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Until end of may I will be uploading things here. It’s my Master, which is almost over!!

Posted in Uncategorized |

Tempo asks: What’s Oslo for you?

I’ve been distributing a pack of diferent kinds of papers and asked some Norwegians to relate some of them to Oslo charachteristics. It does not make sense to have the papers here, since there is a lot of touching and grabing, but there are some of the answers I got:

What about you? You don’t need to be from Oslo to tell me.

Posted in Tempo, projects, studies |

Bjør:wiki

10-page presentation for an architecture competition in Oslo, for the new library. A close work with L2 Arkitekter, In’By and Fantastic Norway.

Posted in personal work |

Writings for Tempo

One part of Tempo is called the Invisible Attractions. It shows some attractions through such a personal way that they become other things. I hope you can guess what I am talking about when I describe…

…the Colorful Showers
As a city with so well defined seasons - and its main activities strongly connected with them -, the best time to enjoy the Colorful Showers of Oslo (to be honest, the only time they are actually functioning) is between mid-september and mid-november. If you are in town during that period, it won’t be hard to find them: just go for a tour in one of the many parks around the city. The more the wind, the better. And don’t worry about it not being so warm outside: the color this shower drops is actually very dried.

… the Fjord Museum
The Oslo Fjord Museum provides you with beautiful different angles of Oslo Fjord. This museum is so big that it contains a whole transport system to move people around it. At the east aisle of the museum, one can enjoy an amazing view of the fjord from the harbor - even count the colors of the containers, or the number of small islands. At the west end, you may appreciate another view while tasting the best apple cake in town. At the main hall of the Museum, you get sea level perspectives, which are ok but can be too crowded sometimes, since visitors tend to be a bit lazy and not explore this museum to the fullest.

… the Home Food restaurant
This restaurant is extremely exclusive and cannot handle more than 10 clients per night. Here it’s very likely you will feel the real coziness and hospitality of norwegians, enjoy a good conversation and make friends with the people on your side enjoying the same experience. If you are lucky, you will still be able to learn some tricks with the chef himself. His open kitchen is together with the salon and one needs to be perspicacious enough to balance equally the amount of chatting: the chef can get a bit distracted and mess up with the food. The good thing about this restaurant is that you can pay with a bottle of wine or a gift from your homeland. The bad? It works with invitation only.

… the biggest white carpet in the world
Norwegians are crafty and it’s not a coincidence that the biggest white carpet in the world belongs to this country. This piece of art is a must-see because it is so big that it goes up until the horizon and over all the mountains your eyes can reach. Almost every norwegian, in a “dugnad” frenzy over the winter (when everyones joins to create something together), ties the knots of this cold, slippery carpet. Some people love it, some of them are just tired of it. Most of the people I know try to have fun and take advantage of this cold extra layer, before it is destroyed by the warm breezes of spring. Yes, I forgot to say: it is not heat-friendly.

…the itinerant outdoor shopping mall
The company that owns this shopping mall likes to be flexible: in location, prices, number of owners and, unfortunately, quality. That’s why every time this mall opens - and it is open less than we would like it to -, you can see greedy customers running to grab the best goods. If you are late, you might just find crap, and waist the time and effort of finding out where it was and how to get there. Here you will find all sorts of goods and it’s likely you will buy the ones you don’t need. Which is ok, if you can charm the seller and get it half-price, which is most of the fun anyway.
But note: these itinerant malls are open only during spring and autumn. Winter is too cold and summer is too nice to shop. Even in these shops.

Do you have other personal attractions that only you can see? Send it to me!

Posted in Tempo, personal work, projects, studies |

Stop!

My shea butter hand cream got a bit crazy yesterday. I was a bit surprised, but managed to capture the moments.

Posted in personal work |

Beautiful(s)-a-day

1.The Birdie lamp, from Flux, in Sweeden.

2. This building, created by the architects Denton Corker Marshall, in Manchester, England. (Seen at Dezeen).

3.These images from knight games held by Emperor Frederick III and Emperor Maximilian II in the years 1489 to 1511, found in BibliOdyssey.

Posted in beautiful-a-day, shop |

Beautiful-a-day

I remember reading once that “beautiful design was invisible”.

When I see what the duo Hi, from Switzerland, has been doing in editorial (mainly), I must agree. Simple, elegant and somehow astonishing. And I simply can’t explain why.

Posted in beautiful-a-day |

Havaiana-fever

Havaianas for Fantastic Norway Architects, distributed during the press opening of the Venice Biennale. Some pairs still available for sale at their website.

Posted in personal work, shop |

What I have done in my week so far

It’s chaotic, but I like it.

• Since I am back from Venice, I’ve been putting a lot more effort at my magazine project. I need to present the research and some sketches in a Conference this October, here at KHiO - that’s why this blog has beeg invaded with all the writing, charting, etc.

• And talking about charting, I’m drawing a mental map of what this project will be. As I wrote a bit about it some posts below, I also felt like giving it my shot. It pictures my colonization process, but I will just show you some bits. I have problems with unfinished work.

• I am planning also to finish today a simple portfolio with some of my 2007-2008 projects. One never knows when he/she will need it, right?

• I had a meeting yesterday with the responsible for the Helgeland project. There were some feedback for the logo proposals I sent before summer (have I posted them here?) and another job: a portal. I will need assistance for that, so if you, or someone you know, is a very good programmer, please, ask them to get in touch with me. Email is: renata@renatabarros.net.

See soon!

Posted in personal work, projects, studies |

Beautiful-a-day

Has anyone checked out the D&AD website for the year finals?

There are some very well designed magazines to look at. Good examples from every mark in the range between the mass-traditional-magazine-market and the super-alternative-conceptual zine. Here are my favorites:

Posted in beautiful-a-day, studies |