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Matthew Williamson: 10 Years in Fashion at Urbis

These days designer Matthew Williamson, the British fashion prodigy, is reported to open his first NY shop in early 2009 and to leave Emilio Pucci where he was a Creative Director since 2005, having succeeded Christian Lacroix. And in the meantime the exhibition “Matthew Williamson: 10 Years in Fashion”, celebrating the start of his burgeoning career in 1997, has made a stop in Manchester, until 21st of September 2008.

Manchester is Williamson’s native city. Born on October 23rd 1971 in Chorlton, Williamson subsequently graduated from Central St Martin’s with a BA 2:1 in Fashion Design and Printed Textiles. He then had a freelance design project with Marni and worked for Monsoon and Accessorize before founding Matthew Williamson Company in 1997 together with Joseph Velosa. He has been nominated three times as the Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, won Elle Designer of the Year award in 2004 and Moet et Chandon Fashion Tribute in 2005. He has been showing consistently at the New York Fashion Week (with the exception of the Spring 2008 show, when he made a return to London, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his designer’s activity).

The exhibition that is currently at Urbis in Manchester is the one that debuted at the Designer Museum in October 2007 and is apparently destined to travel internationally, celebrating, commemorating, and even perhaps letting discover, Williamson’s talent and work. The displays that focus on four main themes – Colour and Psychedelia, Hyper-Nature, Global Extravaganza, and Lifestyle – feature Williamson’s sketches, notebooks, as well as the actual pieces from different collections.

While the exhibition and talent of Williamson leave no doubts in their potential to inspire and grow, the displays at Urbis located on the top floor of the ship-like glass building probably suffer to an extent from the organisation of the space and light – and from the Manga exhibition on Level 1. You really are best taking the lift to see “10 Years in Fashion” first and then go downstairs, if you want to sink in the multi-colour world of Japanese Manga. Williamson’s designs, for which he consistently draws inspiration from ethnic cultures (his spring/summer 2009 pre-collection is said to be inspired by c ontemporary Havana), are indeed colourful, but in a different, multi-layer, multi-pattern, multi-mix way – quite unlike the deep single arresting colours of the Manga displays, which are bound to leave the impression even if you simply run past them. Unfortunately, displayed against the white walls, or in glass cabinets, on the top level where the light and reflection depend not just on artificial lighting but also on the weather outside, Williamson’s designes lose some of the impression they can certainly make. On occasion, the space perhaps has its say in reducing the impression, which again has to do with the actual location.

Still, as you can see on the photos I took at the exhibition, there is a lot to see and to enjoy. In one particular display your attention is sure to be caught by the pink embroidered trouser suit, and also a long fuchsia dress. I love bright colours myself, and on that not particularly sunny day wore yellow tights, fuchsia shoes, a blue dress, and a hand-made yellow-and-pink mohair jumper (which you can see on the picture). And it’s been quite some time that I’ve been thinking of knitting or crocheting myself a long dress, and going to Matthew Williamson’s exhibition convinced me to say “yes” to the inner urge. Behind me in the picture you can see one of a few catwalk shows that you can watch at the exhibition.

Apart from the ones I’ve just mentioned, other designs that impressed me are from the spring/summer 2008 collection. Think ruffles, sequins, khaki (for which colour I have a soft spot, which is why the maxi dress on the left was an instant favourite), but also highly stylish bags (they are, too, a girl’s best friend, after all). But then have a look at the yellow coat from the fall/winter 2008 collection, or at the pale coloured dress with uneven length from the pre-spring 2009 collection, and you will be confronted with totally new ideas for female fashion. In a way, the designs from the pre-spring 2009 collection may be as challenging to some as pinafore dresses – but that’s what fashion is about, really: pushing you out of the old routines.

And bearing in mind that Williamson has now taken inspiration from Cuba, this really must be telling.

As a matter of fact, Williamson has apparently only just bought his first piece of art: “a light installation – a series of horizontal neon tubes that move and change colour” by Rob and Nick Carter, t5m reports. Williamson acknowledged that himself, but I think the very description of the art object tells us: this is the quintessence of Matthew Williamson – ever-changing, ever-colourful, and ever-light.

Notes on the images:

Pictures from the Urbis exhibition were made by me and can seen in Matthew Williamson: 10 Years in Fashion Flickr photoset.

Other image credits: Matthew Williamson official website and NY Magazine.

A Sonnet (Edna St Vincent Millay)

We talk of taxes, and I call you friend;
Well, such we are, but well enough we know
How thick about us root, how rankly grow
Those subtle weeds no man has need to tend,
That flourish through neglect and soon must send
Perfume too sweet upon us and overthrow
Our steady senses, how such matters grow
We are aware, and how such matters end.
Yet shall be told no meagre passion here;
With lovers such as we forevermore
Isolde drinks the draught, and Guinevere
Receives the table’s ruin through her door,
Francesca, with the loud surf at her ear,
Lets fall the coloured book upon the floor.

Edna St Vincent Millay.

The poem tells about the nascence of passion and its possible perils. We know the forlorn stories of Tristan and Isolde and of Lancelot and Guinevere. Yet in fact, this sonnet has more to do with Dante’s Divine Comedy, than with the mentioned medieval romances.

At the end of Canto V, Dante is talking to Francesca da Rimini, who in about 1280 was married to Gian Ciotto (‘Lame’) Malatesta, signor of Rimini. Francesca gradually fell in love with Gian Ciotto’s younger brother, Paolo. Dante might even have known Paolo personally, which in turn may explain the inclusion of this tragic story in his opus. When Gian Ciotto found outabout the adultery, he had killed both lovers. This happened probably in 1286, and Dante’s seems to be the only contemporary mention of this episode.

This is the text:

115 Then I turned to them again to speak
116 and I began: ‘Francesca, your torments
117 make me weep for grief and pity,
118 ‘but tell me, in that season of sweet sighs,
119 how and by what signs did Love
120 acquaint you with your hesitant desires?’
121 And she to me: ‘There is no greater sorrow
122 than to recall our time of joy
123 in wretchedness – and this your teacher knows.
124 ‘But if you feel such longing
125 To know the first root of our love,
126 I shall tell as one who weeps in telling.
127 ‘One day, to pass the time in pleasure,
128 we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him.
129 We were alone, without the least misgiving.
130 ‘More than once that reading made our eyes meet
131 and drained the colour from our faces.
132 Still, it was a single instant overcame us:
133 ‘When we read how the longed-for smile
134 was kissed by so renowned a lover, this man,
135 who never shall be parted from me,
136 ‘all trembling, kissed me on my mouth.
137 A Galeotto was the book and he that wrote it.
138 That day we read in it no further’ (Canto V)

What is obviously different, is the angle at which Dante and Millay looked at Francesca’s story. In The Divine Comedy, Francesca and Paolo had been put into the Second Circle of Inferno:

37 I understood that to such torment
38 the carnal sinners are condemned,
39 they who make reason subject to desire (Canto V)

Nevertheless, as Francesca later explains,

103 ‘Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,
104 seized me so strongly with his charm that,
105 as you see, it has not left me yet’ (Ibid.)

It is this 103rd line that Millay seems to be taking as a starting point for her poem. Faithful to Love, the author actually invites ‘Francesca’ to ‘fall the coloured book upon the floor‘. Millay’s sonnet is almost a celebration of sudden passions, and the reference to a coloured book may be construed both in medieval and contemporary sense. The reference to Francesca da Rimini links a ‘coloured book‘ to an illuminated manuscript, which is exactly what Francesca and Paolo would have been reading at the end of the 13th c. But Millay’s poem was written in the 20th c., and, whether in 1280s or in 1920s, the lovers are to be brought together by a book that narrated a love story. Surely, there were a lot of coloured books of such kind in Millay’s days?

[The English text of The Divine Comedy is taken from Princeton Dante Project].

Update:

One of the greatest Pre-Rafaelites, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was well-known for his adoration for Dante’s masterpiece. In his lifetime Rossetti illustrated The Divine Comedy many times, and certainly did not get past the Paolo and Francesca extract. His drawing (below) is an interesting reworking of a typically medieval combination of several temporal aspects of the story. On the left we see the lovers embracing each other at the moment when the book became their Galeotto; on the right we see their souls, entwined in the eternal embrace; and in the middle Dante and Virgil watch the souls’ flight. It is interesting to note Rossetti’s faithful following of Dante’s text (which manifests itself particularly in the figures of Dante and Virgil), but perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the faces of Paolo and Francesca potently remind one of Rossetti (left) and his beloved and model, Elizabeth Siddal (right).

Family Friendly Film Festival 2008

Two years ago, during the Late Summer Bank Holiday, the very first Family Friendly Film Festival hit a few venues across Manchester. Back in August 2006 I was doing The LOOK at QT Radio in the Northern Quarter, and jumped at the opportunity to cover this new event. It subsequently made the topic of one of the first blog posts here.

FFFF, curated by Arts About Manchester, has been taken off the ground by the infatigable Leah Byrne who, with the help of her assistant Rachel Witkin and a team of volunteers, is now in the third year of bringing the best in children’s film and animation to the parents and children of Greater Manchester. The screenings at the very first FFFF included some award-winning and nominated films and cartoons (you can find the full list if you follow the link to the 2006 post), but that was only a half of what the FFFF team had to offer. Recognising the importance of the visual impression, the festival organisers wanted to involve children – and their parents – in some hands-on activity, whereby they came up with an idea of creative workshops.

I edited some of the 2006 show – this is a good recap of the aims and programme of the first Family Friendly Film Festival. The first speaker is Leah herself, followed by the one of the WFA Media & Cultural Centre workers, followed in turn by one of the parents who with their children took part in the puppet animation workshop at the Zion Arts Centre. Naturally, because Leah is interested in film, we also got to talk about the Disney films vs. European and Japanese animation. The enthusiasm of the interviewees potently proves that at this event both children and parents learn new skills, and adults relive their childhood moments; and that cinema as a medium is wonderful for bringing the members of family together.

Go To FileFactory.com

This year the festival has grown far and wide, and lasts not for a few days over a Bank Holiday weekend, but for over a week, from 8^th until 17^th of August. The venues are as diverse as Urbis, Zion Arts Centre, The John Rylands Library in Deansgate, and The Stockport Plaza. The best thing, as before, is that most of these events are free, drop-in-sessions for kids and parents, although there is a portion of events for which you need to book a seat or to buy a ticket. These are usually the workshops, and also some screenings, but all at £5 or less. The tickets are on sale NOW at www.quaytickets.com or by phone on 0870 428 0785.

This year FFFF also has some activities celebrating the National Year of Reading, and one of these will include the screening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the Reading Room at the John Rylands Library in Deansgate. Other events that are part of the National Year of Reading will be taking place at the Central Library, Clayton and Chorlton Libraries, and The Met.

And one the festival’s highlights is doubtless Darius Goes West (dir. Logan Smalley, USA, 2007). To quote the short synopsis,

Darius Weems from Athens, Georgia, was born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). In 1989, Darius watched his older brother, Mario, pass away from the same disease at age 19. Soon after, he lost use of the muscles in his legs and began using a wheelchair. A group of his friends felt there was no need for his quality of life to disintegrate along with his muscles. So, they decided to take Darius, who had never seen a range of mountains, never dipped his toes into an ocean, and never crossed a state line on the adventure of a lifetime. After raising $60,000, this “band of brothers” rented a wheelchair-accessible RV and hit the road. Their three-week cross-country journey had one major goal: to reach Los Angeles and convince MTV’s popular show, “Pimp My Ride”, to customize Darius’s wheelchair. Along the way, they evaluated wheelchair accessibility at many of America’s major tourist attractions and raised awareness of DMD by holding over a dozen press conferences. They also found joy, brotherhood, and the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride.

Already the first FFFF was courageous in the choice of some of the screenings, and it goes further to help children of Greater Manchester to learn to see themselves and other children in perspective. Somehow here cinema and animation may be doing a better job for the youngsters who may not yet be able to experience the power of a written word, but are not hindered from learning lessons from film’s sight&sound. Hopefully, there will be many more years for FFFF to come.

View and download this year’s FFFF brochure.

Many thanks to Leah Byrne for information and images.

Schmap Liverpool for the iPhone

There has been much talk about iPhone. I particularly liked Robin Hamman’s documenting the growing queues outside the phone shop on 11th of July (left). I followed a few discussions on Facebook and elsewhere that centred on various aspects of iPhone, but then I received a Flickr mail from the Schmap team. Last year my photo of Liverpool’s Western Approaches was included in the e-version of Schmap Liverpool Guide, and now the photo is also available in Schmap for iPhone (right).

“Schmap for iPhone has access to our full range of City Guides, plus a Local Search service powered by Yahoo!, and a unique Rotating Map feature that auto generates a map when you turn your iPhone sideways…”

Interested? Go to Schmap for the iPhone to read more or to browse the city guides.

Simon Cunningham: “Looking Is an Activity”

The opportunity to attend Beck’s Canvas 2008 and to see the work by four RCA graduates instantly prompted me to inquire about an interview with one of them. I was offered to choose. I studied the winners’ profiles and, bearing in mind my own interest in photography, requested a talk with Simon Cunningham.

You can now listen to Simon’s interview below. In 18 minutes we find out about Simon’s work, artistic practice, inspirations, his views as an artist on using the WWW space… There is some laughter (as well as tinkling of the bottles in the background, with the gallery space then being prepared for the event), and a mad wizardy question at the very end of the talk. Once again, thanks to Simon, and to James Fell from OnlineFire for organising the interview.

Originally from the Midlands, Simon has now been living and working in London for a number of years. We are told that he sold more work than he has been able to exhibit, mainly through group shows and to private collectors . His shows in 2008 included exhibitions at Galleria Civica di Modena (Italy), Bloomberg SPACE (UK), and Espai Ubu (Barcelona, Spain). The list needs now to be updated with the show of his work at the RCA in Kensington Gore in London at the launch of Beck’s Canvas. In a way, Beck’s Canvas and Cunningham’s work were practically made for one another. In his work, Simon often explores the other “side” or “angle” of an image – and this is exactly what Beck’s Canvas is: it is a beer bottle label that can become an artist’s canvas.

The cornerstone of Cunningham’s artistic practice is the act of looking. As he aptly observes in his interview, he takes “looking” in the broadest sense of the word: “it’s about looking, and seeing, and searching…” – and I think we all too often forget about these “other sides” of any activity we undertake. “Mollymuddle” (left) is exemplary in this sense because in this video Simon attempted to record, in the proper sense of the word, all the stages of looking at an object. True, at the first glance it does look like a guy is merely holding his leg and staring at it. But try and look at it closer, or a bit longer, or from a different angle, and you will realise suddenly that there is more to this image. There is attention and tenderness in the image akin to mother-and-child relationship, and “Mollymuddle” may instantly become the newest reverberation of a mother-and-child theme in art. Think about multiple Our Lady and Christ representations where the baby Jesus is placed on his mother’s knee or in her arms, and looking at Simon’s face I think Leonardo’s “Madonna Litta” (right) may be a good reference; or we can recall pietà images. At the same time, the presence of a male figure, even recorded in this position, from this angle, may bring to mind the depth of Rodin’s work and Rodin’s preoccupation with human emotions and reactions. Or it may remind one of Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” (right). “Mollymuddle” and our own looking at it prove Simon’s faithful adherence to Wittgenstein‘s idea of perception: “the expression of a change of aspect is the expression of a new perception and at the same time of the perception’s being unchanged“. We can find many more references in “Mollymuddle”, while only looking at Cunningham’s solitary figure.

If it is possible to draw a quick conclusion from the above, it will be that Simon Cunningham is teaching us that there is a direct connection between looking, thinking, and envisaging. The actual physical activity becomes possible after all those stages, even if they are not strictly discernible. Not that this sounds totally new, but perhaps we expect – and are expected – to always be active, and hence “having a look” is dismissed as insufficient, one is urged to produce, to exert some effect upon the world. Simon’s work, quirky and poetic at once, proves that with looking there is more going on than meets the eye – to which his “Duckrabbit” is a perfect illustration. It suffices to say that after this work ducks and rabbits will never be as we knew them before.

Links for Simon Cunningham:

In Our World exhibition profile.
RCA profile.
Personal website.

A few extracts from Simon’s interview:

About his work:

I am trying to make these images that are in a state of flux, that are kind of wrestling with each other, and I always try and force myself to see what I saw when I looked at the images as a whole, where I was trying not to see a duck, or a rabbit, but trying to see both at the same time…

About his art:

It’s about maybe trying and find my own practice and name it, and I’ve always had a problem with naming it. The work has become in a way outside of language, it’s what I can’t name, or meshing words together, like Duckrabbit. They’re all pushing things together to make new meanings.

About photography:

Photography is fascinating! It’s a way of bringing you closer to something but always keeps you at distance, it’s quite like this frustrated things, it’s looking at the world, and my work in general is about looking in the broadest sense of the world. It’s about looking, and seeing, and searching… Photography was the most accessible way of pointing and not naming but saying “this has got something to do with that, but I’m not quite sure what it is”…

About the Royal College of Art:

That’s an experience. I came here very much aware of how precious it would be to have two years where you could just experiment. And maybe a lot of people get hung up on the show, but luckily what made it for me was getting a Paris studio residency for three months.., and it kind of liberated me. And it also made me understand that I never had a studio… The studio became a sort of architecture of the space, and that space swept everything together.

About Paris:

Paris is amazing, it’s just a dream space, and because I am not very good with languages, I could go down the street, and there was no noise. Not that I go around listening to other people’s conversations, but when I was there I would switch off and find my own space…

Beck’s Canvas 2008 at the RCA in London

Last year Los Cuadernos de Julia collaborated with Stella Artois, – and this year I was invited to Beck’s Canvas 2008 event in London. Like Illycaffe and Chateau Mouton Rothschild, so Beck’s have been supportng young artists for over 20 years by letting them use the Beck’s label as the canvas for their artwork. This year, however, is unique in that it saw Beck’s partnering with the Royal College of Arts to exhibit the work of the four RCA graduates.

As we are told,

2008 sees a landmark for the Beck’s art programme, with the launch of Canvas. For this very special project, we needed a very special partner. The Royal College of Art is a particular kind of ideas factory unlike any other. As the world’s only wholly postgraduate university institution of art and design, the college boasts a global reputation for artistic excellence and an unrivalled creative environment. College alumni and internationally admired artists Tracey Emin, Tim Noble and the Chapman Brothers all created Beck’s labels during the 1990s. Then, as now, Beck’s was striving to support those determined to express themselves creatively. A partnership with the College presents a great opportunity to achieve this goal.

I attended the event on 16 July at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, next to the Royal Albert Hall (see the image at the top of the post). The preparation, however, started already in June when I was contacted by OnlineFire PR who found me via Technorati.

Below is a short video I put together using promotional images supplied by OnlineFire, as well as the examples of art work by the winning artists. You can also check Beck’s Canvas 2008 photoset on Flickr. An interview with Simon Cunningham will be coming up shortly, that will include some transcribed excerpts.

I would like to thank OnlineFire for the invitation, and particularly James Fell, who has been a great help in providing information about the event and artists, setting up an interview with Simon, and supplying me with images.

Last but not least, congratulations to the artists!

Links and further information on the artists:

Riitta Ikonen

Originally from Finland, Riitta believes the Beck’s Canvas project resonates with her own belief of taking art out of the gallery for people to see in a wider context. In her mind individualism is a little space inside your head reserved just for you, like a private restaurant table that serves you anything you think to want.

Riitta takes inspiration from ‘the performance of images, through photography and costume design. Certain things, usually small and insignificant, excite me to the point that I have to wear them and then document that process.’

Key achievements for Ritta include featuring on the cover of a ‘mail art’ book published by Lawrence King Publishing and compiled by Flat 33 (RCA Alumni). She has also been interviewed by WWF for her ‘Snowflake’ project, which was funded by the RCA and addressed climate change in the Baltic. In November 2007, Riitta was commissioned by the Tate to produce an interactive costume experience and has most recently been shortlisted for the Adobe Creative Futures 2008.

Riitta is currently still working on producing a herring costume for a dive in the Baltic Sea – another attempt at raising the awareness of climate change in the area. She is also contributing to a campaign to encourage commuters in London to interact on the underground, as well as working with the Tate’s events programme. Plans for the future include travelling around the world to create artwork that highlights local issues for charitable use, “I’d love to take my work to Japan; go to Mongolia to work hard; go to Cuba for the amazing colours and people; learn new skills and share ideas with unique people.”

Tom Price

Tom Price, 26 is an alumni of Sculpture (2006). Subsequent to this, he received a First Class BA (Hons) Sculpture from Chelsea College of Art in 2004 and currently works from his South London studio, in Brixton.

In April 2008, Price exhibited a solo presentation of his art at the NEXT Art Fair, Chicago and will also be showing work at the ‘Personal Freedom Centre’ in October during Freeze Week at the Hales Gallery. Other awards include receiving the Sir John’s Cass Bursary, which allowed him to study at the Royal College of Arts.

Price is now working on new sculptures and continues to explore different materials and formats.

Simon Cunningham (his profile at RCA)

Simon Cunningham is an alumni of the MA Fine Art, photography course (2007) Cunningham lives and works in London.

Cunningham has sold more work than he has been able to exhibit mainly through his group shows and to private collectors. Cunningham is currently exhibiting film and photography work in Fragile at Espai Uba in Barcelona and also in Italy as part of ‘In our world’ at Galleria Civica de Modena.

Charlotte Bracegirdle

Charlotte Bracegirdle, 34, is an alumni of the Masters degree in painting (2006). Originally from Broardhembury, Devon, Charlotte spent seven years applying to art schools across the UK before accepting a place at the RCA.

Charlotte has previously been awarded the Davis Langdon award (2006) and was shortlisted for 2007’s New Contemporaries.

Plans for Charlotte’s future are to continue painting and exhibiting her work, she is currently working towards an exhibition for the Madame Lillies Gallery, Stoke Newington, running from 10 September 2008. Bracegirdle dreams to be an artist in residence at the National Gallery, she loves all the history in there and dreams to spend all her days painting.

A Perfect Fusion at Yang Sing Oriental Hotel

Update: Yang Sing Oriental Hotel has sadly closed in March 2009, just a little under a year since its opening.

You have undoubtedly heard of – if not dined at – Yang Sing restaurant in Princess St in Manchester. Founded in 1977 by the Yeung family of renowned Cantonese chefs, the restaurant went from strength to strength to become the epitome of Cantonese cuisine and to set a standard for all future ethnic restaurants. In over 30 years of Yang Sing history the founders and the staff have been seasoned with experience, which included a 1997 Christmas fire, but most importantly – many a rave review highlighting the impeccable service and inimitable food. Add to this the glorious awards and the fact that the restaurant, originally located in George St, subsequently moved to Princess St where in 2006 it has been refurbished in the 1930s Shanghai style – you will see that Yang Sing (this is a phonetic translation of the nickname of the city of Guangzhou in Southern China; it means “The City of Goats”) is clearly dedicated to be the best. As the diners say, “Yang Sing is about the only Chinese restaurant in England which doesn’t compromise on taste to suit a Western palate and at impressively affordable prices“. The prices are estimated to be £25-34 per person, and you can check their banquet menus and wine list, or have a look at the sample of à la carte menu.

The entrepreneurial spirit clearly runs in the Yeung family, which is the reason why several years ago Mr Kui Man (Gerry) Yeung OBE conceived of a Yang Sing Oriental hotel, also located in Princess St, next door to the restaurant. The multibillion venture started officially in 2007 and was a conversion of a cotton warehouse and a bank. In the words of Mr Yeung, “people have had 30 years of corporate hotels, where each Hilton, Holiday Inn or Marriott is the same, and they are looking for something a bit different“. With the boutique hotel market on the rise, the conversion plan for Yang Sing Oriental was a timely move.

The tagline for the new business is “East meets West, and service meets style“. I was invited to the opening ceremony of the hotel on 8 July, and I cannot really comment on service as yet (apart from that the staff were smartly dressed and very helpful). The rest, however, is perfectly true, especially where style is concerned. Hargreaves were contracted to convert the building into a landmark 48-room hotel. The interior retains some original features, like wooden beams and cast iron columns, as well as some marks in the rooms highlighting the places where the equipment used to stand. This certainly makes Yang Sing Oriental a boutique hotel with the difference, if only because it does not shun from exposing its working-class background (a cotton warehouse, that is).

The magic begins at the Oku Champagne Bar where you are being served a madly extensive champagne menu (I am scared to type in the number!), and the Orient-inspired bar menu is created by Robert Kisby and Harry Yeung, Gerry’s brother. Take a lift from there to one of the floors, and you are greeted with a tranquil corridor decorated with white orchids in floor vases. The doors with the portraits of ladies, whose faces reminded me of women in Wong Kar-wai’s films, lead you to individually decorated rooms.

I must be quick to admit that I do not stay in hotels very often (or as often as I would like), so I cannot say much about the facilities for disabled visitors in other places. In Yang Sing Oriental at least one room’s bathroom is designed specifically to accommodate someone who uses a wheel-chair.

With each room designed individually, you are spoilt for experience and are left craving for more – or rather wondering, what other rooms are like. I can tell that of all those I visited I was particularly captivated by the one with glass walls. Whereas we are more or less used to having a clear divide between the bedroom and the bathroom, in this room the two are practically not separated, except for the glass screens. The only drawback of this particular room may be the space, which is small. However, if you are looking for a weekend break with your second half, this room may be perfectly suitable. In the Emperor suite on the top floor you are treated to a telescope and a spiral staircase that leads to the meditation space. I found the lime-green and pink decor of one of the rooms modern and refreshing, and, like many visitors and members of staff, loved the sumptuous Oriental suite that overlooks the corner of Princess St and Portland St. The window opens the view on the Chinatown in the foreground and the Britannia Hotel in the background, and the Gay Village part of Princess St on the right.

The hotel boasts a gym and a spa (neither of which I tried, for obvious reasons), complimentary Wi-Fi, secretarial services, and a hi-tech meeting room. You can further “customise” your stay with a choice of Japanese silk duvets and a scent for your room. Finally, Sutra Lounge is a guests-only space, once again adorned with white orchids and featuring warm white, golden and brown shades in decor. Cue in pillows, candles, a rustic bed, drapes and “silks” (this is how they used to call Oriental fabrics in Tudor times), and here is your Yang Sing Oriental – a uniquely-Eastern hotel at the heart of one of Europe’s top business cities.

The opening event featuring the Dragon dance was hosted by Peter Aust, and I would like to thank Collette Walsh for the invitation. The hotel is officially opening for bookings at the end of July, and, being a Manchester resident, I will probably not book in for a stay – unless I have the reason to check into that glass-screen room for two (as a matter of fact, all rooms are sound-proof). But the memory of the visit is indelible, and I am sure it will transpire into some decor and comfort regeneration in my current abode.

For more pictures from the night, visit Yang Sing Oriental Flickr photoset.

Manchester’s Banyan Tree

The Banyan Tree, located in Moho Building in Castlefield, is the current hot-spot for all who live and work at The Box Works, Timber Wharf, and on St George’s Island. It stands right across the road from the converted church, and the glass wall that faces the road allows in generous heaps of light at all hours.

The Banyan Tree is named so after the banyans or banians; the Hindu traders seen resting or carrying out their business under the tree. Banyan trees have become important meeting places for many people who gather in its shade, to relax or chat.

Such has become this one of Manchester’s newest bars, and the fact that they brew the Illy coffee makes a welcome difference. A few weeks ago I had a cappuccino there, with a piece of chocolate cake, which were absolutely delicious. As a matter of fact, Illycaffe has been providing support for emerging talent, as well as collaborating with established artists, including Jeff Koons, Francis Ford Coppola, James Rosenquist, and Louise Bourgeois. I will expand in another blog post on the importance on this, although the intent of a well-known coffee brand to support the arts needs no explanation or excessive laudation. Still, it was also great to drink Illy coffee at the Banyan Tree in the year of the Illycaffe’s 75th anniversary.

The Banyan Tree Flickr photoset.

In the picture on the left – Quentin El-Bez, Juicy Shoot founder and vodka expert, with one his creations: strawberry vodka.

The Long and Winding Road to Urbis

On July 5, 2002 I landed in Manchester Airport for the first time. In fact, it was the first ever time I would visit England. I’d left in August, then visited briefly again in November, and the next time I’d arrive to Manchester would be in September 2003. As you know, I haven’t since been back to Moscow yet.

The reason for this short intro on my Manchester visits and stays is this. Bearing in mind that I came to Manchester for the first time six years ago, today was the first ever time I visited Urbis. Words cannot express my utter shame at the fact that I walked and rode past this Manchester museum hundreds of times and never – ever – pulled myself together to actually pay a visit. My only consolation is that back in Moscow there are still plenty of sites I never visited – despite the fact that I was born in the city!

This long wait before entering the Urbis doors was certainly worth of itself. At the moment, there are three amazing exhibitions taking place, the subjects vary from Japanese culture through city gardening to haute couture. As the Urbis’s website says quite correctly, this museum celebrates cities and people who live there – hence currently the entrance hall displays this giant photo of Manchester by Aidan O’Rourke (left). Read more about the photo and effort and costs involved. In the words of the Master himself, “the Manchester Mega-Photo is a gigantic photocollage of Manchester city centre and the conurbation beyond to the north and north east. It was taken from the roof of the Beetham Hilton Tower and consists of 285 overlapping poster size prints arranged in ‘Hockneyesque’ style“. On the right you can see my favourite part of the collage, featuring Town Hall and the Central Library.

Links:

Urbis Museum Flickr photostream

Urbis Museum Flickr channel

On the right is the Urbis photo by Steve Mayes.