Powers of Ten

I've always loved this masterpiece by The King and Queen of Eames. It's wonderful, and its 1977 vintage (pre Google Earth by many an Angstrom unit) only adds to its wonder. The before-your-very-eyes presentation of the notion that sub-atomic particles are doing the same funky stuff under that guy's skin as they are 100 million light years out in space is enough to keep you awake at night.

And thanks to Creative Review for reminding of the timeless power of Powers of Ten. Interesting competition by the Eames Office and Core77. Although it's one that I will certainly avoid. I mean - what could you possibly add to it apart from, as one YouTuber suggests, an electron microscope and the Hubble telescope at either end....

Japanese Foods

A recent design trip to Japan had many high points - rocketed around the country on the shinkansen, from Tokyo, to Matsumoto to Hamamatsu and back to Tokyo. But top of the list of experiences is always the food. I arrived at Narita after an 11 hour flight, pretty knackered, and then did a three hour stint by local train up into the cool Nagano mountains. By the time I'd met my clients I was hungry enough to eat a horse. Just as well because the first thing to appear on the table (in traditional tatami setting) was horse sashimi. That's raw horse. I've eaten beef carpaccio, steak tartar, and plenty of sashimi of the fish variety but there's something about horse sashimi that makes you immediately consider vegetarianism. Here's a shot of some sashimi (piscine not equine) that I had in a Tokyo restaurant later on that week. Lovely.

Now then Brits; stop going on about sushi when you mean sashimi and vice versa. Sushi is artistic pieces of cooked rice often topped with raw fish (and many other things besides), or rolls of the same, or indeed many other carefully created forms. Sashimi is just raw cuts of fish, artfully sliced in a certain bite-sized portion and usually eaten with soy and hot wasabi which you mix together in a little bowl with your hashi.

Junk

These are shots of work I did at the RCA way back in 1989. Happy and wonderful days under the tutelage of Eduardo Paolozzi. They were made from a mixture of junk and carefully hand -crafted components (usually pieces of glass). The junk was scrap metal found in bins and electronic detritus, often dumped on my desk by Paolozzi himself. I would arrive in the morning to find a defunct piece of hi-fi equipment ready for me to dis-assemble. 

Difficult to remember which parts were made and which found (blurring the boundaries was always the intention) but I remember spending a lot of time in IDE spot welding, brazing and soldering.

Jonathan Glancey was very complimentary about the pieces at the time, when he wrote for The Independent, likening them to the inscrutable instruments of Captain Nemo's bridge and said that I aspired to being the Charlie Parker of design. Praise indeed, and I'd be hard pressed to think of a better compliment for as long as I live.

Some of the works are soon to be shown at a well known London design gallery - so, heartwarmingly for me, they get to ride again. Watch this space - and hope you like 'em.

The Jazzman's Side Table © keech2010

Junk Lamp © Keech2010