Tag Archives: eye on design

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Teddy Bear From the Film A.I. Artificial Intelligence

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teddy bear toy prop from ai movie photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Stan Winston Studio created this complex animatronic for Steven Spielberg‘s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (USA, 2001), a haunting story of a robotic child longing to be a real boy. Teddy, a loyal sidekick to David (played by Hayley Joel Osment) and likewise a robot has fifty points of motion and required at least five people to operate. In comparison, Winston Studios enormous T-Rex animatronic for the 1993 Jurassic Park has 10 fewer points of motion than this tiny bear. Computer graphics and Jack Angel‘s voice acting enhanced Teddy‘s convincing performance. The toy’s unending devotion starkly contrast with the actions of the humans in the film, who all abandon David.

Photographed in The Academy Museum in Hollywood.

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Thierry Mugler, When Fashion Becomes Architecture

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thierry mugler design photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail 

Most fashion is meant to be worn, but Thierry Mugler’s designs often look like they were engineered as stand-alone pieces of art. I photographed this spectacular look when I visited Thierry Mugler: Couturissime at the Brooklyn Museum in 2022,  but it took me this long to take a deep dive into what this design is all about. Dressed entirely in black, this figure has an impossibly sculpted silhouette: exaggerated shoulders, a dramatically cinched waist, sharply defined hips, glossy pointed heels and a fantastical headpiece that makes the wearer look less like a woman getting dressed and more like a character from a futuristic graphic novel. This is all very much Mugler’s territory.
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Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Geisel Library at UCSD

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All Photos by Gail

Recently, while vacationing in San Diego, I made a stop at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) campus, where I discovered one of the most wonderfully unusual library buildings I’ve ever seen. Meet Geisel Library, a futuristic concrete-and-glass landmark that looks a little like a spaceship that has landed in the middle of campus.

The building is named for Theodor Seuss Geisel and his wife, Audrey. You probably know Theodor better by his pen name, Dr. Seuss, the legendary author and illustrator whose wonderfully strange, colorful and often surprisingly wise children’s books were a part of my own childhood. The library was renamed in their honor on December 1, 1995, following a $20 million gift from Audrey Geisel. Before that, it had been known as the Central University Library and, after a 1993 expansion, as University Library.

But the building itself is every bit as interesting as its namesake.
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Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: Yayoi Kusama-Inspired Trench Coat By Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton

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kusama spotted trench coat for lv with pumpkin photo by gail worley
Photos By Gail

Infinity and timelessness characterize the 2012 collaboration between Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, and the recently departed contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama. Her trademark dots – derived from childhood hallucinations – are neurotic and obsessional. Alongside the coat,  Red and White Pumpkin, composed of meticulously aligned, variable dots, mirrors the painstaking repetitive process she employed to achieve what she referred to as “self-obliteration.“ Continue reading Eye On Design: Yayoi Kusama-Inspired Trench Coat By Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton →

Design and Innovation

Eye On Design: The Robbie Reversable Handbag By Daneault Gives You Two Handbags in One

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black robbie handbag photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

I’ve never been much of a girly girl, and I like to pride myself on having a fairly low-maintenance personal routine when it comes to styling. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a beautiful accessory, however. In fact, I’m a big believer in investing in quality pieces that can do double duty — something that looks appropriate in the office but wouldn’t seem out of place paired with an outfit for an evening at an art gallery.

When it comes to handbags, I’m always looking for that sweet spot between style and practicality: a bag that looks expensive and sophisticated, holds the things I actually need, and is comfortable enough to wear crossbody while I’m walking around New York. That’s why I was particularly intrigued when I received The Robbie, a small reversible handbag from Daneault.
Continue reading Eye On Design: The Robbie Reversable Handbag By Daneault Gives You Two Handbags in One →