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Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed is an artist whose work focuses on the construction and deconstruction of traditional patterned rugs and carpets. Carpets were initially seen as a sophisticated form of writing rather than a decorative piece. Each element of the pattern was once a written sign. Ahmed’s work explores how a carpet is more a time structure than a graphical one.

 

 The effect is a rug that seems to be unraveled or created.
In his artist’s statement, Ahmed says “I’ve been always fond of investigating and researching every detail of anything that had interested me… I’m heretofore harried by a question others have left in childhood – “what is inside?” That’s why I’m changing habitual and visually static objects making them spatial, giving them a new depth. And this as if reveals the essence of this object – the object that was mediocre just a minute ago.”

 

Ahmed’s work can be see on his artist website www.faigahmed.com.

Glass Scarf

When I was little, I was a major snooper. I loved going through my father’s desk drawer. It was full of interesting odds and ends, which I would endlessly inspect: A wooden pipe, a package of tobacco, photos of my parents before they were married, and the most fascinating of all, a very old stethoscope, which I would use to listen to my heart and stomach and the heart and stomach of my dog.

I’d go through my mother’s drawers too–opening every jewelry box and slipping on her rings. But what I loved the most was her drawer of neatly folded silk scarves. The perfumed squares would spring up like a row of flowers begging my grubby little fingers to pluck them, sniff them, hold them to my cheek.

Here is an amazing Emilio Pucci scarf from the 1960s (top). I love the idea of framing and displaying vintage scarves so they don’t have to sit in a drawer. Framing textiles in general is a great way to display them.

Here is a framed butterfly scarf, which resembles a real butterfly display cases, but is significantly less sad.

Vidal Sasson Renovates Neutra’s Singleton House

 Vidal Sassoon revolutionized hairstyling in the 1960s. His easy-to-maintain, precision cut bobs and geometric shapes modernized women’s hair. Sassoon is credited with inventing the five-point haircut to complement the bone structure of model and Vogue creative director, Grace Coddington. He gave Mia Farrow her famous pixie cut for the 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby, and his most famous cut at the time was the asymmetrical bob or the Nancy Kwan, which he cut for the actress’s role in the 1963 comedy The Wild Affair. “My whole work, beginning in the late 1950s, came from the Bauhaus,” Sassoon explains in April’s Architectural Digest. “It was all about studying the bone structure of the face, to bring out the character. Architects have always been my heroes,” he adds.

With his love of architecture, it makes sense that in 2004 for $6 million, Sassoon and wife Ronnie purchased the iconic Singleton House designed by Richard Neutra. The home was originally commissioned in 1959 by industrialist Henry Singleton for its spectacular Bel Air location atop Mulholland Drive with views of the Pacific, downtown, the desert, and San Gabriel Mountains.

 

bubye summer

Water Wigs!!

Tim Tadder's "Water Wigs" project is a series of photos of bald guys who allowed buckets of water to be upended over their heads, while a high-speed camera caught the frozen instant in which they appear to be wearing a wig made of water. (via jwz)

g.l.o.w.

The year is 1986. Mike Tyson has just won his first title, the Chicago Bears are super bowl champs and unlikely rap-stars, and GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling is about to burst onto the scene as the first ever all-female wrestling show on television.

Like its then sole competitor/frequent imitator, the World Wrestling Federation, GLOW was a prime-time wrestling series, complete with elaborate characters, costumes, skits, personalized raps, and, of course, wrestling. Unlike the WWF, GLOW was a true variety show, more akin to “Hee-Haw” and “You Can’t Do That On Television,” than to any wrestling show the world had ever seen. 

Because of this, many of the women who joined GLOW were actresses who had never set foot in a wrestling ring. That all changed after an initial boot camp session with wrestling legend Mando Guerrero, and for four years, week after week, women like Mountain Fiji, the Samoan giant with a heart of gold, and Matilda the Hun, the evil German with a taste for raw meat, battled it out for the GLOW crown. 

By 1989, the GLOW girls were an international phenomenon, attracting over seven million viewers worldwide, touring the nation, and making big bank for the show’s producers. One year later, GLOW was gone, and the world has been a little less fun ever since.

Devon Steampunk Watch

The Devon Tread watch is arguably the most cutting edge watch made today, a timepiece of striking visuals and technology. The Tread 1 Watch features four internal 2-micron thin belts that spin within the case to display the time. It’s powered by a lithium polymer rechargeable cell that is charged by wireless induction. This electric system runs the belts that are kept in tune with an optical technology. Add that all up, and you have one of the most technically advanced, visually stunning watches ever made. The Devon Works Tread 1 Watch was designed by a California aerospace company, a group that is quite comfortable with fitting square pegs through round holes. This watch is a prime example of their technical prowess.

Operating out of California, DEVON is the only American watch company using its own proprietary movement. In late 2010, the Tread 1 was nominated for the Gran Prix d’Horlogerie de Genéve in the category of Design and Concept Watch – the first American watch brand ever to receive this laudable recognition.

Ned's Head

Looking for that perfect mood-setting focal piece for your boudoir? A 12-foot-high mock-up of Digital Underground frontman Humpty Hump’s head has been abandoned at a warehouse in Oakland, California, and needs a permanent home.

The enormous noggin was made both as a stage prop and as a set piece for the group’s 1993 music video “Return Of The Crazy One.” According to the person who alerted everyone to its existence on Tumblr, whoever last owned the head (not another member of Digital Underground, hopefully) had been evicted from his or her apartment, and was actually living in the head for several weeks before being discovered. 
 More details:

• dimensions are 12ft high by 16 ft wide at it’s base.
• splits into 3 pieces for smaller storage or transport.
• required an 18-wheel truck to transport and a 4-man fork lift team to move.
• full dressing room inside, w/electric elevator that lifts out thru nose.
• also has metal stairs inside and nose-door opens manually as well, in case of electric failure.
• sunglasses light up and scroll circular light patterns around the rims.
• The lips and chin double as steps to walk down to stage.
• 50k to build; built by FM Productions South San Francisco.
  (they also did the giant pig for Pink Floyd. lol)

Digital Underground’s Humpty Hump (a.k.a. Shock-G) reached out to a blogger who posted about the head to say that he would love for someone to preserve this piece of history. While the L.A. Museum Of Hip-Hop History has already said it isn’t interested, Shock-G says that he’ll pay for the transport, storage, and cleaning of the item if someone will just take it. He’ll also either buy it or rent it from said person, in the event that Digital Underground ever needs it for a future tour or Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. You have nothing to lose, and only a giant Humpty Hump head to gain.