Blog
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こんにちは from Japan
Friend of Applied Works, Lidia Leto, is an Accessories and Leather designer for luxury menswear brand Alfred Dunhill. Working with products and fashion, Lidia’s job constantly references both craftsmanship and creativity. Here we ask her to highlight some of her recent finds.
I recently travelled to Asia on a research trip as well as visiting Duhill offices and stores. My time was split between Shanghai and Tokyo. Tokyo really lives up to it’s name as a Metropolis, it is a city where you are overloaded with amazing buildings, people, shops and products.
The first thing I noticed was that the consumer market I am designing for in Japan is completely unique and after a few days it became clearer why. Japan is truly a place of creativity and innovation. Incredible craftsmanship has been passed down through generations and reinterpreted into innovative new products, from fashion to home design, creating a unique hub of creativity. Brands who are already respected in their own rights frequently collaborate on limited edition products, constantly striving to bring something fresh to the market. There is always something new to see.
In terms of bags, lightweight and practical is the key. From the businessman to the trendy shopper, nylon totes and document cases are everywhere. A far cry from the rich leather bags the western luxury customer would be carrying.
Taking a break from fashion products, I went to the amazing stationary store Itoya in Ginza and the incredible Tokyo Hands in Shibuya, possibly my favourite store on earth. A whole morning had to be scheduled in for that one store….and here are some of the things I found:
A wonderful eraser with never ending corners! Everybody loves a precise corner on their eraser, here lies the solution. Designed by Chiaki Murata.
A lemon squeezer that so easily becomes a mexican!
An intricate and delightful greetings card titled ‘Infinity’, designed by Masahiro Chatani.
Here’s the blurb written on its packaging;‘One piece of paper creates an ultimate space. Countless lines produce 3-D space beyond reality. You can have numerous different images whenever you see this paper from different angles.
Infinite bright possibilities are waiting for you in the future.
This would be a gift ideal for an unforgettable happy occasion in your life such as an entrance ceremony at schools and companies.’
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We’re busy: send us your CV!
Calling all talented designers and genius developers out there: we’re luckily finding ourselves very busy over the coming months and would love to hear from any available people who’d like to work with us. We’re in need of both freelance designers and coders (HTML5/CSS3/Javascript etc), so if you’re interested, please send us your glowing CV by emailing me (Rachel) at newrecruits@appliedworks.co.uk or via our contact page. No agencies please. Spread the word!!!
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The Times iPad graphics demo
We’ve finally got round to making a demo video of some of the iPad graphics we’ve been creating for The Times (useful, since many of you are iPad-less and the graphics are no longer accessible after 7 days regardless). So here they are in action…
Read more about them on our project page: The Times iPad infographics
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To: Margaret Huber
This ‘guest post’ has been written by London based artist Riitta Ikonen. We first met Riitta in 2008 when she installed a giant worm at our studio. We love her work and are very happy to be sharing her ‘postcards’ with you. The cards are now on display in YCN’s window at 72 Rivington St, London.
In 2004 a holiday project titled ‘Location Vocation Vacation’ called for mail art. One post card per week was to be sent as a document of experiences to Margaret Huber, my then second year Illustration tutor at the University of Brighton (Margaret’s thoughts on being the project’s official recipient follow below).Around a hundred and fifty A6 sized cards have since been sent (and received) from all over the world. Hair, fish, a sachet of white powder, a piece of broken record, mossy bark… all dutifully delivered by postal workers. Only five cards have never reached their destination, (a few of those due to very poor crocheting). Margaret still receives mail at irregular intervals.
A selection of the cards have been published in the book ‘POSTCARD’ by Laurence King Publishing in 2008.
Sent as is from Exmouth in England.
Carved on a lovely afternoon at Fragrance Lake near Bellingham in Washington State in the US.
Christmas present red leather gloves.
I was very surprised to see this made it. The whole lump from Exmouth beach.
Chinatown, New York. The salesperson was very worried I’d eat these seeds unboiled.
See all of Riitta’s cards on her website: http://riittaikonen.com/projects/mail-art
Margaret Huber says:Riitta started the postal project when she took part in a student exchange programme with Nagoya University during her second year at the University of Brighton. At the time, I was her second year illustration tutor and before she left for Japan we discussed ways to keep her own work going while studying in a very different educational environment. A postcard project that I had previously set as a summer project formed the basis of the idea as Riitta felt she could develop it further as a way to document her experiences abroad.
As the postcards began to arrive in Brighton I soon realised that Riitta was not only recording her experiences, but also using the postcards to test the dedication, patience and humour of the postal system. Somehow circumventing official rules and regulations, the safe arrival of a clear plastic bag full of suspicious-looking white powder, or a neatly sewn cloth postcard with my address on a slip of paper carefully tucked into it’s pocket, was evidence of postal workers who were willing to participate in the game.
Being asked to choose a favourite from Riitta’s collection is difficult. In the years since the project began I have received postcards from all over the world. Each is a new and surprising treasure in it’s own right, but is made even stronger and more valuable when seen as part of a series. Whether constructed from bits of hair from a recent haircut or a piece of tree bark found on the northwest coast of America, all are true reflections of Riitta’s creative ingenuity and her unique view of the world.
Riitta’s postcards are a reminder that sometimes, small ideas can lead to an amazing body of creative work. I feel privileged to be the official recipient of Riitta’s extraordinary ongoing postal adventures. The project is an inspiration to everyone who sees it.
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Green Fingers
I was walking back from Columbia Road flower market at the weekend (in itself a charming place – full of character), when I couldn’t help be drawn to a number of lovingly nurtured little oases scattered about the streets between the market and Bethnal Green Road.
The buildings themselves are pretty unassuming pieces of architecture, but the gardens are so striking people were literally stopping in the street to appreciate them. Unfortunately, I only photographed one (I wish I’d snapped some of the others).
That also reminded me of a ‘green wall’ I’d seen in a shop in Regent Street (below). I’m no horticulturalist by any means – my tomato plant is wilting severely – but felt these were worth a post.
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Ping Pong in the Square
What a brilliant idea: Ping Pong London have distributed 100 free ping pong tables around the captial. Rob and Tom have been knocking up in Hoxton Square right outside the studio. Sometimes great initiatives come along that just make you smile. Awesome…
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Last Tango in Croydon premier
We’ve all really enjoyed being involved in the production of ‘Last Tango In Croydon’, a short film about two frustrated people, old Joe and young Joe, who share their dreams during a chance encounter at old Joe’s nursing home. What makes this production special is that the entire cast and crew donated their time and effort for free with all proceeds from the film going to the children’s charity The Place2Be.
Danny Somekh, the man behind the idea of making a short film to raise awareness for the charity, did an excellent job of rounding up some of London’s finest for the films grand premier at the Sanctum Hotel in Soho. It was great to see so much support, people seemed to be digging deep and making generous donations in exchange for a DVD of the film. Applied Works were proud to take responsibility for the title sequence (shown above – short but sweet) and design of the DVD and 8 inserted postcards.
Last night was a good excuse to get the Applied Works clan out for a drink and combine it with a baby head wetting celebration to mark the arrival of Paul’s second daughter Tabitha back in April. By the look of this picture he’s feeling the effects of those sleepless nights, Pete on the other hand seems to be enjoying his G&T a little too much…
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Health of England for Times iPad app
Hot on the heels of our World Cup and Wall of Debt graphics for The Times iPad app, this ‘Health Profile of England’ infographic features in today’s issue. Displaying public health information divided into regions, the graphic illustrates the distinct North/South health divide in England using data collected by the Department of Health.
32 ‘health wheels’ distil different health indicators across nine regions. The wheels act as barometers for the health of each region, and provide users with an intuitive way of scanning through all the indicators. A map of England communicates the national perspective in response to the wheel, with a ‘traffic light’ colour code identifying which regions score ‘better than’, ‘worse than’ or ‘average’ compared to the national mean. For the regional view, segments on the wheel are colour coded according to the performance of each indicator.
The above graphic displays the performance of each region of England for Tooth Decay at age 5 against the national average of 1.5. The best scoring region is the West Midlands with an average of 1 decayed/lost tooth.
Tooth decay in London is worse than average (1.7 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average). The wheel also shows how London has the most mixed picture of all the regions, scoring well in indicators of life expectancy and causes of death, but poorly in community indicators such as deprivation and violent crime.
The North East is worse than average (2 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average – the lowest score of all regions). The wheel illustrates the comparatively poor performance of the region across all indicators, with only 5 scoring better than average.
The figure for South East is better than average (1.1 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average), with a comparatively good performance of the region across all indicators, with only 1 scoring worse than average.
If you have access to an iPad and The Times app, the graphic lives with a story called “Major Shift planned for NHS treatment” in the News section (accessible from the front page). The graphic will also run tomorrow and in future editions to accompany any relevant stories.
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Le Corbusier’s Radiant City
On my rather wonderful honeymoon in the south of France, my wife(!) and I spent a day living the Le Corbusier vision at his seminal Unité d’Habitation development, Marseille. Dubbed “the city in the sky”, this was a revolutionary experiment in urban living when it was built between 1947 and 1952.
Set amongst the many residents of this imposing block (337 apartments), 2 floors function as a hotel and restaurant (part of Le Corbusier’s original plans) with each guest studio preserved exactly as it was in the 1950s, bar a flat screen tv and a new shower!
The experience is unlike any other hotel I’ve stayed in, sharing the corridors (referred to by residents as “streets” due to their immense width) and lifts with its residents enforces the experience of living in a building such as this.
It was fantastic to be a part of a vision that has remained truly intact over half a century later. Every light fixing, every wooden panel, every inch of space had been considered and designed and it’s not often one can witness such a complete piece of work from a designer.
Much information can be found on the web but here are two starters for you, one on Le Corbusier and the other “Cité Radieuse”
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The Times iPad World Cup planner
We’re lucky enough to have been working with The Times to create their interactive World Cup planner that launched this week. A wall-chart style fixture and results schedule meets Panini sticker album (with photos and live stats of all 736 players), the graphic will live on The Times’ iPad app and thetimes.co.uk for the duration of the tournament.
Having tortuously watched England in World Cups since Spain ’82, I’m hoping that, just maybe, we might make the semis again this year. I think if my 16-year old self could’ve worked on this back at Italia ’90 he’d have thought it was pretty cool. Come on England!
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