Steve Korver » Design

CODE’s ‘2012 Survival Kit’

stevekor — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:53:44 +0000

Recently I acted as managing editor for the fall/winter issue of a fashion magazine. Yes, I entered the world of style.

[I’ll pause for effect...]

Of course this gig should come as no surprise to those who already know that I get my savvy selection of seasonal clothes here and my 1960s welfare-recipient glasses here. But for some reason whenever I mention this whole ‘Steve in fashion land’ concept, friends generally break down into hysterical laughter. Why do they do that? During the whole process, there were really only a few moments of complete Mr Bean-like slapstick.

But anyway, the periodical is CODE (‘documenting style’), and the issue’s theme is an enticing one: ‘2012 Survival Kit’. It poses the question ‘What would you design for a hypothetical toolbox meant to help you survive the apocalypse?’ It’s also an international creative call to artists, architects and designers of all stripes to come up with their own ultimate survival products. The results of this ‘co-creation’ will be touring the world as an exhibition through 2012 – from Amsterdam to Kobe, Japan. You can find more information about the project and how to get involved here.

The issue’s main features focus on the survival tactics of sideshow circus freaks, new agers, off-grid pioneers, emerging tech gurus, urban warfare clothing designers and the brave and delightfully eccentric characters who fish off the decaying piers of Brooklyn.

CODE’s ‘Survival Kit 2012’ magazine is distributed worldwide (check out this week’s window display at Athenaeum in Amsterdam).

See you in the hills! Looking sharp! And sustainable!

Unfold Amsterdam hits the streets

stevekor — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:00:54 +0000

Unfold Amsterdam has officially hit the streets. Every two weeks, Amsterdammers will be able to pick up this free English-language poster/mag highlighting the work of local artists/designers and covering the best of what’s going down around town. Hopefully it will fill the gap left since the demise of alternative weekly Amsterdam Weekly. In fact, Unfold Amsterdam arises from the luminous efforts of some of the more luminary ex-Weekly staff and freelancers. So I dig it indeed. Especially this edition’s poster by Simon Wald-Lasowski. So check, check, check it out — or at least put your finger on the pulse by checking regularly at their sweet-looking website.

Also keep your eyes out for the Unfold special edition covering the mighty Klik Amsterdam animation festival coming up on 15-19 September.

400 Years of Newspapers

stevekor — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:43:05 +0000

Pretty amazing. Via the Royal Dutch Library one can now search, or just browse through, the most important newspapers in the Netherlands between 1618 and 1995, including ones from the former Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Suriname and the Antilles. If you search for ‘kaas‘ (cheese) you get a total of 94 763 hits… Mmm cheese.

San Francisco Panorama

stevekor — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:28:59 +0000

Yesterday I bought a Sunday paper that should last me quite a few Sundays. It’s the one-off San Francisco Panorama brought to you by the always inspired folks behind McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. It’s pretty old already but I think it took until their third run until there were enough copies leftover to make it to Amsterdam’s Athenaeum. (But I guess I could have also just ordered it here.)

Anyway, it’s pretty mindblowing. Basically they wanted to present the relevance a paper newspaper can still have in our internet world: so it’s all in-depth journalism by amazing writers complete with high quality art, photography and design. They even give a run-down of the budget to inspire others to come up with their own daily newspaper. It actually comes across as a cross between a (really really nice) Sunday paper and a (really really nice) alternative weekly. And certainly, if I was still the editor of an alternative weekly, I’d definitely steal — I mean, get inspired by — some of their ideas. It’s really, really that great. Gotta bless those paper products!

Rocket to Russia

stevekor — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:56:34 +0000

We just returned from a profound week in Moscow reinvigorating our Yuri Gagarin project. We met some profound cosmonauts, space psychs, arctic survivalists and regular good ol’ folk — all of whom knew how to toast us into submission. A big story is coming out of this and we shall return soon! So stay tuned… Space is indeed the place!

Architecture of Happiness

stevekor — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:56:13 +0000

Allain de Botton visits the artificial residental island of IJburg outside Amsterdam.

Breakfast Machine

stevekor — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:40:41 +0000

via videosift.com

Mmmm. Breakfast.

War criminals of yesteryear, part 1

stevekor — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:24:43 +0000

Ten years ago Serbian warlord Reljko ‘Arkan’ Raznatovic was shot dead in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel. He was a gangster. He was a nationalist. He was the Mr Clean of ethnic cleansing. I wrote about him in ‘Arkantecture: A Field Guide to Serbian Gangster Kitsch‘. The picture on the left is of his former home in Belgrade where I believe his widow, the turbofolk queen Ceca, still lives. Apparently a movie about Arkan starring Vinnie Jones will be released later this year. Ouch.

PICNIC Academy HOT100

stevekor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:18:55 +0000

Last month Virtueel Platform, “the sector institute for e-culture in the Netherlands”, asked me to write a report about their Hot100 programme taking place at the new media lovefest PICNIC ‘09 where both design hipsters and billionaire entrepeneurs come together to chart out our transmedia futures. Hot100 brings together the hottest new media students for a day of lectures and workshopping. And it turned that, indeed, the kids are alright… Read my report here.

I’m no fashion guru…

stevekor — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:48:38 +0000

I’m no fashion guru. Nope. But last year during Amsterdam International Fashion Week (which is opening this Wednesday and running until 26 July), I had a roundtable with three local fashion gurus and was highly entertained and educated. But even though ‘everything is allowed’, I’m still no fashion guru. Nope.