ADA ZANDITON - My favourite LFW Estethica Designers AW11

Ada Zanditon - The CRYOFLUX AW11 from Andrew & WIlliam Ho on Vimeo.

“Under the frozen surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, has evolved a new species: The Cryoflux.

Descending onto earth she arrives in the barren darkness of the Antarctic winter, to explore a frozen world in 

an unfamiliar state of flux. Clothed in powerfully sculptured attire, encompassing vibrant flames and ice 

shattering prints, she reflects her surroundings. She voyages through the tenacious climate which is 

constantly cracking and reforming around her.”

Ada's concepts, themes are always so complex, and so engineered, so out of this world - unique basis for an even more unique designs. Love the geometry, the architectural and scientific futuristic forms. The future fantasy  blends with a historical journey inspired by the process of evolution creating something incredibly innovative.

The vision of the brand is to create elegant sculptural womenswear. 

This vision is emerging from a sustainable business practice: using organic, natural fabrics, innovative techniques to reduce waste,AZO-free dyes (not turning into cancer causing chemicals); even in her studio there are eco-friendly light bulbs and cleaning products.

Another plus that puts her brand even closer to my heart is her jewellery collection produced in collaboration with Luca Romanyi, a designer from Hungary :), using recycled plastics.

Here is Ada and  my favourite pieces from her collection AW11:

Frozen waterfall dress

Ammonite Peacoat

Iceflow dress

I love these looks as well:

Ammonite trousers

IO dress - available at YOUNG BRITISH DESIGNERS

and have to say I have some favourites from her PYRAMORA SPRING SUMMER 2011 collection as well.

cannot wait to see her exhibition today at Somerset House :) 

xxx

Kingu

LU FLUX - My favourite LFW Estethica Designers AW11

So here we are again, LFW SS12 has started already, fashion events, shows are full on, amazing designers, fantastic collections. I cannot wait to pop down tomorrow and have a look the the exhibition, but before I do so, I would like to reflect on the previous exhibition at LFW AW11 and feature my favourite ESTETHICA designers.

LU FLUX - SEA AND BE SEEN

Born on the Isle of Wight, Lu studied Fashion at Edinburgh College of Art winning the Ocean Terminal Scottish Fashion Graduate Award with her final collection.  Subsequently she went on to work as a design assistant to Bernhard Willhelm in his Paris studio before returning to the UK to start her own label.

Lu currently lives and works in London where she locally sources all her materials.

I met Lu at the exhibition while taking photos of something different, something colourful,something with British eccentricity, something that I just loved straight away, and I found it very unique. She was so so sweet and humble, we had a quick chat, then she invited me to her presentation on the day after in the Mayfair Hotel near Green Park. A penthouse suite was rented, live band playing music, and some lovely people, and a great event!! 

'The colour palette pays credit to the murky depths of the sea, embroidery referencing the  bioluminescent  creatures  who  make  their  own  light  to  attract  mates  and  dissuade  predators,  in  an underwater world teeming beauty, colour and hidden dangers.' Have a look at the video to start this underwater journey :)

Sea And Be Seen: Lu Flux Autumn/Winter Collection 2011 from Neil O'Driscoll on Vimeo.


I love the colours and the fabrics she is using deep strong regal colours, velvet, wool, tweed.
Below is the image summary of my amazing experience and opportunity of meeting her and her designs! THANK YOU Lu Flux!

Bluetit dress(left)

LU FLUX in Softscape dress

Lu Flux and David Watts Fashion Business Adviser and Mentor at  BFC

Alessi's Ark

Fin dress (her)

Lu Flux for Green Shoes

Urchin dress

Clam dress

Fin dress (him)

Seaweed vest, Gill trousers

knitwear sponsor for the season Jamieson and Smith of the Shetland Islands

Check out the whole collection below:

SEA & BE SEEN AUTUMN WINTER 2011

Up tomorrow is Ada Zanditon, GoodOne, StudyNY, and others I love at LFW Estethica AW11.

xxx
Kingu

Further sustainable city developments

I am back again, and will now try and round it up a bit so I can finish off the summary of my Design Museum  visit, as I am falling behind a little bit and will soon be out-of-date with my posts. ;) I cannot let that happen.

So now I will post some photos with some short comments on further sustainable developments as a foretaste, and clicking on the links related you can immerse in deeper in your preferred topics ;) Enjoy!

Freiburg Solar Settlement, Germany

Besides the brilliant and vivid colour concept by Eric Wiesner, which I think makes the whole residential settlement quite hip and trendy, there are essential and innovative technological and architectural precision and hard work: combination of heat and power, solar power as a form of renewable energy. The main aim was to live in symbiosis with the environment: the community and urban planning emphasizes an extensive car-free zone, and encourages walking and cycling by wider bike routes and pedestrian walkways. For further details on this solar settlement please click HERE to visit their site.

Staying in Germany, another sustainable design based on solar power is the Solar Updraft Tower. These towers are based on quite a simple technology: under a large grass roof the sun warms up the air (greenhouse effect) which is then sucked in by the central, vertical cylindrical tube (chimney effect). This creates an updraft effect which produces electricity:

Click HERE for more info on Solar Updraft Tower

Due to the soil under the collector the tower can operate 24hr on pure solar energy. Current electricity production of coil, oil and natural gas is damaging the environment and not sustainable. and many developing countries cannot afford these sources. It is quite a sensible development for sunny developing countries who has limited resources.

Further initiatives:

• Biloxi Model Home Programme, USA by Architecture for Humanity (AHF), a not-for-profit design services firm with a network of 40,000 professionals.Their most current project is helping families rebuild their homes after Hurricane Katarina.

• Solar Lab Research and Design,UK:Fuses design and cutting edge technology to create solar-powered transport solutions.

Solar Shuttle

Further Solar Power designs

That's it for now on solar powers. My next post will reflect on what we can do as individuals, and small communities to contribute to a more sustainable living. After that a more exciting and long awaited issue: sustainable fashion!

Stay tuned ;)

‘Soft Serve’ – by Yves Béhar for PUMA

Smarter Packaging Solution:

Check out this video below and read more on their website: PUMA

Stepping in sustainable futures - My trip to the Design Museum

In the next couple of posts I will give you the highlights of my visit to this exhibition mainly in pictures and a bit of reading too :) just trying to pass on a bit of awareness, I hope you like it! All comments are very welcome!