eternal optimist

STYLISH WOMAN - ANNA PAOLA

London-based beachwear designer Anna Paola visited Athens for the holidays. After meeting her for coffee, she posed for the eternal optimist.

CHRISTOS ARAZOS SHOOTING EMILY PETOUSI'S COLLECTION

Photographer Christos Arazos shooting designer Emily Petousi's first women's collection. Grooming by Jian Li

R.I.P. JAMES RIZZI

New York-born James Rizzi, "the guy who draws the buildings with faces", passed away few days ago. The designer, sculptor and painted who conceived and developed the idea of 3-D multiples will be missed. So will be his irrepressible enthusiasm for life.

RERE PAPA IS BACK

Renata Papazoglou is back with her new RERE PAPA store in Kolonaki, Athens. In only two weeks it has already become talk of the town. Pass by and check the new designers' pieces exclusively available in Greece among which Chie Mihara, Ivana Helsinki, Les Prairies de Paris, Alexis Barrell, Ippolito bags, Xenia Vitos jewelry and many more.

7 Leventi str., Kolonaki, Athens. tel 210 7247133

PRECISION TO BEAUTY

Phoebe English 25, is no more an emerging fashion talent after the second prestigious award granted by the VauxHall Fashion Scout earlier this month. The Central Saint Martins' graduate whose work is significant for the respect for construction and surface texture won the L'Oreal Professionnel Creative award and earlier this month she was granted the highly acclaimed Merit award. March is close when Phoebe will present her next sponsored Fall collection in Paris and London - can't wait.

STYLISH MAN - JEROEN LAUREYNS

Spotted and shot for the eternal optimist. Such a gentle and elegant man.

TALKING TEXTILES 2012

The new edition of Talking Textiles will take place in Stockholm's Designhall, opening on the 3rd of February and will run for almost three months. It will show a large selection of designs inspired by the craving for tactility as a reaction for the increasingly digital landscapes of our lives, a wishful longing that led international designers to reconsider once more the role of fabrics.

If you are wondering who's behind all that, her name is Li Edelkoort, the Dutch-born trendsetter who graduated from Arhnem's School of Fine Arts. She is named by Time magazine as one of the 25 world's most influential people.

all images courtesy of Edelkoort Exhibitions

CHRISTOPHE COPPENS

Belgian designer and artist Christophe Coppens' Christmas shop windows, Brussels.

STYLISH WOMAN - DESPINA ISOPOULOU

Despina Isopoulou, digital editor at Vogue Hellas spotted and shot for the eternal optimist. 

THEIR WONDERLANDS

An international group-exhibition curated by multi-disciplinary collective They Are Here is entitled "Their Wonderlands" and is running in MAC Birmingham, UK. Contemporary artists have been drawn together to explore the space given to make-believe and folklore in post industrial 21st century European society. Inspired by the essay In Praise of Shadows (1933) by Japanese writer Jun Ichiro Tanizaki, the exhibition exists in darkness.

Among the participants is artist Ioanna Pantazopoulou who created the sculptural installation "I.W.A.G." (photos here) as a response to Yona Friedman's architectural installation entitled "Une Ville Spatiale Pour Artistes".

Friedman took over the gallery space by creating a maze out of cardboard and wood whereby the artists' work is installed. Ioanna used the scraps from Friedman's maze and created an imploded maze within a maze. As a result, a structural dialogue is created. Where Friedman supports his structures by right-angles Ioanna uses curnes,slits and cut-outs. Friedman's maze is spacious to walk through and visitors can walk around the whole structure whilst in Ioanna's maze they are confronted with a more intimate environment that reaches dead-end. 

Additionally, Ioanna Pantazopoulou included her miniature try-out/study sculptures that she created prior to commencing the work. She situated them with the final sculptures and this formed a third "maze" and a relation between the tangible object and the monumental environment.

The exhibition will be running in MAC until 29th Jan, 2012