India: the photography of Erika Saito

Touring throughout India (Agra, Ahmedabad, Johdpur, Srinigal, Grumark, Jammu, Kashmir, Mumbai and Dharamsala), Erika Saito, a Tokyo native, saw many faces. Be they old man, flower man, young child, mountain or teacup...















We have enjoyed her work immensely. Thank you, Erika, for your fantastic contribution to our archive. View more of her work in our India gallery >>

BH.net: and the rolling hills of Shelborne, Vermont

New photographs from Middlepoet

BH.net: time out for some fashion & art (& beads)...

...thanks to new words and authors.

1. fashion district by Andrew English:

Born in 1984, he could have been my brother -
burlap hair braided smog blonde
swept just above blue, atmospheric eyes.

One divorce and a busted street race
left him with a backpack and bionic legs,
getting his daily treatment from tourists.

Read >>

2. Throw Me Somethin' Mister: Fictions and Fragments from Mardi Gras by Robert Klein Engler:

I have a sip of bourbon and try to be encouraging. The liquor bites, but the ice cools the sting. Eventually, our conversation lags and we each say goodnight. As he walks back to his coach seat, I follow Tom with my eyes until the doors between the cars hiss shut. Now, the whistle blows when we pass a crossing. I remember Peggy Lee singing the Johnny Mercer song, "Blues in the Night." You can almost hear the whistle of the train in that music. "My mamma done tol' me, when I was in pigtails, a man is a two-face. Whoo-ee, ol' clickety clack's a-echoin' back the blues in the night." Alone, I jingle the remaining ice in my glass and I look out the window to see the glow of a farm house front porch light caught in the fingers of a bony tree. Then, far off lights of a small town glide past cushioned by an immense darkness. The train follows the highway and for a moment the twin headlights of a single car trace the night with us. Suddenly, they veer off around a curve, leaving only red tail lights bleeding into ink.

Read >>

3. "Agonized Poetry": Frida Kahlo and Catharsis by Jen Westmoreland Bouchard:

In response to "Miscarriage in Detroit," her husband, the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, commented that this was one in a series of "masterpieces which had exalted the feminine quality of truth, reality, cruelty and suffering. Never before had a woman put such agonized poetry on canvas as Frida did at this time in Detroit."

Read >>

4. Cheap & Chic: A Search for the Perfect Parisian Boots & Bag by Jessica Martinez:

On a recent trip to Paris I was determined to get two things: the perfect pair of boots and a perfect leather bag. Being the fashion capital of the world (as a New Yorker this is something I must regretfully accept), one would think that this would be an easy task. With so many stores lining around my rented apartment, limitless choices laid upon my feet.

Read >>

Times Online: a sketchy blog

We love our blog. But we can admit when someone has an idea we wish we thought of.

Presenting: George Butler's Sketch Travel Blog, part of Times Online (UK) and the Times' Travel Blog network.

The consumer and even nonconsumer travel world is often so full of crisp, clean photographs. Photography transports us in ways that our minds and sometimes words (and our schedules, and budgets) cannot. It is an art form as any other. But the art of illustration always heightens the imagination; it also tests the memory. Sketching forces the brain and the hand to do a lot of the work that a camera will do, and so makes us question the nature of reality, of the senses. George Butler even comments on this very subject in one of his recent posts, entitled The Kindness of Strangers, Mali:

Sometimes you think you have done a good drawing, but when you look at it again it is not at all like the place you remember.

In this case I was pretty unsatisfied with the drawing, but looking at it now, it is exactly how I saw this messy, rustic sofa making scene. All that was missing is the leopard print.

His drawings are simple in that they are not complete in all the detail of the real location. But they are complex in their focus. Take Street food in Bamako:



And they are highly skilled. Even abstract. Making Tuareg tea:



Check it out for yourself.

http://timestravel.typepad.com/travel/george-butlers-sketch-travel-blog/

Beijing: The Opposite House

Architecture and Interior Design by Kengo Kuma.




















The Opposite House
100027 China Beijing
Building 1 No 11 Sanlitun Road
(86) 010-64176688
http://www.theoppositehouse.com

London: a play called Enron

“I did think, I’m an Englishwoman in her 20s; what am I doing writing about American CEOs? And in Texas, at that, which is like America to the power of 10," confesses Lucy Prebble, a 29-year-old British playwright. Enron is a tragicomedy that has been sold out at London's Royal Court Theatre since its September opening.

"Directed by Rupert Goold, it uses dramatic devices to illuminate Enron's shady practices: A trading floor is a frenzy of modern dance, and analysts sing Enron's praises in the style of a barbershop trio," describes W writer Nina Jones.

As if a play wasn't enough, Columbia Pictures recently acquired rights to the story. Prebble is at work on the screenplay version.


"It was like having a mistress, whereas now it's like my wife, you know?" she tells Jones with a "wry smile."


Photos © Manuel Harlan, The Guardian


Royal Court Theatre
Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AS
(44) 020 7565 5000
http://www.royalcourttheatre.com

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Kate Spade pays war-torn women to knit

"I remember hearing the bombs when I was living in Ancona [Italy, across the Adriatic Sea from Sarajevo], working for Byblos," Deborah Lloyd, creative director of Kate Spade, tells Anne Slowey for Elle. "So there was a connection to Bosnia for me, but I didn't realize how horrible the atrocities were. Sarajevo feels like an Italian provincial town, until you see the bullet-shelled buildings and listen to what happened to these women."

Many of those women lost sons, husbands, all of their financial resources and were taken to rape camps. Zainab Salbi founded Women for Women International (WfWI) in 1993 to help female victims of war with education, counseling, training and microcredit loans. Kate Spade has teamed up with WfWI to create job programs in both Bosnia and Herzegovina. Women who create mittens, hats, scarves and even dog apparel for the winter season earn $7-15 per piece—twice the average wage in the region.

"I've always felt successful fashion companies need to find ways to give back the customer," says Kate Spade COO Craig Leavitt. "But it's so rare to make an appropriate business decision that is proactive and can have an impact and change in the world."

About 300 women in the program are now employed by Kate Spade. They are not solely on the receiving end of the bargain, however. "These women are so good at the kind of playful wit we cherish at Kate Spade," explains Lloyd, nodding at the sunny colors and patterns the women create. Turquoise, lime green, bright purple—creations that will brighten anyone's hands, ears, necks and days. And furthermore, Lloyd works directly with the women, learning their stories and even their craft. She recalls, "It was surreal being in the river with these women, but seeing the beauty of their craftsmanship at a time when production is factory-oriented was so moving. You can't believe where these Kate Spade mittens are made!"



Images clockwise from top left: Traditional crochet; The mouth of the Sarajevo Tunnel that connected the city of Sarajevo with the neutral territory of Sarajevo airport; Lloyd in a bombed-out assisted-living facility; A Serbian healer meditating on a former sniper's perch

Photos © Alexandra Avakian/Contact Press Images & Kate Spade
Images & quotes via Elle.com

Paddington, Australia: a shop with border hopping spirit

The Society inc. is an old haberdashery meets hardware store specialising in local and global textiles, furniture, homewares and beautiful things.

Set up by long time interior stylist Sibella Court in an 1800s corner shop in Paddington, its contents and interior will change 4 times a year, each time a new 'theme' will transport the visitor to different societies.... Each theme will be accompanied by seasonal paint colours designed by Sibella for Murobond Paints.

Despite being born in idyllic Sydney, Sibella's gypsy soul had her travelling the world searching for beautiful and unusual things to discover, from a very early age. Currently a judge on the Channel 9 television design series HomeMADE and Interiors Editor for Grazia magazine, Sibella has a beautiful props salon in Paddington “The Society Inc”, a paint range with Murobond, and a handful of prestige advertising clients who draw on her myriad of aesthetic and practical skills.

—thesocietyinc.com.au

The shop is closed at the moment for holiday but will reopen on February 6th with its new theme: Tender is the Night.

Past themes include:

Foundation


Indigo Blues


Travellers&Magicians


PaperWhites


Tradewinds


Atelier


Merchants&Traders


Tales of a sea gypsy



The Society Inc.
18 Stewart Street
Paddington NSW 2021
Australia
(61) 02.9331.1592‎
http://thesocietyinc.com.au‎

Haiti: how to support

Image © foxtoledo.com


Pain, struggle and suffering are as universal as aid, help and relief. If you are interested in supporting Haiti, below are several worthy causes:



CARE is a leading humanitarian organization that fights poverty.


unicef provides world-renowned help for children.


Medical Teams International is a Christian global health organization that works with grassroots organizations, churches and ministries to distribute and facilitate aid to people suffering from disaster.


American Jewish Worldwide Service is dedicated to alleviating hunger, poverty and disease.


Salvation Army provides food, clothing, shelter and spiritual support to those in disaster or need.


Mercy Corps provides humanitarian and economic assistance to places in need.


Catholic Relief Services is an agency working with emergency relief, AIDS/HIV relief, sanitation, micro-finance and other projects worldwide.


To find other causes, Charity Navigator is an excellent resource.




If you are an artist or know one who can always use some excellent (and reasonably priced) supplies, check out cheapjoes.com. From all purchase made Friday, January 15th 2010 (tomorrow), Cheap Joe's will donate 5% to the relief effort. They also will provide the opportunity to make a donation with or without your purchase.