When we feature kitchens in the magazine, there’s usually some styling and cleaning up that goes into the photos. Many of the everyday necessities are tucked out of sight in favor of something more streamlined. But this series of photos by Erik Klein Wolterink does the opposite. Rather than hiding all the necessary objects that make up a kitchen, he’s putting them on display.
Kitchen Portraits started as an attempt to look at the multicultural nature of Amsterdam and has since been turned into a book. For the project, Wolterink wanted to consider the contents of kitchens of homes from families who’d come to Amsterdam from other places, “to use the kitchen as a metaphor for a complex multicultural reality.” He photographed each cabinet and drawer, and then created a composite image of the kitchen which preserves the detail of every space. It’s fascinating and revealing to study this series.
{Images by Erik Klein Wolterink via Slate}
Joanna’s recent post about the perfect packaging for Mother’s Day gifts reminded me of The Link Collective, which produces beautiful furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloths). The Link Collective was started by two friends living on opposite ends of the world; one in Japan and one in the US. They’ve invited other designers to participate in the collective as well, and the online network of women has come up with a handful of elegant, modern designs.
While their collective is very 21st-century, the methods they use to produce their products have stayed true to traditional Japanese techniques. Each furoshiki is hand printed by a family of craftsmen in Japan who’ve dedicated themselves to keeping their art alive. The Link Collective recently put together an online tour of the printing facility and the pictures and story are really lovely. While you could use one of these furoshiki to wrap a gift this Mother’s Day, I think it would make an excellent gift on its own!
{Images via The Link Collective}
While researching parts for a lighting project I’ve been contemplating, I came across the work of Brooklyn-based Bec Brittain. She has several beautiful lines—the Axial light, A Shades, and mercurial Maxhedron are all worth looking at—but the SHY Light is really a showstopper. Each fixture, inspired by crystalline structures, is a series of component parts including hubs and thin LED tubes. The parts can be configured and reconfigured to create a light that suits any individual space. And as Brittain puts it: “Like crystals, each can be different while sharing the same structural foundation.” The bulbs and hubs have a utilitarian quality to them, but the compositions are so elegant and beautiful.
{Images from Bec Brittain}
Recently, I came across a picture of Katsumi Machimura’s work and was eager to learn more. The ceramics are thick, mottled black and grey tones, and have a bit of roughness to them. I haven’t been able to glean much about Machimura from his Pinterest page, but the images of his workspace are fascinating, and so are the shots of pieces in progress. I’m determined to find out more!
{Images from Atelier Katsumi}
Since we’re always collaborating with talented illustrators for issues of Anthology, coming across someone’s work we love is exciting. Unfortunately for us, illustrator Happy Menocal’s focus is on branding and custom commissions, and not editorial work. But that didn’t stop me from scrolling through her entire portfolio, and falling especially hard for her Custom Heraldry.
When asked to design a wedding invitation suite for her friend, Happy came up with the idea of creating a crest as the unifying theme and palette. With it she could capture the essence of a partnership in a way a limiting monogram no longer could—a very modern approach to the age-old crest. The brilliance of this idea took off, requests started coming in, and soon she was creating crests not just for nuptials, but also for new babies, families, organizations, and individuals. These are a few of my favorites, but it’s worth scrolling through the set in Happy’s portfolio, and also reading more about her work in this interview.
{Images via Happy Menocal}
