MAK Geymüllerschlössel, Vienna/carpet obsession

I am editing for my new website and I came across this image from the MAK Geymüllerschlössel that I shot in 2012. I was so obsessed with this carpet. Still am...

birds/vienna

A bit of a random image for you today from the Vienna Museum of Natural History.

notes from the writing cabin/wind

I am blaming it on the windy conditions that have been in place since I arrived in Mendocino last week, but I am a bit scattered in my thoughts. I am thinking about the beauty of small objects and my love of brass and copper beyond the big "trend" in those two things right now and of course all this leads back to Carl Aubock which is the chapter I am working on at the moment. Every chapter ends up being a excavation of my experience, and even though I take notes and write in my journal about my experiences, my true notes are my images. So I look and look and look at my images - especially the ones I would never show - because they jog my memories loose better than anything else.  But alas...still lots of notes and not even a good opening sentence. Ah well...back to work...

writing/kickstarter...hmmm...

Well, goodness me my friends! Doing a Kickstarter campaign takes a lot of time! I've been back a week and have not written one word for my book since I have been home. Just a heck of a lot of emails (which is fun too).
I am so grateful for all the support thus far, but I still have a long way to go. So please check out the Kickstarter and support in whatever way you can - pledge, tell your friends, all of the above... you get the idea.
Me? I'll get back to writing tomorrow about this place...one of my favorite houses I have ever shot.

scenes from vienna/the MAK

As I was looking for more Otto Wagner images from my time in Vienna (which I didn't find yet...) I ran into these images I shot really quick at the MAK museum. When I asked some friends what I should not miss in Vienna, every single one said the MAK. I would agree. The building and bookstore alone are really good. I didn't get to see the collection because they were redoing a bunch of it, but I just sat on that pink couch in the second image and enjoyed the space.

scenes from Vienna/Otto Wagner

A couple of images from the cafe across from the Karlsplatz station designed by Otto Wagner in Vienna. I am pretty sure he designed this as well, but not positive...
This fantastic avocado green used to be my favorite color and is still close to my heart. I am always excited when I see refridgerators in this color. Or cars! I am fortunate that such simple and random things make me happy. It makes everyday a discovery.
Happy weekend!

just pretty/aubock

Just pretty light, don't you think?

carl aubock/chair

Lots of editing going on over here for the new book. It is kind of magical going through everything I have shot over the past 6 months. It is only in hindsight that I can see how much I have done/shot/experienced...you name it. I came across this image yesterday of a chair by Carl Aubock that I shot at the Werkstatte in Vienna. Actually it was in a storage room, but Carl Aubock (IV) knew I would love to see all the treasures in there (like the furniture that Carl II designed for himself and lived with in his home). I especially loved this chair, not only because it is fantastic to look at and comfy, but also because of that plaid! Carl's wife designed textiles so this was a husband/wife collaboration. The shape of this chair is great, but for me, the plaid puts it over the top. Just super good.
There is a new book on Werkstatte Carl Aubock that just came out. Looking forward to taking a look.

michael anastassiades: time and again/ MAK geymüllerschlössel, vienna

I cannot believe I haven't posted these images until now. When I was first in Vienna last May, Michael Anastassiades' intervention at the MAK Geymüllerschlössel had just opened and everyone was raving about how beautiful it was. Of course I had a short amount of time in Vienna (packed with photo shoots) and so I missed it. But to my good fortune the show was still up when I returned in August! So on my last rainy Saturday, I ventured up to this amazing house filled with Biedermeier that is now the MAK Geymüllerschlössel.
I am drawn to Anastassiades' work for his extreme pared away simplicity. His restraint harks back to Brancusi in my mind. But this intervention is more than Anastassiades' beautiful objects in amazing Biedermeier interiors. In some rooms there is sound. It is quiet, so you hardly notice, but it is oddly affecting. In one particular room, the sound of clocks, heartbeats and whispers made me feel like I was entering into a room that was existing in two separate times (second to last image). I felt like there was a seance happening in another time that I could hear, or feel somehow. I guess that sounds kooky, but I don't know how else to explain it. The more I shot, the more I saw, the more I felt. The effect of this show is subtle and I think it can be easy to miss if you are just walking through. The key is to spend some time. The longer you stay in a room, the more it permeates you.
The show is open until November 25. If you couldn't already tell, I highly recommend a visit.
Thanks to the MAK and curator Thomas Geisler for allowing me to shoot.
All images MAK Geymüllerschlössel, 2012. ©Leslie Williamson

chair/aubock werkstatte

I got a crush on this chair when I was shooting at the Carl Aubock Werkstatte in Vienna. The only way I know this is that when I was editing through my images the other day I ran across about 15 images of this same chair. But isn't she cute? It's that tilt of her head. I feel like she is winking at me.

note from london/hofmobiliendepot vienna

Just arrived in London yesterday and I admit it to you freely my friends! It is 3h30 in the afternoon and I am still in my PJs! Feels pretty good to languish around for a day.
But I had to tell you about the most amazing place that Maria Aubock sent me to in Vienna on Saturday. Wow did she have my number!! She sent me to the Hofmobiliendepot, which is basically a museum for Austrian furniture, but also looks at the era where the Habsburg monarchy moved their furniture around from castle to castle in long processions of carriages. So all of their residences were empty and furnished from a huge warehouse of furniture. Part of this museum is like a big furniture warehouse...it is amazing! I am not really one to read all those little placards at museums, but I read every one here and my eyes were wide with the slight craziness of this whole concept! Can you imagine how many carriages and horses and how much furniture there would be to furnish just one? The caravan would be a mile long!
The upper floors look rather in depth at the rish history of furniture design in Austria. Here are my favorite pics from the day. But honestly there are a lot more. I thought my iPhone was going to burst into flames it was so hot from taking pictures!

Love the mix of modern patterns with classic shapes here.

Couldn't ignore my cheeky little cherub, especially when surrounded by such serious faces. Of course what you cannot see is that he is actually pulling out his own heart, but I didn't want that part in the image. Not nice...


Shot in the stairwell, but just such good wallpaper!

One of my absolute favorite parts of the exhibit turned out to be about Lucie Rie again. I tweeted an interior of her Potters studio at the V&A awhile ago ( https://twitter.com/#!/lwillphoto/status/189459124235415552/photo/1 ). I was admiring this particular room and it turned out to be her home before she fled Vienna for London. Designed by then 25 year old Ernst Plischke. When she left for London, she deconstructed the room and took it with her and then customised it to fit her little London flat. She lived in this same space for the rest of her life. Love it!

note from vienna/carl aubock, architekt

As some of you know, for the past two days I have been photographing Werkstatte Carl Aubock. It has been a dream...but I knew it was going to be good the second I walked into Carl Aubock IV architecture office. You know how I knew? He has collections on his wall. Masses of the same thing. Groupings. I am obsessed with things that are grouped together and I have been for a long time. But Carl's collections are the best. My favorite are the collections of string that the postman brings around the mail everyday. He has kept them and they hang on a corkboard with a few choice (beautiful) objects. And his collections of harvest instruments is impressive and diverse. It gave me another push to hang all my scissors on my wall.
Back to London on Sunday after tomorrow's early morning floumarkt (flea market) trip and hopefully a little architecture tour!
Have a lovely weekend friends!

note from vienna/Loebmeyr

Today was amazing my friends! I went to Loebmeyr's workshops in Vienna and was given an in depth and inspiring tour! I am going to include them in the craftsman project. This first shot is the iron working room for chandelier making. I love the huge anvil in the foreground. The second is just from their packing room. Beautiful quality of light in there. And the last is from the archives. From 1899! Loebmeyr designed and made the apothecary jars for the Vatican. How amazing is that?!? Their archives are so engrossing I don't know how I will edit down to what we will shoot.