Hella Jongerius and Rem Koolhaus at the UN

Designer Hella Jongerius and architect Rem Koolhaas have renovated the North Delegates' Lounge at the United Nations buildings in New York. The UN buildings in New York date from 1951, six years after the foundation of the UN. Referred to as 'A Workshop for Peace', the complex was designed by a team of architects including Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer and Wallace K. Harrison. In 2009, the UN launched a large-scale renovation project, which is now nearly complete. At the request of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hella Jongerius formed a team to redesign the lounge and bring it into a new era. The renovation and redesign of the lounge is a gift from the Netherlands to the UN.
 






The amazing Knots and Beads Curtain seen above was hand made from knotted yarn and over 30,000 porcelain beads. 

Text from Dezeen and Design Indaba. Photographs by Frank Oudeman (apologies for the lackluster images, I will update when high res become available)

Cosmopolis (2012)

Selected stills from David Cronenberg's cinematic adaptation of Don LeLillo's amazing novel, Cosmopolis. I enjoyed the mixture of crisp and grainy cinematography, and Cronenberg's vision of the slick retro-futuristic, custom stretch limo interior, although, unfortunately the film could not fully encapsulate the Gotham like New York as crafted in DeLillo's brilliant book. Robert Pattinson is aptly cast as sadistic billionaire Eric Packer, as is his beautiful wife played by Sarah Gadon. While I was slightly disappointed, I can still recommend downloading the film at blu ray quality, or better yet, reading the book!

Stella McCartney Resort 2013 Presentation

"Backstage at Stella McCartney’s fairground-themed resort presentation, held... at a cemetery in the East Village"

Photos by Greg Kessler for the New York Times