Gregor Graf

This Austrian designer mainly focuses on photography and what caught my eye was his work titled "Hidden Town". He took pictures of London, Warsaw and Linz but manipulated them so every hint of advertising and signage was taken out. The street became unrecognisable and looked uninhabited. This clearly shows how much design and advertising has crept into everyday life, so much that without it, places and streets look unnatural.  It's work like this that is so inspirational and mind-opening that makes me like design so much. It also creeps me out how affected the general public are, almost needing the signs to help recognise a place. The title emphasises this focus aswell as the lack of comparison to what it should look like.

Both the pictures are manipulated images of London. My curiosity naturally kicks in, wanting to know which streets they are. Does anyone know?

Graf also does illustration, although I don't find as catchy as his photography but definitely have a look on his website. Most of it is in German which is a little annoying but there are plenty of examples of his work to look at.

Thomas Hardy

A while back I watch a documentary on BBC One about the writer and poet. As I had to study his work for english back in school, it was very interesting to be able to grasp a better understanding on his life. He was a very private person, so little was known about him, but Hardy had pretty much documented his life through his books and poetry, writing about his hardships and relationships. 

I really enjoyed watching the programme about him as some of his books were ahead of it's time. Books such as "Far from Madding Crowd" and "Jude the Obscure" brought may fans aswell as critics. The public loved the storylines and characters but others argued it was too obscene and offensive, the themes toyed with traditional beliefs of marriage and religion and instead of representing women as the stereotypical housewife, he often wrote them with a mind and freedom of their own.

Thomas Heatherwick

This designer is truly inspirational. He has done many pieces big and small around the UK, each one executed with precision and style.

The first image is a massive sculpture inside the Wellcome Trust building, hanging above a pool of water. It is made from molten metal dropped into water to give the twisted and flowing effect. The challenging factor of this brief was that the sculpture had to fit through the doors of the building but be large enough to fill the space.

The bridge as you can see rolls up to let boats pass instead of the usual mechanism of raising each side. I find this bridge amazing, because it shows how serious Thomas takes his work, not just looking at aesthetics but challenging the way things are made in the first place.

find out more on his website www.heatherwick.com