by Amber on February 4, 2010
Weary legs. Who hasn’t wished for somewhere better to perch while wasting away the hours at a the airport, bus stop or train station? Well Dutch designers Nieuwe Heren (the New Gents) took 4 suitcases, added a dash of ingenuity and some sweet styling to create the Suited Case.
A comfortable solution for the times when you’re tempted to sit on your suitcase (I broke my dear travel bag last year by doing just that). If I wasn’t always in transit by myself I’d snap the set up! Perhaps their next move can be the solo traveller’s armchair.
Would you use something similar? Do you have any ingenious temporary seating solution that you use on the road?
by Amber on January 26, 2010
Oh Wellington! It was so good to see you again, as well as partake in all your fine establishments have to offer! Ernesto, Fidels, Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, Plum, Deluxe, Matterhorn, San Francisco Bath House. Burritos, Pimms, tacos and the legendary Bling cocktail from the Matterhorn (an adolescent dream achieved). Your stores were welcoming too, like the adorable Swonderful, Rex Royale, Hunters & Collectors, Slowboat Records and Good As Gold. But of course it’s the people make the place. Sweet Wellingtonians, you are so rad! I hope you will invite me back soon.
by Amber on January 7, 2010
Rhythm and Vines 2009… or What I Did For My (continuing) Summer Vacation. R&V, as it is ever so fondly known, is a 3 day music festival set amongst rolling hills and the green vines of the Waiohika Estate vineyard.
It’s a 6.5 hour drive from Auckland to sunny Gisborne (first place in the world to see the sun every day), which Duncan and I did at pace. The beautiful mural photo is from tiny town in-the-middle-of-nowhere that we stopped at.
In Gisborne we met up with the Wellington crew – Felicity, Jo and Thomas - at our 5-star villa accommodation (complete with friendly cats and vege garden). Each day saw us skip merrily towards town, a mere 15 minute walk away from the house, and catch a bus out to the festival.
Once at the festival it was all on – a magical vine smothered playground that was ours to explore. In order of awesomeness: the Vines Stage, the Cellar Stage, the dubby Vital Sounds at the end of the Avenue and the Rhythm Stage. Oh and bus converted into a stage.
My favourite act of the festival was Major Lazer; who cranked it with Diplo, dancers and Skerrit Bwoy . Swigging cider + mad tunes = dancing out of control. Pon de Floor was THE song of the festival, I can’t count how many times it started winding in other people’s playlists. Here’s the video – kinda NSFW, similarly not safe for breakfast viewing with your parents, but I digress.
I also loved Fake Blood! His set in the forest was definitely the highlight of Day 2 for me.”I Think I Like It” should be on your iPod now. Sad bit of day 2: I was super excited for LCD Sound System, however it was billed as a “Special Disco “. Despite my high hopes it turned out to be Too Much Disco and a super traditional sound.
The purchases of the festival included a Tiger hoodie and sweater respectively for Thomas and I, some mean glasses for Flick & I. Also of note was a free poncho (negotiated from $5 to nothing, score), and nommy samosas with chutney. We paid for VIP upgrades which was pretty good – a place to chill out away from the crowds and a free bottle of champgane. Let’s just say I can’t bear the thought of drinking any ever again.
All in all it was an awesome week and I was very content as I flew back to Auckland (master move for you there kids). The penultimate question… Will I go again next year? Well, it depends on the line up. A decent international on NYE would go a long way… But the fireworks, weather and people were amazing.
PS. Here are my shoes. I bought them new, and this is what happens when you dance for 3 days straight. They survived pretty well actually – it was dry and dusty. If it had been raining, well that’d be another story.
by Amber on December 15, 2009
This past week I have been thinking about Japan A LOT. Tokyo, most of all… Here’s a ‘Destination Japan’ reading list I wrote for Mausumi (such a sweet, refreshing blog). It’s a few must-read books that involve Japan somehow. Sigh! Where do you dream of from your armchair?
by Amber on December 1, 2009
Pauanui always makes me feel free. It’s a little seaside holiday community on New Zealand’s Coromandel peninsula – characterised by a sweeping white sand beach, pink stone roads, a bush covered mountain and the sound of private airplane landing at the local airfield. I spent the weekend there with some of my favourite people (thanks to Prasnaglava for the photos).
Some of the things we got up to: walking for hours around the rocks, foraging for kai (that’s the kina we harassed up there), building a big bonfire that we toasted sandy marshmallows on and watching some classic 80’s flicks (always gotta be the 80’s movies).
We also spotted a rare moonbow. No jokes, it was phenomenal!
by Amber on November 14, 2009
I always read that in New York you can always find something fabulous, inspiring – and often free – to do, on any night of the week. It’s true! (Read TimeOut NY for suggestions or sign up for nonsensenyc.)
One of the events I made it to was a lecture by fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. With his wife Isabel accompanying him, Ruben spoke about Art: From Fashion to Literature at FIT (as part of their museum program) one Thursday evening in October.
In particular the conversation explored his recent work for Penguin Classics – he created the covers for the recently reissued versions of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and The Scarlet Letter.
Toldeo’s Pride and Prejudice cover reflected the strong fashion siholheuttes of the time. He mentioned he thinks in shapes and form, while Isabel is more partial to colour.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights took on a soft gothic look. Ruben mentioned he took great pleasure in drawing burning buildings as a child, and in fact Wuthering Heights encompasses one of those.
The Scarlett Letter - with a bright A for adulturey entangling our protagonist. Rueben said he was really inspired by her job as a seamstress:
I was too busy looking at the couple’s work – in awe – to make extensive notes, although I wish I had! The Ruben and Isabel have such a fascinating creative relationship – they have 20 years of collaboration behind them.One cute moment I do remember was when Elda Rotor (the editorial director for Penguin Classics who moderated the discussion) charmingly confessed she used to rip Ruben’s drawings from the back of early issues of Interview magazine and keep them.
For a little peek into their world, check out this Harper’s Bazaar profile and lookbook; and for a comprehensive review of the event, The Fashion Informer took the time to do a lovely write-up.
2010 will see reissues of Jane Eyre, Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray published by Penguin, with the artwork also to be drawn by Toledo. I can’t wait to see them.
Pe.nguin Classics editorial director, Elda Rotor
by Amber on November 12, 2009
Inspired by Charley, here is a list of consumption and thoughts regarding my trip to the US. I visited Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York – 7 flights in all. It was a trip of museums, tattoos, wonder, good friends, new friends, chowing down, coffee, writing, listening, dancing, breathing… and pinching myself constantly.
BOOKS
- Miles from Nowhere – Nami Mun
- After Dark - Haruki Murakami
- Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami (the van was spotted in Soho, just after I finished reading!)
- On Writing – Stephen King
- One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
- I Love You More Than You Know – Jonathan Ames
- Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
FOOD OF NOTE
- Reeses peanut butter cups, holy shit, you’re amazing. Addiction imminent. Peanut butter anything for the win – like Emma’s amazing PB shake at the Shake Shack!
- Diet Vitamin Water. Now I have a full blown obsession with this drink, I want the diet version at home, pronto.
- Pizza. In all its glorious and cheesey forms. Root beer (pray tell, what is the root?) was discovered to be a good friend of pizza.
- Pie crust flavoured soft serve ice cream with toasted marshmallows from Momofuku. It’s as weird as it sounds. Liquid… pie. Does not compute.
MOVIES
- The Hangover
- Wall Street
- Where The Wild Things Are
- Yes Men Fix The World
- Untitled
- Julie And Julia
- Up
- Once Bitten
- … and two others, the names and entire plots of which, I have lost in my brain to jetlag.
STORES
- Urban Outfitters, I love you.
- Uniqlo, I love you more.
- Jumelle, Bedford Avenue. Eclectic, beautiful clothinbg store with loads of thoughtful designers. Go buy yourself a beautiful scarf for winter.
- I loved everything about the New Museum (Contemporary art! Rooftop zen room! Cute French speaking staff!) but the shop was especially good – think art books and limited edition works. Also deserving of a honourable mention is the MoMA store – so many great gifts! I bought a mug.
- Strand Books. Aside from a moment when one wayward staff member called me baby, I had a fabulous hour browsing Strand’s excellent selection of art/design/fashion books.
- Beacon’s Closet in Williamsburg. I found a deliciously comfortable French faux leather jacket there. It has amazing power shoulders.
HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
- The unicorns of Brooklyn – prance little ones, prance!
- Girls dressed as bright pinatas. I think there was a stick sort of character involved too.
- Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World (BEST MOVIE EVER).
- A man carrying an outhouse, which opened up to show a man sitting on a dunny reading. This was an elaborate one person costume and I am 99% convinced the dude was Australian.
- Edward Scissorhands. There were many Scissorhands but this one was special. He literally became Edward, and stayed in character the entire time – no talking, lots of fumbling.
- Numerous howling, stomping, Wild Things. Bravo!
Oh, be still my wistful heart. I loved everything about it. It’s a pretty safe assumption I’m going to go back as soon as possible…
by Amber on November 11, 2009
You are bombarded with messages when you cross the threshold of a super city. Some inspirational, some persuasive, some provocative. Some shout from 30ft billboards to make their mark, others subtly wait for you to discover them in a grimy nook.
Here are a few of the words that took my fancy in New York (and some of the typography is brilliant to boot).
Also, no photos, but I loved the multilingual nature of NYC – the signs in Chinese at the Chinatown subway stations, the Dominican butcheries – Carnicero, the Polish enclave filled with bakeries. It makes me wish I wasn’t such a monoglot!
by Amber on November 7, 2009
Emma and I had a lovely lunch one Saturday afternoon at Five Leaves on Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn. We ended up there on the epic search for good coffee. People tell me it was dreamed up by Heath Ledger, and is named after “Swan cigarette papers that tell you when there are just five left in a package”.
The interior is nautically divine, the staff are a bunch of friendly Aussies and yup, the coffee is pretty damn nice. We also feasted on some tasty burgers and fries (chosen from a typographically decadent menu), that made our 15 minute wait in the drizzle outside more than worth it.
18 Bedford Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
by Amber on October 24, 2009
This day was marked by a visit to the Museum Of Natural History, where I had a grand time, wandering the halls for hours.
There was an epic dinosaur and “extreme extinct mammal” display, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before… They even had an ancient narwhal skeleton!
Flocks of taxidermied owls and packs of stuffed beasts…
I was a little disappointed to miss out on an epic maritime battle (as seen in the film The Squid and The Whale) but nonetheless they were both to be found:
And finally, on they way out, more fantastic subway mosaics – including this little New Zealand fellow:
It’s details like this that make my heart beat faster for the city, I tell you.
They had an ancient narwhal skeleton! It was so much bigger than I imagined.
by Amber on October 23, 2009
Day 3: Visited an awesome design/innovation studio, and left feeling incredibly inspired.
“Anything else you want to know?”
“Why yes, a lunch recommendation would be brilliant!”
“Joe’s Shanghai then. Make sure you go to the original, not the poser Joe’s.”
So off we trotted in a round about way to Chinatown, taking in the sights/sites and sounds of a new neighbourhood. Here’s some of what I saw:
Afterwards I was too stuffed with dumplings to move, let alone raise a camera to my eye!
by Amber on October 22, 2009
by Amber on October 21, 2009
Touchdown to the greatest city on earth. After finding our sweet little apartment and snoozing for 12 hours Emma and I headed to Times Square. The very first thing that happened? A woman gave us free cupcakes!
From there we headed to Union Square and schlepped around a giant (to my teeny Kiwi eyes) Barnes & Noble. Novel. There I found Domo, preparing for Halloween:
Talk about making friends with the subway maps. A + E + 1 + W + ? I adore all the station mosaics. They’re like Pokemon, I want to capture them all…
Food summary of the day: Ordered an amazing pizza and sipped some truly disgusting “coffee”. Desperate for a good one, I have been coffee free for about a week – this is truly abnormal. If you know where to find some let me know! xx
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/teststrip/4029365063/” title=”subway by Amber P., on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3533/4029365063_384405a666.jpg” width=”500″ height=”334″ alt=”subway” /></a>
by Amber on October 20, 2009
San Francisco. I took the BART to downtown, after finally making it to SF after 3 flights, one day and a whole lot of stale airport air. I met Katy at the appointed place outside GAP by the street cars, after talking to several street hustlers – “I love your flowers!” – they all adored my shoulders… which were exposed because it was freaking hot.
After meeting up with my lovely friend, I had a terrifying experience on the street car; clinging to the side with my luggage hanging off the side, precariously balancing on a step. [Also after 8 years apart, within our first moments together, some elderly people told us off for 'cussing'. Rad. Just like when we were kids!]
Finally we made it to Katy’s beautiful apartment and I settled in by drinking Mexican beer on the rooftop. After getting ready there was a wild taxi drive, up and down hills, to the Mission – where I met the burrito of my dreams. It was the size of a baby. Not joking, see:
We headed to the Financial District, and up a tower to the Carnelian Room for a rather fancy cocktail and a look at the view. It was so high my ears popped! K. pointed out all the sites and we gossiped. We also discovered a carnelian is a reddish/brown gem… thanks iPhone!
Chinatown was rather lovely – we stopped at a dive bar where everyone was playing dice… Followed by a visit to the bakery where one day in July 1996 Bill Clinton also sampled pastries between 5 and 5.30pm. Mm, we gorged ourselves sticky sesame seed and black bean buns – they were so greasy, but perfect.
From there the night is a blur… A quick peep (!) at the iconic City Lights Book Store, making friends with nice people in a bar, cabbing home, drinking more beer, yelling on the roof top and taking photographs – long exposures of SF city.
An excellent effort for 24 hours, if I do say so myself. SF, you’re so nice!
