Cos Stores Press Event

When: 11.07.13
Where: The Serpentine Gallery
Why: Cos Press Event

I've been enjoying a bit of a love affair of late with Cos! Every time I go in I find something fabulous to add to my wardrobe and with the current sale on, there is simply no stopping me!

Amy Silberzahn at the Cos Press Event

• Cos pleated halter dress
• Reiss Aurelia-Stone encrusted belt
• Kervin Marc Cow hide Bag exclusive to The London Assembly
• Sergio Rossi Wedges

COS, Collection Of Style, is for men and women who want high end design and good quality at an affordable price.They state that they are always exploring their original concept of favouring style over fashion, COS appreciates timeless design that lives beyond the season. Merging traditional methods with new techniques and innovative fabrics, they work hard to create fashion pieces that look and feel at once classic and modern. COS likes functional design crafted from simple ideas.

This summer COS are supporting Park Nights, a series of events, screenings and talks that take place at the 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. They have commissioned film-maker James Aiken to explore the Pavilion space, and asked the architect Sou Fujimoto to tell the story of the project. http://www.cosstores.com/

"It is a really fundamental question how architecture is different from nature, 

or how architecture could be part of nature, or how they could be merged...

what are the boundaries between nature and artificial things." Sou Fujimoto

Sou Fujimoto's fantastic architectural sculpture at sunddown. (Photo Amy Silberzahn)

Bis Gleich,
xx
A  

Gig review: Paul Kalkbrenner, Guten Tag tour.

 

What: Paul Kalkbrenner, Guten Tag tour.
When: 22.02.13
Where: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany

Frankfurt Festhalle is not my idea of the ideal venue for a DJ centric gig, but that was where I found myself last Friday night. 

The website says: "Paul Kalkbrenner is a superstar. He is undoubtedly talented, ambitious and successful. Kalkbrenner’s music is challenging and full of energy, but also has serene and profound moments. The music aims toward ecstatic situations and at the same time is entirely in the here and now. It deals with the pressure one is exposed to on a daily basis as well as the knowledge that work and a daily routine is not all there is – it combines trance, art, madness, friendship, hope, family and love in one.

Paul produced and released his fifth album “Icke Wieder” in June of 2011 on Paul Kalkbrenner Musik. On “Icke Wieder”, Paul transfers the depth and dreamlike quality of “Self” onto a danceable sound. The album reached gold status with over 100.000 sold CDs and during the following tour he was able to entertain 125.000 fans. These numbers could make your head spin, but Paul himself keeps his calm. More than anything, he is surprised by his success: “It is strange that my techno-style can be heard throughout the venues. At live shows, where everybody is screaming, everybody is going crazy –  a sell out crowd that is exactly what I have been doing for fourteen years now.” "

And this is exactly what I experienced, the crowd's energy was captivating. A mix of ages were brought together, in an unusual choice of venue which was completely sold out (even the cloak rooms were full before the start of the headline act!) A superstar seems a little dramatic but it is true to state that his name, his reputation, convinced a humongous crowd to spend over 40€ on a ticket to see/hear him and they were captivated! Just one man and a whole lot of technology, minimally supported by very average visuals and with just one brief t-shirt changing pause. Impressive, i'd say hell yeah and I danced my socks off! ;-

More from the website: "Only one and a half years later Paul’s next album was released. For the first time he can encompass all aspects and facets of his music in a singular and comprehensive stroke on the seventeen tracks of “Guten Tag”. These seventeen tracks form not only a cross-section but are also the essence of everything that came before and to Paul it is his most perfect album to date. And although he stands far away from his fans, he is right there in their midst. Passionate and serene. Down-to-earth with his head in the clouds. Highly concentrated – and ever raving."

and ever raving... where can you follow such an enlivening evening? In Frankfurt the best option is always going to be Rockmarket, and as an unofficial after party (but where everyone in the know was heading) Rockmarket didn't disappoint! 

don't miss the next one, but don't turn up till 1am!

text adapted from an interview made in Berlin, late 2012 taken from paulkalkbrenner.net

An Aussie Adventure...

Part 4: Driving from Brisbane to Sydney

When: Monday 14th - Saturday 19th January 2013

Where: Byron Bay - Port Macquaire - The Blue Mountains

Photo above: The Blue Mountains

(Left) Byron Bay ... the nations home to surfers, back packers and a very large amount of really really chilled out people. It was splendid to soak up the sun and to spend some time people watching whilst the H went for a run to explore the area and of course seek a good spot to take a pic of this view.

From Byron Bay we drove down the coast stopping in this idyllic spot, beside a lake, to enjoy a picnic of bread, hummus, salami and fruit washed down with some ginger beer. What a beautiful country Australia is. Beside us 2 young girls escaped the heat and paddled in the water whilst there grand-parents looked on.

On day 4 of our road trip we reached the blue mountains and decided to do the mountains cliff side 4hour trek. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of our Aussie adventure. Being mainly alone in such beautiful nature and at times walking under waterfalls, turning corners just in time to spot a sun basking reptile and being sung to by flocks of wild birds was magical.

The view of the famous Three Sisters mountain range from the fascinating village of Katoomba = stunning. The H enjoyed taking hundreds of pictures as the sun went down and we are looking forward  to getting them printed onto canvas and adding them to our wall of travel adventures.

 Goodnight blue mountains thanks for having us!

Baker's Dozen of Travel Essentials

A Baker’s Dozen of travel essentials.

With a 24hour flight to endure there and back from Frankfurt to Australia, 3 hours Melbourne to Cairns and 2hrs Cairns to Brisbane plus over 12hours on the road between Brisbane and Sydney, please find my Baker’s dozen of essential travel products below…

13. Rosie for Autograph, Marks and Spencers black Cashmere trousers and Cardigan with silk tie= cosy and comfy for the transatlantic flight and snuggling up on any cold nights.

12. Urban ears ear phones and ipod. For blocking out unseemly noises.

11. Travel Guides – Bill Bryson Down Under, Lonely Planet- The East Coast Australia guide. Educational & Amusement purposes.

10. Sunglasses x2- hide a thousand sins, I love my Versace & Karl Lagerfeld ones.

9.  Dr Hauschka minis- Rose Day Cream to keep my skin super hydrated plus it smells divine.

8. Cath Kidson Rose Lip Balm & Revlon Colour Stay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Premium Pink & Red Tomato. Lip stain that really doesn’t budge = photo ready posing at all times.

7. Nuxe Multi-Usage Dry Oil Golden Shimmer. I hate how sun creams always leave you with an unattractive white sheen, so a few drops of this mixed in not only smells gorgeous but adds a beautiful golden shimmer whilst being intensely moisturizing, how can you resist? Sun cream you ask… I love St Tropez SPF 30 for the face with Tan enhancer. 

6. Smythson diary, notebooks and Muji black ink pens, keep me list writing happy and holiday notating in style.

5. Books & Magazines.

I am currently working my way through The Penguin Book of Erotic Stories by Women. I remain one of the few who hated 50Shades, so as an antidote to suffering Book 1, this is a fabulous anthology, spanning the last hundred years that acknowledge and confirm a woman’s right to define her own sexuality, rather than having it shaped by men. 

 

4. Bachs Rescue Remedy Spray. As I’m not the most relaxed traveller this plus some a few drops of lavender oil on my pretty kath kidson face cloth are essential.

3.Black and white Pretty Ballerina pumps- chic and super comfy, also go with everything.

2. Canon G12 Powershot Camara- to capture the stunning Australian scenery.

1. Long striped American Apparel jersey dress and silk mix cardigan – essential change of outfit and comfy travel outfit for any internal flights or train or car or indeed cable car journeys!

Fashion blog: Top Travel Outfits

What: Top Holiday outfits
Where: Australia 
When: January 2013

A sunny happy outfit suits Melbourne perfectly!

• Versace sunglasses throughout
• Vivid yellow Marks & Spencers lace skater dress
• White Converse trainers

 Enjoying a Lavender Bellini at Brisbane's Southbank

• Mathew Willamson silk geomatric top
• Gold jewellery gifts, from the H
• Rose gold Hiromichi Konno watch for the Dannish brand Skagden
• Revlon lipstain in top tomato
• OPI nail varnish in goldfinger  

Byron beach on a beautiful day

• American Apparel rose bikini (I love it so much I bought one in black too)
• Denim hotpants by topshop
• Turkish linen Haman towel from Istanbul (Drys like a dream and perfect sun bathing companion!)

Driving into the blue mountains requires a simple navy ensemble with a pop of colour.

• Navy silk vest top by Italian brand Intimissimi http://de.intimissimi.com/
• Esprit 3/4 length denim shorts
• Harmonic II (Bow) flip flops by Melissa melissauk
• White leather belt by Topshop
• Necklace from an antiques market in London

Sydney walkabout

• Black wool & silk dress, Collection by Italian label Stefenal www.stefanel.com/de
• Sunglasses by Karl Lagerfeld
• Voodoo necklace by Australian/Vietnamese designer Alistair Trung from Shop 28 QVB Article on Trung's work www.alistairtrung.com.au 
• Black & white leather pumps by Pretty Ballarinas www.prettyballerinas.com

The blue mountains required something a little warmer

• Fine knit and silk dress by Dutch brand Supertrash www.supertrash.com/de/
• Wedges by Sergio Rossi

 







Exploring the Sydney district of Surrey Hills

• 50's style fitted bodice dress by Australian Designer, Lemi Conopio of Lemisee Collections from Sydney's Paddington Market www.lemiseecollections.com.au
• My all-time favourite jacket custome made for me by London Designer, Kervin Marc from Spitalfields Sunday Market www.okmarc.com 
• Sergio Rossi Wedges as before

Bye bye Australia, Bis Gleich!

•  

An Aussie Adventure Part 2: Queensland

An Aussy Adventure... 
 What: Part 2: Port Douglas, The Great Barrier Reef & Cairns
Where: Queensland

Itinerary: Port Douglas- Sheraton Mirage Resort - The Great Barrier Reef - Cairns

Part 1: Queensland - January 3rd - January 8th 2013

Following a 2 hour flight from Melbourne and escaping Victoria's 40°C+ heat, a frightening number of fire warnings and a nasty viral bug, we arrived in Cairns and travelled straight to the beautiful town of Port Douglas, the gateway to The Great Barrier Reef. Stunning! Staying at the luxurious Sheraton Mirage Resort, we were spoilt for pristine lagoon-style pools and some excellent fresh seafood platters. 

 Celebrating the 2nd leg of our Aussie tour in style, we settled in with the locals at a local watering hole and cracked open the bubbles! Happy, shiny holidaying people!

"Lunch with the Lorikeets" at the Wildlife Habitat was pretty cool with some characterful flying creatures that inspired me to think about writing a children's book. We also met George and Jeffery, two sleepy Tawny Frogmouths (in the first picture). We were also terribly brave or possibly foolhardy and allowed some eager Aussie ladies to drape a python around our necks. I have decided to call her Polly to emphasize how not scary she was! 

The Wildlife Habitat is a Wildlife immersion exhibit - an open and interactive environment for guests and animals to mingle in a spacious and natural setting. Visitors wander along elevated boardwalks, observing up close a huge range of flora and fauna as birds fly and roam freely. It was an amazing experience to get up close to the creatures and the tours - Koala, Wetlands- crococodiles and the opportuity to feed the Wallabies was really cool. www.wildlifehabitat.com.au 

Our second trip in Queensland was to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, our "Tony's Tour" guide was called Randall and he certainly proved a knowledgable bloke as well as extremely chatty. How he managed to keep up a constant stream of ancidotes and relevant environmental information going nonstop for the entire 5 hour trip, I don't know!

We explored rainforest and waterways, took a boat trip along a crocodile-infested stretch of water and managed not to get eaten which - considering the increasing number of croc attacks - I was quite pleased about. We never managed to spot a wild Cassowarie, but we all had a good chuckle at the doctored sign -> encouraging attentive driving.


Port Douglas was absolutely stunning and we were quite sad to leave the super Sheraton Mirage Resort, but leave we must, and so we ventured a little further down south to Cairns to check into the Hilton hotel and to check out the city of tourists. Advertised in our guide book as rather shabby compared to the Lush Port Douglas, we couldn't help but agree. Nonetheless, with only 2 nights to stay, we managed to find 2 excellent restaurants to indulge our new found passion for fish, Barnacle Bills www.barnaclebills.com.au and The Salthouse at the Marina www.salthouse.com.au = excellent options should you find yourself in town and reccommended to us by some friendly locals. 

We spent our final day in Queensland visiting the lovely village of Kuranda. We traveled there via the fantastic Kuranda Historic Scenic Railway and returned over the rainforest with the Skyrail Rainforest cableway.The picturesque mountain retreat of Kuranda Village is just 25km northwest of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia and is surrounded by World Heritage Rainforest. Simply stunning!

Next stop Brisbane, The Gold Coast and The Sunshine Coastal drive to Sydney.

An Aussie Adventure: Part 1: Melbourne

An Aussy Adventure... 
 What: Part 1: Melbourne
Where: New South Wales 

Itinerary: Melbourne - Great Ocean Road -Skenes Creek - Apollo Bay - 12 Apostles

Part 1: Melbourne Saturday 29th - January 3rd 2013

We landed at 9am following 24hours of flights and Hotel Royce certainly helped ease the Jet Lag...

The Royce Hotel is recognised as one of Melbourne’s finest designer five star boutique hotels. With its 100 stylish rooms and suites, award winning dish restaurant and chic bar, the amberoom, the Royce offers a unique experience for the discerning traveller. 


Ideally located on Australia’s most famous boulevard, St Kilda Road, the Royce is within walking distance to the fashionable shopping and restaurant precincts of Toorak Road and Chapel Street, Melbourne CBD, Royal Botanic Gardens, Shrine of Remembrance and Albert Park Lake. http://www.roycehotels.com.au/

Headed out to St Kilda and checked out the creatives at the Boulevard market, great stalls with a broad selection of products following an essential sun hat purchase (see below) we enjoyed wandering along the market admiring all manner of ceramics, jewellery and fashion accessories, my favourite products included jewellery made from cutlery -spoons et al! St Kilda is definitely worth checking out for its kitsch retro feel.

www.stkildamarket.com


The Royal Botanical Gardens were stunning and the heat and sunshine certainly helped with the jet lag too. Wandering among the trees and flowers was so relaxing. The picture below shows nature versus modern and old architecture on a beautiful summers day with the perfect refreshing breeze.

 

My favourite Melbourne district was definitely Fitzroy and Brunswick street. A whole road of funky little shops and bars. A really inspiring area and I certainly picked up a few ideas for my future retail adventure. The perfect location for a little bit of shopping and coffee or two. Melbourne city also has lots of graffiti decorated allies like the photo below. Very cool!

Dinner was enjoyed at Longrain a fabulous Thai restaurant before heading to the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, possibly the best place name ever.


A resident of one of the world’s most vibrant bar capitals, Longrain Melbourne’s bar was voted one of Australia’s best bars in the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine’s prestigious ‘Best of The Best’ edition. A central point of the restaurant’s space, the bar is dramatically set at centre stage cleverly dividing the cocktail lounge and the restaurant’s main dining area. The bar opens early each evening until late, making it a great pre and post-theatre spot. 

Adresse: 40-44 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 
Telefon:(03) 9671 3151 http://longrain.com/

We headed off down The Great Ocean Road on day 4 and were overwhelmed by the views. Australia really is an incredible country! 1 nights sleep in a lovely campsite in Skenes Creek was magical. Star gazing at night on the beach is an Ocean Road must!

and on the way there we met a few cute Koala's!

A Bakers Dozen of Melbourne and the surrounding area essentials:
1. St Kilda for the fabulous boulevarde market. www.stkildamarket.com
2. Fitsroy & Brunswick St -Shopping heaven.
3. Long walks along Yarra River into and out of the city.
4. The Royal Botantical Gardens for some peace and meditative quiet.
5. Roaming the lanes in the city and stopping for coffee.
6. Federation Square and the ICMA and The National Gallery. www.fedsquare.com
7. Soaking up the views and enjoying coffee and delicious Lemon tarts at the Splitpoint  lighthouse in Aireys Inlet. www.splitpointlighthouse.com.au
8. Koala watching along the road to Cape Otway Lighthouse. www.lightstation.com
9. A fishy dinner at Vista in Apollo Bay. www.thevistaseafoodrestaurant.com
10. Great Ocean Road views and beaches.
11. Drinking gorgeous Australian wine on the beach whilst star gazing at night.
12. The 12 Apostles seen by helicopter www.12apostleshelicopters.com.au
13. Spending time with special friends, multiple thanks to Jeni & Tom for welcoming us and being such fabulous hosts. Cheers!

 
 
next up Cairns, Port Douglas and The Great Barrier Reef...

 

 

 

2013 A Baker's Dozen Bucket List
Where: Australia, Russia, Spain, Germany & England so far...
When: 2013

Everyone who knows me, knows I love to plan everything well in advance. For me firm future plans help keep me excited about what's to come, I thrive on things to look forward too. So expect some blogging around these activities and Happy New Year to you all.

in no particular order...

13. Australia tour - Dec 30th - Jan 25th

12.A Baker's dozen of interviews with some top dogs across the areas of retail, design, interiors, pr and music and marketing.

11.Top 13 Berlin week

10. Yoga retreats- escape to the zen


9.  A tale of a Russian Wedding

8. How the Spanish do it.

7. An English woman in New York

6. Advanced Jewellery Skills: A how to or not to.

5. To Mother with Love: The Royal Chelsea Flower Show

4. fingers crossed... An African Safari Extravaganza

3. Achieving a stamp: CELTA qualification

2. Exploring Germany- Q3 Adventures.

and perhaps the most exciting ...
1. A Retail Journey: The opening of A Creative Retail Space in Frankfurt, Germany

Bis Gleich,
xx
A