...by diddo Wetsuits are both functional and protective, but why must they all look the same? Is there some unwritten law that dictates we shed our individuality to blend into the monotone waters? Not to challenge Mother Nature’s art direction but it’s high time for a change. With that in mind, I took up the challenge to create an alternative. With custom inks and unique printing techniques, I was able to map textures onto the suits to create original designs that evoke the mysteries of the seas.
The first edition contains four original designs: a rusted iron diving suit evoking the days of Jules Verne, the anatomic musculature suit as a homage to our inner strength, a wet suit which gives the illusion that the wearer has been attacked by a group of hungry sharks and finally a whale shark patterned suit that celebrates the brilliance and originality of our natural water world.
You don’t need to sacrifice fashion for safety. Fortunately for you artist Diddo Velema has catered to your psychotic needs with these designer gas masks unveiled in Bucharest at Luxury Show 2008. [cubeme.com]
We are in a state of perpetual war – with ourselves and with the eco-system that sustains us. Perpetual war breeds perpetual fear. In the present context, this fear stems from our extreme desire for authenticity and manifests itself in our collectively insatiable culture of consumption.
Deep down, we are afraid we may never be satisfied. An expanding archive of branded myths and icons feeds this fear. Designer Gas Masks is an attempt to visualize this state of mind. Because it is only by first acknowledging and then challenging fear that we will all be able to breathe a little easier. [bydiddo.com]
About Diddo has worked for over 12 years as a designer and art director for a diverse range of design and advertising clients. From creative hot shop LABORATORIVM to the independent advertising agency, Modernista!. He has taught at the School of Arts in Utrecht, The Netherlands and contributed to various international projects such as Frank Gehry’s Sentosa and UNESCO’s ICAT project in Costa Rica.
Often called a next generation creative, having skills in concept creation, art direction, visualization, photography and design, he feels it’s not about isolating people’s skills. It’s about making the best use of your combined skills and experiences. He doesn’t believe in traditional approaches and tries to blur boundaries between art, design, architecture, fashion, photography, product design, etc. as often as he can. It’s really about being open and dynamic, exploring, seeing and taking advantage of new opportunities.
Currently, by setting up his own studio, ‘… by diddo’ in Amsterdam, he’s creating a platform for developing branding and art ideas for both freelance and personal projects. It’s something he’s wanted to do for many years, and in doing so, he hopes to create opportunities for collaborating with a diverse group of inspiring people all over the world. [bydiddo.com]
Marco Brambilla Civilization depicts a journey from hell to heaven interpreted through modern film language using computer-enhanced found footage. This epic video mural contains over 300 individual channels of looped video blended into a multi-layered seamless tableau of interconnecting images that illustrate a contemporary, satirical take on the concepts of Heaven and Hell.
Crush Civilization is a video installation we created with artist/director Marco Brambilla for the elevators Standard Hotel in NYC. It's comprised of over 400 video clips and it takes elevator passengers on a trip from hell to heaven as they go up or from heaven to hell as they go down.
It is an art piece first and foremost. The artist, Marco Brambilla is immensely talented, with a monumental vision. As much as we brought to the piece it really is Marco's vision. It really is a moving painting rather than a standard video piece. It doesn't pause but it does reverse. The cost? Well, I think it is actually for sale through Marco's gallery in Los Angeles. What it cost to make? It was a labour of love for all involved. it took roughly six months to complete, and had a team at Crush of roughly eight people.
We love working with Marco as he is very creative and he likes to work very fast. When new ideas are unearthed during the creative process, you have to be ready to go with him and explore those ideas or you simply don’t keep up with him. When he asked us to work with him on Civilization, a vision he had of taking hundreds of stock footage, movie footage and original clips and combining them to create a moving landscape depicting the ascension from hell to heaven, we knew that it was going to be huge challenge but one we were very excited about.
Marco is very gutsy and bold but also has great respect for collaboration and discovery of ideas that blossom during the process. The project had two huge challenges. Firstly we needed to figure out how to create content that could move with the elevator where it would ultimately be viewed. The idea was this, when you go up in the elevator the content goes down and when you go down it goes up. Not unlike a ride film this project was designed to be synced to the moving environment of the hotel elevators in New York. We wanted to synchronize the footage to the movement of the elevator as best as we could.
The second challenge was creative. What are we seeing through this ‘elevator window’? We only really knew at the beginning that the canvas or environment would be very tall and skinny due to the physics of elevator travel and we wanted to go from a hellish landscape to a heavenly one.
We began with exploring the idea of using a game engine to house the project. Seemed easy, map footage onto planes in space, attach a PC to the elevator and we can move up and down in the game environment all day. Unfortunately, once we started to collage the clips together in the Flame we knew the game engine idea wouldn’t fly. We approximated that we would have 250 looped HD clips in the environment and our Flame could barely handle it (in the end it was closer to 500 looping clips). We compromised by locking ourselves into the idea that we would create a huge vertical canvas that we would scan up and down on once the elevator was in motion. The final piece was approximately 1920 x 7500 pixels.
Another technical wrinkle was more human. Would we create motion sickness by subjecting riders on the elevator to the video art? To test this we shot some footage of a rising and falling landscape on a glass enclosed elevator and played back the footage on a 42″ plasma in a fully enclosed elevator. Not one person in the 30 we used in the test got sick so we knew our gut check was all right.
In parallel to the technical research, Marco and his studio staff began the process of researching and collecting a vast amount of footage sampled from both mainstream and more obscure film sources. Marco then assembled still grabs from each piece of sampled footage into photomontages, which we would review weekly while Marco’s editor cut together a linear chronology of what the components in journey from hell to heaven may look like.
The logistical task of collecting and cataloguing all the clips involved a great deal of coordination between our producer and Marco’s studio and stretched over a period of almost three months. Once the material was imported into Flame we would invariably make adjustments and receive more photo-collages that would polish to make the “video mural” look as seamless as possible. The clips were used in much the same way the way a painter would use a colour or texture. We felt it was like audio sampling, using the clips as beats and timing them all to work together to create something new and original. Marco and our team experimented in the Flame and played with the clips for about six weeks, arranging and rearranging them on the 2d canvas over and over to find the right compositions. Most of this work was done at night because we couldn’t afford to do it during prime time hours.
Not only were we playing with where on this huge canvas the clips should go, we had to consider the looping aspect of this project. We wanted the canvas to loop once it got to the top of heaven and come right back around to hell again. Once the canvas looped, each of the 500 clips had to be looped individually as well. Along with colour correction, each clip required careful vari-speeding and stabilization to allow all the pieces fit together. We ping-ponged most of the clips as to avoid any cutting on the loop points. With all the clips treated and placed into the canvas we color corrected the entire thing as one big piece of wallpaper. We had over a hundred ‘power windows’ on the piece to isolate sections and make each station gel together. We ended up with six main stations on the canvas. Hell, lower purgatory, middle purgatory, upper purgatory, heaven and upper heave/lower hell which was the loop point.
After all this was done we set out to redo the entire piece in 3d space! We took each station, rendered it out as a static 2.5 minute plates and then projected those onto geometry modeled to match the stations layout. We then had to go in and render the stations with and without most of their elements so we could achieve the proper parallax. Essentially it was like recreating the entire project over again but with most of the guesswork taken away with the 2d final as our road map.
Once the 3d version was done, we slept.
Q&A with Marco Brambilla Tell me how you got involved with The Standard and this project. I work as a video artist—the owner of the Standard was familiar with my work from a show in New York. He commissioned a video piece to be featured as a permanent installation at the new Standard hotel in New York.
Was there any type of creative brief given to you? They were interested in a work which could be installed in the elevators. Other than that there was no brief—the understanding was that I would propose a work and they would either approve it or I would come up with another approach.
How did you come up with the concept for this art installation? The idea of doing a “video mural” had interested me for quite some time and the journey from hell to heaven depicted in this way seemed to be a good fit.
How did you approach this project? The first phase was the longest and most involved because it was all about researching and then sampling the film clips. I then put together both a chronological video sequence of the “journey” from hell to heaven and “Photoshopped” collages using still images to create the composition. These elements were then brought to the people at Crush to translate this into motion using the video clips as loops. There was a great deal of trial and error involved at this stage and I was constantly making adjustments as we proceeded through the final composition to ensure the moving composite would be as seamless as possible.
Were there any challenges? I don’t think anything like this had been done before so the technique was being refined as the content was being assembled. This could not have been done without an intimate collaborate with Crush at every stage since; there were so many variables to deal with simultaneously.
Tell me how it will be used in The Standard, NY It will playback on a high-definition monitor which will be seen through a viewing port in each of the elevators at the hotel and move according to the direction of the elevator.
Marco Brambilla (born 1964, Milan, Italy) is an Italian-born Canadian artist and filmmaker who works in the United States. Educated at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, where he studied film, he first worked in commercials and feature films, directing the successful 1993 science fiction film Demolition Man. In 1998 he shifted focus to video and photography projects, and has since exhibited works in private and public collections, including at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, "Cyclorama" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and "HalfLife" at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. His commissions include "Superstar" for the "59th Minute" series in Times Square in 1999, and "Arcadia" for "Massless Medium: Explorations in Sensory Immersion" at Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage in 2001, both for New York public arts organization Creative Time. His installation, "Cathedral" was showcased during the Toronto International Film Festival 2008 and his latest work Civilization will be a permanent installation at the Standard Hotel in New York when it opens in 2009. Transit, a collection of photographs Brambilla took in and around national and international airports, was published by Booth-Clibborn Editions in 2000. Brambilla currently lives and works between New York and Los Angeles.
Marco Brambilla's video installations have garnered international acclaim from publications such as Artforum, frieze, Art in America, Arena, Empire, GQ and Premiere magazine. The New Yorker praised his work as: “absorbing and delicate enough to restore one’s faith in the medium.” [marcobrambilla.com]
Best Business Hotels 09 Once again we join forces with Fortune magazine to select the 50 most stylish new, or newly revamped business hotels around the globe. Our list has a strong emphasis on the US, Europe and China, while our ten selected judges, who will help us narrow down to ten deserving winners, come from every sector of the business world and are of course incredibly well travelled.
Vivanta by Taj__Bangalore Uniquely designed with a facade that changes colour, texture and tone, this is a hotel not to be missed. Vivanta by Taj is ideally located for business travel, right at the main entrance to the International Tech Park, India’s first location that integrates office, retail, residential and recreational facilities.
The Standard__New York City Soaring high above Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, André Balazs’s Standard hotel has a stark grey concrete exterior and eye-catching interiors. The eight different categories of rooms are all packed with colour, and come with magnificent views, wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling windows and massive shower areas. More leisure facilities are set to open throughout spring.
A Tour of The Standard Hotel in New York While we were in New York for ICFF, we were invited to go on a tour of the new Standard Hotel, which is located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. For those who aren’t familiar with The Standard Hotel group, it’s a small collection of boutique hotels, each with its own unique modern design. The New York location is the latest addition to the group, which also includes locations in Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles, and Miami Beach.
Ouno Design review We weren’t expecting the Standard’s sort of Japanese capsule hotel feel: the rooms are quite small, and though the storage at first seems sort of clever and modular, from a functional design point of view you get the feeling that function follows form, not vice versa...On the plus side, the friendly, incredibly mod concierges look like 70s airline pilots, and there are the most mesmerizing simultaneous film montages by Marco Brambilla in the elevators - imagine ever-changing pop animations of a Breughel painting.
The Standard Hotel 2009 Staff Calendar There are only 500 copies of this 4th annual calendar available, traditionally only sent to say thank you to their most regular guests...
Sé__San Diego This 23-storey steel and glass structure in the downtown financial district was designed by the Rockwell Group. As you enter via the 9,000-pound bronze pivot doors you are greeted by your ‘experience consultant’ rather than a check-in desk. The Sè’s grand penthouse is the largest suite on the West Coast.
Sè San Diego Offers West Coast's Largest Penthouse If you have $20,000 a night to spend on a hotel room you can bunk at the newly renamed Sé San Diego (formerly The Setai) in their ultra-luxurious suite which is said to be the biggest penthouse on the West Coast. The Grand Penthouse spreads over three floors and has a large kitchen, six flat-screen televisions and a rooftop patio.
Luxury Hotel Opening in Peanut Butter-and-Jelly Times Bob Kaplan, senior managing director of PKF Capital in Los Angeles and an expert in hospitality brokerage, said Sé is not alone in the luxury sector in opening in an economic downturn. “I don't think you have any choice,” he said. “You have a lot of money at risk. Both equity and debt are already invested. You are not going to let it go dark just because you hit the market at the wrong time.” [...]
For a startup such as Sé, Jerry Morrison (hotel consultant) said, making it will be difficult because, unlike more established hotels, they can't count on an existing clientele. And because it's being advertised as high-end, he said, it can't afford to cut corners. “If you are trying to hold yourself out as a five-star hotel, and you deliver the service of a three-star hotel, it's extremely difficult for that hotel to ever come back when the economy turns,” Morrison said. [...]
The Allerton Hotel__Chicago The landmark Allerton Hotel was North Michigan Avenue’s first high-rise hotel. Originally built in the 1920s, the listed building boasts a beautiful Italian Renaissance-style exterior, while its interior has just received a $12m revamp. New touches include a sleek white, blue and grey décor, a second-floor hotel lobby and a hip restaurant, bar and lounge.
The George Hotel__Hamburg The George is a new addition to Hamburg’s boutique hotel scene. Hotelier Kai Hollmann’s vision has combined the solid elegance of a London gentleman’s club and the clarity of Germanic design.
Quote I think what is most important is the professionalism of a hotel, as well as the service for that matter. I don't really care if a waiter serves a plate or a bottle of wine from the right or the left side, but what is crucial for me is that he knows what he is serving and that the guest can tell that he loves what he does. --Kai Hollmann (hotelier)
New York Times review The hotel takes its name from the neighborhood of St. Georg, which has transformed itself in recent years from a popular spot for drug users to the kind of gay and lesbian-friendly neighborhood that charms with its boutiques and cafes. The banks of the nearby Aussenalster, an artificial lake formed by the Alster River, offer peaceful tree-lined paths for joggers, strollers and more sedentary readers alike.
The London West Hollywood__Los Angeles With views over the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills skyline, the guest suites come with large living rooms, spacious bathrooms, ergonomic work desks, and coffee and dining tables. Outdoor spaces draw inspiration from traditional English garden landscaping, with white roses and an ivy-trellised front drive.
New York Times review Hotel Pool Watch: June Opening for London West Hollywood COMMENT I literally live across the street from this hotel. I think the blue-gray and black color scheme is nicer to look at than the peach and green of the old (Wyndham) Bel Age. Once the rooftop pool is open again, guests will be treated to AMAZING views...My complaint as a neighbor is that their swanky new driveway is lined with fake plastic ivy. Tacky.
Park Hyatt Beijing is ideally located right in the hub of Beijing’s Central Business District, directly opposite the China World Trade Centre and the new CCTV Tower. The luxury hotel has a wide range of plush rooms available, each fully equipped with all business conveniences and luxuries ranging from spa-inspired bathrooms, featuring Acca Kappa cosmetics, to espresso machines and the most incredible views over Beijing.
The Opposite House__Beijing Situated in the heart of Beijing’s entertainment and diplomatic district, Kengo Kuma’s immaculately designed The Opposite House is the capital’s new hot boutique hotel. The 99-room glass cube has been designed to meet the highest hospitality standards, with each of the large and light-filled bedrooms boasting luxury bedding, BaYanKaLa cosmetics and spa-inspired bathrooms. There are also five different restaurants and bar options on site. We just love their amazing penthouse which boasts a huge terrace.
Located next to Père-Lachaise Cemetery, this new hotel offers great facilities to the business traveller. Guests are provided with international newspapers on request, and have access to a communal business centre and an enormous bar with private terraces for post-work drinks.
Founders Created by the Trigano family (co-founders of Club Med) and French philosopher, Cyril Aouizerate, Mama Shelter was designed by Philippe Starck to offer an eclectic and electric ambiance thanks to its friendly, warm and casual common areas. [mamashelter.com]
It's a Gem, But I've Got Reservations Mama Shelter's tricksy Starck details will soon become exhausted, but what we have here is a bold restatement of what a hotel might be. Conventional ideas of service and opulence are irrelevant in our new world of communitarian, wired, borderless cool.
More interesting still, Trigano and Castro claim to have discovered a new travel frontier: extreme urban tourism. Mama Shelter is in a rough old part of Paris which Gilles Pudlowski, the best French restaurant critic, calls 'sinusoidal, colourful and motley'. Opposite the hotel, more creative re-use: the abandoned Charonne station has been turned into an electro-rock bar. Mama Shelter's terrace looks over the litter-strewn railway which used to feed it. This is hotel life as urban life reinvented. A fantasy in its way as fanciful as Club Med, but tougher. It just might work.
On the Edge of Paris, Hotelier Aims for an Urban Club Med Every night, a flood of local artists mixes with international hotel guests, some of whom are high on style but low on cash. And given the reasonable room rates (single rooms start at $112), ordering another martini at Mama Shelter doesn't seem excessive in the slightest. Indeed, even the name of the hotel seems to say: We know it's bad out there, but you're with Mama . . . and Mama knows best.
New York Times review The staff was friendly, and flexible: though I had booked a room at the lowest rate — which stipulated no refunds or changes — the hotel didn't hesitate to switch my dates after my father died.
Telegraph review Starck’s style is a celebration of the quirky, but some of the brasher elements won’t appeal to everyone. Dark carpets scrawled with nonsensical phrases meet walls of exposed concrete. Fancy-dress masks hanging on lamps next to your pillow can either be delightfully eccentric or a little freaky, depending on your preference.
Welcome to Mama Shelter (vid) ___________________________________________ [pics: (wallpaper.com) (tripadvisor.com) (flickr.com) (la.curbed.com) (nytimes.com) (stylecrave.com) (splendia.com) (weheartstuff.com) (luxist.com) (images.google.com) (contemporist.com) (telegraph.co.uk) (venere.com)]
Dutch artist & designer
...by diddo
You don’t need to sacrifice fashion for safety. Fortunately for you artist Diddo Velema has catered to your psychotic needs with these designer gas masks unveiled in Bucharest at Luxury Show 2008. [cubeme.com]
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