As I mentioned before, the Scotch & Soda showroom was yet again located in the most beautiful venue. This time, the honor was for Goldwood, an interior shop that sells the most beautiful vintage furniture and doubles as an art gallery. I could go on and on about the gorgeous space (those brick walls, the light and that glass shelving system next to the windows!) and the stunning furniture (I’d sign for one of those wooden shelves in a second), but I’ll let the photos do the talking.
It’s still crazy busy here, which explains the lack of updates on the blog. My thesis deadline is coming closer, and in between I’m mostly trying to take time to catch up with friends, work on photography jobs and attend a few exciting blogging events. (More on those later, but if you want to stay up to date, you can follow me on instagram.) Speaking of photography jobs, the past months I’ve been shooting buildings all over Flanders and Brussels for an engineering office. I’ve selected a few of my favorites to show here on the blog and updated my portfolio. If you want to know more about the projects I photographed, you can hover over the photo to find out the architect.
If you’re into the blogosphere, you probably noticed the past weeks were filled with press days and new collections. I joined in on the fun a little bit and discovered lots of pretty things! Totally appropriate for a Pretty Things post, so I’ve selected 8 brands you want to keep an eye at for next season.
Now that I have a fancy phone with a somewhat decent camera and an instagram account, I figured I would share a monthly “instadiary”. Not to worry, I’ve included a few other shots that didn’t make it to instagram, to keep it interesting for those of you who already follow me there! My life lately revolved mostly around writing my thesis (which explains why it has been so quiet here lately), with a few blog events (where I finally got to meet a lot of lovely other bloggers!) and photography jobs in between.
Every month, Eclectic trends invites bloggers and friends to share their collections in the series “What do bloggers collect?“. My favorites are these by Eclectic Trends herself, beeldSTEIL and Wohnbedarf.
Make music and visuals with your keyboard at Patatap. Fascinating. (source)
Third time already that I’m showing work by Frederico Babina. This time, the architect and illustrator has made portraits of iconic architects and designers out of elements from their designs. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next! (source)
Doors in Ghent instantly reminded me of Windows of New York (featured on the blog before here), which turned out to be this project’s main source of inspiration. So maybe not the most original concept, but super pretty nonetheless and closer to home… Maybe those of you from Ghent can even find their own door here?
This life-sized elephant was created by origami artist Sipho Mabona out of a 15 square meters sheet of paper. Watch the making of here. (source)
French, CGI Designer, Benoit Challand came up with a whole alphabet of desks, each with its own character. “You can sit in an A-shaped desk, feeling like you’re at the prow of a ship, or in the smooth curve of a D, far more comfortable than being boxed into a traditional cubicle.” (source)
The Rabot towers in Ghent (a social housing project from the seventies) are being demolished layer by layer and the removal of the facade revealed its colorful insides. Photo by Pieter Lozie.
The a-ma-zing Horse Head Squirrel Feeder. I need this. (source)
Wrapped books at a book store, to avoid people judging a book by its cover. (source)
Birdcage shaped like a horse. I need this too, and some birds maybe. (source)
Follow me on bloglovin, facebook, instagram, pinterest, flickr and tumblr.
Surely most of you have seen photos of the latest Chanel fashion show, for which Karl Lagerfeld and his team turned the Grand Palais into a supermarket, where every packaging down to the last detail was redesigned (see number 1). The result was of course amazing and turned the show’s guests absolutely crazy. It made me dream of a real life supermarket with nothing but well designed products, thereby improving my everyday groceries experience, but also be very painful for my wallet, without a doubt. So I figured it was about time I shared my favorite pretty products with you again! It’s been a while since I did (see here, here and here) and I had a very hard time picking favorites from my pinterest board, so I figured why not share a few extra favorites?
Almost five years ago when I just started blogging, I discovered Olivia Bee‘s photos and shared them here. Back then, she was only 14 years old but that didn’t stop her from landing a shoot for Converse. One thing led to another and when I read about the 19 year old photographer who got to shoot Cacharel’s newest campaign in the newspaper last week, I was curious to discover her latest work. Her photos are still as dreamy and full of atmosphere as 5 years ago, although this time I made a selection that feels a little bit more natural and spontaneous then the majority of her work, which is often more staged and posted but equally beautiful, although less in line with my taste.
“I strive to capture the ordinary, in an extraordinary way. Life is beautiful, perfect, and cinematic, if you look at the right moments. It’s not always an accurate summary of life in general, but it is those specific moments that make it worth living anyway.”
This quote of hers captures what I love in this selection very well and reminds me of Ryan McGinley‘s work, (who she names as one of her influences and happens to be one of my favorite photographers as well, proof here) but also of what I’m looking for when I have my camera in hand.
A while ago, I collaborated with Ella De Vos, a young textile designer from Antwerp. Her friend Nathalie joined us early on a Sunday morning and together we went to the left bank of Antwerp to brave the cold and shoot her delicate designs, consisting of intricately knit scarves and sweaters. Later we warmed ourselves in the apartment of a friend, before shooting again on his rooftop and on his terrace, with the central station and the city of Antwerp as a backdrop.
This shoot was a bit of an experiment for all three of us, I had never worked with a model before, Nathalie had no real modeling experience and Ella never worked with a photographer before either. On top of that, I shot these photos on film, making it extra hard to judge whether or not we were doing a good job. In the end, it all worked out just fine. The weather was absolutely amazing that day and even though it was extremely cold so early in the morning, the light around sunrise was absolutely breathtaking. I’m very pleased with the result and the fun day we had, so I’m excited to do this more often in the future! Therefore I’ve created a portfolio for my photography, where you can find more of my work. If you’re interested to collaborate, you can find my contact details there.
Ella De Vos’ collection is sold under the name Madame Seguin, more info and selling points here.
As I mentioned 2 weeks ago, I love giving handmade gifts. Last week, it was my friend Lien’s birthday. This girl is a music lover who still collects records, which makes her the perfect receiver for this LP-turned-clock experiment. All the experimenting aside, it’s a very easy diy: find yourself a clock mechanism at your local craft supply store, an old record at the closest thrift store and you can already get started. I threw some mint green spray paint in the mix and covered the original label with a marble texture I printed on thick paper. By now I’ve made a second clock, which took me about 20 minutes to make (told you it was easy) but this first clock took me quite some time to say the least. I blame it on all the experiments that involved different clock hands that turned out not to fit the mechanism (I might have to complain to my craft store about that), trying to paint the original label with acrylic paint (turned out awful, so tips on obtaining a smooth surface without visible brush strokes are welcome), finding the right size of saucer to cut out the circular label, figuring out the order of all the bolts and rubbers that come with the mechanism (still no clue, I winged it) and cursing the opening of the LP that was just a little bit too small for the mechanism to fit through (I solved it by wrapping some sanding paper around the handle of a thin paint brush, pushing it through and twisting it around). Yes, lots of trial-and-error, which means you can don’t have to do that anymore when you give this a try! Have fun!
PS. For more DIY ideas, take a look at the diy category on this blog here or on my diy pinterest board.
Follow me on bloglovin, facebook, pinterest, flickr and tumblr.
1