Name Your Studio

For those who are finding it difficult to find a name for their design company, check out this website.

We found this website by visiting Jessica Jones’ blogspot.

Have a fun weekend everyone!

Wear Your Chair

We found this “Chair Dress”–a chair fitted right in a women’s dress. The chair inflates itself as the wearer walks, then can be sat on comfortably for about 10 seconds until the chair deflates.

This is pretty cool especially for those long shopping hours when you can only wish for moment to just rest awhile. We just hope they produce these in other colors as well.

Quote of the Day

“Architecture is always a temporary modification of space, of the city, of the landscape… We think that its permanent. But we never know.” – Jean Nouvel, French architect and winner of the 2008 Pritzker Prize

Stitches and Swatches

 

 

Steeplechase Citrus

Taking a break from working with fabric swatches from Sunbrella, here is a special message for a special woman—daughter, wife, friend, mother, interior designer, Pauline Cuevas-Bato. We love you!

Check out the fabulous website of Sunbrella here. To contact their exclusive distributor in most of Asia, click here.

Re-using Paper

One of us is a bit addicted in making stuff out of used paper. On one weekend, she managed to weave some paper mats from old magazine pages and then made a small gift bag by joining  two small mats with strips of used white paper, adding a handle and a home-made gift tag. It is not much but hey, this was made while watching television. And boy, this was very tedious!

Watch out for more stuff out of these paper mats. If you like the idea but do not like making your own, check out some products from Echo Store in Serendra.

Get crafty

Art in HK 09

ART HK 09 Hong Kong International Art Fair is back with Vernissage opening last 13 May.

ART HK has emerged as the leading art fair in Asia andnpresents an unparalleled opportunity to see some of the freshest work being produced around the world today, alongside modern masters from the 20th century.

ART HK 09 brings together over 110 of the world’s most celebrated international galleries from 24 countries, building on Hong Kong’s long established reputation as the gateway between East and West.  This year SCMP | ART FUTURES will be a new section dedicated to solo and two-artist presentations from young galleries focusing on emerging artists.

In addition, visitors can attend daily talks by artists and collectors organised by the Asia Art Archive.  For those new to looking at art, introductory guided tours can be arranged.  Visit Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 14-17 May 2009.

Calatrava for Ground Zero

Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava exhibits his design for the Ground Zero Transit Hub at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in Manhattan. Calatrava’s piece which feature a pair of operable wings, inspired by the image of “a bird being released from a child’s hand”, is a seeming symbol of hope after the tragedy that transpired in 2001. The exhibit also features the architect’s best works.

The exhibition is on view until August 31, 2009.

The Sweet Kitsch Life

inside Cafe Juanita

Not everyone likes kitsch design.

But Cafe Juanita is more than just kitsch. It is an enchantment altogether. One will definitely find something to like about it: the music, the ambiance, the food or probably, the opportunity to have all kinds of people in the same table experiencing Cafe Juanita for the first time.

It was Jim Ward of Bliss Cafe (a vegetarian Cafe in Baguio) who insisted we visit. And we are glad we did.

See this video of how it feels like to be inside this charming cafe, one of Manila’s secret dining places.

Heritage Conservation Society’s Art Deco Tour

ART DECO TOUR ITINERARY
Sunday, 17 May 2009

Very limited seats available. Make reservations at 5212239, 5222497. Early payments can be deposited to HCS’s BPI Current Acct. # 8105-8153-61. Fax the deposit slip to ensure a slot.

SCHEDULE:

8:00 am- Assembly and lecture in front of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. (Light breakfast will be served inside the bus.)

8:30 am- St. Cecilia’s Hall, St. Scholastica’s College Manila

9:00 am- Head towards Capitan Gonzaga residence along Taft Avenue, brief lecture inside the house.

9:30 am- Drive along Taft Avenue, stop briefly beside Scottish Rite Masonic Lodge.

10:00 am – Drive along San Marcelino Street, stop briefly beside old MERALCO Building. Drive towards Pedro Gil and stop briefly to view Bellevue Theatre and Paco Building

10:30 am – Drive along Quezon Boulevard, see Times Theatre, Life Theatre, Globe Theatre

11:00 am – Visit FEU Grounds

12:00 noon – Lunch in PCC Conference Room, 3rd Flr., Administration Bldg. FEU

1:00 p.m. – Walk along Avenida Rizal to see Capitan Pepe Building and other ART DECO buildings along the strip (Bus will pick up participants at the other end in Carriedo or Plaza Goiti)

2:00 pm – Visit Metropolitan Theatre, Perez-Samanillo Building, and the Miramar Hotel along Roxas Boulevard.

FEES: (inclusive of transportation, breakfast and lunch).
Guests P500
HCS Members (with valid ID) P300
Students (with valid ID) P100

Urban SOS Student Competition

Hear this: Sudents around the world are invited to submit innovative solutions to the pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges confronting cities worldwide. The Urban SOS: Distressed Cities, Creative Responses competition, sponsored by EDAW AECOM, is offering $20,000 in prize money to encourage creative interventions that have potential for lasting improvement.

Areas with slum conditions (like in Manila) are one possible subject area for the Urban SOS competition.

“More than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas,” said Jason Prior, President of EDAW AECOM. “Well-executed cities are vibrant cultural, social and economic centers and offer hope for addressing climate change and resource scarcity. But in many urban places serious challenges affect quality of life, limit opportunities and perpetuate inequalities. We want to encourage students’ fresh ideas and creative solutions to a range of real issues.”

It is open to individual students or teams of up to four undergraduate and graduate students at all levels from all countries, in the design and planning fields – including landscape architecture, urban design, planning, architecture, landscape urbanism, economics, geography, engineering, environmental studies and related fields. In their submissions, students should address an actual site from any city in the world and develop an intervention that offers lasting improvement to problems ranging from economic collapse, environmental degradation, social disintegration, civil unrest, climate change or natural disaster.

The socioeconomic health of cities can also be addressed in the students’ proposals.

To participate, students must register and provide statements of intent by May 15, 2009; final board submissions are due July 31, 2009. Semi-finalists will be announced September 1, 2009. The semi-finalist teams will each be assigned a professional EDAW AECOM mentor who will work with the team to further articulate its proposed interventions. The top four finalists will travel to Barcelona, Spain to present their treatments to a jury panel at the World Architecture Festival in November 2009.

The Urban SOS competition is an evolution of the EDAW Intern Program. Since 1980, EDAW has guided students from around the world in holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to real-world projects involving issues of regional or international significance.

For more information, log on to www.edaw.com.