Amelia’s Magazine | Sketchbook Pop-Up Shop: Susie (Style) Bubble Talk

Illustration courtesy of Zoë Barker

From outside, remedy the Koko in Camden looks a bit like one of those Swiss clocks – the ones where a girl in lederhosen comes out on a rail every hour to strike the chime. The bare white front façade is broken only by the large ‘KOKO’ illumination and the two doors at either edge of the building which allow the audience access to the smoking balcony, click and there’s a fair few of them pacing backwards and forwards. Imagining them as clockwork Bavarians is the kind of thing I find amusing. It passes the time, waiting in the coffee place across the road for the rain to ease and the doors to open.

Los Campesinos! are a band that I’ve had to convince myself that I actually loved, because for a while I was in denial. As far as my last.fm statistics go they’ve been my favourite band of the last 18 months, and I even found myself buying a ticket for their latest tour as soon as physically able and not really being sure why. It always felt like some kind of weirdly innocuous indulgence that support groups put out literature for – y’know, you swear it’s not a big deal, you could walk away at any second, it doesn’t control your life, etc. etc., only to wake up one morning and realise that you’re deeply addicted and in trouble. It’s frightening to realise you’ve had a new favourite band for so long and not even realised.

Illustration courtesy of Zoë Barker

Once inside the venue, I buy a drink and text my erstwhile companion, struck down with food poisoning. “I’m probably the oldest person here – where are the adults?“ I ask (and I’m only 22) – there’s a distinct whiff of Lynx in the air (at a guess: Africa). LC! are a bit of a joke to some people thanks to lead singer Gareth’s scribbled-journal lyrics, and frankly they’re right – they can be acutely embarrassing. I try to justify my love (my addiction, you could say) to my friends by being clever – they’re tongue-in-cheek, I say! The literal meaning is totally ironic, but the intent is still sincere! It never works. My first instinct, looking around the venue, is that these skinny, shy kids find Gareth endearing and sincere without any ironic pretension, which would be sweet and naïve if so. Or it could be seen as pathetic – sample lyric: “As if I walked into the room/to see my ex-girlfriend/who by the way I’m still in love with/sucking the face of some pretty boy/with my favourite band’s mostpopular song in the background/is it wrong that I can’t decide which bothers me most?” – but then ‘pathetic’ sounds so much like ‘pathos’ and I’m sure that their must be some kind of link or derivation at play there, because then there’s my excuse. The band excels at drawing out an emotional response in its audience.

As I’m trying to figure this out (I’m on my own, remember, so those kinds of thoughts are all I have to amuse myself – another excuse) the first bunch of musicians stroll on stage – it’s barely past eight, which leaves me thinking that I’ll probably be home and in slippers before eleven. But as for the band: the lead singer reminds me of Sinbad, and he starts wooping.

“Woop! … Woop! … Woop!” etc. – he’s jumped over the crowd barriers at this point, and is walking through the still-thin crowd, clearly sizing people up. Every now and again somebody will recoil, which I assume is because they assume that he’ll either a) want them to join in (poor, timid children), or b) eat their ears, because he’s mental. I think it’s hilarious. The rhythmic wooping is augmented by the rest of the band joining in with their instruments, using Sinbad as a metronome. They’re a four-piece – Sinbad, fringe girl, moustache guy, and Sweater (his sensible sky-blue knitwear is his most defining feature, I suppose) – and they blew me away. Rotating between instruments, chanting and howling, they managed to bridge the divide between danceable electro-wash that I so admire in Holy Fuck or Gang Gang Dance and the careful racket of no-wave. One tune sounded like Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’ shoved backwards through a plane turbine, i.e. sort of inverted by chopping it up into small pieces and reassembled with the bass brought forward and the optimistic chants turned into these awful, angry shouts… I was a total convert. Only by cornering Sinbad in the lobby afterwards did I manage to get their name – Islet. The internet tells me they’re from Cardiff, and they don’t like the internet, they have no recordings available for streaming or purchase (except this BBC live session), they have no website, they are entirely offline. The only way to experience Islet is as a live band, so go. See them live. They kick ass.

The break between the supports is short, and next on are somewhat-hyped London duo Swanton Bombs. To be fair to them, everything I’ve heard about their album has been positive (including a review on this very site), so I’m going to chalk their disappointing live presence up as unexpected. Every song reminded me of that nasty period in the early 00s when blues-rock groups were two-a-penny, where every song could be plotted on a chart with one axis labelled “Killing Floor“, and “Hey Joe” on the other. In short – it was dull, every song sounded the same, and Blood Red Shoes do this kind of thing with much more aplomb. I drifted out towards the back of the room and then upstairs, where I could fully appreciate how atrocious the Koko’s sound quality is for anyone not on the ground near the front – it’s an embarrassment for London, really, considering how much slack the place has had to take up now that the scuffed and glorious Astoria’s gone.

The audience of kids, mostly bored by what’s happened so far (Islet’s tribal antics went down like a civil servant in Downing Street), persists in ignoring whatever’s happening on stage. They’re very clearly only here for LC!, and it’s something of a relief that they come to life when the main act eventually makes an appearance – making me reassess my earlier assumption, that they were here out of a pathetic sincerity, as completely wrong. Namely: I was being pretentious and snobbish, and these kids just like how enjoyable a band LC! are – the lyrics are just plain funny, the music just plain fun, and whilst people like me with too much time on their hands (I blame my friend standing me up and leaving me to my own interior monologue) might debate the extent to which the band take this influence, or that level of twee irony, or said indebtedness to blah blah, this is bullshit. So I forgot about all that, and started jumping about with the rest of the mosh pit.

Illustration courtesy of Zoë Barker

Gareth’s certainly a livelier presence than I expected (seeing as he can come across as a bit wet sometimes). Tonight he bounds around like an over-stimulated puppy, and keeps thanking everybody – his friends, their manager, the audience (I count seven separate breaks between songs where he thanks the fans), the venue, the tour promoter. It’s sweet. The set opens with the steamrolling “I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know,” which is a bastard of a song, frankly. Their latest album is filled with these, how to say, crunchy numbers, loud and a bit ridiculous, and each one sounds like an anthem tonight – the crowd on ground alongside me is just a heaving sweaty coagulation of fists and smiles, right through the more recent tracks (“There Are Listed Building”, “A Heat Rash in the Shape of The Show Me State; Or, Letters from Me to Charlotte” (it is assumed that if you cannot abide this kind of ludicrous titling of songs then LC! are not a band for you)) to the classics of a couple of years ago (“My Year in Lists,” “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics’”).

One of the best things about seeing these guys live, though, was that their first album suddenly made a lot more sense. Their sound in the flesh isn’t hugely similar to their last two releases (‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’ and this year’s ‘Romance Is Boring’), which were relatively crisp and clean to the ear – live, they sound like the horrible mistake that was the David Newfeld-produced debut ‘Hold On Now, Youngster’, where the levels were all over the place and the whole thing was a sorry soppy mess of a release that would stick to a wall if it was thrown at one and would congeal into just a bloody mass of nothing at the bottom. It was poorly produced, is what I’m saying. But hearing them tonight I suddenly realise that Newfeld had captured them as they actually sound, essentially that exact kind of mop bucket softness, without edges, without any definition to grab onto. They aren’t half as exciting on there as they are here because, well, that’s the nature of live music, but I have greater respect for the Broken Social Scene producer now I can understand his Sisyphean intentions.

The highlight for most people comes towards the end, when the band crack out the song that they will presumably still be ending their sets with in middle-age – “You! Me! Dancing!” – which I detest. It’s a horrible song. I don’t know why it grates when I enjoy everything else that they do so much, but there it is. However, in the interest of balance I’ll say that this once it was awesome because, well, it was. I’d never danced to it alongside a few hundred other people before and the sensation was not, shall we say, unpleasant. When the band left the stage it was the end of their largest headline show to date – despite their quirks, their oddities, their introspection and their glee, I fully expect them to be playing even larger venues within a very short time indeed. They are the biggest and best niche group around. To hell with thought – it’s my gut that wants to see them again as soon as possible.

Illustration by Naomi Law

For the last day of  the Sketchbook Pop-Up Shop, viagra dosage Susie Bubble of Style Bubble fame gave a lecture, viagra approved bookending an event that celebrated the creative arts in a social and relaxed atmosphere complete with illustrations all over the walls. As one of the more prolific bloggers out there, healing Susie Bubble is someone I have ‘followed’ for a long time owing to her quality of photos and copy as well as her evidently well-researched posts. The Style Bubble blog started in 2006 as an outlet for Susie’s opinions, naturally developing a huge following with mentions in i-D magazine, The Financial Times and numerous awards within the blogging world in a relatively short space of time (that’s the online world for you!).
 
Susie has already written an excellent post on the ‘pop up social space’, and as the last speaker at the event ties things up quite nicely – she even featured on the cover of their very first issue. Teaching herself web coding at the age of 13, Susie was always destined to make a foray into the online world. Her blog has grown quickly over the last four years and rather than a ‘what to wear now’ site endorsing celebrity-led trends, Style Bubble is full of Susie’s musings and ideas of what she really thinks. ‘I would only stop blogging if ideas run out’, she said. Not much chance of that in London…
 
Following a few questions from the audience on branding, sponsorship and advertising it was very refreshing to hear Susie’s responses reflecting the idea that a blog should be a personal passion rather than a way to increase traffic and generate sales, as an all encompassing business or brand. ‘I don’t see what a Style Bubble app would bring to the iPad’ she reveals, and equally she doesn’t see a future or market for paid blogs. If they are controlled by the brand themselves she can see the merits, though – ‘if a brand have a blog, especially some of the more secretive design houses, it is a good idea as long as the content is interesting’.   


Illustration by Naomi Law
 
Content is key, and she advises that in order to make a mark in the blogosphere, a blog must bring something new to the table. If you are in need of some more inspiration, Susie uses The Guardian fashion pages, The Coveted, and Jak&Jil for fashion news.

She understands that fashion, especially luxury fashion, is not always ethically sound, and where ‘it is impossible to investigate every choice’ we make on clothing we must be aware of the sources of our purchases. Broad generalisations can confuse consumers; for example, not everything made in China needs to be avoided. When choosing items, Susie goes for what feels right. ‘Buying luxury clothes is selfish. I ask myself if it feels nice or looks good on me’. On her own style, she made it very clear that it’s a personal choice, but in terms of A/W10 predicitons, its ‘texture, texture, texture’! Mix it up and make it your own – for S/S go for pastels and embroidery.
 
One of the nicest elements to Susie’s character is the honesty and modesty in with which she answered the questions. The London-based blogger loves the constantly developing creativity in our city, and how there are opportunities to turn your hand to whatever you want, describing herself as a ‘fraud’ with no formal training! At the moment Susie is unsure how to progress with the blog. Now in a ‘pondering phase’, she doesn’t see herself working with a ‘team’ as it is such a personal project – just her and her handy boyfriend for the photos!
 
3 facts you might like to know:
 
1. She voted Lib Dem
2. She wears her hair up when its windy
3. She was incredibly flattered when Daphne Guinness wrote about her in the FT (who wouldn’t be?!)

 
As well as some consulting work, she has some mysterious up and coming projects, so keep an eye out…

Categories ,Bloggers, ,Blogging, ,China, ,Daphne Guinness, ,Financial Times, ,Florence Massey, ,I.D Magazine, ,Jak&Jil, ,Liberal Democrats, ,Naomi Law, ,Newburgh Street, ,Pop-up Shop, ,Sketchbook Magazine, ,Style Bubble, ,Susie Bubble, ,Texture, ,The Coveted

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Amelia’s Magazine | The NailGirls spa salon in Islington Spring/Summer 2010 nail polish launch event.

Colourbox leadersdebate
Nick-Clegg-Election-2010-Antonia-Parker
Illustration by Antonia Parker.

Last week it occurred to me that if one drew something remotely funny and sent it around twitter at the same time as everyone was going mental with the hashtag #leadersdebate whilst watching the Leaders’ Debate on the TV, what is ed one was more or less garunteed a huge amount of retweets and a viral hit.

Except there was something that was irking me about this twitter phenomenon: and that was the poor quality of the drawings that were tickling the fancy of so many. So I sent out my own twitter message to see if anyone was up for drawing something satirical and vaguely amusing that we could send out on twitter at the appropriate time this week, no rx and knowing that I hang out with lots of very talented illustrators on twitter.

Then I read in the Evening Standard that the election has already brought about a vast outpouring of artistic ingenuity: drinks (slightly poisonous looking concoctions in virulent red, and blue and yellow), logo decorated jellies and even rag rugs have all been created with the election in mind. So it seems I am not the first to cotton onto a general feverish mood in the artistic firmament.

Here, then, are the results of my callout. This blog is not about my political leanings – though I’d happily take a pop shot at Cameron’s flabby potato head (sorry Sam) before I’d see him in power – but rather about an experiment in the way we communicate during election time in 2010. So these images will also be twitpic-ed out come 8.30pm tonight. Feel free to join in the fun and let’s see how far they travel!

With thanks to the lovely illustrators who answered my callout with such glee. It seems I touched a nerve…

jenny robins - leaders debate
Illustration by Jenny Robins.

Clegg, Cameron, Brown-Abi Daker
Illustration by Abi Daker.

Leaders Debate Katie Harnett
Illustration by Katie Harnett.

Gordon-Brown-Election-2010-Antonia-Parker
David-Cameron-Election-2010-Antonia-Parker
Illustrations by Antonia Parker.

Marnie Hollande-Leaders Debate
Illustration by Marnie Hollande.

DEBATE-Matt Thomas
Illustration by Matt Thomas.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch

I’m not really a high maintenance kind of girl, illness but the older I get I am starting to think that maybe I should consider paying just a little bit more attention to myself. But grooming just takes so much time, store right? And it’s just so darn pricey?

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch

Well yes to both the above. And no. Last week I had my nails done at the NailGirls Spa Salon in Islington, order it took about ten minutes and it didn’t cost a thing. Oh okay, so it was a freebie as part of the press launch for their summer range (yes, nail varnish really does come in seasonal colours) but it was also incredibly quick. Within ten minutes of Kelly placing my hands – with well practiced firmness – on the towelling rest, I was sporting 10 perfectly manicured pinkies in Purple #7. Here at NailGirls they don’t go in for fancy names for their nail varnishes, preferring instead to take the minimalist route.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch

Musing, in the way that one does whilst being attended to by a beautician, I wondered how long it takes to grow really sick of painting nails. Five years perhaps before the sight of someone else’s paws drives you insane? “Well, I’m 20 years old,” says Kelly, “but I’ve already been doing nails for 5 years.” Blimey, 5 years? No way?! “Yes, since I was 15!” But she isn’t sick of it yet: in fact she’s just left behind he beloved cheerleading squad that she tutors up in Brum to pursue a glittering career in London, where her financial trader boyfriend is based. I love hearing about these little things. Human life, always so fascinating.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch
NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch
Lynda-Louise and Joanna Burrell (just before Jo spilt white wine down Lynda’s top, but we won’t talk about that).

NailGirls is the brainchild of two north London sisters. As my nails are being painted Lynda-Louise tells me how she spent 11 years working in the fashion industry in New York before returning to set up the business with sister Joanna Burrell, formerly working in oh-so-glamourous recruitment. “I knew that I wanted to do something in fashion – and there didn’t seem to be anything here like they have in the US, where they have proper nail spas.” Before she returned to the UK Lynda put her back into some serious research and got together a nail polish formulation that is not tested on animals and eschews nasty chemicals such as toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and camphor, which are proven carcinogens. The nail varnish is made in the US and imported to sell in the salon and online.

Nail Girls-joanna burrell

Lynda is passionate about painted nails as a way of keeping on trend. “It means you can change your look really easily and without the expense, of say, buying a Chanel handbag.” And without going into consumer overdrive, I should add. Using her self-confessed expertise in the field of trend spotting she picks out key colours for each season. For spring/summer 2010 she has picked out colours from the collections of Christopher Kane, Christian Louboutin and Burberry: a soft coral, bright green, pale blue and pearlised apricot. During their friendly garden speech the sisters described working with top make-up artist Pat McGrath during fashion week, and excitedly hinted at more fashion related collaborations later this year.

Nail Girls-lynda-louise jo burrell

It’s all rather fun this beauty malarkey, I have to say – and I found it most intriguing to chat with the various girls that I met at the launch; in a shrewd move the NailGirls have chosen to target a range of beauty bloggers (the success of this strategy is borne out with a quick blogsearch). Hungrily ogling the nail colours on the salon shelves I met the immaculate Lola of the Beauty Geek blog, who is normally doing corporate stuff for Nokia but puts together blogs demonstrating how to apply perfect Cheryl Cole-esque make up in her spare time.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch Beauty Geek
Beauty Geek blogger Lola.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch Beauty Geek
Those are Lola’s delicate little hands, not mine.

Whilst I was snaffling canapes by Eclectic Food in the garden I met some beauty bloggers who work at the other end of the spectrum. Hair stylists Alex Brownsell and Louise Teasdale run Beauty is a Religion, which takes an occasional look at plastic surgery gone wrong, tattoo art and 18 year old girls with orange skin and fake boobies for whom Jordan is an idol. They sport fabulous pastel coloured hair and pale skin. You couldn’t get two more diverse approaches to beauty blogs if you tried. Other bloggers present that I did not get to meet have some fantastically named blogs: including Do Not Refreeze, Vex in the City and Make Up to Make Out. It’s a whole wide beauty blogging world out there I tell thee.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch Beauty is a Religion Alex Brownsell
Beauty is a Religion blogger Alex Brownsell.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch Beauty is a Religion Louise Teasdale
Beauty is a Religion blogger Louise Teasdale.

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch Beauty is a Religion
This is Louise’s identical twin! Except for the hair that is.

It’s been a week since I had my manicure, and I have to report that my nails are faring very much better than they would have done had I applied a manicure myself (though not as good as Lola’s – blimey she’s doing well!).

NailGirls nail salon Islington press launch

“You must come back and have a pedicure when the sun is out!” Jo tells me as I leave this friendly little salon just off the high street in Islington. The NailGirls website desperately needs a bit of tender lovin’ care to make it more user friendly, but I’d return to be pampered in their lovely garden spa area in a jiffy. Summer pedicure did you say?

Categories ,Alex Brownsell, ,Beauty, ,Beauty Geek, ,Beauty is a Religion, ,blog, ,Bloggers, ,Burberry, ,chanel, ,Chemical Free, ,Cheryl Cole, ,Christian Louboutin, ,Christopher Kane, ,Do Not Refreeze, ,Eclectic Food, ,Islington, ,Jordan, ,Louise Teasdale, ,Make Up to Make Out, ,Make-up, ,Nail Polish, ,Nail Varnish, ,NailGirls, ,Press Launch, ,Spa Salon, ,trend, ,Vex in the City

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Amelia’s Magazine | Bora Aksu AW15: London Fashion Week Catwalk Review

Bora Asku by Eugenia Tsimiklis
Bora Asku by Eugenia Tsimiklis.

Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
This season Bora Aksu took inspiration from Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and The Rose, choosing as always to tell a tale through his collection in a colour palette of richest royal blue transforming into gold, pink and deepest black.

Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
His influences may be complex but the clothing as ever was gorgeously desirable and beautifully wearable. Bora is most at home with the use of varied textures; flounces and lacy panels juxtaposed against golden grids and intensely patterned cut out lace embroidery. Skirts were wide and coats were caped, with pretty jewels worn around collared necklines and in the ears. Hair bounced cutely to one side, ensuring the sophisticated garments retained a playful girly feel.

Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Bora Aksu AW15-photography by Amelia Gregory
Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore closed the show with a cheeky grin, proving that these dresses look just as good on the more average gal.

All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Categories ,AW15, ,Bora Aksu, ,catwalk show, ,Eugenia Tsimiklis, ,Laura Whitmore, ,London Fashion Week, ,Oscar Wilde, ,review, ,The Nightingale and The Rose

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Amelia’s Magazine | Circus Bookazine Launch and London Blog Slam

the crowd at circus bookazine blog slam
The crowd at circus bookazine blog slam, minimalist cake catering, Asahi etc. the awesome tights belong to Muireann Carey-Campbell of Bangs and a Bun.

Amelia judged and I sketched history in the making at the Rag Factory last week. Well, almost: the first event was in Germany the week before so this was not an actual first. The concept I’m sure already has your mind a-boggling. I’m allways fascinated by how random little scenes and pockets of interlapping creativity and culture come together in these sorts of things. Circus explore the rich territory between print and web, passion and fashion and er, people and other people. I’ll talk more about the beautiful bookazine itself a bit later.

The competing bloggers were somewhat of a motley crew, in that the content was a little inconsistently weighted, a lot of fashion and two examples of male dating based humour blogging, a genre of which I was previously unaware. This was fair enough in a sense, the theme of the Bookazine issue is fashion, but it did make the handfull of bloggers on other themes seem a little incongruous.

The slammers were judged based on the scoring categories of originality, concept, delivery and “blogability”, a made up word. Aside from our own Amelia the jury consisted of Wafa from Sketchbook Magazine, Ben from quality Sheffield based Article Magazine, and Chris Osburn from the Londonist. All small press stars of substance and style of course. The competing bloggers performed from an old school church pulpit – a nice touch I think, sort of makes you think about how we choose who we listen to and respect these days, or it just looked pretty anyway – and were also interspersed with some readings from contributors from the bookazine.

marian librarian or Schmbari
Marian Schembari telling it like it isn’t but should be.

First up was Marian Librarian, a high flying international proffesional social media blogger of sorts, who talked affectingly about why she refuses to censor her blog, even after she was detained at immigration for swearing. You can read the entry she read here She has a healthy and sensible attitude to the importance of reality and personality in online content.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - kate ironside
Next up was a brief reading from fashion haiku‘s Kate Ironside who was rocking a serious classy jersey and pearls type ensemble.

I cannot express the perfection of the fashion haiku as a form of art, it’s such the perfect medium for expressing the wry mix of beauty, meaning and superficiality that is fashion – anyway I can’t express it like I said so if you follow one link today, make it this one and go read some. Your day will be enhanced.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - toast and biscuit - thewedordeadwager
Toast and Biscuit from the Wed or Dead Wager.

Second actual competing slammers (btw, I can’t type the word slammers without thinking about pogs) were a blog double act who use fake names as a matter of neccesity since they write with warts and all accuracy about their manic dating life in a race to get married. It’s a bit like an unrealistic romcom, but much much longer. They were very funny with self deprecating anecdotes, definite crowd pleasers. I think they had the advantage too of having an actual real life story to tell in their blog, it’s engaging and sympathetic and fresh.

I’m so used to hearing the female perspective on the frustrations of dating from my friends, the cliches that men who are confident enough to come on to you are usually after just one thing, or worse turn out to be creepy stalkers seem all too often to come true. So it’s quite nice to get the male perspective and hear about women’s strange behaviours in the dating arena with some pragmatism, while still coming from what is essentially an aim to settle down with someone nice, which creates a sort of reverse cliche.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - godwyns onwuchekwa
The next blogger, Godwyns Onwuchekwa “We are united to say: Never again, at least not by our own action.”

Godwyns is a serious political and LGBT rights blogger who performed a very moving blog post he had written to mark world AIDS day this year. He began by saying that following the Toast and Biscuit performance he would be boring us with serious stuff. He wasn’t boring, but he wasn’t wrong that it was a contrast. Escpecially as the next to stand up was in a similar romantic comedy vein;

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - scalene
Scalene.

Alright, maybe this is not news to you, but if you thought that the Wed or Dead Wager was a dose enough of apparently brutaly honest but at the same time surreally romcomesque male dating bloggery, Scalene may actually take you a step further. His blog allows internet strangers (the same people who comment on youtube videos) to make multiple “choose your own adventure” style decisions about his actual real life love life. In the recent post he read out he ended up actually honest to goodness chasing a girl to the airport. If there’s any justice this project will end in him being voted into not showing up for his own wedding. That’s the other thing that always happens in movies but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE. RIGHT?

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - tejasvi

Tejasvi looked particularly angelic in her floaty white top (sorry I lack the fashion nause to describe it accurately) in the pulpit. Her blog Clandestine Cigarettes is perhaps a more serious and romantic take on fashion, she read a very poetic piece but was sadly I think too nervous and lacked the projection to do it justice.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - lilly smiles Lilly Smiles of Laughter Lines, diary of a “fleet street fox”.

Lilly Smiles trod an interesting line between the serious and comic camps with her reading, which was from a blog post written at an extremely raw and hard time in her life – the details were hazy (understandably) but it was during an episode in which she was charged with attempted murder. It was heart rending, clear, honest and well written, but still witty. She almost painted tabloid journalism (her background) as a caring profession and she pre-empted her reading by telling us she burps when nervous. In a way this was the perfect piece for the evening: managing to keep the tone seperate and yet compelling, honest but sensationalist. Possibly this is what blogability means.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - bangs and a bun
Muireann Carey-Campbell or Bangs and a Bun.

Another reading from the Circus Bookazine; Muireann described herself as a humour fashion blogger but the piece she read was quite serious, looking at issues of the fashion industry’s epic denial the fatness of society. It was pretty interesting and she was a charismatic speaker, I’ve since started following her on twitter and she is an avid tweeter. She looked fabulous and clearly knew her stuff.

The final contestent in the blog-off arrived just in time to perform. She’d been in Norwich and rocked straight up to the pulpit and started channeling Lady Gaga, actually interspersing the reading from her blog ‘musings of an innapropriate woman’ with bouts of karaoke style singing.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - rachel hills
Rachel Hills with gold slit sunglasses – when they were down she was Gaga.

This is the blog post she read, but like all of the night’s blogs, it’s the tip of an iceberg. Rachel’s blog is a smart mix of gender, popular culture, creativity and general life observations; I like her because she’s not afraid to mix pop culture references with theory and critique. If I didn’t have an essay to write I might spend my whole weekend reading her back catalogue.

So with that the blog slam was concluded, there was some complex vote counting while I mused on the variety of performances. Really the variety of different styles and subject matters didn’t lend itself to a fair comparison, ideally there could have been a number of bloggers from certain categories and an award for each. But it wasn’t the Oscars, it was an experiment and to have done so might have made the whole thing seem overworked. In the end we were treated to a slice of a mix of what the blogosphere has to offer.

ameliasmagazine - blog slam - circus 2
the four minds and bodies behind the event and circus bookazine, preparing to award the prizes.

Rachel nabbed third place, probably as much for having rocked up at the last minute and being memorable in golden glasses and singing as anything else. The two top spots went to the romcom boys, Scalene in second place and Toast and Biscuit nabbing the top spot. There were a lot of qualities on show at the Rag Factory that night, but ultimately entertainment value probably bagged the biggest points. The number of people at the end of the night wearing the AIDS ribbons Godwins had given out is testament to the fact that the serious content was most surely not swept under the carpet.

The Bookazine (which, strangely, is somewhere between a book and a magazine) is a thing of beauty divine from a design point of view. You can see the love and thought that has gone into the project. The content is given room to breath and interspersed with sumptiously simple printed patterns. There are little nods to the web format of the blog that the book connects with, like the love you link page and tag cloud at the back. Part of the reason it’s so thick of course, is that all of the content is in English and German, which makes the project even more impressive – working with so many bloggers, writers, artists and translators must have been an epic undertaking. If only I had time to actually read it.

circus bookazine - Merily Leis
circus bookazine - Artikel von Digital Diamonds
images courtesy of Circus Bookazine

Categories ,bangs and a bun, ,blog, ,blog slam, ,Bloggers, ,Circus, ,Circus Bookazine, ,design, ,event, ,fashion, ,fashion haiku, ,london, ,poetry, ,rachel hills, ,review, ,scalene, ,Sketch, ,Sketchbook mag, ,the londonist, ,the rag factory, ,the wed or dead wager

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Amelia’s Magazine | Circus Bookazine Launch and London Blog Slam

the crowd at circus bookazine blog slam
The crowd at circus bookazine blog slam, see buy minimalist cake catering, Asahi etc. the awesome tights belong to Muireann Carey-Campbell of Bangs and a Bun.

Amelia judged and I sketched history in the making at the Rag Factory last week. Well, almost: the first event was in Germany the week before so this was not an actual first. The concept I’m sure already has your mind a-boggling. I’m allways fascinated by how random little scenes and pockets of interlapping creativity and culture come together in these sorts of things. Circus explore the rich territory between print and web, passion and fashion and er, people and other people. I’ll talk more about the beautiful bookazine itself a bit later.

The competing bloggers were somewhat of a motley crew, in that the content was a little inconsistently weighted, a lot of fashion and two examples of male dating based humour blogging, a genre of which I was previously unaware. This was fair enough in a sense, the theme of the Bookazine issue is fashion, but it did make the handfull of bloggers on other themes seem a little incongruous.

The slammers were judged based on the scoring categories of originality, concept, delivery and “blogability”, a made up word. Aside from our own Amelia the jury consisted of Wafa from Sketchbook Magazine, Ben from quality Sheffield based Article Magazine, and Chris Osburn from the Londonist. All small press stars of substance and style of course. The competing bloggers performed from an old school church pulpit – a nice touch I think, sort of makes you think about how we choose who we listen to and respect these days, or it just looked pretty anyway – and were also interspersed with some readings from contributors from the bookazine.

marian librarian or Schmbari
Marian Schembari telling it like it isn’t but should be.

First up was Marian Librarian, a high flying international proffesional social media blogger of sorts, who talked affectingly about why she refuses to censor her blog, even after she was detained at immigration for swearing. You can read the entry she read here She has a healthy and sensible attitude to the importance of reality and personality in online content.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - kate ironside
Next up was a brief reading from fashion haiku‘s Kate Ironside who was rocking a serious classy jersey and pearls type ensemble.

I cannot express the perfection of the fashion haiku as a form of art, it’s such the perfect medium for expressing the wry mix of beauty, meaning and superficiality that is fashion – anyway I can’t express it like I said so if you follow one link today, make it this one and go read some. Your day will be enhanced.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - toast and biscuit - thewedordeadwager
Toast and Biscuit from the Wed or Dead Wager.

Second actual competing slammers (btw, I can’t type the word slammers without thinking about pogs) were a blog double act who use fake names as a matter of neccesity since they write with warts and all accuracy about their manic dating life in a race to get married. It’s a bit like an unrealistic romcom, but much much longer. They were very funny with self deprecating anecdotes, definite crowd pleasers. I think they had the advantage too of having an actual real life story to tell in their blog, it’s engaging and sympathetic and fresh.

I’m so used to hearing the female perspective on the frustrations of dating from my friends, the cliches that men who are confident enough to come on to you are usually after just one thing, or worse turn out to be creepy stalkers seem all too often to come true. So it’s quite nice to get the male perspective and hear about women’s strange behaviours in the dating arena with some pragmatism, while still coming from what is essentially an aim to settle down with someone nice, which creates a sort of reverse cliche.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - godwyns onwuchekwa
The next blogger, Godwyns Onwuchekwa “We are united to say: Never again, at least not by our own action.”

Godwyns is a serious political and LGBT rights blogger who performed a very moving blog post he had written to mark world AIDS day this year. He began by saying that following the Toast and Biscuit performance he would be boring us with serious stuff. He wasn’t boring, but he wasn’t wrong that it was a contrast. Escpecially as the next to stand up was in a similar romantic comedy vein;

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - scalene
Scalene.

Alright, maybe this is not news to you, but if you thought that the Wed or Dead Wager was a dose enough of apparently brutaly honest but at the same time surreally romcomesque male dating bloggery, Scalene may actually take you a step further. His blog allows internet strangers (the same people who comment on youtube videos) to make multiple “choose your own adventure” style decisions about his actual real life love life. In the recent post he read out he ended up actually honest to goodness chasing a girl to the airport. If there’s any justice this project will end in him being voted into not showing up for his own wedding. That’s the other thing that always happens in movies but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE. RIGHT?

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - tejasvi

Tejasvi looked particularly angelic in her floaty white top (sorry I lack the fashion nause to describe it accurately) in the pulpit. Her blog Clandestine Cigarettes is perhaps a more serious and romantic take on fashion, she read a very poetic piece but was sadly I think too nervous and lacked the projection to do it justice.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - lilly smiles Lilly Smiles of Laughter Lines, diary of a “fleet street fox”.

Lilly Smiles trod an interesting line between the serious and comic camps with her reading, which was from a blog post written at an extremely raw and hard time in her life – the details were hazy (understandably) but it was during an episode in which she was charged with attempted murder. It was heart rending, clear, honest and well written, but still witty. She almost painted tabloid journalism (her background) as a caring profession and she pre-empted her reading by telling us she burps when nervous. In a way this was the perfect piece for the evening: managing to keep the tone seperate and yet compelling, honest but sensationalist. Possibly this is what blogability means.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - bangs and a bun
Muireann Carey-Campbell or Bangs and a Bun.

Another reading from the Circus Bookazine; Muireann described herself as a humour fashion blogger but the piece she read was quite serious, looking at issues of the fashion industry’s epic denial the fatness of society. It was pretty interesting and she was a charismatic speaker, I’ve since started following her on twitter and she is an avid tweeter. She looked fabulous and clearly knew her stuff.

The final contestent in the blog-off arrived just in time to perform. She’d been in Norwich and rocked straight up to the pulpit and started channeling Lady Gaga, actually interspersing the reading from her blog ‘musings of an innapropriate woman’ with bouts of karaoke style singing.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - rachel hills
Rachel Hills with gold slit sunglasses – when they were down she was Gaga.

This is the blog post she read, but like all of the night’s blogs, it’s the tip of an iceberg. Rachel’s blog is a smart mix of gender, popular culture, creativity and general life observations; I like her because she’s not afraid to mix pop culture references with theory and critique. If I didn’t have an essay to write I might spend my whole weekend reading her back catalogue.

So with that the blog slam was concluded, there was some complex vote counting while I mused on the variety of performances. Really the variety of different styles and subject matters didn’t lend itself to a fair comparison, ideally there could have been a number of bloggers from certain categories and an award for each. But it wasn’t the Oscars, it was an experiment and to have done so might have made the whole thing seem overworked. In the end we were treated to a slice of a mix of what the blogosphere has to offer.

ameliasmagazine - blog slam - circus 2
the four minds and bodies behind the event and circus bookazine, preparing to award the prizes.

Rachel nabbed third place, probably as much for having rocked up at the last minute and being memorable in golden glasses and singing as anything else. The two top spots went to the romcom boys, Scalene in second place and Toast and Biscuit nabbing the top spot. There were a lot of qualities on show at the Rag Factory that night, but ultimately entertainment value probably bagged the biggest points. The number of people at the end of the night wearing the AIDS ribbons Godwins had given out is testament to the fact that the serious content was most surely not swept under the carpet.

The Bookazine (which, strangely, is somewhere between a book and a magazine) is a thing of beauty divine from a design point of view. You can see the love and thought that has gone into the project. The content is given room to breath and interspersed with sumptiously simple printed patterns. There are little nods to the web format of the blog that the book connects with, like the love you link page and tag cloud at the back. Part of the reason it’s so thick of course, is that all of the content is in English and German, which makes the project even more impressive – working with so many bloggers, writers, artists and translators must have been an epic undertaking. If only I had time to actually read it.

circus bookazine - Merily Leis
circus bookazine - Artikel von Digital Diamonds
images courtesy of Circus Bookazine

Categories ,bangs and a bun, ,blog, ,blog slam, ,Bloggers, ,Circus, ,Circus Bookazine, ,design, ,event, ,fashion, ,fashion haiku, ,london, ,poetry, ,rachel hills, ,review, ,scalene, ,Sketch, ,Sketchbook mag, ,the londonist, ,the rag factory, ,the wed or dead wager

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Amelia’s Magazine | Circus Bookazine Launch and London Blog Slam

the crowd at circus bookazine blog slam
The crowd at circus bookazine blog slam, see buy minimalist cake catering, Asahi etc. the awesome tights belong to Muireann Carey-Campbell of Bangs and a Bun.

Amelia judged and I sketched history in the making at the Rag Factory last week. Well, almost: the first event was in Germany the week before so this was not an actual first. The concept I’m sure already has your mind a-boggling. I’m allways fascinated by how random little scenes and pockets of interlapping creativity and culture come together in these sorts of things. Circus explore the rich territory between print and web, passion and fashion and er, people and other people. I’ll talk more about the beautiful bookazine itself a bit later.

The competing bloggers were somewhat of a motley crew, in that the content was a little inconsistently weighted, a lot of fashion and two examples of male dating based humour blogging, a genre of which I was previously unaware. This was fair enough in a sense, the theme of the Bookazine issue is fashion, but it did make the handfull of bloggers on other themes seem a little incongruous.

The slammers were judged based on the scoring categories of originality, concept, delivery and “blogability”, a made up word. Aside from our own Amelia the jury consisted of Wafa from Sketchbook Magazine, Ben from quality Sheffield based Article Magazine, and Chris Osburn from the Londonist. All small press stars of substance and style of course. The competing bloggers performed from an old school church pulpit – a nice touch I think, sort of makes you think about how we choose who we listen to and respect these days, or it just looked pretty anyway – and were also interspersed with some readings from contributors from the bookazine.

marian librarian or Schmbari
Marian Schembari telling it like it isn’t but should be.

First up was Marian Librarian, a high flying international proffesional social media blogger of sorts, who talked affectingly about why she refuses to censor her blog, even after she was detained at immigration for swearing. You can read the entry she read here She has a healthy and sensible attitude to the importance of reality and personality in online content.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - kate ironside
Next up was a brief reading from fashion haiku‘s Kate Ironside who was rocking a serious classy jersey and pearls type ensemble.

I cannot express the perfection of the fashion haiku as a form of art, it’s such the perfect medium for expressing the wry mix of beauty, meaning and superficiality that is fashion – anyway I can’t express it like I said so if you follow one link today, make it this one and go read some. Your day will be enhanced.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - toast and biscuit - thewedordeadwager
Toast and Biscuit from the Wed or Dead Wager.

Second actual competing slammers (btw, I can’t type the word slammers without thinking about pogs) were a blog double act who use fake names as a matter of neccesity since they write with warts and all accuracy about their manic dating life in a race to get married. It’s a bit like an unrealistic romcom, but much much longer. They were very funny with self deprecating anecdotes, definite crowd pleasers. I think they had the advantage too of having an actual real life story to tell in their blog, it’s engaging and sympathetic and fresh.

I’m so used to hearing the female perspective on the frustrations of dating from my friends, the cliches that men who are confident enough to come on to you are usually after just one thing, or worse turn out to be creepy stalkers seem all too often to come true. So it’s quite nice to get the male perspective and hear about women’s strange behaviours in the dating arena with some pragmatism, while still coming from what is essentially an aim to settle down with someone nice, which creates a sort of reverse cliche.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - godwyns onwuchekwa
The next blogger, Godwyns Onwuchekwa “We are united to say: Never again, at least not by our own action.”

Godwyns is a serious political and LGBT rights blogger who performed a very moving blog post he had written to mark world AIDS day this year. He began by saying that following the Toast and Biscuit performance he would be boring us with serious stuff. He wasn’t boring, but he wasn’t wrong that it was a contrast. Escpecially as the next to stand up was in a similar romantic comedy vein;

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - scalene
Scalene.

Alright, maybe this is not news to you, but if you thought that the Wed or Dead Wager was a dose enough of apparently brutaly honest but at the same time surreally romcomesque male dating bloggery, Scalene may actually take you a step further. His blog allows internet strangers (the same people who comment on youtube videos) to make multiple “choose your own adventure” style decisions about his actual real life love life. In the recent post he read out he ended up actually honest to goodness chasing a girl to the airport. If there’s any justice this project will end in him being voted into not showing up for his own wedding. That’s the other thing that always happens in movies but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE. RIGHT?

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - tejasvi

Tejasvi looked particularly angelic in her floaty white top (sorry I lack the fashion nause to describe it accurately) in the pulpit. Her blog Clandestine Cigarettes is perhaps a more serious and romantic take on fashion, she read a very poetic piece but was sadly I think too nervous and lacked the projection to do it justice.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - lilly smiles Lilly Smiles of Laughter Lines, diary of a “fleet street fox”.

Lilly Smiles trod an interesting line between the serious and comic camps with her reading, which was from a blog post written at an extremely raw and hard time in her life – the details were hazy (understandably) but it was during an episode in which she was charged with attempted murder. It was heart rending, clear, honest and well written, but still witty. She almost painted tabloid journalism (her background) as a caring profession and she pre-empted her reading by telling us she burps when nervous. In a way this was the perfect piece for the evening: managing to keep the tone seperate and yet compelling, honest but sensationalist. Possibly this is what blogability means.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - bangs and a bun
Muireann Carey-Campbell or Bangs and a Bun.

Another reading from the Circus Bookazine; Muireann described herself as a humour fashion blogger but the piece she read was quite serious, looking at issues of the fashion industry’s epic denial the fatness of society. It was pretty interesting and she was a charismatic speaker, I’ve since started following her on twitter and she is an avid tweeter. She looked fabulous and clearly knew her stuff.

The final contestent in the blog-off arrived just in time to perform. She’d been in Norwich and rocked straight up to the pulpit and started channeling Lady Gaga, actually interspersing the reading from her blog ‘musings of an innapropriate woman’ with bouts of karaoke style singing.

jenny robins - blog slam - circus - rachel hills
Rachel Hills with gold slit sunglasses – when they were down she was Gaga.

This is the blog post she read, but like all of the night’s blogs, it’s the tip of an iceberg. Rachel’s blog is a smart mix of gender, popular culture, creativity and general life observations; I like her because she’s not afraid to mix pop culture references with theory and critique. If I didn’t have an essay to write I might spend my whole weekend reading her back catalogue.

So with that the blog slam was concluded, there was some complex vote counting while I mused on the variety of performances. Really the variety of different styles and subject matters didn’t lend itself to a fair comparison, ideally there could have been a number of bloggers from certain categories and an award for each. But it wasn’t the Oscars, it was an experiment and to have done so might have made the whole thing seem overworked. In the end we were treated to a slice of a mix of what the blogosphere has to offer.

ameliasmagazine - blog slam - circus 2
the four minds and bodies behind the event and circus bookazine, preparing to award the prizes.

Rachel nabbed third place, probably as much for having rocked up at the last minute and being memorable in golden glasses and singing as anything else. The two top spots went to the romcom boys, Scalene in second place and Toast and Biscuit nabbing the top spot. There were a lot of qualities on show at the Rag Factory that night, but ultimately entertainment value probably bagged the biggest points. The number of people at the end of the night wearing the AIDS ribbons Godwins had given out is testament to the fact that the serious content was most surely not swept under the carpet.

The Bookazine (which, strangely, is somewhere between a book and a magazine) is a thing of beauty divine from a design point of view. You can see the love and thought that has gone into the project. The content is given room to breath and interspersed with sumptiously simple printed patterns. There are little nods to the web format of the blog that the book connects with, like the love you link page and tag cloud at the back. Part of the reason it’s so thick of course, is that all of the content is in English and German, which makes the project even more impressive – working with so many bloggers, writers, artists and translators must have been an epic undertaking. If only I had time to actually read it.

circus bookazine - Merily Leis
circus bookazine - Artikel von Digital Diamonds
images courtesy of Circus Bookazine

Categories ,bangs and a bun, ,blog, ,blog slam, ,Bloggers, ,Circus, ,Circus Bookazine, ,design, ,event, ,fashion, ,fashion haiku, ,london, ,poetry, ,rachel hills, ,review, ,scalene, ,Sketch, ,Sketchbook mag, ,the londonist, ,the rag factory, ,the wed or dead wager

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | A Trip to Venice with Swatch

Venice by Sally Jane Thompson
Venice by Sally Jane Thompson.

It’s quite something to be utterly spoilt on a press trip. It doesn’t happen to me often and in fact it’s only in the last year that people have started to invite me places… a mere eight years since I started Amelia’s Magazine: these perks of the job have not exactly fallen in my lap. But it says something about the rise of blogging (which my website is undeniably in the form of, recipe even if I still like to think of it as a magazine) that bloggers of all persuasions are now being offered similar opportunities to mainstream journalists.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

Venice-Biennale-by-Alia-Gargum
Venice by Alia Gargum.

And so it was that I found myself on my way to Venice last week for a two day jolly courtesy of Swatch. Swatch, look as I am sure anyone who was around in the 1980s will recall, capsule are big lovers of art. They don’t make fancy schmancy watches that cost the earth (literally, since they are often made of rapidly depleting precious metals), instead they make easily attainable fun watches, often in collaboration with artists. Back in the 80s they were really the done thing to wear, and I still treasure my much loved Swatch, even if it is a bit yellowed and deteriorated around the edges.

Swatch 80s pop
For quite a few years the brand was off my radar, but now they are firmly planted back in the centre of the art world thanks to the guidance of current president, the formidable and charismatic Madame Emch, a former fashion PR with a pure passion for art… and Venice.

Venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

Venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

We were in Venice because Swatch is the principal partner of the famous Venice Biennale, but also because Madame M (as her name is wont to sound and I rather like because it sounds like something out of a Bond movie) has been visiting since she was five years old and loves Venice more than any other city in the world. Finally, a triple whammy: Swatch‘s newest collaborator makes much of his artwork with the help of the Murano glass makers of Venice. Jean-Michel Othoniel creates huge glowing jewelled necklaces that he hangs from trees and drapes from buildings, and for his Swatch collaboration he has again worked with murano glass makers to create something really quite special… but more on that here.

venice_by_ada_jusic
Venice by Ada Jusic.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

Venice Treasure by Laura Frame
Venice Treasure by Laura Frame.

During our visit we were thoroughly spoilt, staying in an infamous hotel called the Excelsior that features in the film Death in Venice, and being ferried everywhere on private speedboats or gondolas – the later being a lot better for the environment, but also more sedate (ie, less fun). We had a private guided tour of the Peggy Guggenheim museum before dining in style on the rooftop, were served lunch on the roof of the head office of the Biennale with fabulous views over the centre of Venice, ate at the Cipriani (frequented by George Clooney and ilk) and had another guided tour of the Biennale itself (read my reviews). I have only visited Venice once before when I was inter-railing, aged 17. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the crowds (which this time we avoided due to the time of year and our posh transport options) as well as the high cost of everything. By contrast this trip truly was a beautiful experience which made me dream of returning to Venice one day, although sadly I think the state of my own finances would mean anything else than what I experienced this time around would likely be far less fabulous. Still, one can dream…

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review Excelsior
Arriving at the Excelsior by speedboat.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Veronica of Red Ant
The beautiful Veronica of Red Ant, who invited me to Venice.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review Excelsior
The art deco influenced interior of the Excelsior.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
The view from my room.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Travelling by gondola.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Exterior of the Excelsior from the beach
Exterior of the Excelsior from the beach.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-madame Emch
Madame Emch charms everyone.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Amazing Italian style
Amazing Italian style.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Meeting the director of the Guggenheim
Meeting the director of the Guggenheim.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-speedboat
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-speedboat
More travelling by speedboat: that’s me with some Russian journalists.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Cinzia and Romain Colin
Italian blogger Cinzia and French blogger Romain Colin of Fubiz in the backwaters of Venice.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-cinzia, dadanoias, vero
Myself with Italian blogger Cinzia of Frizzi Frizzi, Spanish blogger Marta of Dadanoias and Veronica of Red Ant on the rooftop of the Biennale offices.

Categories ,80s, ,Ada Jusic, ,Alia Gargum, ,Bloggers, ,Blogging, ,Bond, ,Cinzia, ,Dadanoias, ,Death in Venice, ,film, ,Frizzi Frizzi, ,Fubiz, ,George Clooney, ,Glass, ,Gondola, ,Guggenheim, ,Hotel Cipriani, ,Hotel Excelsior, ,Jean-Michel Othoniel, ,Jessica Knight, ,Laura Frame, ,Madalina Andronic, ,Madame Emch, ,Madame M, ,Marta, ,Murano, ,Peggy Guggenheim, ,Red Ant, ,Romain Colin, ,Sally Jane Thompson, ,Speedboat, ,Venice, ,Venice Biennale, ,Veronica Sambonet, ,Watch

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Amelia’s Magazine | A Trip to Venice with Swatch

Venice by Sally Jane Thompson
Venice by Sally Jane Thompson.

It’s quite something to be utterly spoilt on a press trip. It doesn’t happen to me often and in fact it’s only in the last year that people have started to invite me places… a mere eight years since I started Amelia’s Magazine: these perks of the job have not exactly fallen in my lap. But it says something about the rise of blogging (which my website is undeniably in the form of, recipe even if I still like to think of it as a magazine) that bloggers of all persuasions are now being offered similar opportunities to mainstream journalists.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

Venice-Biennale-by-Alia-Gargum
Venice by Alia Gargum.

And so it was that I found myself on my way to Venice last week for a two day jolly courtesy of Swatch. Swatch, look as I am sure anyone who was around in the 1980s will recall, capsule are big lovers of art. They don’t make fancy schmancy watches that cost the earth (literally, since they are often made of rapidly depleting precious metals), instead they make easily attainable fun watches, often in collaboration with artists. Back in the 80s they were really the done thing to wear, and I still treasure my much loved Swatch, even if it is a bit yellowed and deteriorated around the edges.

Swatch 80s pop
For quite a few years the brand was off my radar, but now they are firmly planted back in the centre of the art world thanks to the guidance of current president, the formidable and charismatic Madame Emch, a former fashion PR with a pure passion for art… and Venice.

Venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

Venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

We were in Venice because Swatch is the principal partner of the famous Venice Biennale, but also because Madame M (as her name is wont to sound and I rather like because it sounds like something out of a Bond movie) has been visiting since she was five years old and loves Venice more than any other city in the world. Finally, a triple whammy: Swatch‘s newest collaborator makes much of his artwork with the help of the Murano glass makers of Venice. Jean-Michel Othoniel creates huge glowing jewelled necklaces that he hangs from trees and drapes from buildings, and for his Swatch collaboration he has again worked with murano glass makers to create something really quite special… but more on that here.

venice_by_ada_jusic
Venice by Ada Jusic.

Venice by Madalina Andronic
Venice by Madalina Andronic.

venice-by-Jessica-Knight
Venice by Jessica Knight.

Venice Treasure by Laura Frame
Venice Treasure by Laura Frame.

During our visit we were thoroughly spoilt, staying in an infamous hotel called the Excelsior that features in the film Death in Venice, and being ferried everywhere on private speedboats or gondolas – the later being a lot better for the environment, but also more sedate (ie, less fun). We had a private guided tour of the Peggy Guggenheim museum before dining in style on the rooftop, were served lunch on the roof of the head office of the Biennale with fabulous views over the centre of Venice, ate at the Cipriani (frequented by George Clooney and ilk) and had another guided tour of the Biennale itself (read my reviews). I have only visited Venice once before when I was inter-railing, aged 17. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the crowds (which this time we avoided due to the time of year and our posh transport options) as well as the high cost of everything. By contrast this trip truly was a beautiful experience which made me dream of returning to Venice one day, although sadly I think the state of my own finances would mean anything else than what I experienced this time around would likely be far less fabulous. Still, one can dream…

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review Excelsior
Arriving at the Excelsior by speedboat.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Veronica of Red Ant
The beautiful Veronica of Red Ant, who invited me to Venice.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review Excelsior
The art deco influenced interior of the Excelsior.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
The view from my room.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-travelling by gondola
Travelling by gondola.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Exterior of the Excelsior from the beach
Exterior of the Excelsior from the beach.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-madame Emch
Madame Emch charms everyone.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Amazing Italian style
Amazing Italian style.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Meeting the director of the Guggenheim
Meeting the director of the Guggenheim.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-speedboat
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-speedboat
More travelling by speedboat: that’s me with some Russian journalists.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-Cinzia and Romain Colin
Italian blogger Cinzia and French blogger Romain Colin of Fubiz in the backwaters of Venice.

Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review
Venice Biennale 2011 Swatch review-cinzia, dadanoias, vero
Myself with Italian blogger Cinzia of Frizzi Frizzi, Spanish blogger Marta of Dadanoias and Veronica of Red Ant on the rooftop of the Biennale offices.

Categories ,80s, ,Ada Jusic, ,Alia Gargum, ,Bloggers, ,Blogging, ,Bond, ,Cinzia, ,Dadanoias, ,Death in Venice, ,film, ,Frizzi Frizzi, ,Fubiz, ,George Clooney, ,Glass, ,Gondola, ,Guggenheim, ,Hotel Cipriani, ,Hotel Excelsior, ,Jean-Michel Othoniel, ,Jessica Knight, ,Laura Frame, ,Madalina Andronic, ,Madame Emch, ,Madame M, ,Marta, ,Murano, ,Peggy Guggenheim, ,Red Ant, ,Romain Colin, ,Sally Jane Thompson, ,Speedboat, ,Venice, ,Venice Biennale, ,Veronica Sambonet, ,Watch

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