Neues Museum / Photographs by Frederike Von Rauch

A few months ago Mike and I were visiting Berlin to celebrate our dear friend, Susana’s birthday. One afternoon after the festivities had died down, we wandered over to the Neues Museum. Situated in the center of the Museum Island it is one impressive piece of architecture. The museum is one of the last big buildings in Berlin to be brought back to life. After World War II, the building had been a ruin; and it has reopened to contain the very same art, Berlin’s famous Egyptian collection, before it got bombed out. 

Architect David Chipperfield can be credited for the conservation of the building. The process took ten years. In June 15, 2010 David Chipperfield Architects’ Neues Museum received the Grand Prix of the European Heritage Awards. The award highlights Europe’s best achievements preserving Europe’s rich architectural, landscape, archaeological and artistic heritage. The incorporation of modern architecture is so sensitive and considered that I can see why it took so many years. Each room reveals historical breaches while harmonizing them with the needs of a contemporary functioning museum. He preserved the Neoclassical lines while at the same time creating working modern spaces. 

Included here are the photographs of  Friedrike Von Rauch and her visual documentation of the building in the final stages. She captured moments of unbelievable beauty in the building. Through the photographs you can’t help imagine the building’s past and future which reveals the genius of Chipperfield’s plan. 

Check out the book published by Hatje Cantz. It’s beautifully printed.

Bonnie Cashin

Have you ever studied a person in a photograph and imagined that they must have had an exciting and marvelous life? When I look at pictures of Bonnie Cashin (1915-2000), Californian-born designer, that’s what comes to my mind. She looks like she is having fun even when she was working. I love her whimsical childhood drawings of the La La Girls. Legend has it helped her secure her first job as a costume designer.

In her day Cashin shunned Parisian couturiers that was widely accepted as the arbiters of global fashion. She created practical but stylish lightweight separates that could be layered and adapted to the modern woman’s lifestyle. Her clothes transitioned from season to season, city to country and day to night. Her pragmatic but stylish design popularized the notion that woman could be chic without sacrificing comfort. She is indeed a pioneer designer in creating ready-to-wear fashion. She is also known for turning Coach from a men’s wallet company to an innovative handbag company during the 60’s.

Her design approach and fresh aesthetics made her alluring for many companies. She freelanced for companies like American Airlines, Samsonite, Bergdorf Gooman, White Stag to Hermes.

Constantly globetrotting around the world she found inspiration in her travels. You see it in her designs and her home. This quote from Cashin sums it up nicely for me. “My interests are people and how they look. I remember the way a fisherman wore his shirt in Portofino—the odd chic of the beige and white starched habit of a little nun in Spain—the straw hat of a man riding a donkey in Rhodes—a man’s wedding scarf in India—the elegant drape of a panung in Bangkok.”

Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City

Every architect I know would love to design a library, the modern temple of knowledge. It’s a demanding and prestigious project. One of my favorites is the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City. Winners of an open competition which elicited 590 proposals were Alberto Kalach, Juan Palomar, Gustavo Lipkau and Tonatiuh Martinez.

I’m drawn to how the books are distributed in large metal cages that hang from the five levels of the building and appear like floating clouds of knowledge above the long reading hall. The Library includes a music room and an auditorium that seats 520 people. A botanical garden with vegetation characteristic of the Valley of Mexico surrounds and protects the building from noise and creates a more intimate environment in the reading rooms.

Check out this interview with Alberto Kalach by Jose Castillo for Bomb magazine. Click.

The photography is by Tomas Casademunt.

Alexis Georgacopoulos

The “Blow” bowls caught my attention with its colorful rope handles and hand blown bowls. Maybe with some hope and hinting these vessels will find a place on our dining table. Part of a set of three the bowls are designed and completed in 2008 by Alexis Georgacopoulos who currently lives in Lausanne. The noticeable tension between the hard and soft materials makes this project edgy and playful.

When you get some time I encourage you to visit his site. I’m also including an exhibition project for the Swiss Federal Design Awards at the mudac in Lausanne. The variety of work ranging from graphic design, photography, fashion, etc. is presented in a collection of wooden frames. The size of the wooden structures changes shapes depending on the subject matter.

Polderceramics by Atelier NL

2008 / Project Drawn from Clay—Noordoostpolder
The Dutch have a long history of reclamation of marshes and fenland resulting in 3000 polders nationwide. A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes which means that the land has no connection with outside water. The English have a saying “God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland”. The Noordoostpolder is the largest land area in the Netherlands and was made to create additional land for agriculture and of course to improve flood protection.

Atelier NL, the Eindhoven-based design studio of Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk took up residence in the area to better study the social and agricultural perceptions within the region. The Drawn From Clay series captures these local distinctions as each piece is made from a specific plot of soil taken from various farms across the 285 miles square polder.

“We wanted to make tableware so that the vegetables prepared for dinner could be served from vessels made from the same soil the vegetables came out of,” explains Ryswyck on their site.

Each form was cast-molded at a consistent temperature in order to compare the differences between color and texture from the various soils. The designers cleverly devised a ratio system for determining the size of each piece and stamped each vessel with a geo-code reference to match the plot from where the soil came from.

The project is beautifully photographed by Paul Scala.