Cosmic Wonder - Paper Collection

Cosmic Wonder is a conceptual project initiated in 1997 by Yukinori Maeda.  It is composed of three distinct activities; COSMIC WONDER (artworks), COSMIC WONDER Light Source (fashion and lifestyle project) and COSMIC WONDER Free Press (book and music publishing).

The Center for COSMIC WONDER,  was founded in 2007, and was designed to integrate all of these various activities. Besides functioning as a gallery space for art and concerts, it is a place where visitors can share the experience of an unusual space. Sheltered from the daily march of time, visitors here are free to drift along with the flow of sounds in the universe.

I looked at a collection called the Paper Collection, I liked how the simple silhouettes wrap around the body and how they are created from an everyday item such as paper. This is functional however not practical, but still something I can take into consideration.

Hat Designs

JOHN GALLIANO

 ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

PHILLIP TREACY

The Cocooning Sleeve

LANVIN

JILL SANDER

STELLA MCCARTNEY

This summer in Paris designers such as Lanvin, Jill Sander, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent all show cased simple silhouettes with beautiful cocooning silhouettes.

Kotaro Ide - The Shell House

The 'Shell House' by architect Kotaro Ide, is a sculptural shell-like structure which has been built in the woods of Karuizawa, located in the nagano prefecture of japan. The house is meant to function as a vacation home, which is able to withstand the humid summers and cold winters of the region. To accomplish this, ide opted not to use the typical wood structure of villas in the area because of their susceptibility to decay easily, instead, he used reinforced concrete to construct two elliptical shell forms which are supposed to represent a conch.

From it's profile, 'shell house' takes on a j-shape which is raised above the ground by 1400 mm resulting in the floating' masses, Ulin wood is used to create terraces around the home with a courtyard into the centre of the main living areas. The villa's simple aesthetic lends itself well to the traditional japanese landscape, creating a balance between the futuristic man-made structure and the environment which surrounds it.

I love how even though the building is made up of simple modern structures it still creates a warm, cocooning homely feel.

Atelier Hitoshi Abe



In designing tenant buildings for which the interiors will be determined afterwards, rather than defining the spaces, it is important that there is a wide spatial potential. For example, the freedom to build walls in any arrangement is more important than how the walls are actually arranged.
The access routes to each space are thereby multiplied; other possibilities for grouping the spaces arise, enabling integrated usages or tenants that cover several floors. Additionally, the four variations in floor height and the flexibly organized mechanical services allow a variety of spatial choices. I really like the akward but functional shapes these buildings create.

Comme des Garcon-Unique Identity

Due to the wear and tear of garments their owners repair and replace parts of it creating a new and unique garment hiding the true original one. 

Wear and Tear

Over time clothes start to show signs of wear and tear, reflecting elements of their owner. This makes the garments unique to them and represents their identity.