Australia took Gold at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. I love the way London retailers jump on board, from a VM perspective, when this Botanical 'Best in Show' comes to town. pics via CFS.
British Botanicals
Blown Away
Tokyo based balloon artist, Rei Hosokai, makes rather amazing couture from balloons. I love this campaign and in-store installations she did for Takashimaya last year. You can see more of her blown up ball gowns at daisyballoon.com. pics via Otomodachi on Flickr.
Pre-Fab Flowers
Chanel did it in Covent Garden back in March for Mothering Sunday (UK), now Country Road is getting in on the floral act this Mother's Day down here in Oz. Eye-spied CR's pop-up flower stall at their South Yarra flagship store (Melbourne) on the lovely Lucy Feagin's Design Files blog just a few minutes ago and thought to myself ... "It's a small world. A great idea is launched in March, re-invented to suit another brand (designed, manufactured, installed), and voila just 8 weeks later and a half a world away, here it is!". The web is a wonderful thing but it also makes discovering 'something new' out there a real challenge. A few years ago you could be 'daring, different and first', now you have to be bloody fast as well before 'everyone's seen it' and fatigue sets in. Photo via The Design Files (thanks Lucy!). Note: POD is making grand assumptions that CR's flower stall was inspired by Chanel - this may, or may not, be true.
Raising the Threshold
Target launched their new Threshold line of homewares with a pop up, life size dolls house in Grand Central Station. The pre-fab was trucked in and took a construction team 54 hours to assemble. Once complete, it was kitted out with 3000 products from the new line. With a longevity less than most pop ups, this brand house was only open for 2 days before disappearing. You can take a look at the construction video on Target's A Bullseye View.
Pop up with Presence
Whilst looking for some realistic, large format, vinyl hoarding skin references I recalled seeing this Prada store in Paris. Whilst it was 5 years ago now, and only open for 5 months, it makes temporary look timeless and rather fabulous don't you think? The graphic design was a tribute to the Mirabeau Bridge, the first bridge in Paris to be created from metal. The space features illusory perspectives and a spacious double storey layout. A very slick case of 'smoke and mirrors', as we would expect from Prada. via Dazed Digital
1151, 1152, 1153 …
Looking at these amazing installations made from small buttons, I can only conclude that the artist, Augusto Esquivel, must have the patience of a saint! I know people who have trouble sewing a shirt button back on .. so I'm thinking 'holier than thou' type saintly patience is involved here. The thought of constructing one of these actually does my head in. Augusto you are to be admired! via Augusto Esquivel
Pomp my Handbag
Love the look of Anya Hindmarsh SS13 launch at Kings Rd store. via Anya H's FB page.
Life in Colour … behind the scenes
POD peeps pulled an all-nighter at Highpoint (Melbourne) to deliver fashion activations and some seriously long hoarding treatments for the launch of the GPT development this morning. Running with the 'Life in Colour' theme, POD picked up on the vibrant campaign developed by the tres talented Paper Stone Scissors and got to work with our creative crayons and over sized paint brushes. Here are some behind the scenes snaps, taken at various stages over the past 48 hours, plus a very happy looking Mardi Ashkine (Regional Marketing Manager for GPT & our savvy, stylish client) with the lovely Carrie Bickmore who MC'd this mornings launch activities. If you're out West today or tomorrow, pull up a pop coloured chair and check out the lastest runway fashion from new retailers including Top Shop, Miss Selfridges and David Jones. Amazing job by my production team - thank you all. If you like what we've done, click Like below! (Professional pics will be shared soon).
simon’s snow plough
My BFFs from Perth are current skiing in Vail. I wonder if they have seen anything as cool as this on the slopes? Since 2004 Simon Beck has been stamping his mark on freshly fallen snow at the Les Arcs ski resort in France. Distinctly geometric pattern are created footprint by footprint. Taking somewhere between six hours and two days to complete, his endurance comes from years of competitive orienteering which also helps him in the precise mapping process which often begins on a computer before he’s able to mark landmarks in the snow that guide his precise walking patterns.
To see more of Simon's tres cool snow art check out www.facebook.com/snowart8848
‘Wouldn’t it be love-er-ly’ if it was here and not there!
Chanel beauty stores appear to be making in roads into Australian suburbs. Opening this Thursday at Westfield Carindale (Brisbane), at the new look Highpoint (Melbourne) next week, and already well established at the likes of Chadstone and Westfield Bondi Junction, if you can't afford the fashion you can certainly pop a lippy and nail polish in your purse without breaking the bank. In July 2012, CHANEL launched a unique pop-up beauty boutique in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. In 2013, now a permanent resident, CHANEL celebrates their new perfumery through the scent of flowers (seemingly the perfect location if you recall Audrey Hepburn as the flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, in My Fair Lady).
The Brits celebrate Mothers Day in March (down here in Oz we do it in May). If you happen to be in London next weekend, from Friday 8th March to Sunday 10th March, the CHANEL flower stall will be selling bouquets of blooms used in the House’s most celebrated fragrances. A hand written message by a calligrapher on a Camellia embossed card, with a choice of quotes from Mademoiselle Chanel, as part of the deal. Very nice indeed. via www.telegraph.co.uk
