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Recent Posts
- ACADEMIA OBSCURE TITLE AWARD 22/12/2020
- MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: trainspotting! 11/12/2020
- MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: reflections 24/11/2020
- MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the first cinema screening 24/09/2020
- MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the film locations 29/06/2020
- Adriano Olivetti 27/02/2020
- Why is Computer Design stuck in the 1950s? 04/04/2018
- MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the movie cameras 26/02/2018
- Apple Park 24/07/2017
- Archispeak #1 – TEA, Tenerife 11/01/2017
- Dismal Designs – Nikon D5 30/10/2016
- Delightful Designs – 1946 SIRIO Elettra II camera 10/10/2016
- Japanese Style 22/07/2016
- Whistler’s Haircut 27/04/2016
- Beyond The Dreaming Spires 11/04/2016
- Leica 1 Model C – The First System Camera 29/02/2016
- Blot on the Historic Townscape 21/02/2016
- Dismal Designs – The Hearing Aid 09/01/2016
- A Factory Filled with Light – Olivetti at Pozzuoli 13/11/2015
- Great Designers Remembered – Pier Giorgio Perotto and the first PC 28/10/2015
- Dismal Designs – New Google Logo 15/09/2015
- Miniature Masterpiece – Leica FIKUS Variable Lens Hood 03/09/2015
- Disappointing Designs – Apple Watch 18/08/2015
- Memorable Images – Henry Taunt 19/07/2015
- Duane Hanson at the Serpentine 16/07/2015
- Blots on the Cityscape – The Ruin of London? 15/07/2015
- Disappointing Designs – Alfa Romeo Giulia 07/07/2015
- Golden Silver – The Beauty of Nickel Plate 02/07/2015
- Delightful Designs – Arteluce Bean Bag Light 15/06/2015
- Housing Design Crisis 12/06/2015
- Blot on the Landscape – Close-board Fencing 10/06/2015
- Delightful Designs – Alessi Birdsong Tea Strainer 08/06/2015
- Miniature Masterpieces – Leica RASAL and ROSOL Frame Finders 31/05/2015
- Hiroshige at the Ashmolean 01/02/2015
- Blot on the Townscape #2 – The Blade, Reading 01/02/2015
- Miniature Masterpieces – Leica APDOO, WINKO, WINTU and AUFSU 01/02/2015
- Dismal Designs – Premier Inn 01/02/2015
- Blot on the Historic Landscape – The Port Meadow Scandal 09/01/2015
- Peter Overs – Emu Dreaming 08/01/2015
- Dismal Designs – new Mini 04/01/2015
- Miniature Masterpieces – Leica VISOR, VIDOM and VIOOH viewfinders 03/01/2015
- Alessi Makes Serious Coffee 29/12/2014
- Blot on the Townscape #1 – Oxford 29/12/2014
- Great Designers Remembered – George C Blickensderfer and the First Portable Typewriter 29/12/2014
- Constructivism in Tenerife! 19/12/2014
- Dismal Designs – Fiat Fiorino 19/12/2014
Category Archives: Design
MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the first cinema screening
In the spring of 1927 Dziga Vertov* moved to Kyiv to work for VUFKU, the All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Adminstration (Vse-Ukrains’ke Foto Kino Upravlinnia, ВУФКУ – Всеукраїнське фоtокіноуправління) after being sacked by Sovkino, the Russian equivalent, for being over budget on his film ‘One … Continue reading
Posted in Camera, Cameras, Cinema, Constructivism, Design, Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie Camera, Photography, silent film, Soviet film, Uncategorized
Tagged Berlin, Der Mann mit der Kamera, Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, Express Cinema, Film und Foto Exhibition, Goskino No. 1 Cinema, Goskino No. 2 Cinema, Hermitage Cinema, K. Liebnecht Cinema, Kharkiv, Kharkiv Historical Museum, Kyiv, Man with a Movie Camera, Marmorhaus Cinema, Mikhail Kaufman, Moscow, Museum of Moscow, Odesa, Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre, Palace Hotel, Shantser Cinema, Tverskaia 46 Cinema, VUFKU
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MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the film locations
1929 poster for the film by the Stenberg brothers ‘We leave the film studio for life, for that whirlpool of colliding visible phenomena, where everything is real, where people, tramways, motorcycles, and trains meet and part, where each bus follows … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Cinema, Constructivism, Design, Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie Camera, silent film, Soviet film, Uncategorized
Tagged Arcadia Beach, Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, Bolshoi Theatre, Boulevard Stairs, Coal Mine, Debrie Parvo movie camera, Documentary film, Donbas, Donbass, Donetsk, Dziga Vertov, Eisenstein, Elizaveta Svilova, Experimental film, Film locations, Iron foundry, Kamianske, Kiev, Kinamo, Kulyanik, Kuznetsky Most, Kyiv, Man with a Movie Camera, Mikhail Kaufman, Moscow, Odesa, Photography, Potemkin Stairs, Pushkins'ka Street, Soviet Silent Movies, Steelworks, Strastnaya Square, The Eleventh Year, Tverskaya, Volkhov Hydroelectric Plant
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Adriano Olivetti
Adriano Olivetti in memoriam 11th April 1901 – 27th February 1960 A film about the greatest industrialist of them all: https://youtu.be/Ax_zKlnSxHE
Posted in Architecture, Art, Computers, Design, Housing, Housing Design, Personal Computers, product design, Typewriters, Uncategorized
Tagged Adriano Olivetti, Architecture, Design, Design Italiano, Industrial design, Italian design, Italy, Ivrea, Olivetti, Typewriters
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Why is Computer Design stuck in the 1950s?
Compared to my first computer, an Apple Macintosh 128K, the modern device has an awesome amount of computing power. I have just bought a Hewlett Packard ‘All-in-One’ PC with wireless keyboard and mouse, 24″ screen, 8GB of RAM and … Continue reading
Posted in Computers, Design, Personal Computers, product design, Uncategorized
Tagged Computer design, Design, Hewlett Packard, Industrial design, McAfee, McAfee LiveSafe, Microsoft, Windows 10
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Apple Park
Steven Levy of Wired magazine was invited in for a tour of the vast new Apple headquarters building in Cupertino, California, designed by Foster and Partners. Opened in April 2017 the building has cost a reported $5 billion, and the … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Building, Computers, Construction, Design, Olivetti, Personal Computers, Uncategorized
Tagged Apple HQ, Apple Park, Foster and Partners, Foxconn, Jony Ives, Pegatron
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Archispeak #1 – TEA, Tenerife
WHAT ARCHITECTS SAY VERSUS THE REALITY! Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2008 ARCHITECTS: Herzog & De Meuron, project directed by the Canarian architect Virgilio Gutiérrez ARCHITECTS: “…..A new public path diagonally cuts through the building complex connecting the … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Blots on the Cityscape, Blots on the Townscape, Building, Design, Spanish Architecture, Ugly Buildings, Uncategorized
Tagged Herzog & De Meuron, Modern Plaza, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, TEA, Tenerife architecture, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes
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Dismal Designs – Nikon D5
In complete contrast to my previous post……. The grotesque looking D5 is the epitome of everything I loathe about the current offering of DSLR cameras. It is the Mr Creosote* of cameras, a misshapen lump with buttons, lids, and switches scattered at … Continue reading
Posted in Camera, Cameras, Design, Japanese Design, Photography, Uncategorized
Tagged Cameras, Canon EOS, Design, DSLR, Japanese cameras, Japanese DSLR, Nikon D5, Photography, Product design
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Delightful Designs – 1946 SIRIO Elettra II camera
As well as being a Leica fan I’m also intrigued by the many ‘Look-a-Leicas’ that mostly appeared in the decade after WW2. The launch of the first Leica in 1925 caused a sensation, changing the way people took photographs. Tens … Continue reading
Posted in Camera, Cameras, Design, Italian Design, Leica, Photography, product design, Uncategorized
Tagged Cameras, Copy Leicas, Design, FED cameras, Italian cameras, Leica cameras, Leica copies, Photography, Product design, SIRIO Elettra II
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Dismal Designs – The Hearing Aid
WHY ARE HEARING AIDS SO BADLY DESIGNED AND OVER-PRICED? An elderly relation of mine has some Starkey 3 Series hearing aids which cost an extraordinary £2,500 ($3,600)! Apart from the outrageous price, of which more later, this is one of the most … Continue reading
Posted in Design, product design, Uncategorized
Tagged Hearing aids, Starkey hearing aids
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Disappointing Designs – Apple Watch
Being an Apple fan since my first Macintosh I wasn’t expecting to be disappointed by the Apple Watch. I tried out the Sport version recently which seemed well made and there are some great features and apps, but crucially it just … Continue reading
Posted in Design, watch design
Tagged Alessandro Mendini, Apple Watch, Breitling, Chronomat, gold Apple Watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, Mimo Loga, Navitimer, Samsung Gear S2, smart watch, Tizen
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Delightful Designs – Alessi Birdsong Tea Strainer
Alessi ‘Tea Matters’ Melodic Tea Strainer – Alan Chan 2010 No other manufacturer would, or could, make such a quirky and delightful product. Ostensibly for straining tea but imagined as a cage containing the strainer in the shape of a bird, all … Continue reading
Posted in Design, Italian Design, product design
Tagged alan chan, Alessi, bird song, birdsong tea strainer, chinese birdcages, Tea Matters tea strainer, tea strainer
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Alessi Makes Serious Coffee
Alessi Neapolitan Coffee Maker – La Tavola di Babele Another one of Alessi’s beautiful masterpieces of design and construction. It only makes a few small cups of delicious coffee and there are a lot of things to clean afterwards, but … Continue reading