08/04/2011

#milanuncut

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#milanuncut

The Blogazine supports #milanuncut.

The Twitter hashtag initiative was begun by a group of design journalists to debate serious issues in design that generally don’t grab headlines. Environmental and social issues. Education issues. Product life, aesthetics, materials and even issues related to the design system itself. And on the eve of the world’s most important design event – which just happens to be the crown jewel of our city – we feel that design is in need of a real shakeup. Questions raised on #milanuncut will serve to stimulate real discourse and drive design towards better solutions and away from a tool for the far-too-market oriented nature of pretty trinkets and shiny brand names.

fuesproject and other notables have already been quite active in the discussion, and we invite our readers to join in. London design practice Zerofree designed the #milanuncut logo.

Follow The Blogazine on Twitter at @2dmblogazine

Tag Christof

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07/04/2011

Diego Soprana Gets Glamorous

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Diego Soprana Gets Glamorous

The newest work from 2DM’s Diego Soprana is a surprising departure from his norm. Usually a maker of rigorous and surrealist imagery, the young illustrator has never ceased to amaze us. But these understated and very elegant images highlight his versatility as an artist and demonstrate his breadth of talent.



With this additional direction, he displays an uncanny sensitivity – something that his usual subversive collage work does in an entirely different way. From the Dior chemise, to the Chanel perfume and sophisticated silhouettes, these are pure style. They are filled with midcentury glamour, solid colour palates, imperfect brush strokes and delicate proportions. Think early motion picture animation. Think Mad Men. Nights out on the town captured in Kodachrome. You can almost see them in a 1960 Bergdorf Goodman window…

Tag Christof – Images 2DM/

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07/04/2011

Revista Rara | Guatemala

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Revista Rara | Guatemala

Guatemala probably doesn’t blip your radar when you think of design, art or good magazines. In this small country where political controversy and violent scandals are top of mind, high quality, incisive publications can be very rare finds, indeed. But with a clean and fresh perspective, Revista Rara manages to be an exceptionally good digest of design, art, architecture and culture. Made by a team of only native Guatemalans, this is a gutsy, fresh and well-curated magazine that wouldn’t be out of place on the newsstand of colette or any other discerning magazine stand. Seriously, it’s that good.


This month marked the launch of Rara’s third issue, and not only is the art direction fantastic by any standard, the magazine has a distinctive voice that is the result of its sharp eye and the culture that surrounds it. The magazine is filled from end to end with Guatemalan talent from the likes of Cedrick Arenales, Juan Brenner or Byron Mármol. The publication’s vision is specially focused on Guatemalan and Latin American projects, and gives us an interesting insight into the creative atmosphere in this oft-overlooked corner of the globe.

RARA’s creators, Andrés and Luisa, are both passionate artists and work from a “genuine and passionate Central American point of view.” From their work you readily really tell that the team they have put together operates for no higher purpose than to carry out their passions. They write, photograph, paint and generally create because it’s what they love to do.

And the magazine’s title couldn’t possibly be more appropriate: rara in Spanish means rare, unique and weird. But the only thing rara about it is that you can’t find it outside Central America. It’s gorgeous to real creativity sprout up in an unexpected place. Maybe it’s about time we shift our perceptions and look beyond our borders a little more willingly… there are treasures to find!

And so, we think RARA deserves a hearty cheer, Guatemala style: RA! RA! RA!

Juan Alvarado & Tag Christof – Special thanks to RARA

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06/04/2011

Architect Barbie Does Milano

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Architect Barbie Does Milano

Barbie has worn many hats in her long life. Mostly frilly ones, berets, and the kind fancy ladies wear when they go “skiing” in Cortina, but mostly just sit in the lodge and drink hot chocolate. Now, though, she’s donning a harder hat. After being everything from an astronaut to a corporate executive, Barbie’s career trajectory has finally taken a turn we can get into. She’s become a maker-innovator with the release of her latest incarnation: Architect Barbie.

For 2011 she’s taken on a career that’s eminently 21st century and in line with the forward-thinking ladies of today. With Barbie’s obvious appreciation for design – think pink Corvette convertibles and well-furnished plastic mansions – it’s surprising that it’s taken her this long to realise her passion for the built world. And since she’s been in the fashion game her whole life (and has a bigger wardrobe than Franca Sozzani, Anna Wintour and Anna dello Russo combined), it’s about time she used her highly cultivated taste and sense of style to solve some pressing problems. And we’re very happy that our hot plastic friend has broken the glass ceiling of one of the last remaining male-dominated professions.


So, Architect Barbie has arrived to do battle with the likes of Zaha Hadid, Eileen Gray, Kazyuo Sejima and other female luminaries of our day. What will she call her practice? Barbitecture? Will she trade in her subscription to Glamour for Domus and Architectural Digest? And we can only imagine the kinds of buildings she’ll dream up. While she’ll likely be behind some seriously well-executed shopping malls, we hope she’s passionate about urban housing and radical public green spaces, too.

In honour of Salone Del Mobile, Barbie paid us a visit and let her hair down for a whirlwind tour of Milan’s famous architecture. Once we managed to get her out of La Galleria and away from Piazza Duomo, she went absolutely crazy for Torre Pirelli. But Torre Velasca scared the living daylights out of her. And at the end of the day, she proclaimed that she was “so over pink,” thinking about switching to biodegradable plastic, and that Gio Ponti is her new hero.

Now you’re talking, Barbie.

Text and photos by Tag Christof – Very special thanks to Sofia La Rosa

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05/04/2011

Ana Murillas / The Seventh Seal

Ana Murillas / The Seventh Seal

The second issue of Spanish culture biannual Tiger Magazine is on newsstands. The jumbo journal’s sophomore foray – The Cinema Issue – is even better than its first time out, with interviews with the likes of Olly Alexander, an excellent piece on Diane Pernet, and work by photographers Rankin, Jonathan Hallam, Miguel Villalobos and JM Ferrater. But mostly we love this issue because you can see the work of 2DM’s super stylist Ana Murillas en grande. She did the fashion for an editorial with photographer Richard Jensen based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal. With its rocky seaside backdrop and early morning light, Ana and Richard do a fantastic job of bringing the solemn, spiritual mood of the film into fashion.

As a bonus, catch the fun illustration of Ana at the opening of the issue.

Tag Christof 

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04/04/2011

The Editorial: Hugh Holland and The Lost Art Of Living

The Editorial: Hugh Holland and The Lost Art Of Living

The world over, cities are crawling with glossy girls and prissy boys whose only aim in life seems to be to perfect their appearance. It’s easy to blame fashion, especially from the outside, but the real culprit is much larger, and the exact opposite of fashion. Blame a well-oiled marketing machine, terribly misguided values (embodied in terribly misguided pop stars), and a fragmented Western culture mostly devoid of nagging discomforts…

We recently came across Hugh Holland’s 1970s photographs of Southern California kids who lived life on the decks of skinny, precarious banana skateboards. They commandeered dry swimming pools, they wore tattered Vans and had suntans. Theirs was a beauty that burst from within. Their exuberance and lust for life was boundless – and captured gorgeously by Holland, who was himself interestingly not a skateboarder. He could see that these kids were alive!

Most striking about Holland’s photos, though, is just how sharply their exuberance and energy contrasts with the pretence of today. Sure, more kids skate now, but it’s only because marketing types seized on the sport’s potential. Endorsements. Video games. And now every suburban kid and pretentious fashion victim worth his salt is somehow a skater, bro.

Going down to the stake park is no longer about the art of skating. It’s about trash talk and showing off your jeans. And the days of the banana board and California sunshine are over: not only do kids no longer roam the streets in search of adventure, they aren’t allowed to venture beyond their front doors without a helmet and fifteen kilos of other protective gear. Is this overprotectiveness the root of the problem? What harm did a healthy scratch do? And in an age of preteen Starbucks patrons, maybe its our inability to be kids – and our inability to let our kids be kids – that keeps us from living openly and exuberantly. Who knows.

So, instead of getting out there and pioneering and exploring in search of something truly new, we only seem to be capable of remixing that which came before. Without a moment’s thought about the lifestyle the look was born of, we dress like skaters. Or strap on a pair of Doc Martens we just bought with daddy’s credit card and claim to be punk. (You’re not punk. Full stop.) Or worse still, we copy something that means absolutely nothing. And we take photos of ourselves on the and post them to Lookbook, hoping desperately that someone will validate our desperation with “hype.” Except those hype points… well, if you say so!

Now, we don’t pretend to have a problem with appearance. On the contrary, in fact. But, shouldn’t a look be the result of a life lived? Of a passion? Of a belief? Your own?

Perhaps our old pal Vivienne Westwood said it best when she proclaimed that ‎”Johnny Rotten and all the others were a bunch of conformists. It’s not green hair that makes you different, it’s your brain, your attitude towards life.”

You’ve got that right, Viv.

Catch Holland’s book, Locals Only, at Ammo Books.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Ammo Books 

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02/04/2011

Essen: Curious Beasts – An Introduction to Small Game

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Essen: Curious Beasts – An Introduction to Small Game

As cuisine becomes more and more localized chefs have increasingly touted the benefits of utilizing local flora, and rightly so. Home cooks are increasing the foraging ranks, and chefs from California to Scandinavia enlist teams of natural scavengers to adorn their seasonal menus with the best of local vegetation. Many local animal food sources, however, are often overlooked, be it for cultural, taste or availability reasons. But there is evidence that the hunting and eating of wild game is slowly taking hold.

In a constant effort to challenge perceptions of what food is, while simultaneously exploring new flavors and sensations, chefs like Brett Graham and Heston Bluementhal are naturally directing our attention to the world of fauna. What better way to challenge perceptions than with animals that are often perceived as inedible, road kill, or just downright disgusting.

In an effort to discover more about eating wild game, I had a chat with Baron Ambrosia, the star of the food show Bronx Flavor, and the host of the First Annual Bronx Pipe Smoking Society’s Small Game Dinner, held in January. The purpose of the dinner was to challenge chefs to get out of their comfort zones by preparing main dishes using unusual game, and to give guests the opportunity to explore the world of protein, outside of what is usually deemed as acceptable. And the results? The menu included such delicacies as opossum with dried pepper sauce, squirrel with black truffles, and a raccoon confit.

When asked what triggered his own interest in hunting and eating small game Baron Baron responded, “Out of the vast selection of fauna that is available (and delicious) we as a society are politely permitted to choose from a very small selection. Much of this selection is unhealthy industrial-grade offal. People are perfectly happy to pick up a hamburger made from a cow that has spent its miserable life in a dank pen being overstuffed with corn and antibiotics, yet they recoil in horror at the thought of consuming an animal that has had a beautiful and productive life in the wild.”

For those of us not lucky enough to be on the Baron’s guest list, our best option is probably heading down to the farmers’ markets to see what game is available, or availing ourselves of a hunting license. However you obtain that wild meat, the Essen guide to small game should serve as an excellent source of inspiration.

Visit Essen for more fantastic insight into the world of food.

By Eileen Bernardi – Illustrations by Lorenzo Fernandez

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