... IT GETS CLOSER TO A NEW START

...thank you actually for starting and supporting this! Today, a toast on your behalf, remembering you.

Let's get on with the first moments of 2009! Frohes Neues Jahr!, Happy new year!, ¡Feliz año nuevo!

Take care too, un abrazo,

Mato.

AS THE YEAR COMES CLOSE TO AN END ...

... I suppose it's time for some short greetings saying: 

Merry Christmas, feliz Navidad, frohe Weihnachten.

Thank you everybody for reading and supporting this blog! Without your effort we couldn't make this happen ...

Take care 

n.

PEOPLE ARE STRANGE!

... listening carefully to Jimmy Morrison's lyrics is definitely one of the things in my life which I pretty much like to do! However illustrating a Doors song was never on my mind until I found this rare piece of art! 

Well, it's safe to say: Thank you so much for giving »strangers« a face! Excellent work, buddy! 

People are strange from Denis Fongue on Vimeo.

WHITEY FORD SINGS AGAIN ...

... if not to say rocks again – so today Emma and I spent a really good night at Fabrik concert hall in Altona. Grey-haired Everlast and his well performing band played all his most classic tracks to us before they finally even came up with »Jump Around« that old House Of Pain song probably erveryone knows! 

You can tell that was fun!!!

SO FAR, SO CLOSE

GET SET!

Summer holidays arrive soon, a neighbour gets the camping stuff ready...

JA, KLAR!

Gute Idee! It may come really handy at times. In my case while at the Waschraum for instance, otherwise my clothes would had turned all into the same colour!

As you know, it is usually said Parisiens are not very kind with tourists who do not speak french, however, there are exeptions!, and I know even the toughest character could become softer. For instance, after requesting something, by adding "Très gentil, merci". Meaning "Very kind, thanks", could do the trick, and even he/she could look back at us and smile (partially of course ;) So, there's an easy, nice thing I use, and in their own language so they cannot complain.

Hope you'll have a nice stay there. Gute reise!!!!

MARKETING VARIATION

A sophisticated version of marketing... run for your life!

PARLEZ-VOUS FRANÇAIS?

... to be honest – I don't ;-)

So hopefully this little lifesaver will help us getting along in Paris quite well!

I'm really looking forward to some days off!

Should be fun!

Have a nice Sunday ...

n.

BASIL VARIATION

A sophisticated version of pannacotta ...

MATERIAL STORIES

Hey guys,

As I told you I went to a lecture in one of the conference rooms at Stilwerk yesterday night. Aart van Bezooyen a nice dutch guy was introducing his work. He runs a small design consultancy here in Hamburg giving clients advice on e.g. the strategic use materials.

It was quite inspiring to hear him speak about what possibilities designers do have when just considering the matter »material« in an appropriate way.

Actually there are two links I want to share with you:

http://www.materialstories.com

http://www.materialexplorer.com

The first one is all about his company. The second site, when registering, enables you to seek a huge library of materials.

Just in case – enjoy ...

n

THIS AFTERNOON ...

... we visited a quite nice retrospective on Max Bill's work in Bremen. Nothing spectacular though, as especially the exhibited product-design-stuff was hardly more than showcasing the »Ulmer Hocker«. However we could get some pretty inspiring insides on the architectual work of this great swiss designer.

So long ...

n.

HERE'S A GOOD ONE:

Do you know what Hollywood-People do after giving to us some of the most incredible motion pictures ever? 

Well – some Austrian Guys do politics in California, ok we all know that!

But in case of Mr. Coppola I was quite amazed: The Godfather himself is recently dealing with all this yummie Sicilian food stuff! Wine, pasta, chocolates to name a few! If you don't know what's on for dinner tonight just check: http://www.ffcpresents.com

Va bene!

ADVENT, ADVENT, EIN LICHTLEIN BRENNT!

How's goin', everybody?

We all have been very lazy lately!

Why's that?

Well – in my case I have very, very, very good excuse:

I spent all day long at work fumbling on my new Advent calendar ;-)

Have a nice time until X-Mas!

Ho, Ho, Ho ... n.

MY NEIGHBOURS ...

... at work remind me of my good old fellow Mr. Box-Man ;o)

Cheers

n.

CHINESE ECONOMY OR SOMETHING!

... it seems that all Heavy-Metal-Grandpa's run out of money these days! 

Or why is it that Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica (to name a few) come up with a new LP in 2008?

Care less – and donate Axl Rose's retirement in beautiful Malibu (http://www.gunsnroses.com) ...

$$$ n.

YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL WHY I BOUGHT THIS BOOK ;o)

FREESTYLE

In Munich even trees look different ...

YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO COME NEXT:

today though, soft snow flakes started to fall ;-)

IT'S GOOD TO SEE ...

... others work while I was teribbly lazy this week ;o)

For if you want to get to know about some beautiful design stuff [other than on this site ;0)] please check: http://www.ministryoftype.co.uk

I'm sure you will hit upon some very inspiring things there ...

Love

n

PS: I will try posting a Scotland review from next week on ...

LET'S FACE IT!

This is me. This is my portrait. The portraiture workshop is over, and this was one of the excersises we worked on, looking for things which represent us. Me?, a picture of my beloved rusty overused sneakers. We did other stuff, but it was mostly theory, readings, etc. Salute!

FLASHBACK

From the 20s or so... an unplanned retro-design for showing a restaurant's info, some time ago it was used to attract customers in (?). Quite minimalistic, the lines and type, with empty spaces around them looked nice to me. The elements are not really many... probably the number of people who finaly got in were not many either!
Servus!

SLIDING DOORS

Sliding doors at the airport let you in, home again, there's a 1998 film, called Sliding doors, maybe you saw it. I certainly remember Gwyneth though I reckon she probably doesn't remember me... The other character is Scotish John Hannah. It's an easy, fun, nice film, Jule you may probably like it, at least in case you both don't know what DVD to rent next.
¡Saludos!

SCOT+LAND

With a scotish accent: – "Have a greet teim, enjoy!"
¡Saludos!

HAVING SOME SORE EARS!

... angain I went to this sticky and totally packed club located on the top floor of that old bunker – though this time I was listening to Roots Manuva (http://www.rootmanuva.co.uk/).

Unfortunately I only had this crappy camera from my mobile phone with me – but two lousy photos won't give you a proper idea on how rough the lyrics really were anyway! Nice bass, nice crowd, nice gig – even thouh my ears are hurting still ;-)

Would have been so nice if you could have been around!

... SAG JA ZU ASTRA! (DRINK BEER AT WORK!)

May I introduce you to »Bully« my true and only friend at work – defending my desk against all evil ;-)

Sag ja zu Astra!

(Drink beer at work!)

... COMING FRIDAY ;-)

Cheers mate and thanks for all your nice thoughts on our Scotland trip! However you mixed up the dates – we will leave for Edinburgh only this coming Friday ;-)

Anyway, we will simply take all the things you pointed out as good advice – even though I reckon we will probably focus more on having a nice Single Malt than on trying to look most ridiculous because of wearing a kilt ;-)

EASY LIKE WEDNESDAY MORNING

Servus! Hope you had a delightful, nice visit to Edinburgh this past weekend, maybe also with sunny weather?! Did you meet Wallace (national hero)? Did you spend a weekend trainspotting? Or did you meet Johnnie Walker and hicked up and down the city streets? Well, with friends like him, probably zigzagging instead of up and down... maybe not, for sure the weekend was something much better than all this! ... as for me, I'll remind myself whenever visiting Edinburgh, to have a picture done on me on scotish skirts.
¡Saludos!

TIME OUT ...

Things are getting better next week ... I hope so!

WE WERE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS!

Emma and I went to the movies yesterday and saw this most inspiring film about graffiti, skateboarding etc. I once told you about.

Great pictures from amazing artists, a rather special place to watch a film (namely a rotten club in the huge grey bunker located next to the Dom, remember?) and a gaudy crowd made this evening perfect for us!

Conclusion: Quit your job, do the things you like and be inspired!

I'M HUNGRY TOO!

Wow!, that crunchy bread made me so hungry! You made me go out and get something ;)!. This time, a pasta frola to share, at least virtually with you... Our backery culture is not as amazing as in Germany, not as exquisite as the french, but you know, we sometimes cook a little too. This is a quince tart... sweet, very sweet.

Have a nice Friday!, saludos,
M.

STAY HUNGRY!

Seems we are all quite hungry these days – so here's a slice of freshly baked bread for you!

Guten Appetit ;o)

SCARY MACHINES

Crazy how machines are involved in our everydaylife. Couldn't go to lunch today because the machine didn't like my money and totally crashed down... I'm HUNGRY ;o)

THE WEEKEND WAS COCONUTIN' GOOD!

Coconut, Cocoanut,

large hard-shelled oval nut with a fibrous husk containing thick white meat surrounding a central cavity filled with fluid (coconut-milk).

ONE ...

... of the most beautiful cities I know (seen from the cocktail-bar on the 20th. floor of the Empire Riverside Hotel) ...

EXHIBITION

Went to Buenos Aires Foto, an exhibition for diverse photographic galleries and artists, mainly from Argentina and Latin America. I saw this interesting work by mexican photographer Alfredo De Stéfano. Also some interesting work by other artists. There are nice things going on.

All is well here, again, weekend feels great!!, I feel like going out into the desert later and burn some circles. ;)

¡Saludos!

DID YOU KNOW ...

... that I'm a lucky beggar? No? But you do know that I'm crazy about fancy sneakers!

So just to complete our recent series of close-up product photography – here they come:

My brand new pair of Vans I bought totally out of the blue when we stayed in Cologne the other day! I never ever expected to manage to get one pair from an edition strictly limited to 500 kicks only! Yet, I made it and got these Chukka Boots which are most classic in itself! Not enough though, Vans collaborated with Carhartt and produced this shoe from the typical beige cotton fabric originally used for tough workwear! 

Now – both of my most beloved brands are combined to just one fine product – really much remembering me of my younger days when I used to skate around the block ;-)

Don't want to show off, believe! Just want to let you know that right now there's a big smile on my face ...

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

This week implicates a lot of up and downs...

LAZY-MAYBE-BUSY

Mr.Box-man is a bit busy but lazy with his camera lately..., not looking beyond his own t-shirt. What about you two? Busy? I reckon so. Anyway, your work on AGDO is great! and took quite some time I am sure... Alles Gute for you!. I'll wake Mr.Box-man up. ¡Un abrazo!

A WEEKEND ...

... different but with so much fun.

Thank you guys ...

THE WEEKEND HAS STARTED AGAIN!

Have a nice weekend! ¡Saludos!

TILES

Ceramic tiles on the subway walls in Buenos Aires, illustrating history, culture or landscapes of Argentina or other places such as Spain. I've framed one of them which could look quite Japanese, but it's only coincidence maybe. These are too blue-toned for me, I've seen others with plenty more colour, lightful artworks.

What surprises me is that art pieces on people throughout history do not usualy smile... here or abroad, sculptures, paintings and so forth, do not show historic characters smiling... what's wrong dude? History is serious stuff man!
Hm, maybe they hadn't yet seen any film with Jim Carey... ¡Saludos!

BACK IN BAVARIA ...