Food and invention come together at Hong Kong’s Curioso. The expressive restaurant thematically orchestrates a dance between gourmet and Rube Goldberg. Serving up family style meals that are meant to be shared, Curioso has a fun atmosphere. As they describe it, “The restaurant seats up to 90 and the interior is a reflection of its larger than life personality and food creator / scientist Sal Curioso. Entering the restaurant you will be introduced to his inventions including the Guacaloco, the amazing chicken that lays avocados that tumble down chutes to make guacamole or even the squidpop, a machine that defies reality as it turns squid into hot fresh popcorn.” Definitely check it out if you find yourself in Hong Kong. We’ve posted some pics below. Scroll down to view.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Courtesy of Curioso
Location: Curioso, 2/F, 32 Wyndam Street, Central Hong Kong

CURIOSO
FACEBOOK
YATZER

NUMERO 7
BAR LEONEO
A PARISIAN CRAFT

London’s National Theater gets an electrifying companion. The Shed is a temporary performance space designed by the architecture firm Haworth Tompkins. Located just outside the theater, the bold red box is simple and striking. Its contrarian form creates an interesting tension with the National Theater. Red versus grey. Simple lines versus a maze. Visually, it’s brilliant and offers a bit of fun to the area. Open until April 2014, the Shed seats 225 people. Tickets range between $18 – $30 USD. We’ve posted a few images below. Scroll down to view.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: via DesignBoom & The Shed
Location: National Theatre, Upper Ground, South Bank, London SE1 9PX

THE SHED
DEZEEN
THE INDEPENDENT

DUBAI TECHNICOLOR
THE NORWEGIAN CUBE
SPAIN’S LOGRONO STATION

Korean artist Jiyen Lee beautifully manipulates images of crowds to create captivating works of art. It’s a distorted reality that looks completely real and impossible at the same time. From crowded stands to intertwining escalators, Jiyen’s patterns provoke the imagination. We’ve posted a few sample images from his collection below.

Words: Taj Reid
Works: Jiyen Lee

FUBIZ
SAATCHI
MY MODERN MET

TWO DIMENSIONS
ART THAT BLENDS
BY THE BUS STOP

Creating an atmosphere that reflects your service and food is an art form. Numero 7 is a fairly new restaurant located in Morocco serving up fresh Pan-Mediterranean food that fuses european cuisine with Moroccan flare. It’s light, healthy and beautiful just like Numero’s interior. Created by french chef Bruno Ussel and his partner Stephen di Renza, the duo present a really nice eatery that is equal parts inspiring and relaxing at the same time. We’ve posted a few images below.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Steven Rothfeld
Location: Numero 7 7 Zkak Rouah, Fes 30200, Morocco

YATZER
RESTO 7
GOOGLE PLUS

BAR LEONEO
A PARISIAN CRAFT
LONDON’S MVMNT CAFÉ

For this week’s edition of Audio Visual we present an abstract interpretation of NYC by Lena Steinkühler. What appears to be an ordinary day gets transformed into a beautiful new world where urban assets transform into their biological plant-like counterparts. As Lena describes, “My graduation project – New York Biotopes – deals with abstract plants and creatures, which change their forms because of insufficient living space and adapt themselves to the surroundings of the metropolis New York City. A type of metamorphosis, where the newly developed vegetation assimilates with elements of the city and makes them useful for their own purposes. These creatures and plants, partly mechanical, partly organic in appearance, spread more and more over the city and fill it up with life.” View this awesome video below.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Lena Steinkühler

VIMEO
BEHANCE
ANIMAL NEW YORK

A SKIER’S JOURNEY
TORONTO RISING
A WEEK IN TOKYO

London’s Design Museum recently opened their exciting new exhibit, Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things. It tells the story of daily items and their subtle impact on the modern world. Each of these items are unsung heroes. They’re the ones that we can’t live without, but may have overlooked because they do their job so efficiently. Organized by London designer Gitta Gschwendtner, ESOT provides a quick snapshot of the importance of product design and its history. In a conversation with Dezeen, the Director of the Design Museum states, “Design matters at every level. It is what makes daily life a little better; it is about the big economic changes that the world is going through. It is about the designers and the manufacturers, but it is also about the users. It is a unique way of making sense of the world around us.” We’ve posted a few images and details below.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Courtesy of the Design Museum
Location: Design Museum London, 28 Shad Thames London, London SE1 2YD UK

DESIGN MUSEUM
DEZEEN
THE GUARDIAN

MONTREAL SWINGS
FLIGHT ATTENDANTS
PARIS TO SHANGHAI

We’ve spent more hours than we’d like to admit playing video games. Kung Fu, Excite Bike, Donkey Kong – you name it, we were lost in it. All thanks to the two-dimensional worlds conjured up by Nintendo and Sega. That’s why Christian Aslund’s photography resonated with us. His approach to capturing Hong Kong’s urban landscape will make any arcading fanatic pause. Using a tele lens and some ingenuity, Christian recreates a world reminiscent of your favorite video games. By laying flat and shooting from above, HK’s streets take on a new look and feel. We’ve posted a few images below.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Christian Aslund

CHRISTIAN ASLUND
DESIGN TAXI
NEATORAMA

ART THAT BLENDS
BY THE BUS STOP
SUBWAY PHOTOGRAPHY

Colors and lines collide with beautiful symmetry in the latest work from Matthias Heiderich. We first wrote about him when his images from Berlin hit the internet. And now, his latest images from Dubai have us eager to visit the growing metropolis. Matthais’ signature use of color brings the city to life and reminds us of a retrofuture landscape that would be imagined in the 60s. We’re looking forward to seeing more of his work as he travels to new destinations. We’ve posted a few of his images below. Click Read More to view.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Matthias Heiderich

MATTHIAS HEIDERICH
IGNANT
TUMBLR

ART THAT BLENDS
BY THE BUS STOP
SUBWAY PHOTOGRAPHY

We can’t believe we’re approaching April already. Wasn’t it just 2012? Luckily our days have been filled with good work and equally good tunes. This week we’re starting on the good foot with a fresh edition of WJS Radio featuring tracks from Solange, JJ Doom, Atoms for Peace, Tall Black Guy, Wild Belle, Roy Ayers and Earl Sweatshirt to name a few. We know it’s an eclectic grouping, but there’s something about each track that makes it all work. We hope you enjoy the 7th installment of our spotify playlist and thanks for tuning in…

Words: Taj Reid
Contributing Selectors: James Oyedijo, Rashid Zakat & David McDowell
Connect with us on Spotify: WJS Radio

Track Listing: WJS Radio Session 007

01. Keep it On by Slum Village
02. Sweet Europe by Tall Black Guy
03. Dawg Friendly by JJ Doom
04. Chum by Earl Sweatshirt
05. So Many Details by Toro Y Moi
06. Ingenue by Atoms for Peace
07. Retrograde by James Blake
08. Love Like This by Wild Belle
09. Losing You by Solange
10. Funk in the Hole by Roy Ayers and the Platinum Pied Pipers

WJS RADIO SESSION 006
WJS RADIO SESSION 005
WJS RADIO SESSION 004

Exposed concrete, sharp angles and peaking glass form a unique structure in the small fishing village of Geoje-si, South Korea. The Aggrenad by AND is a 3 story hotel boasting 5 beautiful suites, each with accompanying balconies that view the East Sea. Inside there’s a small café and other relaxing amenities that make this quiet town feel a little more like home. What we found most interesting about the hotel is its hyper-futuristic juxtaposition to the surrounding area’s traditional sensibilities. More and more we’re seeing eye-catching architecture used as an anchor to spawn development. For instance, in this case the Aggrenad is the first installment of several planned projects that will hopefully resurrect tourism in the area. Below, we’ve posted a few images. Click Read More to view.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: By Kim Yong Gwan

DEZEEN
COMPLEX
DESIGNBOOM

MISS OPO IN PORTO
KYOTO KOKUSAI HOTEL
PLUS ONE BERLIN

Seeing the unseen is a beautiful trend bubbling among contemporary artists. From Liu Bolin to Joshua Callaghan, their work is creating a deeper awareness for cityscapes by hiding surprising elements in the everyday details of their surroundings. Bolin hides himself in plain view. Callaghan hides utility boxes. And both utilize a form of urban camouflage as their expression.

More recently, we came across the brilliant work of Roeland Otten, a dutch designer, who applies this technique to the streets of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Dating back to 2009, Otten has been making his mark by applying paint, large prints and even mosaic tiles to city objects to hide them in plain view. For example, in the above image Otten explains, “An old public toilet building used to measure the quality of the air in this thoroughfare in Amsterdam was to be renewed, but the district council determined the area shouldn’t suffer from another concrete element. The design camouflages the little concrete building of GGD (Health Department of the city) Amsterdam. The tiling patterns bring back the lost views as pixelated images of the shopping street Jan van Galenstraat.” Click Read More to view more of Otten’s work.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Courtesy of Roeland Otten

ROELAND OTTEN
DEZEEN
WIRED

INVISIBLE UTILITY
LOST IN ART
BY THE BUS STOP

For this week’s Snapshot we’re excited to present the brilliant photography of Shane Vincent. The moment we saw his work we got lost in the imagery. His unique approach to shooting cities caused a serious case of wanderlust. Hailing from London, we briefly caught up with the 20 year-old self taught photographer. He describes his beginnings as years of constant experimentation and practicing. Even though he’s tried different approaches, he’s confident that he’s barely scratched the surface of photography. As he describes, “My influences are mostly from films, old and new, so although essentially I’m just documenting, there is still an element of trying to create a cinematic image or whole mood and story from a still scene.” We have a few of his images listed below. Click Read More to view.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Shane Vincent

SNAPSHOT STOCKHOLM

SNAPSHOT CUBA

SNAPSHOT SEOUL

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Call it anthropology. Call it beautiful photography. Either way it’s an interesting look at London and its community. Between 2001 and 2005, Richard Hooker consistently took photographs of various bus stops throughout London. The result tells a fascinating city-story. As Richard describes it, “Every few minutes of the day, all over the capital, people gather into small groups to share the same space and fleeting moment in time. Simply to wait for something routine and forgettable as a London bus. In transient, with time to kill, and often amongst strangers, each collection of these individuals proves completely unique from the next. The way people take ownership of the space, how they congregate, is often better than anything an art director or photographer could ever deliberately replicate. Each collection provides a little insight into London’s incredible diversity, how we relate to our surroundings, and each other.” We posted a few images from the series below. Be sure to check them out, it’s really well done.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Richard Hooker

RICHARD HOOKER

PETAPIXEL

IT’S NICE THAT

SUBWAY PHOTOGRAPHY

SCULPTURE FOR MANDELA

HENDRIK BEIKIRCH IN KOREA

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Ski season is quickly approaching for us east-coasters. We’re looking forward to making a couple runs this year and this video just pushed us over the edge. Japan: A Skier’s Journey follows two skiers, Chad Sayer and Forrest Coots, as they make their way through Japan and uncover the beautiful contrasts between Tokyo’s urban density and Hokkaido’s sprawling forests. The director, Jordan Manley does an excellent job telling the story and providing plenty of eye candy for the viewer. It’s a real inspiration to watch these two skiers experience the vast cultures and landscapes. As they describe it, “This episode explores spaces of simultaneous anonymity & intimacy, rigid tradition & an embrace for the future, finding epic powder each step along the way.” And note, this is only episode one of the series. It looks like they have their eyes set on Dubai for episode two. So stay tuned. We posted the video below with a few pictures.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Courtesy of A Skier’s Journey EP1 S3

TORONTO RISING

A WEEK IN TOKYO

MANY STEPS

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High-level craftsmanship collides with the practicality of a basement hangout at Leoneo. Located on the first floor of an apartment in Fukuoka City Japan, the bar’s atmosphere promotes long nights of laughter and good conversation. While Japan is riddled with small bars and restaurants, what makes Leoneo special is its interior design choices. Designed by the japanese studio Atelier HUGE, you can see how they infused modern touches within a bare and unfinished shell. This juxtaposition adds to the intimacy. It feels like someone came and injected a scene of hyper cool reality in your very own basement. We have a few images posted below.

Words: Taj Reid
Photography: Courtesy of Atelier HUGE
Location: Bar Leoneo Maizuru, Chuo-2-chome, 8-24 Incorporated Phoenix 103, Fukuoka, Japan

ATELIER HUGE

BAR LEONEO

DESIGNBOOM

A PARISIAN CRAFT

LONDON’S MVMNT CAFE

DEL POPOLO

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