possibly remember that moment. It would be developmentally impossible. The clarity of this memory is most likely something my mind generated as a result of seeing photographs of that moment. The photograph created a memory that wasn’t really there.

“Another example is when you take photos at a party. You want to take some photos to remember where you were, and who you were with. And what happens? No one wants to have their picture taken. You take one or two, and then you lose your audience. Your friends want to go back to their conversations, not continue to take pictures. Yet, when you post them on social media the next day, everyone wants to see all of your photos and asks, ‘Didn’t you take any more?’ The lackluster attitude is quickly forgotten, and so are the actual details of the party. Maybe the party was actually just ok. But if the photos are good, the party will go down as the greatest party that was ever held.”

Diving off the shores of Lake Michigan, 2012

You disappear flawlessly into these vintage photographs. Talk a little bit about the process and technical aspect of inserting yourself into photos that are decades old.
“Discussing the technical process is a detraction from understanding the work and looking at the actual images. The concept I am working with is hard to come to terms with for viewers. You mean you can just remove me from my own photographs? Though the images are funny, they are also somewhat disturbing. To escape the hard truth, everyone wants to know about the technical process. Somehow, it’s believed, that if you knew how I did it, it would make the concept easier to come to terms with. This is not something I want to facilitate.”

My funeral, 2012

My Funeral is an image that reminds me of when Tom Sawyer fantasized about dying under his young lover’s windowsill and the mournful events that would follow if he were to die. I think we all have envisioned what that day will be like. What made you choose that image?
“The history of photography is filled with post-mortem portraiture. When the camera was in its earliest stages, the exposure times had to be very long. Making clear photos of live humans was nearly impossible because people could not sit still enough for a long duration of time. Photographs of people in their coffins could be made easily because of course the body was no longer in motion. Often, the only clear photo taken in a person life was taken on the day of their funeral. I wanted to reference that history. Revising History is filled with small references and winks at the history of photography. Me, modeling the latest fashions for Russeks Department Store, 2012, is a nod to Diane Arbus because her father owned Russek’s Department store, and the department store is where she met her husband Alan Arbus.

“I also chose to make, My Funeral, 2012, because it is the most deceptive of all the images in the series. It is the one that could not possibly be real. Again, people get very uncomfortable with this work. Individuals who believe that I have not actually used found photographs interrogate me regularly. My funeral, 2012, is the one that is undeniable. It is both dark and completely absurd, which is a combination that I quite like.”

Our high school reunion, 2011

Something funny happened in the kitchen, 2011

That Christmas, I watched water skiing on t.v., 2011

The Spring League Opener, 2012

My dreams came true the day I did hair for a fashion show, 2013

via Filter Photo

This post was contributed by photographer and Feature Shoot Editorial Assistant Jenna Garrett.

PUSH starts out looking like a flat metal plate and with the help of your hands, it gets pushed into a solo metal jewelry bowl or an attached trio of bowls. Designed by architecture and design firm The Fundamental Group, PUSH lets you shape it into the perfect container for all of your important things.

PUSH comes in copper, stainless steel, and brass, and you can get them as individual pieces or in an attached trio. Each one pushes easily into shape so you can have a place for your necklaces, rings, keys, or anything else you like.

I can’t quite remember the first time I saw a Vespa, but since then I’ve been mesmerized by just how beautiful they are. Sophisticated Italian style, smooth curves, and iconic design come to mind when thinking about the classic scooter.

The brand’s newest model comes after a six-year stint of perfecting the Vespa that we all know very well. The new Vespa 946 is aptly named after 1946, the year the Italian company was founded and made their very first scooter.

Only a certain number of the 946 models will be made for each country, with yearly releases of the new model coming in premium colors and fresh customizations.

While the 946 pays homage to Vespa’s history, it definitely feels modern and tad bit futuristic. For the first time ever, Vespa has used aluminum in one of their designs. As a plus, from the stitching on the leather handle grips to the final polish, every premium component is assembled by hand.

From rear side panels that tap the art deco style for inspiration, to the full LED headlamp (another first!), the Vespa 946’s modern approach to the iconic scooter is truly well done.

Touzet Studio, out of Coral Gables, Florida, were tasked with building a modern home that the client desired while keeping the classically-oriented style that the city required. Located on a waterfront site with views across Biscayne Bay to downtown Miami, the home’s design had to meet a lot of challenges, and the final result proves that the compromise is better than anyone could have imagined.

With the homeowner being a modernist and the City of Coral Gables having a zoning code that favors historical “styles” over contemporary, Touzet Studio had their work cut out for them. Their solution: design two sides of the home with one facing the city and the other facing the bay. The city side facade looks rather formal with two structures covered in stone that very much falls in line with the architecture of the neighboring homes. The lower volume is clad in rough-hewn Florida Keystone and the larger, main volume is covered in honed limestone. The fortress-like exterior only has two openings on the western facade and a sliver of windows above. Even though they followed the rules to fit in, the house is all but hidden from the street.

The interior was fair game and was clearly designed around the water views. The wavy, wood clad ceiling draws your eye to the water.

We are also loving that Vin de Garde modern wine storage.

The bay side of the house is more tailored to the homeowner’s taste with sleek floor-to-ceiling windows framing the view.

Alcoves of patio space were built into the design to provide private outdoor space.

The bay side makes up for the closed off street side with sweeping walls of glass that completely open the house up.

Photos by Robin Hill.

It is difficult now days to find truly authentic experiences. In today’s world of knockoffs and spinoffs it is easy to be fooled or bamboozled into believing something is the real deal. Well, if you are looking for a genuine slice of Cuban cuisine/culture make sure to stop by 815 Broad Ripple Ave, Indianapolis and grab yourself a bite to eat and a Jupiña or an Ironbeer to drink.

I am proud to call myself a Cuban-American. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida surrounded by the Cuban culture and brought up by my grandparents who were 28 and my mother who was 4 years old when they left Cuba as political refugees. They made it a point to make sure that myself and my brother and sister would grow up as Cuban as possible.

I grew up on Cuban sandwiches, Pan con Lechon (pork sandwiches), Pan con Bistec (steak sandwiches), Pastelitos de Queso y de Guayaba (Cuban pastries filled with deliciousness), and café Cubano (Cuban coffee aka rocket fuel). And it was to my extreme delight when I arrived back to campus this August and saw this little hole in the wall Cuban café on Broad Ripple Ave.

Menu

I walked in very skeptical and did not introduce myself, ordered, and when I was asked for my name changed it to Ryan to not give the Cuban owner and his daughter at the cash register any idea that I was of Hispanic descent, just in case the food wasn’t up to standards.

After my first bite, I picked up my phone and called home and told my mom I needed some more money in my debit account, as I was going to be eating outside of the school cafeteria more often.

The food took me back home faster than any car, bus, or airplane ever could. It was perfect from the sandwiches, to the drink selection, to the music being played.

If you want authentic Cuban, go get yourself a Taste of Havana.

Authentic Tastes of Havana is a post from The Indiana Insider Blog. Check out more great content from the Indiana Insider.

The post Authentic Tastes of Havana was written by mdcalder for the Indiana Insider Blog and can be found at The Indiana Insider Blog. If you read this post somewhere other than the link above, please contact us and let us know: http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/contactUs.aspx

‘Lurk’, 2013, Oil on Linen, 130 x 91cm – one of the new works in ‘Lossless’, an upcoming exhibition by Brisbane based artist Victoria Reichelt at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane. Photo - Toby Scott.

Brisbane based artist Victoria Reichelt.  Photo - Toby Scott.

‘Slide’, 2012, oil on linen, 35 x 35cm by Victoria Reichelt.

Details from the studio of Brisbane based artist Victoria Reichelt.  Photo - Toby Scott.

Victoria Reichelt flicks through photographs of libraries,  upon which her recent work is based.  Photo - Toby Scott.

Brisbane based artist Victoria Reichelt, pictured here at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane.  ’Sneak’, 2013, Oil on Linen, 130 x 91cm hangs on the wall behind.  This work is included in Victoria’s current exhibition, ‘Lossless’. Photo - Toby Scott.

I’ve been meaning to interview talented Brisbane based artist Victoria Reichelt for such a long time.  It seems fitting that we’re finally getting around to it now (!!), as Victoria has had a particularly big year, having recently won the prestigious Sulman Prize for 2013.  That is a seriously HUGE deal !  (Victoria’s winning painting, ‘After (books)‘ is pictured a little further down this post).

Victoria’s paintings centre around subject matter tied to obsolescence – in the past her works have depicted antique film equipment, shelves filled with paperback books, and piles of glossy magazines.  At present, she is concerned with documenting libraries. ‘Even though modern day libraries are busier than ever, often the quietest areas are those where the books are, as people access more of their information online’ explains Victoria below. Her latest works depict different libraries she has visited and photographed across Australia, with their endless racks of paper archives and books. Amidst the shelves wander lost animals, whose uneasy presence in these foreign environments points to the way we, too, might react to rooms full of books in years to come.

Painting primarily in oil on linen, Victoria recreates her subject matter in painstaking, almost photographic detail.  There’s often a sense of immense volume and repetition in her work – stacks of book and magazines sit impossibly high, and library shelves seem to go on as far as the eye can see.  As she explains below, there is nothing left to chance in her creative process, her compositions are carefully planned and sketched before brush touches canvas – ‘There isn’t a lot of room for experimentation in the painting process – that happens more in the planning stage’ she says.  The resulting paintings are meticulous in their attention to detail, and clearly convey Victoria’s labour intensive process.

Victoria’s latest exhibition is a joint show with sculptor Alex Seton, which opened just this week at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane.  The show includes works from her recent libraries series, and runs until November 16th.

Lossless by Victoria Reichelt and Alex Seton
Open now until 16 November
Jan Murphy Gallery
486 Brunswick Street,
Fortitude Valley, Brisbane 

Victoria is represented by Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane and Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects in Melbourne.

Tell us a little about your background – What path led you to becoming a fine artist, and to creating the style of work you are currently making?

I haven’t ever really done anything else. When I left school I went straight to uni to study Fine Art, and have been painting full-time ever since. I think that painting is a good language to use to discuss complex things that are going on in the world and how we feel about them – things that can’t always be put into words.

An example of this is in my big library interior paintings. Even though modern day libraries are busier than ever (with learning centers, computer facilities, databases, historical centers, exhibition spaces etc.), often the quietest areas are those where the books are, as people access more of their information online. Those works are about what we’re losing with the march forward of technology (moving from the physical to the digital), and I think you get that feeling of loss and uncertainty when you look at them.

How would you describe your work?

Generally speaking in my practice I look at objects that are in danger of becoming obsolete or in different states of change (often due to new technologies), so each series has that idea as the overarching theme but then the work goes off onto other little tangents. In the past I have made paintings of antique cameras and film equipment, books and magazines and now I am focusing on libraries – all items and places that are undergoing lots of change due to advancing technologies.

What can we expect to see in your new exhibition Lossless with Alex Seton at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane? What has inspired this body of work?

The exhibition with Alex is about the idea of what we’re losing because of digital advancements. Alex is a sculptor from Sydney and he carves these amazing works out of marble. Even though our works are visually quite different we share the same conceptual concerns and communicate the ideas we’re interested in using very time intensive mediums. One of the works he has made for the show is a marble carving of a screwed up ball of paper, which is really beautiful and has some nice connections to my work, as I have made big paintings of rooms full of paper and boxes in library basements.

‘Fall’, 2012, oil on linen, 105 x 150cm by Victoria Reichelt.

Can you give us a little insight into your process? What materials do you use? Is each work pre-planned or created very intuitively? Do you work on multiple canvases at one time, and how long does each work take to complete?

It’s all very pre-planned and organised. For this show I did photo shoots in a number of libraries around the country, and once I had all the images together I started to figure out which ones would work as individual paintings and also work well together as a show. Then I drew them up and started painting.

This show has probably taken about nine months to put together. There isn’t a lot of room for experimentation in the painting process – that happens more in the planning stage. The big paintings for this show took over a month to paint and the small ones took a couple of weeks each.

I generally only do one painting at a time, but sometimes you have to wait for things to dry, so occasionally there are a few on the go. Drying can be a bit of a problem, especially here in Queensland with the humidity. I had a deadline at the beginning of the year and I needed a whole bunch of works to dry a bit faster so I set up two heaters, a fan and a dehumidifier in my studio for a few days to speed things along – it was a bit of an unpleasant environment to paint in, but luckily everything dried in time!

I also sometimes have other projects I have to squeeze in, so occasionally I have to take time out to make works for other exhibitions. During the preparations for this show I took some time out to make work for the University of Queensland Artists’ Self Portrait Prize (I have made a couple of little paintings based on old photographs of myself as a child), so other projects that might pop up have to be factored in when trying to figure out how much time you need to make a show.

’1981′, (part of series – 1 of 4), 2013, Oil on Linen, 15 x 15cm by Victoria Reichelt.  This work is part of a series made for Victoria’s University of Queensland Artists’ Self Portrait Prize, on now until 16 February 2014.

What does a typical day at work involve for you?

I paint Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and if I have a show coming up, on the weekends too. When you work from home there is a temptation to take it easy but I learned long ago that you don’t get anywhere if you don’t fully commit and take it seriously as a job. I think also when you make work that is very time consuming you have to paint long hours to get work out there. If I slacked off it would take years to get a show together!

‘Uprising’, 2011, oil on linen, 112 x 91cm by Victoria Reichelt.

Can you list for us your top resources across any media that you turn to regularly for creative inspiration?

I listen to a tonne of podcasts and audiobooks to keep me from going stir crazy when I am painting all day. Slate magazine is the best, it is an online magazine that does great podcasts (the culture and political ones are the best). There are lots of others too – Longform (interviews with longform non-fiction writers), Extra Hot Great (about tv shows) and The New Yorker has some good podcasts too – and of course all the Radio National ones. I love audiobooks but they are more expensive so I only buy one every couple of weeks.

I am a bit of a magazine junkie too, there is nothing better than having a bunch of new issues on the kitchen table. I regularly read Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Marie Claire, Inside Out, Australian Art Collector, Artist Profile, Art & Australia, Art Monthly and some of the foodie ones too (Gourmet Traveller, Feast etc).

I also regularly watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report from the US. I subscribe to them in iTunes and most days of the week there are new ones to watch.

Victoria at work.  Photo - Toby Scott.

Which other local artists, designers or creative people are you most inspired by at the moment?

I am most inspired by my artist friends – there are so many great creatives here in Queensland doing amazing things, if I ever feel a bit low a quick studio visit or artist lunch normally gets me back on track.

What is your proudest career achievement to date?

Probably winning the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in March this year. I was happy just to have work hung in that show, so to win it was amazing and I felt really lucky.

‘After (books)’, 2013, oil on linen, 130 x 91cm by Victoria Reichelt - winner of the Sir John Sulman Prize 2013.

What are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to this show opening so I can have a bit of a holiday! It always gets a bit frantic leading up to an exhibition, and it’s always good to have a few days off once it has opened to relax and start thinking properly about the next body of work.

BRISBANE QUESTIONS

Your favourite Brisbane neighbourhood and why?

I used to live in West End, I think that’s my favourite neighborhood. There is a great creative community there and some awesome restaurants.

Where and what was the last great meal you ate in Brisbane?

Depo is a very cool new restaurant in West End, it has amazing décor and styling and great food. I also love The Spaghetti House in Boundary St, it is hard to get a booking sometimes, but great if you can get in.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

Probably the James St precinct. It is close to the good galleries in the Valley so a great place to end up after some Saturday morning gallery hopping.

Brisbane’s best kept secret?

That’s a hard one, I tend to go where The Urban List tells me! The Urban List is a great website – they are always uncovering great new places to eat and visit so I just go where they recommend!

‘Green Room’, 2009, oil on linen, 81×81cm by Victoria Reichelt.

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Name: John and Liz Tavarez
Location: Fairview Place; Phoenix, Arizona
Size: 1,004 square feet
Years lived in: 7 years; Owned

Liz and John live in a Sears Craftsman assembled in 1926. Their neighborhood, Fairview Place, was granted Historic Designation in 1994. It's the oldest house in their neighborhood by two years. In Phoenix, this is considered incredibly old.

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November. Wow. I really can’t get my head around the fact that there are only two months left of 2013 – where has this year gone, guys?! The only word I can use is: whirlwind. After a particularly long and draining day yesterday I came across these absolutely beautiful paintings by Japanese artist Izutsu Hiroyuki. This series of works by Izutsu depict the Japanese countryside but in an array of brights and brilliant splendour. I love the positive and encouraging motto on each one ‘Don’t Give Up Japan’, don’t you? When I saw these paintings I literally stopped and felt mesmerised by their colourful beauty; it was the cathartic visual hug I need at that point in time. We all face personal battles and last night I needed this – colour is like a faithful dog, it’s always there to lift the spirits when I feel tired or drained. If you are out there reading this Izutsu – thank you for brightening my day, literally. Which artist’s work inspires you, friends?

// Paintings by Izutsu Hiroyuki

27 Republican Senators vote to "disapprove" of their two week old votes to raise the debt ceiling.

Edward Snowden has taken a tech support job at a major Russian website.

Today, we’re launching a brand-new series of super short videos called “10 Second How-Tos.” The series, which is pretty much what its name entails, aims to equip all you readers with simple, effective tips for daily life. From the proper way to cut flowers to how to create a simple household cleaner, we’ve got you covered!

It’s fitting that our first installment shows how to clean cast iron skillets, because as of recently, this task has become the bane of my existence. Although cast iron cookware cooks beautifully and is a non-toxic alternative to nonstick pans, they can’t be washed with traditional soap-and-water methods. After way too much head-scratching over the proper method of getting these guys clean, the lovely Sacha Dunn (co-founder of the eco-friendly cleaner company Common Good) was kind enough to help me out. Here are her simple, straightforward directions! All you need is some salt, olive oil, and water!