Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya

I'll be grateful if you...

Showing posts with label Charles Eames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Eames. Show all posts

Oct 8, 2011

19th Edition of Shadow Dancing With Mind


Welcome to 19th Edition of “Shadow Dancing With Mind”. This Edition has the following topics.

FEATURE:
A place where I feature some of the books that I have read recently and share some thoughts that has touched me deeply...

 Paul Brunton - The man who brought the best to the west: the Secret Path
It’s an interesting book which gives a simple path of attaining many powerful things through the power of Meditations. According to Joscelyn Godwin, "...Since discovering Brunton's work in the 1960's I have found no reason to discard their philosophical principles."

It’s a very interesting and engrossing book which talks about the man and his emotions... in the words of Zarathustra; sometimes teaching, sometimes scolding, sometimes just feeling sad the way the man has belittled himself... He talks about the higher man... which to my thought is not very different than the commonly perceived ‘God’... and that is the irony I find in this book.

DESIGN STREET:
Sharing some of legends of design and their work and interesting aspects of their activities...

Charles and Ray Eames were American designers, who worked and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture designs. Eames chair and Lounge chair with Ottoman, has become one of the iconic furniture in modern times. In this feature, I am going to take you on a journey to this legendary genius’s less known creative side, which was his passion for photography.

For many months, I was trying to find the most suitable way to decide upon and feature at my blog last decade’s top architect of the year, when I stumbled upon "The Pritzker Architecture Prize" considered to be Architecture's Noble Prize. So finally, I am rolling out top ten architects from across world for the last decade (2001 – 2010)...

TALKING POINT:
The recent buzz, landmarks and activities that has caught my attention...

21st September is Leonard Cohen's birthday. An amazing song writer and what a lovely voice. Interestingly he is a Jew who practices Zen Buddhism, having spent several years in Buddhist Monastery, as well as carries a persona associated with mysticism.

23rd September is death anniversary of an amazing poet Pablo Neruda - In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language." Neruda always wrote in green ink as it was his personal color of hope. The poetry below is the most fitting tribute to this great writer...

STILL LIFE:
This is the place where I combine my passion for Photography and happenings around me...
This Still life is about my journey among the creative artists of early 20th Century with focus on Secessionist Movement. Below you will see what I found interesting and some of the paintings that touched me deeply in my recent visit to Vienna as well as the world’s costliest painting ever sold, breaking Picasso’s record...

Hope you feel the energy vibrations of Goddess Kali of Dakshineshwar, one of the most powerful temple of Goddess Durga Ji, in India as well as find the pleasure from my impressions from this year’s celebrations of Navratri / Durga Puja celebrations organised by Dakshini Society at Chennai...

WHISPERS: 
A place where I share some of my Haiku, poetry and verses...
Some of my Haiku (To know my thoughts about this beautiful form of poetry, click here...) and then one long verse “Butterfly” as usual about Love and Loss. The Butterfly I have had written for a competition and was one of the finalist to be published in last year Oct. I personally like this one as its about a small little girl, Kalina, who is on sick bed and have one window, her only connection to the world outside.

On 15th Sept, is the day, when Alfred Tennyson’s very close friend Arthur Hallam died in Vienna (at the age of 22) in year 1833. Arthur Hallam was also engaged to marry Tennyson’s sister Emily at that time. This affected both of them greatly and Tennyson was too upset to attend Hallam’s funeral and he never forgot his closest friend. The poem, part of which is posted in the last part of the post, “In Memoriam A H H” begins at Hallam’s funeral as starting point and Tennyson’s another sister Cecilia’s marriage as its end. Though, as Tennyson himself wrote about this poem, “It is rather the cry of the whole of human race than mine. In the poem, altogether private grief swells out into thought of, and hope for, the whole world.”

Another set of Haiku and Poetry based on the theme of Poetry Group that I am hosting...

Hope you will enjoy this edition... look forward to your comments and visit to the next Edition... please click on the “Join this Site” button to follow my activities here...
__________________
Shashi @ Oct 2011
जय दुर्गा जी, जय काली माँ
Jai Durga Ji, Jai Kali Ma

PREV                                     HOME                                       NEXT
18th Edition

Sep 6, 2011

DESIGN STREET: Eames - A Legendary Designer


Charles and Ray Eames were American designers, who worked and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture designs. Eames chair and Lounge chair with Ottoman, has become one of the iconic furniture in modern times. He and his wife, Ray Eames also worked in the fields of industrial design, fine art, graphic design and film.

Since I have been fortunate to work with Herman Miller, who were the manufacturer of his most of the iconic furniture designs, which gave me insight into his other creative sides which are not so well known to the people outside the industry. In this feature, I am going to take you on a journey to this legendary genius’s less known creative side, which was his passion for photography. But before I take you through to his photographic genius, I would like to show you two other side of his creative style.
Well that's me with Eames Chair, at Herman Miller Office



First and foremost is his iconic piece of furniture like Lounge Chair, The mesh chair and the ottomans etc. Here is some of the images of his iconic design to give you a feeling of his design range. The person on the lounge chair here is Charles Grandson Eames Demetrios.
Eames Demetrios on the lounge chair
Secondly, which has more to do directly with India, he is the genius behind thought process of creating the National Institute of Design (NID) at Ahmadabad. The, then, prime minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Lal Nehru called on him to prepare a report on creating a world class design university. After visiting several places and understanding India by travelling around for 3 months, Charles Eames came up with the report that is called “India report” which formed the basis of NID Ahmadabad.

Interestingly, In this report, Charles Eames presented a very interesting discussion on the design conceptualization based on the design of our very own small water carrying vessel known as “LOTA”.

Here is what Eames says about Lota

“Of all the objects we have seen and admired during our visit to India, the Lota, that simple vessel of everyday use, stands out as perhaps the greatest, the most beautiful. The village women have a process which, with the use of tamarind and ash, each day turns this brass
into gold.
But how would one go about designing a Lota? First one would have to shut out all preconceived ideas on the subject and then begin to consider factor after factor.
The optimum amount of liquid to be fetched, carried, poured and stored in a prescribed set of circumstances.
Of course, no one man could have possibly designed the Lota. The number of combinations of factors to be considered gets to be astronomical — no one man designed the Lota but many men over many generations. Many individuals represented in their own way through something they may have added or may have removed or through some quality of which they were particularly aware.” – Charles Eames

For full discussion on this aspect, please have a look at the India Report – Click here

Opening shot of "Power of ten"
Now coming over to his Photographic genius, first and foremost is, and in my opinion very interesting, the movie called “Powers of 10”. You need to see it to believe it, that the whole movie was shot in studio of Eames and this one movie gave Hollywood a new camera shooting technique which is still used in the industry.

The other not very well known of this creative genius is his fascination and passion for Photography. His photographs form a significant part of MoMA, New York. Since I was working with Herman Miller, I was fortunate to travel with his grandson Mr. Eames Demetrius for the exhibition what is called “The Gifted Eye of Charles Eames” in Mumbai and at NID Ahmadabad.

Here I am showcasing some of the images from the exhibition that Charles Eames took over a period of many decades. As I travelled with Charles Eames Grand Son to give presentations, discuss and generally talk about his life, I could see a personal side of Eames, that is not generally known ... for example, when he was courting his would be wife, he wrote a letter full of interesting pictures and pictograms to make her understand his love for her “Ray” who partnered with him all his life to create such beautiful products and designs.. well that is another story altogether...

So here you have some of the beautiful images from the Gifted eye of Charles Eames


Exhibition at Taj's Land's End Hotel in Mumbai

Me and Eames Demetrius - With the presentation at Mumbai
If you are interested in seeing more of his pictures from the "Gifted Eye of Charles Eames" please comment me at this post or email me, I will send more.... Cheers!!!
____________

ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...