Stage Design

 I've always been interested in stage design. I go to see the live streams of the MET Opera in NY with my parents, and the stage designs are beautiful. Satyagraha, is an opera written in Sand Script about Ghandi's life. The staging was very experimental, with large puppets made out of newspaper (seen below). The materials used are very basic, this could mirror Ghandi's life.

 

Performing to a 7000 strong audience at Lake Constance 'The Marvelous Floating Stage of the Bregenz Festival' in Austria are on different level, the fact that they float is crazy. The designs are on such a large scale, I wonder how hard it would be to be heard from an actors point of view.

 These photos are from random years panning back to 2002.

Especially against the backdrop of the sky and the sea, all these stages looks crazy. The one which backdrop is the dark sky looks so impressive, and I'd love to go and experience the stage.

Some boards from Arup lighting collabarative project - Sound Wave, Leeds

La Pâtisserie des Reves

A patisserie in France is normally a very basic space, just for the object of selling bread and cakes etc, but this patisserie in Paris brings selling baked goods to a whole new level.

I love the futuristic design of this bakery, the counter weighted bell jars which lift the jar up when the user requests its content makes, and the refrigerated slate keeps the item cool while it waits.

The way the pods are placed equally along the work space creates the feeling that each cake is special and a work of art. This also creates the sense that the cakes are of the very best quality. From research of the shop, some cakes are priced as high as 33 Euro, which adds to fact that each individual cake is very precious, and should be protected from the outside world until chosen to enter.

I particularly like the frontage to the shop. Its very simple, with a few details to suggest what it sells beyond the doors e.g the door handles are a great touch. The font and use of colour make the shop feel prestigious, new and exciting. Unlike a standard french bakery, this patisserie brings buying bread, tarts and cakes a brand new exciting level. The experience is fresh and makes the everyday chore of the french people special.

Franz Klein

Franz Klein's work is very powerful. The large thick dramatic brush strokes within his absract expressionist work evoke depth and complexity; as he may have been his life to be.

 Klein orginally started painting around 1940 with just monocrhome colours, but then late in 1956, he started to introduce slithers of colour into his paintings, this may have been because he moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts.

For my A level work, I studied Franz Klein for the strong brush lines, dark colours and general boldness of the pieces.

 The blue painting at the bottom of the collection here, is my favorite. The colours is so bold and spontaneous.

Place Making and Space Shaping

Design work and Photoshopped board work from my sketchbook.

The Cosmplolitan, Las Vagas

Own photo

Own photo

When I visited Las Vagas in the Easter Holidays, I fell in love with the wacky frontage to the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. 

As I walked round the building, at first right past it and then across the road from it, I was able to get so many different views of design. The large posts, which hold up the frontage are lit by neon lights all the way up, which are tilted at different angles all along. It looks like a wave which has been changed by technology, but still has its fluidity. 

Walking past at a distance to this building was very interesting, as you can see what the architect intended it to look like, but walking just underneath it, to me was much more interesting, as you can look up, and walk beneath the lit poles.

Own photo

The frontage also adds a futuristic look to the other wise pastiche architecture of the Las Vagas strip. Because the Cosmopolitan opened only 2 years ago, and took 5 years to build, it is very modern in comparison to the likes of Caesars Palace, and I think much more interesting, because you can interact with the building, and it is just more unusual that the other Casino's and restaurants.

Own photo

Louis Vuitton window design

Own photo

 The bulls eye effect created the different coloured arrows makes Louis Vuitton's products appear very special and important, just like when you score on the bulls eye.

I'm not so keen on the bright colours of the photo above, but the way the outer ring of arrows match the colour of the handbag in the middle of the ring.

The contrasting colours of the photo below work quite well, but I think the window designer could have put a more interesting bag to counteract the shelf and the bag to a better extent.

The bottom photo is my favorite. The colours are a lot more interesting than those of the top photo. This is obviously advertising a mans bag, which to me is much nicer than either of the other two. It is much more attractive, probably because it isn't so intrusive colour wise. Also the top photo is brightly lit and against a darker back drop than the bottom photo. but over all its a very fun way to advertise products rather than just a plane glass shelf.

Own photo

Own photo

Fiori De Como

Own photo

Situated in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, this glass chandelier called the 'Fiori De Como' adds to the grandure of the entrance. Designed by Dale Chihuly, the glass flower chanadd an interesting and colourful touch to the (in my opinion) disgusting decor of the Casino. The way the flower heads are placed creates the illusion that they are growing down from the ceiling.

Own photo

Own photo

Own photo