Hasta La Ideas

A beautyful trench coat from the CSF 2012 S/S collection.

Worry-free and dead simple photo and video storage on the go

A valuable solution for the traveling photo or video nerd, Drobo’s brand new Drobo Mini is the world’s smallest full-featured storage array that operates off combined disk and solid-state technologies, making it also one of the fastest. Like Drobo’s other products, the Mini has four hot-swappable drive bays that allow you to manage as much storage as you can afford to purchase.

The sleek data-protecting design features automated SSD acceleration, as well as Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces—a first for storage arrays. Not only is it optimal for connecting several devices, but the completely redesigned software and hardware also aggressively enhances processing capability. Additionally, Drobo created a “carrierless” system that allows you to easily join and remove up to four 2.5″ drives.

Along with the Mini, Drobo has also released the 5D, a mega storage solution that works with up to five drives and has an extra SSD bay, making it able to hold up to 32 million photos.

The Drobo Mini and 5D will sell online for $599 and $799 without drives.

British Airways imbibes

Good news for British Airways flyers looking to unwind in the sky: wine is complimentary in every class of all flights.

Andrew Sparrow of Bibendum Wine runs the department after cutting his teeth for 30 years on the British Airways team. “While working cabin crew on long-haul flights,” he says,” people would always make comments about the wine.” During numerous layovers around the world, Sparrow often found himself visiting wine regions from Napa Valley, California to Stellenbosch, South Africa. After years of field experience across the globe, he went on to get a diploma from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

When it comes to choosing wines for British Airways’ First Class cabin, Sparrow considers several factors from trends in the marketplace to the effects of high altitude on taste. “In a pressurized airline cabin you don’t taste as effectively as you do at ground level,” he says. “There are a number of conditions that affect the way you taste. The most important one is the way that you dehydrate. I think anyone on a long haul flight will notice that at the beginning of the flight they are tasting a lot more efficiently that they are towards the end.” Thus wines are carefully chosen to work with body chemistry in changing environments. That said, Sparrow keeps three styles on every British Airways wine list—the prestige Champagne, a claret or red Bordeaux and a white Burgundy. “The Champagne at the moment is Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle,” he says. When it comes to the carefully selected Claret, Sparrow has taken an unconventional tack by advance-purchasing. “We buy the wines four to six years ahead of their being used,” he says, “so the wine can mature in the bottle and be drinking beautifully by the time we serve it.”

Sparrow’s selections are naturally destination-driven. “If you were on a North American flight,” he points out, “the wine you would have right now is the Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc, and the red is a Freestone Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.” Working with the intuition gained from such close study of the drinking public, Sparrow also lets us in on somewhat of a secret when it comes to rounding out the list—what Sparrow and his team call the ABC, or “anything but Chardonnay or Cabernet.” The intuitive precaution, says Sparrow, presents the “opportunity to look for wines that are slightly unusual.” Popular varietals range from Sancerre and Sauvignon Blanc to Fume and Riesling. Complimentary wine is also served in the Economy class. In the Economy cabin complimentary Sauvignon Blanc is served in quart bottles. On British Airways, wine plays an important role in the Height Cuisine program and Sparrow notes that they spend significantly more than other airlines with this general-cabin amenity.

Working on a wine list that’s as dynamic as the travelers it serves has made Sparrow an expert when it comes to international imbibing habits and inspired him to seek out some of the world’s most satisfying, exciting and trend-setting wines. Put simply, says Sparrow, “It’s a fabulous job.”

There is a lot of strong photographic work on show at the Royal College of Art’s Battersea site this year, including Lola Bunting’s beautiful series of giclée prints on felt (A Sensitive Layer I, shown above). It really is worth going to see before July 1…

The five sites of the Battersea RCA campus mean there’s a large distance to cover, particularly as graduates from the painting, photography and printmaking courses feature in each building (aside from the Testbed 1 site, which is dedicated to design interactions and product design). What follows are some of the highlights from the photography displays.

Bunting has three other pieces on show including Idle Vice (left) and Arm in Arm. These are displayed in felt lined frames. lolabunting.com.

Here are two images from Eugenia Ivanissevich’s On the Island series. eugeniaivanissevich.com. 

And two photographs from James Smith’s ongoing Temporal Dislocation series, which features some of England’s more peculiar architectural oddities (below these is a shot of how his images are displayed within the Sculpture building). j-smith.co.uk.

Jolanta Dolewska’s beautiful series, Court, is presented over one wall in the Testbed 2 site. Please visit her website for a better idea of the subtle tones in this series; my camera just doesn’t do them justice. jolantadolewska.com.

And Michael Hammond’s A Hole in the Light series is displayed on the other wall in the first part of the Testbed 2 site. hammondphotography.co.uk. (These images are taken from Hammond’s website).

Here are two images from Theo Niderost’s series, In the Gaze of the Kutabuk. theoniderost.tumblr.com.

Lizzie Vickery’s photographs in her Voracious Ghost series, on left, have a very strange quality to them. I think they’re of plastic models of foodstuffs, but their enlarged size, against the cavernous black backgrounds, all adds to effect. lizzievickery.com.

Tereza Zelenkova’s astronomical room features several photographs, objects and a large-scale star chart. terezazelenkova.com.

OK, technically Matthew Benington’s Undulating Form Hammered at the Cusp of the Lid falls into the ‘printmaking’ discipline, but as I liked it so much I’ve decided to include it here. It’s made from photocopied paper, gouache, vinyl and screenprint. matthewbenington.com.

Ute Klein’s still lives were great, too. Here are All My Mother’s Bowls and Bouquet. uteklein.com.

And, finally, also holding its own in the Sculpture building is Jinkyun Ahn’s series of images of his parents. (The first image is from his website, the second is taken at the RCA show). jinkyunahn.com.

It is really is worth a trip to the RCA’s Battersea site to see these images (and many others) in the flesh, not to mention the work within the painting and printmaking disciplines.

The RCA Battersea show runs until July 1 across its Dyson, Sculpture and Sackler buildings and its two Testbed sites. All venues are London SW11, but see rca.ac.uk/show2012 and also http://show2012.rca.ac.uk for more detailed information.

Che fare delle capsule usate della Nespresso? Jeremy Murier ha pensato bene di riciclarle per far volare questo modello di areoplanino in legno. Una volta inserite nella parte anteriore, il peso della capsula bilancia il tutto facendolo volare. Se sapere dove recuperarlo, fate un fischio.
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