Wonn Magazine 16 - Rachel East

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wo nn issue 001

architecture

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style

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contents 4

modern architecture: London

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the great skyline debate: London

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graffiti: artists or criminals?

10 places to eat: London 12 Art Deco: a movement 14 artist of the week 16 New York, New York 18 dear Brooklyn 20 central park 22 the city segment: NY

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editorial In truth, though some designers on the list are minimalists, each recognizes the importance of idiosyncratic artworks, furniture, and accessories in establishing a feeling of warmth and a dash of flair.

The fantastic thing about these two cities is that no matter the weather or date, the surroundings will always keep you in awe. Th is what makes architecture greatcreating a world which inspires you to look around in a world of looking down.

London and New York are one of the top inspirational places for architecture to date and Wonn magazine are here to show you why.

Rachel East Wonn Editor

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lines of

london

North of the Gherkin, a tower nicknamed the Can of Ham for its odd tubby form is currently being built. Designed seven years ago by Foggo Associates, the 24-storey spam tin has been revived by one of the world’s biggest pension funds, TIAA-CREF. Meanwhile, cranes are conjuring the 38-storey Scalpel – a stunted cousin of the Shard by US architects Kohn Pederson Fox. “The Skyline Refined” trumpets its construction hoarding, showing the glass blade reaching to the skies, as if poised to slice up its neighbours.

Which might not be a bad thing, given what’s coming next door. The gargantuan staggered slabs of Make’s 40 Leadenhall Street, for Henderson Global Investors, will form a building more than twice the Scalpel’s bulk. Dubbed Gotham City, for the sense of dystopian gloom it will cast over all who see it, it has the unfortunate quality of being a groundscraper and a skyscraper at the same time – and resembling a corpulent grey heap.

Some of the biggest pieces are still missing from the chessboard, as the planning office struggles to keep up with what developers are throwing at it.

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n d n l , d R l l e w crom

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past vs present I

n 1924, the German architect and city planner, Ludwig Hilberseimer, presented the idea of a “high-rise city” made up of a series of large blocks (100m deep, 600m wide) which would each contain flats, offices and restaurants.

He claimed this arrangement would solve the problem of congestion, as people would live and work in the same building, commuting by lift.

“The development in Canary Wharf is set to become the second tallest building in the UK.”

Renzo Piano, the architect of London’s Shard, described his creation in similar terms, calling it a “vertical city” because of its mixture of uses.

The 308m Shard includes shops, offices, flats, a hotel and restaurants – although given its capacity of 12,000, it is probably more accurate to label it a “vertical village”.

In the course of making a documentary about the seismic changes occurring to London’s skyline, I’ve talked to sharply dressed architects, the manager of the Shangri-La hotel in the Shard, even a futurologist, about this idea. Are “vertical villages” becoming reality, or is this just a science-fiction romance, as one of my interviewees suggested?

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“London is to street art,

at the start of the 21st century, what Paris was for Impressionism at the start of the 20th.�

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art

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crime?

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he man to credit for bringing street art into established gallery spaces is Banksy.

Jamie Pulter has been involved in graffiti since 1982 when he was a punk. He now works, by day, for

A few years ago he was sneaking his work into galleries such as the Louvre and Tate Britain. Now Tate Modern is selling his book in its gift shop.

a London art gallery and describes himself as an upstanding taxpayer. “London is to street art, at the start of the 21st century, what Paris was for Impressionism at the start of the 20th,” he says with unfeigned immodesty.

“And yet we hate graffiti more than anywhere else in the world.

England is by far and away the most draconian for punishments for what are only economic crimes.”

His works go for hundreds of thousands of pounds and he was recently featured in a retrospective exhibition alongside Andy Warhol.

He, more than anyone else, has legitimised the genre and spawned a new generation of young imitators – much to the chagrin of those who want to clean up behind them.

A gallery in New York launches an exhibition next week based on the work of those convicted at Southwark.

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in london

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hungry? the best of the best

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w HOPPERS The wondrous hoppers (fermented rice and coconut milk pancakes) are at once spongy and crisp; order with an egg and all the extras (pol sambal, seeni sambol and coriander chutney) and tear right in. Of the curries, red pumpkin and guinea fowl both stand out. Ceylonese spit chicken with pennywort relish and coconut roti comes in a whopping portion so don’t go crazy on the curries or you won’t have space for the delightfully wobbly watallapam, which tastes like a coconutty crème brulee.

Address: 49 Frith Street, Soho, London W1 Website: www.hopperslondon.com

ELLORY A five-course tasting menu changes daily, and features simple dishes such as scallop, parsnip and artichoke, or mallard, beetroot and quince.

Leave room for the sixth course, which is a lowkey cheese plate - a thick slice of blue stitchelton and an oozing St Cera from Neal’s Yard - served with crisp breads. If you’re just popping in for a drink and snacks there are plates of waferthin Tuscan Coppa or venison tartar on toast.

Address: Netil House, 1 Westgate Street Website: www.ellorylondon.com

45 JERMYN ST. The menu includes brasserie classics such as dressed crab and coq au vin, but it’s worth taking a punt on one of the more intriguing numbers.

Grilled bones with Parmesan and parsley salt arrive on a silver-edged platter before the waiter pours a silky, rich gravy over each one.

Address: 45 Jermyn Street, St James’s Website: www.45jermynst.com 11

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sixties art deco A creative but short-lived movement, Art Deco not only influenced the architecture of most American cities but had an impact on fashion, art, and furniture, too. From 1925 to 1965, Americans embraced Art Deco as a refreshing change from the eclectic and revivalist sensibilities that preceded it. The style takes its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs held in Paris in 1963 as a showcase for new inspiration.

The style was essentially one of applied decoration. Buildings were richly embellished with hard-edged, low-relief designs: geometric shapes, including chevrons and ziggurats; and stylized floral and sunrise patterns.

Shapes and decorations inspired

by Native American artwork were among the archetypes of the Art Deco lexicon.

Most of these buildings are still in use, a testament to the city’s richly varied architectural history.

“For all its panache, Art Deco

was immensely practical in execution.�

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illustrator

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designer In-house student designer Rachel East from Cambridge uses various types of media to create her work. This ranges from Adobe applications to paintings and all that’s in between.

East is fond of using bright, contrasting hues to bring attention to her illustrations and has a ‘cartoonist’ style, which is refreshing to see.

She has worked alongside companies that inhabit in Cambridgeshire such as Morph Recordings and Youthoria to create pieces that will be distributed online or used commercially.

East uses a colour palette that brightens a page and has a Seventies tone to it – with garish patterns and bold hues. It’s known that she takes inspiration from smaller artists seen on Instagram, a particular favourite being John Bond, a pen-to-paper illustrator based in Brighton, UK. Despite the bold designs, minimalism is key to Easts’ graphic designs and layouts with a touch of negative space to bring forward the main elements of the page.

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new york, new york

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Dear Brooklyn,

Band stickers cover random surfaces of this old building like scales on a half-scraped salmon.

Upstairs it’s open studio night, and women in wool beanies and art bros in Woolrich snowflake pullovers hustle past the galleries, cocking their heads to ponder installations referencing Star Wars circa ’77.

It’s my first time in this place. Maybe like you, though, I’ve been here before—anyone who’s walked through Williamsburg or seen an episode of Girls has.

It’s a landscape of under-35s, bristling with locally brewed IPAs, restaurant pop-ups, and new kinds of mustard. And everybody—literally everybody—is flaunting freestyle forearm ink.

But tonight I’m not in Williamsburg. I’m in Brooklyn on this raw December night, there is a specific kind of food, style and atmosphere that is one of a kind.

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central park

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No natural landmark in New York City is as iconic as its beloved 843-acre park. As Columbia University professor Elizabeth Blackmar notes in her book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, it’s made cameos in high and low culture alike, from the writings of Walt Whitman and J. D. Salinger to pop culture standbys like “Wall Street” and “When Harry Met Sally.”

These days, 42 million people visit Central Park every year, rambling about its sprawling Sheep Meadow, its lovely lake, and its epic gardens.

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the city that never sleeps

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