Things: Lovely prints, a brainy guide and a souvenir Word-a-coaster sculpture

Date
14 April 2012

Things is a vision of brains, beauty and (probably) braun this week – and what a sight to behold! To get over our post-Bank Holiday blues and the April showers that have been plaguing our skies, we’ve gathered together some items that may look like black and white Kansas from the outside but are actually a colourful Oz on the inside. Impressive prints, a luxury biannual publication and even a surprise sculpture feature this week, so let’s tap our red shoes together and enjoy the ride…

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Lucienne Roberts: Brains

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Lucienne Roberts: Brains

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Lucienne Roberts: Brains

Lucienne Roberts: Brains – The Mind as Matter exhibition guide

It was a good hour well-spent at the Wellcome Collection’s new exhibition Brains – a suitably mind-boggling and broad experience into all things grey matter (with trepanning tools and electro-shock machines and everything else we’ve explored about our top organ). Lucienne Roberts; design hand was evident at every exhibit to a thankfully descriptive graphic level and performed really well as a takeaway guide to the show – coherent and not overbearing its content at all.
www.luciennerobertsplus.com
www.wellcomecollection.org/brains

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Useful: Used

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Useful: Used

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Useful: Used

Used: Issue Three

Used magazine has the ability to be dense but not overpowering – much like a good chocolate brownie. The rich colours in its huge pages and the sumptuous wealth of material are what makes this art and fashion biannual (designed by Useful a pleasure to read and to hold. This issue asks its contributors for their interpretations of reality providing an eclectic mix. There’s a powerful limited edition cover too, which takes an image from the Marylin Monroe, ‘Boo Boo De Boo’ editorial by photographer Nik Harley. The whole shoot is stunning, with model Suzie Kennedy embodying the starlet to a T, so much so it’s a little frightening. 
www.usedmagazine.co.uk

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Mass Observation: Hyperbolic Paraboloid Roof

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Mass Observation: Hyperbolic Paraboloid Roof

Mass Observation: Hyperbolic Paraboloid Roof print

This print from studio Mass Observation (headed by Theo Simpson and Ben Mclaughlin) is beautifully bleak and echoes the agency’s focus on the mechanics of our environment. An example of saddle roof construction, the building itself was created in 1959 and designed by architect Samuel Scorer, a pioneer in hyperbolic paraboloid structures. Located on the A1 near Retford, the structure and this wonderful image serve as a reminder of a time when futuristic meant hover cars and vacuum-packed food.
www.massobservation.org

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Accept & Proceed: Bread and Honey

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Accept & Proceed: Bread and Honey

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Accept & Proceed: Bread and Honey

Accept & Proceed:Bread and Honey

If only we could print our own money. Of course it would lose all value but still, those memories of carrying wedges of Monopoly money like it was real could become a reality. Accept & Proceed have toyed with this dream by producing a series of prints that re-imagine the design of money. Originally made for Nelly Duff at Pick Me Up, the set of notes uses Cockney Rhyming slang as the denominations and we think they’re pretty nifty. Featuring a map of London postcodes as well as a metallic foil River Thames, they’re tremendous looking things. Kemptown Races (Aces) as cockneys might say, if we hadn’t made that one up. 
www.acceptandproceed.com

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It’s Nice That/ Selfridges/ Stewdio and Atom: Word-A-Coaster

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It’s Nice That/ Selfridges/ Stewdio and Atom: Word-A-Coaster

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It’s Nice That/ Selfridges/ Stewdio and Atom: Word-A-Coaster

It’s Nice That/ Selfridges/ Stewdio and Atom: Word-A-Coaster Sculpture

Setting up a 14ft high wooden fortune-telling rollercoaster in Selfridges windows all seems like a surreal dream now in the cold light of April. But this week we were gobsmacked to receive this wonderful engraved piece of the mechanism, complete with one of future-forecasting balls (2012 will be idiomatic for us apparently). It’s a lovely reminder of the project and the creative collaboration with Selfridges, Stewdio and Atom and it’s sure to take pride of place in our studio. 
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/its-nice-that-words-words-words-at-selfridges

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About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

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