Friday 19 April 2013

...LIPSTICK , POWDER AND PAINT......


' Lipstick , powder and paint.......
  Lipstick , powder and paint
  Lipstick , powder and paint
  .....is you is ?.....or is you ain't ? '

Back to the MA - and ' work in progress '...............Having already sketched out some ideas for
a ' Tunnel Of Love ' ride down in the basements , linking the House Of The Art Lover through to the House Of The Dominatrix , this piece takes it a stage further, I suppose to a ' more finished ' state. The idea of the ' ride ' , the ' journey ' is taken here to a more advanced state , starting to tell a story . Our hero buys his ticket - Admit One - and enters with trepidation , as so he should ........for this is a journey that takes him well away from his comfort zone ...........a journey cross the divide ,a journey of trans-formation.........and the ' Reveal ' is a surprise to us all.

Lipstick and paint.......well , you have to make your choices here ; the colours are all there to help you in the predela..............

So put your penny in the slot and take your ticket...............


' ...Then the lights go out and it's just the two of us
     You me and all that stuff we're so scared of........
     Gotta ride down baby into this tunnel of love.....

......But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough
     And you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above.....'

 

Tuesday 9 April 2013

...IT AIN'T WHAT YOU DO.......

' It ain't what you do , it's the way that you do it..
  that's what gets results '..........................

I suppose that having spent most of my professional career designing and/or illustrating interiors for the Leisure Industry then restaurant interiors should figure more often here..............so lets start off with a couple in Manchester.

First one up is Australasia , another one of Tim Bacon's creations and positioned at the entrance to Spingingfields on Deansgate - although if you blinked you would miss it , as the whole of the restaurant apart from the minimalist entrance is undercover , below ground...........................


...................a restaurant in a basement , no natural daylight - and no way of seeing in from the outside ; a recipe for disaster , especially when you are looking for a good lunchtime trade. The interior , however , is particularly impressive without ever being too pretentious - you can eat here quite happily for around £20,00 for a light lunch . Light , bright , airy , this is one of the nicest interiors that I have seen for a long long time . The colour is predominantly white , offset by pale natural materials - bleached wood , linen fabrics , pale lights - and there is no feeling of being locked away underground , it is so light and airy . It took me a while to realise in fact that the interior would probably not work so well if there was natural daylight coming in ; daylight is too variable , whilst in an enclosed space you have full control over the lighting.

 
 All in all a particularly nice interior ; I have worked myself for this particular client and know the designers who created it ; could I have done it any better ? ........I seriously doubt it............... 
 
 
 A really nice experience - and the food is good too..........................
 
 
Meanwhile , across town , another restaurant , another interior - and another client I have worked for.
The new ' French ' restaurant at the Midland Hotel , fronted up by signature chef Simon Rogan with a view to securing the first Michelin starred restaurant for the City .
  
 
Unfortunately  this interior doesn't do it for me - stark Scandinavian furniture sitting in that large open space ? A carpet designed to look like floorboards ? The interior to me lacks warmth and comfort , and does little to enhance the dining experience...............too cold , too overawed by the historical ' not to be touched ' interior........
 
A Michelin star experience ? maybe ..................but meanwhile ,  somewhere in Manchester , Tim Bacon and his team are also working towards a new restaurant with Michelin star aspirations................
 
I know who my money is on.