Sharing art with seniors

For Love & Art--a Texas-based project--helps the elderly living in hospices enjoy fine works of art during their last days through digital photos. A partnership between art galleries and museums brings thousands of pieces of fine art to Digital Foci's eight-inch high-res digital LCD notebooks for viewing by those who are no longer able to travel.

NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Washington D.C.'s The National Gallery of Art are among the contributors.

This is a great idea, both philanthropically and business-wise. I speculate that this idea and similar off-shoots will be wildly successful in a couple of years. I want to help spread this to hospices in Chicago.

Caroline

My New New York Diary: A Film-Book

Oh how I love Michel Gondry. I truly believe he is one of the most creative and talented people alive now and anything he touches is gold.

His latest work is a collaboration with graphic artist Julie Doucet and merges graphic novel with cinematic storytelling. The book comes packaged with a DVD and both are a necessary accompaniment to the other to tell the story of Gondry meeting with Doucet.

Doucet had already produced "My New York Diary," an autobiographical comic-book novel, when Gondry proposed making a film with her drawings as the film's setting and vehicle and her acting in her own story. Their discussion of making the 20 minute film ended up becoming the plot and thus "My New New York Diary" was born.

As Phuong-Cac Nguyen writes for Cool Hunting: The story "begins with Doucet talking to Gondry from her home in Montreal before meeting and staying with him in NYC, where they film her in front of a blue screen. She buys a digital recorder and records her observations on everything from Gondry's quarrels with his housemate to her reluctance at acting in her own story.

After a few days in New York, Doucet returned back to Canada, where she did dozens of drawings. Gondry edited everything, including her narration, and turned her drawings into something live—a talent he previously exemplified so well with 'Science of Sleep.'"

Caroline

Partners & Spade

I’ve decided to continue the theme of spotlighting my favorite things. Today it is the acclaimed hybrid advertising agency-gallery-boutique called Partners & Spade.

Partners & Spade was founded in 2008 by Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti.

To understand the magic of Partners & Spade, you have to understand the work of Andy.

There’s a great interview with him in Interview Magazine that I’ll quote:

“[Andy] is one of the great underknown geniuses of Western civilization. He’s been a copywriter, a creative director, a fashion mogul, an activist, an art patron, a publisher, a consultant, a gallerist, and an artist in his own right. Along with his wife, Kate, he created the Kate Spade brand, then he did an amazing men’s sideline, Jack Spade. When he and Kate sold the business, Andy Spade stepped back—for about a minute. Since then, he has done some wild and crazy advertising for clients such as The Village Voice, invented a new retail concept, The J.Crew Liquor Store, opened an art venue, Half Gallery, and now has created the next step, Partners & Spade.”

The story of Andy and his wife Kate and their rise to success is an inspiring one, as well. I’m amazed by their sheer talent and the fact that they just seem to be doing things that make them happy. There’s a great NYMag article about them here.

But back to the studio. Partners & Spade operates as a storefront and studio in Manhattan. The studio produces films, books, apparel and conceptual products and the storefront offers items like $2500 rare books, $3600 toys designed by Renate Muller and burglary kits (perhaps for those who want said toys but can’t afford them). Oh my god, I just saw they have beautiful handmade arrows by Fredericks & Mae. It’s such a good thing for my bank account that I do NOT live in NYC.

The storefront also serves as a space for creative happenings and special events, like hosting artist Will Cotton, known for his paintings of cookies and cakes coupled with scantily clad women, or conducting the monthly Avant Garde Preschool.

I became aware of Partners & Spade after reading about them repeatedly on all of the blogs I frequent. When I learned they were the brains behind J.Crew’s beautiful Liquor Store, I became a fan for life. Earlier this year, they launched a blog (which I of course follow) that is really a procession of images that are loosely connected with each other. No text, just a link to its source. The photos are all tagged according to their dominant colour rather than subject.

J.Crew's Liquor Store

For my New York friends, please go by and visit this space on the weekends when it’s open to the public, or watch when they have events. For everyone else, get lost in their blog.

Partners & Spade
40 Great Jones
New York, New York

Caroline

Roman & Williams, Part II

Roman & Williams from The Scout on Vimeo

“It’s a shame to only have dreams at night. You should have a few opportunities during the day.” This wistful quote from Stephen Alesch speaks volumes about the spaces he and Robin Standefer create as architects and designers. Their firm Roman & Williams, is named for their grandparents, paying homage to another era. Together, they draw on the evocative moods, textures, and meaningful objects that linger somewhere between past and present. Their work is infused with memory and allows participants to connect with a more romantic and important time.

Alesch still renders all of their presentations by hand, a skill he has preserved and honed from an early age. Standefer evolved her skills as a painter into creating sets for the likes of Scorsese. As a team they have developed an approach to creating buildings and interiors that reveres craft and tradition, combined with a contemporary viewpoint. This unique vision has lead to a number of important public and private projects including the Ace Hotel, The Standard Hotel, and 211 Elizabeth.

Video by The Scout, a blog by Tom Ran.

Roman & Williams, Part I

In these next posts, I'm going to spotlight my favorite design firm of the moment, Roman & Williams. I love their aesthetic and uncanny ability to combine vintage with modern to make a new place look like it's been there forever and to create a sort of narrative for the space in which they are decorating (makes sense as they used to be set designers). I've been following them/their work for a while now and decided it's high time I pay them homage in the form of a blog post.

The NYTimes wrote a recent piece that will do them much more justice than my description. For now though, let the pictures do the talking.