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Sounds of Silence

Installation: Petra Eichler and Susanne Kessler
Light design: Herbert Cybulska, Gregor Roth
Sound design: Martin Bott
[image from sounds of silence]

Sounds of Silence is a series of installations by Petra Eichler and Susanne Kessler, between October 2005 and December 2006. The series inaugurated with Sound 1, held at Weißfrauenstraße 12 (near Willy-Brandt-Platz) in October 2005, offering "the kind of silence people only dream of".

Watch a documentary (Quicktime 5.9 MB) of the installation here.

The installation works with the silent strength of the fragile. A forest clearing exchanges its familiar materiality and exposes its fragile and poetic side. Out of layers of white paper silhouettes, a natural landscape evolves. The visitors can move through the layers, but only slowly and carefully, otherwise the paper and the situation is torn apart. A light and sound collage immerses the space in a dawn-like atmosphere. Let the images speak for themselves.




[images from sounds of silence]

At the invitation of Droog Design, Susanne Kessler and Petra Eichler designed an additional paper forest for the Milan International Furniture Fair in April 2006. The format was five layers, each 16m x 3.26m.


sound 1 for Droog Design at the Milan International Furniture Fair 2006
[image from sounds of silence]

The Hangaram Design Museum of the Seoul Arts Centers bought this forest for its collection and presented it at Designmade 2006.

[all text extracted from sounds of silence]

For more information, visit sounds of silence.


modern +++ romantic ++

Lyn Randall

[image from cho cho san]

Lyn Randall designed this paper hanging for cho cho san, in vinyl or paper. Her wall hangings evoke stories that can be touched, smelled and traced under the gaze. She uses techniques that will always produce individual results, stitching sections of strategically-torn wall paper into a design which is then embossed over a repeat style pattern. Each section is then further layered with stitching, creating surfaces that are individual, but when put together form a coherent whole.

Lyn is constantly inspired by beauty in the unexpected, the delicacy of flaking paint on old doors, the intrigue of layered wallpapers in forgotten rooms, a rainbow of subtle colours in rusty iron work - the detail of the frequently overlooked. Her adoration of delicacy and detail, gives her works a natural purity that is produced from informed and thoughtful design.

[text extracted from Lyn Randall and cho cho san]

For more information, visit Lyn Randall and cho cho san.


modern o romantic +++++

Living Paper

This is an amazing animation. Watch paper come to life...


modern + romantic ++++

Polly Verity

Crumpling in Tissue Paper
[images from Polly Verity]

Polly Verity is an artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She sculpts, performs and is a member of experimental electronic band “i”, playing purpose built and modified instruments. Her paper sculptures are complex and varied. She creates patterns and shadows in her sculptures.

L-triomino/monomino aspects of the same fold.
[image from Polly Verity]

Royal Stag, 2007
[image from Polly Verity]

For more information, visit Polly Verity and Polyscene.


modern ++++ romantic +

Zoe Bradley

Liberty's Christmas Window 2004
[image from Zoe Bradley]

Mcqueen S/S 1999
[images from Zoe Bradley]

Zoe Bradley is a showpiece designer based in London. Her creations are dramatic and sculptural. Bradley has coordinated and produced the showpieces for McQueens S/S 99 collection and also Michiko Koshino's S/S 05 and A/W 05 collection.

On/Off Art exhibition, February 2006
[images from Gina X]

She created a memorable piece for the On|Off Art Exhibition in February 2006. On/Off takes place twice a year during London Fashion Week in February and September. organised and managed by Doll Creative Events Agency, the event takes place at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Zoe Bradley Studio is located at G105 Old Truman Brewery 91 Bricklane London. For more information, visit Zoe Bradley.


modern +++ romantic ++

Peter Callesen

The Impossible Meeting (detail), 2005
Acid-free A4 80 gsm paper and glue


Distant Wish (detail), 2006
Acid-free A4 115 gsm paper and glue


Cradle (detail) , 2006
Acid free A4 115 gsm paper and glue

Peter Callesen was born 1967 in Denmark. His paper works have lately been based around an exploration of the relationship between two and three dimensionality. His collection of works on A4 sheets of paper are amazing. Identifying A4 paper as the most common and consumed media and format for carrying information today. Callesen perceives the A4 paper material as something very loaded, yet the actual materiality of which is rarely noticed. By removing all the information and starting from scratch using blank white 80gsm A4 paper as a base for his creations, he has found a material which, on one hand, we all are able to relate to, and which on the other hand is non-loaded and neutral and therefore easier to fill with different meanings. The thin white paper also gives the paper sculptures a fragility which underlines the tragic and romantic theme of the works.

For more information, visit Peter Callesen


modern ++ romantic +++

Detour - the Moleskine City Notebook Experience

Some of the most amazing inspirations comes from sketchbooks. The raw ideas conveyed, coupled with the intimate experience of looking at other people’s notebooks is very satisfying.


Abigail Hunt trained at Loughborough University School of Art and Design and now lives and works in London. Her work often uses text and books and relies on the need for repetitive process, yet continually questions notions of finite detail and artistic integrity. Recent pieces have seen whole books cut meticulously into fine strips and others, hand cut into delicate patterns.


Chris Dent is an illustrator fascinated by city environments. He uses a range of intricate mark making, creating energetic visions of city life. Chris recently graduated from Camberwell College of Arts where he gained a BA in Illustration. Chris is the co-founder of a new collective called HYBRID BUNNY – a group of illustrators and designers which is responsible for icy2.com, a project for all illustration students at Camberwell College of Arts to show off their portfolios.


Detour is an exhibition of 70 illustrated Moleskine notebooks. This unique show took place at four separate sites - making a path through central London, in 9-22 October 2006. Curated by Raffaella Guidobono, the notebooks’ authors kindly participated to the Detour exhibition supporting lettera 27. lettera 27 is a nonprofit foundation encouraging the right to literacy, education, and access to knowledge and information.

For more information, visit Detour, Moleskine and lettera27.


modern ++++ romantic +

June Inspiration: Paper

For the month of June, we start with inspiring examples created out of paper. As a banal material, paper is the perfect blank canvas, which is common enough for everyone to be able to relate to, yet neutral enough to be given a new lease of life.

The Red Balloon

Le Ballon Rouge is a 1956 French short film, about a red balloon, which follows a little boy around the streets of Paris. Directed by Albert Lamorisse, the 34 min film is set in Ménilmontant, with a magic that is universal. Do watch all 4 parts.


modern ++ romantic +++

Modern Romantic, is the new style that celebrates simplicity, most suited for the urbanite who is making sense of a complicated Modern lifestyle: without denying the tactile quality of raw materials nor compromising on refined tastes and needs.

Modern Romantic is a new sanctuary, specially created to recommend the very best of the modern lifestyle with a romantic twist- from lifestyle elements to fashion styles; and from interior designs to holiday getaways. I am an editor with a publishing firm specialising in design books and magazines. I will search out for you and recommend the best that is available.

Modern Romanticis created for the young and stylish professional, who has the discerning eye for detail and luxury and appreciates the better things in life. Let me do the searching for you, so you may have more time to do the enjoying.

I will only recommend what I want for myself.