Tiling the floor

Yesterday we finished tiling the floor at Bay Road Hair Studio.

Today due to grouting (application of mortar cement between tiles), site has to remain rather clean hence it was a very quiet day, more so for builders to prepare for the next task - wall building tomorrow.

From the ground up

Yesterday on site we leveled the floor with cement, to prepare for tiling next week.

Due to the minimal time we have for construction, it was very important to plan everything out as much as possible To not waste anytime on site, leveling should be done on Saturday to allow adequate drying over Sunday; to lay concrete for leveling means all plumbing rough-in underfloor need to do done by Friday afternoon; to enable underfloor plumbing, floor finish removal should take priority in demolition and finish by mid morning... Etc etc... Pretty much setting a goal (project completion) and working backwards.

So far everything has been progressing smoothly, and everyone on site and neighbors seem to be excited about the future transformation... I can't wait.

12 Hours later

Action-packed first day of construction for Bay Rd Hair Studio renovation!

Silence before the storm

Here will become construction site in 5 hours.
Nervous but excited.

Facet Studio Office Warming Party

2 weeks ago we had a party to celebrate the completion of our new office.. it was fantastic to see so many friends at the same place mingling together, and definitely has warmed up the space for us!

 

We started preparation around 2 hours before the party was starting... other than Phin who had a clear idea of what she was going to make, due to an extremely busy week the conversation at that point in time was more like: "lets make some canapes" "sound good! but what is canape?" "let me google it.."

But hey! it was all part of the fun!

Ready for the party?!

Phin making dumpling from scratch, JJ is there to help

Mariona and Spanish omelettes

friends started to arrive for the night

students from UNSW also joined us

amazing how many people we managed to fit in the space!

mingling..

Yoshi starting to look drunk...

 

it was incidentally last day of Phin's internship with us.. we are going to miss her, especially Mariona!

Oops.....I was caught stealing a bite....

Lets not forget about JJ's famous cheesecake!

And here comes the secrete entertainment of the night!!

an excited crowd!

mission accomplished! Facet's Jamsession

Special thanks to Shunsuke for training Yoshi to dance and organised the T-shirts in a flash!! Well and of course for the fantastic breakdance!

(There was in fact an extended encore after this video was taken..)

happily drunk...

after party anyone?

Thank you everyone for coming, it was great to see you all and we should do this again!!

Vivid Sydney 2012

The Vivid Sydney 2012 has just closed on June 11.

(Here is a post on Vivid Sydney 2011)

With the amount of work and crazy rain, I thought I was sure to miss out... luckily I was able to make it on its closing night (during the one hour it did not rain!).

Here are some photos .. the display of light (and great integration with soundtracks this year) has become increasingly elaborate and choreographed, challenging the limitation of light and colour project in its capability of creating illusions and expectations.

Again I am reminded, we are living in a beautiful city.

crawling on the Opera House sails...

 ...or turning into Transformer....

the newly renovated Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)

the newly renovated MCA - somehow reminds me of one scene from Batman 

...driving through a tunnel of flourishing Van Gogh...

...or looking at city scape from above, while standing looking at Custom House's facade... 

which then sprouts into cheerful flowers

(I am still trying to work out how to upload my video of the Custom House projection from Youtube to the blog... I guess that will happen in due course)

Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile (cont.)

Continuing on with Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile from the last blog entry.

With the installations there has been a lot of play with lighting.  Here are a few memorable installations (for me)...

This installation at Canon has to be my favourite installation this year

Well there are very nice set ups for furnitures...

...and we did get to sit on some beautiful chairs... crisp lines, lovely geometry and refined details....

I would love to have one of these myself!

Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile

On top of attending the Frame Moooi Award Gala Party, the other reason for us to visit Milan is the annual Salone del Mobile.
Here is a little extract from its official website:

The Salone del Mobile is the global benchmark for the Home Furnishing Sector. An invaluable tool for the industry as well as an ongoing, quite extraordinary promotional vehicle. The Salone made its first appearance in 1961, designed to promote Italian furniture and furnishing accessories on the export market, and it has continued to do so impeccably, ensuring that the quality of Italian furniture is known to all four corners of the earth, and continues so to do, with half of all its visitors coming from around the world...
...The 2012 edition was attended by 292,370 trade operators, 188,579 of whom came from foreign Countries; 39,279 members of the general public and 6,484 communication operators.

...was it strange to see "horsemen" on the streets of trendy Milan? ....I guess so.... but it is ok because it is the Salone!

It is a very special time for Milan - the air is vibrant, people are excited, streets are packed until late.

The exhibitions are scattered around the city, lots of rubbing shoulders with strangers.
All the exhibitors tried to catch people's attention in many ways ....

 one of the rest areas...yes you do get tired walking around, AND from over exposure to fine designs!

interesting screening device

 interesting furniture pieces...

wire frame bench changes colour when turned on different sides with beautiful shadow effect - intricate craftsmanship 

wall coat hanger (?)

I was noticing a lot of colourful "wire frame" designs.... is it a trend?

...to be continued..

Frame Moooi Award Gala Party at Milan

Following on from the earlier entry, me and Yoshi took the opportunity to visit Milan and joined the Frame Moooi Award Gala Party.

Another reason is to visit the annual Milan Salone, which I will cover in tomorrow's entry.

So the Gala Party took place at Milan's entertainment venue, Magazzini Generali (which apparently is one of the most famous night club at Milan. On our way there the taxi driver asked us if we were good dancers..).

at Magazzini Generali

Left: Marcel Wanders (Founder of Dutch furniture/ lighting company Moooi)
Right: Philippe Starck (French designer, sole jury of Frame Moooi Award 2012)

Starck talks about his doubts with role of design

Wanders presents the award

Our project Sneakerology presented on stage

The shortlisted nominees on the stage with Wanders and Starck
(I am 2nd from left, Yoshi is 4th from left in the photo)

Although we were top 10 in the 891 submissions, unfortunately we did not take the award home.. hey, there is always next year!