Orderly Chaos

In my last week post 'Every time I visit the V&A... - part 1', I shared an image of pink, yellow and white walls that were 'flattened' into a 2D composition. This reminded me of patchwork, a style I have always been drawn to but have not explored much yet. That is apart from my 'Orderly Chaos'.

If you remember my 'ZipOut Curtain', a curtain I crocheted as part of my degree project, you might recognise the yarn; the natural light toned one.

Some year and a half later, I re-descovered a ball of what was left over together with a ball of navy yarn I had bought but never used.

And so I decided to return to crocheting combining these two colours. Not having a very clear idea of what I wanted to create I simply started with making rectangles/squares. After playing around with them and placing them next to each other, the only outcome I could think of was of a shoulder bag. And this is what you can see on the shoulder of my trusted model Elena.


Soon after using this shoulder bag, the wear&tear started to appear at the place it would touch my side. This is why I introduced decorative buttons; a few in the front and much more at the back to cover and protect the crocheted pieces.

The direction of the buttons shows where the wool started to wear off. When compared to the defined orderly front, the back looks rather chaotic, as if the buttons were sewn at random giving the shoulder bag a quirky touch.



This project returned me to the world of creativity as if releasing me from some sort of a block. For this I am more than grateful. Yes, I have just shown you the Beginning. Kx

Every time I visit the V&A... - part 1

...it is to see a new exhibition. Currently, 'British Design: 1948-2012' is on show. Divided into three sections, I must say I felt rather proud when I walked around the first one 'Tradition and Modernity' - even though I am not English.

In 1951, the government organised 'Festival of Britain' to bring together designers of that time who would together with the public celebrate the achievements in post war architecture and home and furniture design.

The desire to modernise went hand in hand with tradition especially when in 1953 then Princess Elizabeth became the Queen. This was the first time the cameras were allowed to broadcast the ceremony. The modern met the traditional and that I believe must have boasted the national pride.





In the '60s, things started to take different turn. In Michael Wolff's words (design consultant): 'It will be a great day when furniture and cutlery design...swing like the Supremes' (1965).

Which brings us to the second gallery 'Subversion'. Starting by introducing us to art students and graduates, one could see the influence they had on the consumer culture.

This painting 'Mirror' (1964-6) by Frank Bowling shows the interior of a flat that does not look much traditional to me. Yes, indeed. We must not forget the 'Pop' movement of the '60, the recession and 'Punk' in the '70s, the 'theatrical' of the '80s and the 'cool' of the '90s.

Artists and designers challenged the values of their parents rebelling through fashion, music, home interiors, film and other areas.

Fashion and music of '70s is depicted in this image - 'Diamond Dogs' photo of David Bowie by Terry O'Neill. The exhibition had a number of songs of that era shown and played on a loop in one section of the second gallery so wherever you went you would be exposed to the music. The music, the costumes, the make-up. I must say, I found this a bit heavy at times but can see that if we did not go through this we would not be where we are now with design and innovation.

Walking through such atmosphere, one could imagine the interior design through 'Torsion Box Shell' chair by Brian Long. To be honest, one could get away with thinking that this chair was designed now not in 1970. The shape and certain simplicity, the form. I am not sure about the colour though, that is my only reservation.

My favourite was the image of the cover for the 12" single 'True Faith' by New Order (1987) by Peter Saville (designer) and Trevor Key (photographer). The exhibition had two pictures of the leaf on show, one with a blue and one with a red background. Displayed next to each other, it was the two strong colours and the beauty of the falling leaf that worked for me. Apparently, a ground-breaking 'dichromate' process was used when designing the cover however, I cannot find any information that would easily explain what the process is all about so feel free to let me know. 

At the end of the second gallery, I went past this dress (and photographs from the design process) by Alexander McQueen from the Autumn Winter 2009 collection. Put the form of the dress aside for a moment, I was drawn to the print on the fabric. When looked closely, you realise the repeated silhouette of a bird going from small to big in the direction of the dress, starting from a tight corset to gradually opening into a dramatic structure of the skirt.

This brings us nicely to the third and final gallery 'Innovation and Creativity'. I walked in past Jaguar, looked at a maquette of Concord and the room further opened revealing other products; shavers, radios, Dyson hoover, a section on computer software and gaming,... Yes, this gallery was more technical filled with industrial design. Once more, celebrating British design.

'Falling Light' by 'Trojka' was designed for Swarovski (Crystal Palace). These are computer-controlled LEDs.

What you can see on the left is a section of LED lights (with magnifying glass under each) that would move up and down when being switched on/off sending light drops of various sizes onto the floor. This created illusion of light drops that you can see on the right. Fun to observe and interesting ever-changing design to walk on.

I got carried away when photographing these drops that I was asked to stop. (If only my camera was less noisy...)

Filled with artistic touch, I looked beyond the usually visible scenery on my way home. What I discovered was a little cul-de-sac I had gone past so many times before but did not notice.

The camera flattened the 3D scenery into a pleasant 2D patched image. And this introduces me to my next post. Therefore, have a great rest of the weekend and see you next week with another post. Kx

The Titanic Requiem

Situated opposite the Westminster Abbey, The Methodist Central Hall was build at the same year as Titanic. What a fitting location to host a concert dedicated to the centenary of Titanic.

The Titanic Requiem is a classical debut of Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) who wrote it together with his son RJ.

Being in England from where the Titanic set off on a voyage to the New World, I must say that everybody here experiences one way or another the time of 100 years ago. Whether on a TV, radio or events throughout, there is so much dedication to the memory of those who perished, those who were left behind, too many stories of those who survived.

Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra together with the choir 'RSVP Voices', the musical and vocal richness of the piece sent shivers down my spine. Such was my experience.

First half of the concert was filled with the actual pieces played on board of Titanic including the supposingly last piece - 'Nearer My God to Thee'. After the break, the Orchestra was joined by the choir and what I can remember is how evocative the Requiem was. At times playful, most of the time I felt sad, hopeful and filled with emotions.

In the second half, Robin Gibb was meant to sing 'Don't Cry Alone'. Unfortunately, his frail health prevented him from attending The Titanic Requiem. Instead, we listened to a recording of the song. Despite that, there was a standing ovation at the end of the song. Click on the link above to hear the song yourselves. It is definitely worth it.

What I also wanted to share with you are a few pictures of The Methodist Central Hall.

Looking at the exterior and interior, one is taken back to the time of Titanic; the decor and the architectural elements of that time.

The whole week has been rather symbolic also pointing out on the legacy the Titanic has left behind. It had to take such disaster to e.g. set as regulation to have enough lifeboats to cover the number of passengers onboard. The Titanic will be always remembered.

Velikonoce = Easter

David Hockney

I had been waiting for good two months from securing a ticket to see 'David Hockney: A Bigger Picture', an exhibition held in the Royal Academy. We are in its final week now so I am happy I did not miss this event.

All I can remember is the colour and the amazing space of the Academy that was filled with Hockney's work. No matter where I stood, no matter from which angle I looked and where, I was drawn into the vast space by the saturation and the artistry of every painting on display.

Some of the long walls were covered by individual pictures in e.g. 11 x 4 formation. Some rooms would have the same scene throughout the year on four walls so all you can do is stand in the middle and rotate around your own axis (an exercise I did in more rooms) when all rooms would explore the places David Hockney has live in; his native Yorkshire, open spaces around Los Angeles, seaside town of Bridlington and more.

What I enjoyed noticing was the difference between his studio and on-location paintings.


When on location, a certain depth is added to the works. The individual paintings reveal more shadows and in the works put together from six or more panels, one has to admire the imperfect precision with which they are joined. A language has been created here.


I cannot help but make connection to 'Fauvism', a short-lived style of early 20th century. In Fauvism the emphasis was put on strong colours (if you see yellow paint saturated yellow, if you see red make it strong red,...). This is what I see in David Hockney's paintings. I watched a documentary program where we were allowed to see the actual locations and I must say, Hockney's approach and outcome is more interesting, more eye-catching.

How many times do you see a purple trunk of a tree? Yet, in this picture it looks in place. This is the artistic vision, this is why we have heard about David Hockney for the past 50 years (so far).

And it is not only the paintings or watercolours, it is also his photomontages or more recent iPad drawings or video-montages worth seeing. This I will leave to you to explore for yourselves. There is too much to cover.






Visiting the Royal Academy at 10pm (22:00) when the place is still heaving with people says something about the artist. I am certainly looking forward to seeing more work by David Hockney. I am sure he has still a lot to offer. Kx