From Philips Design
Sunday 18 November 2007
Tuesday 16 October 2007
Monday 1 October 2007
Monday 20 August 2007
Thursday 16 August 2007
Monday 13 August 2007
Wednesday 8 August 2007
Ideal Beauty
Women in the 1930's used to make-up with very pale powder to have the same skin of the movies actresses... Who do we wanna look like today? What is our powder?
Virtual Beauty
"A remarkable result of our research project is that faces which have been rated as highly attractive do not exist in reality. This became particularly obvious when test subjects (independently of their sex!) favoured women with facial shapes of about 14 year old girls. There is no such woman existing in reality! They are artificial products - results of modern computer technology. Same applies to the morphed average faces: Faces with such a smooth, pure skin, without any irregularities do not and cannot exist. But it is this kind of perfection that obviously overwhelmed our test subjects. Taking everything together it can be said that the most attractive face does not exist in reality - they are computed according to certain principles by machines." From Beauty Check
Aesthetic Surgery
"One day, I was approched by a dark-skinned man of African descent. He showed me a photo of a pale-skinned Japanese man and told me he wanted to look just like him. Obviously, I sent him straight to a psychologist." Dr. Carlo Gasperoni, Rome.
WHY NOT?
WHY NOT?
Monday 16 July 2007
“This is who I’d like to be”
“This is who I’d like to be,” says Cindy. “This is glamorous.” Cindy grew up a farm girl in Fremont, Ohio. “I wasn’t that good looking. And my sister was really, really a pretty girl,” recalls Cindy. “She was breathtaking. And everyone used to talk to her more and smile at her more and notice her first.” But Cindy says she had a lot going for her, even with her old looks: “I was recognized as being highly intelligent when I was a child. I was never shy. I was never lazy. And I was never lacking in ambition.” At 21, Cindy packed up her things and moved to London, where she went through a lot of changes – including a short career as a punk rocker. Finally, at 33, she began the grand transformation. “I just wanted to look better,” says Cindy. “Barbie was the blank canvas I filled in all those years ago. It was still my role model.”
Cindy didn’t have any of Barbie’s looks, but she did have some money, which she inherited. It was enough to begin the surgeries that made her as plastic as her role model. “I had laser surgery on my forehead,” says Cindy. “I’ve had upper eyes done, lower eyes done twice. Cheek implants, nose job – two nose jobs.” She also had four facelifts, a chin reduction, several chemical peels, and more. “My upper lift has been cut and rolled upwards to shorten the gap between my nose and mouth,” adds Cindy. “My eyebrows, eyeliner and lip liner and the full lipstick is tattooed on.” It took 31 operations and 14 years, but Cindy’s strange passion for plastic surgery got her a new look -- and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. How much did all that surgery cost? “About $100,000,” says Cindy. “But I did get quality discounts.” And that doesn’t include maintenance. For instance, her lips will not permanently stay pouty. They’ll have to be re-inflated every few months. “How much of the problem with your old looks do you think was a perception problem in yourself,” Schlesinger asks Cindy. “Absolutely zero,” says Cindy. “It’s not that deep. It’s not that psychological.”
Since Cindy re-invented herself, she has made some snapshot friendships with Ivana Trump, Michael Jackson and Sarah Ferguson. She’s also written a book, which she sells on her own Web site. She now makes a living becoming a kind of celebrity. But just like a surgeon needs a scalpel, or a tummy needs a tuck, a Barbie needs a Ken. And Cindy got hers soon enough. Tim Whitfield Line, 36, was a web designer who lived north of London. He saw Cindy on television, and all of a sudden had a new goal in life. “I wanted to be a male version of her,” says Line. It didn’t take long. About one year and $50 thousand later, he’s now Miles Kendall -- new name, new face. “People call me shallow. But I call society shallow. Because they treat me differently now,” says Miles. “…I mean I wanted to look better anyway. I did. Who doesn’t? People like me or Cindy Jackson go a bit further. A lot.” They’re just perfect, and delighted – and just friends. But whatever went on between Barbie and Ken is not going on here.
But as Barbie and Ken, Cindy and Miles credit their new faces for their new lives. Cindy helped Miles open his new bar, and it’s a goal he says he reached with the help of plastic surgery. “The point is I’m content inside. I don’t worry about my looks anymore,” says Miles. “I want to concentrate on more important things in my life, which I’m doing now.” And Cindy, at 48, is also content to be the poster girl for plastic surgery, a plastic image she’s dreamt about becoming since she was 6 years old. “The surgery was a means to an end. That’s all,” says Cindy. “There are so many people who are being held back by their looks, and if that can help give them a better quality of life and make them happier – what else is more important in life?”
Cindy didn’t have any of Barbie’s looks, but she did have some money, which she inherited. It was enough to begin the surgeries that made her as plastic as her role model. “I had laser surgery on my forehead,” says Cindy. “I’ve had upper eyes done, lower eyes done twice. Cheek implants, nose job – two nose jobs.” She also had four facelifts, a chin reduction, several chemical peels, and more. “My upper lift has been cut and rolled upwards to shorten the gap between my nose and mouth,” adds Cindy. “My eyebrows, eyeliner and lip liner and the full lipstick is tattooed on.” It took 31 operations and 14 years, but Cindy’s strange passion for plastic surgery got her a new look -- and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. How much did all that surgery cost? “About $100,000,” says Cindy. “But I did get quality discounts.” And that doesn’t include maintenance. For instance, her lips will not permanently stay pouty. They’ll have to be re-inflated every few months. “How much of the problem with your old looks do you think was a perception problem in yourself,” Schlesinger asks Cindy. “Absolutely zero,” says Cindy. “It’s not that deep. It’s not that psychological.”
Since Cindy re-invented herself, she has made some snapshot friendships with Ivana Trump, Michael Jackson and Sarah Ferguson. She’s also written a book, which she sells on her own Web site. She now makes a living becoming a kind of celebrity. But just like a surgeon needs a scalpel, or a tummy needs a tuck, a Barbie needs a Ken. And Cindy got hers soon enough. Tim Whitfield Line, 36, was a web designer who lived north of London. He saw Cindy on television, and all of a sudden had a new goal in life. “I wanted to be a male version of her,” says Line. It didn’t take long. About one year and $50 thousand later, he’s now Miles Kendall -- new name, new face. “People call me shallow. But I call society shallow. Because they treat me differently now,” says Miles. “…I mean I wanted to look better anyway. I did. Who doesn’t? People like me or Cindy Jackson go a bit further. A lot.” They’re just perfect, and delighted – and just friends. But whatever went on between Barbie and Ken is not going on here.
But as Barbie and Ken, Cindy and Miles credit their new faces for their new lives. Cindy helped Miles open his new bar, and it’s a goal he says he reached with the help of plastic surgery. “The point is I’m content inside. I don’t worry about my looks anymore,” says Miles. “I want to concentrate on more important things in my life, which I’m doing now.” And Cindy, at 48, is also content to be the poster girl for plastic surgery, a plastic image she’s dreamt about becoming since she was 6 years old. “The surgery was a means to an end. That’s all,” says Cindy. “There are so many people who are being held back by their looks, and if that can help give them a better quality of life and make them happier – what else is more important in life?”
Zaha Hadid
What really impresses me in Hadid’s work is how she can distort architecture in a digital way. Walking through her exhibition at The Design Museum I started to think that I was looking for a work only possible to be thought by the aid of design software. The distortions of the buildings and furniture seemed to me like rendered drawings from 3D studio or any better. I was like the virtual reality had jumped from the monitor to the world. It’s a change in the way we look space.
Friday 8 June 2007
Day One - Next Nature
Now I’m heading for my final project at CSM. Today is the 16th July 2007 and this is the day one, the beginning of the construction of this project. By now, my research follows the work of some people who I believe that have good interpretations for what is going on at this present moment in our lives. People who are also speculating in a way that I agree it is an interesting one.
My first reference is a website from a Dutch designer called Koert van Mensvoort. The name of the website is Next Nature and its description is “Our established view of "nature" needs reconsideration. The notions of nature and culture are trading places. Products of culture, which we used to be in control of, tend to outgrow us and become autonomous. The natural powers shift to another field. Nature changes along with us”.With statements like “We don’t really want to conserve nature. We want to conserve our image of nature” Koert speculates that Nature and Culture had changed places. Stock market has become more unpredictable and wild than weather changes, for instance. The increasing demand of society for immediate responses but at the same time the need of a less artificial and oppressive environment can make us believe that we do want to control nature but we still want to live surrounded by it. We do want to wake up in the morning and look through the window to a clean blue sky but if you could get some more information but the weather condition it would be “better than the real thing”: “"In the morning paper, I can read the weather report as well as the stock quotes. But when I look out of my window I only get a weather update and no stock exchange info. Could someone please fix this bug in my environmental system? Thanks."
My first reference is a website from a Dutch designer called Koert van Mensvoort. The name of the website is Next Nature and its description is “Our established view of "nature" needs reconsideration. The notions of nature and culture are trading places. Products of culture, which we used to be in control of, tend to outgrow us and become autonomous. The natural powers shift to another field. Nature changes along with us”.With statements like “We don’t really want to conserve nature. We want to conserve our image of nature” Koert speculates that Nature and Culture had changed places. Stock market has become more unpredictable and wild than weather changes, for instance. The increasing demand of society for immediate responses but at the same time the need of a less artificial and oppressive environment can make us believe that we do want to control nature but we still want to live surrounded by it. We do want to wake up in the morning and look through the window to a clean blue sky but if you could get some more information but the weather condition it would be “better than the real thing”: “"In the morning paper, I can read the weather report as well as the stock quotes. But when I look out of my window I only get a weather update and no stock exchange info. Could someone please fix this bug in my environmental system? Thanks."
A friend told me about Next Nature when we were talking about a visit I’ve made to London’s Zoo at Regent Park. I told him that I was never again in a zoo after my age of 10 and all that natural controlled environment had quite intrigued me. There was a simulation of a rain forest in the middle of the park, weather, humidity, animals, vegetation, but all in an absolutely safe and clean system. After some minutes you had the experience of had walked in a wild forest but in fact you are in the middle of London. Another thing was the huge birdcage. Think about this enormous net, half km wide and half km tall, full of birds and the simulation of its natural environments. I was inside and for a moment I thought: “where am I?”, “what is it all about?” and then my friend told me: “that’s next nature”.
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