A New Eye for Design in Budapest

Looks familiar... Northern Liberties??

Article from the NY Times:

By EVAN RAIL

Published: June 7, 2009

ON sunny afternoons, Budapest’s central square, Erzsebet ter, is bustling with skateboarders, tourists in open-top buses, guests from the high-end hotels nearby and visitors to the Godor Club, a cool cafe and performance space.

But even considering the square’s normally busy standards, I was surprised by the number of people when I arrived there one Sunday this spring. More to the point, I was surprised by what had brought them in: WAMP, which stands for Hungarian Design Market in Hungarian). The monthly design market features more than 100 vendors who sell local clothing, furniture and accessories in the shade of the square’s former bus depot.

“Every month we choose a topic,” said Bori Mester, one of the market’s organizers. “And it’s all different kinds of Hungarian design: toy designers, furniture designers, industrial, jewelry and fashion designers.”

Although cultured travelers have long had many reasons to visit Budapest — outstanding wine, glorious music, hip night life — it is probably safe to say the local sense of style was not among them. And yet the city has an emerging design scene unlike almost anything I’ve found in the former Eastern bloc. Beyond each monthly WAMP (www.wamp.hu), Budapest Design Week takes place in October and Budapest Fashion Week each April.

The city is also the base for The Room, an inch-thick international fashion and art magazine with texts in English and Hungarian, and up-and-coming clothing labels like Nanushka, which regularly pick up praise on English-language style blogs. There are creative industrial designers as well, like Ivanka, which just showed off its remarkably expressive and fluid home furnishings made from concrete at the Milan international design fair.

Read the rest of the article:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/travel/07journeys.html

First Frizzy

This Friday, which happens to be First Friday, the YoCoPros will be venturing out to Old City for the usual festivities and art, followed by a trip back to Fishtown to stop by V Groove Studios. Groove is located at 306 W Girard Ave, and this first friday they are hosting with a variety of art by local artists which include Carly Herman, Victor Perez, Nina Capellono, Aaron Klingensith and our good friend Kim Arata! Check it out and then head over to Frankford Ave for the later version of First Friday.

We Love I Love Grey Skys....

Featured Seller on Etsy!!

Please describe your creative process how, when, materials, etc.

Well most of my ideas and planning of projects happen at night time, as I put my son to sleep. After reading him a story I lay next to him while he unwinds and gets cozied up. It's then, in that silence that I really focus on the imagery I want my next or current project to take. Sometimes I come out of his room and write it down before I finally get some time to hang out and talk to my husband, but mostly I remember the ideas.

Luckily my son still naps for a couple hours each day and it is then (and only then) that I get the time to actually bring my ideas to form. I usually put on some music, go into my studio and approach whatever I happen to be working on. With the sculptures I make for the shop, there is always many steps and processes that are being worked on simultaneously. For instance, I may start by sanding some wood for the bases and take them out into my shop in the garage for staining. While the first coat absorbs into the wood, I'll then come in and sculpt with clay. Then back to the garage to wipe the first coat of stain off and perhaps start a paper mache mask . I think it's this variety of task that keeps me so interested. I'm also a painter but after painting and concentrating for 2 hours straight I can get a bit drained, but the sculptures are less serious, more fun." - Etsy Featured Seller Interview.