http://www.pompeiad.com Pompei A.D. LLC, C3: Commerce, Culture, and Community – creative services firm specializing in architecture, design, and experiential branding for retail, museums, spas, hotels, real estate development, and events. http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_331 Brittany Myers Travel 2008-03-31 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_331 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_328 Pompei A.D. Travel,Inspiration,Architecture,Sculpture 2008-03-14 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_328 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_317 Brittany Myers Inspiration,Graphic Design 2008-02-01 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_317 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_307 Lost: 3 hours of sleep.
Gained: 18 miles and a new perspective. ]]> Brittany Myers New York City 2007-11-21 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_307 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_302 Recent Sketches and Drawings.

New drawings from our bi-weekly life drawing sessions during the month of November, featuring work from Hilary Miners, Claire Tokunaga, Justin Kruse, Monte Antrim and Scott Faucheux. Drawing sessions take place in the C3 gallery every other Wednesday night from 6:45pm-9:00pm, and are open to friends of Pompei AD. The next drawing session will take place on December 5th, due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

If you're interested in drawing with us, please drop me an email: sfaucheux@pompeiad.com and I'll send you the details. ]]> Scott Faucheux 2007-11-09 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_302 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_300 Brittany Myers New York City,Office,Events 2007-11-05 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_300 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_298 Recent Sketches and Drawings.

New drawings from our bi-weekly life drawing sessions during the month of October, featuring work from Monte Antrim and Scott Faucheux. Drawing sessions take place in the C3 gallery every other Wednesday night from 6:45pm-9:00pm, and are open to friends of Pompei AD. The next drawing session will take place on November 7th, and will be the only drawing session in November due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

If you're interested in drawing with us, please drop me an email: sfaucheux@pompeiad.com and I'll send you the details. ]]> Scott Faucheux Office,Events 2007-11-01 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_298 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_296
A Truly Green Wall:

I don’t know how practical is it, but this idea really interested me - Joost Bakker’s Schiavello Vertical Gardens. ]]> Brittany Myers Green Design,Sculpture,Sustainability 2007-10-23 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_296 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_291 Scott Faucheux 2007-10-10 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_291 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_284
On August 24th, after weeks of preparation, we completed our move to the Butterick Building. On our last visit to the old office space we took this picture, in memory of seven good years. ]]> Brittany Myers 2007-09-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_284 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_282 Louis Vuitton generally feature celebrities like Gisele and Scarlett Johansson draped over a bunch of handbags, appearing as flawless as a china doll. Their new campaign is different. In a limo, next to a classic Louis Vuitton duffel bag, with the Berlin Wall in the background, sits Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian politician and former leader of the Soviet Union. The caption reads “A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.” The ad also states that Louis Vuitton and Gorbachev are supporters of Green Cross International – an environmental organization which Gorbachev is the chairman of. ]]> Brittany Myers Advertising,Fashion,Louis Vuitton 2007-09-13 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_282 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_279
1 Seljalandsfoss Waterfall: This waterfall, off the South East portion off the Ring Road (or Highway 1 – which travels around the entire island) drops 60 meters over the cliffs of the former coastline. There is a pathway behind the waterfall, where this photo was taken.
2 Natural formations in the rocky plateau of Dyrhólaey
3 The Black Beach in Dyrhólaey near Vik on the South coast
4 Claudia above Skogarfoss waterfall
5 Skogarfoss waterfall
6 Gullfoss waterfall in the glacial River Hvita, dropping twice for a total of 32 meters into a long canyon.
7 Glacier Vatnajokull – the largest glacier in Europe, and the largest outside of Antarctica - Claudia explored it by snowmobile.
8 Jokulsarlon Lagoon at the south end of Glacier Vatnajokull.
9 Jokulsarlon Lagoon
10 Lava fields on the side of Ring Road
11 A view of the Myrdalsjokull glacier from the Ring Road
12 – 15 A view of the countryside from the Ring Road
16 The "hotel" in Kirkjubaejarklaustur – a village of only 160 people off the Ring Road ]]> Brittany Myers Travel,Photography,Outdoors 2007-08-31 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_279 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_278 this article from Spiegel Online to see photos of the window and to read more about the project. (via DesignBoom ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,Public Art,Europe 2007-08-29 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_278 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_276
Glacier National Park is the most breathtaking, dramatic landscape I have ever encountered. Most striking was the sensation of standing in the middle of an enormous valley and looking out onto pure boundless wilderness. You truly get the feeling that you are beyond the reaches of civilization. No roads, no signs, no people. You think that somewhere, someone is going through a McDonalds drive-through, or riding an elevator to the top of a skyscraper, but none of that exists here; you are in a parallel world. It’s similar to the feeling you get snorkeling in crystal clear water. When you look down, the ocean floor appears closer than it really is, because the visibility is so extreme. Your eyes play tricks on you in the same way here. Maybe it’s because our brains have been conditioned to looking at cities and landmarks to gage space and distance. Here, the mountains swell as you get closer to them, the valley stretches, the forest grows denser. Space is redefined; sky is everywhere, it’s sweeping and reaches and kisses and envelopes the mountains, the tops of ponderosa pines, our tiny tent. In its enormity, everything is connected.

Six winding miles ascending mountain ridges, over rocky creek beds, through thick forests of spruce, fir and pine, and across shaky moraine, we arrived at our backcountry site for the night, Cracker Lake – a vast, U-shaped valley cut by glaciers during the last ice age. The lake, fed by the melting Siyah Glacier, on the 10,014 foot Mount Siyah, is a milky rich turquoise color as bright as the Caribbean Sea, sunk between the red and brown slopping mountain sides and rocky valley walls.

That night, as the warmth of the red sunset faded and darkness filled the valley, my friends and I sat by the waters edge in the eerie white glow of the glacier lake. Under the big Montana sky, millions of blurry stars pierced through the wildfire haze – somewhere in the wild, I imagined, a forest was burning. Other than the sound of our own voices, and the occasional insect, the only sound we could hear was the distant waterfall hidden in the mountains. ]]> Brittany Myers Travel,Photography,Outdoors,Global Warming 2007-08-22 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_276 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_274 this article, Best Buy will become the first major big box retailer to make all of their new buildings LEED certified. The extent of the company’s new green promise has not been made explicit, yet; but they intend to employ “some combination of energy-efficient lighting, rainwater recycling, recycled or otherwise eco-friendly building materials, a high-efficiency HVAC system and some type of day-lighting system.” It’s great to see a major corporation like Best Buy becoming a leader in the sustainable building movement. The U.S. Green Building Council, or USGBC, is making it easier by partnering with 20 national retailers, including Target, Starbucks, and Lowe’s, to allow LEED certification of store prototype designs, instead of having to obtain certification of each individual location. (via Core77) ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Green Design,Architecture,Sustainability 2007-08-14 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_274 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_272 Nau is a new unconventional outdoor company with an interesting sustainable approach.

They are trying to redefine success by using business as a force for change, blending profitability and philanthropy, by participating in it and inspiring philanthropy in others. Nau says they only deserve to exist if their products and practices are capable of contributing positive, lasting, and substantive change. “We want to be that company, that positive, lasting, substantive company. We’ll screw up sometimes, but we’ll own up to our mistakes and keep moving forward, questioning assumptions in our efforts to get better.”
]]> Brittany Myers Green Design,Sustainability,Outdoors 2007-08-09 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_272 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_270 Brittany Myers 2007-07-30 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_270 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_266 collected 29 music videos that feature architecture, landscapes, and urbanism. As they point out, music videos are often fun little bits of entertainment, and occasionally “successful bite-size spatial experiments.” The musical genres represented are varied, ranging from Feist and N.W.A., to Radiohead and The Fiery Furnaces. ]]> Pompei A.D. Video Art,Architecture,Music 2007-07-23 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_266 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_265 launched a new program allowing residents and tourists to borrow bikes for a small fee – 1 EUR/day up to 29 EUR/year – to use for short commutes around the city. Riders can pick up a bike at one of 750 different stations spread throughout the various neighborhoods. The program was conceived by the city’s progressive mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, as a step towards his goal of reducing car traffic by 40 percent by 2020.

As Mayor Mike Bloomberg struggles to pass legislation aimed at reducing New York City’s heavy car traffic and the associated environmental impact, this novel Parisian plan might turn out to be a useful model. ]]> Pompei A.D. Urban Planning,Green Design,Sustainability 2007-07-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_265 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_264
This is a building that tries hard and succeeds, for the most part.
According to the locals, there was a big fuss made over the addition to the beloved Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The area designated for the addition isn¹t very easy to work with, bound on one side by a highway and having to respect the existing, traditional structure. Plus, the ground slopes quite a bit; not a traditional flat, square gallery setting.

Overall, the building is quite striking, and meets several concurrent challenges. First and foremost, it¹s beautiful in its serenity and simplicity. Plus, the building is easy to use. Parking was a snap, with a well-lit and accessible garage included on the grounds. One immediate feature of the parking garage is the overhead, natural lighting.

The artist Walter De Maria¹s work One Sun / 34 Moons features 34 occuli that serve as lenses and create patterns on the parking garage floor below. Within the parking garage the light is natural, yet diffused. It’s a welcome difference from most dreary parking garages. The museum recognized that most visitors would arrive by car so the garage entrance is given prominence, rather than an afterthought.

The structure itself is a series of white facades that subtly change color in response to natural light, time of day, and reflections from the surrounding foliage and artwork. Perhaps the best presentation of the building occurs at night, when the walls shimmer in a luminescent glow.

Technically speaking, the building has no formal front and back. It measures about 840 long but is no more than 100 feet wide. It’s made of 6,000 glass planks ranging in height from 8 feet to 16 feet. These planks reinforce the slinky, ever-shifting shape of the building. The space seems to constantly change dimension. ]]> Art,Museum,Architecture 2007-07-18 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_264 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_260 Brittany Myers Office 2007-07-12 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_260 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_255 Recent Sketches and Drawings.

New drawings from our bi-weekly life drawing sessions during the month of June, featuring work from Colin Brice, Scott Faucheux and Joshua Johnson. Drawing sessions take place in the C3 gallery every other Wednesday night from 6:45pm-9:00pm, and are open to friends of Pompei AD. The next drawing session will take place on July 11th. Sessions in July will be held 7/11 and 7/25.

If you're interested in drawing with us, please drop me an email: sfaucheux@pompeiad.com and I'll send you the details. ]]> Scott Faucheux 2007-07-03 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_255 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_253 In a series of brief interviews, artists, scientists, sociologists, political leaders, and other thought leaders respond to questions regarding culture, environment, resources, economy, and society. Contributors include Al Gore, Bruce Mau, artist Bita Fayyazi, poet Ernesto Cardenal, and physicist Vandana Shiva, among others. The project was created by Fabrica, a Benetton funded research center in Italy. The site hosts fascinating video clips of insightful speakers, and invites the viewer to share their opinion on the topics being discussed. In addition to the website, a life-size interactive exhibit will be traveling all over the world. So far the installation has been seen at the Pompidou in Paris, and at the Trianale in Milan. (via PSFK) ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,New Media 2007-06-29 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_253 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_250 Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a Plastic Bag” created a lot of buzz on June 20th. The event attracted over 400 eager shoppers - many of whom were lined up around the block well before the store’s 11am opening - and at least 10 reporters. The SoHo location sold out of their entire stock of 800 bags at $15 each, and within three hours, the bag had sold out at every Anya Hindmarch boutique in the U.S.

When the bag was released in England earlier this year, 200,000 were sold out in 7 hours.

One blog reported that the top bid on E-bay for the UK edition of the bag was $400.

Designer Anya Hindmarch partnered with “We Are What We Do,” a UK activism group that encourages people to help change the world within the scope of their daily activities, and bag is meant to inspire people to reduce their use of plastic bags. Each year, 100 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the U.S. alone, and billions end up as litter and in landfills, which can take hundreds of years to break down.

Whenever a product becomes such an immediate sensation, it inevitably sparks controversy. Among other things, it was reported that the bags were not made from organic cotton, and were not fair trade. According to Time Magazine, Hindmarch’s response was, “the message of We Are What We Do is that by changing the small things you do in everyday life you can make a large difference. Her company, she said, worked with a reputable supplier in China whose workers are paid double the minimum wage and that complies with Chinese Labor Law. And the bags were shipped by sea, and carbon credits were purchased to offset the environmental impact of production and transport.”

The bag will be sold at the following Whole Foods store locations on July 18th: Bowery NYC, Chelsea NYC, Columbus Circle NYC, Union Square NYC, Jericho NY, Manhasset NY, White Plains NY, Greenwich CT, Edgewater NJ, Madison NJ, Milburn NJ, Middletown NJ, Montclair NJ, Ridgewood NJ, and West Orange NJ. ]]> Brittany Myers Retail,Fashion,New York City,Sustainability 2007-06-28 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_250 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_251 IconNicholson has developed a fully functional interactive mirror that enables shoppers to connect remotely, in real time, with friends and other online shoppers. This “Social Shopping” kiosk allows teens to “make buying decisions together to see what others have purchased, as well as purchase items that are not in stock in the store.” An embedded video camera broadcasts the shopper’s image, and the shopper can ask, and receive, opinions on their look. Reuters has a great in-depth video report with more information on the experience.

This concept is very similar to some concepts that we’ve been discussing with our clients, and has great potential among younger shoppers who are accustomed to this type of connectivity and interaction. I wonder if IconNicholson has started developing widgets for this? So far, it appears that the entire system is self-contained. I think that if all of these shoppers had a Social Shopping widget installed on their MySpace or Facebook profile, the popularity and effectiveness of this concept would really take off. We’ll keep an eye on it, and see how it evolves. (via CScout) ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,New Media,Technology 2007-06-28 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_251 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_248
It took some investigating to discover the true potential of the space. Hidden beneath the carpet was the original concrete floor with painted warehouse lines, behind the sheetrock was the original red brick, and above the ceiling tiles were original concrete vaults. The vaults were created purely in response to the structural system of the floor above, beautiful in their simplicity.

With much of the existing excess stripped, the space was reborn; fresh, in its original 1900’s aesthetic. There is a great resiliency to the industrial buildings that were constructed in the early 20th Century, and we wanted to embrace and expose the original structure of the space. We’re doing an intervention in the space rather than reconstructing it, by layering in functionality and materials and combining the original character of the space with our own aesthetic. ]]> Brittany Myers SoHo,New York City,Sustainability,Workplace,Office 2007-06-22 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_248 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_246 Visit the website to see a map of where each painting is located.

What a great way to engage the community in fun, compelling way. ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,Public Art,London,Exhibit 2007-06-15 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_246 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_240 Threadless.com, the online purveyor of customer designed graphic t-shirts, as an example of an innovative business that found success by empowering their customers as co-authors of the brand. In this brief, yet insightful, interview Kalmikoff describes how their fundamental strategy of enabling “customer co-creation” has created a multi-million dollar retailer that sells 80 to 90 thousand t-shirts per month. Much of the success of brands like Threadless.com, is owed to the fact that when customers are co-authors of a brand, the brand stays relevant to its customers. The brand is continuously reinvented by the evolving culture of the community that supports it. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Co-authorship 2007-06-06 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_240 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_239
This summer, Pompei A.D. is moving out of our current offices at 459 Broadway. Our new office space is located in one of New York City’s most historic districts, inside the Butterick Building at 161 6th Avenue. Hundreds of years ago, the area of Vandam, Charlton and King Streets, between 6th Avenue and Varick Street (the Butterick Building is located on 6th Avenue between Vandam and Spring) was a swampy, forested landscape, a hunting ground of the Native American Tribe Lenape. Much later, around the time of the birth of our country, this same area served as headquarters for much of the decision making about the country’s future. ]]> Brittany Myers Workplace,Office 2007-06-05 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_239 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_237 Flickr, the popular photo sharing website owned by Yahoo!, is a great example of a brand that empowers its customers as co-authors. Both amateur and professional photographers celebrate and utilize the site. The huge variety of photos found on Flickr is emblematic of the limitless creativity of the huge community of Internet users all over the world.

Yesterday, Flickr posted a few remarkable new stats:

- At peak times Flickr serves over 12,000 photos a second

- Yesterday, Flickr set a new upload record: 2,070,075 photos in 24 hours

- There are over 8.5 million registered members

- Those members have created over 10 million unique tags to help organize their photos

The photos to the left are Flickr photos taken by Pompei A.D. employees: Randhir Singh, Brittany Myers, Scott Faucheux, Mike Arauz, and Colin Brice. ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,New Media,Technology,Photography,Flickr 2007-05-31 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_237 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_235 3 Cultural Shifts to Connect You with Your Customers,” interactive technology is having a profound effect on the notion of creativity. The idea that “Creativity belongs to everyone,” is evidenced by the fact that a ten-year-old child can produce an original movie at home on his or her iMac.

This summer, Apple will demonstrate that they not only appreciate this cultural shift, but are also an outright champion of the movement. Apple retail stores all over the country will host creative workshops for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 during the month of July. At the camp, children will learn how to produce podcasts, build web pages, compose music, and make movies.

This is an excellent example of what we mean by Cultural Entrepreneurship, as the long-term effect that these experiences will have on the brand will be profound. Tens of thousands of creative children will share their work with hundreds of thousands of their friends and relatives all over the world. Surely, some of that joy and excitement will come back to Apple, right? ]]> Pompei A.D. Branding,Community,New Media,Technology,Cultural Entrepreneurship,Experiential Branding 2007-05-30 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_235 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_236 the next step in multi-touch surface computing. The new Microsoft Surface is an interactive tabletop that allows users to browse photos, watch video, and select and share music. There are several demonstration videos on the website, where you can see people using the table to access product information, order food in a restaurant, and get directions and recommendations for local restaurants and entertainment. The overall impression is remarkable; I was especially impressed by how the table appears to synch with wi-fi or bluetooth enabled hand-held devices to seamlessly share and collect content. So far, Microsoft has partnered with Harrah’s, IGT, Sheraton, and T-Mobile. The first operational kiosks will debut at the end of this year in restaurants, hotels, retail establishments, and public entertainment venues. As the videos depict, we’re sure to witness many innovative applications of this device when it rolls out next year.

New Yorkers can check it out in person, on Saturday June 9th, at the Sheraton at 811 7th Ave. ]]> Pompei A.D. New Media,Technology 2007-05-30 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_236 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_231 Recent Sketches and Drawings.

New drawing work from our bi-weekly life drawing sessions during the month of April, featuring work from Mathew Webb, Deniz Secilmis, and Scott Faucheux. These drawing sessions take place in the C3 gallery every other Wednesday night from 6:45pm-9:00pm, and are open to friends of Pompei AD. The next drawing session will take place on May 30th. Sessions in June will be held 6/13 and 6/27.

If you're interested in drawing with us, please drop me an email: sfaucheux@pompeiad.com and I'll send you the details. ]]> Scott Faucheux 2007-05-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_231 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_233
My favorites for each strategy are as follows (many fall in to several of the categories):

Innovative Materials

The Common Chair by Covello Reesor here the classic wooden chair is approached with a mix and match aesthetic created with Post-Industrial wood scraps.

Cascade by Michelle Brand gives a delicate touch to an everyday item by creating a curtain from the bottoms of plastic bottles.

Creative Manufacturing

PlyLight by Ply Architecture uses the precision of CNC manufacturing to create a lamp from intricately cut wood veneers. The process allows the pieces to fit together without the use of glue and hardware.

Transport

Cover stool by Alain Berteau Designworks has a concept as simple as it is beautiful. The box, the stool, and the cover are shipped in folds to become the structure of the stool, and then you cover it with the contents.

Kraftpaper soft seating by molo is stored flat and unfolds to become a full scale flexible wall, stool, or chair made of paper.

Concept

The Green Light by xDesign is an exciting concept. The hanging lampshade functions as a glass pot for plants to grow in from the light they receive. ]]> Deniz Secilmis Green Design,Sustainability,Industrial Design 2007-05-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_233 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_234 Architecture,New York City 2007-05-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_234 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_228 “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Ron begins each presentation with this quote. At the start of a project, it’s best to allow your mind to be completely open to any possibilities that might arise.

Yesterday I came across this great essay by interactive technology guru Clay Shirky. He argues that the young entrepreneurs responsible for phenomena like YouTube and Facebook, have an intrinsic edge on their older counterparts. This edge isn’t due to youthful energy or vigor, however; Shirky believes that the real advantage they possess is their inexperience. He uses a classic probability analogy to illustrate his point:

Imagine a bag of black and white balls, with a slight majority of white. Drawing out a single ball would provide little information beyond “There is at least one white (or black) ball in this bag.”... By a thousand draws, you could put a rough percentage on that imbalance, and by ten thousand draws, you could say something like “53% white to 47% black” with some confidence.

But what would happen if the contents of the bag changed overnight? What if the bag suddenly started yielding balls of all colors and patterns — black and white but also green and blue, striped and spotted? ...Someone who just showed up five minutes ago would say “Hey, this bag has lots of colors and patterns in it.” While the expert is still trying to explain away or minimize the change as a fluke, or as a slight adjustment to an otherwise stable situation, the novice, who has no prior theory to throw out, understands exactly what’s going on.

Shirky explores this analogy is greater detail, and has excellent insights regarding the profound effect that emerging, interactive technologies have had, and continue to have on our culture. ]]> Pompei A.D. New Media,Technology 2007-05-22 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_228 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_226 some new updates on the Whole Foods Market phenomenon. The organic grocery chain is poised to open their first European store in London this June. Located on the posh Kensington High Street, this 80,000 sq. ft. super store hopes to wow British shoppers the way it has shoppers in New York City and elsewhere across the US. According to the article, revenue at the $5.6 billion company grew by 19% in 2006, and executives are predicting that they will double that pace in the next four years.

We’ve been watching Whole Foods’ success closely and see it as a great indicator of the pervasive cultural shifts towards authenticity and sustainability. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Europe,London,Sustainability 2007-05-14 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_226 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_224
There is a core group of websites that appreciates the implications of these emerging capabilities. These sites are starting small revolutions in the ways that we perceive the world around us, including the ways we think about creativity, communication and education. They are changing the ways we get our news, the ways we look at photos, the ways we listen to music, the ways we make new friends and the ways we do business.

The Seattle based search engine optimization firm, SEOmoz, has just released this year’s winners of the Web 2.0 Awards, a wonderfully comprehensive list of the best Web 2.0 sites on the Internet. If you’re interested in knowing more about Web 2.0, but wondering where to start, this is it. ]]> Pompei A.D. Marketing,New Media,Technology,Flickr 2007-05-10 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_224 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_220 Brittany Myers Art,Creative Time,Painting,Office 2007-05-09 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_220 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_217 an interactive graphic profile of the new addition to Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. The Diller Scofidio Renfro design will open the building, home to the Juilliard School, to Broadway with an almost entirely glass facade. ]]> Pompei A.D. Architecture 2007-05-01 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_217 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_206 Sprig.com is a new online magazine for women interested in living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. The Washington Post is behind the site, which helps to explain its top-notch web-design. The site is a pleasure to navigate, and offers a lot of interesting, carefully curated content, including fashion, home decor, beauty products, food and children's products. I especially dug the beautiful furniture selections, including pieces from the New York shop BDDW. ]]> Pompei A.D. Green Design,Fashion,Sustainability,Industrial Design 2007-04-27 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_206 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_207 New Amsterdam Public is a non-profit organization that is lobbying "to establish New York's first year-round, indoor public market." Local and regional farmers and food purveyors would have a permanent home in the vacated warehouses of the South Street Seaport. As an avid foodie, it sounds like a perfect addition to the city. The handful of Greenmarkets around the city are wonderful, and it would be amazing to have an always-open alternative to find fresh vegetables, artisanal cheeses and homemade breads.

The interest in farmers' markets in New York, and other cities all over the US, is indicative of the broader cultural shift towards authentic experiences. It's no surprise that stores - like WholeFoods - that strive to emulate the original farmers' market experience are achieving so much success. ]]> Pompei A.D. Green Design,New York City,Sustainability 2007-04-27 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_207 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_214 this great in-depth review from The Methods Reporter). This is the newest retail front for 826 National, the not-for-profit organization “dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing,” founded be the author and McSweeney’s creator Dave Eggers. This quirky store where visitors can satisfy all their covert shopping needs, joins the Pirate Store in San Francisco, the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company in Seattle, the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., and the Echo Park Time Travel Mart and Monsters Union Local (both coming soon), as another wholly original retail experience.

From the hilariously coy merchandise labels at The Boring Store, including this one for the Grappling Hook: “The product within this box is not comprised of a thirty-three foot nylon rope and collapsible hook for grappling. This cannot be used to scale palace walls and infiltrate foreign embassies or to climb higher in the ranks of international espionage.”, to the platform with a built-in fan to test your new cape at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., the level of detail and thoughtfulness that has gone into each of these retail experiences is unparalleled, We often sing the praises of successful storytelling to our retail clients, but these stores have taken it to an inspiringly rich new level.

While individual visitors to these stores may only appreciate bits and pieces of the overall experience, the sum of the community’s collective appreciation is profound. Some visitors will appreciate the humorous fine-print on each package, while others will be thrilled by the playful interaction with the staff and imaginative environment. Others will be inspired by the philanthropic mission behind the stores. As we mentioned here, each piece of the experience gives the community food for thought, and a reason to continue the conversation beyond the walls of the retailer. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Cultural Entrepreneurship 2007-04-27 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_214 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_205 "You can take your Pritzker Prizes, your Stirlings, even your life peerages; there's a new, elite architects' club on the scene...Eat your heart out, Richard Rogers."

As noted in the Guardian, the Vatican is considering making Antoni Gaudí a saint. If it was up to you, which architect would you nominate for sainthood? ]]> Pompei A.D. Architecture 2007-04-26 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_205 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_202 furniture design blog Pan-Dan. This Italy-based site posts beautiful and original light fixtures, chairs, desks, and many other innovative products every day. I particularly loved the pieces from this Helsinki Hotel project. ]]> Pompei A.D. Industrial Design 2007-04-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_202 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_203 Google Earth. AIA partnered with Google to share the the results of America's Favorite Architecture and their Blueprint for America project. To see the sites look under the Featured Content tab in the Layers section of Google Earth.

(courtesy of LifeHacker) ]]> Pompei A.D. Architecture 2007-04-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_203 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_199 Top 10 sustainable building projects for 2007. Unfortunately none of the selections are in NYC, but there are some very nice designs.

(courtesy of Good Magazine) ]]> Pompei A.D. Green Design,Architecture 2007-04-24 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_199 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_195 Richard Florida, author of The Rise of The Creative Class, created a map that shows where the nation's creative class is concentrated. Unsurprisingly New York and the east coast dominate. He says he "generated the map based on current Creative Class numbers and plotted the log of the total number of Creative Class members in each county."

(courtesy of PSFK) ]]> Pompei A.D. Marketing,Community 2007-04-23 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_195 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_196 this wonderful online art publication, but when I first discovered Humus I was stunned by the diverse and consistent beauty of the contributions. The site describes itself as "a territory where images, creativity, thoughts and expressions have no border line or demarcation line." Browse their 9 issues, and discover a delightful farrago of collage, photography, graphic design, illustrations, and poetry, presented within little digital MoleSkine notebooks. ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,New Media,Photography,Illustration 2007-04-23 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_196 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_197 Tate Modern in London has officially been approved. The Guardian has a great slide show and an article about the Herzog & De Meuron design. ]]> Pompei A.D. London,Architecture 2007-04-23 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_197 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_189 Veerle Pieters, has started a cool new Flickr group called Inspiring Workplaces. We couldn't agree more that a creative environment is an essential ingredient for innovative thinking. (courtesy of swissmiss) ]]> Pompei A.D. Workplace,Flickr 2007-04-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_189 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_190 Lynetter posted an interesting new slide today.

"The best brand communications do more than deliver a message - they offer a service." - Stefan Moritz

This sentiment echoes what we've been telling our clients. In order for brands to connect with their customers they need to reinvent themselves as Cultural Entrepreneurs by actively supporting the culture that they aspire to attract. ]]> Pompei A.D. Marketing,Branding,Cultural Entrepreneurship 2007-04-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_190 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_191 Kottke.org links to this neat site that "tracks new retail construction" of major Big Box retailers in the US. Retailers currently included: Best Buy, Home Depot, Ikea, JCPenney, Kohl's, Lowe's, Target, and Wal-Mart. As a resident of up-and-coming Red Hook, Brooklyn, I have a brand new Ikea to look forward to next year. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail 2007-04-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_191 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_188
These sessions occur every other Wednesday evening from 7:00-9:00 in the C3 Gallery, and the sessions are also open to friends of Pompei AD. If you'd like to participate, please email Scott at sfaucheux@pompeiad.com for details. Our last session for April will occur on 4/18. Our sessions for May will occur on 5/2, 5/16 and 5/30.

The drawings shown in this gallery represent a sampling of work from participants in our sessions, and feature sketches and drawings from Colin Brice, Gaetane Michaux, Claudia Henao, Monte Antrim, Scott Faucheux, Roberto Angulo, Mathew Webb, Drew Lytle, and Dwight Yee. ]]> Scott Faucheux Art,Illustration 2007-04-18 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_188 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_156
Flickr – Wardrobe Remix: an open group that allows any participant to submit original self-portraits of themselves in their favorite outfits.

Hel-Looks: a narrowly focused photoblog that documents the cutting edge street fashions of Helsinki, Finland.

Street Peeper: (profiled today on PSFK) a globally comprehensive site covering the best street fashions from New York to Paris to Seoul; this site adds a great interactive element to allow you to browse looks by designer.

The Sartorialist: (my personal favorite) the personal photoblog of former insider Scott Schuman; Scott has an exceptionally keen eye for detail and emerging trends. ]]> Pompei A.D. Photography,Fashion 2007-03-29 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_156 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_154 The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present." – Wyndham Lewis

In order for design to be relevant and compelling, it must embrace the culture that it hopes to join, and part of our responsibility as designers is to stay in tune with the emerging cultural shifts within the communities we design for. Pompei A.D.’s design concepts are creatively informed by the effervescent surrounding world, and this category explores our countless sources of inspiration, observation, and motivation. ]]> Pompei A.D. 2007-03-28 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_154 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_184
1. Vija Celmins: Dessins/Drawings

Book Description:

Published to accompany the exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Galerie du Musée, 25 October 2006 - 8 January 2007; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 28 January - 22 April 2007.
Purchase from Ursus Books and Prints:

2. John Beech: Works, 1989-2004 by John Beech, Daniel Marzona and Gabriele Kubler

Book Description:

The book presents John Beech’s artworks of the last fifteen years, recently on a big one-man exhibition at the stiftung für konkrete kunst in Germany. John Beech's things do not work. The containers do not move anything, instead of being made of the required metal they consist of thin plywood, frail light blue acrylic glass, or fragile insulating board. Road bumpers are made of plaster rather than concrete, wheels do not turn, are suspended in air, or obstruct each other. Something that drives you mad in real life becomes rather appealing here, the pointlessness, the system error, some things' refusal to perform a task.

Purchase from Gallery: ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,Architecture,Books,Sculpture,Art History 2007-03-22 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_184 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_152 Gothamist linked to these beautifully simple illustrations of the fire escapes of SoHo by New York City artist, Greg Martin. I believe ours is labeled 107 Grand. ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,SoHo,Illustration 2007-03-20 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_152 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_142 Good Magazine features a brief piece on Portland eco-retailer Nau. Nau was conceived as an active-wear company for the sustainability crowd, and has plans to open 4 new real-world locations this year. These stores, which they call webfronts, are intended to drive online sales through discount purchases on in-store kiosks.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about another popular online retailer moving into the real-world. On 37Signals' blog, there was an interesting interview with the founders of Threadless.com, claiming that, "The store exists to drive traffic to the site...it will be more like a community center."
It will be interesting to see how the online assets of these retailers create space in the stores for more culture and community oriented offerings. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Community,Technology 2007-02-28 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_142 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_129
"Delhi, said Pir Sadr-ud-Din, was a city of djinns. Though it had been burned by invaders time and time again, millennium after millennium, still the city was rebuilt; each time it rose like a phoenix from the fire. Just as Hindus believe that a body will be reincarnated over and over again until it becomes perfect, so it seemed Delhi was destined to appear in a new incarnation century after century. The reason for this, said Sadr-ud-Din, was that the djinns loved Delhi so much they could never bear to see it empty or deserted. To this day every house, every street corner was haunted by them. You could not see them, said Sadr-ud-Din, but if you concentrated you would be able to feel them: to hear their whisperings, or even if you were lucky, to sense their warm breath on your face." ]]> Randhir Singh Art,Randhir Singh,India,Travel,Photography 2007-02-12 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_129 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_115 favelas, to re-invent the look and living conditions of their neighborhood. On their website they write, "The core of our idea is to help" [improve the neighborhood] "by painting an entire hillside favela. Not in a uniform color, but with each house colored according to an elaborate plan so that the hillside will depict a huge image visible from prominent places in the city center." ]]> Pompei A.D. Art,Public Art,Rio de Janeiro 2007-02-02 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_115 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_121 reports that M&S is replacing all of their old diesel delivery trucks with new zero-emission trucks. It'll be interesting to watch how these environmentally sensitive business moves affect their business. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Europe,London,Sustainability 2007-02-02 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_121 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_112 Pompei A.D. Art,Co-authorship,Marketing,Advertising,Europe,Exhibit,Graphic Design 2007-01-31 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_112 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_107 Threadless.com, an online t-shirt retailer, will open a retail location in their hometown of Chicago this Spring. Started in 2001 by two friends in a garage, Threadless.com collects original t-shirt designs from customers, and allows the online community to decide which designs should be sold. By 2005 the site was raking in $6.2M, 2006 sales are estimated at $20M, demonstrating how the creative use of genuine co-authorship inspires rabid customer loyalty. ]]> Pompei A.D. Retail,Co-authorship,Technology,Fashion 2007-01-30 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_107 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_98 NYTimes references a new report from Cambridge University claiming that our culture of disposable fashion is contributing to global warming. Some of the recommendations made in the report, including leasing clothes for a season, don’t seem very viable, but the opportunities pointed out by the “head of corporate social responsibility” at Marks & Spencer are compelling. They mention that since M&S made the change to organic food products, sales have gone up by 12%. He says, “Customers will ask ‘what are you doing?’ So we’re doing a lot of thinking about what a sustainable clothing industry could look like in five years.” ]]> Pompei A.D. 2007-01-25 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_98 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_97 Gulf Coast Community Design Studio for one week. Based in Biloxi, MS, this organization (along with many others) is integral to the relief effort within the Gulf Coast communities that were affected by hurricane Katrina. I took these photos in Biloxi and nearby New Orleans.
Note the Gehry designed George Ohr Museum of Art. These photos only hint at the devastation that affected hundreds of thousands of people in Mississippi and Louisiana. Entire neighborhoods and cities are gone. It has been 16 months since Katrina, and progress (if you can call it that) is almost non-existent. ]]> Colin Brice 2007-01-24 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_97 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_146
Visit this post from the Leo Burnett blog.

"...rather than using different media channels to communicate the same idea, you can use each channel to communicate different things...Each channel is strong and self-contained enough to live on its own, but can then be pulled together into a greater brand narrative. The most interesting part is that this pulling together doesn't necessarily have to be done by one person - social relationships can help forge those connections, forming a brand community that shares and builds on each others' experiences with the brand." ]]> Pompei A.D. Marketing,Branding,Community,New Media 2006-12-14 http://www.pompeiad.com/articles/16_146