So I stumbled across this bonkers hotel while surfing for coolness. It’s the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and it is crazy cool. Built half on land, half on water with access to the marina. The shell of the hotel is created to resemble the tossing of a fishing net, and the LED colour display is truly impressive. It encompasses contemporary style rooms, 14 restaurants & lounges, 10 treatment room spa and multiple rooftop pools.

Created by Argentinian designer, Ignacio Pilotto.

I can’t get over how genius this product is, substituting pantone colours for the conventional colour realm that is usually provided with your standard rubik’s cube. It’s Rad! I’ll take three por favor!

Help yourself to this great design. I am diggin’ this product, it’s clean, simple and the product speaks for itself. Therefore, I will let the photos below do the talking.

www.helpineedhelp.com

Calgary is now becoming home to more unique boutique stops. The latest boutique stop, espy, is situated in a character building on the main drive (9th ave.) of Inglewood, an eclectic suburb of the downtown Calgary area.

This boutique shop is all about class and fashion; bringing in designer names and fashions that are not typical to the Calgary fashion market. Espy has a so much to offer fashion hungry consumers and offers the latest in fashion and trendsetting.  This is a great destination to go and peruse on a weekly basis to check out the new stock. Take a look at the space which espy occupies… great design and fits so well within the character space. Perfect place to pick up a unique gift, outfit or that one piece to complete your ensemble.

Images are all taken by Alix Broadway and are from the espy website.

espy space during grand opening night.

James, Christy and I at the opening, having some very much appreciated beverages.

espy owners and employees, celebrating and enjoying the grand night.

Ah yes. finally! Bridging the gap between fashion destination stores and pertinent fashion blogs, Holt Renfrew, always creative and innovative with their window displays, are once again proving their worthiness. Commencing with a “Fashion Blog” definition displayed on an introductory window we see that each progressive window is designated a fashion blog and corresponding visual theme. It is well executed and it’s fantastic to see large fashion venues such as Holt Renfrew with an appreciation of the influence of blogging in a fashion context. Not only have they used their store as a venue to show that they’ve got their fingers on the fashion pulse but there is also the opportunity to promote these new online pioneers of fashion. This is a great cross promotion idea and obviously advantageous for all parties.

Click on “more” to see each window, blog and my thoughts!

This blog is one of my favourites. They shows a lot of street style pics of men’s / women’s fashion and runway. They focus mostly on very high-end and innovative fashion, always visually inspiring.

www.jakandjil.com

Great blog! It’s focus is on fashion and culture and formatted with images and brief captions which means it’s very to the point but still engaging. While the inspiration behind this blog is about shoes it’s definitely not only about that. There are images of fashion that follows with the shoes, street pics, and the culture that surrounds it all.

www.seaofshoes.com

While very much involved in fashion, shows and the scenes in which they exists. The blog has a very directed cultural, inspirational approach surrounding fashion, music, and day/night life.

www.bryanboy.typepad.com

I’m excited to see this blog as one of the windows as it has been a favourite in my blogroll for some time now. While it shares both men’s and women’s fashion, it focuses mostly on men’s which is great because there are so few that do. It showcases street and runway fashion…always fun to go through the images and gather inspiration.

www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Wow, this blog’s got it all.  Runway and street fashions, events and parties, arts and culture, and more more more. There is lots to look at on this site and definitely interesting to see the wide spectrum of content.

www.iwantigot.geekigirl.com

This blog focuses on women’s fashion trends and showcases mostly street styles, runway, along with illustrations which are more often than not, overlooked…but oh so important to design.

www.garancedore.fr/en

Banksy is definitely one of my favourite artists. His artwork is usually satiracal pieces of art which surround controversial issues politics, culture and ethics. For those who don’t know much about Banksy, he operates himself as an anonymous artist so no one really has too much information on him as a person. This is also intriguing because you wonder about him as an artist, however, you focus more on the artwork than the mystery. I won’t write too much about him, as most of you probably know about his work. For those of you who don’t, I encourage you to do a lil’ google search on him, he has some really amazing work.

The video and the pictures I am posting are from his latest exhibit running from June 13th through to August 31st at the Bristol Museum in Bristol, England. Check out the video and images, or if you are lucky enough to be in the area of the exhibit, go check it out!

www.banksy.co.uk

Check it! These fireplaces are the latest on my list of favourite products. Planika has taken a sleek and stylish approach to fireplace design by making them contemporary furniture pieces. Planika has created a myriad of amazing pieces: coffee tables, wall-mounted fires, standfires, and more. This smart design means that there’s no need for a chimney as there is no soot or ash scattering from the fire to worry about or clean up. With more than one designer working for them Planika provides a healthy selection of these amazing pieces, i mean there’s a whole collection to choose from. These are just a few pictures of their products, but take a gander at the website to see more planikafires.com

This stunning wine holder would fit perfectly in any home, it’s simplistic and contemporary without being pretentious. I enjoy when a product uses factors such as gravity, and incorporate it into the design of the product.

This product can be found on multiple websites, it retails for about £28 (roughly $58 CAD, price including shipping),  best website I found to purchase it on is www.cutebitz.com. The ship to Canada and the U.S. but require 5-7 days.

Makes for a unique gift to give with a bottle of wine or used within your own personal space and makes for a great conversation piece. Enjoy!

I love summers, especially patios during the summer. Hitting up the patio scene is definitely on the top of my list of rad things to do. Yes, that’s right. I said rad. Jealous? I’m always on the hunt, trying to find the next best patio-centric hot spot. Lis, James, Christy and myself ventured to one of the newest spots in the vibrant and bustling Mission district of Calgary, the Vin Room.

This venue is amazing! It is a completely renovated space that used to be a cycle shop (Mission Cycle- the sign still exists) into this chic downtown night spot. Contemporary design mixed with warm tones and sleek furniture make for an inviting space to have a glass of wine and share some tapas. We were lucky enough to sneak a spot on the rooftop patio. Again, very warm tones mixed with contemporary furniture make the patio just as comfortable as the interior of the space, with the benefit of a mighty fine view. I should not forget to mention that the food, wine and staff were amazing too!

I encourage people to stop in for a glass of wine and enjoy the well layed-out space and decor. Or make an evening of it during a hot summer night, atop the well lit patio (heater optional).

Photos credited to the vin room website.

This is an installation that artist Leo Villareal created for the National Gallery of Art. Multiverse, the name of the installation, spans a 200 foot walkway running from the east to west concourse of the buildings. This installation consists of 41,000 programmed LED lights. This installation by Villareal started in September of 2008 and will run up until November of 2009 at the NGA.

However, if you don’t get to catch a glimpse of this in person, maybe you could check out one of his many pieces of work that exist all over the US and the globe for that matter.

Images from the NGA website of the installation in action

Images by Min Batstone

The video below is just some background into the logistics of how Villareal gets these installations to work. I definitely encourage you to check out his personal website too, tons of projects featured there, even a proposed project for an installation to scale the Lotte Super Tower building in Seoul, Korea.

Check out the high res video Pattern Recognition, where Leo talks about his work.

Located in London, England, lies this visually stunning and modern restaurant and lounge. With cleverly hidden lighting and sparingly decored with intimate all-white furniture, it acts as a canvas for projecting light and colour. Thus creating an atmosphere that is focused on ambiance and mood. If you are in the area of, or, on route to London, put this on your hit-list of places to see.

www.vanillalondon.co.uk/

When dressing in your favourite threads, shoes are the final touch, or, in some cases, the starting point for piecing together an outfit.  Check out these converse with a pixel-like backing. it’s the perfect nerdy-chic-flare to add to any outfit. This addition was made exclusively for Foot Locker and runs about £55 ($100 CDN) and seems to only be available through the Foot Locker UK online store.  Good news is that they ship to Canada!

Browsing through the world wide webby, I stumbled across these really minimal but very well designed bags. The bags are made with industrial wool felt, aluminum rivets, and distressed leather for the straps, which give them an unconventional look. Carga has a fair variety of styles to choose from ranging from courier, to handbag and even a “murse“.  I’m quite impressed with these bags, they look modern without compromising quality and durability.

www.cargabags.com

MoMAMuseum of Modern Art - NY

With Father’s Day fast approaching, I thought I would post some great gift ideas that you would be able to give to you Pop without sacrificing often overlooked design and coolness factors. These are just a few of the stellar gifts that they have for purchase through the MoMA online store.

If for whatever reason you find yourself planning a trip to NY and want to fill your itinerary with “must sees” definitely move MoMA to the top of your list.

So as you may notice from my previous posts, I really enjoy shopping and fashion.  I have identified it as a problem but continue to feed my fashion hunger rather than starve it. I have a tendency to stumble upon (more often I seek out) many different outputs that can feed such an addiction. This weekend a friend pointed me in the direction of  Whiskey Militia.

The idea behind the site is genius, they showcase one item at a time for a duration of 20 minutes. From there you can choose to add the item to your list or wait for the next item to be posted. Either way, once the item is gone, it’s gone! Great site, great idea, and a great way to steer a shopping addiction into voracious realms.

This is a stellar example of smart design. The Gummo studio is located in Amsterdam and have done something surprising with their office space which is both cutting edge and eco-friendly. They have taken discount furniture from bargain stores and left-over furniture from their old office space and covered it all with a grey environmentally friendly paint called Polyurea Hotspray. They then placed it all together to create a modern and functional office space there is even a sculpture of Jesus covered in this very paint lurking in their office, blasphemous? or blasphabulous?

source:  www.mimoa.eu

Dover Street Market

Located in London England, Dover Street Market is a very progressive kind of market. It mixes industrial design, lounges, restaurants, and shopping all under one roof. Each area is as unique as the next and brings together different designers and products to create a sense of organized chaos. Because the market offers such a wide range of products it has positioned itself on the forefront of eclectic style and trendiness… I want to go to there.

So I have been on a mission to find a bow tie for everyday use, well maybe not everyday, that would be a little extreme. I’m not looking for some formal event bow tie or any of that biz, but seeking a geek-chic bow tie. I know they are out and about in the fashion world but somehow I think the “Calgary shipment” was forgotten about, and now, I am forever longing for this ultimate accessory.

Any-who, thought I would share with you this pretty swank bow tie I found online for your viewing pleasure. As for me and my venture, if you see me walking down the street sporting a nice n’ shiny bow tie, everything will have worked out real nice. Word!

www.male-mode.com

Word, check it out! This subway station is one of many design triumphs found around Munich. Even subway stations aren’t overlooked in regards to design opportunities. Also it’s interesting how much lighting can change a space and in turn one’s mood. Enjoy!

This is just one of the many architectural gems found on www.mimoa.eu.

www.camilladerrico.com

custom DCTO

I love the work of Camilla d’Errico, so amazing and unique. I was lucky enough to see some of her work showcased at the Ayden Gallery in Vancouver last year. I especially love the way she fluently bridges vinyl toy culture with her art. I heart Camilla!