GENERAL | THE HARLOW

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THREE PEAKS – NEW BALANCE

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Editorial Staff

The ‘Three Peaks Pack’ is a New Balance homage to the National Three Peaks Challenge in which participants attempt to climb the 3 largest mountains in UK in under 24 hours. New Balance, one of the finest running and lifestyle shoe brands has created this limited edition collection in three colors. Featuring three multicolored combinations of leather, suede and mesh construction this shoe is regarded by many as the quintessential NB shoe, incorporating everything : the famous C-Cap cushioning system and large N on the side, the 576 silhouette.

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CUT THE RIBBON, KATHRINE SWITZER

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Editorial Staff

Kathrine Virginia “Kathy”, ribbon cutter and of course, runner. She has run 35 marathons, winning NYC’s 1974 edition. She is best known as the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry. During her college years, she in fact, entered and completed the race, five years before women were officially allowed to compete. She registered under the gender-neutral “K. V. Switzer”, which she later insistsed, was not done in an attempt to mislead the officials. She claimed to have long used “K. V. Switzer” to sign the articles she wrote for her college paper. Jock Semple, official, attempted to physically remove her from the race but Switzer’s boyfriend, at that time Tom Miller, who was running with her, shoved the official aside. The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines. As a result of her run, the AAU barred women from all competition with male runners but Switzer, with other women runners, tried to convince the Boston Athletic Association to allow women to participate in the marathon. Finally, in 1972, women were welcome to run the Boston Marathon officially for the first time ever.

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GEMMA – BLine

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Editorial Staff

Gemma has a decisive character with a geometric and slightly ironic air. Conceived as a small armchair that recalls the shape of a precious stone, it has a geometric and profile providing a comfortable seating and it’s both for indoor and outdoor. It is available in a range of colors including Hollywood fuchsia, coral red and topaz blue. Created by Karim Rashid, great communicator and trend setter, multi-award winner, Gemma is a sinuous object, a chair in polyethylene, compact and multi-faceted. Great, don’t you think?

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CUT THE RIBBON, THE CHEWING GUM

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Editorial Staff

How many did you chew in your life? Chewing gum, can you imagine your life without it? From being a candy to be a treatment. In our days chewing gums are sugar free, they can contain substances in order to prevent cavities or can help your health: vitamins, herbal extract, spices everything can be spread with an “American gum”. Chewing indeed had been a statement of freedom for many generations and a sign of modernity, efficiency and coolness. Forbidden in posh places and fancy dinners, chewing gum remains an ever green product present all around the world. But who’s the one who cut the ribbon for this invention? Basically North American Indians: if they wouldn’t have chewed the sap from spruce trees and passed the habit along it would had been difficult for John B. Curtis , in 1848, to make the first commercial chewing gum called the “State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum”. Two years later Curtis improved his creation by adding some paraffin and flavors opening the road to many other inventors that added long lasting aromas and discovered the infamous ” Tutti-Frutti” that became the first chewing gum to be sold in a vending machine. Bubble gum came later in 1906, while mint flavor is a 1914 invention by William Wrigley. In 1928 Walter Diemer invented the successful pink colored Double Bubble, bubble gum. POF!

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CUT THE RIBBON, THE MULLET

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Editorial Staff

It has never been clear who actually designed or invented the Mullet, but it was first documented around late Roman times. Most of Rome invaders, those who sacked the city, were actually outfitted with a Mullet. Roman soldiers weren’t allowed to cut their hair in this way as the hairdo, at the time it was considered unfashionable. This weird shaped haircut, with business attitude at the front and party in the back became a must in the’80s. It became popular by Canadian hockey players. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Mullet was used to describe this hairstyle “apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by U.S. hip-hop group the Beastie Boys”, who used “Mullet” and “Mullet head” as epithets in their 1994 song “Mullet Head”. Was it Mike D who invented it then? In 1995, the Beastie Boys’ magazine Grand Royal was the first to use the term in print, but still it is known that in the sixth century, Byzantine scholar Procopius wrote that some factions of young males wore their hair long at the back and cut it short over the forehead. This non-Roman style was termed the ‘Hunnic’ look. By all this way, Mullets were sported by rock stars like David Bowie or Paul McCartney as far back as the early 1970s. We all do remember Andre Agassi too. Ever since, the Mullet has been a way of life, a state of mind. Ready for a haircut?

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DAVIDELFIN, DUVET COVERS

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Editorial Staff

He is famous for a particular and sleek approach towards fashion. His silhouettes and cuts are anything but tender. His collections are conceptual and revolve around to discover feelings and intimate parts of human beings. Missing, Nowdays, Katharsis, Diogenes Syndrome, Tautology to name few of them. But when it’s time to go to bed, the Spanish born designer David Delfin, he wants his nest to be a place of good cheers and dreams. He likes positive messages, hearts, animals and a lot of “cariño”. Since he wasn’t able to find anything appropriate for his bed, Delfin decided to create a line of duvet covers and pillows some years ago. The Davidelifn signature bed accessories is now one of the best, yet unexpected, ways to adorn your bedroom and is now improved in designs, sizes and quality. Because the revolution can start from our bed as Yoko and John instructed some years ago.

http://www.davidelfin.com

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CUT THE RIBBON, NINA SIMONE

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Editorial Staff

For unforgettable music she left us, for her civil rights battles and marches with Martin Luther King. For her two careers in one; she left it in 1978 and disappeared. Then, due to a Chanel advertising that brought back on charts “My Baby Don’t Love Me”, she had some few more years. For her no diva approach, for her unique life made of good and bad, for concerts where she used to introduce “her music” with her own words. “Her music”, as she declared in several interviews, was the most important thing. Then there was love, not marriage of course, she was twice, but love. Born in North Carolina in 1933 under the name of Eunice Kathleen Waymon, she started singing in the local church with her two sisters. It took not much time to everybody in her small town community to understand that Eunice was gifted. She was so talented to deserve a proper course of studies in New York City. Her neighbors promoted a foundation and managed to collect money in order to make her flying. In 50ies she was paying one’s dues as a nightclub singer and changed her name in honor of actress Simone Signoret that she adored. In 1958 Simone’s debut album. In 1968, after King’s and Kennedy’s assassination she left Us and settle down in Barbados, Egypt, Holland and Switzerland. After this betrayal nobody were publishing her records any longer but she kept on composing and playing piano until the very last days of her life. Simone left not only her music but examples, not only Jazz but hope for a better life to African American. A cut the ribbon for this complex, yet genius persona, was compulsory here at The Harlow.

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CUT THE RIBBON, ALFRED NOYER (OR JULIAN MANDEL?)

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Alfred Noyer, or Julian Mandel, was a signature name, and surely the pseudonym related to the identity of one the best-known commercial photographers of female nudes of the early twentieth century. Known in the 1910s, the mid-1930s, his picture portrayed models in classical poses, photographed both in studio and outdoors. Images are composed artfully, with exquisite tones and soft use of lighting, showing a particular texture created by light rather than shadow. Mandel was a member of the German avant-garde, featuring natural settings, skin tones, roughness of nature vs. beauty of human beings. The nude photographs were in a postcard-sized format, but as “A Brief History of Postcards” explains, “A majority of the French nude postcards were called postcards because of the size. They were never meant to be postally sent. It was illegal to send such images in the post”. The size enabled them to be placed readily into jacket pockets, packages, and books. There is a belief nowadays that Julian Mandel was the pseudonym of Julian Walery, a well known photographer of the same period, still, he cut a huge ribbon!

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THE COPENHAGEN WHEEL

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Editorial Staff

The Copenhagen wheel is a bike-wheel attachment that helps power riders. The device is comprised of a self-contained motor and batteries that snap onto the back of an ordinary bicycle, instantly transforming it into a hybrid electric vehicle with social media capabilities. The wheel stores energy during a ride, and when cyclists need a boost, it helps give them an extra push. Developed in MIT’s SENSEable City Laboratory in 2009, as part of a research project sponsored by the Mayor of Copenhagen, the bike learns how you pedal and improves by understanding how hard you push when you pedal, and how often you need help. With a cyclist’s smartphone and a sensor built into the circular red hub, it can pre-program when the user want help. Amazing, don’t you think?

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QUEEN OF THE BONGO!

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Editorial Staff

We love to travel, some of us live abroad, and we wanted to create a product that would travel with us. A product that would get us, and those around us to rip out their headphones and be together in the same room, listening to the same son.

Bongo has an amazing sound and wireless connectivity, it’s totally environmentally friendly. It’s beautifully designed and it blows away an incredible sound. Bongo is the creature of Otis and Eleonor. Its bamboo housing resonates much better than plastic or metal and produces a full, natural sound. As far as sustainable resources, bamboo is often a best bet. This amazing speaker boasts eight hours of playback with a 30 foot playable range. The Bongo speakers not only deliver superior sound, but also exude an awesome earthy vibe.

http://www.otisandeleanor.com/

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CUT THE RIBBON, DAME ELIZABETH

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Editorial Staff

On the occasion of the World Aids Day, occurred on the 1st of December, our Cut The Ribbon is all for dearest, lamented and missed Elizabeth Taylor. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, born in Hampstead in 1932, had a fantastic Hollywood career, we all know that. She was a great actress also called “Queen of Hollywood with no ego” or “the most democratic soul” of Hollywood” due to her simple attitude and her love for “people”. When Aids made its appearance in the very first 80ies, fear was everywhere and people linked to people that were developing this disease where everything but showing their support in public. And do you want to know who was the first person in the entertainment industry to stand up and take charge when few were willing to listen? Dame Elizabeth. Since then, Taylor has remained the symbol of the battle and for this reason she was named the “Joan of Arc of AIDS.” Founder of the American Foundation For Aids (amfar.org) she helped raising 50 million dollars until 1999 … and if this terrible illness is, 35 years later, somehow considered “acceptable” in a way, it’s also because of this solid woman, mother, Hollywood goddess. Her willing to help will always remain legendary.

“I have to show up because it galvanizes people. [They] know . . . I’m not there to sell or gain anything. I’m there for the same reason they are: to get something done.”

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CUT THE RIBBON, LE CROQUE-MONSIEUR!

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Be ready because this Cut The Ribbon is yummy. It’s about the Croque-Monsieur (aka, the Crunch Mister)! If you put grilled ham and cheese (Emmental or Gruyère) together, add some béchamel sauce and use good and soft bread, the result is a typical French sandwich. There’s not a name to whom this invention can be appointed to, there’s rather a place. In fact, this particular sandwich’s first recorded appearance happened in a Parisian café of Boulevard de Capucines 1 in 1910. A croque-monsieur served with a fried egg or poached egg on top would be later known as a croque-madame (but this is another story). In times the croque monsieur would have different names: in English ham and cheese toast in America, the Monte Cristo or in Spain the bikini! The origins of the word, however, remains unknown, the most common being a joke that the meat inside the sandwich was human flesh. The croque-monsieur would even become such a hit that even Marcel Proust mentioned it in “In the shadow of young girls in flower” in 1919 : “Now , coming out of the concert, as , by taking the path that goes to the hotel , we stopped for a moment on the dike my grandmother and me to exchange a few words with Madame de Villeparisis which announced that she had ordered for us at the hotel croque -monsieur and eggs and cream … “. Aren’t you hungry yet? We are!

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ARCTIC DESIGN WEEK

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Editorial Staff

The world’s northernmost design week is will be arranged in Rovaniemi for the sixth time on 17–23 February 2014. The week will be packed with events, seminars, discussions, networking and a variety of other events. The central idea for the week is to present Arctic design expertise as well as bringing together experts for networking. The event also strives to support enterprises with the strengthening of the design business of the Arctic. Admission will be free for the public.

The week will have the cooperation with the University of Lapland of Applied Sciences, Pilke Science Centre, Arktikum, and a wide variety of corporate partners.

Arctic Design Week 17 – 23 February 2014

www.rovaniemenkehitys.fi

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CUT THE RIBBON, SOLITA SOLANO

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Editorial Staff

For her funny and particular Spanish-Italian sounding nickname, she was born Sarah Wilkinson in Troy-New York, in 1888. For her signature bob and red lipstick. For her adventurous years in the Philippines, in China and Japan where her husband was working as an engineer. For her career as a writer with 3 unsuccessful books and the one she started as a theater critic for the New York Tribune. For her freelance contributions to the National Geographic Society and The New Yorker under the name of Genêt. For her love for Paris and her friends, the intellectual-lesbian circles of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Natalie Clifford Barney, Romaine Brooks and Djuna Barnes. For being a trustworthy and superb editor of Anderson and Hulme’s books. For being a secretary for Armenian philosopher and writer Georges Ivanovič Gurdjieff. For being incredibly powerful and being photographed by the best of her years. For having a complete life where she tried everything. For these reasons and many more, Solita Solano is a whole Cut The Ribbon.

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RUBY HELMETS

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Editorial Staff

When seeing them you just want to buy a motorbike and ride away! Cool helmets, with character and soul, original in shape and design. Ruby Paris, reflects ideas of the collective unconscious: being glam and being at ease. Their quality in manufacturing and finish, the wide choice of materials such as the carbon fiber shell and the sensual backbone or the Nappa lambskin on the side of the face are characteristics of comfort and safety. Parts are of titanium and the chin strap is closed with a double-d buckle making it clever. Ateliers Ruby do possess a great allure. Back in 2007, the first Pavillon helmet appeared in a shop off la rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. Later on, the Belvedere model arrived bringing a retro-futuristic visor. In the last 5 years, the Ruby team have released new collections becoming a must and trademark. We simple love it. Come on, ride on!

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RED? A MANIFESTO

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Editorial Staff

What color is that? It’s Rosso Valentino!”.

Red holds strong in Chinese cultural history. It is often associated with bringing happiness and it is, of course, a symbol of fire, good fortune and joy. Unlike the Western opinion on this pigment and its use in costume, red is a traditional shade used for bride’s wedding dresses in China.

Sexy, confident, bold. Red is the color that makes you stop. With its voluptuous hue, its vivid tones it can make a woman radiant. If it’s the poppy red, Valentino’s trademark and timeless statement, then that woman will be a goddess. Few days ago, in Shanghai, Valentino’s talented duo, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli created and presented a ‘season less’ collection where the signature color had a leading role. It was a defilé, a mix of pret-à-porter and haute couture. A real delight in contamination: flowers, studs, camouflage, all combined and linked to a solid color red. The result? Opulent but light, severe and extremely grand at the same time. Always reminding us about their conservative yet modern approach, the catwalk was a statement of ageless elegance and constant evolution of Chiuri and Piccioli’s creative path. It was rock, it was classy, it was out of time, it rolled like a river in flood, luxuriant and attractive, sublime. A multifaceted collection, elegant and glamorous yet playful and, already available at the new Shanghai flagship store.

No one does red like Valentino!

www.valentino.com

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THE BOOMCASE

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Take a vintage suitcase and make it an irresistible “boombox”. Handmade in California since 2009 the Original Rechargeable Vintage Suitcase BoomBox works with any device and also has a headphone output. Plug your phone, iPhone,iPod,computer into the AUX port and play your music for over 18 hours on a single charge.

“Discouraged from always having to buy 12 “D” batteries for my BoomBox (which didn’t sound that great), I decided to build my own. I have been building portable battery powered speaker systems since 1999. When it came time to make my own Boombox I had two goals: 1.) It had to have a built-in rechargeable battery. 2.) It had to sound great. Each BoomCase is a one of a kind piece. No two BoomCases are the same.”

http://theboomcase.com/

Photo: 1920′s Authentic Vintage Louis Vuitton Suitcase turned BoomCase! Featuring a 200 watt Amplifier, Two 10″ Woofers,Ribbons Tweeters and Horn Mid/Tweeters One 5″ Mid-Range.

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VERMOUTH, THE PLEASURE OF DRINKING

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Editorial Staff

He didn’t cut a ribbon, he sipped it! In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented the commercial model for what we know today as red vermouth, possibly even coining the term “vermuth.” The Carpano brand, Turin based, was formalized some years later by Carpano’s nephews. The red vermouths of subsequent producers, such as Cinzano and Gancia or Martini, were their own riffs on what Carpano first successfully marketed. A contemporary expression of the product that was Carpano’s original commercial vermouth is nowadays still existing. The Vermouth was made from white wine added to an infusion of herbs and spices in more than 30 varieties. It was sweetened with spirit, which he believed would be a more suitable beverage for ladies than the local red wines. Inspired by a German wine fortified with wormwood, an herb most famously used in distilling absinthe. Carpano gave bartenders a range of options in making drinks, formalizing Turin as capital of the Royal Italian Family and of aperitif!

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RAVAGE!

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Life is too short to wear boring clothes, useless eau de parfums. There’s beauty in their style in their choices, in their being so mannishly essential and gently exquisite. Pleasure, comfort and self-confidence. RAVAGE, the pseudonym of two well known artists and designers, experts in the domain of Man’s Fashion and founder members of Trend Union, launches a collection of six perfumes named: ‘Les Parfums de Monsieur’. Six aspects of the life of a Gentleman: ‘le Nez de Monsieur’, ‘l’Amant de Monsieur’, ‘les Larmes de Monsieur’, ‘la Vie Secrète de Monsieur”, ‘le Rêve de Monsieur’ and ‘le Blanc de Monsieur’.

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BONJOUR INGRID!

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Great allure, easy, full of design. This is Ingrid by Roche Bobois, the result of a search for contemporary classicism. Here the idea of classicism is not simply the repetition of classic stylistic features but rather the evocation of an idea of balance and proportion. Ingrid is clean and sophisticated, discreet, slender. A wood frame with a soft colourful heart (fabric are by Sonia Rykiel). It is suitable for both home use and for furnishing common spaces. To us? A coup de Coeur!

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THE CATCLUB, UNITED BAMBOO

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Your love for the “little tiger” is now en vogue. From Chupette Lagerfeld on, this last period had been a constant “Year Of The Cat”. Plenty of websites dedicated to them and plenty of offers for feline lovers. From food to accessories, the noble companion is, more than ever, an inspiration. To celebrate the cult of the cat, United Bamboo has created a small collection of greeting cards and wrapping paper designed by Studio Lin, a collaboration with Chen Chen and Kai Williams, and some life-size cat pillows to cozy up your home. Adore and the clebrate the feline domesticated as early as the Neolithic, just around 9500 years ago.

http://shop.unitedbamboo.com/

Photo from the UB Cat Calendar.

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THE QUARTZ ARMCHAIR

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Perfect geometry as primary source of inspiration. QUARTZ is a two-dimensional – pentagonal and hexagonal wooden structure. A geometric volume in mixed colour. QUARTZ is an armchair, of crystalloid shape. It is either interesting in look and practical in use. Designed by the Greek design studio CTRL ZAK in collaboration with Davide Barzaghi. It is suitable for small spaces, because the pillows can easily be pulled out and used as separate seats. It’s a modular piece whose cushions are covered with soft ecological cloth. A unique artistic expression that can change entirely the décor of a space.

Continue Reading →

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CUT THE RIBBON, JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Editorial Staff

He was an American doctor, he ran a sanitarium using holistic methods he was mad with nutrition, with exercise, with vegetarianism and with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg frequently held a prominent role as a speaker at church meetings and promoted a practical, common sense religion. The Sanitarium he run was based on the church’s health principles, believing in a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and a regimen of strict exercise. Kellogg believed that most diseases would be alleviated by a change in intestinal flora, by a well-balanced vegetarian diet favoring low-protein, laxatives, and high-fiber foods. He also was an advocate of sexual abstinence, devoting large amounts of his educational and medical work to discouraging sexual activity. He was an especially zealous against masturbation. Today John Kellogg is best known for the invention of the corn flake, which spawned the breakfast cereal industry and revolutionized how people eat in the mornings. However although his long lasting life (he died at 91) he cut many ribbons. A century ago there were no canned foods and little refrigeration. There were no antibiotics or wonder drugs to fight infection. He thus developed with his brother a new food that could respect the rules of a strict vegetarian diet. The flakes of grain, served with milk , soon became a very popular food among the patients , so that Kellogg brothers began to experiment with the recipe with other grains .In 1906, Kellogg’s company was founded The Rice Krispies, his great success, that went on sale for the first time in 1929. Now you know…there’s a huge story beneath your morning bowl!

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CUT THE RIBBON, VIRGINIA PRINCE

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Editorial Staff

How would you define a pioneer of human rights and transgenderism? How would you call one of the very first persons that came out of the shade, in late 50ies, and started a battle for her position in modern society? A Cut The Ribbon, don’t you? Here is Virginia Prince, American, born in Los Angeles 1913, also called Virginia Charles Prince. Arnold Bowman, her orginal name, was a transgender that began cross dressing at the age of twelve and knew how it was to be treated as a clown with no rights and just offenses. Prince’s career in transgender education began in 1961 when she was prosecuted for distributing obscene materials through the US Mail because she had exchanged sexually explicit letters with another cross dresser. She was given probation and was forbidden to dress as a woman. The Society for The Second Self movement and magazine called Transvesta, were born right after those unpleasant, and extreme, episodes. Where was freedom? The resolute Virginia was a fighter: credited for the invention of transgender as a term to refer to a person who lives full-time in a gender that is different from the one identified at birth, this sharp women stand for the right to be herself until she was 96 years old. To her, cross dressing was not an option or a fetish as many psychiatrist asserted. It was a display of identity and character. Say thanks to Virginia, and cut the ribbon.

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READY? SET!

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Set is an expanding shelving unit by designer Stephanie Hornig. It can bunch up or stretch out depending on how much space you have. It has a beech-wood frame with scissor-like pivots and folded steel shelves. It has a strategic cut, being flexible and fix at the same time. Diagonals are thus adjustable and can be fixed in three different positions, creating a a two or three dimensional patterns. Beautiful, simple, clean. We love it.

http://www.stephaniehornig.com/

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SUPERSMILE, LIFE REVITALIZER

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Editorial Staff

They say that smiling is the best option you have. Always, even when a situation is not happy at all or when you need to comfort and calm people around you. Even a fake smile is better than any other reaction you can have because it activates numerous muscles and improves, in a strange way, quantity of endorphins in your blood. In few word, smiling is like going to the gym: the more you go, the more they like you, the more you like yourself. Supersmile, created by father of aesthetic dentistry Doctor Irwin Smigel, is a complete line of products that takes care of your most important face part, your real “business card”, your smile . As winter is approaching, here is a fundamental “friend” to face extremely cold temperatures. The Supersmile Lip Treatment rejuvenates and softens dry, chapped lips with a richly emollient moisture made of sweet almond oil and soluble collagen that boost firmness, elasticity and fullness. Hyaluronic acid reinforces the lipid barrier while Shea butter provides protection from environmental aggressors. Supersmile Lip Treatment is a Harlow’s favorite for better smile, better life.

http://www.supersmilestore.com/

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GET PIXILLATED! PICCADILLY CABINET

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Piccadilly’s Cabinet is a Limited Edition of design brand Boca Da Lobo. It’s a powerful, modern and traditional work of art, architecturally exclusive and elaborate. Piccadilly is basically the dichotomy between modernity and tradition, where the contrast between the present and the past lays in the pixelated effect as if the cabinet is loading the rest of the details. It’s a mix of different styles and it looks like a frozen moment between two generations. The outside and the inside are opposite, showing a clean exquisite interior completed with a classic dome in the top, containing four drawers and two shelves. Piccadilly Cabinet is the result of meticulous craftsmanship and it’s in six different finishes. Absolutely eye deceiving but perfect tune, in a living room.

http://www.bocadolobo.com/

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CUT THE RIBBON, PHILIPPE PETIT

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Editorial Staff

More than 30 years ago, on August the 7th 1974, Philippe Petit, after illegally rigging a tightrope between the Twin Towers of N.Y.’s World Trade Center, spent nearly an hour dancing in mid-air. It was an adventure which was captured in the Oscar winning film Man on Wire. The movie title was taken from the police report that led to the arrest (and later release) of Petit. ‘There’s a man on wire!’. On that night Petit and his crew were able to ride in a freight elevator to the 104th floor with their equipment and store all the elements they needed. Shortly after Petit stepped off the South Tower and onto his steel cable. He walked on wire for 45 minutes, making eight crossings between the towers, a quarter of a mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan. In addition to walking, he sat on the wire, gave knee salutes and, while lying on the wire, spoke with a gull circling above his head. As soon as Petit was observed by witnesses on the ground, the Police Department dispatched officers to take him. The tightrope ‘dancer’ performance cut a great ribbon and made headlines around the world. When asked why he did that, Petit would say, “When I see three oranges, I juggle, when I see two towers, I walk.”

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POOL HOUSE PROJECT – GIULIO DELETTREZ FENDI

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

Sea, sun, surf. What a threesome. What a flaming riding sport. What a high quality, eco friendly, passion. Surfing is synonym of beauty, strength, balance, waterlove and respect. A kind of happiness whose aim needs a good mean. A good surfer uses a good surfing board, a board that must be durable of proven, with contemporary components, with classical shapes. Every surfboard must have unique and crafty details. Giulio Delettrez Fendi, sea lover, surfer and gifted surfboard maker is founder of the Pool House Project. We asked him few questions as he uses a variety of construction techniques and materials. Solid-wood gets worked out and the final result is a crafty board, just for you.

What is Pool House Project? When and How did the idea come to your mind?

Pool House Project is an experiment, in the sense that it is an approach to something relatively new to me. It is a continuous research for new techniques and materials to create a surfboard which I deem functional and appealing. Freedom of trial is amazing. The ability to change and implement is great, the best part happens during the production process, learning new things, this is the real reward. I could say I started considering shaping surfboards while on a surf trip on a remote island of the Maldives, at the end of a good day of surf with friends met on the trip. That day the swell was pumping and a wave smashed the nose of my board on the coral reef. Once back at the island’s town we started repairing dings on our boards while chatting. A Japanese guy next to me had quite a technique at fixing his board, so I asked: “Do you shape boards?” He replied “No way! That’s a really tough job?” That’s when I started searching the web for all the information I could find on making one’s own surfboards. I got most of it from there, along with books and films, occasionally I will talk to people in the business, but mostly for the pleasure, as I believe everyone should come to his own conclusions and do his own thing. Continue Reading →

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BOOM! LATIN AMERICAN DESIGN FAIR

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Editorial Staff

BOOM, three days to showcase and project the Latin American Design. BOOM, the international commercial fair that brings together, under the same roof, the most innovative design representatives. BOOM, the event that interlaces interior and furniture designers, creative jewelers and accessory authors, innovative technology and manufacturing companies, exponents of interactive design and digital product. BOOM, the desire to create and transform ideas into artistic and tangible objects. BOOM, fresh ideas from design schools of the Caribbean, opportunities for the Latin American market. BOOM, whatcha waitin’ for?

http://boom-fair.com/

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LETTERA 12

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Isabella Cecconi

This post is personally dedicated to my Lettera 12. It is my personal wiz-bang typer. A later variant of Olivetti’s Lettera 10, it is smaller than it might appear. Colorful, featherweight, its body is made of cast-injected ABS polymer casing, maybe the lightest of the Olivetti’s typewriters. Portable I might say. Made in Spain in the 70’s, it is, to me, a pretty looking piece. I like the sleek futuristic styling, the sharp corners, its colors (there are many variants, from lime to orange). It seems to be a toy but instead it’s a great addition (and really elevates) someone’s Olivetti collection. Stop using your Mac, go back to Olivetti!

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CUT THE RIBBON, JOSEPH ETTEDGUI

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Born in Casablanca in 1936, Joseph Ettedgui, usually known as Joseph, started his career as an hairdresser opening his salon in London King’s road in 1960. The swinging London was booming and this smart, yet creative man, was enjoying his life. Changing , completely, one person’s look in one hour it was a mission to him. But his great passion was fashion and he started to go to Paris fashion weeks to see the ready to wear collections where he met Japanese designer Kenzo Takada, usually known as Kenzo, and they started a business collaboration. Joseph started to sell Kenzo’s multicolored jumpers in his salon: it was an immediate success and the beginning of Joseph “the retailer”, the fashion patron, the mentor of many designers. Galliano, Hamnett, Howell and Alaia, they were not only marvelously displayed in Joseph’s boutique but they were also taken care, advised and beloved as kids. Joseph way of merchandising was very special. His windows displays were always exceptional and his way of working, to us, was located between that special point where fashion fun meet the everyday life. Credited to be one of the best retailers ever lived, Jospeh seemed a whole “Cut The Ribbon” to us. Because everybody can sell, but few can really change the way people needs clothes and help fashion in his never ending mutation process.

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MITCHELL AND PEACH

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Harlows are enthusiastic about this new English cosmetic line called Mitchell and Peach. The Mitchell family ran a market stand in Convent Garden from 1923 till 1972 and have been farming the same land in Kent, England, for five generations. The family has cultivated everything from strawberries and apples to hops and cobnuts and is now specialized in fine lavender. The quality of the essences distilled from the plantation inspired them to create a bath and body range of quality. All M&P products are perfumed with 100%-natural fragrance and free from parabens, mineral oil, sodium lauryl sulphate and synthetic colouring. Mitchell and Peach products have not been tested on animals. To discover more about this lovely beauty project :

http://www.mitchellandpeach.com/film/

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CUT THE RIBBON, LET THEM WEAR TOWELS!

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Many women played hard to win something, equality, respect, acceptance or just first place. This week’s cut the ribbon is not dedicated to just one person, it’s dedicated to all those women who, being journalists, sports journalists, have fought for their place, for their rights, for equity. The courage and perseverance of women like Melissa Ludtke, Claire Smith, Lesley Visser, Christine Brennan, Lisa Olson and Robin Herman, standing up for their rights, fighting for access and yes, entering and being allowed in men locker rooms. Women who broke down a huge professional barrier. Robin Herman, for instance, was the first female sports reported of the NY times to be allowed to access to athletes in the postgame locker room unexpectedly in 1975. 35 years ago postgame interviews were allowed only to men. This year’s documentary, LET THEM WEAR TOWELS, has been dedicated to this issue. The Harlow recommends the vision…“It was important to be bold. It was a matter of equity.”

http://espn.go.com/espnw/video/9468050/exclusive-clip-let-wear-towels

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CUT THE RIBBON, DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Diane Von Furstemberg was born in Belgium from a Romanian father and a Greek mother who was an Holocaust survivor. Just 18 months before Diane was born, Liliane Nahmias was imprisoned in Auschwitz. “Fear is not an option” that’s what her mother used to say and that’s what the little Diane put in practice, for all her life. Very first example of working girl, wife to a Prince from which she wanted to be economically independent, Von Furstemberg has not only shown to the world that healthy principles girls could survive everything – Studio 54, financial crisis, divorces and the supremacy of men in fashion world – but they could also run enormous businesses and share wealth with others. Her ” The Diller Foundation” provides philanthropic support to the community building, education, arts, health and environment. If you now can walk thorough the “High Line”, that beautiful New York garden constructed on an abandoned railroad, it’s also because of the 20 million dollars donation that The Driller made (the largest single private contribution to a public park in New York City’s history). But Diane also sits on the board of Vital Voices, a women’s leadership organization that empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world (she is honorary director of the Housatonic Valley Association). In 2010 she created The DVF Awards to support four women who displayed leadership, strength, and courage in their commitment to women’s causes. And for those who are skeptic about this super Cut The Ribbon(s), Dolly Parton’s 1981 song “Working Girl” is dedicated to…guess who?

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CIGNO!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Cigno started as a company which produced bicycle padlocks. Since those days it has always been considered a jewel of the Italian manufacture. In 2006 it got under the Bernardi company, receiving a restyle and creating a modern version of a retro style. Cigno bicycles are the result of sophisticated design, a perfect combination of chrome frames, elegance and technical reliability.Cigno is synonym of exclusivity, design purity and preciousness. Riding a bike isn’t just using a mean of transport but an everyday use of a great detailed piece of craftmanship. Cigno Seventy is a great example of folding bike and a successful comfort.

http://www.cignoseventy.it

Rodin Olio Lusso Face Oil The Miraculous Beauty of Nature

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LUXURY OIL? RODIN!

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Editorial Staff

Top stylist and editor, Linda Rodin has decided after 40 years, to create her own elixirs using her favourite essential oils. The result is Rodin, a delightfully and elegant line for beauty and personal care. The exquisite glass-bottled liquid moisturisers are romantic and chemical-free perfumed. The Rodin Olio Lusso is a luxury facial oil mecca and the best facial oil ever tried. It’s simply fabulous and it leaves the skin soft, pacified, plumped and glowing. A cult, and a must-have.

http://oliolusso.com

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CUT THE RIBBBON: ANDRE ROUSSIMOFF aka ANDRE THE GIANT

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Editorial Staff

This week’s protagonist wouldn’t cut a ribbon, he would smash it! For two decades (60s-80s), Andre the Giant was the highest paid professional wrestler in the business and a household name across the world. Known as ‘Giant’ or ‘Boss’, his real name was Andre Roussimoff, born in France from Russian immigrants. After his birth he was diagnosed with acromegaly, which caused his body to over-produce growth hormones. As a result, since his birth, Andre never stopped to grow. Knows as a big good man, he loved two things: wrestling and booze. People would say his drinking was of mythic proportions. As famous as Andre was in the US, he was even bigger in Japan. His wrestling match were the most seen, the best paid. When ill health forced Andre to largely quit wrestling in the late ‘80s, he accepted the role of Fezzik in Rob Reiner’s movie The Princess Bride. Mr. Roussimoff was also in the Guinness Book of World Records, not for his size but for the world record of the largest number of beers consumed in a single sitting. Officially crowned “The Greatest Drunk on Earth” it even happened that once, Andre passed out in a hotel bar in Pennsylvania, and because the staff could not move him, they had to leave him there until he regained consciousness. Andre died in his sleep due to congestive heart failure on January 27 1993 in a Paris hotel room. He was there to attend the funeral of his father. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina. Sorry Hulk, you won that match, but Andre was THE GIANT!

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SOME PREFER CAKE FESTIVAL

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Editorial Staff

This year too, Bologna will host from September the 19^th till the 22^nd the seventh edition of Some Prefer Cake International Film Festival. The festival has always been and will be a fierce glimpse on women homosexuality and lesbian culture. It will be a five-intense-days of delightful exhibitions, dance, theatrical performances. Fifty screened films, two presentations of books, a concert and many meetings/roundtables with writers. Ever heard of Vagina Woolf?

www.someprefercakefestival.com

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CUT THE RIBBON, ADRIANO OLIVETTI

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Editorial Staff

It’s so good to write about great Italian companies like Olivetti was. It make us proud of being born in this, now messy, country. Very proud of having such an amazing Cut The Ribbon. Founded in Ivrea in 1908 by Camillo Olivetti as a small laboratory specialized in electrical instruments, the company soon obtained a success only comparable to the other big Italian industry which was Fiat (founded just 10 years before). Adriano, son to Camillo, succeeded to his father in 1932 but not only for his successful imprint he gave to Olivetti he is a cut the ribbon. He off course participated in creating the very first calculating machine able of printing on paper, he also supervised signature writing machines production, but also because he was totally against fascism, a tireless test driver and a passionate believer of a new kind of industrial development that can be harmonized with affirmation of human rights. He believed in democracy, inside and out the factory. Under the impulse of his business fortunes and his community ideal, Ivrea in the fifties gathered an extraordinary quantity of intellectuals that operated in different disciplinary fields pursuing the project of a creative synthesis between technical-scientific culture and humanistic culture. Olivetti believed also that it was possible to create an equilibrium between social solidarity and profit and his idea of a collective happiness that produced efficiency still remains a model for contemporary companies. Not so many years after his death, Olivetti, the company, launched the very personal computer on the market. Type it on your vintage “Lettera 32”, the genius of Olivetti.