Elie Top for Baccarat: Bouchons de Carafe

I love this incredible collection by Elie Top for Baccarat. Here are some excerpts about Top's inspiration from Baccarat's site as well as a gorgeous video directed by Benjamin Audour.

"For the first time, Baccarat, renowned for its unique expertise and bold creativity in the making of fine crystal, has turned to Elie Top, jewelry and accessories designer for prominent fashion houses. In their continued interest and support of talented young designers, Baccarat asked Elie Top to create a jewelry line interpreting the Baccarat spirit in his own way... 

The collection draws masterfully on Baccarat’s design heritage with the "bouchon de carafe" motif. Its French name refers to the stoppers made for the fine crystal bottles that graced luxurious dining tables and elegant dressing tables in bygone days. Remarkable for their purity of line, these “stoppers” gleam with pristine reflections of light. After visiting a Baccarat exhibit of crystal brandy decanters and perfume bottles, all created between 1910 and 1920, Elie Top was inspired by those he admired most. 

"I decided to go back to Baccarat’s roots”, said the designer,”for me, the name Baccarat suggests chandeliers, gleaming facets and French-style luxury. I aimed to revive these design codes, but with a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor. In French, one says that a diamond is "as big as a decanter stopper!”... “The collection is a light-hearted take on this expression, as well as a respectful tribute to Baccarat." 

Jan Maarten Voskuil

Thank you to Mike for introducing me to this beautiful work by Jan Maarten Voskuil. These are selections from two shows: Grip-No Grip and There Is No Point. I had a hard time selecting what to include in this post, check out his site to see more of his work. 

Here is an excerpt from an interview with HUH. magazine based out of the UK:

"Do you call the pieces you hang on walls paintings or sculptures? 

They are paintings. As sculptures they suck.

Why do they suck as sculptures? 
They are paintings because that is what they are about. They are linen on stretchers with a little paint on, and they are about surface. In mathematics there is even a name for the kind of curved surface I make. They are called 'minimal surface'. I didn't know this at the beginning but I ran into the term a couple of years ago. Of course you can call them sculptures (about painting). I don't mind people to call it or interpret it differently than me, actually most people do. As a naturalistic painter many years ago I used to state that I wanted to prove the world was flat instead of round. Maybe now I state that painting is round instead of flat and of course nobody agrees.

You've had a lot of shows in recent years, does this affect your work? 
It has two sides. Pressure makes cooking quicker and it's also exhausting. When I started curving the canvas 12 years ago I thought it was a statement one can do only once. For a couple of years I occasionally returned to this curving because I found some new way of doing it. Strangely, every work generates more than one idea or direction for new works, so, in the meantime I can see that I will be occupied with this practice for a pretty long time. I have better equipment and skills in the process now, so I can keep up a little with the demand, but it becomes critical and assistance is not really an option, because it does take skill to make these things. You are right that I also have to (re)consider the pace I am working at the moment. Take some time to reflect on things. Although I do reflect all the time actually."

Sophie Hulme: A/W 2010

I love the presentation of Sophie Hulme's latest collection. They've numbered the elegant wooden hangers and placed the list on the wall which not only gets rid of extra paper used for printing but also makes it efficient for audience members to identify the specific pieces they love while creating a central, graphic wall.

My favorites so far are from her accessories: the armoured bow necklace, whistle necklace and the brass armoured tote bag. Check out her site to see more and download the look book.