Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Curious Case of the Photo in the Bathroom at Dudley’s New York

The decor of Dudley’s, a popular Australian-style restaurant in New York’s Lower East Side, is beautiful and makes clever, amusing use of some unusual spaces.

Take it’s WC, for example. It’s almost as small as those you find on commercial aircraft — it’s a tight wedge of space tucked under the narrow stairs leading to the basement.

Though small, there’s just enough space, for some decorative flourishes and artwork. In this case, a framed 1990 Associated Press photo of then Aussie primer minister Bob Hawke golfing with the first President Bush during an official visit to the U.S. Framed with the black-and-white image is the original A.P. caption and slug information (the photo was for use with a profile article on then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker).

It’s a curious choice for a washroom photograph. Is there a cheeky underlying statement being made by having a picture of these political figures mounted, literally, above a toilet?

In any case, it’s an amusing nuanced detail, a touch of Australian identity at a restaurant that on the surface doesn’t scream its Aussie roots. (Well, except perhaps when the bartenders speak and you hear their accents.)

The View from the Office at Golden Hour … New York City

The 10th-floor view from our Hell’s Kitchen project office looking east toward Midtown Manhattan at golden hour. We love moments like this in NYC.

The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City

The legendary Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem, NYC.

Giant Squinting Eyes by JR

Here’s another one of those gargantuan wheat-pasted photos on the side of a building in SoHo, New York City. These massive street art pieces are by the artist JR and are part of his series of Native American faces for the Inside Out Project.

The Awesome Coffee and Space at HeadFirst Coffee Roasters, Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city with a lot of amazing spaces and a reputation for awesome, super-cool design. Awesome coffee, however, is not something Amsterdam is famous for. But that’s quickly changing. A handful of coffee roasters and cafes have recently set up shop in the city and are brewing some of the best coffee in Europe. Headfirst is one of them, and it’s doing it with great style and taste in design, as its cafe and branding attest. The cafe is full of vintage, mid-century modern furniture from Sourced and Sold, the shop to which it’s adjacent. This is the must-go coffee spot in AMS to get your double-espresso macchiato and while you’re at it, say, pick up that authentic Barcelona chair you’ve always wanted (most of the furniture is for sale from Sourced and Sold).

“Nothing Beats Groningen” … Amsterdam Stencil Street Art

More Amsterdam street art pix … Here a stencil painting on a wall in the city’s Nine Streets neighborhood, in the canal district. The guy in the image looks like Ghandi. The Dutch phrase is loosely translated as “Nothing beats Groningen,” which is a Dutch city far north of Amsterdam.

“Savvy”

“Savvy” graffiti on a post box on Wooster Street in SoHo, in downtown New York City. We call graffiti or weak street-arty stuff like this “graff-junk.”

The Cover of the B&A Journal

The beautiful cover of B&A Journal, the print publication of Bernstein and Andriulli, an agency that represents artists, photographers, designs, illustrators, hair stylists, etc. The Journal showcases the work of agency’s talent.

Campbell’s Soup Can Street Art … New York

We stumbled upon the Campbell’s “Condensed Graffiti” soup can yesterday in SoHo, in downtown New York City. The can is actually a spray-paint can with the Campbell’s label.

In any case, Andy Warhol’s pop-art icon has been paid homage and referenced many times by many artists and culture-makers. Street artist Mr. Brainwash (a.k.a., Thiery Guetta, he of Banksy film fame) is an example.

The Interior of Cantine Parisienne

We met up with friends late Friday night for drinks at Cantine Parisienne, the new restaurant and bar at the Nolitan Hotel, near SoHo and the Lower East Side, in New York City. At night, the large dining space is beautifully lit up.

JESS3 in NYC

We’ve started to see the “JESS3” stickers pop-up a lot around downtown Manhattan this past week. This one is on a lamp post at the corner of Broome and Crosby streets, in SoHo.

“Love Me” Strikes Amsterdam

The “Love Me” stickers and graffiti seems to be everywhere these days, including Amsterdam. We found Love Me’s “Love” paint-scrawled on the side of the flower market barges in the heart of the city’s southern canal district. There’s also a small wheat-paste street-art piece by The London Police nearby.

Our Van’s & Our Paul Smith’s

We had heaps of shoes in our wardrobe, but the past couple of years we’ve been getting rid of old shoes and trying to keep the number of pairs to the essentials. Our two favorites are a pair of black Paul Smith boots we bought in Paris last fall and red lace-up Van’s we picked up last summer. About 90% of the time, we’re wearing either of these, leaving about a dozen other pairs of kicks lonely and gathering dust in the shoe shelf.

New York City Subway “Weather” Posters

Street Art by “The London Police” In Amsterdam

Work by UK street-art team The London Police in The Nine Streets area of Amsterdam.

Awesome Rose Cupcake

We had this amazeballs cupcake with our lunch yesterday. We were reluctant to eat it as it was so beautiful.

The Edge Migrates …

Hey Everybody,

As some of you have seen from our home page the past few days, Global Graphica is doing some important maintenance as part of some redesign and technical fixes to the site.

We had to take the site down in order to complete the process. Our sincerest apologies.

But as you can see the site is partially back up and running. And in the next few days we’ll be posting again and you’ll see an updated design.

So come back soon.

Thanks,

Van

Street Art … Miss Amsterdam

Photos of a street art painting of a women draped in Amsterdam symbolism (the spliff, the city’s ironic unintentionally three “x” logo, etc.) in the southern canal district.

The Google Plus Presentation at Social Media Week in New York

It’s Social Media Week in New York City this week, and there lots of events, mostly interactive presentations, panel discussions, and work sessions at various venues around the city, including some big advertising agencies. Here’s a pic of the Google+ presentation, which was a live pitch of four ideas to their client Caterpillar, who is on stage with the Google team. The audience will vote on the best idea for Catepillar.

Tumblr Founder David Karp Speaking

We’re at presentation work session at ad agency Ogilvy & Mather in New York City with Tumblr founder David Karp.

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