Hasta La Ideas

The high school queen bees on “Gossip Girl” are rarely seen without an of-the-moment headband. Their fashionable headgear ranges from ultra basic to extraordinary and have started a headband movement all over the world. Looking for something beyond the usual leather or tortoiseshell band? Look no further than I Love Factory with their modern twist on millinery with hand-sewn, fashion forward headgear that even the Gossip Girl herself would love. Started by Laurel St. Romain and Christopher Garbushian, the pair makes the entire collection by hand in their Brooklyn studio. The current “Parklife Society” collection includes 12 pieces, all in black and ivory made from leather, satin, taffeta and guinea hen feathers. They’re perfect for adding a little whimsy to any outfit day or a new twist to that little black dress you’ve been wearing to every cocktail party and rehearsal dinner since 2002. Check out the entire collection at ilovefactorybk.com!

Better late than never # 1: Coming Out is a collection of prototypes by Swiss designers Zmik, exhibited at V-Gallery in Basel, Switzerland, last year. (more…)

Monique Collignon is one of Holland’s top designers. She knows better than anyone how a woman likes to see herself: sexy and daring, yet also chic. Collignon is inspired by the young and sophisticated working girl with a rich social life. She has been producing a ready-to-wear line in addition to haute couture collections. This Autumn/Winter “09/’10 collection comes in 3 color themes and 60 styles. Daytime dresses that are also suitable after working hours-, elegant suits with skirts, trousers and stylish cocktail and evening dresses- as always this collection, which also has many tops, is ultimately feminine. The collection has a chic, young and relaxed feel, partly as a result of exciting blends of materials in petrol blue, magenta, olive and golden beige. It goes without saying that this unmistakably “Collignon” collection contains a great deal of black and white. Her design is the constant development of her ideas, impressions and emotions. Her inspiration can be found everywhere: street scenes, architecture, a good book, music, art, and travel experiences. During the creative process she first allows herself to be guided by her individual wishes, which are subsequently strengthened by playing with technical aspects and fabrics. The clientele she appeals to with her haute couture collections is comprised of confident, distinguished women- no trend followers, rather, women in their prime.

Stockholm Design Week 09: Gothenburg designers Staffan Holm and Dan Sunaga have collaborated to produce Newton, a table made from pressure-moulded wood. (more…)

Summer 2006. Durst announces that it will no longer manufacture photographic enlargers. Sales have plummeted from a peak of 107,000 units in 1979 to just a few hundred units in recent years.

1979 was the year my father constructed a darkroom and introduced me to photography. I was immediately entranced by the printing process, and I cherished the long hours spent in this dark, silent, private space. Ever since the darkroom has been integral to my work as a photographer. But for how much longer?

Labs are closing their doors – Joe’s Basement, Primary, Metro Clerkenwell, Metro Soho have all gone. Polaroid has stopped making instant film. Clients are demanding the immediate feedback of digital photography.

This project, shot on 4″x5″ film, documents London’s remaining professional darkrooms. It is based on my nostalgia for a dying craft (there are no young printers). It is in these rooms that printers have worked their magic, distilling the works of photographers such as David Bailey, Anton Corbijn and Nick Knight into a recognisable ‘look’.

I have lit these often-gloomy spaces to reveal the beauty of the machinery; enlargers are masterpieces of industrial design. And I have sought to shed light on the surrounding personal workspaces (snapshots of family members, souvenirs from globetrotting photographers, guidebooks to Photoshop, out-takes from glamour shoots, lists of unpaid invoices).

Several of the darkrooms featured have since closed down. Others will surely follow. (The darkroom with the slogan pinned to the wall, ‘I want to stay here forever’, was dismantled shortly after I photographed it and is now being converted into luxury apartments.)

Since starting this project, I’ve become a late and reluctant convert to digital photography. I now spend less time in the darkroom and more time in front of the computer. With film I had a network of contacts across London and I felt embedded in the city. In comparison, digital feels disembodied.

I miss the darkroom’s ambience, the physicality of dodging and burning, the shaping of the light.

Richard Nicholson, May 2008

I would like to thank all the printers who kindly invited me to photograph their darkrooms

–> The Online Photographer