Paul Marcus Fuog
is In Wild Air
Culture
Domestic Scandal
Takashi Yasumura is a Japanese photographer and I’m in love with his Domestic Scandal series. It was photographed at his parents house over a seven year period. The series is a collection of beautiful moments where Yasumura has captured the connection or disconnection of traditional and modern mass produced objects. It’s a delightful collision of old and new. Although the work is not exactly representative of Japanese aesthetics (Wabi-Sabi) it has similar characteristics, in that it celebrates the imperfect and ordinary.
People
Justin McGuirk
Justin McGuirk is a writer and curator based in London. He’s one of the most intelligent voices in design and architecture. His website has an archive of selected writings which I’m currently working my way through. His insights and observations are always on point. I’ve just read the article he wrote for e-flux journal titled Honeywell I’m Home - a discussion on ‘The internet of things’. It raises some radical and somewhat scary questions regarding the future of architecture and domestic space…
Places
Ghetto Gastro
One of the most rewarding things about being a designer is the new relationships that are formed through collaboration. I met Jon Gray the founder of Ghetto Gastro while living and working in NYC. A close friend Sonia Rentsch introduced us, suspecting that we’d hit it off due to our mutual love for playing basketball. Ghetto Gastro is a culinary collective hailing from the Bronx in NYC which was founded by Jon in 2012. The collective is a culinary experiment: a group of highly skilled chefs that put on community events, consult with brands, and remix fine-dining with their Bronx heritage. After teaming up for some pick-up games I worked with Jon on a number of creative projects for Ghetto Gastro. For me there is nothing better than using design as a tool to learn about an unfamiliar culture. For research, Jon took me and my family on a culinary tour of the Bronx, introducing us to all the places and people that have inspired him. It’s the first time and only time I’ve ever done business on the basketball court.
Things
MacGuffin & Purpose
MacGuffin and Purpose is a design and crafts magazine featuring stories about the life of ordinary things. Its’ beauty is in its conceptual simplicity. Each issue explores one thing - the bed, the window, rope. Rather than focusing on the object itself, stories are generated through exploring the relationships people have with the object.
Thoughts
Basketball Mathematics
Game Changer, Episode 77 of the podcast 99% Invisible, is about the introduction of the shot clock in basketball and how it shaped the game into what it has become today. However this podcast is more about mathematics than the game of basketball. So whether you’re in to basketball or not it’s an interesting insight into how Dany Biasone used simple arithmetic to save the game. The 24-second shot clock was introduced in 1954 and it still remains today.
Wildism
Chet Baker Sings
In 1954, 24-year old Chet Baker released the album Chet Baker Sings. It was the first time he put down the instruments and sang. His voice is just as smooth as his trumpet playing. After his vocal debut on this album, as Gerald Heard’s liner notes point out, it was difficult to decide whether Chet Baker was a “trumpet player who sings or a singer who plays trumpet”. It’s one of my favourite albums.