Ted Scapa for Swatch

After always wearing swatch watches as a child, and then rekindling the love last year after purchasing a multicoloured striped swatch watch in manchester airport departure lounge (and now being the proud owner of 3 swatch watches), I was browsing the website looking for my next purchase.

There is currently a range of watches which have been designed by various artists (called Creart), and one of the videos detailing the work of one particular artist really caught my attention. This is the video for Ted Scapa for Swatch.

The video is really eyecatching, and the bright colours which have been used throughout make the video really fun. It is modern and fresh and really fun to watch, and everytime I watch it I notice other details which make the video even more interesting as the watch is assembled. As well as the video, I love the watches too.

Today's forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of meatballs

Last night, I went to see 'Cloudy, with a chance of meatballs' at the cinema. Having seen the trailer previously, it wasn't the storyline which made me want to see the film, it was the fact that it was being shown in 3D. Having only seen one film in 3D previously (A Bug's Life, at Disneyland aged 11), I was intrigued as to whether this would be as good as my memory told me it should be. 

So, me and my boyfriend went into the cinema (after having paid £10 each to get in- ouch), put on our glasses (very cool) and sat back to enjoy the film. Whilst I really wanted to be able to come out of the cinema and say that I was blown away by the 3D effect, and that I had literally jumped out of my seat at least once because it looked so real, unfortunately this wasn't the case. After the initial excitement at seeing something in 3D, which was an advert for another 3D film whose release is imminent, I can honestly say that I think the film would have been just as enjoyable in 2D- had it not been for the small details throughout the film which made paying the extra £5 each worth it. For example, the effect of water in 3D was really good. The bit which I appreciated the most (as sad as this will seem) was the dust particles which were seen in the air in the background as the light shone through it- the attention to detail displayed here made it worth seeing, so it wasn't just a bunch of cartoons bouncing around right in front of my face. I also enjoyed the 'The End' scene (which implies that I was looking forward to the end, which I wasn't, I just liked the scene) where confetti and the 'The End' sign really did look as if they were out of the screen, so much so that I had to stop myself reaching out to grab it. 

All in all, even though I wasn't blown away by the general action in 3D, it was made worth paying for by the small details which I hadn't anticipated. 

(The storyline for anyone who is interested: an inventor creates a machine which can turn water into food. The machine gets inadvertently sent into the sky, where it uses the water from clouds to rain food. Whilst this is originally celebrated, a mutation in the machine causes mayhem, which the inventor is then forced to fix. Oh, and theres also a bit of a love interest for the hapless inventor too.)

The terraced house turned upside down

Chimney Pot Park is located in Salford (next to the Quays), in Greater Manchester. It is an attempt by designers Urban Splash to save some of the countries most famous back to back housing from demolition. They were slated for demolition by the local council because of a lack of buyers for the properties, due to high local crime rates and unemployment. 

Urban Splash made its name in the 90s by converting unwanted inner city industrial buildings into desirable loft-style apartments. CPP was their first attempt at tackling blighted terraced housing, and they have changed everything except for the Victorian exteriors in order to keep the traditional terraced street view. Inside the houses, everything has literally been turned upside down. The bedrooms are downstairs, with living room, dining room and kitchen spread over the first floor and the mezzanine (whereabouts depends on the model of house). The small gardens have also been moved up a floor, and are now above a secure car park which spans the length of the road. The gardens are now one shared terrace garden which also spans the length of the street. The chimneys which gave the area its nickname have been replaced with protruding roof lights to bring light into the homes whilst keeping the shape of the chimneys.

This project has been successful in renovating the buildings and the area to make city centre living attractive to consumers in the 21st century, and has therefore removed the need for unnecessary demolition and rebuilding. Because of rapid depopulation in cities such as Manchester during the second half of the 20th century with people moving to more suburban areas (where there is unsustainable dependence on cars and inefficient use of land), Urban Splash is making city centre living more attractive in an attempt to correct this.

4:Secs condoms

Intended to save the user from the embarrassment of fumbling around with a condom for ages before eventually managing to get it on (by which time the mood is probably dead and gone) the 4:Secs condom and applicator literally takes 4 seconds to use (apparently!). 

Designed and sold in South Africa, the 4:Secs condoms by design company XYZ has won awards for its design and packaging. And considering the fact that in sub-Saharan Africa, one person dies from AIDS every 16 seconds, removing the stigma and embarrassment surrounding condoms can only be a step in the right direction.

Graffiti Planet

I was never one of those people who really understood the fascination with graffiti art. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't one of those who thought it was an eyesore, an intrusion on everyday organised living. I just didn't really get it, and Graffiti Planet really opened my eyes to the art that is decorating our surroundings. 

Graffiti Planet is a compilation of the best graffiti from around the world, and although half of what is included in the book isn't up my street, I can really appreciate (to my surprise) some of what is included. For example, graffiti which is just writing on the wall, whilst I can see that some of it must have taken time and skill to achieve, just doesn't appeal to me. However, graffiti art which incorporates imagery is much more interesting to me. Some of it is actually mind blowing. For starters, using spray cans to achieve such realistic images takes unbelievable skill and patience. But more importantly, I believe that they are enriching to the visual landscape. It shows diversity and expression in places where they are often unexpected. 

An excellent example shown in this book which I hadn't previously seen was Banksy's work on the West Bank Barrier in Israel (see below). Whilst this may be old news to some, I had never seen it before, and my eyes were truly opened to the exciting world of graffiti art. 

Teahouse on Stilts

Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori explores the relationship between the natural and the manmade, which he believes is one of the key issues facing civilisation in the 21st century. His buildings often incorporate living plants or trees, and attempt to find aesthetic harmony between the manmade forms and the landscapes on which they are situated. Often very simple in construction, Fujimori's Teahouse is made from plywood walls and a hand-beaten copper roof, and was designed for his own personal use in his home village in the hills of China. His work usually incorporates plants, by integrating them into the buildings rather than used in separate landscaping schemes, as a reaction against the way that they are usually considered separate in contemporary projects.

I was attracted to this idea of the Teahouse firstly because it is such a simple construction, yet is so striking in terms of appearance. The height of the Teahouse that is supported by 3 tree trunks is so unusual, and looks as if it is defying laws of physics by staying solid. It is refreshing to see architecture which goes back to basics, being different by fitting into the environment as opposed to standing out from it. The way it looks in context with the environment is stunning, as it is not imposing on the landscape yet it still stands out. It is almost as if Fujimori is trying to blend the Teahouse with nature and into the landscape, whilst still making it an attention-grabbing piece of architecture. 

Oliver Jeffers

I received a postcard this morning with Oliver Jeffers' illustration on the front, and was completely drawn into it. The illustration was of a child in a rocket, reaching out to try and catch a star. I wanted to find out more about Oliver Jeffers, so I visited his website listed on the back of the postcard and was fascinated (which, as it happens, is an interesting website in terms of design). I found that the illustration on the postcard is actually part of a picture book, called 'How to catch a star', and some of the other illustrations for the book were shown on the website, as were examples from his other picture books. 

The illustrations have been produced using watercolours on paper, which is how the muted colours have been achieved. The simple illustrations are really cute, and it is interesting how little needs to be shown to detail the story that Jeffers is trying to tell. He illustrates in an almost childlike fashion, without being condescending, with a simplicity that amounts to a spherical head, two dots for eyes and a curve for a smiling mouth. Despite this, the obvious emotion of the boy in the pictures is apparent, which makes the illustrations genuinely moving. As the boy's imagination takes him on a journey to catch a star, it is charming to see the world of the child which is not affected by the restrictions of the reality.