ideas & integrities

During his life Fuller influenced such diverse talents as Norman Foster, sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi and John Cage. Driven by the design philosophy of “more for less”, Fuller worked simultaneously on plans for houses, cars, boats, games, television transmitters and geodesic domes, all of which were designed to be mass-produced using the simplest and most sustainable means possible.

memphis clips

Memphis-style clips from Keefer Street market. Memphis was a Milan-based group of furniture and product designers. Reacting to the post-Bauhaus/International Style design of the 1970s the Memphis Group designed bright, colorful, playful pieces. Ettore Sottsass, called Memphis design the “New International Style”. Memphis greats include Michele de Lucchi, Marco Zanini, Aldo Cibic, Nathalie du Pasquier and of course Ettore Sottsass who had worked for Olivetti through the 1960s.

gum disease

I think I have gum disease.

1) glass container, Daiso $2
2) iodized sea salt
3) Steri/sol (perfect graphic design)
4) montreal ‘67 cup, junk shop 50¢

pocari sweat

While I’m on this udon kick, I may as well plug Pocari Sweat. My first exposure to Pocari Sweat was Susan’s commercial in Miss Wyoming (”Hey team, let’s Pocari”) about 5 years ago. Since then, I’ve discovered it’s actually cheaper in Korean convenience stores. It works standalone, with vodka or even white rum. The bottles and cans are OK, but the real deal is the powder packets that make 2L of what amounts to piss flavoured water. I still love it though.

udon toolkit

I used to be scared of udon noodles; they seemed sort of like how I imagined my intestines. As soon as I got the seasoning down, udon sort of became a compulsion. I bet I have a tapeworm from all the noodles I eat. Mirin sauce is really good, kind of like sugary vinegar. Then there’s the “MSG coated salt” product – it kind of makes everything taste good.

more 2 good books

Problem Seeking is an exploration of architectural programming with a decidedly EST feel to it. The diagrams seem more self-help than technical. It’s conspicuously black and white in that 1965-75 sort of way. For any diagram enthusiast, this is the right book.

New Architecture was a surprise, seeing the Brasilia influence in the American Northeast. Plenty of raw concrete, concrete louvres, visible and exaggerated structure. Again, conspicuously black and white in that 1965 to 75 sort of way.

uhu

Shortly after my brother died, I went to my boyfriend’s sister’s wedding in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. It was… literally the most terrifying flight I’ve ever been on: Air Transat. The plane’s chassis was creaking like a fucking rocking chair. We transferred like eight times. Then we arrive and I had my first all inclusive… piña colada poolside service. I’m not complaining. We spent most of the time trying to find someone to have a threesome with. Every single market we went to there was José trying to sell us: cocaine, hustlers, cristal (you figure it out), illegal electronics and… pirated copies of The Hills. This was not such a bad trip. One of the only things I bought was a tube of UHU glue because I was totally stricken with how UNIVERSAL the packaging was.

2 good books

Collecting Systems is a perpetual inspiration… They have found the time to make an igloo out of corrugated cardboard… children play in robot costumes made of discarded cereal boxes. And, somehow it’s all rationalized as design with heart and meaning. I’m not complaining, this is a good book. Super Normal is all the things you want in your house, but perfectly rendered.

hilton totem

This one is hard to explain. I found this on Commercial Drive. I don’t even really like it. But the thing is, I used to work for these printers on Powell Street in Japantown… using the 1981 imagesetter and learning about 130 linescreens and eating halva (long story.) When I worked there… Richard Shorty used to come in all the time along with all these other famous Coast Salish artists. They would bring these shitty sketches and I would redraw them in Illustrator, making them something perfect and beziered?

hotel maya

I was in Gaudalajara with Xavier. We were staying at the Hotel Maya in Zona Historico. We took the first class bus from Acapulco where we had just finished having lunch with… someone. They served Fresca and ham and cheese sandwiches on the bus and played Shirley Temple movies. Hotel Maya was painted hot pink, we stayed in a room with barely running water. We met Eduardo who had GHB in a Visine bottle. The policia frisked us on the street in front of some pawn shops. I remember eating patas and wearing smoky sunglasses.

living in tokyo

Enough said? This is, apparently, a municipally funded guide to garbage collection, abortions, mental health and all those important things you may need to know. I found this in a dumpster in Portland. Oregon.

2 good books + 1

A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
This is a sparse and mostly lifeless book: elliptical language, postwar Japan, empty characters. Etsuko lives in England, her daughter just committed suicide. Ends with a sad acceptance and no real resolution: mono no aware. Mono no aware is a bittersweet and ultimately sad reflection on the transience of life and experiential nature of living.

Chicago Loop – Paul Theroux
From the NY Times review: “It is summer 1988. Heat scorches the Midwest, fires burn out of control in the national forests, used syringes and bloody bandages wash up on the beaches in New York, there are muggings and hijackings, and the Presidential campaign is in full swing. In Chicago the bitter smell of rusting iron poisons the air and the sensational Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Chicago is sweltering in the unremitting heat and people are crazy, kinky.”

Pinball – Jerzy Kosinski
A famous rock musician who has no public persona… sex.

kenzo tange

I’ve been eying-up this book for a while. Kenzo Tange is one of my favorite Japanese architects – he produced buildings with typical Japanese style combined with (almost brutalist) modernism. Early in his career he courted Metabolism, the avant-garde 60’s movement that favors a utopic city that is the result of an organic or biotechnical process (cf. archigram). The Metabolists had a tenuous role in the context of Japan’s post-war urban reconstruction and had their moment of splendor at the Osaka World Exposition in 1970. Kenzo Tange says, “There is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart.” Later in his career he played an important role in the Structuralist movement, which arose in opposition to Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne’s Functionalist presence, alongside contemporaries like Dutch architects Aldo van Eyck (Aesthetics of Number) and John Habraken (Architecture of Lively Variety [Structure and Coincidence]). A good introduction to Structuralism, if you can find it: Strukturalismus – Eine neue Strömung in der Architektur (image).

110 film

I’m certain these cameras will remind you of cereal box prizes from your childhood. The 110 cartridge was introduced by Kodak in 1972 as a sort-of idiot-proof alternative to 35mm. Most photographic manufacturers stopped making 110 film in the early 90’s – but if you’re lucky enough to find some deadstock at camera shop, you can easily make a pinhole camera. A few years ago I was in Guadalajara and found box upon box of 110 for about 20 pesos apiece. In a mezcal-soaked trip across oaxaca, I took as many rolls as I could; photos of buildings and alleyways, photos of transvestites in D.F., photos of the street dog that followed me around. 110 film is almost impossible to develop. At this site (collection d’appareils photo, accessoires, gadgets et objets divers) there are some perfect examples of the compact, neon, and very tech look of the 100 camera: 110 divers and micro 110.