My Diary #design101/016 Tuesday 12.11

I can learn so much from Martí Guixé and his wall clocks he made to Alessi.

24h sentence maker wall clock
A way to measure time with sentences. The different hours are words and the word IS is written in the middle of the clock. A new sentence every hour, 24 sentences a day.


and something that can be personal:

Blank wall clock
A wall clock with a pen: you can write, draw and erase it easily according to your perception of time and graphics.

taiji water painting

I have my own way actually to feel the time and learn to live in the present. Its taiji water painting. I have very simple canvas but I know how to do a canvas myself or use some alternative ways to do the water painting.



For example, I kept a workshop 2009 of this method in the Loesje summercamp that was then in Spain. We were painting standing in the river. Everyone had a pair who photographed the images that were created because the sun was hot and water dried very fast. Here is some pictures from the sea. I painted also there to the rocks with some friends.

#1st choose an image of a notebook you like very much. Why did you choose it?
What makes it special to you? What are the parameters you are working on?

# 2nd Then, go to a stationery shop (or more than one if you have
time). The one around the corner or the one a the shopping
mall. Check out various notebooks on sale. Which one could suit
you best? Why? What are your parameters of selection?

Important!
Here, the exercise is not to buy a notebook (nothing against
it, but it is not today’s task). The exercise is to analyze
different notebooks, clarifying in your mind your own
parameters of selection.

Take a picture of your favourite notebook.

Tip: have the notebook + lean background. Nothing else.
Upload your two images to the homework section in today’s unit
with a short caption.

notebook in Dussman but its not my favorite.

Here is the image I like from Richard Long´s landscapes.

My work has become a simple metaphor of life. A figure walking down his road, making his mark. It is an affirmation of my human scale and senses.

- Richard Long

Richard Long, A Line Made by Walking, 1967.

Why did you choose it? Its a picture of nature but also someone, human or animals have left mark on the grass by walking the same way several times. Its already a known path when it gets visible.

What makes it special to you?
Photograph is a stopped moment but this picture shows the permanent mark of all those moments that we cannot see. Its like a scar on the skin except scars comes from just one time. I have also scars and I know where I got those. Even if many has been taken that path in the picture nobody is showing in that picture. I also like the idea that when you have a skill in something its like a path that keeps visible because you walk on that path often. For example I remember I was able to climb the ropes very easily when I was just a kid. If I would have practiced it more I might still have strenght to do so. Active skills are like paths in the meadow that keeps visible.

What are the parameters you are working on?
I love to see a story in the photo. Something hidden and visible at the same time. The artist is documenting different nature environment and how things leave a mark. 


and here is the notebook I really like. I bought it last year from London. Its made by Magma for Laurence King . And there is beautiful illustrations of Camille Rousseau.

I like how this notebook is made.

here is my sketchbook and drawings about how the notebook is made.

Which one could suit you best? Why?
I like notebooks that have some idea behind. This notebook that fits me best is very inspirational. It has beautiful hand drawed pictures of different leaves in different seasons inside. Its also made very nice way. I would like to try the same binding method. I made some sketches about it.
What are your parameters of selection?
Funktional and beautiful.  Nature theme through all the design.

My Diary #design101/015 Monday 11.11

I am a bit late for updating my material for My Diary week that was 11.11-17.11. I did all the notebook exercises but that week I had to act in a 70´s movie "Ruth" as an extra and all those film days were 12 h long and the set was in a smoky Burlesque club. So I made most of my homeworks just in the end of the week and was compeletely tired after all those smoky days. Did you happen to know how much people smoked on 70`s? I know now.

The letters from #design101 were inspiring as usual.

Did you know Nick Cave kept lot of notebooks?

Here is Nick Cave by his desk and also my messy desktop.

Did you know about his handwritten dictionary of words?
It’s filled with very strange things!

Futher inspiration: Ikko Tanaka. Not only is he one of Japan’s best contemporary graphic designers, but also Muji’s first art director.

If you want to learn more about him, here’s a nice article for you.

For example the following was said in that article of his exhibition In Front / Behind / Left / Right.
"While the essence of Japanese beauty lies in concepts of Wabi and Sabi (simplicity and passage of time), which are central in the work of Tanaka, Suki stands for his curiosity and joy in colour experimentation."

How did I got ready for my 3rd week of design101? I just wrote the weekplan to my diary. Then I went before sunset to pick some autumn leaves and last summer flowers and pressed them between a big dictionary.

I found some fairies wings but let them in the tree. Fairies will need them to fly somewhere more warm place.

I have added some comments later like color code for things that are not yet uploaded to Iversity. I cannot upload photos from my computer to Iversity and need to use my neighbors computer for that. So its a bit complicated.

Machete eats again! Making off #design101 - Part 2

Here are pics from the night with 3 friends over 20th November.

The Menu for the Friends (2 French and 1 German) was following:

# 1st Filled paprica with cherry tomatoes, pepper and olive oil in the owen.

# 2nd Guacamole with nachos and also some popcorn for the movie. 

# We went all together to pick up a Mexican movie from a nearby videorental. We watched Oliver Stone movie "The Savages"

# Music for the evening was as usual in our house: Studio Brussel.

One of my guests Amber, happened to be French chef and she helped me to cut the chili for the guacamole

next day a totally different athmosphere with my Spanish friend.

and here is how guacamole with chips looks like in a Mexican restaurant Ta´Cambron

Making off Machete Eats! #design101 -Part 1

Here is my crazy making off pics of "Machete eats" and extra cool Rodriques stuff read on...

setting up my lemon squeezer, kinky

I started my #design101 Kitchen Stories week by planning the Wednesday 20th November around a movie night theme. When I usually have friends over we look some movies together with our beamer. We have a Asterix puzzle painting on the wall and we just remove it and its like an opening for the movie night.

We had seen Machete with some friends during the first #design101 week. But I really love Robert Rodriquez movies and I am also waiting to see soon the 2nd edition of Machete kills.

So I made the Machete movie poster  for the tool assignment. The name of the main character is Machete (knife) and so the name of the other actors become as well the other tools I need to make Guacamole. Its a concept design. Machete character is known that he always kills. I thought eating is the same thing, happening again and again.

All tools are showing in the pic except the lemon squeezer that happens to be under my shirt. Very hot guacamole indeed. You can see finally the lemon squeezer in my last pics when I even tried a black&white version with the tools. There you can as well see my design101 shirt in practice with knifes hanging on my shoulder. The rest of material of that shirt project became my new sexy machete shirt. When I made my shirt for the Friday 8th of November challenge the idea was that I could hang artistic tools on my shoulders and longer sleeves. Knifes are a bit more dangerous. Don´t try these things at home!!!

I will recommend you to see all of Robert Rodriquez movies and also the DVD extra specials. I learned last week from Robert Rodriquez how he makes the Puerco Pibil. Here is his 10 min cooking  school! He says: "You have to eat rest of your life, mind as well know how." Also in this tutor he gives a nice advice: Just practice your 3 favorite dish and learn to make them well. Cook them once a week or every other week and experiment and you get better at it.

Here are some of his movies:
Machete
Machete kills
Once upon a time in Mexico
Sin City
From Dusk Till Dawn

This is art!

Friday! design101/026

Robinson: Most important task was to shield against wild beasts and the savages.

Another adventure of the moose. This time he gets to an island with Robinson Crusoe.

Luis Bunuels Robinson Crusoe film is amazing and fits perfectly to our design 101 course.

Robinson: " I performed myself in all tasks and was forced to learn new ones. In short, I learned to master everything on my island expect myself."

you are eating my island!

mmmm

gladiator in arena

Let´s be friends

Robinson: "We found that two working together was far better than two working separately.

Difficult task: Be my mom #design101 / 025

Today I invited my Spanish friend Bibi for some guacamole and tortilla chips. She was perfect person to be Machete´s mom. I tried this time to make especially for her some home made tortilla chips but failed big time so I served just a small portion to test.  I learned from Bibi that I should never use olive oil for the chips but sunflower oil.  My main problem was that I had a recipe where you bake them in the owen on the baking paper and the paper got stuck to them. As an extra delicacy I had camembert cheese fondue. And no alcohol for my dear mom so I had orzata with cinnamon.

My Spanish "mom"

There was also camembert fondue with the chips

Machete Eats #design101 /024

Machete don´t text. Machete eats.

While making my poster I found this forest fire picture just randomly from google search but its about Lebanese forest fires and our today´s postcard place was actually in Lebanon! What a coincidence!

Making my kind of shirt #design101 / 012 Part 1

2 shirts that I didnt use got a new life. I love long sleeves so I made those but so that I can also wear the black shirt without them, and then I could hang some other stuff on that shirt if I want to, maybe even pens and tools from my shoulders. and also the sleeves can work as a artistic scarf!

 

Blue Riding Hood/ Sage Gnocchi #design101 /011

Moose is back again:) this time with Blue Riding Hood, the vegetarian sister of Red Riding Hood.

I got this receipt from my CS guests and it was written on the back side of this nice Blue Riding Hood card.

(John Bauer)Here is my other inspiration image for the task.

and this is a little story of a Blue Riding Hood visiting her little blue friend in the sage forest.

Who´s there?

hmm? What´s happening?!

Blue Riding Hood loves belgian beer and it fits perfectly with cheesy ricotta gnocchi.

Food is ready!

Bon Appetit!