On the Streets, Berlin

We came across this in the foyer of a building here in Berlin..... don't know what this is..........but it looks interesting..!

On the Streets, Berlin

As in Rome, Berlin and to a certain extent in London we are seeing these padlocks appear attached to our famous bridges.  Where has this trend come from?   We found the below explanation at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/24/novel-lovers-padlocks-bridges-moccia

 'Federico Moccia's bestseller Ho Voglia di Te (I Want You) features a young couple attaching a lock to Rome's Milvian Bridge as a sign of eternal love.'

'The thousands of sweethearts who have decided to imitate this touching gesture are among the 2.5 million readers of the book, which charts the romantic entanglements of brooding young Romans who hang out in the upmarket streets of the Parioli district'.

'The 2006 book was a follow-up to Moccia's first blockbuster romance Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo (Three Metres Above the Sky), which bombed on its release in 1992, only to become a cult hit with Roman students 12 years later.'

'Tapping into the kind of tortured adolescent passion that has made the Twilight series so successful in the US and beyond, Moccia's career went stratospheric when Italian teen heartthrob Riccardo Scamarcio was cast to play the lead in the books' big- screen adaptations.'

'But not everyone is happy about this new fad, with Italian officials claiming that the love padlocks are damaging stonework, and daily newspaper La Repubblica calling the locks on the Rialto bridge in Venice "vulgar".'

"That seems really excessive," said Moccia. "If you go to Venice, you'll find that they have bigger things to worry about."

On the streets, Berlin

We're beginning to see images as above happening more and more in Europe.  Lovers attaching their padlocks to bridges and throw the keys in the river.  Eventually, of course as we mentioned previously with the Ponte Milvio bridge in Rome where we first saw this,  some of the posts were so heavy with padlocks that its posts have collapsed.  Anyway, it seems that this will eventually be illegal because of the damage of attaching these locks do to historical bridges.  We're just wondered what our descendants will make of the hundreds of keys that must be on the riverbeds of these European rivers.

Camper, Berlin

In the shopping district of Charlottenburg we came across the Camper store.  Initially, the scheme here does appear like blood stained bales of hay, however if you are able to see past this, these bales of hay work really rather well as kind of plinths from which the product is raised a little higher towards eye-level.  Here we have them placed in a repetition format with very little product placed upon them - a clear indication of the strength of a brand.   These stores tend to be quite simple and therefore these are also a welcome relief from the monotony of large volumes of product which are not fighting for attention.  Simple and clean and thoughtfully produced we think.

DnA Factory, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright DnA Factory

PLUSARTPROJECTS.COM PRESENTS ‘NEON + VINYL’ AT LONDONEWCASTLE PROJECT SPACE

From Thursday 6th October until Thursday 20th October 2011.

Open from 10-6pm every day at:

Londonewcastle Project Space

28 Redchurch Street

London

E2 7DP

Time Out’s First Thursdays: Thursday 6th October 2011 until late

Frieze week Party: Friday 14th October 2011 until late.

 

Plus Art Project’s Alternative Frieze show ‘Neon + Vinyl’ is exhibiting new art works by over 30 leading artists including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Mat Collishaw, Gavin Turk, Franko B, Mark Titchner, Mustafa Hulusi, Regina Silveira, Amanda Eliasch, Peter Lamb and Paul Hoskin, Dave Woods, Peter Ainsworth, Alex Baker, Phil Wilson-Perkin, Warren McLachlan, Tim Bromage, Mark Croxford, Morag Myerscough, Kim Fielding, Dominc Allan, John Tiney, Jason Davidge, Stik, Melville Mitchell, Nick Kennedy, Will Strong, John Close, Will Marshall and The DnA Factory amongst others.

The show is unique in drawing together such a wide range of creative talent to work with media traditionally associated with street level advertising and industrial processes. We are challenging artists to subvert these media and find new ways to communicate.

 

Curated and produced by neonist Kerry Ryan, artist Declan McMullan and Jessica Temple, ‘Neon + Vinyl’ is the fourth Frieze week show from Plus Art Projects.

Social lubrication will be provided by live bands and a bar.

For more information, please contact:

info@plusartprojects.com

www.plusartprojects.com

There's more info about it here too:

http://www.londonewcastle.co.uk/home/events/neon-vinyl

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/dealers.../Plus+Art+Projects+/20578.html

DnA Factory, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright DnA Factory

We've mentioned the Uber cool DnA Factory on several occasions on this site as we are very much huge fans of their work.  We even have our own small piece of their work which is absolutely treasured and in pride of place in our own personal environment.  In conjunction with The New English, the guys from DnA factory have produced more pieces to add to your collection.  These guys are so fricking hot that if you don't have these pieces already then what are you doing?  We can see these pieces being sold in the coolest places. (if they are not already).  Bergdorf Goodman (NYC) should be snapping up these little pups', Galleries Lafeyette,  Selfridges, Harrods (maybe).  These are too fabulously risque for the malls of Dubai, but the cutting edge cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, New York  should be snapping this stuff up - you heard it here first. 

Meltin' Pot, Berlin



Image Copyright Flavio and Frank

Further to our earlier entry today.  If you happen to be in Berlin too, check out this Pop up Meltin' Pot store, Weinmeisterstrasse 2, Mitte, Berlin.

Image Copyright Flavio and Frank

Meltin' Pot, Italy

Image copyright Flavio and  Frank

If you happen to be spending any of the European Summer along Italy's East Coast, you could do no worse than visit this incredible new Denim brand 'Meltin Pot'.  With its cool new flagship store just recently opened in Riccione, in the Rimini Province it is always so refreshing to visit, explore and try a new brand.  The bonus of Meltin Pot is that its not currently on every single high street just yet around the globe -  always a refreshing relief.  This pilot flagship 'houses their complete denim collection for Men and Women' and what we particularly like about it is the clearly defined strong personality within its interior space 'using wood and steel combined with innovative technology'.  The combination of these elements with the cool lighting levels really does help create this incredible ambiance.  If you want to take a look yourself, head for the Palariccione Complex in Riccione or alternatively their Pop up Store currently in Berlin, Weinmeisterstrasse 2, Mitte.

Image Copyright Flavio and Frank

Image Copyright Flavio and Frank

Image Copyright Flavio and Frank

Department Store, Berlin

We happened to come across Department Store here in Berlin on Friedrichstrasse.  Its odd in a way to have a department store called Department store, but it is a cool none-the-less.  These are some of the best windows in Berlin right now, as even Galleries Lafayete, KaDeWe and so on only have promotional schemes rather than ones which are promoting products beyond the brands contained within it.  With these metal-framed animals with what looks like plaster heads act as props in support of the high fashion products being sold and really does tie together the whole feel of this place.  The interior of Department store however, does need some urgent attention.

I.T., Hong Kong



Image Copyright Angel Ko



Thanks to our lovely contact Angel Ko in Hong Kong we are able once again to share with you some of the incredible stuff that's happening there.  Here we have IT.  IT began in 1988 as a small independent retailer selling fashion products which couldn't be found elsewhere and has grown and grown to become synonymous with cutting edge fashion.  Check out their amazing website too http://www.ithk.com/

Louis Vuitton, Berlin

No journey to a major city would be complete without a visit to Louis Vuitton.  We've found a couple of stores here with the same scheme which amused us.  With their usual creative flair and sense of fun LV have produced these Golden Flamingo / Heron legs on which the product has been placed.  We also have the repetition of the eggs hatching, albeit a smaller version to the ones we saw installed at the Maison's in London and New York.  We do love what this brand do as they really do produce some of the most creative and yet so simple schemes that we used to see historically, while so carefully thought through and delivered so perfectly.  Thank you LV....!

On the Streets, Berlin

The very often wrongly named Point of Sale or POS as its usually known is often so bland.  We love to find these kinds of things along the high street which dont feature unreal glossy images of dull celebrities.  OK, well these things are often used because of lack of money but so much more fun and interesting, dont you think?

Nespresso, Berlin

If you happen to be along the Friedrichstrasse do go and check out the Nespresso store.  We're not sure if we have one of these stores in London, but we've definately seen these stores in New York and they always seem to produce such creative schemes.  Here, of course we have references to the German bear, which incidently we have seen abslutely everywhere here in Berlin in a three-dimensional format.  We'll show you images of those soon.  In the meantime what incredible stores for such small products, hey?