The Cross Street

We often pop into Millers on Cross Street just behind Auckland's Karangahape Road for a coffee. Anyone who has had a double flat white there will know that it's damn close to being the finest cup in town and the coffee roasting machine doing it's thing in the background merely enhances the experience. Standing outside the other day, I looked up to see the fab new iron-clad building which is nearing completion and then looked left and saw the we.ar store looking smart and spunky next door and then it occurred to me that this little piece of back alley development was exactly what has been missing from the Auckland sidewalk. Sure we have Little High Street and other enclaves around the place but nothing that qualifies as a bonafide back alley like the ones that pepper the inner city of Melbourne. The Victorian govt decided years back to turn many of these alleys into desirable places and these days the alleys are an integral part of the soul of that city. Poynton Terrace, Galatos Street, East Street and several others around K Rd also have potential as retail/cafe/boutique thoroughfares and that dirty old K Rd carpark would surely be better served as a market aka Paddy's in Sydney. Of course this is all wishful thinking as the words "town planning" and "Auckland" have rarely existed in the same hemisphere.

Poi Aye

(Carton) unfinished series by Cam Munroe 2009

For those of you who don't already know, Osbourne Street in Newmarket, Auckland houses a little gem of a gallery cum design emporium called The Poi Room. The store stocks a broad cross-section of local art, design and creative output with strong Maori and Polynesian flavour. Yet The Poi Room is by no means a tacky flag waving tourist-driven enterprise - art and the development of artists is much higher on the agenda.

In recent months Melanie-Jane Smith and the Poi Room crew have showcased a number of emerging artists; Daniella Hulme, Jenny McLeod and Sylvia Marsters showed as part of the Pacific Paradise exhibition, weaver Karl Rangikawhiti Leonard exhibited some of his exquisite pieces and Sue Carmont, Su McPherson and Claire Inwood got 'All Dolled Up in Newmarket."

It's a wee way away yet but we thought we'd bring your attention to an upcoming (September) exhibition at The Poi Room featuring the work of Wellingtonians Melissa Young and Cam Munroe whose work appears above. Below is a sample selection of the type of offerings at The Poi Room and as you can see if you are looking to give your whare the flavour of Aotearoa, there are few better destinations.


The Poi Room
17 Osbourne Street
Newmarket
Ph: 64-9-520 0399

Princely Wrappinghood - The Art of being Louis Vuitton

Hong Kong's Museum Of Art as it looks today

To celebrate a long and passionate partnership between luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton and the arts, the Hong Kong Museum of Art has been 'wrapped' by one of Vuitton's long time artistic collaborators, Richard Prince. The building has been covered in Prince's "After Dark" series to celebrate the "Louis Vuitton; A Passion For Creation" exhibition within, an extensive retrospective that runs through until August this year.

Richard Prince Artwork for Louis Vuitton, 2007

The exhibition encapsulates the company's historical association with the arts which burgeoned under Gaston-Louis Vuitton's stewardship and was cemented by a milestone series of historical collaborations, most recently with Marc Jacobs, who in turn invited collaboration from the likes of Murikami, Jeff Koons, Stephen Sprouse and Richard Prince to great effect during the reinvention of the luxury brand. Art is now integral to the house itself and in 2006 Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton opened a multi-gallery space for artistic expression atop the Champs Elysées store.

Sketch of the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création by Frank Gehry

The Hong Kong exhibition is a prelude to the opening of the future Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, a phenomenal new Frank Gehry designed arts centre in Paris. Situated on the Bois de Boulogne and the Jardin d'Acclimatation the glass pavilion expresses a "notion of transparency" according to the great architect. Ostensibly a series of chapel-like galleries connected by large expanses of glass, the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, along with the current Hong Kong exhibition suggests that Louis Vuitton's commitment to the arts is only growing stronger.

Model of the Fondation Louis Vuitton by Frank Gehry

Look out for more coverage on this project in Issue 11 of Black. Kanye West, another collaborator celebrates Takashi Murakami's work here.

Louis Vuitton: A Passion For Creation
Hong Kong Museum Of Art
May 22 - August 9, 2009
Sunday - Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-8pm
Closed on Thursday (except public holidays)

Online Cover Of The Week

This gave us the warm and fuzzys last week.

The discovery of PoP HU HU HU on our MySpace site. This young Mexican went a step further than most with his friend request by creating his own Black Magazine cover in his profile pic. You gotta like that...

Rick, Nick, That's The Trick

This project has been up on the venerable SHOWstudio site for a couple of weeks now but it is so good we felt it was worth a post just in case you hadn't seen it. Rick Owens is a current superstar of fashion who like many of his contemporaries (Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen) seems to be more interested in the lines of his body than lines on the table. Nick Knight shot the film as an aside to his Arena Homme Plus shoot of Owens and features the Iggy-esque one in a confident frame of mind.

Front Row Seat

I was talking to my Uncle Clive yesterday and reminiscing with him about a car he owned in the 1970s which made him seem impossibly cool to me, and most of my young and impressionable male cousins, his black Pontiac Laurentian. It was the best part of a decade old by then but was still much bigger and cooler than your average NZ family car of the time. I remember sitting on a blue leather seat like this one, only able to see the dashboard, the carpeted floor and the shiny chrome handles on the passenger door. The front window was somewhere way above, like the sky inside the car, and the engine turned over like a tank. Uncle Clive had a Hogan-esque black cow lick back then and wore Bob Charles action gusset shirts and gold aviator sunglasses. I thought it was all so American and over time imagined a story that Uncle Clive had been playing golf in America and shipped the car back on cruise liner to power around the streets of Westmere. I found out yesterday it was purchased in Great North Road. Still, for me it remains a style icon and to this day I can still smell the Turtle-waxed upholstery.

Flip Out!

OK, we've seen some weird shoes in our time but these just might take the cake and thankfully, they can really only be viewed as art. The creation of Belgian artist Paul Schietekat these 'beach heels' combine the best of a holiday in Fiji and front row glamour although sand would be the last place you would want to try them out. Still there is something strangely Bond-ish about them...

A Bird? A Sheep? No, a card...

Raven and Lamb are a Sydney-based team that produce rather lovely, environmentally-sound greeting cards and gifts. It is not an easy thing to do, as many others have found out, but with simple messages like "Big Love" they are off to a good start. The duo are Kata Bayer "a Hungarian-born, ex-teenage-movie-star who is an international award-winning photographer" and Maz Lowe "an Australian farm girl who went from chasing sheep and milking cows to working in international publication design."

The cards are "proudly printed in Australia using vegetable-based inks on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper stocks." The range of cards alone is extensive and broad with an eclectic mix of photography, design, word and illustration at work and there's soon to be a line of stationery, wraps and tantalisingly, "something for your wall."

Check the card range here.

Class Act

Slim Aarons (yep that's his name) was a celebrated, for want of a better word, celebrity photographer of the 50's, 60's and 70's whose images capture the very essence of a time gone by. Slim wasn't however an A-List snapper hanging around at parties working the schlebs in front of logo walls for the PR ringleaders, no Slim was a fly-on-the-wall type of guy who just hung out and occasionally posed his subjects to make them look comfortable and natural.

A native of Long Island he grew up idolising the superfluous lifestyles of the rich and famous in the Hamptons and beyond. He was apparently so likeable as a person that he easily ingratiated himself into a rarefied scene populated by the likes of Jackie O, Man Ray, Gloria Guiness, Mick Jagger and Clark Gable - and earned their trust. In short, he lived with and photographed the Jet Set as their photographer of choice.

"Attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places" was his mantra.

We think he was amazing so here we go, here's some Slim pickings to savour...

The Unbeatable BOX (and Cause Celebre)

Legendary bouncer Roseti models the Karen Walker Box jacket

Long before Auckland celebs were C-List there existed a bar/club/haven on High Street that was a constant cause for celebration. The Box/Cause Celebre was a double-barreled underground club run by the inimitable Simon Grigg and Tom Samson that, between 1989 and 1997, showcased a rainbow of musical styles of the time - everyone from Ice T to Stacey Pullen, Andrew Weatherall, Nathan Haines, even the Headless Chickens. The bar was well patronised throughout and helmed by a string of people who were characters in their own right; The Hat, Roseti, Sasi, Sam Masters, Soane, Tim Selusi et al. Many of Auckland's greatest club moments occured down those grotty stairs. It's all too good to forget so hallelujah let's celebrate at the Studio in Auckland's K Rd on Saturday June 27 - Take Me Back, the Box/Cause Celbre 20th reunion. The line-up is a vertible who's who of the time:

We too have fond memories of the venue having promoted a number of one-off clubs with Roger Perry under the Raze banner; Hit The Floor, Raze The Roof, RAW (the DJ Throwdown) and many more. Among those memories:

Roseti - now sadly passed, Roseti was the number one bouncer ever imho...

The sausage guy outside - this was back in the day when food was very important at 3am

Ice T performing to about 100 people in the Box

The night I got jealous and tugged a red-headed guy's hair who was very annoyingly trying to chat up Rachael. It turned out it was Mick Hucknall and he squealed

Sam Hill's first appearance when the Box was called the Siren, he dropped Quando Quando over a hip hop beat

Talking to Michael Hutchence for half an hour in the corner of Celebre, he was wearing a straw hat and jandals

Roger Perry slamming it at RAW

I could go on for hours to be honest but think I will save the rest of the memories until Take Me Back...

Limited $45 earlybird tickets on sale from Monday 11 May
Available exclusively at Strangely Normal (O’Connell St) and Marvel (Ponsonby Rd)

General $75 tickets available through iTicket and selected outlets.

The Pages Boy!

Our friends at Ftape provide an invaluable service for fashion seekers - their magazine section runs not only the latest covers of the worlds best fashion titles but also select pages from the interior. Magazine nuts we suggest you go there to look inside some of the latest titles then pop down to Mag Nation to see if they have the title, which they more than likely will have.

Oh, and the Black Mag 10 page selection is up now too....

Bells Of Peace

Following Yoko Ono on Twitter is like having a Zen Godess drop by with a daily dose of Confucious. For example in the past week there has been "Let our children know that we are not entirely dumb! Show that we care about the future of our world" and "If we make more friends and less enemies, we will be less likely to go broke!" But it was today's tweet from the Sunglassed One that really piqued my interest. It seems that this Saturday if you happen to be in Liverpool, England - and Gerard Tahu, we know you're listening - keep your ears pealed (sorry) for the bells of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral. Ringing out from the highest bell tower in the world will be the sound of peace itself Imagine.

Futuresonic Festival has commissioned artist Cleo Evans in collaboration with Sam Austin, Liverpool Ringing Master and other local change ringers to perform Imagine, John Lennon's anthemic song of peace. "It will be the first time a popular, and secular, song has been played on Liverpool Cathedral’s bells, the highest and heaviest peal of bells in the world. With thirteen bells arranged around ‘Great George’, a central ringing bell which weighs over 14 tons, they can be heard for miles around. The rendition of one of Lennon’s most celebrated songs is set to become a simultaneous and collective city-wide experience" says the Festival.

What a good idea! Perhaps like Earth Hour, there could be Peace Hour and bells all over the world could simultaneously chime to the tune of Imagine? Just a thought....

Come The Karl, Come The Kingmaker

Karl Lagerfeld can do no wrong it seems. Such is his deft touch with well, er...everything that he even has the ability to shift a model's placing at MDC. This editorial which Mr Lagerfeld shot for Paris Vogue features Baptiste Giabiconi and was good enough, strong enough to shift the model into the number one ranking slot of the world's male models. And why not we say, brilliant!

Great, Great Songs Number 9

Bohannon - Let's Start II Dance Again [12in].

Hamilton Bohannon is ultra funk at the highest level. If James was God, Hamilton is head angel. In the warm pantheon of funk this is an inspired chunk of hot air...

Multiple Cover Craziness!

I.D's recent multiple cover publishing concept has started a bit of a trend it seems with V Magazine now jumping on the bandwagon with it's summer swimsuit issue. We think it is an excellent concept to celebrate special issues and like No Magazine here in New Zealand we are running with two covers per issue anyway, so it is likely that multiple covers are here to stay. The question remains though that no matter how hardcore a fan of a magazine you might be, would anyone actually buy all 6 covers? Especially in these recessionist times. Irrespective of that it is a brilliant piece of branding...

Nice Day For A Lima

Kia ora, we're back after a few days down post the release of Black 10 so we thought we'd celebrate by putting up this picture of Adriana Lima. It would be nice to have a Brazilian supermodel on the cover of Black 11 wouldn't it?

That's Jethro, Not Nick!

Photos: Jenan Pekusic and Daniel Markusson.

We were perusing Ponystep today, wandering around the live gigs and Euro parties that the site either covers or promotes itself when we came across a shoot of one of our favourite Aussies Jethro Cave. The Melbournian, whom we featured in Black Issue 5 and more recently on The Black Eye, is garnering much attention in European fashion circles. He recently shot with Hedi Slimane and Nicola Formichetti, walked for Balenciaga and Charles Anastase among others. It seems the drums are beating for him and not just because he is the son of Nick. We discovered when we interviewed him a couple of years back that he wasn't really interested in talking about Dad (and why should he we say) and as this snippet of the Ponystep i/v attests, not much has changed.

Ponystep: OK, we just have to mention your father. We do. Be honest, how annoying is it when this happens, what are his thoughts on what you do and what's the usual reaction you get when people find out who he is?

JC: You’re right. It is really annoying.

Jethro is a musician, performer and artist in his own right but as you can see he is also, in a model sense at least, pretty damn hot!

Cousin Joe

Joseph Churchward is a new book from the accomplished Clouds Publishing company that profiles one of Aotearoa's best-kept design secrets and the one WE are most proud of. The fact that Joseph Churchward is a cousin to our Editor/Fashion Director Rachael Churchward ensures this book will be high on our want/need list. Long have the Churchward Maori fonts hung in our home and been an inspiration to Rachael - who fell in love with handsome typography at an early stage in her life - and long have we seen them as art.

If you want a copy of Joseph Churchward Clouds Publishing suggests a pre-order is in order. They also sent a succinct press release about the book that we felt summed it all up - so we'll publish it in full with a few pics from the book:

Clouds publishing, the Jan van Eyck Academie and Colophon (The Netherlands) present a new publication:

---------------------------------
Joseph Churchward
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April 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9582981-1-7
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Edition: 550 bound, 25 unbound
Softcover, 297 x 210 mm
278 pages plus dustjacket and photograph insert
Colour and black/white images
English
---------------------------------
RRP: NZ $140 / €70

Hand-lettering is superior. Samoan-born New Zealand-based alphabet and advertising designer Joseph Churchward (b.1932) is simply and absolutely the best-kept secret in New Zealand graphic design. The alphabets of this inveterate hand-lettering hold-out, over 600 of them, are only just being rediscovered and redeployed by a new generation of graphic designers who are fascinated by the intense aliveness of his designs, forming, as they do, the spine of a 60s-80s New Zealand vernacular. David Bennewith, the composer of this volume, while studying at the prestigious post-academic Jan van Eyck Academie in The Netherlands, undertook sustained research into Churchward’s work, and assembled this spirited analyses of his cult oeuvre. Bennewith’s emphasis was on making as a form of research, so the book tracks the usage of Churchward’s work and is structured as an on-going, open conversation between users. This gorgeously designed, limited-edition publication presents an overview of the work of Churchward, compiling archive material, correspondence, realised and un-realised designwork, and alphabet designs. Visual material is interspersed with essays on aspects of Churchward’s practice by New Zealand and overseas writers and designers. Joseph Churchward attempts to tell the story-in-process of New Zealand’s most prolific designer of letters to date, and is presented on a range of paper stocks (printed variously in Wellington, Heerlen, Groningen, Maastricht, and bound in Nijmegen). It comprehensively details Churchward’s myriad, type designs – a total resource for type geeks of all ages. It includes a dustjacket that is also a typeface ready-reckoner poster. Edited and designed by David Bennewith. Texts by Rebecca Roke, Daniel van der Velden and Paul Elliman. Photographs by Ann Shelton and David Bennewith.


Joseph Churchward is available from Clouds and selected bookshops in New Zealand; Australia (via Idea Books); Germany, Austria, Switzerland (via Vice Versa); The Netherlands and elsewhere (via Colophon), for NZD$140 (incl. GST).

For further information visit:
http://www.clouds.co.nz/joseph-churchward/

More Ali Stephens Please!

Photographer Michael Schwartz sent us this image of the amazing Ali Stephens which we were going to run as a profile inside the latest issue of Black. We weren't able to get an interview in time and in the final wash up we needed to trim a few pages, so we made the decision to give that page to the memory of Jesse Valentine, Black Magazine's New York Producer who passed away last year. This is surely then a perfect opportunity for Blacklog! Thanks to Michael, Valery, Yi, Erin and of course, Ali.

The credits for this shot are:

Photography by Michael Schwartz
Fashion Editor: Yi Guo
Make-up: Valery Gherman@defactoinc.com using Mac
Hair: Erin Anderson for Woodley & Bunny Salon
Model Ali Stephens@Elite

We Believe In Miracles Too!

We met Joshua Jang as a performer on the People In Your Neighbourhood project, "Hey" he said "you're Black Magazine, and I have a label." The label is called ISBIM and it's an acronym for I Still Believe In Miracles. In a time of recession it's great to see some of the emerging local labels are exuding so much hope. We asked him to send us some of his stuff and we were impressed - and not just by the excellent modelling. So who is ISBIM? Joshua Jang, a self-described "hardcore hip-hop kid" founded the label in 2006 as a t-shirt brand. More recently he joined forces with Yuka O'Shanessey and then with Katarina Tua and ISBIM has emerged as fashion label in its own right. The SS10 range featured above is entitled "Great Expectations" after the film of that name - a theme which is expressed in the line, pattern and colour of the range and these introductory words:

Great Expectations
The ultimate in style is effortlessness.
Of course, effortlessness takes a lot of effort.
But don’t worry, that’s our job. ISBIM gives you mint materials,
a super clean finish and limited print runs so looking sharp is 100% inevitable.
These threads are so smooth you’ll wish they came in king size so you could sleep between them.
100% made and designed in New Zealand.

Best intro to a lookbook ever! The range is mint, super-clean and sharp. Great expectations indeed...