THE SPRING ISSUE
Wholistic Design: Dhiren Bhagwandas
Australian industrial designer Dhiren Bhagwandas is a man on a mission, trying to change the way people approach product development. With a strong social conscience, his design is driven by a desire to advise his clients on how creative thinking can improve their businesses. Going beyond just product design, his process encourages better manufacturing procedures, […]
Jeff Koons
Creator of the 17th BMW Art car Considered to be one of the greatest contemporary artists of our generation—whether due to the astronomical price his works command, or genuine artistic significance—one thing is for certain: every piece that Jeff Koons has created, whether perceived as kitsch or avant-garde, has left a lasting impression on his […]
It’s a Wanderful World
Marcel Wanders opens his mind for Target Marcel Wanders worked as an industrial product designer for 10 years before his big break came along in the late ’90s. Break? More like an avalanche. After designing the “Knotted Chair” from resin-coated cotton (1997, Crochet Series, produced by Capellini), and other experimental furniture for Droog Design (translate […]
Reinventing the Skyline
A Conversation with Architect Charles Renfro Charles Renfro was named the third addition to duo Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio’s eponymous firm in 2004. Renfro joined a partnership already famous for constructing a pavilion out of fog in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland and receiving a MacArthur Fellowship for their discipline-agnostic installations, art and architecture. Renfro has added […]
Erin Fetherston
It’s no secret that San Francisco has been a hotbed for today’s rising young design stars. For those still in the dark, its recent “graduates” have been Alexander Wang, Derek Lam and Peter Som. For Bay Area native Erin Fetherston, dreams of becoming a fashion designer were always in her cards.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
A Portrait of an Ethereal Icon Dress, Rodarte. Charlotte Gainsbourg answers her phone with a breathy and distant hello, as if she were in the middle of packing for a flight or stepping out of the shower. The actress and musician has been running a very brief public relations circuit from Los Angeles to New […]
The Green Sensibility of Ross Mirkarimi
American politics with artistic merit What kind of person fights to get plastic bags banned from grocery stores? Having visited the Fresh Kills landfill in New York a few years ago, I was struck by the image of plastic bags swirling everywhere—like a million scenes of American Beauty projected onto a mass of human waste […]
An Equal Opportunity Provocateur
Playwright and director Young Jean Lee Perhaps one measure of art lies in its ability to speak truth to the human condition. For the 35-year-old New York-based playwright, Young Jean Lee is not necessarily holding a mirror up to our darker nature as she’s shattering it over our heads. Lee has been a fixture of […]
A Twin Thing
Mim and Liv Nervo, The new face of POP Music Behind every great song is a great writer. Behind every great girlie pop hit of the last 12 months there are two: Miriam (Mim) and Olivia (Liv) Nervo. Born and raised in the leafy suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, the 27-year-old twins left home at just […]
Finding Fantasy
In the Loop With Owen Pallett I’m crowded with half a dozen people in the control room of Different Fur Studios in San Francisco’s Mission District. We’re looking through two panes of glass at Toronto-based musician and composer Owen Pallett, better known as Final Fantasy. It’s like looking through the glass of an oven door. […]
London: Dec/Jan 2010
The word “holiday” might take on a new meaning when one crosses 5500 miles over the Atlantic, but that didn’t stop SOMA from chatting with some impossibly charming personalities on the streets of London. Cheers and Happy 2010! 1. Who do you want under the mistletoe this year? 2. What is the coolest present you […]
Paranoid Android
Sweater, Limi Feu. Bra, Fredrick’s of Hollywood. Skirt (worn as head piece), Alexander Wang. Gloves, Y-3 Yohji Yamamoto. Leather pants, Preen. Boot’s vintage combat. Blazer, Kris Van Assche. Leggings, Jillian Lewis. Boots vintage combat. Dress, Alexander Wang. Long sleeve top, Zara. Gloves, Tsumori Chisato. Boots vintage combat. Cape, Ralph Lauren. Bottoms, Omo Norma Kamali. Blazer, […]
Jean-Marc Houmard
In the cutthroat urban jungle where hotspots have a 16 percent chance of survival after a year, Indochine achieved the impossible and just celebrated their 25th anniversary with a lavish ’20s Shanghai themed bash in the sultry space. Joining the ranks of other New York City legends such as Studio 54, Indochine remains a downtown […]
Jackie Patterson
Heaven’s Dog, San Francisco Born in Bethesda Naval Hospital and raised in Hawaii, Jackie Patterson’s journey to San Francisco has been an unconventional one to say the least. Ditto her journey to becoming a bartender, a job which Patterson has only been in since early 2008. But what a mark she’s made on the San […]
Café Gitane
Nestled in the last, unobstructed corner of Manhattan’s West Village, the new Café Gitane at the Jane Hotel offers rare sanctuary and new-fashioned hospitality. The design and atmosphere are an elegant study of a minimalist decadence—gold flecks edge the couches and washed wood paneling surrounds a tiny service kitchen window at the end of a […]
