Kinky Gaijin
Namaiki [namaiki.com] are naughty (well, that’s a rough translation, anyway). It’s also kind of tricky describing what it is they actually do… As a team headed by David Duval-Smith and Michael Frank, they often work as artists building installations out of found objects (the images above are from a recent ‘ongoing’ installation at the Hara Museum for Modern Art [haramuseum.or.jp]).
This makes up just a tiny proportion of their overall creative output which has included set design and interior decoration on Tokyo’s public transport system (utilising their signature collection of patterns), customised Snoopy sculptures for the recent Peanuts 55th Anniversary exhibition [flickr.com/pingmag] as well as graphics (including motion graphics) for clients such as Super Deluxe [super-deluxe.com] amongst loads of other crazy projects. Namaiki’s current preoccupation with nature, choas and the environment has led to the curious Kinky Muff Land Project [via vvork].
Maybe starting out as strangers in a strange land (or ‘Gaijin’ [see pingmag]) has helped them develop this fluid way of meshing design and art together. It possibly helps that many designers working in Japan are referred to as simply ‘Creators’. What I really want to know though is where’s the official Namaiki compendium? C’mon, you cheeky scamps, surely the time is right to put some of your works down on paper.
Always a Gentleman
London would be a slightly duller place without the work of David Gentleman [wikipedia]. For a start we wouldn’t have his signature woodblock style adorning the walls of Charing Cross Underground Station (some of which you can see above), creating one of the most elegant and interesting interiors of any of London Underground’s vast network of stations. His cover illustrations for the Penguin New Shakespeare [flickr] series of paperbacks followed similar lines, although with added colour overlays. His obsession with all things miniature led him to work on a number of postage stamp design [postalheritage.org.uk] as well as publishing a book, in 1972, entitled ‘Design in Miniature’. If you look around old London town, there is evidence of his work, and the work that he took inspiration from all over the place.
Secret Typography #1
Iñigo Jerez has one of Spain’s best kept typographic secrets. Long time creative director for Suite magazine [suitemagazine.es], Iñigo has been producing custom typefaces for the publication for many years now. His type foundry goes by the name of Textaxis [textaxis.com] and featured many hidden gems. Blok is a Boicozine favourite. Here’s hoping more of them will be made available for purchase or one day they may just disappear into the typographic ether.
L’œil on the Seventies
I’ve been checking me stats and weirdly the Boicozine post on vintage Architectural Review [see boicozine/293] magazines has proved massively popular so I thought I’d dig out another vintage mag from the ‘archive’ (ie my cramped little book shelves). L’œil [artclair.com/loeil] was established in 1955 under the publishing matra of ‘all arts, all the countries, all times’ although the magazine was at it best around the late 60s and early 70s when they shifted their focus from traditional art to architecture and interior design. This issue from 1970 features a Verner Panton [vernerpanton.com] design on the cover and spread inside as well as articles on the French Underground, a new type of skyscraper in Johannesburg and an amazing concrete construction by sculptor turned architect, Gottfried Böhm [wikipedia.org].
In case you’re interested last month Boicozine recieved about 3,500 visitors which may not be a lot in terms of the world wide web but I dare you to name 3,500 people you know by name… see it’s quite a lot really. The most popular search term was ‘paper machete’ [see boicozine/394]. Methinks there are a number of people having trouble spelling ‘Papier Mâché’ [wikipedia.org], still it’s nice to see sticking bits of newspaper to a balloon is still as popular as ever.
Unleash the Power
First architecture magazines had a bit of an overhaul and now, it seems as though it could be the (not usually so humble) Art magazine that’s next in line with Pyramid Power [pyramidpower.ca] from Canada leading the charge. The magazine has a deliberately loose, informal style both graphically and editorially which helps make it more precious and less pompous than your usual Art magazine faire. Something Art Review’s [art-review.co.uk] recent redesign came close to achieving but still falls slightly short of the mark. If you know of any Art magazines we should be talking about we’d love to hear about them. The spread shown below features the work of bubble obsessed photographer Jessica Eaton [tinyvices.com/jessica_eaton].
Historic Hysteric
Hysteric Glamour [hystericglamour.jp] is a clothing brand from Tokyo (natch). Hysteric was born in the mid 80s after a lable known as ‘Ozone Community’ [ozonerocks.com] asked one of it’s young inhouse designers, Nobu Kitamura… to create a new streetwear brand for them. It didn’t take long for Hysteric’s star to rise, flooding the streets of Tokyo with Nobu’s pop-rock prints and unique brand of edgy Americana.
During the 90s the Hysteric brand flirted with diffused versions of itself, setting up a little known store in New York and the Hysteric Glamour UK label in conjunction with Gimme 5 [the-glade.com/gimme5]. Although neither overseas ventures turned out as successfully as they could have been, the brand continued to go from strength to strength back home in Japan, adapting to outrun the bootlegs that started spilling out from Hong Kong in the late 90s.
It’s been over 20 years now since Hysteric Glamour barged it’s way into the spotlight. They have since, deliberately scaled back their operations, although not the amount of splinter brands they produce. There’s Thee Hysteric XXX and HG for guys, Hysterics and Hysteric Glamour for girls and Joey Hysteric for kids. They do a nice side line in accessories and have become prolific publishers through the Hysteric Glamour Art & Books imprint [buenobooks.com/hyst]. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the man who started it all looks like, pay careful attention to the party scene in Lost in Translation [IMDb].
