My Little Pony is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, and to celebrate Hasbro has commissioned 25 artists to customise/design 25 of their famous ponies. The full collection will be released later this year… but a few teasers can be seen on the My Little Pony Project website. The originals will be auctioned for charity in New York later this year. My favourite so far is South American artist Catalina Estrada’s offering… such intricate detail… I love the folk art style and the white and blue. Hasbro should totally manufacture this design!
I recommend a closer look at Catalina Estrada’s work. She is a superstar! She’s collaborated with so many great companies and people – Paul Smith, Camper shoes, Nike (love ‘em or hate ‘em)…. packaging for Coca Cola and Lindt chocolate… the list goes on. Much much more to be seen in her portfolio and her Flickr.
Estrada’s work for Camper
Catalina Estrada hangs a solo exhibition in Barcelona (2006)
The Regent Theatre’s Plaza Ballroom in Collins stAnother ‘better late than never’ post I’m afraid! These shots are from the Regent Theatre’s Plaza Ballroom, also on show as part of the recent Open House event in Melbourne’s CBD.The ballroom, built in 1929, is lavishly decorated in ornate Spanish Colonial style – features include an indoor fountain, curved ‘Juliet’ balconies, bronze chandeliers, highly decorative faux windows (backlit to simulate moonlight!) and ornate handpainted ceilings (pictured below).
A little kitsch, but utterly breathtaking.
Incredibly, the Plaza Ballroom as it stands today is a complete restoration of the original, which was destroyed by fire in 1945.I just discovered another lovely photo of the Ballroom, and a collection of very sneaky photos of the Open House Capitol Theatre tour on a blog called the grapevine. Read the text too – very funny!
ornate detailing with a Spanish influence
Intricate decorative patterns on the ceiling (top image) and even in the carpet! (bottom image). Apparently parquetry flooring is laid over the top of this carpet when required. Big job!
Gargoyles guard the exit
I briefly mentioned these lovely new products by Melbourne design studio Foundry last week after seeing them at Design:Made:Trade. Such a great execution of a simple, clever idea… I thought I should show you more of the collection.
Measure is a range of paper products that provide useful household information in a slick graphic, easy to access format. The range includes ‘Produce in Season‘ – showing seasonal produce not only here but the Northern hemisphere too (and in both English and Italian), ‘Everyday‘ for all those important conversions like kilos to ounces, Celsius to Fahrenheit and centimetres to inches… (and all in 5 languages….!), and ‘Lunar Phases‘ (hey, these things are important.)
The Measure range also includes a height measurement chart, yearly calender and wine booklet (very handy to translate those baffling descriptions on the side of wine bottles). The range is the creation of Melbourne graphic designer Jessie Fairweather, who brings to her business a wealth of experience from years spent overseas – including a stint at the prestigious Fabrica research centre in Italy (yeah, the one Jaime Hayon came from!).
Prices range from a very reasonable AU$14.95 – AU$24.95. Not sure currently where these will be stocked as they have only just been released – I’ll be sure to keep you posted! Potential stockists can email info@thefoundry.com.au
Thought I would mention some more excellent Australian product design whilst on the topic.
I found myself sitting next to a lovely young chap called Edmund (I hope the spelling it correct) at the Design Capital event just over a week ago. We got chatting whilst the grown-up designers ‘networked’… and he mentioned this cute USB memory stick he designs and manufactures.
It’s called the Zip Zip USB Memory Brick – it comes in 1 GB (US$35), 2 GB (US$50) and 4 GB $US75). It is NOT affiliated with Lego, and just between you and me, I think they are slightly peeved that they didn’t think of it first.
Anyway… I made Edmund give one to Nendo‘s Oki Sato after the lecture… hope he liked it!
Buy your own here.
Some interesting new product design from Melbourne here… Jewellery designer Nina Ellis has just released a series of anodised aluminium fruit bowls names Minna Fold Bowls, sold through the wonderful Pieces of Eight gallery in North Fitzroy.
Its an interesting transition for Nina – from unique, painstakingly handcrafted jewellery to the development and manufacture of these functional, geometric and sculptural pieces. They retail for $245.
Nina Ellis completed a BFA in Gold & Silversmithing at RMIT in 2003. She has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Craft Victoria Mentorship, Emerging Artist Initiative, and the SIEMENS Fine Art Scholarship Award in 2003. She has since exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, and currently works from the lovely Pieces of Eight studio workshop.
Nina Ellis’ work is currently on display in the Pieces of Eight window exhibition, and some more info on the process behind her designs can be found here on the Pieces of Eight blog.
Better late than never with this one… sorry, I took the Open House tour of Melbourne CH2 (Council House 2) building over a week ago (July 20th) and am only getting around to posting about it now… aaaggh. What can I say – it’s been a busy fortnight! Anyway… thought it might interest Melburnians to see some shots inside the stunning Council House building. Over 25,000 people turned out on the day to take a peek inside 9 of Melbourne’s most famous buildings… the queues around were INCREDIBLE! Many waited around 2 hrs at some locations… jeepers. It’s fantastic that so many people braved the cold to learn a little more about some of Melbourne’s architectural masterpieces… but next time I think it might be wise to allocate viewing times and tickets in advance!
Those in the know will be aware that CH2 is the first purpose built office building in Australia to achieve a 6 green star certified rating. This rating is a measure of the building’s energy and water efficiency, quality of environment and resource conservation. It seems every detail has been considered in achieving this rating – special ‘night-purge’ windows open every evening to allow the night breeze to naturally cool the interior of the building… a water-mining plant in the basement treats and recycles water for washing, cooling and watering of plants, and the striking facade of louvered timber shutters track the sun to control the temperature of the building. More detail here.
I was most impressed with the incredible rooftop garden – those lucky council employees get to eat their lunch up there everyday… aghh! Beautiful.
CH2 facade
CH2 stunning sculptural reception desk on the ground floor
CH2 rooftop garden
view from the top…. ahhhh!
interior – the ‘wave’ shaped ceiling maximises air flow and makes heating and cooling more efficient. Those ‘radiator’ looking things on the ceiling are actually chilled ceiling panels, circulating cold water to absorb radiated heat from occupants and equipment. The concrete ceilings also absorb excess heat.
My Little Pony is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, and to celebrate Hasbro has commissioned 25 artists to customise/design 25 of their famous ponies. The full collection will be released later this year… but a few teasers can be seen on the My Little Pony Project website. The originals will be auctioned for charity in New York later this year. My favourite so far is South American artist Catalina Estrada’s offering… such intricate detail… I love the folk art style and the white and blue. Hasbro should totally manufacture this design!
Estrada’s work for Camper
Catalina Estrada hangs a solo exhibition in Barcelona (2006)
