#expolring

La domenica successiva si va ancora a Nord, tra i cedri della Kadisha Valley. Prima tappa il monastero di Sant’ Antonio di Qozhaya, incastonato tra le montagne e i terrazzamenti. Visitiamo la Chiesa scvata nella roccia, la caverna e il museo. Poi pranzo sulla neve, ovviamente cibo tipico libanese: hommus, patate speziate, tabbouleh, rakakat (involtini fritti ripieni di formaggio filante) e kebbeh, una sorta di grande polpetta di carne macinata, burghul e spezie ripiena di lardo in cui inzuppare il pane arabo. Ultima tappa: Bsharri, villaggio natale del poeta, scrittore e pittore Khalil Gibran. Visitiamo il piccolo museo a lui dedicato che contiene la sua tomba e alcuni dei suoi dipinti e dopo il tramonto ripartiamo.

Ps. Basta neve! Nel prossimo post vi porto al Sud e al mare :)

2 weeks ago my family and I went on a short trip to Venice/Italy. Ahh~ it is surreal how quickly I’ve gotten attached to this city. Venice is such a mesmerizing place. I loved getting lost in its countless tiny photogenic streets, i loved warming up with a nice hot cup of italian cappuccino in the afternoons, I loved watching the sunrise from the rooftop of our hotel a way to early in the morning…

My last post was about how us IxD pirates are exploring our identity, and on the theme of the fingerprint mark, lets take a look at this album cover.

Recently I have been listening to Nikki Minaj after watching a reality show about her ‘PinkPrint’ album (relased late 2014). How do these relate you ask? I just happened to notice that ‘The PinkPrint’ album cover is a fingerprint mark, which reminded me of the image used on Monday’s lecture about Identity.

Intrigued, I decided to do a bit of research and find out who created this cover. I discovered that it was Joe Perez, a Graphic Artist, who put the saying ‘Inspiration can be found anywhere’ to good use! (In IxD we are told by our tutors until they are blue in the face that we need to look beyond our industry for inspiration and then bring it into our side of the spectrum)

Perez has worked with a number of artists, including Kanye West. He also stated in the interview the joy collaborating with the music industry brings through artists being able to ‘express themselves’, influencing the creative process (Which again can be referred back to our IxD seminars where, Christopher Murphy, shares his own experience working in the music industry and how music and design complement each other).

Perez’s inspiration for the cover came from the commercial use of Makeup, He and his team went to the cosmetics aisle in a department store and experimented with a variety of eye makeup and lipstick. He explained in an interview:

"Each brand gives off different textures, like they had magical little potions inside—you never know what you're gonna get."

I find Perez’s method very inspiring! It amazes me how something so simple can mean and relate to so much that everything surrounding it just clicks! From the beginning of IxD Christopher has explained how taking something from a non-related industry and applying it to design can make for something genius, and this is the perfect example!