Hotel Marques de Riscal by Frank Gehry

I came across this building earlier, it's so innovative and daring, I can't help but like it. This is the flagship building of the Marques de Riscal vinyard in Rioja which is one of the oldest in the area. At first I thought that it was too unsympathetic for it's surroundings, however the more I look at it the more It grows on me. It was commissioned to provide visitors with a unique experience and there is no disputing that this building would do that.

Wine like many other premium products, often need something to place the brand name in peoples mind. This hotel obviously targets the design-conscious customers and uses its gift wrapped appearance to promote the wines name. Yes given the area that it is in it does look out of place, but thats the thing I have grown to like most about it, it almost implies that something new and great can come from anywhere. If I were to look out of my window and see it everyday it may get a bit tiring, however, for the hotel's visitors I imagine it is amazing. There is an obvious attention to detail in every element, for example the pink titanium on the outside or the coridoor;


or the hotel lobby:



I would be interested to see what other people think of this building, as I said, it really is growing on me.

Two Way Shoes

These CAMiLEON Heals have had quite alot of press coverage recently so I guess most will already have come across them. I decided to include it as I think the idea and reasoning behind creating them is really clever. It addresses the practicality v style issue and comes up with a compromise. I believe they have had quite a bit of success in the US and are now being launched in the UK. I have no idea how well they will take off, but I have to admire their idea.

The illustration above is from the mirror, but this has a video of how they work. http://www.camileonheels.com/youtube.cfm

Skoda Advert

I can't seam to find out who made this, if anyone has any idea please let me know. For some reason I really like this advert, its probably something to do with it reminding me of Hansel and Gretel and as someone before me said Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

The overriding impression you are meant to take from it is that Skoda has carefully thought of and crafted every part of the Fabia. Although this may seam very obvious it's the way they have done this, not only through the concept, but the way it was delivered that I found interesting. The skill that the chefs showed as they were handling the ingredients showed that they genuinely knew what they were doing. The close up shots on their hands and the way the camera moved with them made you feel almost like you were there.

In many ways this advert seams a little predictable, but having said this I can't think of any other advert that is too similar, especially not for a car. I imagine that this will be very successful in reaching an area of the market that the BMW type ads simply pass by.

Testing

Let's see if I can get this to work!