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ACME Newsletters

ACME News August

I just found out Lesley Bailey (founder of ACME Studio) runs a newsletter covering new releases, company development and press coverages.  At this stage only June and August issues were released.  "Who'd have though I'd be writing ACME News, so quickly!" said she.  Well, Lesley I think its time you write some blogs coz it is so much easier and I can get a "copy" of your latest release without the need to wait.  I do like the newspaper style though.

Lesley, if you read this, aren't we supposed to have lunch today?  Well, see you somewhere in the world! My next trip is next Monday - Friday (3rd-7th Sep) to Tokyo, back to Hong Kong for a week and head for London to join the Lomo World Congress from 16th-23rd Sep.

LESLEY BAILEY was born in 1953 in Auckland , New Zealand and educated at Mt Roskill school (now classified as one of the top schools in NZ) and the Royal Collage of Art in London .  Raised with an art background, and growing up in the Whiting house (an F.L. Wright inspired design) she has from a young age, loved everything about art, design and architecture.  Lesley “majored” in seeing the world (living in the UK , and Australia before moving to the US ) and diversifying herself in many fields from executive secretary, to managing concept retail stores in NZ & Australia.  Then opening her own store “Emotional Outlet” in 1983, known for its unique products and her jewelry Designs, for which she won many awards for her jewelry and packaging designs.  During this time she also designed jewelry collections for a famous fashion house in Sydney to go with latest collections of, Chloe, Lagerfeld, Rykiel, Ungaro, Valentino, etc., which were coordinated to be sold with the outfits.  In 1985, she co-founded ACME Studios with her husband Adrian Olabuenaga.

Midas-Bullet PA09

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Chocolate Rain - Prudence's Exhibition Entry & Interview

Fatina at the End of the bookmark on Highly Customized CIAK Notebook

I invited Prudence Mak to join our upcoming CIAK notebook exhibition simply out of her fame.  Today I finally met her in person for a video shooting and I was immediately captured by her radiance.  I bet she is a multi-task creative person full of ideas and dreams coz every moment she was doing two things at a time - but most of the time sewing and talking :)

Prudence Mak's Entry to CIAK "Create" Exhibition in LOG-ON

The CIAK "Create" exhibition was conceived months ago and together with CIAK we dreamed up a list of figure designer, fashion/jewlery designers, illustrators, furniture designers etc and asked them to use CIAK's notebook as a medium to capture their ideas before actually creating a new product or design.  I love paper, notebook and pen a lot coz they are really great tools to bring intangible ideas to reality.  I myself scribble a lot on my Moleskine and CIAK and many great ideas came out and one by one they became reality.  My idea is that as long as you are diciplined enough to capture your ideas using your favorite medium, you will be able to benefit from the very process of recording.  This of course includes writing notes and sketching to record dreams, which always help to give me insights of my current state of mind, diagnost fear and worries, etc etc.

Prudence Mak's Fatina and Fashion Accessories

If you google "Prudence Mak", you will find endless articles about her, even on Time Magazine some time ago when SARS hit Hong Kong.  To get a glimpse of her footprints, visit Chocolate Rain web site and check out the company section which features all of her exhibitions and awards.  Her character Fatina Dreaming was also featured in MTR's "Designer's Compartment" (創意列車), a fully decorated interior of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway, among other local artists.

Fatina Dreaming Designer's Compartment on MTR

Back to today, I went to Prudence's shop in SOHO around 5:20pm and had a great chat while the video man was doing his job.  We were supposed to have a 2-3 mins. video of Prudence working on her CIAK and her own product, but I was just feeling laid back after the day's bombardments from work.  We chatted about exhibitions, shows, market etc etc.

Fatina in Gold

I love the atmosphere of her store very much, a warm welcoming store front, a cozy upstairs workshop, easy lighting and plenty of opportunities for explorations.  It opens at 2pm and closes 11pm daily.  She asked me whether I will someday open a store of my own, I said "I'm learning from you".

Fatina in Rainbow Coat

The nicest thing about a shop like hers is that you will think that you need to give up everything in your busy day's work, forget everything and dwell into the owner's world in order to fully appreciate the works.  So if you are not relaxed or open enough, you may not be able to "get it".

Fatina's Friend?

Prudence now has an agent for European market.  She exhibited in shows like Maison et Objet.  She is also interested in having more stationery products, you know quality stuffs instead of cheap cheap productions.  I'll get her profile and promote her stuffs to some of the stationery makers I work closely with.

Prudence's Drawing on Beautiful Shoes

"I was asked by many customers whether this dress I created can be worn or not.  Well, for me I dare not to wear it but the patchwork makes it very unique, it records my thinking and reminds me of my mother's sewing works"

Prudence Working On Her Dummy Fatina

Prudence is a genuinely radiant person, I was only able to see her "chocolate" side when I was talking to her today, but as her company's name "Chocolate Rain" suggests, there are bitter and sweet moments, "this is what life is, isn't it?"  Later tonight when I read her CIAK journal entry, I saw the "rain" side of hers, about the struggle to bring HK design to the world, proofing to the world that we can do......

Prudence Talking About Her Creative Process

Finally, I do believe the "chocolate" part of her wins over her "rain" part coz without this positive creative energy, one cannot deal with numerous set backs and obstacles.  What I can see of her in a few year's time: more licensing and being truly world recognized.

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GTD Audio: Productive Talk

Just finished Merlin Mann (43folders.com)'s podcast talks with David Allen.  It's a great recap of the books/audios I read/listened, and its free!

Mm_da_icon_v1-playerimage

The audio can be found both in 43folders.com or Odeo: Productive Talk Comp.: Episodes 01-08

I also found the audio "Relaxed Focus with David Allen" by Humankind a super good listen.  You can get a glimpse of David's spiritual journey or inner quest at 46:22.  He talked about how he was living a plastic unreal dishonest life and suddenly walked out of the house with no money or anything to search for the inner voices.  He was literally homeless, but what he got from this experience was the importance of the sense of total freedom and invulnerability if you truly turly let go of everything (the very essence of GTD).  He was put in the state hospital, when he finally comprised to live a normal life he told people that "you are not looking at somebody who's cured but looking at somebody at a high state of cooperation."

So to check out more of David's GTD:

• Relaxed Focus audio by Humankind
• Self-fulfilling Prophecies audio by Humankind
• David Allen Company Podcast audios
• Getting Things Done - the Art of Stress-Free Productivity as a book or audio or book in your own language
• Ready for Anything - 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life as a book or audio or book in your own language
• 43folders.com: Merlin Mann's Podcasts

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Montblanc Monte Rosa Fountain Pen

Montblanc Monte Rosa 14C Nib

This 1950s Monte Rosa 042G , black piston filler,closed 12,8 cm long,14 carat F gold nib ,cap inprint "Montblanc-Monte Rosa" fountain pen was given to me as a gift.  I took the above macro picture by using a magnifier + digital IXUS and the result seems fine enough to show the details.  It also has a nice blue transparent ring in the middle of the pen showing how much is left in the ink reserve.

Montblanc Monte Rosa Fountain Pen

The pen is now sold aournd US$125 - US$399 depending on condition on ebay.  Today I just filled it up with Aurora's black ink and made some sketches.  Although Aurora's black is not as black as Noodler's, a few more pen strokes or slower storkes will just do the trick for me.  Inspired by Leonardo's work, I was just sketching an anatomy of a human machine hybrid.

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Synchronicity: Moleskine, Macy's, Strand

Been in Macy's Herald Square store twice and finally I found from one of their 40 wooden escalator stopped right before store closed, the lighting was perfect so with no particular reasons, I just dropped my M on the floor and took this picture.  It was 13th Aug 2007.

M + Macy's Wooden Escalator

These escalators are probably the last wooden escalators in New York.  Otis "L-type" escalators with their distinctive wood treads have operated in Macy's since 1927.  According to Otis' web site, the same model being "Australia's first escalator, featured timer treads and balustrades was installed in 1924 in the Lavender Bay Railway Station in Sydney and was retired in 1971" there.

You can clearly hear the wood clicking sound and somehow it is not annoying to me.  The sound these escalators produce, was heard by billions of people, only in different eras.  I made a rough calculation: 80 years of service x 365 days x 11 hours a day x 300 passengers/hr x 40 escalators = 3,854,400,000 passengers ever in Macy's had heard the same clicking sound.  3.8 billion passenger!  Current world population as of July is 6.6 billion.

Want to hear the "Roller Coaster" sound but can't be there?

macy's moving staircase

In the same NYC trip, I went to Strand Bookstore - 18 miles of books, on 14th Aug 2007.  This time with a little bit more time to explore and bought a super value US$15 "The Unknown Leonardo" with lots and lots of illustrations inside.  I was so pleased with the purchase.

Strand NYC

Outside Strand on its window display stood some old shelves, photos and a Remington Standard Typewriter with a note "Strand Book Store Celebrates 80 Years 1927 - 2007".... "In 1927, Ben Bass opened Strand Book Store on Fourth Avenue, home of New York's legendary Book Row.  Named after the famous publishing street in London, the Strand was one of 48 bookstores on Book Row, which ran from Union Square to Astor Place.  The Strand is the sole survivor".

Strand 80 Years

Strand was doing a 25% off list price promotion for Moleskines.

Strand's 25% Off for Moleskine Aug 2007

What an interesting path I crossed with billions of people.  Strand established for 80 years, Macy's added those wooden escalators in 1927 servicing for it for also 80 years.  Somehow my Moleskine connected to these 2 historic places to me in unexplanable synchronicity.

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Homer Drooling

Homer Drooling

I've been waiting for the new release of these figures from McFarlane Toys and this trip to New York I bought several of them from Toys'rus and Forbidden Planet so that I can put them in our stores to display with ACME Studio's Simpsons limited editions pen series.  I wanted to get the Bart Simpsons figure but it was sold out everywhere, so I settled for Homer coz most of our still available limited editions are of him, not to mention the upcoming new release called "Homer Peel" which is also about him.  I took the pig off from the following figure set and replaced with "Scream".

Simpsonsmovie_piggy_photo_01_md

I also took the "Movie Mayhem Homer" and removed the popcorn bucket he was holding and replaced it with "Scream" yet again.

Homer Excited - ACME Scream

This one is particularly interesting coz Homer's tongue is actually curled inside his mouth instead of a painted one.

Simpsonsmovie_mmhomer_photo_01_md

I passed these figures to our merchandiser Ms. Holly Lo and asked her to try displaying Simpsons pen with these figures.  The results of these figures displayed with the corresponding pen should be great, I bet many customers will ask if they can get these figures in our stores instead of purchasing online.

Homer Peel from ACME Studio

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#2 Worst Hotel Arranged by Company

bad hotel drawing plus text.jpg

Not a complaint, just a way to release the stress we buyers experience during our limited budget buying trips, through drawings, photos, words..... Or should I really file a complaint for unfair treatment?  Well sometimes I'm an extremist when there should be some changes and nobody are able to do anything under the umbrella of safety.  And there are times that I'm humble to receive what I've already got from this good life.

bad hotel drawing on plane.jpg

OK, I let my flame died off and examined the residues only after I came back from NY so that I have a fair judgement without the physical and emotional add-ons.  The verdict: bureaucratic company built up without a conscious awareness of the process, a monster comes out of collective individualism.  No it is not serious, but when you can see the future and what can't be changed between now and future, you are downhearted.  The fact: many times I get bad hotels from my business trips, doesn't seem like anybody cares, and it is entirely due to budget issue when it shouldn't be.  Every summer I get to go to NY for the gift show, summer is high season for travel, hotels get expensive, company has a budget, then every year I go to bad hotels whenever there is high season.  Unless I look for alternatives myself nobody cares in this company.  And it is not only summer! Winter also.

bed bug postcard.jpg

Yup, I have the luxury to go many place to find great stuffs for our great customers, but the unconscious treatment I got from company is killing me.  I know nobody intentionally put me in bad hotels, but the fact is, when there is an unflexible rule about budget, there is mistreatment, and the "great product for great customer" vs. "hotel-with-blood-sucking-bed-bug-6mmx4mm-big" doesn't add up.  Again the fact: I stayed 7 nights in Regency Inn & Suites in NY with 4 nights out of air conditioning, no fan was available, bed was infested with blood sucking bugs (imagine I found that out the 2nd night of the 7 nights stay) and I couldn't change room coz it was fully booked and the floor was so dirty and the floor shakes when you flush the toilet and the reception cheated us to go to a USD65 limo instead of what she claimed a USD45 yellow cab with USD10 hotel charge to the airport and ....... I don't need these.

I just took the picture of the bug with my ruler and printed them out in Duane Reade at 10pm as 4x6 and send both our Life division director and HR director as postcard.  Asked them to imagine sleeping with blood sucking bugs every night with vivid image.

postcards from NY.jpg

Personally it is no big deal, I went to worse ones in Europe.  But company sent me to buy great stuffs right?  It is a big contrast that nobody cares and we are not students looking for cheap discount hotels, can anybody do something about it?  The #1 worst hotel I ever experienced with this company: In Frankfurt, January, no heat, no hot water, sleeping with my down coat under thin bed cover.  That's not fair.

bad hotel bed bug.jpg

Yeah no big deal, this bug was crawling on my back and caught by me.  My colleague during the same trip got lucky, he only found 2 fast running bugs on his hotel bed the day he checked out, saved him for 7 nights of sleeping horror.

bad hotel painting postcard.jpg

So how could I sleep?  No I couldn't.  I put bed sheets on the floor to walk on bare foot, I laid towels on chair to avoid contact with smelly chair cushion, I was naked and sweating coz there was no air conditioning.  I wrote postcards to ask for sympathy, I drew and paint to get me focused on good things, I drew and paint for family and friend.

time to read.jpg

I took photos of Strands Book store and printed them out, sent as postcard to my son, and as a reminder to myself: "It's time to read".  "Book" is literally in my son's name when I named him, so I got some friendly free books from Steve Light - a children book illustrator and we had a great dinner in NY, and I'm gonna lure my son into reading great stuffs that may distinguish him from the rest of the followers.

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Olabuenaga + MoMA = OGMA?

08-07-Olabuenaga-Ogma-sqr

Here's a new release from ACME Studio.  A match stick looking roller ball pen.  To prove that it is not what you think, I've included some pictures taken by Wing who'd shown the pen to me a few days ago, it is the size of a real pen.  BTW, I did have a match stick phone strap pen which was half the size of a cigar match.  As usual, ACME's pen is heavy enough with both design and weight so owning one is certainly a statement to your designer-type friends.

This collaboration is done with MoMA, designed by ACME founder/CEO Adrian Olabuenaga.  The thing I haven't figured out is that why its called "OGMA".  My guess is "OlauenaGa moMA" in short?  It has nothing to do with the Portuguese aviation company, it may relate to the Irish god of scholars/education/writing Ogma/Oghma, I don't know.  I will reserve this question to Adrian during my visit to New York International Gift Fair in the coming week, which ACME Studio has a booth in.

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Black Orange Day

Black Orange Day

Because of a cup of coffee this morning, I realized a series of Black + Orange objects I own.  Knowing today would be a day of work at home, I was determined to brighten up my first black coffee sip with a different cup.  Instead of a usual country green one I used a black one.  Soon after the sip, a chain of reactions happening in-and-outside my body happened.  I started to see patterns out of my messy study room, the black-orange pattern.

Black Orange Day

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle novel from Haruki Murakami I recently started reading, a Giorgio Fedon case I use to keep ND filter lens for my SX-70 Sonar Autofocus, Asford leather pen case with orange inner lining and zipper, an OHTO multi-function pen, a Citizen nighthawk watch.....

Black Orange Day

This was just the beginning, later I found out more of my stuffs in this pattern.... Lodis wallet, Boblbee Amphib, etc.

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Spell With Flickr

Here's a fun stuff for your blog.  Erik Kastner created this php and javascript to let you spell your name using flickr images of letters.  Play around with it!
                               

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