Not only for shopping… or – when in Japan…

Recently in Tokyo, I saw beatifully decorated inside windows by various designers. This one caught my attention: for intricate miniature jewelery pieces, for reference to Japanese sakura, for reminding on digital world that we are operating in with a – sharp yet poetic – video…

chimaski.jp

…and where clothes are flying

isetan.mistore.jp

Highlights of the Highlights

International art fair “Highlights” in Munich is klein aber fein. It is also very young: established only in 2009 as a joint initiative from several galleries, it still managed to position itself as an important meeting point for true experts in fine and contemporary art. Here one can find icons, ancient Japanese art, contemporary drawings, baroque furniture as well as fine calligraphy from high-end galleries in the region.

I am presenting you my highlights of this year’s Highlights.

Russian malachit vases, Czar workshops in St. Petersburg or Ekaterinenburg, around 1820

Emil Nolde: “Blumen”, around 1930-1935

Ogawa Machiko: “White Vessel with Blue Glass Glaze”, 2009

Corall diamond collier, France, around 1870

Little moments that make you happy – Papernomad

After an exciting and tiring several weeks and days, I was coming home from work feeling blah, only to discover that my long-awaited package has finally arrived. Oh boy, you should see instant smile on my face and even more excitement as I was opening it: my very own Papernomad sleeves for laptop and phone! What makes it even more special is that I am officially the first one to have one for laptop 11′; my waiting apparently paid off.

Scribble on sleeve for your notebook; Source: Facebook/papernomad

 

How it all started: I read about them in a magazine and found the idea very cool. Winner of Red Dot design award, sleeves are made of 100% natural material. Outer cover is made of specially patented paper, which is water-resistant and impossible to tear. I have tested it myself: it envelops those devices tightly and feels very soft in your hands. However, what makes it even more special is that you can actually design it on your own as you wish. Go ahead – just scribble something and it will be also 100% unique! As they said on the website: You will never find two paper nomads that look alike…

The one for phone can look like this; Source: Facebook/papernomad

Back to my story: it was in autumn or winter last year when I checked out their website, but they didn’t have a model for my notebook. I have written to Papernomad and guys came back in touch with me, telling me that they are working on it. Somehow I never got some sleeves in the meantime from other manufacturers and designs (and, yes, both devices got scratched, with display of iPhone now also broken 😦 )… I don’t remember how, but Papernomad got in touch with me recently again, telling me the model that I need is (finally) ready and saying that I can be the first one to it!

I mean, small and simple gestures is what matters. I like the idea that I would be getting those anyway, but now this all made it much more special (and the fact that the owner did not forget me). It is not only about the thing (yes, it is great!), but also in appreciating you. This is also a pure sign of a company that is genuinely interested in its customers.

Source: Facebook/papernomad

(One part of me would like to promote them now, but on the other side I would like to be unique with my discoveries… but then, hey, You will never find two paper nomads that look alike…)

Piece of art and architecture

Emile / with gold rose hardware

–by Alexander Wang

Hit me

Good Deals and Stories to Tell

Yes, I am really big on outlet shopping. By that I do not mean those huge outlet ‘villages’ outside cities (which I am scared of), but more like ‘secret tips’ in the middle of the city, which can be easily mistaken for a workshop or a storage place. In order for you to discover them- well, for that one  you must have (my) ‘secret talent’ … and years of experience, I guess. But I cannot keep it for myself anymore, so here you go, folks, my favourite spots:

• POOL Outlet, Munich
  Don’t mistake this one for the main POOL store in posh Maximilianstrasse in Munich. Here I’ve already got several cool pieces, I guess the most special to me were Martin Margiela boots, which I was eyeing for months in the main store. They have also DSQUARED2, Balmain, Alexander McQueen (and many more) and very good deals for these brands. They have hip clothes for guys there too!
  Kreuzstr. 14, 80331 München
  
  

  Source: lieblingsladen.com

• 10 Corso Como, Milan
  The main store you can also easily miss in Milan: as the name says, it is places in Como  Street 10, but you go around the wall covered with plants and it is a little piece of heaven: a great (expensive!) restaurant and (expensive!) cafe with a great (expensive!) boutique behind. Its spinoff in Via Tazzoli is everything but that experience: my sister, who lives in Milan, first asked me ‘how on earth you found it’. Like, you leave Corso Como, and then you run across a crossroad and then you circle a deserted business building and then you cross some highway (or go underneath) and then you are in an old neighborhood with no people there and then you make some random turns – et voila! Next thing you know – you are flipping though Pradas and Pierre Hardys of this world. To make long story short: I got there Jill Sander winter pants for 10 (ten!) € … yes, you’ve read it right!
  Via Tazzoli 3, Milano
  

  Source: freshmess.com

• Acne Archive, Stockholm
  I have discovered this store only last time when I was in Stockholm. I haven’t bought anything there yet, but I think that this is definitely a must for any future visit there. It offers the pieces from the previous collection for approx. 50% and both guys and girls can find something for themselves there.
  Torsgatan 53, Stockholm
  

  Source: myperfectguide.se

•  Comme des Garcons, Paris
  I haven’t figured out if the store is really an outlet, as I haven’t been there yet, but ever since I have seen the exhibition in Haus der Kunst on Japanese fashion, I am keeping a mental note on this one. I have ‘discovered’ it in this blog and, outside of virtual world, I haven’t visited it yet. However, I am including it here, as I am definitely planning to pilger the place next time when I (if I) visit Paris.
  54 rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris
   
  

  Source: hauteworld.blogspot.com

Other good deals that are worth mentioning:

• Mytheresa having a (exclusive) clearance sale in (exclusive) hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich: I think that it is enough to say that celebrities like Lothar Matthäus und his-wife-at-a-time Liliana were shopping there. So exclusive it was! (those who lived in Germany in last several years would get the joke)
• My favourite boutique Serie A (now Schwittenberg in the same premises, but similar concept) having a great sale in an art gallery in Glockenbachviertel.
• Once upon the time there was Tangs department store at upscale mall Starhill in Kuala Lumpur. Well, in the weeks of its closing *i*was*there* (students days = plenty of time)
• Sample sales all over New York City… (you see just people queued up outside the store and you know that you found the place)

Message is: open your eyes when you are in the city, read all posters and messages and post-its… cos – you never know… The thing is, there is always a great ‘story behind’ that you can tell and brag about to other people. That’s another plus point.

(However, if you like to shop ‘regular way’ then just skip this post and ignore me alltogether.)

Nordic Art – Part 2: Röhsska Museet + Swedish Brands

The idea was that I describe in Part 2 my visit to Röhsska Museet (Design Museum) in Gothenburg, but I think that I am going to skip it. Aside of exhibitions on Japan, China and Iran, I found the development of product and furniture design very inspiring. Just to see Le Corbusier’s functional kitchen, dating 1947-52, which represents ‘mother of all modern kitchens’, made me to think that we did not maybe progress as much in last >50 years.

Source: designmuseum.se/corbusier.htm

What I definitely have to see next time when I am in Gothenburg is Röda Sten, the center for art, theater, music and dance.

Now another (art?) topic: shopping. Having my favourite Swedish brands, such as Acne and Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair already in my closet, this time I have discovered another one – Cheap Monday, which was really cheap (up to 75% sale). This time we hit the corner with jeans: from colour blocking to stone wash, all 80’s were there.

However, still to end this post on an arty note, enjoy some sights of a true Nordic art:

Flea market aftermath

I have mentioned before that it has been a season of ‘Hofflohmärkte’ in Munich, or translated: flea markets, which happen in own courtyard, like this one below, and organized by yourself and your own neighbors.

You should always look for those ones, where your chances to find your own taste are higher. My favourite ones are:

– Schwabing, where (half) celebrities and wannabes live: it a rather large part of the city, so if you have time, you might find something for you
– Glockenbachviertel: artists, gay and other trendy people

I am not so big on flea markets, simply because I lose concentration after 3 court yards. Ok, you get there flea market prices, but these are still a bit higher than what you would get in weakly flea markets. On the other side, it is very often that you see here some designer stuff. So far, my catch was scarf, gloves and a diary book. Everything is new and apparently this young lady works as a designer at Marco Polo and these were her ‘unsuccessful’ designs (but successful enough for me :)). Two years ago I got there a brand new fatboy and an asian wok and both are very much in use ever since.

Last week I have been with some friends in Lehel, where I got a jeans skirt for close to nothing. The flea market itself was as good as ones above, mainly because here lives ‘old money’ of Munich and neighbors are less interested in entertaining their boots all day long. However, I have made some pics so that you can get a preview of the day:

And this was a Marc by Marc Jacobs, which was somehow not my style (as much as I wanted 🙂 ):

Current exhibitions in Munich

These ones I loved:

1. Mondrian und De Stijl in Kunstbau

You get acquainted with the movement and see some of the best examples, not only paintings but also films, furniture, product design, posters as well as photographs. Here is a classic:

 

2. Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion in Haus der Kunst

Weather we talk about shades and black-and-white, origami influence, emancipation of woman in post-modern Japan or experimenting with material, the exhibition is a true eye opener and the trigger that would inspire you to own and copy some of it. A preview (Yohji Yamamoto):

3. Aschemünder, Goetz Collection, in Haus der Kunst

I cannot decide what is more special about this exhibition. Is it the place for the exhibition: small underground chamber-like rooms of a former air-raid shelter, where the films are being shown, or the exhibition itself? The main topic is war and it shows its manifestations through dictatorships, genocides, drug crimes etc from Latin America to Africa, South-East Asia to Europe. Needless to say, it got me thinking about my memories 1992-1995.

These ones I found ‘ok’:

1. Cy Twombly Photographs 1951 – 2010 in Museum Brandhorst

… or even less then ‘ok’. I love Cy Twomby, but in this collection I do not see any extraordinary works. First I thought, ‘cool! these blurry photos, which nowadays everyone is doing, have been done in 50’s!’ but then I would see 2009 in the corner. Or I am just being too much amateur.  

Therefore, I would rather point to his (in my opinion) masterpiece works:

… or to be a bit subjective and local patriot (this piece cannot be seen at Brandhorst Museum in Munich though):

2. Isaac Julien “Ten Thousand Waves” in Museum Brandhorst

In this video I liked the spacial composition of 9 different projections as well as their temporal composition. This timing is very interesting and it got me thinking how all these different perspectives bring you back to the Asian topic of the film. (and here I am ‘patriotic’ as well since I am not always objective when it comes to Asia)

The one I want to see:

1. Vermeer in Munich. King Max I Joseph of Bavaria as a Collector of Old Masters, in Alte Pinakotheke

This is a classic and I am being here mainstream, as Vermeer is known nowadays anyone who is following Hollywood productions. I am just curious to see if the exhibitions shows this one painting and all about it (as once I have visited and seen in Albertina in Wien) or we can see more of Vermeer.