Preparing for the talk

These days Laura and I are preparing the studio, arranging the seats, etc. for the first talk with Amelia Gregory Thursday september the 2nd at 15.30. We are really looking forward seeing you all, and sharing her world.

An interview with Amelia Gregory from Amelia´s magazine

On Thursday 2nd September 2010 Underwerket Projects will be hosting a talk with Amelia Gregory from Amelia's Magazine about sustainability and design for activism. We talk to Amelia before coming over....

When you are coming to Copenhagen for the talk, you are traveling by car and ferry. That is a different way of traveling compared to many people who would just get on a plane. Could you tell a little about that and why?

I've never flown a lot but for the last five issues of Amelia's Magazine in print I flew to China, Mexico, Russia, Brasil and India to do interviews with the most interesting creative people I could find. During this time I became much more aware of the environmental costs of my Western lifestyle, and met many people who had chosen not to fly anymore as a way to keep their personal CO2 emissions down. I felt increasingly uncomfortable with flying as a means of transport, so two years ago I made the decision that I would only fly long haul if I really really needed to do so, and I wouldn't fly short haul again when there were other options available. This is because I believe short haul flights are entirely unnecessary. We've become to accustomed to a completely unsustainable lifestyle and we need to work towards a world where there are plenty of other easily available and affordable options for travel. For this reason I decided to get the ferry over to Copenhagen. Unfortunately it's still quite expensive to travel this way if you leave it to the last minute (as is the train) but the costs are quite reasonable if you book early enough.

Your website features a lot of music, could you recommend some music we should listen to?

At the moment I'm listening to quite a lot of folk, and I highly recommend the music of Laura Gibson, Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou, Dry the River and Lulu and the Lampshades (which also happens to be fronted by a very talented former Amelia's Magazine section editor). For live performance I really rate The Golden Filter and Gabby Young and Other Animals, both of whom were outstanding at Secret Garden Party this year. Danny and the Champions of the World were fabulous at Glastonbury and I've seen Scandinavia's finest First Aid Kit perform numerous times but never cease to be blown away by them.

Is there anything we should read or see before your talk in Copenhagen?

Well, I would hope that anyone attending the talk will at least have a passing knowledge of my website - which is updated several times daily. If not, do drop by and see what you think of our content!

Have you ever been in Copenhagen before? Besides the talk what else are you going to do and see in Copenhagen?

I was in Copenhagen during the Cop15 in December 2009 - we stayed in a huge school in the suburbs, sleeping like sausages packed together in the dorms. It was a really fantastic experience - we rode around everywhere on bikes and then took part in a big Bike Block action outside the Bella Centre on the final day of action. It was a lot of hard work because our networks were so fragmented across the city and I only closely escaped arrest several times, but I really enjoyed feeling part of much bigger movement towards climate justice. I hope that we will make it to some of the places recommended by Laura on my trip to Copenhagen. Apart from that, I am looking forward to lots of time spent in beautiful places, and lots of rest.

If some of us are going to London (your home town) this autumn, what will you recommend we should see? And where should we go for art, music and food?

Oh well, I don't eat out that much so I'm not sure I would be able to recommend much from that point of view, but for art I would definitely recommend making a trip over east to Shoreditch and Hackney to see some of the smaller galleries that have sprung up everywhere, as well as of course visiting all the bigger ones: the Tate and the Whitechapel in particular. There's a great exhibition of portraits by America painter Alice Neel on at the Whitechapel until 17th September. For music good venues include the Union Chapel in Islington, which is a vast old church with amazing seating. And there are loads of really good small venues where you might get a chance to see up and coming artists before they become well known.

Thanks a lot Amelia! We are looking forward till seeing you here.

Booklets for our talks

Yesterday our booklet for our talks in Underwerket Projects came. Here is a sneak peak. For those who don't get them by ordinary mail one of these days, and would like to have the program drop us a line with your address by mail lisa@underwerket.dk or info@graphicsbylaura.dk and we will send a you a booklet.

AZITO - online gallery of contemporary art

We love jananese culture, crafts, art, food etc. In Autumn Laura are going to explore Japan(lucky her) and next year I am going to Japan to be inspired and do some work. But before we go we have found this cool online gallery called AZITO and here are some different art work we would love to buy in the online gallery. The artist are Ai Yamaguchi, Akira Ikezoe, Keiichi Tanaami and Etsuko Fukaya. If we are lucky we will soon be the owner of one of these fine art pieces. 

Tauba Auerbach

This beautifull work comes from Tauba Auerbach, an artist from San Fransisco. Her work is really great. Las year I saw her show HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE at Deitch Projects in New York.

She did perfomances at this pipe organ, Auerglass. The Auerglass is a two person pump organ created by Tauba Auerbach and Cameron Mesirow. Cool.

Bruce Goff Bavinger and other inspiring stuff

We are still dreaming in Underwerket Projects, and my father in laws architect Sunday Sytmen recommended us to look at Bruce Goff Bavinger's houses. And they are pretty amazing, on my way looking at Bruce Goff Bavinger's houses I also found "the tunnel house" by artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, and "House with balls" designed by Matharoo.

Living in a tree

Today we are dreaming of seeing life from another perspective. And a fantastic way to do that could be to stay in houses like this, I imagine it could be good for your mind. And I guess that leaving the ground for some time, would create some new thoughts. We would really love to try this. And it could be amazing to do some sketches for a project living in a tree. What a daydream, this idea really makes me happy.  

A designstudio we like: M+M Paris

M+M Paris is a really interesting art and design studio to follow. They do very inspiring work and recently they designed an alphabet to Prada, THE PRADALPHABET. Each letter in THE PRADALPHABET is drawn - or rather built - as an architecture, a cosmogony or an autonomous engine. But each one is related to all the other letters, the same way a regular alphabet is a set of different but comparable signs.

Earlier this year they did a really nice perfume for the French label A.P.C. called "Sustain". It is very nice to see a different kind of perfume packaging.

WE LOVE Annie Larson and her knitting

Knitting stuff like this is really an inspiration that rocks. Love her colors, her vibe and energy. Autumn is really going to be colorful, if we buy some of her knitting. Annie Larson you are amazing.

Autumn design by Yokoo

In a short while Autumn and leaves are falling. Then we will need some warm accessorie. Look at YOKOO SCARVES & ACCESSORIES they ARE 100% ORIGINAL DESIGNS, we love this. Cool, original and full of fantasy something we fancy here at Underwerket projects.

Cool Ladies

Here is a visual sneak peak of the cool ladies, who are coming to speak at Underwerket projects. First we have Amelia from Amelia's Magazine, then we have Elisabeth Dunker and in the end we have the duo Meyer & Lavigne. We will post more detailed about the the ladies when we are getting closer to the speaks.

Meeting at Underwerket projects

Today we had a good meeting at our place in Meatpacking district Cph. Laura and I are really looking forward to start our speak with Amelia from Amelias Magazine. It is great to be host for such an arrangement.