Ingrain Magazine

February 2012:

If you interested in, ‘behind the scenes’ of an idea, an evolving brand or even how your lunch is being made, this month’s write-up bares it all.

The theatre of food, has lead to a very interesting spatial design project. The idea was launch around the Knead Bakeries interest in making you part of the action, this opened up a number of design challenges.

The production became the decoration, the stage in which you participated in. The warmth and charm of the bakery is on full display.

It is a simple concept were the customer is given pride of place. Brands are finding new ways to make their product unique, from story telling, engaging interiors to a simple personal connection.

If a brand stops challenging its customers it will cease to exist. There are many fine examples of Great Brands in our cities all waiting to have us engage with them.

January 2012: We start the year with a classic from the past. Since my passion lies in the visual arts and not in the written, here is an oil painting done on Canvas, Titled Captured Beauty, 2001.

I based it on an old painting technique call chiaroscuro. A word borrowed from Italian (light and dark) referring to the modelling of volume, a technical dating back to Rembrandt, 1628, Self-Portrait at twenty-Two.

However I took it to the extreme and made it hard and flat, using it to capturing the subject. The subject is contained further by the placement on the canvas. Using the corner of the canvas, to draw your eye to the absence of the subject’s eyes and forehead.

However you see fit to reinterpret old techniques, always start with the shadows and the nose, break the face into planes, thick flesh areas are warm while bone areas are cool.

December 2011:

As the year draws to an end it is fitting to write about art, design and the silly season.

The customary level of celebration increase and the store are flooded with Christmas shoppers. Leading to the question of; what to put into the shopping basket?

Here are a few tips on how to make the art of design the tool for selection.

Select with design intent:

Select with functional goal:

Select with artist creativity:

Look at recycling old photographs by using a number editing programs and then getting them printed on canvas. An easy way to show your artistic side while creating a meaningful functional gift.

Look at pulling out the old film camera and getting black and white film and using every day shapes and forms as subject matter. Creating sticking images that can be made in to large prints and framed.

Look at getting that favourite beach sunset printed onto napkins for the special Christmas dinner. Printed napkins that can be reused, while making it a personal touch to a special family time.

A picture says a thousand words so make this Christmas shopping more than one word, use the whole dictionary. Be inspired and happy holiday, till next year.

November 2011:

Here are some interesting facts on solar energy, since it will be part of everyday life sooner than you think.

Did you know that your household geyser uses about 66% of your energy bill? Maybe its time to reconsider using a free resource #solarenergy

Did you know Solar geysers from accredited suppliers get rebates from Eskom? Make sure they are SABS approved #eskomrebates

Did you know it is mandatory from the beginning of November 2011, if your geyser needs replacement that: 50% of its energy to run it has to come from a renewable resource? This is the government’s way of ensuring our grandchildren will get to enjoy nature as we know it. The rest of the world has been doing this for a number of years already. So know you legal rights and don’t accept a product or a supplier that doesn’t comply. You will be held accountable #SANS10400XA

Did you know solar energy can be used in many ways, by adding a few systems you can take your house totally off the grid #offthegrid

Did you know a simple black bag with a tap, can make a great warm shower on a camping trip? Check out your local outdoor store and use the sun #cheap&cheerful

Did you know the sun has bad days too? I found this incredible video clip of a comet plummeting into the sun on 3d sun application for iphone #oct3Comet&CME

The benefits are measureable; we payless for electricity and we join a global community striving for a better future for the planet.

October 2011: Design and the forms it takes.

This month I was inspired by people and design that fell out side my normal day to day work. Leading to a new awareness that design inspiration is all around us. Just in different forms, spaces and orders.

The form is a simple piece of pure art, what all women go gaga over. These two pieces’s done by a very talented designer that I’m fortunate enough to know personally, Anthony Hulsen. Their form for me was never full realised as design, until I found it inspiring an architectural design just through its symmetry and relationship to the space it occupied.

The order of its symmetry gives it its rhythm that fascinated the eye. This is an easy tool to apply when you are placing furniture in a room. This is all before you add colour and texture, hence why I chose to make the image in back and white.

The curved lines of the pearls contrast the strong lines of the setting. Here within the contrast liesas well as the balance. I find natural element in a space to be a critical element, just to soften the man made forms.

These are interesting forms in which you can find inspiration to take into what ever you do. Find the right symmetry, balance, the corresponding form that inspires you to rethink a space in your home, garden or way you do you day today chores. I see strength in simplicity but your degree of simplicity is what makes us all unique. Enjoy discovering.

September 2011: Gardening

This months is all about spring and how the change of season can bring a need for change to our outdoor spaces. I would like to inspire the child in all of us, the one that gets a thrill out of seeing nature transform.

My tip: is go indigenous.

Well there are a number of heated debates in the horticulturalist society, regarding what is and what’s not. I say if you have a garden that it hot and dry you need something with lasting power and if it cold and shady well, you better of with moss & ferns. Each garden is its own micro climate and that’s before you add your preference to what plants must be there.

It’s not only what you plant, it is how you do it in context to the space around it. Make it formal by using basic symmetry or add chaos for that country feel but always group. I’ve leant that grouping adds the wow factor, no one want to be a wall flower. Then finish off your space with subtle splashes of colour. Greys are huge because they work, they don’t show dirt and don’t date. You can get away with a greenish grey a blue grey or even a white grey. I choose blue grey as it ties in with the fynbos and Protea’s I planted. Enjoy the sun and happy planting.

August 2011: Bio-architecture

Whilst I was researching which ‘go green’ system would be most beneficial to write about, I found a multitude of information as diverse as nature itself. So, in order to give more clarity on what is our first step toward being more environmentally conscious, I need to outline the way I approach being eco conscious, with the main focus being “the best things in life are free”.

There are three sections that I have grouped for ease of assessing what to do next. There is the easy, medium and difficult group. The easy group is focused on free resources and generally is reusing what is already there. This ranges from recycling existing buildings for a new use, to recycled materials to make life comfortable and reusing old things in a new way. The medium group sits in the middle of the costing tables and uses passive control strategies, for example, the use of sunlight. Using skylights or sunshades to bring in or block out this natural resource. The difficult group is for the “off the grid” enthusiast. It does cost more for the technology, but the whole system pays itself off, and then there are no fees for life. “The best things in life are free” is our starting point and here are a few pointers that will make your life more colourful, while taking the first step towards being eco conscious.

1. find your local recycling company and start separating bottles, plastics and paper,

2. grow your own vegetables and herbs

3. reuse all organic waste by making compost

4. collect the rain to water those veggies

5. open your house up to the sun this winter, let the light in

It’s been a pleasure collecting all the ideas that make up bio-architecture. Bio-architecture starts with an attitude to nature, your impact on it, after that its pure design.

July 2011: Public monuments

These are photographs of architecturally inspiring public monuments. Two of my favourite monuments that captivate the imagination, due to their size and impact on the public space they occupy.

London Bridge sits in tension linking the two banks. The bridge stands high, inviting the user to stroll across while taking in the scenery from its lofty perch. Baker Street Tube Station is a beautiful underground space that plays with form and light, holding you in the space, while always reminding you of the world above through the beams of light.

Totally inspiring spaces that we can only hope to recreate with future designs.

June 2011: Collection of cities, artworks & the way I see the world.

The pages of ingrain will be a collection of all the incredible things that I have encountered along the way. I will be sharing with you architectural view points, inspiring masterpieces and how new opinions are shaping our world. Thank you in advance to all that have helped me to this point. Be inspired to do more. And feel free to contribute your ideas for consideration. (e: bmj@axxess.co.za)