monument magazine - In the detail

Thursday

04Mar2010

The next issue!

Sorry I'm late. It's been a busy old week here, we're just putting Monument 96 through to the printers. It's always interesting at this stage of the production process, all the work has been done - it's just a matter of making sure it comes out correctly. There's layers of photo retouching and refining to get the mag looking as good as you expect it to. Like seasoning the soup just before serving.

We've got some cracking photographic contributions in issue 96. Beautiful work by the prestigiously talented Peter Bennetts, afore mentioned reportage by Annie Tritt, plus work from international leading lights Iwan Baan, Helene Binet and Roland Halbe.

As part of our new rebooted model of "architecture from different angles", we're including more than just finished projects. We're finding that searching out imagery like painting, scultpure, illustration, and construciton/building shots is adding a whole other level to a discussion of an architectural work.

Without giving too much away, my favourite part of this coming issue is the study paintings and sketches by a to-be named international superstar archie. Wait til you see them, they're just amazing. This kind of insight into the creative process is just so much more inspiring than simply the finished article. More next week... got to get back to it.
- Dan Peterson

Dan Peterson |

1 Comment |

Thursday

04Mar2010

The jam

Adelaide's JamFactory had undergone an elegant makeover designed by Khai Liew. Photography Grant Hancock

There are lots of changes taking place at Adelaide's JamFactory. First I find out that my ex-colleague Brian Parkes has recently been appointed the organisation's new Managing Director (Brian and I worked together at Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design, so all the very best BP) and now I see that the retail store has undergone a transformation. The refit was designed by Khai Liew, surely one of this country's best furniture designers, and gives the glass-fronted space a robustness that was lacking in the space beforehand. Having said this, and judging by the photos only, I wonder if the 'solidness' of the display case groupings is too much for the space. But I'll be in a better position to comment once I've been back. What I do like very much is the translation of Khai's elegant vision from individual furniture piece to overall shop fit out.

I hear outgoing Managing Director Stephen Bowers is going back to life as an artist and I look forward to following his work. Adelaide has produced some of the finest ceramic artists in the country, and Stephen's in good company (think Gerry Wedd, Maria Parmenter). Also worth mentioning is that Khai was the person who recommended emerging Adelaide-based furniture designer Takeshi Iue when we were putting together issue 91's New Generation feature. Takeshi is well worth keeping an eye on.

Is the 'solidness' of the display case groupings too much for the space? Photography Grant Hancock

Leanne Amodeo |

The XY Bench by Veronika Gombert

The XY Bench, copyright Veronika Gombert

Found this interesting piece on the behance network the other day. The XY Bench, an interesting interpretation of bench seating systems by Paris based industrial designer Veronika Gombert.

I've always thought that the food court concept in a lot of western cities is pretty depressing. All those rows of tables, often covered with marketing material. It's not a great way for people to spend their meal time. I like the way the XY Bench subverts this, it's playful and it raises questions about how we use this kind of space.

The XY Bench, copyright Veronika Gombert

Dan Peterson |

Shop 'Til You Drop

The launch of the first-ever Designed Blinds Australia store makes a good impression on guests. Courtesy Designed Blinds Australia

Designed Blinds Australia (DBA) and Tait have both recently opened new stores in Melbourne. Thinly veiled plug for two of our favourite suppliers aside, the cleverly designed showrooms - DBA's is by architect Roger Burns and Tait's is by Ryan Russell, known for his work for Aesop - are well worth visiting not only for the shopping but for the interiors themselves. Clever interior design within a retail environment is not to be underestimated. I've been into one too many shops where the experience of actually being in there is so fraught that I've had to walk straight out, regardless of how good the sales were. So when client and designer get it right it's something to sing about, and whoever said you can't have form and function together under the one roof obviously wasn't trying.

The interior of the new Tait's store in Melbourne. Photography Dianna Snape

Leanne Amodeo |

1 Comment |

tagged

Interior/Exterior,

Retail

Thursday

11Feb2010

Portraiture/Architecture

Brook Andrew, shot in NYC by Annie Tritt for Monument 88

One of our regular editorial features that was retained when Monument was rebooted was the industry profiles. In issue 95 Jay Merrick profiled the design world's latest Chosen One, Benjamin Hubert so we commissioned London based photographer Venetia Dearden to shoot a portrait to run with the article. We think she did a great job, snapping Benjamin mid-cappuccino fuelled brainstorm at his local Islington cafe.

Monument's portraiture brief is to document, not showcase. This means that our photographer is commissioned to capture the designer/architect in their daily life. To give you a window into how they look, and what they do on an average day.

When you arrange for a professional creative to be photographed you're taking them out of their comfort zone, so a lot of portraits you see of Architects are often pretty contrived, you get a real sense that they are being interrupted, that they don't really want to be there. It's very easy for the set up to look forced, or for the photography to get caught up trying to illustrate the architects own aesthetic in the shot.

Great portraiture is intimate, and insightful. The viewer gets a real sense of who this person is just from one simple image. One of our favourite photographers, Annie Tritt shot a great example of this back in Monument issue 88. Her portrait of Australian artist Brook Andrew (above) on the fire escape of his apartment while working in New York is a beautifully relaxed and intimate window into Brook's life at that time. Annie has just submitted her work for another commission that will be published in our next issue (96 - on sale March 25th) I can't say too much now, but it is extensive, exciting and extremely beautiful. Look out for it!

If you're a photographer, feel free to get in touch, email Art Director Dan Peterson at dan.peterson@textpacific.com.au

Benjamin Hubert in London, by Venetia Dearden

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