Christmas Magic in Design...

Reminiscent of the classic Christmas snow globe, architect Hideyuki Nakayama has created a glass globe doorknob. A protege of Toyo Ito and working with Design Tide Tokyo, Nakayama collaborated with Union, a manufacturer of door handles and levers, to create the glass globe doorknob that can't help but stir feelings of magic and fantasy. Even more interesting? The doorknob is designed to reflect the room on the other side of the door - what appears as a whole nother world is actually what you are about to walk into.

...Narnia?

Some have voiced privacy concerns about the doorknob, but something this enchanting can't be held responsible for impracticality.

 As found at Spoon & Tamago [Art, somewhere in between New York and Tokyo] here

Thanks to Amine for showing us!

Diamonds Are (Still) a Girl's Best Friend...

Tiffany & Co. partners with models Doutzen Kroes, Patrick Wilson, Ines Sastre, and Neal Bledsoe in New York City to celebrate Christmas, reiterating - as usual - the oft repeated sentiment that diamonds are a girl's best friend. Moreover, they are the way to a girl's heart, and the only way to truly illustrate your undying love and devotion to her. Get 'er a sparkly little big rock and you're a made man.

As much as we love Tiffany's and those little blue boxes, we sort of question the messages promo videos like these send...watch it and tell us what you think:


(Doutzen, however, sure does look stunning. As does NYC...)

THE SCORE looking for HOSTS...

Very exciting opportunity for hockey fanatics - which we know SMC has a lot of. The Score network is looking for two hosts, one male and one female. Here's the breakdown:

[MALE HOST] AGE RANGE 20- 35- MUST BE A TOTAL SPORTS FANATIC!! - ESPECIALLY HOCKEY - SEEKING RELATABLE AND BIG PERSONALITIES -ON AIR EXPERIENCE NOT NECESSARY BUT A PLUS!

[FEMALE HOST] AGE RANGE - 20-35 - MUST BE A TOTAL SPORTS FANATIC - ESPECIALLY HOCKEY - SEEKING RELATABLE AND BIG PERSONALITIES- ON AIR EXPERIENCE NOT NECESSARY BUT A PLUS!

The Score is accepting submissions across Canada. The Studio would love one of our members to win this! Email us a picture, contact info, and a little bio at the.studio@hotmail.com so we can submit you for this exciting opportunity. Thanks to Just Canadian Talent for letting us know about this!

Some Start the Day with Breakfast, Others with Dub..

Got this song from a friend, had to share it. Dubstep fan? Meet your Canadian girl Martina Sorbara of electropop group Dragonette as she does it up with Dutch producer Don Diablo, remixed by Datsik. As with all our music, best served loud..

Dubstep and house news in Toronto coming up soon: expect Nero, Skrillex, and Avicii to be dropping by..

The Penny Project...

In other news...

To get into the holiday spirit, The Studio presents The Penny Project. The project will take place on Friday, December 17th, Monday, December 20th, and Tuesday, December 21st at Kelly, Pratt, and Robarts Library on UofT's St. George campus.

The disappearance of the Canadian penny has been rumored for a while now. Just two days ago, the Canadian senate urged the government once again to remove the penny from circulation (read about it here). So The Studio - with the help of the GSA vice-president Elena Moliotsias - created The Penny Project, where we will be collecting pennies in an effort to raise money for Inner City Angels, a charity in the Distillery District of Toronto that works to provide underprivileged inner-city kids with easy and affordable access to the creative arts.

Some of you may scoff at the idea of pennies - but a fifth grader recently raised $5,000 from pennies alone, which she donated to a charity that makes prosthetic limbs for victims of war. We figure if she can do it... so can we. So bring your pennies tomorrow, get rid of that annoying loose change, and give underprivileged kids the opportunity to enjoy the creative arts as much as we do.

Check out Inner City Angels here

Blackberry Best Life & The Studio...

Campus Perks is currently promoting a Blackberry scholarship called  The Best Life. Essentially The Best Life contest is looking for a student initiative at a Canadian university that is amazing at what it does, and inspires its members and the students of its university. The Studio was recently nominated for The Best Life scholarship and - the prize being a $4000 scholarship - we'd really like to win...

What we need to win? A 65 second video that captures the essence of what we do. This means we are looking for a few things from our members: 

1. A talented Director

You will be helped as much as you need by the Studio's exec - your President Genevieve and Co-VPs Golnaz and Lara - so don't worry! Experience with directing is a huge plus, but not strictly required

2. A talented Editor

For post-production we'll need someone skilled with video editing to put it all together in a creative, dynamic, and imaginative way

3. Actors/Actresses

We'll definitely need some of our members to come out and have fun with us making the video! Anyone interested is more than welcome to come out - whether you want to lead or be an extra is completely up to you. (Not a member? No worries - email us at the.studio@hotmail.com to join - free.) 

4. Anyone who just wants to help!

Got ideas for the video? Things you can bring? Just want to come assist and meet some other members of The Studio? We'll let you guys know when and where and you can come out to help or just email us ideas you may have...

If you're interested in any of the above positions, please email us ASAP at the.studio@hotmail.com - 

positions will fill up quickly so let us know!

Oh yeah, need incentive?

The winning video receives a $4,000 scholarship: if we win, those who contributed will definitely get a good cut of the scholarship!  

The top 20 semi-finalists will also receive free Blackberry smartphones. 

Check out The Best Life contest here and make sure to email us as SOON as possible... 4 grand ain't bad to have! 

The Transformer Dress...

Who needs the quick change double outfit when you have a dress that transforms on its own? No need to make decisions on the long or short, low-cut or high-necked... not when you have a robotic dress who does it for you.




Can be found here!

Scott Schuman, Sartorialist: Meet the Man Behind the Camera..

The New York Times' Kristen Joy Watts recently wrote an article on Scott Schuman, the photographer behind the popular fashion blog The Sartorialist (which can be found here). She credits his eye for fashion, detail, and framing, and particularly his ability to see style where others cannot, featuring the common worker - house painters, for example - and the eclectic as well as the rich and obviously well-dressed. She hails his power in the industry, noting that "in five years, Mr. Schuman’s singular vision has transformed him from someone who documents style to someone who also influences it."

Schuman himself is influenced by a number of acclaimed photographers, including French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, Italian photographer Paolo Roversi, American Bruce Weber, and finally, Bill Cunningham of the New York Times (and Harvard drop-out, just saying).

Schuman is criticized, however, for his increasing focus on fashion editors and socialites. His work, some claim, has drifted from the fashion of the streets to an elitist fashion of those in the industry. Many also argue that his photographs primarily feature the thin and the European, excluding a healthy mix of body shapes, weights, and cultures.

This will be discussed in further detail tomorrow as it's 3AM but I would like to note that as a private blogger, Mr. Schuman really has no obligation to public standards and perspectives on what constitutes health and equality. He is a European based photographer and so of course he shoots Europeans, of whom many are white; he is also a fashion photographer, and the fashion world by matter of fact does not exactly work to promote obesity or "healthy" weights. These criticisms are idealistically true, but realistically a little off-kilter. Regardless, here are some photographs of the above mentioned photographic influences on Mr. Schuman, the Sartorialist:

 

Bruce Weber

Music for the Open-Minded..

Today we're going to share some songs and artists with you that require an open mind. They aren't your average hip-hop, or dub, or electro, or indie, or rock n roll, or pop/top 40, or whatever. They're a little different but very interesting. Some may like, some may not, and that's the beauty of the freedom of music.

First, Gil Scott Heron teams up with James XX, beatmaker and remix genius of The XX, for the new album We're New Here. Gil Scott Heron is hugely influential to modern hip-hop and particularly well known for his black activism, as seen in tracks like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. And The XX, of course, are well known as a little indie duo with ethereal tracks hard to compare with much else. Jamie, their beatmaker, mixes Gil Scott Heron's NY is Killing Me and the effect has created a buzz. Best listened to loud (as most music is): 




Second, for the very open-minded, we present to you Taraf de Haidouks,  a group of Romanian gypsies. Taraf de Haidouks derives from Turkish origin and roughly translates to "group of Romanian fiddlers" and "outlaws", respectively. Consisting primarily of vocals, violin, flute, and double bass, this group has oddly achieved international fame and recognition, appearing alongside Johnny Depp in The Man Who Cried and fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, who used them as musicians and models in his Paris and Tokyo shows. Check 'em and let us know what you think:

HAUS - 1265 Bloor West...

The following opportunity coincides perfectly with the ultimate goal of The Studio: to get our talented members opportunities to network and share their creativity with Toronto.

We have just learned that Haus on Bloor West is currently looking for emerging - or existing - designers and artists to showcase and sell their lineup on consignment at Haus. Compensation is consignment, so 50/50 split on profits. Haus is an exceedingly cool little store created with Toronto's local designers and artists in mind, and so I'd take full advantage of this opportunity..

Message us at the.studio@hotmail.com or leave a comment here if you're interested..

Unfamiliar with Haus? Check 'em out:

 

50% of Tom's right now - quite a deal...

Art, Americans, and LSD...

Came across this recently, can't remember where, but had to share it.

In the 1950s the US government conducted various tests and experiments with psychotomimetic drugs. While that's a whole nother topic unto itself, the following is a series of nine drawings done by an artist under the influence of LSD. The drugs were administered by the US government and his reactions were closely monitered. He was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject is the doctor who injected him with the drugs.

The first drawing is done after twenty minutes. The patient begins drawing with charcoal and says he feels no effect from the drug.

85 minutes after the first dose and 20 after the second: "I can see you clearly, so clearly. This... you... it's all ... I'm having a little trouble controlling this pencil. It seems to want to keep going." Euphoria.

2.5 hours after the first dose: "Outlines seem normal, but very vivid - everything is changing colour. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active - my hand, my elbow... my tongue." Extremely focused on drawing.

2 hours and 32 minutes after the first dose:

"I'm trying another drawing. The outlines of the model are normal, but now those of my drawing are not. The outline of my hand is going weird too. It's not a very good drawing is it? I give up - I'll try again..." The artist grows frustrated.

2 hours and 35 minutes after the first dose: "I'll do a drawing in one flourish...without stopping...one line, no break!" Patient begins laughing and then is startled by something on the floor.  

2 hours and 45 minutes after first dose:

Patient tries to climb into activity box, and is generally agitated - responds slowly to the suggestion he might like to draw some more. He has become largely none verbal.

"I am... everything is... changed... they're calling... your face... interwoven... who is..." Patient mumbles inaudibly to a tune. 

4 hours and 25 minutes after first dose:

Patient retreated to the bunk, spending approximately 2 hours lying down, waving his hands in the air. His return to the activity box is sudden and deliberate, changing media to pen and water colour.

"This will be the best drawing, Like the first one, only better. If I'm not careful I'll lose control of my movements, but I won't, because I know. I know."  (This saying is then repeated many times.)

Patient makes the last half-a-dozen strokes of the drawing while running back and forth across the room.

5 hours and 45 minutes after first dose:

Patient continues to move about the room, intersecting the space in complex variations. It's an hour and a half before he settles down to draw again - he appears over the effects of the drug.

"I can feel my knees again, I think it's starting to wear off. This is a pretty good drawing - this pencil is mighty hard to hold." (He is holding a crayon.)

8 hours after first dose:

Patient sits on bunk bed. He reports the intoxication has worn off except for the occasional distorting of our faces. We ask for a final drawing which he performs with little enthusiasm.

"I have nothing to say about this last drawing; it is bad and uninteresting. I want to go home now."

(This study was found here.) 

Also we should note that the Studio does not promote or encourage the use of LSD or any other drugs...

Love Internazionale

 Sketch by Brooke Hagel, seen here.

Just a quick note: today is the most international day the Studio has seen yet, with hits from not only Canada but the US, UK, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Turkey, Barbados, Denmark, Russia, South Korea and Singapore.  We're glad we can show a little bit of Toronto to places all over the world, and want to thank our international and Canadian viewers alike! ++ The above countries have now been joined by Poland, Portugal, Croatia, Germany, and South Africa!

Toronto: We Love Our City

Today the Studio joined forces with CactusHead to snap a few photographs, in search of interesting fashion and art around Toronto. We visited the regular hot spots like Yonge/Dundas, Queen W. and Kensington Market, stopping by Nathan Phillips Square on our way.

Our finds? Have a look...

The Kids Got Style 

 

Fitteds and Furs 

 

t

this one taken by Dylan! cactushead.ca

 Kicks

 And the Well-Dressed...