Watch: Leslie Williamson's Handcrafted Modern Europe: At Home with MidCentury Designers

Help Leslie make this book a reality! Handcrafted Modern Europe will feature an intimate look inside the homes of thirteen of the most important mid-twentieth century architects and designers in Europe, including Alvar and Aino Aalto, Bruno Mathsson, Finn Juhl, Carlo Mollino, and more.

Visit here for all the project details, and please share this post!

Look+Listen: Rodriguez: Crucify Your Mind (live) + Searching for Sugarman Trailer

A live performance on Letterman from the mysterious man with a truly amazing story.

Here is the trailer for the documentary on his life:

Look+Listen: Teen: Better

The very fact that the video features a young Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne in a nearly forgotten movie Quicksilver (1986), is a testament to how rad this song is.

Via TEEN.

Watch: Classic Spaces: Jens Risom's Weekend Home: Block Island

A couple of years ago I had posted a few archived photos of Jens Risom's prefab weekend retreat, from a 1967 Life magazine feature. Skeptics expected it to only stand a year before being blown down by winds. It was a nice surprise to learn that not only does the structure still stand, it is still being used by Jens Risom and his family today.

In this beautiful short film from Dwell, Risom reminisces on the construction of this truly amazing home.


 

Throwback Track: 1987: INXS: Never Tear Us Apart

From the 1987 album KICK. Filmed in Prague.

Also announced today, exactly 15 years after his death, a Michael Hutchence biopic is in the works.

Watch: Florian Böhm X Vitra: I Remember

Watch Florian Böhm's fascinating short film for vitra's fiction series.

Rooms have a memory too. They watch things happen.

Directed and photographed by Florian Böhm
Set Design by Paolo Bonfini
Narration: Eckhart Nickel
Editing: Barbara Gies
Music: Benedikt Brachtel


Via vitra's facebook.

Flashback: 1966: Karin Dor

Via the modern love tumblr.

Watch: Maria Pergay: Place des Vosges

A conversation with the incredible Maria Pergay, the Parisian designer whose stainless steel and brass furniture defined the ultimate in 1970's French chic.

From Nowness:

From a 17th-century perch on the re-glamorized Place des Vosges in Paris, hip-again furniture designer Maria Pergay briefs filmmaker Pamela Hanson on why her seductive 70s metal minimalism feels so at home on the parquet. Pergay, who occupies a rarefied niche between interiors and contemporary art, began as a window dresser for couturiers and has designed limited-edition furniture and commissioned decor since the 60s. Both her new and early pieces remain in demand, and she is being recognized this year with a Légion d’honneur. To celebrate the 55th anniversary of her career, Pergay co-organized a retrospective in the French capital with galleries Demisch Danant (New York) and JGM (Paris), where she arranged a sampling of work from the past five decades into one living environment. The sculptural cabinets, seats and side tables reveal the designer's ability to revitalize traditional boiserie with highly polished metalwork that folds back like the exquisite leaves of a “jardin sécret.” Turning her camera towards the decorative details of the showroom, Hanson flips us through a catalog of Pergay’s most recent collection, while the artist shares what inspires her with gallerist Suzanne Demisch.

Via Demisch Danant's facebook.

Watch: Ordos (a city seemingly built for skateboarding)

ORDOS from Charles Lanceplaine on Vimeo.


From Highsnobiety:

 If there are any people who surpass full grown architects in terms of love and passion for architecture, they surely are skateboarders. I mean, who else would be crazy enough to travel to the edge of the known world to indulge in some serious architecture? Filmmaker Charles Lanceplaine went on a skate trip to Ordos, a test-tube city located in the remote area of Inner Mongolia. Dubbed “the Dubai of northern China” the city is crammed full of buildings, which seem to be built for the sole purpose of being skated on. Considering Ordos is designed to house a million people, but is actually inhabited by merely a few thousand just adds to that feeling. Have a look at it above.

Directed, filmed & edited by: Charles Lanceplaine
Additional filming: Patrik Wallner & Tommy Zhao
Music: You Me by Hamacide + Chacha
Sound mix: Gaetan Lourmiere
Logo: jmartdesign.com

Icons: Françoise Hardy, Thomas, and Eames. Circa 1973.

Françoise Hardy, Thomas, and Eames. Circa 1973.

Also see this previouslovely photo of her on her Eames Lounge.

Via Modern Love on Facebook and City-Furniture.

Watch: Flying Lotus: Until the Quiet Comes

Watch Kahlil Joseph's brilliant short film, featuring music from the Flying Lotus album.

This is art.

Via Union LA.

Directed By – Kahlil Joseph
Cinematography by – Matthew J. Lloyd
Produced By – Omid Fatemi
Underwater Cameraman / 1st AC – David Edsall
Edited by – Luke Lynch
Steadicam by – Dana Morris
VFX by – Josh Foster @ Synapse FX
Additional FX work by - Andy Curtis
Color by – Sean Coleman @ Company3
Titles by – Stephen Serrato
Styling by – Elizabeth Birkett-Gibbs
Music by – Flying Lotus
Production/Camera Assistant – Marcus Reposar
Location Manager – Big Flip

Featuring – Solomon Gibbs, Storyboard P, Ishmael Gibbs and Edwin Marcelin

Special Thanks to – Laura Tunstall, Chris Gibbs, Alan Algee, Rodney Passe, Patrick O’Brien-Smith, Panavision and the community of Nickerson Gardens

Filmed on 35mm in Los Angeles, CA

Watch: House of Finn Juhl

House of Finn Juhl from Thorsten Dreijer on Vimeo.

A great video tour through the home of the legendary Finn Juhl.

For some great photos and a background on the history this house, be sure to see my previous post: Finn Juhl's House.

Watch: Classic Spaces: La Maison de Jean Prouvé

Watch this great short film on documenting the story of Jean Prouvé and his house.

Watch: Stig Lindberg in his studio for Gustavsberg

Amazing footage of a young Stig Lindberg creating all types of wonderful things in his studio, in what appears to be an undated promotional film for Gustavsberg.

Via plastermilk.

Watch: The Newest Trailer for Coast Modern

A film that will take you on a journey through three generations of modern architecture on the West Coast of North America.  From LA to Vancouver, a legacy of inspired living by the pioneers of West Coast Modernist Architecture.

From Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra's 1920s Hollywood, through to the second wave of post WWII America to today's current modernist renaissance.

This film speaks with the architects and their patrons and asks if Modernism’s time has finally come or did it ever really go away.

From filmmakers Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome.  Via Coast Modern's facebook.

Bones Brigade's Rodney Mullen speaks at TED

Speaking on how context shapes creative content, Rodney Mullen has joined the illustrious ranks of TED presenters, which has included Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, educator Salman Khan, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners[5]. TED's current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson.

From pedestrian:

Rodney Mullen, skater, human Inception token, stopped by the TED-xUSC event in Southern California last month to discuss how communities enrich the individual, skateboarding as a valid mode of expression, and why creative struggles can induce invention (in his case combining flatland with street skating). Then he attempts to explain what a darkslide is to guys who invent health algorithms. LOL. Generous, intelligent and very well articulated. 

From an article by Andrew Sayer at Push:

It's crazy that an eccentric skateboarder can now stand amongst these elite minds and not seem out of place in the least. Rodney deserves the praise.  "What do skateboarding and innovation have in common? More than you might think. A successful entrepreneur and innovator, Rodney Mullen is widely considered the most influential street skater in history, inventing most of the tricks used today. By the time he was 23, Mullen had already set new milestones for skateboarding winning 35 out of 36 freestyle competitions. He studied engineering at the University of Florida before co-founding World Industries, the largest skate company of the 90's, which was acquired for more than $20m. He continues to skate, innovate, and design some 30 years after he won his first world championship at the age of 11. Mullen spends his spare time thinking about open source communities, hacking the urban terrain, and transforming the mundane into something new. He'll be featured in the upcoming documentary, "The Bones Brigade: An Autobiography."

Watch: “A chair is not just a seat – it is the key to the whole interior"

A wonderful short documentary film about Ilmari Tapiovaara, featuring the creation of his iconic Mademoiselle chair, originally produced by Asko, and now produced by Artek.

DVD Length: 12 minutes
Artek Production 2012

Watch: Les Miserables: Trailer

A moving first trailer from the upcoming big screen adaptation of Les Mis.  Looks very promising.

Via pedestrian.

Watch: Tell Me, Daphne: Simon de Pury + Daphne Guinness Pt. 2

Simon de Pury and Daphne Guinness in Conversation, Part Two

"Lauded patron of the arts and fashion world fixture Daphne Guinness discusses space travel and the transformative power of clothing with celebrated auctioneer Simon de Pury in part two of filmmaker Johnnie Shand Kydd’s double-bill feature. Known for her unrivaled couture sensibilities, Guinness is a recognized presence on the culture circuit. “I’m really a great admirer of Daphne, and even though she is so radical in her look, one forgets what her extraordinary heritage is,” explains Shand Kydd who has known Guinness personally for years. The daughter of brewery heir Jonathan Guinness, the 3rd Baron Moyne, and French artist Suzanne Lisney, Guinness was surrounded by creative talents from an early age. “Daphne’s mother was photographed by Man Ray with octopuses on her breasts, and Cecil Beaton, who photographed her grandmother Diana Mitford’s generation, was a great one for dressing people up in balloons and tinfoil,” says Shand Kydd, “so there’s a tradition of extraordinary outfits, and it comes very naturally to Daphne.” At a Christie’s auction next month, the fashion icon will sell select pieces from her personal wardrobe, including items from Balenciaga, Chanel, Alaïa and Alexander McQueen. All proceeds will go to the Isabella Blow Foundation, which supports young talent in art and fashion."

Part One here.

Via Nowness.

Watch: A Therapy: a Roman Polanski Short for Prada

A beautifully produced short for Prada.  Having acclaimed actors do the acting rather than supermodels was a nice and rewarding choice.

Directed by Roman Polanski
Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley
Screenplay Roman Polanski and Ronald Harwood
Music Alexandre Desplat
Production Designer Dean Tavoularis
Director of Photography Eduardo Serra
Editor Hervé de Luze
Executive Producer Max Brun
Produced by Hi! Production and R.P. Productions