{ Lighting Orgasm }

I attended a magnificent concert a while ago and was blown away with the whole choreography of the music event, especially its lightings.

Faye Wong's Concert 2011 photos:

"It must be by a Japanese!" my gut said, though the concert was meant for Chinese singing sensation, Faye Wong. Hence, to prove myself correct I headed back home trying to find out who's the choreographer for the concert. "Google!", was the first thing that came to my mind. After a few failed attempts trying to search for 'Faye Wong's Concert Choreographer' online, I gave up.

It was only till recently that I chanced upon an article mentioning the backstage creative team that was handling her concert. Mitsumasa Hayashi is the name I was looking for. The mastermind responsible for the fantastic stage lightings during the concert.

You guys ought to check out his works from his company, Hayashi Office's website. Definitely an eye-opener!

"Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation."

– James Turrell

{ Move. Eat. Learn }

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....

= a trip of a lifetime.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

{ Ai Wei Wei - Freedom Fighter }

"...I don't want to stop myself. If..maybe I will be stopped by some other kind of force. But, life is like that, I think you have to take chances."

– Ai Wei Wei.

{ Save Japan }

TBWA London has joined forces with a number of illustrators to create the Eastern Eggs project: a series of rather beautiful wooden eggs that can be purchased online, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

Designs from illustrators such as Damien Weighill, Jan Kallwejt and Nick Purser are included in the project. Each egg is approximately 6cm high, made from solid wood and costs £10.

The eggs are all printed using an Egg-bot, an open-source art robot that can draw on spherical or egg-shaped objects. You can see the making in action below.

Click here to purchase!

*via Creative Review*

{ Live the Language }

Interesting campaign by EF Education. 4 short films that will make you want to pack your bags.

ENJOY!~

LIVE THE LANGUAGE - PARIS

LIVE THE LANGUAGE - BARCELONA

LIVE THE LANGUAGE - BEIJING

LIVE THE LANGUAGE - LONDON

Click HERE to visit the Campaign Website :)

{ Education KILLS Creativity }

{ Redesign the Convention }

....this is what happens when you push the boundaries of convention.

Cooking and eating are rich sensory experiences, but the recipes we use in the kitchen are often pretty bland: Black-and-white lists of ingredients and processes. GOOD asked readers to reinvent the standard recipe with a graphic twist to make it more fun. And I was amazed by the submissions people sent in!

CLICK HERE for more mind-blowing recipes!

{ Fruity Juice }

Chanced upon these interesting juice packaging while researching for my work. This series of creative fruit juice packages are designed by Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese industrial designer who is best known for his MUJI's CD Player (part of the permanent collection, MoMA New York). They were first featured at Scotland's Arts and Design Exhibition in 2008.

This new concept from Fukasawa took industrial design to a whole new level. His intention was to create packaging that accurately represents the actual fruit's skin in colour and texture. With that in mind, he created banana, strawberry, kiwi and soymilk (which resembles a block of tofu) design.

"I imagines that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin."
– Naoto Fukasawa.

The actual production of the juice series would likely be too costly to get them on the supermarket shelves, but I think alot of designers would be inspired by these unconventional packaging.

**For more readings on Naoto Fukasawa, click here.**

{ RSA Animate }

Nice Illustration!

{ Disco Booth, Anyone? }

Initially what drew me to the Trans-Cool TOKYO exhibition at 8Q SAM was Yoshitomo Nara's paintings. But after my visit, what really "wowed" me was Kiichiro Adachi's e.e.no.24, a disco booth installation.

e.e.no.24, a Museum of Comtemporary Art Tokyo collection, was a converted telephone booth serves as a one-man disco for those self-conscious of their body in public. The mirrored interior of the booth reassures (albeit falsely) the person inside that he/she is not exposed to the outside world, when in reality this is so.

Exploring concepts of society's gaze and its reflection, Adachi heightens one's perception and sensitivity to the immediate society and community one is living in. The work in particular comments on the supposed anonymity that technology such as the Internet gives people today, but this anonymity is in reality a false one.

The exhibit features a projection video (shown above) and the actual disco booth, visitors are encouraged to experience dancing to one's heart content inside. As expected, Singaporeans being Singaporeans were shy about stepping into the lighted booth. All those that I've encountered just stood there watching the video.

Experiencing dancing to my heart's content :P

As a curious cat, I went into the booth, closed the door and put on the headphones. Nope, I didn't dance (too self-conscious to do that!) but I managed to experience what it is like. And I must said I totally understand why people in the video can dance their hearts out inside.....it's a COOL experience!

{ Trans-Cool TOKYO }

Been wanting to go to Trans-Cool TOKYO Exhibition held in Singapore's 8Q SAM and I just managed to do that this Christmas Day. :) As from the name of the exhibition, one would guess that it got to do with the Japanese culture.

Bingo! You are right!

Featuring 40 artworks from the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo collection, this exhibition tells the story of how Japanese artists, since the second half of the 1990s, have established their own creative identities within the context of global pop culture. From Yayoi Kusama's pioneering works of Japanese Pop Art to Yasumasa Morimura's role-playing in his portraits from the 1980s, the exhibition Trans-Cool TOKYO provides an opportunity to view works by these groundbreaking Japanese artists who have made an indelible impact on contemporary art.

Working across all mediums, from painting and sculpture, to performance, photography and video, the featured artists have created work in response to the onset of the information age and the greater freedoms and uncertainties that are available in contemporary society.

Artistes featured in the exhibition includes Kohei Nawa, Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Michihiro Shimabuku, Kiichiro Adachi etc.

Below are some sneaks on the artworks featured......

Kohei Nawa

Pixcell-Deer #17, 2008-2009

mixed media, 200 x 170 x 150 cm

Yoshihiro Suda

Gerbera, 1997

colour on wood, 6 x 5.2 x 24 cm

Yoshitomo Nara

Sayon, 2006

acrylic on canvas, 146 x 112.5 cm

Michihiro Shimabuku

Tour of Europe with One Eyebrow, 1991

Type C-print, text, 70 x 103 cm

Takashi Murakami

Flower, 2006

silkscreen and platinum foil, 70 x 70 cm

Kiichiro Adachi

e.e.no.24, 2004/2008

mixed media, 257 x 98 x 97 cm

Do visit this exhibition as it runs through 13 February 2011.

{ The Joy of Giving }

Though this got nothing to do with design, but it certainly set my brain thinking......

Share your knowledge, give your creativity, impart your talent.

By doing so, you might just get something back :)

{ 12 Signs. 12 Proposals }

Chanced upon this superb TVC by Bates Taiwan for Isabelle Wedding Cakes while FB-ing.

It's hilarious!

*English Subtitles*

More on Isabelle wedding cake's TVC:

ISABELLE is the famous brand of wedding cakes in Taiwan, the identifiable slogan “Marry me!” is also as well-known as its brand. However, during the financial crisis the marriageable men and women feared for marriage or married later, those phenomena caused the marriage rate to decline in Taiwan, and also impacting the sales volume of wedding cakes. For that reason, the advertising strategy of ISABELLE in 2009 focused on continuing the slogan “Marry me!” and separated from competitors’ advertising theme, exotic romance, which is far away from real life of the people at marriageable age. Consequently, we would like to design an advertising which closes to real life of consumers and makes the brand image of ISABELLE younger and more real, moreover, rising the brand favourability of young generation and creating a popular topic for the marriageable men and women who are aged 25 to 35. Under the situation of low marriage rate, we attempted through the advertising to bring out the idea of marriage and motivate our target audiences say out “Marry me!” bravely. Afterwards, the marriage rate could be rose, the sales volume of wedding cakes could be increased as well.

Credits:

Bates, Taiwan

Copy: Lion Tsai/Renee Chen

Art Director: Richard Yu/ Alex Liu/ Peggy Chen

Creative Direct: Richard Yu/ Lion Tsai

Client Service: Henry Chu/ Jojo Tsai/ Alin Chen/ Val Chang/ Margaret Lin

Agency Producer: Ray Chang

Production House: Greatland films

Director: Lo Ging ZimProducer(s): Angelina Lai

Composer: Charlotte Chan

*P.S: It is also the GrandPrix Winner for LongXi Awards 2010 (a Chinese-language Creative Awards). For more info on LongXi Awards, click here.

{ Serifs }

Chanced upon Textism's article on some of the most commonly-used typefaces. Pretty cool stuffs in there. It's for all those Typo Greeks who are obsessed with Serifs. :)

Article's Link!

{ Leave é Digital Grind Behind! }

Recently posted on Lomography's Facebook page was the interview of Matthias Fiegi during Photokina, Köln, Germany 2010 by Mac Edition Radio.

From casually shooting snapshots, building a brand from the ground up, all the way to having a sprawling, interactive showcase in nothing but the largest camera convention in the world, Lomography has surely matured in the last few years.

In this interview with Matthias Fiegi, President of Lomography, he touches on the wonders of analogue photography. Matthias also talks about the various aspects of Lomography, from its inception all the way to its relevance to today's age of digital.

To listen to Interview, click here!

Credits to Lomography and Mac Edition Radio.