The xx

I cannot stop listening to this. My daily addiction. Beaut.

AND EVERYDAY
I AM LEARNING ABOUT YOU
THE THINGS THAT NO ONE ELSE SEES
AND THE END COMES TOO SOON
LIKE DREAMING OF ANGELS
AND LEAVING WITHOUT THEM
AND LEAVING WITHOUT THEM

You can find lyrics of the xx songs on their website.

抽象的な歌詞だったファーストアルバムから一変、かなりダイレクトな言い回しのthe xxセカンドアルバム（９月１０日イギリス発売予定）。
宇多田ヒカルにしても、Lana Del Reyにしても、the xxにしても、本当に心の奥底に落ちる音楽はラブソングばかり。恋しているしていないに関わらず。
２０１２年は、新譜のリリースが豪華・・・。

Offices to Work for

I'm back at Unruly, where I've been working on and off for over a year. It's a company that specializes in social video advertising.
I'm actually not doing a design job there, more in the field of marketing (or 'international outreach' as they call it), but it's rather interesting to find out how video advertisings are being distributed after designed.
One of the reasons that persuaded me to go back is that their new office is rather fabulous.

不定期でも、なんだかんだ１年以上ずっと働いているUnrulyという広告代理店に戻っていて、今はそこでお仕事しています。でも実は、担当しているのはデザイン業務ではなく、マーケティング寄りの仕事なのだけれど、「デザインが出来上がった後に、どう流通させるか」というのが身を持ってわかるのでデザイナーとして逆に面白いです。
そして、オフィスがめちゃめちゃかっこいい。

Unruly's new spacious office has a huge roof top terrace with great view, basement has play rooms, and the location is just off Brick Lane that allows me to walk to work. I think the interior and location of the office definitely contributed to the motivation for work.
I absolutely adored Agent Provocateur, where I used to intern, and just found out both Unruly and AP have been designed by the same interior design office called BASE.

広い、綺麗、かっこいいオフィスは、屋上が全部すごく眺めのいいテラスになっていたり、地下が「遊びエリア」になっていたり、立地もブリックレーンのすぐ横で家から歩いて通える・・・と良いことづくし。オフィスの善し悪しは、会社へのモチベーションになるから大事だと改めて実感。
前働いていた、Agent Provocateurもオフィスがすごくかっこよくて大好きだったのだけれど、調べてみたら、UnrulyもAgent ProvocateurもBASEという同じインテリア事務所が手がけていた。

(All photos from BASE)

The lesson learnt is that if one day I get to own an office, make it cool or at least very clean. Performance does get influenced by the environment. I have been fortunate to have studied and worked in brand new buildings, many of them even had 'wow' factors that I could show off. Being proud of the office is probably a good start of being proud of your job.

新品の校舎にあたるということが多く（今まで通った学校のほとんどが、新品の校舎だった）、新しい校舎や新しいオフィスに縁があるラッキーな人生。意外とパフォーマンスが環境に左右されるので、綺麗な建物に当たってきたことは良かったなと思います。
「かっこよくて自慢出来る」ということもかなり重要だけれど、意外と「トイレが綺麗」という些細なことが、ハッピーに過ごすのに大事な気がする。

Bauhaus: Art as Life at Barbican Art Gallery

Last few days remaining for Bauhaus exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, so I rushed to pay it a visit.
I've been to bauhaus-archiv museum in Berlin. That probably was my first encounter with Bauhaus and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the most memorable part of that museum, I've always associated Bauhaus with Mies. This time around I learnt that Mies in fact taught there only for about 2 years and Gropius was the one who founded the school...

I'm still puzzled about Bauhaus because the teachers seem to be more famous than the students. People who are associated with Bauhaus (likes of Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Mies van der Rohe, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Max Bill etc) were all lecturer there rather than students. If Bauhaus had progressive teaching then surely students who came out are brilliant artists/designers but to me it seems like the teachers were more progressive than students. Am I getting this wrong?

In any case that certainly seems like quite a fun school to be at. It's got a good mix of functional/rational thinking approach and craft-oriented works.

Followings are the memorable artists/works from the exhibition that I made a note of (and managed to find images online):

Actor's Mask (1924) by Paul Klee 
One of the most compelling pieces at the exhibition. Now that I look back to it, it reminds me of Yoshitomo Nara's work. Perhaps that might be why I liked it.

De Stijl 1 (1922) by Peter Keler
Apparently the influences of De Stijl and Constructivism (1923) were the turning point for the direction of Bauhaus. I prefer Bauhaus after those influences.

Tomb in Three Parts (1923) by Paul Klee
Although he seems to be very famous, Paul Klee is an artist I only found out about from this exhibition. Peter Doig meets constructivism. Me likes.

Projekt für den Umbau des Kaufhauses Borchardt in Dessau (1931) by Eduard Ludwig
It doesn't look like it's a design from 80 years ago. This can very much be any new office that we are still building around the world.


Graphic design such as brochures or typography caught my eyes throughout the exhibition, but I don't think I had any particular favorite. They all looked 'nice' but nothing too striking I guess.

The exhibition finishes on Sunday, so be quick if you still like to see it.


バービカンでのバウハウス展。バウハウスってもっと機能的・合理的なのものかと思っていたけれど、展示作品は、造形的な作品が多かった。

London Olympics 2012

It may as well be once in a life time opportunity to have an Olympics hosted in my own city, and despite my very low interest in sports (the only thing I watch is World Cup and Euros), I find myself unexpectedly enjoying it.

I love seeing random countries and random teams playing random sports, for instance China vs S. Korea women's volleyball or women's gymnastics. But of course it's been fun following Japanese football team as well as Team GB medal scores. Funnily enough, I'm not following the Dutch team at all.

I thank Internet for allowing me to watch all these random games of random nations. A bit of a time waster, but I'm enjoying all the drama and tears, it's touching to say the least.


自分の住んでる街でオリンピックがあることなんて、一生に一回の可能性だってあるのだから、まあチケットでも取ってみるかなー程度の期待度だったのですが、始まってみると意外とオリンピック楽しい。
ぶっちゃけ、スポーツ観戦に興味があるわけでもないし、北京オリンピックでは１競技も観なかったので、ただのミーハー心なのだけれど、いやはや面白い。

十数競技が同じ時間に平行して行われるわけだから、普段どこの国も、テレビ中継やニュースというのは、自分の国の強い選手しかとりあげないけれど、今はネット（イギリスはBBC、オランダはNOS）で、どこ競技も中継と録画をいつでも観れるので、かなり便利。ちなみにオリンピック音痴の私は、十数競技が同時進行なことさえも知りませんでした。
中国対マレーシアの男子シングルバトミントン決勝やら、ブラジル対知らないどっかの国の女子ビーチバレーボールなんかをだらだらと観ていて、スポーツにも興味ないし、選手も知らないし、国も関係ないので、客観的に観ているはずが、ドラマがあって意外と感動してしまうものです。

オリンピックこんなに面白いなら、２０２０年東京オリンピックになればいいなと適当に願っております。