No boring meetings with the Swing Table by Duffy London. Via Dezeen and Dina M.
‘The Shard’ is located within the london bridge quarter image © sellar
View from Tower bridgeimage © sellar
Renzo Piano’s newest skyscraper is set to open to the public in February, and it is already leaving an indelible mark on London. The beautifully named “Shard” is just that. A massive shard of glass, protruding from along the river, glistening with potential.
Formally named ‘The London Bridge Tower’, but now commonly referred to as ‘the Shard’ by Italian architect renzo piano has been complete since
the summer of 2012 and officially opens to the public on february 1, 2013. Currently considered the tallest building in western europe,
the needle-point structure stands 309.6 meters above the new london bridge quarter in the south bank district and is home to a number
of programs including office space, restaurants, 5-star shangri-la hotel and residences. Situated at the top on floors 68, 69 and 72 are platforms,
with the one on the uppermost level standing at twice the height of any other viewing deck in london offering panoramic lookouts
of 64 km (40 miles). Here, at the highest public level, 244m above ground – accessed by elevators travelling approximately 6 meters per second –
one will experience the structural pieces of the glass that form the top of ‘the shard’ and disappear into the sky. A centerpiece to the 2 million
square meter development, the 72-storey mixed-use tower was inaugurated with a nighttime light show, which combined 12 lasers and 30 searchlights
to celebrate the skyline’s newest addition.
‘The Shard’ along the london skylineimage © sellar
Light show inaugurationimage © sellar
View from Millennium Bridgeimage © michel denancé
Panoramaimage © michel denancé
The Facade image © sellar
Office entrance image © sellar
Absolutely gorgeous. Via The Cool Hunter:
We were introduced to Nic Fiddian-Green’s heart-stopping sculpture this July when we stayed at Castello Di Reschio in Umbria, Italy.
Fiddian-Green was at Reschio, working on a commission for the owner, Count Antonio Bolza. And, of course, the subject matter of his massive sculpture was the horse, in this case Count Antonio’s favorite stallion, Punto, born and bred at Reschio.
We say “of course” because the British sculptor, who normally works at his hilltop studio near Guildford in Surrey, UK, has been obsessed with the equine head for nearly three decades.
Ever since he saw a fifth-century B.C. carving of the head of a horse of Selene from the Parthenon at the British Museum he has worked at perfecting the form of the horse’s head, as well as mastering the ancient ‘lost wax’ technique. He works in clay, plaster, beaten lead and marble, and he oversees the casting into bronze himself.
Fiddian-Green’s colossal, classically inspired equine heads are exhibited around the world in prominent locations, including ‘Still water ‘, the 30-foot head of a drinking horse right next to the Marble Arch in London.
Celebrities have also found his work irresistible and collectors include J.K. Rowling, Ringo Starr, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.
Of his work at Castello Di Reschio, Fiddian-Green said in a statement: “At Reschio, I found new inspiration not only from the study of these wonderful Andalusian horses, but from the light, the smell, the hills, the sense of ancient peace that pervades the land from the days when St. Francis wandered through these hills, and before, way back to the time of the Etruscans. In fact the very air that fills this land upon which Reschio sits has ignited a new fire in my work.” – Bill TIkos
As a beard-wearer myself, I’m perhaps partial to men’s facial hair, and the wide diversity of styles and moods a beard can convey.
Photographer Jonathan Pryce has a Tumblr series of great photos called 100 Beards, 100 Days. Here’s a short interview with the photographer, via the Creative Book:
Could you tell us where the inspiration for 100 beards came from?
I’ve been photographing street style for a range of fashion clients and my men’s style for about 5 years now. Since winning Photographer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards in June and moving to London a few months before, I wanted to do a new personal project which would re-ignite my passion for street photography. There’s a number of reasons for selecting beards, but it mainly boils down to my interest in the emergence of trends. The beard has reached a new peak in popularity and I wanted to be part of the documentation of that. Also, I’m useless at growing one myself so thought I’d live vicariously through others.
How do you decide on who to shoot? do you carefully choose the people to capture, arrange a date, or meeting, or hope someone walks in front of your lens?
As I spend a lot of time doing street photography I’m in the privileged position of pacing myself when finding subjects. After a month of the blog starting, I received a few requests from subjects who wanted to be photographed – some of which were just too good to turn down. I love the organic nature of the 100 Beard project though. Parallels emerge – for example two consecutive days with men both with the same name, beard style or nationality. There have been a lot of funny coincidences since I started on July 1st.
Mirrored Geometric Animals by Arran Gregory
Via Colossal:
Arran Gregory is a London-based sculptor and illustrator. He recently opened a solo show entitled ‘WOLF’ at Print House Gallery in London. The exhibition which runs through September 6th, includes both illustrations and a pair of gorgeous faux-taxidermy animals including a wolf and rhinoceros head sculpted from mirrors. You can see much more on his Tumblr and a number of prints are available in his shop. Photos above by Ravi Sidhu and Tida Finch. (viafancy)
A little bit of embarrassment for your Thursday. Via Knstrct:
The Good Boy Lamp
Most of us look away when we stumble upon a dog going #2, but an English artist, who goes by “Whatshisname,” wants you to stare straight at it! He does, it takes him a month to construct each one of his Good Boy Lamps, less than 100 of them now exist worldwide. The designer says that the “Good Boy lamp was designed as an item of everyday use that makes user uncomfortable with every use.” Mission accomplished – the artist was originally commissioned to build the lamp to be featured in London’s the Art Below exhibition on London Underground Stations, but was actually banned by London Underground from appearing on the Bond Street station for being to offensive!
Train Logger from Nicos Livesey on Vimeo.
Ratin Gorleg from Nicos Livesey on Vimeo.
London-based artist and animator Nicos Livesey creates these mind-exploding animations using intricately built loafs of plasticine. The colorful clay is formed into morphing and shifting geometric patterns that are revealed as he slices and photographs the cross-sections at painstaking 2mm intervals. (via fastco)