A confessed lover of this candy, Jeanne manages the "Art Cake confectioner's shop, a place where cakes are work of art. Who doesn't like a visually attractive food? With a relatively simple recipe and because of thousands of flavor possibilities, cakes crosses centuries and cultures performing, beyond the alimentary task, an affective part for families and other kinds of social structures -- something with its size and the ornaments above them (frostings, flowers, fruits...); at weddings, for example, it's an important thing until the present days. But these art cakes can disturb on a funny way such things, inventing pies with references to tastes, eccentricities and moments of the honored people. Thus, for instance, the American confectioners Eric Vass and Rufus are specialists on cakes with geek motifs, like the Mario Bros. cakes and the console shaped cakes.
Some of them go to the strangest extremes. The English designer Michelle Wibowo develops, among others, pies projects with the shape of babies for celebrating births and birthdays -- but we still wander who would like to eat a copy the celebrated person. The intriguing work has even a video showing how the comestible sculpture is prepared.
But the Art Cake House is almost a factory. Jeanne and her team are able to produce the most dazzling cakes we had ever seen. Taken by the taste of the client, the set of themes is almost infinite. From St. Peterburg to all the parts of Europe depart pies with the shape of houses, touristic attractions, maps, pirate trunks and so on. They are all presented with a perceptive passion sign which emanates from the artist -- who is used to publish her gallery, hints for dough and stuffing, and keeps a weblog with the other confectioners. To the Brazilian confectioner Flávia Millás, those artistic cakes stumble at a single inconvenient: they can be visually wonderful, but not so tasty... On many places around the world, reasons Millás, people are used to non-stuffing cakes, but it isn't the Brazilian taste. Our challenge is making such things with stuffing. It's easy to be only beautiful, it's easy to be only tasty. The hard part is uniting the both. Well, the hard part really is devouring such impressive sculptures. Although that... not so much!
Bamboo is the stuff of green dreams these days. Not only is it a winning combination of strong, lightweight and flexible; it also scores highly in the sustainable stakes, being super fast growing and easy to harvest locally in many parts of the world. What’s more, it is increasingly being lauded for its aesthetic qualities. None of this is news to any architect worth their salt – but one in particular, Vietnamese virtuoso Vo Trong Nghia, stands out for his exceptional bamboo designs.
In a piece by Vietnamese American writer and broadcaster Nguyen Qui Duc, Duc laments the rushed redevelopment of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, and calls for preserving the city’s beauty and character without tastelessly replicating the old French-style villas that have been razed to the ground. Instead of the rapidly rising glass-and steel structures being built, modernisation should mean both preservation and innovation – and that’s exactly what Vo Trong Nghia is all about.
As a young man, Nghia was selected to study architecture in Japan. However, his early life in a small village in central Vietnam proved the ideal and natural foundation for what he would learn in the land of the Rising Sun and the architectural projects that have followed in his homeland. “We used bamboo and cane and such materials for everything,” recalls the architect. From farming tools to cooking utensils, it was all woven together – just as many of his buildings are today.
Mingling international inspiration with the influence of his roots, Nghia is big on bamboo. The rounded bar he designed for his Water and Wind Cafe features a 30-foot bamboo frame covered in a local bush plant. Like a giant version of the haystacks that dot the Vietnamese countryside, it is also African-esque, with a pointed open dome that allows light to infuse the interior. Elsewhere, Nghia’s curving bamboo structures are bound together with not a nail in sight.
As proof of his green credentials, Nghia has built a factory in Vietnam where bamboo is treated and given its warm brown colour. It is said his structures will last twenty years. “At the end of the day, if you have to remove or take apart buildings,” says Nghia, “You won’t end up with piles of concrete that’s destructive to the environment.” He is also trying to get more bamboo growing ventures off the ground, an architect weaving homegrown tradition with aesthetic innovation.
The world’s worst skyscraper disaster is still fresh in our minds, and every year sees a new calamity in our global obsession with building storey after storey, higher and higher. You would think that all architects would be careful to make their buildings look as stable as mountains. You’d be wrong. Thanks to modern building materials and behind-the-scenes architectural wizardry, the new field of precarious-looking urban architecture is on the rise – as these ten vertigo-inducing examples illustrate.
Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi – the most acutely leaning building in the world. It bows out 18 degrees from the vertical – in comparison, Pisa’s famous tower is only leaning at 3.99 degrees. Technologically ambitious and architecturally stunning, it looks like nothing on earth. (Well, okay, it does look like something in particular, but this is a family-friendly corner of the Web and we refuse to draw certain parallels).
And by the looks of the first concept drawings, Capital Gate was meant to be even more ambitious. How on earth would this design have stayed up? Judging from the reworked shape, the designers couldn’t answer that question either.
If you live in the Danish principality of Rødovre, you may see this queasy-making structure against the skyline. This ‘Sky Village’ is made up of 60 metre square blocks built up around the building’s core. Exactly how is up to the buildiers – meaning that in theory, no two buildings would look alike. We applaud engineering flexibility, but our applause for rock-steady stability is louder. Exactly how will it stay upright, please?
It may look like a bad or possibly drunken attempt at Photoshopping – but the Walters Towers will soon be reality. Forming an enormous W (possibly standing for “weird”), this apartment block complex in Prague is the slightly fevered work of architects Bjarke Ingels Group, and for obvious reasons, uses the latest in load-bearing building materials.
Our questions are endless. Do the lifts go diagonally? Is it safe? How would it fit in with the current Prague skyline? Is it safe? Exactly how is the weight distributed? Oh, and is it safe?
How would you feel about living in a building that looks less built than balanced? This Singaporean residential complex by OMA comprises of 31 six-storey apartment buildings stacked up in a thrilling haphazard manner, with the aim of circulating fresh air around every building. Since this is Singapore, heat loss wouldn’t be a problem – but what about air-con efficiency? And that certainly isn’t a balcony-view for the squeamish.
Costing over $600 million and reaching 51 floors into the blue, the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing was completed in December 2008. It is built of steel, and its two rakishly-skewed towers had to be joined in the dead of night when the metal was coolest, to prevent expansion distortion. The local nickname? “Big shorts”.
In February this year, it narrowly escaped damage when the nearby Television Cultural Centre caught fire after opening ceremony fireworks went awry. This event has sparked an inquiry into the widespread use of high-explosive fireworks in China – and into the subsequent attempt by national authorities to suppress coverage of the blaze.
Commanding what must be one of the most spectacular views in Sydney, the Holman House teeters on the brink of architectural possibilities. Although not quite as unstable as the above photos suggests, the house juts out from the cliff edge so alarmingly that we commend its current occupants for their nerve (and try to hide our jealousy at having that view). But isn’t the Sydney basin prone to earthquakes?
The new Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro is an award-winning response to the question “How unconventional can we make a museum look?” Looking like a stylishly collapsing carpark (ahem, arguably), the front-facing “vertical boulevard” hides galleries, auditoriums and even an outdoor cinema perched on top. No word on what the residents of the surrounding tower-blocks think of this last feature.
Due to open in 2011, the design is meant to channel the energy of the beach promenade, providing an extension of its movement rather than an interruption. If they could turn one side of those steps into a waterslide, we think it would be made completely perfect.
As well as challenging our assumptions and sensibilities, good architecture should make us feel happy. So what about this house from Ensamble Studio that seems designed to perturb, upset and make us permanently uneasy? From the swimming pool sticking out into thin air to the apparently badly-supported slab of concrete poking high above the roof, this void-riddled structure is certainly fascinating and challenging…but is it lovable?
Unlike with Capital Gate, there is no attempt to subvert the shape of the two towers that make Madrid’s Puerta de Europa. These massive structures (115 metres tall) look like conventional skyscrapers – except ones that lean towards each other at a 15-degree angle.
Completed in 1996, they were the world’s first leaning high-rise buildings (so urbanites who suffer from vertigo, you now have someone to blame for the trend). They are positioned so far apart to provide the room for a subway interchange.
The new housing development of Strandkanten in Tromsø, Norway, is 900 decided modernistic homes making best use of reclaimed land – and of design possibilities. The waterfront properties lean out over the water as if they long to go for a dip.
After hundreds of years of straight-up window design, how do we feel about windows that themselves lean out, making it impossible for us to safely do so? And there is the potential problem with all these designs: they’re built for people, and need a warm public response to become a success.
Leather is one of the most versatile materials available to an artist. Normally the preserve of clothing or sofas, artists have been using it for centuries as a form of decoration and self expression.
From the elaborate saddle covers of the 5th century BC Nomads of the Altaic Region to modern day contemporary wall hangings, working with such an unforgiving medium as leather requires a truly masterful skill-set to produce a work of art from what is basically tanned animal hide. Fortunately the advancement of both tools and techniques has enabled artists to do more with leather than ever before, most notably in the realm of sculpture and intricate pictures. Let’s celebrate the skill and talent of the master craftsmen and women with a look at five incredible works of leather art.
1. The Hunters (Painted Leather)
Unlike dyeing leather, when you paint on leather the paint isn’t absorbed into the material and therefore artists have to be very careful not to bend or twist the leather as the paint can crack or flake off.
This vibrant depiction of two traditional hunters with their quarry is a brilliant illustration of the intricate detailing that can be achieved when using paint on leather. The use of form, colour and texture makes this painting appear three-dimensional while helping to give an illusion of movement in the huntsman’s clothing.
2. The Guitar (Sculptured and Carved Leather)
This piece won a Blue Ribbon at the 2008 Tennessee State Fair and is a brilliant example of the possibilities that exist when using leather as an art medium. It is life-like and immaculately detailed with a character all of its own. The artist has even gone so far as to include the Tennessee state flag on the body of the guitar.
3. Tipping the Hat (Carved Leather)
This incredible picture of a man tipping his hat carved into suede leather is a superb illustration of master leather craftsmanship. Excellently proportioned, even the hand is perfectly formed. A three dimensional effect is created by the fine detailing of the man and the illusion of distance with the background images. There’s even a vague similarity with Michael Jackson!
4. Hidden Face (Sculptured Leather)
Leather is a great medium for sculpture, which if used correctly can be used to produce a dramatic visual effect as is the case with this Peruvian leather sculpture.
This particular example of leather art is exceptionally well moulded, giving the impression of a face framed by folds of the leather. The careful positioning of the creases leads the eye to the central focus point, the face.
5. The Wilderness (Carved and Dyed Leather)
A number of tools including a swivel knife, veiner and pear shader are used in the art of leather carving. The intension with this type of leather art is to carve a design or image into the leather and thereby to create a three dimensional visual effect.
This scene of deer in a forest is just one example of what can be created when combining the technique of leather carving with dyeing. The artist has managed to capture a feeling of tranquility in the wilderness on this particular leather wallet purely by the placement and actions of the deer set against a natural backdrop of sky and ground.
A confessed lover of this candy, Jeanne manages the "Art Cake confectioner's shop, a place where cakes are work of art.
Some of them go to the strangest extremes. The English designer Michelle Wibowo develops, among others, pies projects with the shape of babies for celebrating births and birthdays -- but we still wander who would like to eat a copy the celebrated person. The intriguing work has even a video showing how the comestible sculpture is prepared.
But the Art Cake House is almost a factory. Jeanne and her team are able to produce the most dazzling cakes we had ever seen. Taken by the taste of the client, the set of themes is almost infinite. From St. Peterburg to all the parts of Europe depart pies with the shape of houses, touristic attractions, maps, pirate trunks and so on. They are all presented with a perceptive passion sign which emanates from the artist -- who is used to publish her gallery, hints for dough and stuffing, and keeps a weblog with the other confectioners.
