Luxirare

There’s a block on Madison that makes every other block on this avenue kind of irrelevant, and that’s the block between 70th and 71st. Two remarkable brands set up shop here, Celine and Laduree. They are right next to each other. I guess the best of the best like to congregate?

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Nobody gets to see the craziness that goes on behind certain posts. (So many e-mails and comments full of curiosity..how it’s being done, who is doing it..are there 10 people behind this blog?? Does she have a personal chef, photographer, seamstresses, 4 assistants..) Hard hustling. That is all. Ideas are just coward projections, but the real work is grimy, hard, messy, complicated..you get the idea. I think one of the main reasons that motivates me to do this kind of work is that mediocrity is so incredibly abundant right now. I know that I can do mediocre work, the answer is easy, the process predictable. But this kind of work requires a lot of hard thinking, lots of planning, and painstaking physical work. I never want to take the easy way out, I want to create for people who have already seen and have everything. Most importantly, I always want to tell a good story, you’ll notice with all of my posts, there is a beginning middle and end.  We don’t have a campfire but we have an internet connection. And everyone likes a good story.

I planned to do this behind the scenes post, and I took my iphone everywhere to document some process shots. But I made sure to ask the editorial staff at Nowness first, there was one very kind lady named Fiona who I was working with, and I was pretty sure she’d say no. I was very surprised when she said, yes go ahead, and she even added that she herself was curious to how I was able to do this. I have to admit, I’m always unsure whether or not to do behind the scenes posts like this, I don’t want to ruin anybody’s fantasies. But sometimes I think it’s interesting to see, and this will probably be the first and last time I do this.

It all started out with an e-mail from the kind editorial staff. I sent them a drawing of my plans first, they approved, and of course I was excited to do this. The most important feedback was given to me at this time though. They said that I should focus more on the transformation of food through cooking rather than direct action shots, they also told me push the brakes on including myself. This small amount of feedback was crucial, and I feel like I owe them something for having said it to me, it pushed a new reality into my work. Instead of just shooting a ton of images, I knew I had to be quick and clever on the attack. If the work looks different for this, and if you tend to like these photos better it’s probably because they gave me this guidance.

Three sketches sent, but I already knew which one they were going to choose. They asked me to just write out ideas, but again, I wanted to show them what I wanted to build, my ideas have a 3-dimensional aspect to them.

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This was probably one of the most difficult projects I’ve had to take on thus far, and it wasn’t for this website. It was a project I had to complete for Nowness.com, which is a online magazine that features work by people who contribute creatively to the fashion and arts. As always I was a bit afraid that I couldn’t deliver on my end, so I worked 3-4 times harder to make sure that they would be pleased.

The editorial staff were extremely pleasant to work with, and it was nice to also have them offer an idea. For once I was freed from thinking up a concept from complete scratch. Since this project would be posted during January (after the holiday festivities) they suggested I come up with a palette cleanser recipe. Palette cleansers are perfect for this time of year because everyone’s had their fair share of heavy food from Thanksgiving and Christmas parties.

It took me a couple of days to think of this idea, in the beginning I was completely stuck. I had no idea what I was going to do, and I knew they were waiting for me to reply back to their e-mail. After two days of being unable to reply the editorial staff had asked if I was still willing to take on the challenge, of course I was, but I just needed time. All of a sudden I thought of my favorite ritual of all time, eating oysters. But how I would take this ritual and spin it into something modern yet still classic, this was the question.  And how would I work in the palette cleanser angle as well? I’ve always been keen on taking classic ideas and giving them a twist, I don’t believe in inventing from scratch.

As always the editorial staff over at Nowness did an amazing job of choosing shots, and I’m grateful they are letting me post my own version of this shoot. Since this is a blog format I can select more photos, doesn’t necessarily make it better, but here you’ll get to see a little more. Here we go.

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This morning I will post this and then start work, Monday blues hitting me hard but still excited about the prospect of starting fresh. Yesterday I mentioned that I had I awoke at 2 am, so before 10 am I got so so much work done. This allowed me some temporary freedom from a week of struggling, working, and thinking a little too much. (Below a photo of my friends’ apt). This post is long, but you know I am detail oriented, so I like to make sure I get everything. Longer the post the better, you guys have stuff to look at on the flip side if you’re at work or something..Wanted to take you guys on my Sunday with me. Spent a lot of time doing all these descriptions here, though I don’t like writing too much. Also my parents are overseas right now, so they are always wondering what I’m up to. Don’t need to call em up these pictures should suffice. I am alive and well, don’t worry!

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Today I woke up at 2 am so I was able to do some shooting before starting the day, may visit a friend out of state or may go to the studio, depends on my mood. Also, had to burn some music for my car. Was really tired of listening to my iPhone, craving Harmon Kardon sub woofer pulses.

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One of my favorite movies is Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. Reasons, love the switching between dreams to reality but really I think the point Lynch is trying to make with his films is that dreams are realities and realities are dreams, no difference right? Cause what you’re thinking at night when you’re sleeping just affects your life when you’re awake. That’s why I also love Nightmare on Elm Street as well..I own the whole series, number 1 is my favorite though. Drinking tons of coffee to avoid sleep, yes, a familiar feeling.

But anyway, Lynch, loving metaphors and symbols and all, uses that Blue Box in Mulholland Drive to represent the switch from dreams to day, when she takes out that box in the Club Silencio scene. That blue box just represents the blue light between morning and day when the transition happens and I love how he created that box to represent this transition, he’s such an artist! Getting films made in Hollywood, so much disgusting behavior involved, selling out, compromised visions from money pollution, women being humiliated to the nines..I have so much respect for Lynch, favorite director of all time I think. I love how his stuff is non linear too, cuts to the chase, because linear storytelling is obviously staged. Black Swan by Aronofsky shows a similar struggle doesn’t it, but there was something pseudo-intellectual about the way her pain was shot. Black Swan and Mulholland Drive are really similar but I feel like Mulholland Drive was so ‘it’.

Anyway, this is my favorite time of day now, when the light is blue outside. I start off with cleaning up the kitchen, setting up my music playlist on my iphone, and figuring out what my hustle will be for the day.

Some fried foods and beer, and ..some friends. Pregaming. But lets take it vertical. Koreans are heavy drinkers, and they have these things called levels. 1st 2nd 3rd level. 1st could be dinner and drinks, and then 2nd can be going to a bar, and 3rd could be ending up back at someone’s house for more drinking, private house parties. Karoake, huge in Korea, this can be part of those levels too, depends. Kind of feel like this could be the same in all cultures, as worlds tend to be parallel. American youth seems to have this thing called pre-gaming, which is drinking before going out-out. First things first though, outfit priorities. Pink oxford, Luxirare hooded half sleeve jacket, Men’s theory trousers. Not really into accessories right now. I guess my earphones will suffice.

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Wow I am being very good about answering all your questions no? Sitting down for a little break now. Just finished my 3rd espresso of the day. All this curiosity about knives..Is it this knife block below we’re talking about? Get it here.

Priorities: Getting some restaurant brioche loaves from Balthazar, and then doing a minimal french toast setup with 2 dipping sauces, no maple syrup… If you’ve been around the block with brioche, you’ll know that Balthazar’s really the only one worth eating.

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