Dressed smart like a London Bloke,
Before he speak his suit bespoke,
And you thought he was cute before,
Look at this peacoat, tell me he’s broke.
He may seem like a bit of a tosser, but Kanye is lyrically brilliant. I’ve always loved this song, and in particular these lines.
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Blue skies and warm spells at last! On Saturday I even walked past a guy with his shirt off. While it’s not that hot yet, it’s certainly a pleasant change. May it be noted for the record, I am never doing a double winter again. That sort of thing is majorly soul sucking, and did not play nicely with my homesickness at all. But it’s all looking brighter, and I’m so much happier (No joke, I’m actually a lizard).
Viz, glorious spring:
On Saturday we went on a walking tour of London’s old coffee houses, lead by Dr. Matthew Green. It was really fun; we filed through minuscule alleyways, peeped through pub windows, and learned how the humble bean shaped our world. Care to guess how much profit Starbucks made in the UK last year?
The bar Thom works at has something like 140 Belgian beers, or more! I think he’s drinking his way through them, and collecting the caps like Pokemon:
Meanwhile I am collecting protective amulets, channeling the power of love, the jaguar and the Third Eye. The little gold one is a Merci-Merci/Liberty trinket, which reminds me of special times in Paris.
I cycled all winter, rain and snow – which I consider a personal victory. But I can’t wait to go out when it’s nice, and ride fun places with my friends. I’m even thinking of doing the London to Brighton race…
I hope you’re all having wonderful week!
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(Warning: fashion boobs ahead) I’m really into double exposure right now. And this 2009 spread from i-D magazine called Keep Candles Handy, featuring Alana Zimmer, is a great example of it done well. The interesting and varied textures marry well with strong silhouettes… producing ghostly, beautiful photographs.
Just some great eye-candy.
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This is Ira Glass. You probably know him from NPR’s This American Life.
This is what he said about creativity, production, and good work:
What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.
It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
This is the video the quote comes from, it’s loosely about film production, but really about anything CREATIVE:
(Ira Glass on Storytelling: parts one, two, and four.)
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Every month that passes in England I do a little dance - ‘Wahoo, this my first January in London’. Monumental! But February is different. I have been here before. (It’s strange to think that my first trip to the UK, and the wonder of Alt Albion was only 3 years ago). In any case, this February is zipping along jauntily. American diners in Shoreditch, art exhibitions, friends arriving from far and wide, pancake day, bike rides, writing-writing-writing-trying-to-finish-my-novel.
A) 2012 calendar from Labour & Wait.
B, C, D) Visiting the Yayoi Kusama retrospective at the TATE Modern.
E) A view from my bedroom.
F) A typewriter installation, as seen at Selfridges’ Words, Words, Words .
G) I bought this guidebook in anticipation of Barcelona. I feel like I have dreamed of visiting Spain forever.
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It’s London Fashion Week now, and while I enjoy flicking through some of the pictures, I am surprising myself with my disdain for hub-bub and style dictation. Funny too, how the most revered of the stars, fashion industry insiders, bloggers, and models say balls to trends anyway, and just wear what they want. Dress how you want to dress, y’know. I remembered this quote from Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
“The most truly eccentric dresser in this country is the Queen, who pays no attention whatsoever to fashion, mainstream or otherwise, continuing to wear the same highly idiosyncratic style of clothing (a kind of modified 1950s-retro look, if you had to define it in fashion-speak, but very much her own personal taste) with no regard for anyone else’s opinion. Because she is the Queen, people call her style ‘classic’ and ‘timeless’ rather than eccentric or weird, politely overlooking the fact that absolutely no-one else dresses in this peculiar way. Never mind the herds of street-sheep and their haute-couture imitators: the Queen is the best example of English sartorial eccentricity.”
A woman not afraid of primary colours, nor a hat!
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Auroras, galaxies, rainbows, carpet. At the moment carpet is seen as a bit naff. Soft-floor coverings have been ditched in new builds, and renovations see everyone ripping up their rugs.
But there is something inherently nice about jumping out of bed to something softer underfoot. And digital printing offers a wealth of new opportunities for both wall to wall carpeting, and rug design. could it make a comeback? I’d like to see this carpet being used for good (schools, bars, residential), and not evil (conference venues, offices, casinos)…
The photos above are from Carpets for Buildings {via today and tomorrow}
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Kitchen Sink, a 1989 short film by Alison Maclean. Not recommended for those with chaetophobia (fear of hair).
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A list of interests from my livejournal profile, circa age 16:
alice roi, andy warhol, architecture, art, bikes, black tutus, cinematography, city stealing, climbing, coffee, commander keen, concerts, creme eggs, dancing, design, director vision, drawing, dresses, electronic music, fairy floss, fake citizen watches, ferris wheels, fiction, filmmaking, flocked old style wallpaper, goldfish in bathrooms, haruki murakami, imax sushi, impromptu art, japan, laurence aberhart, le chat noir, lee hazlewood, literature, love, ma higgins cookies, missing limbs, movies, mushrooms, nan goldin, nein das ist verboten, new york snow domes, novelty, paint spray, photocopiers, photography, pigeon murder, robin morrison, rocks, scripts, slide film, sofia coppola, sour bears, sushi, tattoos, the zipper, twister sheets, typography, vintage, waynes world, william eggleston, writing, zines
Most of it still is very relevant! City stealing refers to my (then) habit of snatching dust and fragments from meaningful-to-me buildings. Somewhere in storage at my parent’s house is a small blood-red tile, stolen from the front door of the Vegas Girl strip club in Auckland. It seemed like a radical idea then. Here’s a photo of the place that I took in 2003, from a pool hall across the road, when it was the SEEDY part of town. The pool hall is now a million dollar apartment.
Also, I don’t draw enough nowadays. What did you like when you were that age? Do you wish you were still doing those things?
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With all the freezing London weather lately I am constantly on the look out for people who’ve achieved the balance between stylish and warm. In the weekend I saw a girl wearing this veiled bobble hat, from Bernstock Spiers. Not my current style at all, but my 15-year-old self would have LOVED it.
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The last week in three words was busy, nerdy and cold. It even snowed again on Thursday evening. So I haven’t left the house too much, except to cycle to work. Here are some photos from the times I did venture outside the house:
A) A fox on Brick Lane. Thom sees lots of foxes wandering the streets late at night on his way home from work, but I have to make do…
B) Shoreditch Grind. We go here a lot for coffee every weekend. The interior is very raw – I love the factory look.
C) Arnold Circus, with a smattering of snow still on the pavilion’s roof.
B) Savoy cabbage braised with garlic butter is delicious! My new role involves a lot of writing for two food brands (perfect, right?) so I am learning a lot about new-to-me vegetables and techniques.
D) Virgina – a school’s ironwork gate in the middle of Shoreditch.
E) Yinka Shonibare’s HMS Victory at Trafalgar Square. If you look closely you’ll see the sails are made of African patterned textiles!
F) Lovely typography at Milkbar in Soho.
G) The Alexandra Trust Dining Rooms. A beautiful building near my house… I wonder what it is used for now?
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Every winter my body seems to go crazy – trying to hoard ALL of the sugary carbs. So this year I have made a concerted effort to eat more vegetables. This chickpeas, spinach, cauliflower, and couscous dish was just the ticket (and has no animal products too). The original recipe called for raisins, which I detest, so I threw in a handful of dried cranberries instead. Yum.
Chickpeas, Spinach & Cauliflower Couscous
{Adapted from a Cinnamon Girl recipe}
A handful of almonds, preferably sliced
2 cups of cooked cauliflower florets
A can of chickpeas
1 cup of spinach
4 cloves of garlic
A handful of dried cranberries
1 small onion, diced
2 spring onions, diced
3 tablespoons of garam masala
Olive oil
3 cups of couscous
1. In a large skillet sauté onion in a glug of olive oil over medium-low heat until tender. Add garlic, sauté until fragrant. Add more olive oil and mix in garam masala. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add cranberries, cauliflower, chickpeas, and spinach. Cook on a low heat stirring often until heated through and spinach wilts, and the cranberries are plump. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Prepare couscous as you normally would. Fluff up cooked couscous and mix into the chickpeas mixture along with the spring onion and almonds. Serve and enjoy! It’s just as good the next day, when the flavours have time to really soak into the couscous.
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Last night was one of the most memorable nights of my life. Reasons include:
1. Being asked to work on an interior design project for a bar.
2. Seeing Stephen Fry in said bar.
3. Annnnnd SNOW!
Indulge me for a bit, I’m from New Zealand and we don’t get urban snow like this. It was one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen – cars, trees and houses all dusted with the white stuff.
The Barbican. We went to see a movie and when we came out the Barbican looked like this.
The lake is all iced up!
My first snowball, wahoo.
A snow-penguin!
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Hello! My name is Amber Parkin. I'm a New Zealander living in London. I'm a writer obsessed with fondue, chesterfield sofas, vintage dresses, foxes, and 35mm.
Here I like to talk about fashion, design, food, travel, writing & books, and culture. Everything else (including my photography) goes into my digital notebook.
If you'd like to email me the address is amber@codeforsomething.com
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