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Monthly Archives: March 2015

The Visuology Lecture and the Story of Sebastian Horsley’s Suit

We thought you might like to hear more about the Visuology Lecture, which took place at Viktor Wynd’s Museum of Curiosities recently. The star attraction (apart from innumerable specimens of taxidermy, twisted ephemera, macabre and medical memorabilia) was Savile Row tailor, Richard Anderson. One of the most experienced tailors in the world famous street, Anderson […]

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Inventing a More Caring Future: Designs of the Year 2015

The main difficulty with an all encompassing design competition is that, ultimately, it does not compare like with like. Some of the entries are life changing, or could affect us all in the future. Others seem more of an artistic expression, designed purely for our amusement. There is the added complication that, whilst some of the […]

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Freak Out: The Body as a Canvas

A far cry from bespectacled, retro-inspired geek chic – or the homogenized normcore look, is the trend for increasingly extreme tattooing and body piercing. Although tattoos have been around since Neolithic times, and 5000-year old mummified humans have been found with body piercings, the relatively recent association of such body adornments with sailors and criminal gangs has […]

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Extraordinary, Extreme, Sublime: The Savage Beauty of Alexander McQueen

Commercial yet contrarian, Lee Alexander McQueen inhabited a parallel world to most of those around him. Being so rapidly catapulted from council house kid to multi-millionaire couturier must have been psychologically unsettling, but his morbid feelings were sadly compounded by the rigorous demands of his trade, by bereavement and a bad drug habit. Referred to in the V&A’s new exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty […]

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Back to Nature: Primitive Materials in Design

Ancient tribal crafts were based upon the faith of Animism – the worship of nature, and the belief that natural physical entities possess a spiritual essence. Traditional tribes hunted for food, then used every last piece of the animals they slaughtered to create useful products. They were resourceful and respected the natural world. We may […]

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Timeless Design: The Dream Catcher

The night air is filled with dreams. Good dreams are clear and know the way to the dreamer, descending through the feathers. The slightest movement of the feathers indicates the passage of yet another beautiful dream. Bad dreams, however, are confused and confusing. They cannot find their way through the web and are trapped there […]

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