Month: December 2013

Covet: Gifts from Cognitive/Surplus

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I’ve attended several holiday gift markets in the New York City over the past two weekends, and in addition to sampling local edibles and picking up a few treats for myself, I did manage to accomplish some Christmas shopping. One of the stand-out vendors that I encountered, whose products will still appeal to me even when the gift-giving season has ended, was Cognitive/Surplus.

Cognitive/Surplus is a NYC-based team of artisans whose witty, lively products and consistent brand aesthetic really impressed me. I also enjoyed meeting the C/S founders, Geoff and Kristen Zephyrus, whose combined backgrounds in science and design have inspired them to create “smart, sustainable, snazzy” gifts that bring out the beauty of science in every day life.

For example?

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Just Because: Cupids and Psyche Making Perfume

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I’ve never been to the Getty in Los Angeles, but if ever do make the trip, I’ll be keeping an eye out for this antique fresco depicting three cupids and Psyche preparing perfume. Look at the cabinet at left, with its shelves of scent bottles!

Image: Fresco fragment with Cupids and Psyche making perfume, third quarter of 1st century, fresco, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 72.AG.81. You can view the full object record here.

Josephine Baker, Arpege, and a Decorating Fantasy

In an age when the phrase “style icon” is used to describe virtually any actress or model who hires a professional stylist and receives loans of designer gowns for red-carpet events, it can be hard to remember that there was a time when true, one-of-a-kind stars like Josephine Baker captured the public imagination.

But, to the point: Am I the last person to learn that Josephine Baker’s favorite perfume was Lanvin’s Arpège?

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I don’t remember what exactly I was searching for, but I came across this interesting piece of fragrance trivia…and something even better.

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On the Street: Vince Boutique, Madison Avenue

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I may be reading too much into the holiday-season windows of this Vince boutique on Madison Avenue when I say that they immediately remind me of Minimalist artist Dan Flavin’s series Monument for V. Tatlin (1969-70).

Flavin’s sculptures in this series were made entirely from prefabricated fluorescent lighting tubes.

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The series was a (semi-humorous) homage to Vladimir Tatlin’s design for an impossibly high and complex tower that would serve as a monument to the Communist International organization (1919-20). Some of Flavin’s neon arrangements referred to the shapes of that never-built monument, and others were simply abstract shapes.

Were Vince’s visual merchandising experts aware of Flavin’s work and its implications about art and history? Were they trying to suggest an abstract menorah? Or did they just want to come up with a window display that was illuminated and modern (and not too expensive to execute)? Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve never even been inside a Vince shop.

Images: Vince photo by Tinsel Creation; Dan Flavin photos/works courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art and Phillips.