More design stuff - Jordy Fu this time

These lamps from Jordy Fu (http://www.jordyfu.com/ - also a very nice website, worth to take a look) are just amazing. I've seen them in real life and they look so nice. Talking about an amazing design to add to your home ... They cost about £ 115 for one, you can decide yourself if that is too expensive or too cheap ;)! I know I'd get one (if I'd have a house that is)!

Some concerts, some pics

Last Friday was a very good Friday. We headed down to the Royal Albert Hall for a Jools Holland concert, which includes Jools Holland (obviously) and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, and some other guests, amongst them Ruby Turner with her amazing voice. This gig was a text book example of how a concert can run super smoothly: a full on band of great musicians, a host and lead singer who is jamming away on his piano with the ease of putting down his autograph, and some guest singers who give it all they got. As I said, Ruby Turner absolutely blew me away. She opened her mouth and pure soul came out. The concert was of a very high standard, going fast, changing setting, changing instruments, changing singers. You could tell that there 's a proper show host and awesome musician running the show. However, even though it all seemed so nice, sometimes you want a bit of imperfection, some proof of mortality, some more extraordinary highs, even if it implies a low. Or maybe I still prefer a little hall where you're closer to the band, creating a more intimate setting. I know, I'm a sucker for small gigs.

PS: Thanks to Will Wang for the pictures, excellent shots

Me me me! Eat your feet!

Some more finds (the bunnies are from the Pop Up Design Christmas market at the Truman Brewery as well), how cool and cute right? (Well, if you're a girl I suppose ...) The first are two "Eat Your Feet" designs, and there are more where these came from! The website is absolutely amazing if you ask me, I really like it and the designs are very cool. They're basically tats on neclaces. Check it out: http://www.eatyourfeet.com/! The bunnies are actually porcelain pendants and are from http://www.madebymememe.com/. I saw them at the market, they're really cute! Christmas presents guys, read my lips, christmas presents!

Til the next!

Pop up design market finds

Check this out: a pendant light (in an obvious very English style) and hoody salt and pepper shakers. 2 things I saw at the Pop Up Design Market at Truman Brewery (Brick Lane) this weekend. I picked up a flyer that told me that I can buy them online on their website http://www.hiddenartshop.com/ and I can highly recommend it: I love their stuff!

What they say on their website: "For over 20 years Hidden Art have been supporting and promoting talented designers and designer-makers to transform their passion into products."

According to a lady on the market, I could only buy something there at the spot or get it delivered by ordering online. So you can't buy it in any shop or at let's say a weekly market booth somewhere in London, which I find weird and a missed opportunity (although of course it cost avoiding or profit maximizing in a way). I'm gonna phone in soon because I saw something I want to have by the end of next week, and I'll ask them and let you know!

Tate window

Nice set up outside Tate Modern in one of their windows which made a cool pic I think. I've been looking for the explanation of this on the website, trying to figure out what it means but I couldn't find it. Next time I go by (probably within a week) I'll ask and let you know. The words I can make up are "languages, speaks, loud squeaky voice". Quite curious to get info on it.

Also on in Tate Modern now is the big black box by Miroslaw Balka. I highly recommend to just walk in. Don't spoil it for yourself and use a mobile to find your way, or look back, or use a flash camera. It's a sensational experience, in the way that it tickles your senses. You can only see a bit (after adapting to the almost pitch black), what you hear sounds slightly different, and you end up putting your hands where you're going to not bump into someone or hitthe wall. Once you reach the back, turn around. It's cool how much you can see then, all of a sudden you literally see the light and see just about everything and you're back to normal. Very cool.

I've also visited the Pop Life exhibition. My companion hated it, I loved it, but then again, I'm a Pop Art fan. It is indeed a celebration of pop culture which is what makes it so controversial. The funniest display to me was the video of Kirsten Dunst "turning Japanese", a video that was a collaboration between director McG and artist Takashi Murakami, whose style I recognized from Kanye West his album's artwork. Even funnier, I tried to find it on YouTube and I noticed that I wasn't the only one looking for it judging by the comments of people who saw the clip at Tate and as myself could only find a series of pictures of Kirsten Dunst during the shooting. Well there you go, if that isn't pop culture ... People see exhibit, find something they like, look for it online on the most popular video website YouTube so they could at least find or even own a copy, can't find it but comment on it and on each other's posts therefore communicating with strangers across the world about one object that is the embodiment of pop culture ... Think about it.

You'll find out in my blogs: I like pop culture, and I'm not afraid to say it :)!

Update

Good afternoon my dearest blog readers,

it's a beautiful day in London, a bit chilly but not too cold, blue sky and nice sun, My kind of day ...

I am still living in the amazing city that is London. I have decided to make a few changes to the lay out and content of my blog. I think you all know by now that I've settled in ok, that I am finding my way around the city and that I am enjoying every minute of it. Therefore, from now on my blog will be less of "Hi family and friends, I'm still alive" and more about the fantastic city of London and what there is to find, to see, to hear and how I interpret and experience all the wonderful things in London. As you may have noticed, I'm very much into culture (music and arts in particular) so I will make this more into a lifestyle and "whats on" blog with some tips, reviews, and reporting on interesting bits that crossed my path. I am doing this for my own personal gain of reflecting on things and maybe I can inform others along the way.

My family and friends are of course still welcome and the new blog posts will show you that I am still doing alright, and I'll post the occasional picture. Let me know if you want some more of something, and I'll adjust! Reactions are always very nice of course :)!

So look out for my new blog post!

Camille DG

Hello

Like Prince is singing on my iTunes at the moment: HELLO !

Simple and to the point: Hello! How are you all? I have now been in London for almost 2 months and I am still loving every minute of it. This weekend I had 2 visitors from Belgium, Emilie (flatmate last year and bf) came Friday til Sunday, and my mum came Sunday til Monday. The visits were very fun and I had the change to show of my recently gained knowledge of London and Emilie and my mum had a very good time. I took Emilie around the London Bridge area (Southwark, Tate, St. Pauls) and we had the obligatory coffee and cake along the way of course! Emilie was very happy she could have caramel shortbread again, her favorite cake she always had in Aberystwyth but couldn't find in Belgium! I of course had a chocolate muffin! Friday she joined me and some CCE students to an art gallery opening up in Hackney, really cool! We walked on an indoor, artificial and wobbly wooden pier over a white coloured lake - you had to be there - and we watched a Melrose Place installation including actors very dramatically practicing a scene from the show. The next day we went shopping to Spitalfields and Brick Lane - awesome of course! Saturday evening we were invited for a dinner at Sibylle's place with her flatmates. On Sunday my mum arrived and we also went shopping to Spitalfields to show her a shoes shop I discovered there the day before (both bought shoes ghihi) and walked around a lot, concluding with a very nice meal near London Bridge. The next day we also walked and went shopping to Regent Street. That was, in a nutshell, my weekend!

The days are filled with uni, uni work and research, and going to see a lot of things which is also uni work basically. For example today, Nada (an Egyptian girl from my class) and I went to the Whitechapel Gallery to see Sophie Calle's photography, the Institute of Contemporary Arts to see clips and photography by Rosalind Nashashibi and we also went to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Particularly this last one was extremely fun, very visual, abstract and touchable all at once. Especially when a canon shot a blob of red painted wax on to the museum's nice white wall!

So basically, London has much to offer and I'm taking up as much as possible!

Greetings, Camille

Hope you are all well!

Some pics!

Sorry for the anti-chronological order but my blog does this automatically, but anyway, here are some pics!

Underground art

Hyde Park on a sunny afternoon

Sibylle

The vicious squirrel !

Me, Sibylle (German) and Nada (Egyptian), some of my classmates at the Amersham Arms where we went out on Friday evening.

Brick Lane musician on the street last week on Sunday

Very nice shot even if I say so myself, thanks Sibylle! (Brick Lane area as well)

One of my new favourite shops at Brick Lane: a big room with little cubicles per independent designer, very nice stuff (bought a dress there).

More pics to come!

Have a good evening, CDG

And the fun continues

Dear blog readers of mine,

here I am again, with a new blog entry! First of all I'd like to thank all of you who have given me such nice responses to my blog, it's good to know that people are actually reading it and enjoying it ;)!

So here's a little update of what I've been up to! First of all the course is getting very interesting, I'm really enjoying it. I don't have many lectures though, because they expect us to read a lot, put in a lot of individual work, stay up to date with as many things as possible and go to exhibitions and events and all that. On Tuesday, we have a lecture on "Theories of cultural industries: creative theory and practice", followed by a seminar. We have reading to do every week which we then discuss in the seminar. The first reading for this seminar is by Adorno and Horkheimer, so not much new there. I am very curious to see how we will handle these thinkers in the seminar (for those ex-communication scientists amongst us: no I am not sick of them yet, on the contrary, I look forward to it! which for some of you is probably a horrible thought). This week I also have my first course on "Entrepreneurial modelling", I'll let you know how that went!

So since I do not have that many lectures, I take advantage of my time to explore the city as much as possible. This week I've seen a wonderful exhibition at Somerset House, titled "Showstudio.com, fashion revolution". It was a very interesting exhibition, first of all because it shows how exhibitions these days are not what they used to be: it was interactive (buzz word of the moment but these people definitely made it work, trust me!), creative, innovative and alternative. Basically everything our tutors expect us to be, so this was definitely a must see for me. The exhibition focussed not in particular on fashion but more on the process which leads to fashion and the people involved: photographers, models, et cetera. The exhibition also made excellent use of the new media available to everybody: models were asked to send pictures taken with their iphones to a certain platform which was available to the public and showed in this exhibition, models also left voicemail messages all through the fashion week which gave an insight in how things work and small digital cameras were used to film photo shoots from behind the actual camera. The exhibition tackled fashion but in a very modern way, showing how things actually work without putting the emphasis on the final product which we all get to see.

The weekend was very good as well. On friday evening I invited a few ICCE (Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship) people, so classmates, and some other people to the flat for a week drinks. We ended up making our own mystery cocktails with unusual blends which tasted very delicious - very creative isn't it ;)? We afterwards went dancing to the Amersham Arms, again very fun. On Saturday Matt, Charlotte and I went for a typical British pub lunch in the London Bridge area, and a coffee afterwards. Yesterday evening I got comfy in the sofa and watched Strictly Come Dancing, still my favourite show in the world! This morning (Sunday) I got up quite early, doing some normal stuff like washing up, grocery shopping and reading some Adorno. Then after lunch Sibylle (German girl from my course) and I met up to stroll in Hyde Park since the sun was shining so beautifully. But, we came across a very vicuous squirrel!!! So watch out people, the squirrels in Hyde Park beg for a piece of your muffin and approach you and look you straight into the eye! Very scary! Then we went into the Victoria and Albert museum (one of my favourites in London!) to have a look at the fashion collection there, followed by a coffee at Pret (à manger) and a chocolate chip cookie! And now well, I came home and had some dinner. Phoned a bit (my brother phoned and we're going to see The Lion King when he and Tine come down in December, very excited about that! A proper West End musical is another must in London) and then I started writing this onto my blog :)!

So I hope you enjoyed it again,
I'm trying to upload some pictures but something keeps going wrong! Very annoying ...

Have a good Sunday evening, xhx!

Camille DG in London

A week of firsts

Hello again,

Another week has passed, so I have some more news for you. Just a quick reminder: I'm studying Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, Music Pathway, at Goldsmiths College, University of London, just to set the record straight and there's no doubt :)!

This week was a week of firsts at uni. First introduction meetings with the 3 different departments I’m in: the department if ICCE, Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship which is my main home; the department of Music where I will be taking my option courses; and the department of Cultural Studies where my fellow students and me will be taking one course on their programme. It was also the first time that I met my fellow students: they are all very nice and interesting. There are about 35 of us, all selected for specific reasons according to the director of the programme- I felt quite honoured when she said that. However, I am one of the youngest there. There are about 5 of us who just came from uni, and everybody else has several years of experience in the cultural industries: web designers, film directors, journalists, digital designers, performance artists, you name it, we got it! Plus, I think that with 35 people we have at least 20 different nationalities: Belgian (of course, little me!), German, Greek, Italian, Columbian, Egyptian, Czechoslowakian, Brasilien, Spanish, British ... This makes it all very interesting.

Our tutors are extremely nice and will be following us closely to check our personal and group progress. I don't have many classes but we're supposed to read a lot and really stay up to date. We are also supposed to go around London for interesting lectures, exhibitions et cetera, so that is just awesome if you ask me. This week I went to the Design Museum at the Shad Thames (very nice area anyway) where I saw a very interesting and inspiring timeline of design related highlights in London, from the sixties till now. Yesterday I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum where I saw a very nice exhibition called "Telling Tales", where mostly Dutch designers showed furniture inspired by the various elements explored in tales, very beautiful, I can definitely recommend it. The V&A museum is amazing anyway, it's free and I didn't have time to go all around but I will definitely be going back at some point. The museum is situated in Knightsbridge where Harrods is as well, and god, if I would only have the money ;)! I did buy a nice dress at H&M, more my kind of budgets!

Anyway, the first week was great. Met a lot of interesting people, and I'm actually now meeting up with a German girl, Sibylle, to go to some design related exhibitions and Spitalfields market! The sun is shining, and I'm in London, I think you'll forgive me if I leave you now and go out and enjoy myself! But I'll be back!!!

x cam x

A lot of news!

Helloooo everybody!

My sincere apologies for neglecting you, but I am back with a lot of news! Let me think ... where did we leave of ... Oh yes, since the last time we spoke (or I wrote at least) it was just before the Mayor of London’s Thames Festival, which was a splendid festival. All along the Thames there were artists, dancers, comedians, performers of all kinds basically, little craft boots, a lot of drink and eat facilities, and everything in between. I went down around lunch time and Josh and his mate Simon managed to get down in the afternoon (after we spent a successful night out the day before – apparently I was coping with it better ;)!) and it was a lovely, sunny day walking along the Thames. Really a lovely festival that I could suggest to anyone.

After that weekend, on Tuesday, I went to Aber for a few days. Oh yes, Aber is still there, still the same, still beautiful and it’s still very nice to see the Welsh boy! It was an awesome weekend, very relaxed although I did manage to get in a bit of cleaning work while I had some spare time during the day. We also had a very nice family dinner at a great Spanish restaurant to celebrate the birthday of the twins. The calamari were delicious and the paella great! A walk along the promenade afterwards by the beautifully lit bay topped it off.

I got back on Saturday and for the first time since I moved in all the flatmates were here at the same time! It’s a full, busy but pleasant house! On Sunday, Charlotte (the new girl) and I went to Greenwich and I showed her my favourite spots in town. I bought the nicest vintage medallion on Greenwich Market and Charlotte bought a nice canvas there to brighten up her room. We went to a very cool vintage shop. And I took her up to the Royal Observatory where we enjoyed one of the best views in London. We went back to our little flat in New Cross and then later that night went to the SU Bar (student union’s bar) for a quick drink, which turned into a few. Josh was there as well and we danced the night away. I must say, I was surrounded by freshers (doing their first year at uni) and I must say I felt a bit old. Everybody was very keen and enthusiastic – what’s your name, where are you from, what do you do – but accidently I ended up meeting someone on my course! Oh yes, another MA Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship who is even on the same pathway (music), called Will and who moved here from Taiwan. I must say though that the whole Goldsmiths crowd so far seems to be a very special bunch of individuals. For those who remember some of my previous blog (camilleinaberystwyth), the dress style is completely different. Girls with beehive hair – think Amy Winehouse, Elvis looking fellows, guys with old fashioned blazers, loads of very big and arty tattoos, in short: the dress style here is indie, alternative, arty farty and very different! And I’ve been told that this is very London-like but even more than that, very typically Goldsmiths. We have a lot of arts, drama, music and human sciences courses so it is a peculiar collection of individuals!

Today I actually enrolled in uni, I got my students card, I am now officially a Goldsmiths student and a proud one! However, I will write on this tomorrow, since we will have our first meeting with all the MA CCE (creative and cultural entrepreneurship) students then, so I will be able to give my first impressions on Goldsmiths, the course and my fellow students. Looking forward to hearing from you how you are all doing!

Bye bye my dears! Camille, the Goldsmiths student in New Cross, London

PS: pictures will follow soon!

Pints in pubs

Hello again my dearest,

Exploring London is not only visiting the top attractions, must-see monuments, small markets and famous shops. It is also socialising with flatmates and having a few pints at the pub. But not just any pub: THE pub featured in Shaun of the Dead, the Montague in New Cross which is a must-do night out. A few of us gathered to have a look and of course, a few pints.


The old lady behind the bar is too amazing if you ask us, Dani and Josh had a little chat with her and confirmed she is fabulous.

The pub has some interesting features in particular, like the zebra head and the large amount of blue christmas lights.

On a different night out my flatmates and a few extra friends decided to have a drink at the flat and then go ... dancing!!! At the Amersham Arms, in management of the Camden Lock Tavern crowd. Very good night indeed. Here are my flatmates again: the fabulous Matt and the amazing Josh!

This is enough partying for now, you might think that's all I do around here ;)!

London exploration

Good morning my dear friends and family,

Yes, I am still alive and kicking in London. It is hard to believe that only a week and a half ago I came to London because since then a lot has happened and I have been taking my time to explore London. These pictures show a few of the places I have been to and the things I have seen. I have walked along the Thames, visited Southwark Cathedral, had a coffee at the top floor café of Tate Modern, seen St. Paul's Cathedral. I have had lunch on a beautiful day in Hyde Park, I have been shopping at Greenwich Market, Oxford Street, Regent Street and the fabulous Selfridges. I have seen the Tudor portraits and Dame Judi Dench at the National Portrait Gallery. I have walked up to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, I had sushi at the market in Greenwich, I have seen Big Ben pop up several times. I have watched the crowds on Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. In short, I am enjoying exploring.

First report and info for you all back home!

Helly my dears!

Before I forget, I'm just gonna give everyone my new number and address, in case you miss me ;) or happen to find yourself in London (then pop around!).

+44 7719 307225
9 Fairlawn Mansions
New Cross Road
SE14 5PH
London, United Kingdom


So I've been here for about 2 days and a half now and it's been no less than fantastic! The flat is very nice, I settled into my new room pretty quickly - thanks to all the cards and presents which all have their spot in the room. So far there's three of us in the flat, Josh (studying to become a science teacher at Goldsmiths, 24, too funny), Matt (fashion student in Kent, 20, too fabulous) and myself. On my first night here Josh made some pretty good bolognaise for all of us, and I added the bottle of wine (thank you Stijn for this present!). Yesterday Charlotte paid us a visit, who will be the last addition to the flat. She (studying politics at Goldsmiths, 19, too sweet) is only moving in 2 weeks from now but came to sign her contract and stay for the night to meet us. So we - 3 flatmates and 2 friends that are already jealous about our flat and the people in it - went for a drink. One drink turned into a cosy few. When coming back Matt was back in and then joined us in the living room for another bottle of wine, and so we ended a very good night.

It looks like this flat is gonna be a very cosy, lively and fun place to live. New Cross has the essentials to survive, and central London which all it has to offer is at our doorstep. Today I got some more practical stuff to take care of, and if Matt gets up early enough we might go to sample sale with amongst other things Vivienne Westwood at very low prices! This is London baby, and I'm loving it!

More pictures!

Hi dearest blog readers!

Here are some more pictures of my flat, you've already seen the room, this is the living room, bathroom and kitchen. And as you can tell from the pictures: it's awesome! Only the living is a bit basic but we have bold plans to enliven it!

Here's the view out of our living room, looking onto New Cross Road

This is our living room at the moment, we're getting ready for some minor adjustments!

This is the other side of our living room with the big window.

And the bathroom ...

Our corridor with a lot of doors on one side which still confuses us from time to time, you never know where you'll end up: the bathroom, josh's room or the kitchen.

Our kitchen with all the necessary appliances.

I have arrived!

Well hi there everybody!!!

This is my blog about my latest adventure: LONDON! I've been pretty busy settling down, but since I know you are all dead curious, here are some pictures of my new room, more pictures are to follow soon as well as more details about my arrival! But just a sneak preview: it's been pretty great so far!