i (heart) my flat!

Hello! I've realised that Blackberrys aren't too bad after all as it has been my life saviour for the past week. Bad news: the whole internet/telephone issue is taking longer than expected so will not be able to get on here until another month!! Ahh!!! Driving me mad! Good news is that I adore my new casa :):)

I haven't fully settled in yet as I still have boxes up to the ceiling to unpack and furniture to buy but I am getting there. Slowly but surely. My favourite part is probably the bathroom. Its got modern decor but the shower reminds me of the one I had back in Sweden and it just feels amazing :) So so far, so good!

Tomorrow we are putting the new October dirtective in place and its going to be a massive one. So we are preparing ourselves for the worst. Hopefully it won't be as bad as we think. Looks amazing though, I have to say.

Alright guys, just thought I'd pop in for a quick update. Sis is chillin at ours today so gonna go back to being social now :)

Catch you soon! / P.

internet malfunction.

Won't be able to be on here for a while now because I won't have access to internet. Moving houses today and BT is being well annoying. So long story short: See you all in 30 days or so :( (Ok maybe a bit less than that but lets exhaggerate and get a nice surprise at the end!)

Will try to post short blogs every now and then.

Our new kitchen :):)
Peace out / P.

shoes, shoes, shoes!!

I have been away for a couple of days but it's mainly because I have had visit, and it's un-polite to be anti-social. Haha .. Ok no but seriously I have been really lazy, but also very busy.

On Thursday the final opening of the Shoe Galleries took place in Selfridges. The worlds largest shoe department was launched with Grazia magazine on site, hair & make-up team from MAC jazzing up all the opening staff members and a grand party in the evening. Luckily (although you might have all wanted to be there) I did not have to stay for the party in the evening! On Wednesday before the opening I was in, together with the whole VM and Display team from head-office, to set up our department. Here are some images from the happy (even though they might not look it) visual team:



And here is the final set up:




Because of this shoe mania, there are alot of events going on in Selfridges at the moment but the most interesting part (well at least for me) are the displays around the store.

Falling pieces in central escalator void:

Ceiling piece above escalators towards the Shoe Galleries:
The amount of work and thought that has gone in to this project is quite magnificent. I contributed a day to this grand event but there has been loads of press and planning behind all of this .. work that has taken several months. So a big well done to Selfridges and everybody involved!

Viva les chaussures!!

/P.

whats your shoe story?

Back with some images from the shoe displays at Selfridges. Pictures are being replaced with better ones once I find the time to take some decent photos! Haha .. They have done some pretty funny shoe sculptures though so still wanted to share it with you guys.

sewing machine VS shoe
iron VS shoe
vacuum VS shoe
They´re hilarious!

More to come later. Ciao for now / P.

fingers crossed.

I am hoping things go the way I want them to go. I have planned some things and hope they go down as planned .. We shouldn't really talk about them here as I might jinx it. You might not believe in such things but either way .. it's better to be safe than sorry right?

Cross your fingers for me people!

I will let you know how it goes.

Nite / P.

we ♥ window displays.

Windows are excellent spaces for experimental and conceptual design and London is the master city for it! I have come across some exceptionally impressing windows during my years here, but as I was walking around in Knightsbridge the other day, I had to stop at the windows at Harvey Nichols for a more thorough look. They have introduced a a new series of displays originated from the theme "Everyday Thing". It features elaborate sculptures made of everyday objects, such as pencils and cassettes. You can see everything from a dress made out of clothes pins to a car made out of plastic toys. The details and colour combinations are very striking so would definitly advise all of you to go down and have a look!! Love it!



Sweet huh?

Another quite amazing set of displays are the new shoe production displays at Selfridges. Now I haven't seen the final ones yet as I have not been back there but I am proud to say that I was one of the first ones to witness them being erected. The displays were put in on Thursday night, the same night I had a nightshift of my own, implementing the new September Update Directive. I therefore got a first glimpse of how they would all look. Sorry for the bad quality guys .. I took the photos from a distance in the dark.



Better pics will follow on Monday!

Nitenite for now/ P.

have you seen his website?

You need to check out this website. It is absolutely fantastic! The site was launched to coincide with the opening of "A Christmas Carol" last year and was created by 65 Media, the web-designers behind the landing pages for movies like "Ratatouille" and "Land of the Lost". For some reason I haven't had a clue that it existed until yesterday.

It is a very bizarre page, I have to say, but it is an invitation into the world of Jim Carrey .. and quite frankly I think it suits him perfectly! When you click on any of the tabs on the site you suddenly get a "alice-down-the-rabbit-hole-journey", zooming and twisting different landscapes until you finally arrive at your chosen destination. You will also see alot of different scenarios from his different movies and there is an opportunity for you to play around with the different images layed around on every page. Jim Carrey himself describes the site as "a pshycedelic landscape of my brain". Not mine .. but his. :)

The website has appearantly also gotten amazing reviews ever since it was launched in October 2009. I am not surprised AT ALL!

Check it out:

www.jimcarrey.com

Crazy huh? / P.

its hard to play with clay.

Just popping in to show some images of todays discoveries:




Today I worked with home made clay to make some test beads. Turned out that it was much harder than I had thought. The temperature in the oven was probably not quite right as they all blew up like balloons!! Tomorrow is attempt #2 .. Hopefully I will get them right then.

Apart from that I have started pull together some sketch pieces that will form the foundation of my first collection "Persian/Afghan". Here's a snapshot:



Catch you guys tomorrow! Ciao / P.

the evil eye.

In many cultures people have long feared the so called "evil eye". It is believed to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed, for reasons of envy or dislike. A protective symbol against this curse is the Hand of Fatima or the Hamsa. The symbol stretches from judaism to islam but has in both religions the same meaning. Hamsa means five and is in islamic belief the hand of Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. In judaism it is also called Miriam's hand, as regards to the sister of Aaron and Moses. In Arabic (and Berber) tradition this symbol is related to warding off the evil eye, as exemplified in the saying "khamsa fi ainek" ("five [fingers] in your eye").


Even though I haven't always known the full story behind these symbols they have always been a part of my life and my culture. In Iranian culture another element of protection are the seeds of Aspand (also called Esfand, Espand and Harmal). These are burned, causing little popping noises that releases a fragrant smoke. This smoke is then wafted around the head of those afflicted by or exposed to the evil eye (the gazing of envious/evil strangers). The popping of the seeds is believed to be related to the breaking of the evil eye spell. Dried aspand capsules are sometimes also worn as protection against the evil eye.

Symbols, such as the evil eye, are things that in modern days have become a sort of fashion accessory. I am pretty sure alot of you have seen the beads around, especially when you go to holiday resorts such as Turkey and Greece. It has a certain beauty to it, I admit, but it is also important to know that these symbols have specific meanings and are very important in a lot of cultures.

So in whichever way you prefer, make sure you keep your protections close! Haha. Sleep tight now / P.

me + camino = true

Half way through the weekend now .. Oh how I wish that they were longer!

On Friday we decided to go to Camino, a spanish tapas joint that we discovered last Friday. Unfortunatly we didn't have our patience with us then and decided to ditch the food there for an easier Nandos around the corner. But as we were enjoying our drinks we couldn't help to notice the amazing platters of food that came out of the kitchen every once in a while. We decided to go back there the following week, and we sure did!

I absolutely LOVED the food! Tapas culture is very particular. It's food you share together with others, creating a quite intimate dining experience. Well that didn't apply to us as us+food=non-sharing experience! Haha .. We ordered one platter each of the most amazing, tastebud-tickeling, mind-blowing tapas with bits such as bruschetta, potatoe croquettes, goats cheese, chorizo .. and the list goes on. We also decided to go full spanish and ordered a jug of sangria!! A bit pricey but definitly a place I would go back to!!

I ♥ Tapas!


Tomorrow I am starting a new piece that I have planned on working on. It's going to be my first attempt on making my own clay that I am later going to use in a charm necklace. Fingers crossed! I have also ordered a few bits that are on their way to my house as I (type) speak!

Will catch up with you guys then. Cheerio / P.

review: the surreal house.

On Monday I finally went to see the "Surreal House" exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery with sis. When we entered the ticket area I was well excited about it, starting to imagine what it would be like. I've read so much about it so my expectations were sky high. So after buying the tickets and entering the main bit, we firstly realised that no one would have noticed if we didn't buy a ticket at all. There wasn't anybody there to check! But loyal as we are, we did.

I had to admit that the space the exhibition was housed in was quite intriguing. Every perspective of the two-level space invited you with quite serious frames which linked the whole space together. With a balcony falling over the peripherals of the lower level, the inhabitants of the space could see the first stage of the exhibition from the top and observe the observers and the artworks around. You became the puppet master, yet you were not in control of the show. From one side of the balcony you could also find projection works, by artists such as Diller & Scofidio, piercing through diagonal voids constructed of the many walls in the exhibition hall. Furthermore the whole exhibiton evolved around the interpretation of "home" with 150 Surrealist works displayed in the many smaller rooms that the whole exhibiton was divided into. These rooms portraited the different rooms of a house. The placement of the artworks therefore depended on the type "room" as they reflected the subject in matter. Carmody Groarke definitly did a remarkable job.

Like promised, there were alot of amazing works by amazing artists. I was really hoping to see more 3D work though, and the density of pieces chosen for this exhibiton were very light. There was many films showing, but very little interesting paintings and sculptures. When it ended I actually thought there would be another floor of work, so that was a bit disappointing. I wouldn't say it was the best surrealistic exhibition I have been to, but the space itself definitly makes it worth visiting. So for anybody interested in architecture and surrealism, the exhibition ends on the 12 September so go and see it.





After the exhibiton we decided to grab a bite to eat and found a very relaxing spot where I got treated dinner. I had fresh spaghetti with fresh clams, garlic and chilli. Yum! :)



Carni was happening at the same time but I am quite glad I missed it this year because I really needed a day like Monday. Thanks sis! Love you / P.