Well its been quiet round here for a while...

Hmm, how things change...

So after a year where I lost my job, had to live with my gran for a while back in deepest darkest yorkshire, then decided I needed to get back into education to increase my design knowledge base, I find myself out in Milan doing a Masters in Interior Design at the Scuola Politecnica di Design.

After a heavy week at Saloni where I was exhibiting hand woven carpets with some colleagues, then a horrible flu which has kept me in bed for a day I find myself back on the blogs and thinking about our next project, a retail design for a major trainer brand...

So I happened upon this little gem from Coolhunting.com...

My favourite architect, Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall fame and his latest store in Harajuku, the new Nike Flagship...

Fresh Fish

SF's very talented Jeremy Fish has just opened up a nice wee exhibition down at the Fecal Face Gallery San Fran. Looks like a fairly small show with 2 beautiful murals with the body of the work on cut wood in his own classic style. In addition to that is a huge print in an edition of 30 for $200. Can't be many left now so get your skates on for one of the biggest and best Fish prints I've seen...

Vitsoe

My old favorite design group Airside have just done a really nice little animation for the splash page of Vitsoe shelving. Quality job done on the rest of the site too, might go find myself some shelves...

Kaws 4ft Companion Black

After the release of his 4ft Grey Companion last year with toy maker Medicom, KAWS is back again with news of the release of the Black variation. No official word on release date yet, but these won't be around long when they do touch down.
KAWS is fast becoming the new boy in town and has already built up an almost cult following through his large portfolio of toys and now his clothing label OriginalFake, again with Medicom, has brought him a new fashion orientated audience securing his name as a seriously cool brand.
And when you've got a cool new retail business which sells only the finest items from clothing to housewares and accessories, who do you get to design the store? Well Masamichi Katayama has to be the obvious choice...

Kofmehl

Kcuf me, this is one hell of a way to make a bold statement of youth empowerment as a music venue. Goes back to the punk era of youth against the system, holding gigs in old warehouse and squats. Ssm Architekten ag have pulled out all the stops to make this monolithic building something that I find rather attractive in an industrial, almost imperial manner. If only this had been around in my youth, there would be much rebelling against curves...

F.I.L. yer boots

As you should be well aware by now, I absolutely adore Visvim due to the construction, design, material selection, branding, marketing and ethics of the brand. One thing that I haven't mentioned so far is the F.I.L. stores which carry the Visvim brand across the 5 stores. The Free International Laboratory (F.I.L) stores are now synonymous with the clean styling of the brand and help create a calming atmosphere in which the brand can be viewed, but perhaps more importantly, touched.

As with the rest of the Visvim/F.I.L/Cubism branding I can't help but love the design (or lack thereof) of the shops. I could waffle on about clean lines, simple shapes, neutral backgrounds and how this helps to accentuate the chaff from the other stuff, but I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Again a long post but I'm sure you'll understand when you see these places...

First F.I.L. in Tokyo


Tokyo Relaunch at new location


Store front sign, Tokyo


F.I.L Sendai


Sendai exterior


Massive glaring in-your-face sign, Sendai


F.I.L Hiroshima


F.I.L Hiroshima


F.I.L Kanazawa



F.I.L./Cubism Offices Meguro Rice Factory

Wonderwall / A.P.C. Kita -Aoyama

Wow, I've really been getting into Wonderwall, a Japanese interior design practise run by Masamichi Katayama. For years this guy has been working with Nigo to create BAPE's massive array of ultra cool shops to serve the brand and create an atmosphere that has become a signature of the brand.

Wonderwall has been involved with many of the leading brands in the top end streetwear scene including OrignaFake, Loopwheeler and now for A.P.C.

Don't usually like to put up so many photos but if anything is worthy, its the work of Wonderwall...