Michael McHale Chandeliers

by Brian Fichtner

Former entertainment lawyer-turned-lighting designer Michael McHale creates chandeliers that are as much about structure as they are shimmering crystal. Born from the seeds of a DIY project, Michael McHale Designs is drafting a new vision for the chandelier, utilizing such rough and ready materials as patinated brass pipes and fittings, refrigerator bulbs, and appliance tubing in concert with the finest crystal available. The effect is at once jarring and oddly beautiful.

Cool Hunting had an opportunity to ask McHale about his unique approach to lighting design and where his business is headed.

What lead you from practicing law to designing chandeliers, of all objects?

Complete serendipity. I doubt that, before a few years ago, I had ever devoted one thought to chandeliers one way or the other. It's funny how life unfolds. I walked into a design store a few years ago to buy a nice light fixture for my home and I thought that what they had looked a bit cheap, a bit flashy and they didn't seem to be about anything. I left the store with the same feeling you get when you see a bad movie, "I could have done a better job than that!" So it all started as a craft project that turned out to be infinitely more interesting than I could have imagined.

The blend of common building materials with glitzy crystal is a rather unique approach to the traditional chandelier, an object historically viewed as a status symbol. Was this a conscious choice to subvert the classical typology, or more a decision based on practicality?

Both. The original decision on materials was made because those materials were what was available to me. I didn't have access to a factory and I didn't weld. Once the first piece was made I realized that I had created something far more interesting than I had planned. Contrast turned out to be the point. The piece used these very common materials which normally reside in the service areas of our built environment, and which we are trained to ignore. Celebrating those materials in something like a chandelier ended up being a really interesting and powerful provocation to our conventional ideas of beauty and status.

Complete interview and another image after the jump.

Hoy Se Ensaya Hamlet

by Max Gold

New Yorkers have long had the summertime privilege of Shakespeare In the Park, but only recently have Madrileños caught on. Like NYC, the city of Madrid boasts an abundance of independent theater, a beautiful park and now, as of this autumn, the two cultural assets combined with Shakespeare performed in the Parque del Retiro. But Madrid's approach differs from the metropolis across the Atlantic in a few key ways.

Manuel Angel Conejero, the world-renowned playwright and president of the Fundacion Shakespeare takes the production of Hamlet into his hands, casting 13 young actors of all different backgrounds (most notably, a young American as Ophelia who speaks English as she goes insane). The play is self-reflexive to the nth degree; it unfolds as a rehearsal of a rehearsal with the director himself sitting on the stage commenting on the production as it progresses.

Even Hamlet rehearses his actions before he does them, obsessing over the different outcomes as if he were part of a choose-your-own-adventure story. "What we want is to open the theater into a center of reflection and practice, and turn Shakespeare into a didactic adventure," Angel Conejero told El Pais.

In spite of the play's avant-garde structure, the actors use a strict "Golden Age" approach to their presentation, paying close attention to their rhythm and meter. It's a combination—mixing classical with cutting edge—that has become the obsession of Spanish theater as of late.

Hamlet will run every weekend until the end of December at the Casa de Vacas in Parque del Retiro. Visit Fundacion Shakespeare's blog to make reservations.

Richard Woods Home Makeover

by Karen Day

London-based designer Richard Woods extends his style to a home in Woodstock, NY, giving the nearly 30-year-old structure a completely new look. Known for the idiosyncratic faux wood prints he designed with Sebastian Wrong fittingly called "Wrongwoods," the upstate New York home is not surprisingly "a parody of what a weekend house should be" according to contemporary art collector and home owner Adam Lindemann. (Click image below right for detail.)

The transformation of Lindemann's home is not the first makeover project done by Woods, he made waves with "Renovation," an ersatz red-brick covering of a typical house in Wimbledon. Since then, Woods has utilized his fascination with surfaces to cover a multitude of locations including the ground floor of a courtyard in Venice, the exterior of a suburban Florida home and the interior of London's Leicester Square tube station, all challenges to the way we choose to decorate the world we live in.

While the Tudor home is a complete reworking full of Woods' cartoon-like style, the "Wrongwoods" collection has been popular among those doing a little home improvement in the vein of incorporating art-slash-design pieces into their decor.

You can purchase Woods and Wrong's collection at Moss or take a more in-depth look at Woods' DIY type designs in his self-titled book available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

via Apartment Therapy

Sandra Backlund: Sculptural Knits SS09

by Leonora Oppenheim

The most astonishing collection we saw at London Fashion Week back in September was "Pool Position" by Swedish designer Sandra Backlund. Since then we've been eagerly awaiting some images of these radically sculptural knits to share with you. Now these photographs by John Scarisbrick have arrived we are reminded of the fantastical structures that stopped us in our tracks a few months ago.

Backlund creates all her pieces herself, more in the manner of a sculptor than a fashion designer. Describing her process she says, "I build my garments by hand from a couple of basic bricks which I multiply and attach to each other in different ways to discover the shape that I want." Backlund goes on to say, "My work is very personal to me. I improvise and allow myself to loose control and see what happens if I do not think so much about practical things. The human body is always the starting point."

While these wool and alpaca garments may not be practical day wear and we might feel the need to channel Björk or Roisin Murphy's sartorial confidence to walk around in them, we love the ambition and scope that Backlund brings to the humble art of knitting. The combination of taking pleasure in the process of craft and the outcome of dramatically contemporary forms is very exciting. Backlund's work is a great example of how '"slow fashion" can can preserve traditional techniques while embracing new aesthetics.

Artist and Restauranteur Dejan Bogdanovic

by Karen Day

I met painter Dejan Bogdanovic in a nightclub he was running in Florence, Italy, nearly ten years ago. Dressed in a vintage leather vest and the owner of one of the most charming laughs I'd ever heard, I was intrigued by him straight away. Born in Sarajevo as the son of an international chess champion, Dejan was catapulted into the intellectual art world at a young age and had painted his first still life series by the time he was five-years-old.

After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Dejan moved to Italy where he studied at the Studio Art Centers International in Florence and continued painting until the civil war in his home country of Yugoslavia became too intense for him to focus. During this time Dejan took up an interest in gastronomy and opened a cafe which he ran until he returned to painting in 1999.

The perfect fit for displaying his works, Dejan created the first fusion restaurant in Florence (aptly named Picasso) several years back, which married his art to his love for food. His art adorning the walls, Picasso became one of Florence's trendiest places to eat and hang out late night, where an eclectic group of locals and foreigners could be found drinking his unique collection of red wine and beer.

Using the traditional medium of oil on canvas, Dejan has always played with various colors and artistic expressions, but like Picasso, has recently entered a blue period as he continues to experiment with the female form.

You can find Dejan's works on permanent display at Golden View Restaurant in Florence while he prepares for his next exhibition. His favorite wines to date are Ornellaia 1998, Amarone Del Forno Romano 1997, and Sassicaia 1998.