Playgroup | Creativity through play

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I went to Alastair Thain’s exhibition recently who has been producing extraordinary portraits. He built a series of cameras himself, based on those used by NASA to photograph Earth from the space shuttle. The result is the most advanced high-resolution land-based camera system in existence, which uses negatives measuring nine by 18 inches, and creates prints up to four metres in height.
 
I was amazed by the quality and clarity of the photographs but what really caught my attention was those in the pictures. There was portraits of fairly ordinary people doing extraordinary things with their lives, (I thought you would like that – You know who you are!) such as Fabien Cousteau. He was the only man who has ever viewed the ocean through the eyes of a great white shark, or Dr Mae Jemison who has lived a life of extraordinary achievements. For most people, being a qualified engineer and medical physician, who speaks Swahili, Russian and Japanese and has worked for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leona, would be quite enough for one lifetime. But she was also determined to fulfil a childhood dream to travel into space. Hmm…in 1992 she became the first African-American woman to do just that.
 
Ps. Good luck with the pitch “Superman”!

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My Grandfather was a brilliant person full of character and positivity. He was always doing things, helping others, creating, fixing this and that. Didn’t really matter what as long as it represented value.
 
Once –after he was retired- he thought he would repair bikes over the summer that he had spent with my grandmother by the lake. He set up the business at the rear garden in a tiny shed. That’s when I came into the picture. I was 10 years old and enthusiastic enough to offer him my help on making a sign. I took a large board (it seemed large enough to me), cans of glossy red and white paint and threw myself into the job. By the time I got to the last few letters the board was already filled completely. It didn’t really put me off despite the lack of the ‘apple Z’. I started the whole process all over again on another board with even more enthusiasm. I put all the effort on earth to it. When it was done, I fixed it against the fence of the first property on the road so everyone could see it. I assume that whatever I would’ve done my Grandfather would have used it since he saw honesty in it. Mainly that’s what had driven his business. Genuineness.
 
There were other businesses with fancy signs that used up to date technology but people seemed to be going to my Grandfather. I think they loved the fact that they could see the individual behind the business. He was a big storyteller and so enthusiastic about everything he did, often people stayed longer just to watch how he was working and listened his stories. People called him Master. They were like ‘Is the Master home?’ or ‘I’m looking for the Master’. The key to his success was not only that he provided a great service but he also took care of his customers.

 Last week I went home and unfixed the sign. It had been there for 20 years.

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I've been designing my flat for years now. Mentally leastwise, since I haven't actually got one yet. It's quite tricky as you can imagine. First I need to imagine a layout and then put all the (also imaginary) furniture into it. ..and I don't even know the measurements. Mental, I know!

I've even put a list together of things we would need if we had a house. Basically, we need everything except chairs. We’ve got too many already.

There was a sale at Vitra (vitra.com) recently where all they sold was chairs. As I said I didn't need a chair – I ended up buying four. Four limited edition Panton chairs. Panton chair’s designed by furniture designer Verner Panton for Vitra and launched in 1968 (www.designmuseum.org/design/verner-panton).

Now I need to design everything around them, which will be a real challenge considering their, lets say 'unusual' colour.

Now I'm wondering what's worse: Having a passion for chairs or being addicted to shoes? ;-)

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