THE CAPSULE (2012) / directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari / official trailer from HAOS FILM on Vimeo.

Tsangari and Joannou created the film as a re-interpretation of the ‘DesteFashionCollection’: a project developed in 2007 that used a ‘capsule collection’ of artworks to re-envision the fashion industry through creating a dialogue between art and fashion. Elements of fashion can be seen in the film’s use of haute couture designs to dress its rose-faced female disciples. The novices are led by a domina matriarch who wears a gold plated collar around her neck – an object of jealousy designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton. The ornate mansion and the expensive clothing that dress the women are a striking contrast to the lessons and behaviours the girls enact.
 

The last thing I will teach you… is to lack

THE CAPSULE is darkly fantastical with the softness of the girls juxtaposed against their animalistic nature. The story quickly develops into a horror narrative akin to a Lord of the Flies-esque temperament where lustful impulses become a ritualistic rite to womanhood. The intelligence of the movie lies in its ability to maintain the delicate essence of femininity while women lash out in the warrior aggression typically reserved for patriarchy. The walls of the mansion banish societal norms, but imprison the wicked temptations that lie beneath the surface of these impressionable women. Stepping outside the boundaries of conformity and comfort, the film is a captivating look at the meaning of womanhood through the magical interaction of art, fashion, and cinema.
 

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Image: ©Despina Spyrou

Images: ©Despina Spyrou

Water Balance

Image: The Mag

Image: Design Milk

It’s easy to forget to water your plants, but product design outfit Design Soil is making it easier for plant-owners to remember to feed their plants. Water Balance is a vase structure created by Japanese designer Risako Matsumoto for Design Soil. The shelf-like structure lends a new form of intelligence to plant-life, allowing the green shrubs to communicate with their owners. When the plant is perfectly hydrated Water Balance maintains even balance, but once the water has evaporated from the vase the structure tips to one side. The wooden piece is simple and and minimalist, making it an easy fixture to fit in any setting.
 
 

Grater Card

Image: PSFK

Business cards play a crucial role in attracting new clients. A boring business card could land in the trash, effectively pushing your company closer to the bottom, but a creative business card could help develop a brand’s success. Ad agency JWT Brazil tapped into this thought-process and created a business card that both reflects the business’s purpose and is usable to clients beyond being a generic piece of paper with contact details.

Bon Vivant is a Brazilian store that specialises in cheese. The shop teamed up with JWT to create the Grater Card — a light metal business card that can grate all kinds of cheese while giving important contact information for Bon Vivant. The clever card has become a viral hit in Brazil to the extent where the cheese connoisseurs have required customers to wait two to three days before asking for a new card. The handy card comes with a protective sleeve so that the grater remains as clean as possible before use.
 
 

Finger Paint Artworks

Image: Iris Scott

Iris Scott is a 28-year-old who creates fine art oil paintings with the tools of oil paint, surgical gloves, and her fingers. Scott began experimenting with fine art and finger painting while in Taiwan. The artist explains that during her stay in Southern Taiwan she struggled to captures her vision of flowers using brush techniques and started using her fingers instead, developing an entirely new aesthetic. As a result, Scott’s works have been commended for the hypnotic movement, sensory texture, and vivacious colours.
 
 

Selfridges Drive-Thru Shopping

Image: Julian Castle

Image: Facebook

Online shopping has been a rage for many years now with the advent of online stores like Amazon conveniently helping shoppers to purchase their goods from the comfort of their homes. Selfridges plays host to some of fashion’s most exclusive upmarket brands, and the luxury department store is now opening its doors to online customers. The new service is dubbed ‘Click and Collect’ and it allows clients to purchase their sophisticated pieces online and then collect their items at a drive-thru reception area. Selfridges has been on of the UK’s premier fashion retailers for over 100 years and their deep seated heritage ensures both quality and loyalty to customer satisfaction. However, like many well-established historical brands, Selfridges needs to adapt to the online marketplace and the developing world of new technologies. As such ‘Click an Collect’ is Selfridges’s attempt to occupy more space in the cyberworld. Although customers can buy clothing and accessories online, their purchase will be finalised once they have fitted their outfits and are satisfied with the results.
 
 

Tea Calendar

Image: PSFK

Image: PSFK

Some people love to start their day off with a cup of coffee, but others prefer a soothing cup of tea. If you belong to the latter group then you’ll enjoy Hälssen & Lyon‘s newly created calendar which is almost entirely comprised of tea leaves. Each day is a new bag of tea, and the leaves have been pressed down into wafer-thin tear-off strips that can easily be separated from the calendar and splashed into a cup of steamy goodness. The currently available calendars are being distributed as gifts for Hälssen & Lyon’s business partners and it is uncertain as to whether or not the calendars will be available for public purchase.
 
 

Waveskate

Image: PSFK

Living near the ocean is a definite benefit for people who love to surf, but for people who a crave a surfboard experience and are at the disadvantage of having limited or no ocean access there is little chance their craving will be satisfied. However, in an era where people are doing incredibly innovative and imaginative things, the lines between possible and impossible seem to be dissipating. Waveskate allows a surfer to ride the streets or waves as it transforms from surfboard to skateboard and vice versa in seconds. The Kickstarter project aims to create a high quality sporting equipment that serves dual purposes and combines the disciplines of surfing and skating to encourage more interaction between the sports as well as wider participation.
 
 

Louis Vuitton Shanghai Store

Image: Design Boom

Image: Design Boom

Louis Vuitton Shanghai has opened a new store in a commercial building called L’Avenue. The 24-storey building houses a basement, retail podium and offices, yet most impressively it resembles a giant shoe — a fit to Louis Vuitton’s presence in the building as L’Avenue is now the destination for Louis Vuitton’s largest flagship store. Jun Aoki teamed up with Leigh & Orange architects to create the structure which will feature as a landmark site in Shanghai. Environmental architecture is becoming an increasingly rising phenomenon and Aoki and Leigh & Orange have looked into previous works to develop L’Avenue with the ability to recycle rainwater for irrigation, reduced water consumption and incoporate green areas.
 
 

Images: Facebook, Design Boom, PSFK, The Mag, Design Milk, Iris Scott

Robot LEGO band

Image: gizmag.com

LEGO is a long established toy favourite among kids, but the little plastic bricks may have a future in the music industry. Italian music producer Giuseppe Acito has created a toy army of band members made up of several tiny robotic LEGO figures programmed to play a variety of instruments. They call themselves the ‘Toa Mata Band’ and they are created from LEGO Bionicle pieces that are infused with rubber bands and pulleys. Arduino Uno and a MIDI sequencer control their arm movement so the bots play the instrument in front of them when nudged. The talented LEGO band can perform a pre-programmed song or play live with a human operator adding commands to the MIDI sequence in real-time. Acito has successfully tested Toa Mata Band’s capabilities on a variety of synthesizers, drum machines and vintage equipment.
 
 
 
Thermochromic Selvedge Jeans

Image: mashable.com

Denim designer Naked & Famous is known for their wacky denim creations. From glow in the dark jeans to jeans so heavy they could stand on their own, the denim gurus have always pushed boundaries. Recently they launched their new range of Thermochromic Selvedge Jeans that change colour according to your body temperature. They fade from the blue cold to the warm white due to a thermochromic dye that contains a heat-reactive molecule that alters the colour of the jeans. A word of advice: if you’re going to purchase these jeans, try not to fart.
 
 
 
Brain-Scanning Headphones Match Songs To Mood

Image: news.discovery.com

Creating a playlist of music to suit your mood can be a frustrating experience when you can’t find the right tunes. Fortunately, Neurowear has developed a range of headphones called Mico that can select and play music synced perfectly with your mood. The headphones feature a protruding electroencephalograph (ECG) sensor that identifies brain patterns to match a person’s mood to a particular track. The downside of the contraption is that a sad person might want to listen to upbeat music to dispel their funk, but the headphones will only play what your mood suggests.
 
 
 
Asian Cairns ‘farmscrapers’

Image: dezeen.com

Image: dezeen.com

Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is attempting to redefine urban living with his conceptual ‘farmscraper’ designs. Made from giant glass pebbles, the farmscraper will house entire communities that work and live in the same structure. The aim is to build a natural ecosystem where all energy will be sourced from the sun and wind, and food will be produced from in-built orchards and vegetable gardens. Waste would be fed back into the system, and everything created will be recyclable. The buildings will be called Asian Cairns, and according to Callebaut’s proposals a series of six towers will be created. The curved shape will be formed by steel structures with solar panels and wind turbines mounting the exterior. The project will begin in Shenzhen, China – a country that suffers from high levels of industrial pollution. With some of the towers said to contain as many as 20 glass pebbles, the farmscraper residents will have brilliant views of the Chinese city.
 
 
 
Skate Guitars

Image: gizmag.com

Image: gizmag.com

The baddest skateboards are the ones that look beaten, abused, and faded with scruff. Although skateboards can take a lot of knocks, eventually they’ll need to be thrown. Innovative Argentinian luthier Ezequiel Galasso has joined forces with pro skateboarder Gianfranco de Gennaro Gilmour to recreate shredded boards into street-style cool guitars. The instruments are handmade in Buenos Aires at the Galasso Guitars workshop with each guitar being crafted from at least two skateboards and the body and neck produced from layered maple. The guitars are available in a diverse range of configurations.
 
 
 
Pulsate by Lily Jencks and Nathanael Dorent

Image: dezeen.com

Architects Lily Jencks and Nathanael Dorent have transformed London’s Capitol Designer Studio into a psychedelic showpiece. The duo fitted monochrome coloured tiles across every surface of the building to create a zigzagging pattern that twisted spatial perception. The floors are sloped and benches are built inside the structure to add to the visual bewilderment. Lights run along the seams of the installation in a modern twist. The piece – called Pulsate – will be exhibited for the next nine months and will play host to fashion shoots, product launches, lectures, and more.
 
 
 
Louis Vuitton Waffle Maker

Image: gizmodo.com.au

Andrew Lewicki has made eating in style a literal notion. The Los Angeles-based artist and designer has created a waffle maker that imprints the Louis Vuitton monogram onto your breakfast. If you ever wondered what designer food would taste like, then this your chance to give it a go… If you have the cash. The waffle-maker has yet to be picked up for production, but if you have deep pockets Lewicki will personally re-create his design.
 
 
 
Instagram Socialmatic Camera

Image: adr-studio.it

Instagram has launched its very own official camera. The device is tagged with Instagram’s colour striped logo, and resembles the vintage, hippy old-school flair Instagram helped popularise. The snazzy Socialmatic polaroid camera features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, 16GB storage, a 4:3 inch touchscreen, two main lenses, optical zoom, and LED flash. The impressive camera even carries Instagram-stylised paper sheets. The Socialmatic preserves Instagram’s brand as a social tool, as users can directly upload their pictures to Facebook from the camera. So far, Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram seems to be yielding impressive results.

Images: gizmodo.com.au, dezeen.com, adr-studio.it, gizmag.com, mashable.com, news.discovery.com

Words: Ra’eesa Pather

LOUIS VUITTON – Tribute to Muhammad Ali – ”Dream” from Benedicte Luneau on Vimeo.

Screenshot

Screenshot

Screenshot

Source : vimeo