Category: WOW

It’s been a great year for hair. From mermaid-inspired locks to gray ombre, one thing is clear: unconventional coloring is a stunner each and every time. Stylist Guy Tang is a master at these awe-inspiring looks, and his latest project is just as alluring in the dark as it is in the daylight. Known as glow-in-the-dark hair, the model’s locks transform from fiery hues to dazzling brilliance when under a black light.

To make this style possible took the work of someone like Tang—a hair-colorist extraordinaire—to go through multiple steps and types of dyes. First, he bleached the hair and then brushed on special neon dyes (fuchsia, yellow, orange, and red) in an ombre-like pattern. The results, in sunlight, are like a brilliant molten lava, but it’s when the lights go off that the magic happens. As the wind whips the model’s hair, her blindingly-bright locks seemingly have a mind of their own.

One potential drawback of this hair is the distinct lack of black lights present in everyday life. Tang pointed out, however, that the gym is the perfect setting to showcase the hair’s double identity. “Imagine her in a spinning class with black lights on?” He wrote on Instagram. “She will be glowing!”

Here’s glow-the-dark hair in action:

In daylight, you’d never know this hairstyle held such a dazzling secret:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywk_KE7IZR8&w=750&h=422]

Guy Tang: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
via [Allure]

Retailer IKEA is known for its showrooms, in which their stylish, modern furniture is impeccably arranged and offers its own version of a fantasy—it’s a glimpse into what life would be like if you had that dreamy layout as your own. Inside the company’s flagship store in Slependen, Norway, however, a typically bright and welcoming display has been replaced with a powerful message. IKEA has recently partnered with the Red Cross to transform one of its pop-up spaces into a replica of a Syrian home.

Called 25 m2 of Syria, this showroom is anything but picture-perfect. Instead, it’s an honest depiction of a home just outside of Damascus, the capital of the Middle Eastern country. In it, a woman named Rana and her family of nine live among cinder block walls and some scattered furnishings. The atmosphere is dismal—its residents lack the basic necessities like food, medicine, and clean water—making it a solemn reminder of this ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The installation was created by advertising agency POL as a way to promote Norway’s annual fundraiser called TV-aksjonen, which has pledged its donations this year to aid those living in war and conflict zones.

POL: Website | Facebook
via [designboom]

With the help of Photoshop, anything is possible. Thanks to creative liberties and its powerful tools, anyone can fly, roam the land as a giant, and surf atop a skyscraper. Making these playful possibilities a “reality” is photographer and digital artist Adrian Sommeling. Through his expert image-manipulation skills, he celebrates the endless bounds of the imagination that are so well-crafted it’s as if they actually happened.

Sommeling was trained as a fine artist but has since traded in analog brushes and canvases for computer screens and digital drawing tools. For almost 20 years, he’s honed his craft and shares the joy of creation with his son, who frequently makes an appearance in Sommeling’s amusing works. The boy gets to live out wild fantasies—ones of mischief, adventure, and best of all, quality time with dad.

If you enjoy these father-son antics, John Wilhelm has similar fun Photoshopping his three daughters into fantastical scenes.

Adrian Sommeling: Website | Instagram | Facebook
via [Design You Trust]

Breakdancing, rapping, street style—1980s New York was fertile ground for a developing hip-hop culture, and Brooklyn-born photographer Jamel Shabazz was there to capture it all. Thanks to this legendary street photographer, we’re able to take a trip to the past and see the style, camaraderie, and swagger that pulsed through the city during this electric time. With a resurgence of interest in the era—due in part to Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down—these refreshingly authentic images document a magic moment prior to the crack cocaine and AIDS epidemics that would later invade the city.

After spending time abroad in the military, Shabazz returned to New York in 1980, armed with a camera and determined to immortalize his New York. Inspired by LIFE and National Geographic, his work is in the style of a true documentarian—leaving a visual diary that is almost like flipping through the photo album of an old friend. For Shabazz, photography was also an important tool for communicating with his community. While he began by photographing his friends, he later turned his lens in a different direction, capturing young men and women that may have been in need of help, or shooting local leaders who provided strength and influence. The camera opened a dialogue that enabled him to connect with his subjects, something clearly evident in the final images.

Shabazz’s work has been heralded for capturing the culture and style of this pivotal moment in New York’s history. And just how did this style evolve? “During the era of conscious rap and hip-hop, artists like KRS-One or Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, it was about culture, so I saw a lot of racial pride, I saw people wearing traditional African garments, kente cloth—celebrating their history and culture,” Shabazz shared with Vogue. “I thought that was a very interesting time. It wasn’t about a lot of the bling that would take place later on in the 1990s.” People wore clothes to represent themselves, taking pride and care with their appearance, regardless of economic status.

More of Shabazz’s work can be found in his books Back in the Days and A Time Before Crack. He was also the subject of Charlie Ahern’s 2013 documentary, Jamel Shabazz Street Photographer, which features interviews with Fab 5 Freddy and KRS-One.

Jamel Shabazz: Website | Facebook | Instagram
via [Timeline, Vogue]

All images via Jamel Shabazz.

The fragile nature of ceramics makes them objects of beauty that can easily show the wear of time. Korean artist Yee Sookyung has pushed this concept beyond its limits with her ongoing Translated Vase series. Since 2002 the well regarded artist, whose work is in the collections of The British Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Seoul Museum of Art, has used discarded ceramics like a jigsaw puzzle, piecing them together one by one. Weaving together both large and small scale sculptures, she seals the cracks with 24k gold—a process similar to traditional Japanese kintsugi. Fittingly, the Korean word for crack also means gold, solidifying the material as the perfect finishing touch to her work.

The gold is also a visually stimulating complement to the shiny, glazed ceramics, reminding us that what one might discard can often transformed into something more beautiful. By highlighting the crevices, Sookyung draws the eye across each individual fragment, the gold running down like rivulets. Not looking to create a dialogue about ancient Korean ceramics, the body of work holds a different meaning for the artist. “This work can be a metaphor of a struggle in life that makes people become more mature and beautiful as they overcome suffering,” she shares. As cracks form, what replaces the empty space is often more precious than what existed previously.

Sookyung obtains the ceramics from contemporary Korean ceramic artists who work to create copies of historical pottery. Striving for perfection, the ceramicists destroy the 70% of their work that does not come up to standard. Sookyung scoops up this “trash,” using it as jigsaw puzzle pieces and manipulating them until the object takes its final form.

Yee Sookyung is represented by Locks Gallery in Philadelphia and Ota Fine Arts in Tokyo.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8RR-vRWt8Y&w=750&h=422]

Yee Sookyung: Website
via [andúnië]

British jewelry designer Theo Fennell has been dreaming up bespoke and bejeweled pieces since 1982. Initially introduced into the dazzling world of jewelry as an ambitious apprentice to a silversmith, he has spent decades perfecting his precious craft. With an artistic eye and a focus on the avant-garde, he believes that jewelry “should give a thrill of pleasure every time it is looked at or worn”—an admirable approach that is evident in all of his glistening creations. What truly stands out most for its originality, imagination, and pleasant surprises in Fennell’s long list of creations is his whimsical collection of one-of-a-kind “Opening Rings.”

With gemstones like diamonds, emeralds, and opals set in bands of gold, the pretty pieces are undeniably classic in composition. However, as part of Fennell’s Masterworks collection—a line of jewelry that is “absolutely original [and] astonishingly designed and crafted”—each Opening Ring is clearly not your standard piece of jewelry. Featuring tiny figures, intricate relief drawings, and even decorative typography, the rings are beautiful at first glance. However, while the exterior of each piece is eye-catching enough, it’s what’s inside that makes them particularly enchanting.

Each quirky ring has a few tricks up its sleeve. Tiny doors and moveable gates reveal secret compartments and dainty illustrations, from gorgeous gardens to a vividly detailed yellow-brick road. Seemingly stationary baubles retract, revealing sweet scenes that span a rainbow-shroud pot of gold and charming characters from The Wind in the Willows. Undeniably alluring and delightfully mysterious, each Opening Ring is a special kind of statement piece.

While the ornamental objects cost a pretty penny (up to $30,000), Fennell holds that the enchanting rings are “true works of art that simply have no comparison anywhere else.” And, after exploring the rings’ ins-and-outs, who can argue with that?

Be sure to ogle Fennells’ other awe-inspiring Masterwork creations, including brilliant brooches, unique charms, and unique necklaces. 

 

Theo Fennell: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
via [Beautiful/Decay]

All images via Theo Fennell. 

Illustrator and costume designer Ezgi Pamir uses embroidery thread like paint pigment in her stunning hoop art. Her portraits of women, in particular, are some of her most engaging pieces, which employ tiny tics of floss—placed side by side, similar to pointillism—to produce a realistic, three-dimensional effect. Set against a neutral fabric, the stitched figures seem to pop out of their circular frame and into real life.

As someone who works with clothing, it’s only natural that Pamir would integrate it into her embroidery, too. Each of her portraits have a garment affixed to them that adds a sculptural element to the flattened stitches. In one composition, a long scarf is tied around a lady’s neck as it trails off the hoop, while another piece has a redhead wearing a collar secured with a button. It’s this bit of costume that adds a welcome dramatic flair to the conventional portraits.

In addition to portraits, Pamir also stitches animals:

Ezgi Pamir: Behance | Instagram
via [Creative Boom]

In a swirl of color and texture, artist Hieu—better known as Kelogsloops—paints spectacular portraits that feel both intimate and grandiose, as if the subjects hold the universe at their fingertips. The Melbourne-based creative fuses motifs of water, space, and weightlessness, combining these stunning visuals with the carefree fluidity of watercolor pigments. Together, they merge into compelling, ethereal forms.

The blending of these seemingly disparate elements is a reminder that we are all connected—that no person or place is a vacuum, and everything, no matter how small, can have an impact that reaches beyond itself. Although this idea might seem daunting, Kelogsloops demonstrates that this type of unity is beautiful.

Kelogsloops will soon make an appearance on our Instagram—he’s doing a “takeover” on November 19 and 20, 2016, sharing his artwork and inspirations. Be sure to follow us so you don’t miss it!

Here’s Kelogsloops in action:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr4NNKPzBsg&w=750&h=422]

Kelogsloops: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Adventurer Cassandra DePecol is a woman on a mission. While the 27-year-old was raised in Connecticut and now calls California home, she has dedicated the last 15 months to wandering around the world as a “global citizen” and an advocate for peace. She has visited an astounding 181 countries, and is eager to check all 196 off of her list—a feat that would make her the first female, youngest American, and fastest individual to do so. Deemed Expedition 196, this passion project exhibits DePecol’s empowering jet-setting journey.

Though DePecol’s love of travel has been a lifelong affair, her wanderlust took off in 2009, when she and her brother traveled around Europe. What started as a tour of Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Switzerland eventually turned into two years of travel across the Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia. With only $2,000 to her name, DePecol supported herself by “sweeping floors, serving tables and planting seeds.” Six years later, on her 25th birthday, she decided she wanted to do it all over again—but this time, she wanted to do it even bigger. With a crinkled map, a kickstarter campaign, and a goal of seeing every country on earth, she set off on Expedition 196.

Since kicking off Expedition 196 on July 24, 2015, she has documented a wealth of invaluable moments—from fulfilling her dream of riding in a cockpit to experiencing the tremendous kindness of a stranger in Cuba—on her Instagram. Given the high costs (nearly $200,000 so far) associated with her travels, DePecol relies on the support of sponsors, and she often uses her Instagram to showcase businesses in exchange for accommodation—a savvy way to globe-trot!

While Expedition 196 supports many of DePecol’s personal goals—to expand her horizons, leave her comfort zone behind, and, of course, experience the myriad cultures the world has to offer—it serves an even larger purpose: to promote peace. Inspired by her undertaking, The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) has named DePecol as one of their Ambassadors for Peace. As a representative, she speaks to audiences (primarily students) around the globe about sustainable practices and beneficial environmental actions.

With only 15 countries and less than 40 days to go, DePecol is in the homestretch of her project. As Expedition 196 comes to a close, be sure to keep up with her through her uplifting Instagram and her travel-inspired Twitter!

Cassandra DePecol: Website | Instagram | Twitter
via [Bright Side]

All images via Cassandra DePecol.

Photographer Chris Burkard has traveled to all ends of the Earth, seeking to explore the various terrains of this planet and experience the utmost beauty our world has to offer. While doing so, he’s always had his camera in tow to share a glimpse of his journey with the rest of the world through social media. With extraordinary images of majestic waterfalls, towering forests, and seemingly endless desert trails, it’s really no wonder that this adventurous shutterbug has amassed a following of over 2 million people on Instagram.

More than merely capturing photos of the landscapes before him, Burkard makes it his mission to present a comparative image that forces the viewer to contemplate his/her own place in the world. By placing a solitary, faceless figure in the distance, he represents humanity with nature, subconsciously encouraging people to reflect on this idea and the relation between the two.

No matter the location, Burkard makes it a point to clear each frame of distraction and promote the natural beauty of the environment. Without any words at all, he urges the viewer to cherish the world we live in and, hopefully, entices us all to do our part to preserve our Earth.

For a daily reminder of the beauty our world has to offer, Burkard has published a calendar filled with a dozen of his stunning photos. The calendar, called Wanderlust, is currently available via Amber Lotus Publishing.

Chris Burkard: Website | Instagram | Facebook

My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Amber Lotus Publishing.