by kate on April 20, 2012
Beautiful, impossibly intricate patterns and textures are all around us. Look around the room you’re sitting in, and you can probably find some complex natural designs—the wood grain on your table, a ripple in your glass of water, the lines on the palm of your hand. Other natural patterns become visible to us only with the help of technology and data.
These wind maps are part of a personal art project created by Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg of HINT.FM. They take real-time wind data collected from the National Digital Forecast Database and animate them to reveal the wind’s utterly gorgeous fluid pathways over the United States. The still images are lovely, but you should watch the moving maps on the site for the full effect. It turns out that we land-dwellers are immersed in a tumultuous, swirling, invisible ocean—we can’t see it, but we feel the current.
The patterns in many of these images recall the supernatural sky in Starry Night, making me imagine that Van Gogh was a synesthete with the ability to “see” the wind. Sadly, I lack this heightened visual sense, and with the exception of appreciating a cool breeze on a hot day, I often take the wind for granted. These moving maps are a wonderful reminder of the powerful energies that surround us always, moving in their own complex rhythms, just as we humans do. Have a great weekend, everyone!
{All images captured from Wind Map by HINT.FM}
by kate on April 19, 2012
As you can probably tell from looking through an issue of Anthology, we’re huge fans of perfectly imperfect styling. A well-composed eclectic mix, with just a few things rumpled or off-kilter, is pure poetry to us. It’s this same kind of effortless style that draws me to the work of Meyer-Lavigne.
I first discovered this Danish design duo after spotting a couple of their hand-painted plates in an issue of Elle magazine. Interiors, product styling, ceramics: Kristine Meyer and Sabine Lavigne bring whimsy and a touch of the unexpected to everything they do. I love the fresh, sophisticated mix of pastels and deep dark tones; it feels just right for the spring season. I’ve pulled my favorites to share below, but there are many more images to admire in their portfolio. I hope you’ll sneak a few minutes to go have a look!
{All images by Meyer-Lavigne and Johan Rosenmunthe}
One of my favorite parts of home tours in Anthology is getting to see the art people select. It’s such a personal and revealing thing! And there’s usually a good story about how a particular piece ended up in someone’s home. But shopping for art is another story. Finding a piece of art, especially an original, seems intimidating.
Enter a brilliant new shop, endearingly called Buy Some Damn Art. Founded by Kate Singleton, Buy Some Damn Art offers six original works by artists she hand selects for a short period of time. Each week she introduces a new artist, so at any given time, there are works available by about half a dozen artists. Right now, my favorites in the shop are by Jenny Brown, a collage artist. They’re mixed media pieces with ink, gouache, pencil, and found paper.
Another perk of Buy Some Damn Art is the interviews with the artists. It’s so interesting to hear how the works come together and see the artist’s work spaces. These particular pieces by Brown have floral elements that she carefully lifted from 1920s greeting cards, many of which had messages inside. Isn’t that a wonderful backstory?
{Original works by Jenny Brown, images by Buy Some Damn Art}
by Nancy on April 17, 2012
Before our next issue comes out I wanted to share these off shoots of Shauna Alterio and Stephen Loidolt’s home from Issue No. 6. It’s inspiring to read how the husband-an-wife duo of Something’s Hiding In Here transformed a loft in an old tire factory into their home.
I repeatedly read this article not only for the amazing ways they’ve found, repurposed, and thoughtfully designed their home, but also for the endearing ways they show their affection for each other. When I saw the photos of their matches and ceramic animal collections, I couldn’t help wondering what the story is behind these little curated objects …
{ Photos by Seth Smoot. Styling by Kendra Smoot. }
Earlier this month, after we’d sent the latest issue of Anthology to the printer, several of us took little vacations. I spent a week near Las Vegas with family. It was my first time in that area, and the highlight of trip wasn’t The Strip, but majestic Red Rock Canyon. We spent several afternoons exploring, and I was mesmerized by the diversity of colors and textures in the rocks. Since I’ve been back home, I’ve found myself seeking out beautiful rocks, which explains my current fixation with jewelry designer Jacquie Aiche’s Rocks & Minerals collection.
Jacquie’s work is influenced by her heritage—her mother is American Indian and her father is Egyptian. In other pieces, you can easily see her father’s Egyptian influence, but this particular collection focuses on gorgeous geodes and minerals “which are all reminiscent of the Native American jewelry of [her] mother’s heritage.”
It would be like a mini escape to carry one of these around with you all day to gaze at.
{All images from Jacquie Aiche}
