Luxury Gadgets

Swarovski Runway Rocks at Paris Couture Week - January 2006

Swarovski, the world’s largest producer of cut crystal, has commissioned leading international designers from the worlds of jewellery and fashion, to create their ultimate vision of jewellery for the Catwalk. The designers have each been invited to find new creative expressions for crystal, challenging conventions of form and function, playing with colour, volume and proportion, bridging jewellery, body ornament and fashion. In each individual, thought-provoking, couture-inspired design, Swarovski crystal is the hero. The result is Swarovski Runway Rocks.

This dazzlingly provocative collection of hand-made, one-of-a-kind, original Runway Rocks crystal creations, unveiled during Paris Couture in the lavish surroundings of the Hotel Pozzo di Borgo, includes works by names from around the world, including Vanessa Seward of Azzaro, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hussein Chalayan, Antonio Berardi, Rodolphe Rousseau, as well as top jewellery designers Philippe Ferrandis, Johnny Rocket and Pianegonda, and directional accessories designers, Ed Griffiths, Johanne Mills, and DoAn. From Hussein Chalayan comes a cape with an integral kinetic jewelled collar, showing crystal in motion, while Rodolphe Rousseau embraces his signature draped and pleated bodice with an exquisite crystal-studded chained harness, architectural and Art Deco in flavour.

More onwww.swarovski.com

Add comment February 26th, 2006

The Pyramid of France

Since 1989, when it was inaugurated, the Pyramid has dominated the Cour Napoleon. Designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei as the main entrance to the museum, its transparent steel and glass framework allows visitors to admire the palace facades from the lobby beneath.
Of all the Grands Projets in Paris, none created such a stir as the Pei Pyramids in the courtyard of the famous Louvre Museum. Spectacular in concept and form, they provide a startling reminder of the audacious ability of modern architects to invigorate and re-circulate traditional architectural forms…The main Pyramid is basically a complex inter-linked steel structure sheathed in reflective glass. In fact it is an entrance doorway providing a long-overdue entrance portico to the main galleries of the Louvre. As one descends into the interior entrance foyer, the dramatic nature of the intervention becomes apparent. The main Pyramid, which certainly disturbs the balance of the old Louvre courtyard, is countered by two smaller pyramids, which provide further light and ventilation to the subterranean spaces.

Add comment February 26th, 2006