Armani In America
Dezer Development and The Related Group announced recently that, because 84% of the building sold, the pre-construction phase of Residences by Armani/Casa is under way, making the development the first Armani real estate project in the U.S.
The developers struck an exclusive partnership with the Armani/Casa Interior Design Studio in 2014 for the design of high-end residential units, common areas and amenities for the 60-story oceanfront tower to be located at 18975 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach.
The renowned Argentine-born architect César Pelli, creator of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, was asked to design the tower’s 307 luxury residences, all reflecting Giorgio Armani’s aesthetic sensibility, combining his sense of comfort and functionality.
“We are extremely pleased to bring the internationally-celebrated talents of César Pelli and Giorgio Armani to Sunny Isles Beach, further defining the city as one of the world’s leading addresses for elegant living and sophisticated design,” said Jorge M. Pérez, founder of The Related Group. Slated for occupancy first quarter of 2018, residences will range from 1,350 to 3,750 square feet with prices ranging from $1.3 million to over $5 million.
The Authenticity Of Serenity
Rolls-Royce, one of the highest end automobile brands in the world, worked with a pair of textiles graduates to design a unique, extremely high end interior for its Phantom model, using silk, cherry wood and bamboo.
The interior of the Rolls Phantom Serenity was customized its in-house design team, with the help of two textile design graduates: Cherica Haye from the Royal College of Art and Michelle Lusby from Plymouth University in England. Haye and Lusby suggested historic Japanese royal robes to begin the design, as these robes were associated with elite status. The high end silk also had vibrant colors and motifs.
“Delivering authentic modern luxury, Serenity reintroduces the finest textiles – silk – to create the most opulent interior of any luxury car,” said Rolls Royce in a statement. “This unique design demonstrates the levels of craftsmanship, creativity and attention to detail that Rolls-Royce can offer.”
Unspun silk sourced from Suzhou, China – a city renowned for its imperial embroidery – was hand-dyed by local craftspeople and then transported to one of Britain’s oldest mills, in Essex, to be hand-woven into 10 meters of the fabric, enough to furnish the interior.
New Dimensions Of Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality and their accompanying headsets are finally coming of age. At the latest 3-D technology conference in San Francisco, one of the delegates aid, headsets were everywhere and on all the time.
Speaking at the event were Roman Hasenbreck, the Managing Director of Metaio, who discussed enabling anyone to create and manage their own AR experiences; Gannon Wilder, of Paracosm, covered their transformative AR indoor GPS; Dave Eisenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Floored, whose unique real estate models allow users to view different locations via mobile phones or with Oculus Rift headsets; and Greg Downing, President of xRez Studio talked of the variety of immersive experiences they offer.
Sony’s PlayStation was highlighted – It is a 4-powered virtual reality headset called Project Morpheus. It has new specs and a slightly different look, as the screen resolution is improved: at 1,920 x RGB x 1,080. It also has a new 5.7-inch screen with a higher field of view (nearly 100 degrees)with a new, bigger screen at 5.7 inches. Most importantly, the unit will launch at retail in the first half of 2016. Looking forward!
What? The Fashion Industry Will Implode?
European Trend forecaster Li Edelkoort published a radical statement: her Anti Fashion Manifesto, outlining why she believes the fashion industry “is going to implode.”
Lidewij Edelkoort, who was born in the Netherlands in 1950 and is based in Paris, advises fashion companies and consumer brands around the world. Time magazine named her one of the 25 most influential people in fashion in 2003 and she was director of Design Academy Eindhoven from 1998 to 2008
The 10-point printed manifesto, published by Edelkoort’s Paris-based agency Trend Union and subtitled “Ten reasons why the fashion system is obsolete.” And, we are witnessing “the end of fashion as we know it.” Heavens!
“These ten points argue that the industry has reached a vanishing point of fashion,” she writes. “This means that the economy of clothes will take over from the turnover of fashion.” The manifesto is divided into 10 chapters dedicated to topics including education, manufacturing, designers, retailing and marketing.
Here are a few examples:
In the Education chapter, Edelkoort argues that students are being trained “to become catwalk designers, highly individual stars and divas, to be discovered by luxury brands. As a result the fashion world is still working in a 20th-century mode, celebrating the individual, elevating the it-people, developing the exception… in a society hungry for consensus and altruism,” she writes.
In the chapter called Designers, Edelkoort says that the great names of the past were able to change society by introducing new silhouettes, new postures and new forms of movement. Today’s designers, however, endlessly recycle trends from the past.
Finally a new breed of consumer has emerged, Edelkoort says, arguing that fashion does not cater to them.
“The consumers of today and tomorrow are going to choose for themselves, creating and designing their own wardrobes,” she writes. “They will share clothes amongst each other since ownership doesn’t mean a thing anymore. They will rent clothes, lend clothes, transform clothes and find clothes on the streets.”
The Armory Show in New York
The 17th edition of the international art fair The Armory Show is held in early March on the far west side of Manhattan on Piers 92 (featuring Armory modern galleries) and 94 (where cutting edge contemporary art is shown.) The fair has come a long way from its roots as an upstart in the depths of the economic recession in the mid-1990s, when it was called the Gramercy Park International Art Fair, held across various hotel rooms that dealers rented out in the Gramercy Park Hotel.
In the decades since, the fair has become a marquee title on the international fair circuit. Organizers expect to host a total of 199 exhibitors from 28 countries and an opening night bash at MoMA, where the site of the anticipated landmark Björk show opens on March 8.
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac will show work by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard who recently joined the gallery. He will be represented by his new work Untitled (2015) created in collaboration with Bob Recine. It is based upon the idea of The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment and Catherine Breillat’s movie Abuse of Weakness (2014) with Isabelle Huppert. “It questions our notions of beauty and the obsessive and self-destructive aspects and how we become victims of the fashion industry’s constant pressures of reinventions,” according to a letter the gallery sent to clients.
Hales Gallery, London will be showcasing a selection of international cross-generational artists, including many whose work will be seen at the Armory Show for the first time.
