Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

5.4.11

wax lyrical





we love emmelie brunetti's 'a treatise on white magic' line of perfume balms - they've become a bit of a cult hit and ours are never far from our finger tips. so we were pretty excited when emmelie mentioned that she was working on a candle... in fact we may have harassed her constantly for the few months it took her to get them into production. but they were worth waiting for, and perfectly timed, the onset of winter doesn't feel so depressing when we can welcome it with the gorgeously smokey and leathery scent of atwm 'high desert campfire ritual' burning away.

as emmelie describes "for this candle, I was inspired by the channeling of current world events and the allure of liberating the mind through mystical drug induced journeys. I chose to work specifically with paraffin wax to evoke a discourse about our dependency to crude oil, as paraffin is a direct derivative of petroleum. the aroma exalts the scent of religious candles, burnt snakeskin leather and the high desert at dusk."

burnt wood, sand & tar scented 1oz (8-hour) travel candle. deep, leathery, smokey in aroma. paraffin wax. oils of cajeput, choya loban & birch tar. $25.00, in-store now and online here.

17.12.10

totes babes




you may have noticed on this blog that since opening we've asked each designer a few questions about themselves to get to know them a little better. ya' know, questions about their collections, what they'd do on a day off, what they know about new zealand, who they would shoot, shag or marry, etc. we also ask them to complete the sentence 'i had a vision and my vision was...'

we've had some pretty great answers, so we decided to start the 'tote project'. we asked incredible auckland based artist erin forsyth to interpret and illustrate these answers and we'll continue to release new totes through out the year each with different designers response to the question 'i had a vision and my vision was...'

the first two designers we've released are new zealand designer jimmy d (duh! of course!) and our favourite finnish prince of darkness, daniel palillo.

each tote bag is $45.00, made out of 100% cotton, in a sturdy cotton drill with robust tape handles. one side features erin's illustration and the other has the children of vision logo.

and hey! it's christmas! so gift it, or sling it over your shoulder and chuck all your christmas shopping in it!

the tote project is available in-store now or online here.

16.12.10

occult hit


the other day we got talking to the lovely natalie smith, one half of our favourite blog 'so much to tell you' about our new delivery of black amber balms. she recounted a story that she wrote about black amber balm creator emmelie brunetti for russh magazine a while ago, and whilst she talks about her initial project 'hopi botanicals' i'm sure emmelie would agree that her motivations and philosophies still apply. it's a beautifully written article and I don't know about you, but i love learning more about passionate creative people, so enjoy it! (click on the article above and click again to magnify)

thanks natalie!

the new shipment of black amber perfume balm's just arrived today, the last shipment sold out so don't delay! available in-store now or online here.

24.11.10

check out this package




remember getting letters? as in, hand written letters... not bills or bank statements... but letters from far off places in ever so slightly crumpled brown envelopes with clusters of exotic stamps... we do, and we sorta miss them. that's why we really love getting deliveries where the sender has injected a little bit of character into their packaging, whether it be quirky handwriting, a little hand written note or something like the above. this box is from the lovely emmelie brunetti who not only has an amazing blog 'a treatise on white magic' but makes beautiful black amber solid perfume balms that just arrived today. in the box above. which we love.

black amber perfume balms are in-store now, more information very soon.

talking black


jimmy d designer, and children of vision co-owner james dobson caught up with rachael churchwood and grant fell from iconic new zealand magazine black to talk "norwegian black metal, chiffon punk, ms. 45, and selling bernhard back to the europeans.."


and a huge thanks to grant and rachael!!

1.9.10

i'm weaving you.

few people are as deft with a pair of knitting needles as aucklander areez katki - areez creates delicate, cobwebby knits out of materials as diverse as recycled sari silks, shredded jersey, and even nylon cord. for spring/summer areez's collection 'hand made IV' is an all together more monochromtic affair, delicate tones of cream and beige dominate, whilst areez explores new textures in black (children of vision has some exclusive and totally amazing experimentations in bungee cord).

areez kindly submits to the children of vision interview below:

name of designer: areez katki

right now the time is: 02:18pm

and where abouts in the world are you: in-between classes at auckland university

date of birth: april 6th 1989

label name: areez katki

year label started: 2009

new collection is entitled: handmade IV

concept/motivation behind new collection: developments of my preceding work; this time it was through an exploration of perennial natural fibers, which I sourced when I was in india. (recycled sari silks, mulberry silk, raw cotton fibers, tencel, rayon etc)

ultimate areez katki lady or gent is: i love and respect everything that I know about bjork


most exciting fashion moment: seeing a complete stranger wearing something that I made always has an affirming and powerful impact

on my day off i would: be having lots of tea, knitting at home with my gran

shoot, shag & marry: shoot that gaga creature, shag d.h. lawrence and marry julia child


i had a vision and my vision was: interrupted by consciousness.

areez katki's new collection 'hand made IV' is in-store now.

7.1.10

exhibitionist




all images courtesy of a shaded view on fashion

before christmas we were lucky enough to receive an invitation to the opening of 'bernhard willhelm & jutta kraus' an exhibition at the groninger museum in the netherlands, unfortunately a quick trip to the netherlands wasn't on the cards but thankfully we spied a few pics on diane pernet's blog a shaded view on fashion.

jutta kraus and bernhard willhelm started the label ten years ago, and the exhibition is a survey of the over 30 collections they have created in this time - both women's and men's collections. we are particularly in love the insanity of the displays...

for more information check out diane pernet's blog here and the groninger museums website here.

11.11.09

tee time

the humble tee is truly a cultural icon, from cladding a certain oh-so-sexy rebel without a cause, to katherine hamnet's supersized and slogan emblazoned tee's. they have been deconstructed, all but obliterated, mass produced and made luxurious, and they show no signs of going anywhere. 

so we were very excited to hear about the mehr als ein t-shirt (more than a t-shirt) exhibition at the bielefelder kunstverein in germany that centers around the notion of the tee shirt as an artistic medium - featuring international artists, designers and fashion designers all contemplating and exploring the idea of the tee shirt through a variety of medium. one of our favourite labels postweiler hauber will present a video and 3 of the spray t-shirts from his “i love my t” ss07 collection, as well as a tapestry made out of t-shirts … he is joined by artists such as tracey emin and jenny holtzer, designers such as vivienne westwood and bless and many more.

10.11.09

went up a hill...



image courtesy of jak&jil blog

sorry for all the next season teaser's but we had to share these beautiful pics from the super talented tommy ton from jak&jil blog fame of complexgeometries next collection due to drop february next year. the collection is amazing, and i think everyone here has ordered at least one piece for themselves... the sheet tee (top and middle pics) in particular was a personal fave!!


4.11.09

wall hanging

image courtesy of is mental blog

salvor projects is one of our favorite little discoveries, his drapey hand printed scarves and tunics have been a huge hit this season, and the designer ross menuez is an absolute sweet heart! so we were really excited to see a snaps of a beautiful poster run of images from salvor projects next season collection thanks to the lovely amanda at 'is mental' blog. the huge posters pasted up all over soho give you a little sneak peak of what's to come from salvor projects, it's due to hit stores january/february, and yes, we did order both of those pieces...

31.10.09

so good it's scary



happy halloween!!! if you're in auckland we will be doing a little dj stint (and i use 'dj' in the loosest sense of the word...) at our favourite auckland bar d.o.c - they are having an el día de los muertos - day of the dead party, it's gunna be amazing! i was going to dress up as a kind of man eating taco with nasty teeth, but i kinda ran out of time... instead i'm pretty inspired by the fever-ray-esque make up above... 

following is a teaser of our playlist tonight. come along!!

head's will roll - yeah yeah yeah's
i want candy - bow wow wow
black magic - jarvis cocker
bleeding love - leona lewis
bat dance - prince
zombie - cranberries
psycho killer - talking heads
she wolf - shakira

352 karangahape road, auckland
from 9pm...

22.10.09

vaile of (not so) secrecy


above images courtesy of rene vaile

i cant recall the first time i met rene vaile, it may have been a halloween party - or maybe i'm just remembering the giant cod piece he was wearing... either way it was while ago. he's a super sweet guy, and takes the most beautiful photo's around - with stylist chris lorimer his photo's defined one of our favourite (sadly no longer around) mags 'staple'. he's worked with numerous new zealand designers, and since moving to sydney, a number of australian designers too, creating beautifully off kilter fashion images that have graced the pages of everything from australian vogue to dazed and confused.

as the lovely leah from plaything puts it:

"rene vaile shows a considered yet spontaneous energy within his portraits of friends and travel picture. the infectious imagery leads the viewer into a quiet and romantic place."

SO, we are kinda a whole lot excited about his first solo show at plaything gallery next week, make sure you get down there for the preview on the 29th october from 6pm - 8pm i'll bet ya' 20 bucks it'll be pretty darn amazing. (please note this offer is purely for literary effect only)

rene vaile/untitled
21 dacre street
newton

preview 29th october from 6pm - 8pm
show running till 14th november, gallery open tuesday - saturday, 11am - 4pm.

6.8.09

chair 'o doom



image courtesy of designboom weblog

ok, i'm gunna admit it, at home i have a chair by the bed that becomes a bit of a dumping ground for clothes - not so much a walk in wardrobe more of a precarious mound of clothes nick named the chair of doom... so these 'fleece chairs' by tom price struck a chord with me... the entire piece is formed from discarded polyester fleece's and the seat shape is created by draping polyester clothing on a hot seat. i dont think my chair would have the same pleasing colour combinations however, as it's a slightly more ominous combination of black and grey and is (thankfully) lacking in the fleece and polyester quotient to make it work. oh well.

30.6.09

tape player




all images courtesy of danielargyle.com

i blame four years of design school for my tape obsession, i played around alot with polaroids roughly taped to walls, masking tape on essays etc. etc. so i totally relate to australian artist daniel argyle, particularly his obsessive duct tape pieces where entire rolls of silver duct tape are wrapped around crushed file boxes, and generic office like environments are built against duct taped walls. i love their monotony, and their quiet yet sinister undertone... check out his website here (the gold duct taped gilded pizza boxes are also amazing!).

19.6.09

coming down with the fluoro



i'm a little obsessed with fluoro's - especially in our little white cube of a store, at night the fluro's give it a cold, clinical glow which I kinda love... here's some art that makes me wanna buy about 20 more fluoro's and go crazy. from the top: neon waterfall by lauris paulus (from the awesome vvork blog), and two images of work by new zealand artist bill culbert (from sue crockford gallery)