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Sunday, 10 February 2013
Feeling Fitzrovian. .(scribbled at 13:42 )

I seem to be incapable to blogging at any other time than the weekend these days, but uploading pictures can be a pretty arduous process at the best of times. I’ve barely documented anything this week, which is a blessing really as all I seem to have done is eat another tonne of instant brownies (see previous post). I’m really putting off the ‘Learn to Make Croissants’ bit of my To Do list this month (see the Liste de Tâches tab at the top), all the recipes for buttery croissants imply that you have to leave the pastry overnight which I don’t have the patience for. Who can leave pastry?!

I went to 66 Portland Place for the first time on Tuesday evening. For those non-architecture folk, that’s the HQ of RIBA. And I have quite literally fallen in love with its interiors! I was planning to spend an hour there, which somehow turned into 3. The brilliant high ceilings and carvings throughout the building are. Just. Incredible. Ditto the elongated windows too. Wandering through the six storeys, it seemed that each floor offered a new set of beautifully crafted spaces. I have every intention of returning there every month from now on; their exhibitions programme looks rather impressive! Whilst I was there, I checked out the RIBA Royal Gold Medal Exhibition 2013, which is a prize awarded as recognition of an architect with at least 30 years in practice.  The incredible Peter Zumthor was awarded the Gold Medal, and seriously, after reading up on his design for Therme Vals in Switzerland, who wouldn’t hail the man with an award?!


© TripAdvisor

An absolute masterpiece, Therme Vals is a spa complex in the Chur region. The building is filled with natural spring water, and seems to be an ideal place for meditative thoughts and a pure week of relaxation. Someone take me there, please.

Equally inspiring, was the AR+D Awards for Emerging Architecture. With over 250 entries from 43 different countries, this exhibition of works is pretty darn cool. Only built work is eligible for submission, and these works are based upon the notion of humanity in architecture. With schools, cemeteries and social housing structures featured heavily in the show, it really evoked how much care we have to put into the design of non-corporate structures. I’ve quite a fondness for the M Building designed by Stéphane Maupin, which gives us an insight into a new social housing project based in the northwest district of Paris. There’s nothing I want more than to move back to continue what was my short-lived period residing in Neuilly, and the M Building is practically just around the corner! Hurrah for affordable (tiny) housing!

© Dezeen.com


This really is an extraordinary item of beauty, and it seems that every need of the resident has been taken into account. Evidently there is an impending limitation of space considering that it is social housing, but Maupin has created the structure in mind of allowing as much natural light into the apartments as possible. It consists of 2 descending symmetrical terraces which are clad in this Parisian Zinc material, which together forms this sort of contemporary ziggurat (FYI, a ziggurat is a pyramidal structure that hails from the ancient Middle Eastern period). Pretty nice, huh!



© Dezeen.com

So yes, urges to move to Liverpool have now been replaced with stronger urges to move out of Blighty altogether. Ideally Paris, but I’m not too picky. Perhaps it was the hideous amount of snow, slush and bad karaoke I encountered shortly after my train pulled into Lime Street, but I think I may have previously been seeing Liverpool with rose tinted specs in recent months. It’s still an incredible city, but I guess my urge to move up there is waning a little. For now, anywho.

Still wouldn't say no to my dream Hope Street terrace, though...

I still can’t get enough of The Bluecoat though, which is one of my favourite buildings in Britain. Their William Kentridge retrospective that they had on at the time was absolutely brilliant. Born in Johannesburg in 1955, Kentridge actually studied Politics before moving onto etching later on in his life. After moving to Paris for a year to study mime (!), it actually wasn’t until dOCUMENTA (X) that he became firmly grounded in the international visual arts scene. He used a variety of techniques, particularly the ‘Chine Collé’ that he executed when making his ‘Sleeping on Glass’ series back in 1999. 



Actually, to a certain extent, it was a fairly prolific weekend up North. I finally got round to replacing my 5 year old battered Zara parka with a swanky new Ralph Lauren one, which feels so amazing to wear that it has seldom left my torso in the past fortnight alone. I mentioned in my previous post that I saw Les Misérables at FACT whilst I was there, but more importantly I HAVE NOW FINALLY SEEN AN EPISODE OF ‘GIRLS’. And I’ve gotten a little bit hooked to it, so expect even less frequent blog posts from here on.

I meant to pop over to The Royal Standard too, but ended up spending a few hours before I caught my London-bound pendolino train in The Open Eye Gallery instead, and having a ridiculous amount of Tofu and spring rolls at Tokyou.

Anyway, I loved The Open Eye Gallery’s current group show, entitled ‘A Lecture Upon the Shadow’, which ends next Sunday, so catch it if you can.








Ahh, and I had to post a picture of this new T Shirt I bought from the V&A shop a few days before I went to Liverpool. This was a pretty casual slovenly dressed Sunday, to say the least:

NB: I am not posing, hahah. The sun is in my eyes and my hair keeps falling onto my face at the moment because I'm too lazy to get a haircut.

This is Tomorrow/Whitechapel Gallery T-Shirt: V&A Shop
Bag: Urban Outfitters
Jeans: Zara
Leather Converse: Kurt Geiger

Moving swiftly back down south, I went out for a night out in Fitzrovia for the most recent Haunch of Venison Private View on Eastcastle Street, which was followed by a pretty damn good pizza on this diner by Goodge Street, which I forget the name of.

The Thomas Joshua Cooper Landscapes at Haunch of Venison were pretty impressive, but I didn’t spend too long at that exhibition opening because I really wanted to check out ‘Orange between orange and Orange’, a show by Michael Joaquin Grey at Carroll Fletcher Gallery (which is also on Eastcastle Street). I took Daniel for a wander around the show (he’s pictured here in tweed:)


Before retreating to the bowels of North London (and before Daniel went back to Stoke On Trent), we went to the Wellcome collection, and managed to easily spend an hour or so drinking the delicious chai tea that they sell in their café. Yum.

I wore this new top that I bought in Zara when I was in Liverpool. It was an absolute steal, as I know I’m going to wear it to absolute death. As much as I wanted to buy their leather-sleeved parka jackets that were everywhere last season, I hate buying coats that I know I won’t be wearing year after year. So it seemed much more purse-friendly to try out the pleather-sleeve trend with a t-shirt instead. 




Everything points to Fauvism. Yesss.

And on the street behind the Wellcome Collection, we came across this ‘Sorry You’re Leaving’ cake, which had been hilariously tossed onto a front porch of an office building.



I know the weather’s looking a bit naff, but hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend! I am very much still recovering from an endless amount of Baileys cocktails and a night out in Covent Garden from Friday night… I have literally spent the entire weekend in my pyjamas which I’m trying not to feel too guilty about. We went to Maxwells Burger restaurant first, which is just around the corner from The Royal Opera House. Although it was literally packed to the brim with people, the service was brilliant, and we managed to grab a few Mai Tais whilst it was still happy hour! I can’t rave enough about the vegetarian burger, which comes with a bucket load of fries. Actual food heaven. 

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Tuesday, 22 January 2013
neigé dans/new amsterdam moleskine. .(scribbled at 21:40 )

A fleeting visit to Somerset House last weekend.

Well, if 2 weeks back in Midlands over Christmas didn’t bring me to insanity due to an excessive amount of boredom, then 48hrs spent snowed in did. Armed with only a Moleskine sketchbook and my new Chloé dupes (see previous post), I travelled all the way up for what was going to be a weekend of champagne, pizza and other classy birthday shenanigans. Here in Grande Bretagne, and especially in obscure Midland towns, we generally have a rule of halting all public transport once someone has spotted a single snowflake falling from the sky, which resulted in Friday afternoon being spent trapped in my childhood home, forcing me to endure my younger sister’s addiction of Jeremy Kyle.

Luckily, I still get all my post sent to my mother's house, so I arrived back to a stupid amount of parcels from a wee bit of online shopping, as well as this gift off Glamour Magazine. I've been a member of their reader panel for years and I honestly can't rave about it enough. Providing you submit a decent review to them after, they'll send you a plethora of items to trial for them. From endless boxes of Special K to yet-to-be-released make up, it's always useful things too. They sent me through a bottle of Rimmel foundation not too long ago and I've actually been quoted word for word on their advertising campaigns, haha. Anyway, for those fellow blondes out there, this is by far the best shampoo I've came across for maintaining colour. Evidently, my eyebrows tend to give away the fact that I am obvs not a natural blonde, so getting my hair colour to stay platinum blonde without turning into a horrific shade of grey can be somewhat a  laborious and expensive time waster. The smell's not too amazing, but this conditioner is the best thing since buttery sliced bread. Okay, nothing beats buttery sliced bread, but I've spent loads on hair products to maintain the colour, and this is by far the best coloured hair conditioner I've come across yet.



I'm also doing my bit to make sure that Moleskine aren't affected by the economic climate by continuing to spend stupid amounts of my salary of stationery. I just had to get one of these bad boys for my trip to Amsterdam in 6 (!!) weeks time. For what is essentially a small notebook with a street map, these are a tad overpriced (rrp is £12) unless like me, you're planning to actually go on holiday without an enormous guide book. No one actually uses their entire guidebook on holiday, do they? By having a dedicated notebook for the city you're visiting, you get to pick and choose recommendations from books, friends and Google and compile them into your own tailor made city guide. What's more, it's encouraging me to research into the city more and plan it out properly. Previous holidays have always been on a whim, which is great now and then but with a mere 4 precious days in the Netherlands, I really want to make the most of it. You create your own tabbed pages in the notebook too, so in addition to the pre-made 'Restaurants/Cafés/Shops' tabs in the Moleskine, I've made my own little 'Museums' and 'Galleries' tabs too. Yes, even in my twenties, I still have an obsession with well designed stationery.





I'll try to keep Amsterdam-related waffling to a minimum over the next few posts, but I am so excited about Vermeer, Rembrandt and those adorable little houses that sit along the canals. Yesterday's tube journey consisted of drawing my own little Amsterdam house, which was quite an impressive feat, given the usual Monday morning claustrophobia that occurs on the Victoria line.


I wore trainers to a Valentino exhibition. Ultimate sartorial fail, I know.

Fortunately, before this minor blizzard hit us all, I managed to catch up on gallery visits. Tim Walker: Storyteller and Valentino: Master of Couture at Somerset House are amazing. The glass cabinets in the latter exhibition are held up by these beautiful Louis chairs. After an endless amount of beautiful sketches and dresses, I’m not ashamed to admit that my personal highlight of the exhibition were the chairs- if I don’t get round to writing a Chair Lust of the Month post before February comes along, just assume that I’m still dreaming about the masses of creamy upholstered Louis ones that are currently sitting in the basement of the Embankment galleries.

If Walker’s photographs of Alber Elbaz in sets of bunny ears weren’t enough to float my boat, then Valentino’s sketches certainly were. Meandering through those shows was such a lovely treat for a wet and windy Sunday afternoon in grim London. I find fashion illustration so beautiful, and somewhat depressing as well. As a fully-fledged short arse… (I was under the impression I was 5’ 4” until I saw my GP last week, who politely informed me I was a whole inch shorter. It put a downer onto the beginning of 2013, I assure you.) … anyway, as much as I like looking at designer sketches, they’re a pertinent reminder of my non- altitudinous legs. Regardless of this, I’ve now covered my 2013 diary in Valentino-inspired sketches where my weekly ‘To Do’ list would normally go. Whoops, there goes space to focus on productivity this year.

I pondered over doing an OOTD (that's an 'Out of The Door' for you non-blogging folk) about what I wore to the Gerard Byrne Private View at Whitechapel Gallery last week, but instead wasted my tube journey this morning by sketching it instead. Okay, so this sequinned skirt and leather t-shirt from Zara didn't quite coordinate brilliantly, but it's January and I'm clinging onto any festivity left within me before it gets any colder this month. Everyone needs sequins.



I'm jumping on the first train to Liverpool after work on Friday and for once, it's actually going to be warmer up north. Mental!

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about
diaristic ramblings about architecture, design, art, baking and shoes.

...all posts penned by Vikki, a twenty-something girl based in London (but currently having itchy feet and wanting to move back to Neuilly).

all these poorly taken photographs are indeed my own.


Vermeer's Victoria Sponge.