KozynDan - update

I last posted about KozynDan in June (see posting on the 17th June) but I thought I'd do a quick update when I saw that they have done a window display in Carnaby Street's Puma store. They have created a line of t-shirts, jumpers and puma trainers especially for this store. I took a few sneaky pics...

Tea & Make {a great British fete}

Yesterday we went to the Tea & Make event which is a celebration of regionally-made craft and making-do from South East London.

There were some lovely stalls there with a variety of things from local honey to ceramics to jewellery and toys. There were also free workshops such as how to make your own monster, learning how to felt and making mini kites. They had a small but great variety of some of the best designer-makers and creators working in Britain today.

My personal favourite was Cornelia O'Donovan who made such fabulous toy animals. She teaches print making at Middlesex Uni, and uses many of her designs on fabrics and incorporates them in her soft animals.


I also very much liked the creations of Polly George as she specialises in intricate homeware ceramics. Very lovely!

Central Perk café

The most famous coffee shop in New York (actually the world), Central Perk, is coming to London! The pop-up café from the equally famous Friends TV series is opening for just two weeks at the end of September and I'm going to miss it...boooo...

It is opening in celebration of the shows debut, 15 years ago! Warner Bros. is releasing a box set to mark the 15th anniversary and it will contain never-seen-before footage. A replica set of Central Perk will be in central Soho and will be filled with actual props such as Rachel's wedding dress; Joey and Chandler's "best bud" bracelets; a bar of Mokolate; Phoebe's 'paintings' etc. It's rumoured that the grumpy barister, Gunther, will also make an appearance.

In my mind the coffee shop was a character in it's own rights and being a huge Friends fan I had to go and visit 'it' earlier this year. Of course the series was actually filmed in California, however the exterior shots of Monica's apartment is in Greenwich Village, NYC at 90 Bedford Street to be exact. To my delight, there is even a lovely restaurant where Central Perk should be called The Little Owl...(no relation!).

Central Perk is at 67 Broadwick Street, London W1, from Thursday 24 September to Wednesday 7 October. Let's just hope they don't play the Rembrandt's non-stop!

El Mas Santo

So today we received a very strange parcel from Poland...very strange indeed:

Not knowing anyone in Poland or what this crudely handmade Lucha Libre figurine was for, I started to get very suspicious (personally I thought it was a cursed object!). After examining the figurine (which I think it made out of baked fimo) we noticed a little signature on the arm which said 'K. Offert'. We googled it and nothing came up. After a cup of tea we tried again along with 'Lucha Libre' and that's when we found out what it was all about...El Mas Santo!

El Mas Santo is an art project, by Kinga Offert from Poland. She started lucha libre as a uni project. The idea was "to juxtapose the world of Mexican wrestlers with the grey and sad reality of Polish streets", but she got carried away and her Luchadores started to appear in different places and countries and it could possibly be the beginnings of a cult! What we do with it next is up to us, so I will update this when we've decided if we will give the figurine to a friend or leave it on the street...more photos to come...

Brockley Key

This weekend just gone, we went to visit friends who have just moved to Brockley, SE4. That was when I noticed a trompe l'oeil (French for 'trick the eye' which involves a 2-D image that's been stretched, which when looked at from different angles gives the optical illusion of being a 3-D object). So in actual fact this key lies flat on the house wall.

The key can be found on Brockley Road above the restaurant, Toad's Mouth Too. The anamorphosis is a creation of Artmongers who are a group based in South East London. Artmongers create public art (such as this wind up key) to brighten up people's days. They love the idea that you can find artworks unexpectedly in the most banal objects and in every day life. This piece is called 'Brockley Key' Mural, Brockley 2005.

Geneviève Gauckler

I first noticed the work of Geneviève Gauckler in Magma (yes that shop again!) and of course there were the adverts for the cosmetic brand, Bourjois, where you couldn't get away from her lovable characters!

For some reason I missed her when I did my French illustrators week (see postings from 6th July), but there are so many talented French artists that I couldn't have showcased everyone! I think her style is extremely likeable with her simple, colourful, somewhat innocent and playful pieces and translates well commercially as she has proven with her vinyls, mirrors, t-shirts and endless other merchandise. She is much in favour of the fantastical world and placing it into reality. Although I really like her work, I have to say that I'm not as keen with some of her photo montage pieces (I've shown the one I like the most), but she definitely does draw the child within from me.

New York, New York, so good they named it twice...

Firstly I have to apologise for lack of postings recently...my life has just taken a new turn and I can excitedly say that I'm moving to New York at the end of August, so I have a lot on my plate! I will try and post as regularly as I can, but for now I will leave you today with the work of Milton Glaser who designed the iconic and famous campaign for New York City, amongst other classic graphic design works of the 60s to present day.