In a show that saw artworks exploding off the wall to form couture gowns, Viktor and Rolf created garments that exaggerated the balancing acts that lie at the heart of all clothing. On everyday clothing, common pattern shapes are regurgitated so that designers don’t have to deal with pesky things like gravity. However, once materials become harder, heavier or stiffer the ability to shape and control the structure of a garment to form extreme silhouettes becomes more and more important.
When we talk about the 1970s for instance, they think about ABBA as one of the icons of the decade. They don’t know that ABBA at the time was considered to be extremely bad taste – vulgar and completely unfashionable. ABBA was still wearing platform shoes when everyone else had already moved on. What I mean to say is that it’s not always the best versions of the past that live on.
In one good little segment about product management, there’s this:
The reason good product managers are insanely expensive to hire is because they are able to work across many layers of technology at once. I met one person who put transparent plastic sheets on her whiteboard so that she could flip between the layers. That’s right, nerds: three-dimensional whiteboarding.
We talked a lot about minimalism. My house is basically an empty white box. When [Kanye] walked in, he was like, “My house is an empty white box, too!”
In the last weeks of Beethoven’s life this travel desk was placed right next to his bed. Three days before he died, he wrote a codicil to his will at the desk, in which he named his nephew Karl as his sole heir. Beethoven probably kept his letter to the Immortal Beloved in the open compartment shown here.
If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into flames, that’s going to be exciting too. People always ask, “What is your greatest failure?” I always have the same answer – We’re working on it right now, it’s gonna be awesome!
Urban Spectacles makes handmade eyeglasses from exotic woods and other materials. I’m due for a new pair. Though I hate to get all fetishy about fashion, if I don’t go the $40 eyeglasses route, I might give this guy a look. I’ve had my current pair for about 8-9 years now.
It’s been really wonderful to keep an eye on A House by the Park, “a first-hand chronology of the design, planning, and construction of a modern home in Seattle.” I’m not in the market now, nor do I plan to be in the near future, but it’s cool to watch and learn from a safe distance.
Mark Larson 