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Matthew M. Williams’s second runway collection for Givenchy showcased a newfound straightforwardness rooted in what people are really interested in wearing. The almost monochromatic – save for splashes of purple, blue and yellow – streetwear-focused collection saw a slew of looks that presented layered varsity-meets-heavy-metal-band T-shirts, thigh-high leather boots and zippered cargo pocket vests finished with futuristic faux facial piercings and brimmed-balaclavas. “I really wanted to create a synthesis of powerful, sophisticated femininity, with an interplay of multiple American and Parisian influences, sports and craftsmanship… On the runway, both are grounded by a sense of reality,” the designer explained in the show’s notes.
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From ivory to celluloid, the earliest combs ever discovered to prized representations of art and craftsmanship, Qompendium takes a look back at the rise and fall of the comb.
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Ryo Kawasaki was a jazz fusion guitarist and composer who was one of the first musicians to popularize the fusion genre. Kawasaki started off at Nippon University with a major in quantum physics and soon earned a Bachelor of Science degree. When he was 10, he bought a ukulele and, at 14, he landed his first acoustic guitar. The album Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell and Stanley Turrentine inspired Kawasaki to study jazz. During the 1960s, he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands. In the early 1970s, he moved to New York City, where he settled and worked with Gil Evans, Elvin Jones, Chico Hamilton, Ted Curson and Joanne Brackeen. Kawasaki staked a major role in developing the guitar synthesizer in partnership with Roland Corporation and Korg and also created the Kawasaki synthesizer for the Commodore 64. His album Ryo Kawasaki and the Golden Dragon Live was one of the first all-digital recordings.
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“Engagingly told through the voices of many musicians, Blue Nippon explores the true and legitimate nature of Japanese jazz. Author E. Taylor Atkins peers into 1920s dancehalls to examine the Japanese Jazz Age and reveal the origins of urban modernism with its new set of social mores, gender relations, and consumer practices. He shows how the interwar jazz period then became a troubling symbol of Japan’s intimacy with the West. Atkins closes out his cultural history with an examination of the contemporary jazz scene that rose up out of Japan’s spectacular economic prominence in the 1960s and 1970s but then leveled off by the 1990s, as tensions over authenticity and identity persisted.”
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Peckham’s underground keyboard-wizard Henry Wu returns to galvanize both locally and globally.
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“Fragrances reflecting a vital interconnectedness of scent and wavelength” is the perfect encapsulation to describe the alchemy that is Arpa. Impossible to neatly categorize, perfumer Barnabé Fillion’s multifaceted project pulled together the likes of musician and multidisciplinary Joseph Schiano Di Lombo, Memphis Group’s Nathalie du Pasquier and German glass artist Jochen Holz to create ethereal sounds, mesmerizing graphics and limited-edition handblown bottles – or art, depending on how you look at it – all in the name of scent and synesthesia. Following a year-long setback, Fillion’s first sequence of genre-defying scents seeks to instill an experience in its wearer; being cleansed by onsen waters in Kyushu, Japan surrounded by towering hiba trees, or inhaling the earthy scent of licorice as sunlight filters through a canopy of leaves in the Belgian Blue Forest, are both instances of Fillion’s lived experiences which he hopes to translate to others, or consequently, stimulate the wearer’s own personal synesthesia. Side effects of using such transcendent products? Possible blazing eyes, reflecting another reality and induced psychological submersion.
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British perfumer Lyn Harris’ collaborations with leading creatives in their field – from the glassblower to the graphic designer to the architect – is the bread and butter of her visionary and original brand, Perfumer H.
As a classically trained perfumed maker, Harris first cut her teeth in Paris at Robertet Grasse before embarking on her career working with many acclaimed brands. Through her eponymous brand, Harris crafts perfumes, candles, fine pantry items, decorative objects and personal care products. She also partners with all sorts of makers and doers, including Sonya Park of Arts & Science, Studio Henry Wilson, Tim d’Offay of Postcard Teas, Epices Roellinger and many others.
The Perfumer H laboratory and shop are located on Crawford Street in Marylebone where perfume fiends can experience the laboratory in action. Go for the Cucumber Mask First-Aid to dab on your mask for all the lockdown monologue days.
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The Global Merchants by Joseph Sassoon chronicles the rise and fall of a tightly-knit Jewish immigrant family whose riches were spoiled by the self-indulgence of later generations.
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On the eastern edge of Bloomsbury Square sits a 13-storey, neoclassical Grade-II listed building where nomadic professionals spend their working days in one of the many museum-like office spaces. The foundation of the building provided head designer Yaara Gooner (of architecture studio Hutchinson & Partners) an incredibly rich starting point to build upon, boasting something around 20 different types of marble. The choice to utilize a palette of natural materials like terrazzo, bronze and oak timber was a way to bring together the old and new, to contrast the classic structure against the now-refreshed modern and minimal interior. Offering nine floors of customizable, sun-filled office space, Victoria House is the ideal location to carry out both collaborative and private work, while the ground floor’s grand space often plays host to slew of shows during London Fashion Week, art and photography exhibitions, and other large scale events. The brand managers know how to anchor their clientele even after a long workday: sunning yourself on the rooftop terrace, recharging in the wellness-focused Heritage Suite, or indulging in a few rounds of aperitivi at the contemporary bar – after-work hours are for you and you alone.
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The fifth annual Trends Report from Meta has combined original research and forecasting, with social media analysis in an effort to pinpoint the 4 major global themes as well as 20 culturally-related trends of 2022. While the results are, unsurprisingly, not shocking to anyone who is up to date with youth and internet culture – or generally, anyone who has not been living under a rock – it does well to validate and condense all of those buzzwords that have been repeatedly popping up across every social media site and email newsletter over the past 2 years. Some of the items on this list, like gender-evolution and plant positive have been topics of conversation for years. While others such as relationships renegotiated and flexiwork sprung up as a direct result of the global pandemic that overtook life as we had previously known it. While initially an attempt to understand and forecast what lies ahead, the report has become more a snapshot of the current moment, and what is vital to know if you are to survive in this day and age. Though some, like Cultural Theorist Matt Klein, were not satisfied with this and decided to embody these findings to alter the approach to Meta 22. Along with Sarah DaVanzo, quantitative futurist and founder of the non-profit collective Curious Futures, they broke down and analyzed over 500 trends cataloged across dozens of reports – including Wunderman Thompson, Instagram, Future Laboratory and more – in an attempt to seek out some of the the overlooked trends that truly are still in the process of emerging.
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Caran d’Ache Rotary Pencil Sharpener
Paying homage to its fatherland and its creative roots, Caran d’Ache has chosen to produce 4,478 numbered copies of the “Matterhorn” collector’s edition of its rotary pencil sharpener.
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Unit One Pencil Holder
Unit One by Mark Braun is a functional desktop sculpture for storing objects of the modern workplace. Pencils, business cards and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, equally find their place in a Unit One.
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Monami Ball Point 153
The Monami 153 classic was the first ball point pen of its kind and still a must have among writing device lovers.
