Alpines - Empire

Alpines just released the video to their upcoming single "Empires" (Available June 11th).

I just had to post this; firstly because the song is great, but mainly because the video, directed by Luke Losey, is absolutely brilliant! The stylist, kudos whoever they are, worked pure magic here and the set design makes everything work so amazingly together.

Alpines are moving -full throttle- into the future!

Supplement To The Italian Dictionary

During my recent trip to Italy I visited the legendary Corso Como 10 bookstore and among the many art and fashion books (which I would most certainly not be able to pack and bring back with me) I saw this cute little book. On the cover is perhaps one of the most recognizably italian hand gestures.

I found it very interesting that this is the reinstallment of a 1963 edition. I love the fact that the photos are mainly the same as the first concepts from the 50s and 60s.

Below are two of my favorites. "Magro Cosi" (As thin as this) and "Che Peso!" (How boring!). 

Coincidently, when I came back I found a video (at the end of the post) made by the people at SkyScanner which explains all the rude italian hand gestures.

Robin Skouteris - The Judas MeGaGamix

I've been wanting to post about Robin Skouteris for quite some time now, but I was kind of waiting for the right moment to do it. Well, there's no time like the present.

I've been following Skouteris' work for quite some time now; though I'm not sure which was the first mashup of his that initially drew my attention.

I chose to post the above mix, which was released in anticipation to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album about a year ago, not necessarily because it's Lady Gaga but for reason's I will state further on.

Skouteris' work is perhaps one of the most adequate, representative (and best) samples of today's pop-culture. We live in an era when the "mashup" phenomenon dominates -pretty much- most forms of art. It is, however, a game of survival of the fittest: many will attempt to do it, very few manage to do it well. Well, Robin Skouteris seems to be one of the masters in this; his mashups are woven seamlessly, flawlessly and done with great respect to the original source, and most of the times accompanied by carefully put-together videos.

Back to Gaga. Apart from the fact that I do like her, I found this video (also awesomely edited by Skouteris) to be an ode to inspiration via the magic world of the interwebs, or as I call it: my playground. It couldn't be more fitting to the case of Gaga. I personally loved the feel of the video and all the fan-snippets were absolutely priceless, not to mention touching, especially after the 4:25 mark, it's a goose-bump thrill!! Kudos!

Now, why isn't this guy signed to a huge record label already?

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Screenshot from PonPonPon

There's so much I want to write on Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. The dormant maximal aspect of me just wants to have a splurge! 

19 year -old Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (a.k.a. Kiriko Takemura) started as a model and blogger and moved into creating her own line of fake eyelashes while at the same time invading the japanese pop music scene. Consider yourselves warned, this goes beyond bubblegum pop!

Apart from the fact that I am, plainly-put: stunned by the j-pop phenomenon, I was mesmerized by the polyphony of all the elements in Pamyu's videos! 

Click to read more ...

Eli And Fur

London-based house duo Eli and Fur release their first recording: Sea of Stars this week. Sea of Stars remotely reminds me a bit of Mikro (dudes! that website needs some serious updating) while I really like the late 90's house influence in their sound. I wonder how their full album will be. Track below.

Nomint for Google Art Project

Greek animation production company Nomint, which recently opened their new offices in London, created the below amazing video for Google's Art Project. I found it breathtaking. A crisp, smooth celebration of art (project)! 

(Images & video via Nomint.gr)

Public Bureau Series 2 Preview

I proudly present the preview of the yet-to-be-titled second series of Public Bureau.

More images are available on the P/B Facebook page. 

annakoumoushi spring/summer 2012

Though we posted this project around the interwebs a while back, I am officially re-announcing it here too. 

For this project we went on a more… colorful direction and Ioanna, the new happy face of annakoumoushi, was a great model. 

You can catch the project in it's entirety at the IPWT website. 

In annakoumoushi we trust.

"The Inside Job" for Avant Garde

And while we're at it: the April Avant Garde Issue, marks the 2-year anniversary of AG. The topic for this issue, irrelevantly enough with the 2nd birthday, focuses on Pornography from many points of view. I was thrilled to shoot the fashion editorial for this issue, which was styled by Margarita Papatheodoulou, and we aimed for a trash-porn 80s inspired theme. Despite some people reacting to the topic and even reading it as vulgar, we feel that our trash porn task was fulfilled. So there. Take a look at the full shoot over at my website, or in the latest issue of Avant Garde.

Avant Garde Press: Redesigned (a while back)

Last summer, two of the most inspiring and admired fellow designers/friends; Christina and Myria and myself, took over the redesign of an independent free press publication. For this we formed a little design alliance called mychart. 

About the publication: Avant Garde is a free press publication which elaborates on stories related, but not limited just, to arts, culture, fashion, design and matters that affect, or are part of, the contemporary reality of the island.

On the new design: Departing from the initial use of the term Avant Garde, which derives from vanguard: the very front line of military formations during operations, we created the new identity of the publication. With references to military semiotics and by graphically distorting or exaggerating, if you like,  the strictness and order found in the military visual world, we created the new brand/identity of the publication. Along with this new identity, we created a series of icons and gimmicks that correspond to the categories, themes and stories in the publication and which work with clean and "sturdy" typographical treatments. 

The covers: As the new design team of AG, we were assigned the first three covers of the revamped version. Each month a guest, or invited designer creates the cover and people are also free to submit ideas, so anyone interested can mail their ideas over at the AG website. The first re-installment  of AG came this past August, with a "Summer Love" overall theme (Can't you feel the heat?), and for this issue's cover Christina was called to the task. The second redesigned issue was Superhero-themed and I was the designated cover designer this time. I usually block when I am asked to render something that's vast and vague at the same time; and though I had something very Roy Lichtenstein in mind, I decided to deviate my initial thought (something that doesn't happen very often) and go with… well, what I went with. Have I mentioned that I really love superheroes? Then for the third redesigned issue Myria went with a very hand-made feel for her cover, with all the trimmings and an awesome custom made font. From there on our guest designers took over. Last January I designed the cover for the Wine Routes of Cyprus issue which stood as an impulsively interactive cover. 

All the issues are available for online reading at the AG website, (the publication is in Greek).