mountain of storms
part 1 (1968)


was a big hit
when i projected it
on my wall last
december


well, the secret
is out now.


starring: yvon chouinard
doug tompkins, dick dorworth
and chris jones.


it doesn't get better
than this.

i leave
when things
get too stuffy
or, too restrained



le corbusier &
charlotte perriand
dormitory room


diet saylor

in search of eustace

scottish photographer
david eustace chronicles
his 3 week road trip with
his 16 yrd old daughter

they hiked canyons,
got caught in rainstorms,
played guitar and visited
eustace, texas.



and they will forever
remember where they were
when the king of pop died.


a very moving
photo essay

ph: david eustace
and rachel eustace

unexpected details

1. La Cappella
degli Scrovegni

2. lothar baumgarten

3. louis kahn

ceramic speakers

joey roth


porcelain wood and cork.
much better than plastic.


i like products that
show the nuts & bolts
of their making.


because if it
happened to break,
i would feel more in tune
with its workings and
attempt to fix it.


it's the attempt
that counts.
right?


zen and the art of
motorcycle maintenance

you are your airport code


SFO and JFK

one must not confuse
velvet with velour

there's an art to lounging


dress your best
or wear nothing at all




1. shalom harlow & amber valetta
ph: patrick demarchelier

2. jean-etienne liotard
marie adelaide of France, 1753

3. ph: ana kras

4. charlotte rampling
ph: juergen teller

5. sandy and agar, 1961
ph: hunter s. thompson

6. vogue italia,08
ph: steven meisel


ps:

best book
reading women
by stefan bollmann

ramón casas i carbó
after the ball, 1895

observing the world
through soundproof windows.

like an astronaut observes earth from space


so quiet

like the

birth of a flower

and this scene in grey-blue

superstudio makes my heart beat fast

I was at UC Santa Cruz
when I first heard of
SUPERSTUDIO


santa cruz is
the best place to
learn about crazy
counter-culture
architecture.


our mascot was
the banana slug.


we had lots of
drum circles.


and this was
not the 60's.


it was 2004




i'm proud
to say i climbed
the infamous
tree 9


my heart beat
real fast.



ps: i just
found a video of
some dude climbing
tree 9. crazy.

kjell varvin via hoping

ps: alabama chanin
gives the best sewing lessons.

she's an incredible inspiration.
and a new friend.

maison martin margiela

lorna simpson

feather

"Los Angeles brings it all together"
said Mike Davis in City of Quartz

LA is like
a set designer.

it has a knack at pulling
the best of styles of different
historical periods & cultures
to create it's signature
bohemian style.


and its COMMUNE,
the architects & designers behind
ACE hotel, Heath Ceramics, etc.
who understand this about
LA better than anyone.




arts & crafts, wild west,
spanish mediterranean, bungalow,
modernism, east coast prep,
art deco, mid-century...


COMMUNE delivers
cool eclectic bohemia with
a 1930's hollywood undertone.


it's as if their clients still
live & breathe moving pictures.
the dreams, vices and nostalgia
that make los angeles unlike
any city in the world.




John Galliano's
sp 10 collection
say's it best.


ps:


nathaniel west's
day of the locusts


norma desmond
the aging movie star
in sunset blvd


chinatown
murder, water rights
and city corruption


the bungalow interiors
of changeling are an incredible
portrayal of 1930's Los Angeles

albert maysles is a filmmaker
with a sweet pair of spectacles.

so much so,
there is website
dedicated to them.




but if you really
want some serious eyewear
or even a killer watch,
ask an architect.


always.


eg: mary of tgh architects
has the coolest tibor kalman watch.
"unexpected and untried"


1. 5 O'Clock
2. 10-One-4


our homework
is to ask an architect
and report back...


ps: i also have a thing
for tiny antique watches
with roman numerals.
I II III IV V...X

UO

I normally don't post
products or publicity materials
that companies send me.

we have enough
things already

and i'm not here
to sell you more!

but i felt compelled
to share with you a couple
images from urban outfitter's
holiday 2009 preview.


ph: estelle hanania


UO is doing their homework.
cleaning up their looks.
editing down.

self portraits are never the same

well said Levi.


a reader sent me the
newspaper clipping.


the golden age
by pietro da cortona

if you don't like what you see

take it apart and
put it back together



1. michael tolmachev
2. caravaggio's narcissus
3. jean prouve

I apologize if my
brooklyn / berlin post
came out a bit arrogant.


I still hold
to my opinion.

but it has evolved

your comments
helped me think
it over again

and the door
is still open


i'm so lucky to have such
well-opinionated readers.
so passionate & intelligent.

it keeps me
informed.
on edge.


i like it!


ps: i will be back
in brooklyn 12/1
how about that!
i miss it.

grace kelly
exposed.


Life Magazine
ph: Howell Conant

more photos here

donald judd

when I was in high school,
the photo above was one of
the first images I cut out
and pasted in my
notebook

via ny10563


and i listened to
a lot of radiohead

crown and anchor me
or let me sail away

i write the first thing
that comes into my head.


but am i anchored
to every word?


tattooed?


a sentence
to prison


sometimes, i can't
believe i share such
things with you.


blogging feels like
walking on stage without
your pants on.






soon i'll quit this crazy gig

shaker weaves and joints

via here


ps: quiet moments
with volta footwear


listening to:


devotchka

leonard cohen

dustin o'halloran

i visited bryson gill in berlin.
he is my favorite bay area artist.
bryson paints in his live/work
studio by a canal full of
swans in kreuzberg




why do artists still
move to brooklyn?


it's over.
jaded.
$$


you can live a real
good life in berlin.



i know some of you
will disagree with this

if you go to berlin, do boros

there's nothing better than
an old bunker filled with art

all art has been contemporary

maurizio nannucci


ps: you must reserve a tour
at least a month in advance

all images courtesy
of sammlung boros

a million little pieces



OxyContin Express
an intense doc by my friends
Mariana van Zeller & Darren Foster


let me know what
you think.



untitled image
via mozart

chris designs tea towels

freshen up your
kitchen linens with


studiopatró


use me

open caption

in an o'keefe state of mind

one foot east, one foot west

ph: benjamin haas
via nikolai rose


today's issue
tomorrows inspiration

drawing inspiration
from stealing beauty

i packed 2 dresses for the wedding.

I was thinking of
liv tyler in italy



the liberty print dress
was made by luisa herself
it falls off one shoulder.
belt it. bellissimo!


the other is a gold brocade
renaissance dress that my
mother wore in the 70's


but on the morning of the wedding,
luisa came to breakfast with a
vintage sonia rykiel dress.



what a dream.
i had to wear it.


i pulled back my
hair in Grecian form,
slipped on the dress.
the night was on!

hang on this shade of green

until i sort out my next post

1. egon schiele
2. unknown
3. gabrielle raaff
4. loraine from grijs

my favorite thing about the
castle, is that the town church
is part of the house.

inside the dining room
Lusia's mother can listen to
mass through a little window
that looks straight down
onto the altar

at breakfast one morning,
we were being especially raucous
and Luisa's mother put her finger up to her lips
and said in her lovely little voice
"shh...mass", and then chuckled.

before i left,
i asked you what book
to bring on my trip.


"arriving at each new city,
the traveler finds again a past
of his that he did not know he had:

the foreignness of what you
no longer are or no longer possess
lies in wait for you in foreign,
unpossessed places."


-excerpt from italo calvino
invisible cities


i read each page twice.

need to cross this pass
before i attempt the next post.

as a child, i would run
through the corridors of
15th century paintings




and open doors to rooms only
story books could attempt
to illustrate

20 years later, i came back
to vaccarile for luisa's wedding.
it was the mother of all weddings.

luisa wore gold lanvin.

with 500 people in her 1000 AD
childhood home, lusia had to
keep it dramatic.

i'll never forget it.

the weekend was
one big fellini movie.
earthquake and all

fall backwards
with acne

makr button tote

lastest issue of dispatches

utilitarian buckle shoes
by slow & steady

jil sander

motto

i promise.
you'll find it here.
no journal is forgotten.

MOTTO BERLIN
Skalitzerstr. 68,
Im Hinterhof
10997 Berlin



"where books are burned,
in the end people will burn"

henrich heine, 1820

i came to motto
to meet anne schwalbe
an incredible photographer
who lives & works in berlin.

motto is a special place.
its a cornucopia of words & ideas
stacks, drawers, cabinets stuffed
with bounded mags & journals.

the storekeeper,
with a computer on her lap,
just sits on a metal fold-up
chair in the corner.
paper all around.
no desk.

meanwhile, i found myself
absorbing the whole situation
touching each cover ever so gently.
passing my fingers across titles
I had never heard of, as if
they might disappear.

i was so happy that they
were there, if only for a moment.
that someone spent time to make
even that one issue.


i left motto
thinking about something
i had visited only the day before.
Micha Ullman's memorial of the
1933 nazi book burnings.
powerful, simple.
haunting.

a window looking
into a subterranean room
of empty bookshelves

the unbearable lightness of being

christy turlington
ph: patrick demarchelier
harper's bazaar, 1993

this editorial reminds me of
the light & darkness of berlin


my trip is
now complete

last 12 hours in berlin

one must experience
the bauhaus & corbusier collection
at the martin gropius museum, berlin

i'm sad to leave

hallo from berlin

curated paper


R.S.V.P.
Papier in Mitte
Mulackstr. 14
10119 Berlin


ps:
martin z. schröder, drucker
is a lovely card illustrator
he has a clean & classical
approach to type &
composition

francesco

the shoemaker


francesco made
me a perfect pair of brown
leather sandals that are
tailored to my feet.


he is the best
man in town for
this sort of thing


francesco
via di santo spirito 62
firenze, italy

open city

street art by fausto delle chiale

less is more

more is better


more cherubs, more marble,
more frescos, more mozzarella buffalo,
more wine, more doric columns, more churches
more heels, more olive oil, more prosciutto,
more patrons painted in the paintings,
more priests dressed in fine suits,
more mafia, more opulence,
more bernini, more fellini,
more beautiful women,
more irony, more sin
more baroque
si si!


confess it all to the priest,
and do it all over again!


new york just sins


but roman's sin better, fuller.
they sin elegantly, with class.
they sin with self respect.
they sin for culture for
happiness for...
la dolce vita


to be continued...

"everything about florence seems
to be colored in a mild violet,
like diluted wine"

henry james

choosing the right color

1. testing paint colors
to cover graffiti in firenze

2. palazzo bruciato shoes
at société anonyme

3. uffizi gallery

4. duomo

firenze

street paintings

the immeasurable cool

i spotted an ellsworth kelly
painting in florence

pronto!

as i sit like a sculpture
in the piazza of settignano

if you want to stay
in the most chic place
in rome, email me and
I will hook you up!

carlina & andrea
have 2 rooms for rent
in campo dei fiori, roma.
they are incredible artists
and used to run production
for michael kors in these
very rooms, above.


i must go!
rain is falling.

roma

living the good life!

I've been staying in my
friend carlina's beautiful
home and studio in rome.


i have so much to tell you!


but first,
I need to get ready
for the big italian wedding
in the Castle of Vaccarile.

ciao, lee

stay tuned.

i'll be corresponding from
campo dei fiori, rome

kinda like gregory peck.
the american journalist
in roman holiday.

although,
I won't be looking for
any italian royalty.


i'm on a design assignment.
strange, normal and interesting objects
marble paper, books and linens too.
any tips would be lovely.


ps: your book suggestions
were inspiring and intoxicating.
you all are very well read.
might i say, cultured.

limited use of the computer and phone

i'm leaving for
italy...and berlin
and will be gone
for 28 days.


posting will
be here & there


ps: can you think
of a good book to bring?


an italian or,
german writer.


credit: journal standard

hills like white elephants

hotel aire de bardenas
tudela, spain


monica rivera
and emiliano lopez

Kapital

what you'd wear if you
and a group of travelers
found that hidden beach





and never left


like this guy.



is it possible to
be so intoxicated
with a place that you
would never leave?


are you a roamer?
or... have you never left?


more here

how we try to communicate

is up to you.


even the illegible
communicates
something


ps: never say never
but, I will never
get a tattoo

tapestry: elana herzog