Spokes
Another angle on the merry go round in Florence.
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | 1 Comments
Archived: April 2007
Barcelona Hand
The view from alongside one of the statues part-way up the spires of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
And it turns out the sun's shining here this weekend, so I'm heading out to soak in the warmth.
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
The locals
Trafalgar Square, London, just outside the National Gallery.
There are a few interesting things in the works at the moment which I'll hopefully get a chance to write about this weekend. Provided the sun doesn't lure me outside again.
Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
When the sun shines
You know things are warming up in London when people start flocking to any scrap of open turf to bake in the sun on the weekend.
This is the view last Sunday afternoon from the top of City Hall. This is also a building which is known, in the continuing theme of edible building names, as the Leaning Tower of Pizzas.
Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | 1 Comments
Jacobsen
Glasses hanging from the bar the Jacobsen brewery at the Carlsberg Brewery complex in Copenhagen.
For the record, the Jacobsen beers were quite tasty.
Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
Natural History Museum
The vast lobby of the Natural History Museum here in London.
The Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition was spectacular and definitely worth a visit if the international tour makes its way to somewhere near you (it's in London until the end of April).
It was interesting to see that almost all the photos, across both professional and junior categories, were taken with digital SLR cameras this time around. The few film shots exhibited were all taken on slide films famous for their vibrant colour, but next to digital the difference wasn't as great as I'd imagined.
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
Pepper
Somehow while hanging out at a Danish opera house I seem to have ended up taking a photo of some pepper grinders. Which might be weird anywhere else, but these pepper grinders are in Denmark so they're therefore incredibly beautiful.
I've got to admit one thing: I intentionally flew to Denmark with a small bag and not a lot of room to bring things back with me.
I mean, if I was buying things to bring back, how could I possibly choose between all the goodies from Stelton, Georg Jensen, Holmegaard and a stack of independent designers that are everywhere and surprisingly affordable?
Illums Bolighus, the giant designer department store by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark—who I imagine has the most tastefully bedecked royal residence in the world—is a sensory overload of slick Scandinavian design. Floor after floor of homewares, furniture, gadgets and lighting... It was conveniently in the middle of the main pedestrian street through Copenhagen so I made a few visits to quietly drool over bits and pieces of understated Danish design.
One day, when I have a house to kit out with designer toys, I'll make another trip to Denmark, carrying only a large empty suitcase.
That way I don't have to make these sorts of agonising decisions.
Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | 1 Comments
Enter the Pumpkin
On the way into the main auditorium at the Operaen, through the maple-clad shell.
Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
Still Looking Down
Another tall photo from the Operaen, this time of the people milling around the foyer. The elliptical inlay in the floor is a giant version of the Danish Opera's logo.
To the top of the photo is the giant curved maple wood wall that encloses the main auditorium. Lit at night it's a vivid orange and is clearly visible from outside Amalienborg palace, just across the harbour (apparently it's called "the pumpkin" by the locals).
Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | 2 Comments
Looking Down
View from the balcony of Copenhagen's Operaen.
Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
Spiral
The Operaen is Copenhagen's new opera house, sailing onto the city's cultural scene in 2005.
All glass, steel, marble and wood, the building sits on its own island in the harbour opposite Amalienborg castle. One of the most striking aspects of the Operaen are the intricate light fixtures in the foyer. A sort of spiral of crystal-like glass, they catch the light and shift and move as you walk underneath them.
The artist behind them, Ólafur Elíasson, was also responsible for the Weather Project which was part of the ongoing Unilever Series of installations at the Tate Modern in 2003. This season's installation is Carsten Höller's Test Site 2006, a series of slides spiraling around the Turbine Hall. They're brilliant.
Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
Play of Light
One part of Arne Jacobsen's design for the lobby of the SAS Royal Copenhagen that's remained intact through renovations and restyling is the ethereal staircase alongside the lobby bar.
A curling structure of gloss-white finishes and glass, the staircase is entirely suspended from the ceiling on thin white supports, with its lowest step appearing to hover just above the floor.
The spiral staircase is a stunning piece of architecture, especially considering Jacobsen designed it almost fifty years ago.
Posted on Monday, April 9, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 | 1 Comments
Very Red
While trawling through my photos yesterday I realised that there's a stack from earlier travels that never quite made it online.
So while I'm sitting here in the London spring sunshine over the Easter long weekend I'm going to kick things off with a photo of the lobby bar at the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, which I've already raved about. It's loaded up with red and black Swan chairs, and along the bar itself are lines of glossy red Series 7 chairs on giant bar-sized legs.
It's all very hip. And very red.
Posted on Sunday, April 8, 2007 | Chairs , Europe 2006-2007 | No Comments Yet
In Other News
Yes, I'm still alive. And yes, I'm still in London.
There's plenty going on and I haven't had a chance to stop and write or take photos for a little while. I'm hoping to take some time this long-long Easter weekend to get back into the swing of things, so hopefully there'll be a few more posts in the coming weeks.
Since I'm in London I'll probably do some kind of arty-culturey things over the weekend, since this fine city is littered with them. The Design Museum has just opened a couple of new exhibitions so I might head back there to check it all out.
How's your long-long weekend looking? (Quiet? Big? Chocolate-fueled?)
Posted on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 | Europe 2006-2007 , Hot Chocolate | No Comments Yet