Category: Design

Prime Cuts revamped their website recently and I think it looks a lot better than their older one. In case you didn’t know, they’re a supplier of various gourmet products with their main focus on high quality beef cuts from around the world. They have a physical store in Salmiya which I have yet to check out but you can order from their website and they’ll deliver. Here is the [Link]

Booze Boozz I guess is a new wannabee alcohol but not alcohol drink which is odd in itself but whats even more odd is the striking resemblance to its main competitor, Freez.

Thanks MAR

A friend of mine here in Kuwait got the Wacom Inkling and has some samples up. If you don’t know what the inkling is, it’s basically a small device you attach to your notebook and whatever you draw in your sketch book or on paper will be transferred as a digital drawing to your computer.

According to him “it’s good for fast sketching but not good enough for tight detail doodling”. He has two examples which explain his comments which you can check out. You’ll notice some of the digital lines are not in the same place as the original drawings as well as some details missing. Check out the two samples [Here] and [Here]

The Inkling isn’t available on Amazon yet. He had a friend in Hong Kong purchase it for him and ship it to his Aramex China mailbox.

Thanks Pinot

I never considered New York beautiful until today. After visiting the meat packing district I decided to walk along the High Line which is a former elevated railroad track that was converted into a park in the sky. Not only is it a very cool concept but the execution of the High Line is extremely tasteful and stylish. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone.

Before on top, now on the bottom. Other than the clutter I think the biggest change is the lack of natural daylight inside the airport.

Here is a link to a previous comparison. [Link]

via Thorsten

The Tamdeen Group’s headquarters is featured in this months issue of Middle East Interiors. I just read the article on their website and thought it was great that companies today appreciate and spend on good design but for some odd reason the article online features tiny thumbnails. So although the office sounds great you can’t really see all the goodness.

Maybe someone from Tamdeen can email me some larger photos (and more photos if available) so I could post them here? Check out the article [Here]

via

Update: Here is a link with around 20 pictures including the ones above in a larger size [Link]

A new burger place opened up in Lebanon and their logo looks pretty familiar.

There is this building behind the old souk in Kuwait City that didn’t look like much today but I always imagined it when it was first constructed and how beautiful it must have looked back then. You can’t tell in this picture but it had a nice retro design with a great looking base structure that gave the building a look like it was lifted up in the air with pillars. I noticed the building has now been vacated and I’m really hoping it’s getting renovated and not demolished. There’s some great looking architecture that really needs to be refurbished and brought back to life.

In my previous post I mentioned how the Central Bank of Kuwait was originally designed by Arne Jacobsen. Well I managed to get more information on the Central Bank project in form of a PDF which you could download from [Here]

Update: Found some more pictures of the Central Bank, my favorites are below but you could see them all [Here]

Patrick over at Projekt Cyan posted about the Kuwait Central Bank today. Turns out the Central Bank was originally designed by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen back in the early 70s, the guy who designed the very famous “egg chair“. The Kuwait Central Bank was actually his last project before he passed away. The picture above is how it originally looked when built.

Below is a picture of how it looks like today.

Finally this is how the new Central Bank is going to look like once completed.

You can read more about this on the Projekt Cyan website [Here]

First two photos via Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

The current Kuwait Airport (pictured above) was originally designed by the legendary Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The British architect and critic Stephen Gardiner wrote in 1985 that this is “the most beautiful airport in the world” because of its “breathtaking simplicity of color and shape.” It is “white sculptured space as cool as an ice-cube, as enormous as a vat intake of pure air, as light as a tent, as canvas hung from cables and sails.”

Below is how the airport looks like today.

via Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

Update: If you want to see more pictures of how the airport used to look click [Here]

There was a press event held today at the Sheikh Saad terminal regarding the new airport design. At the event a CD was given to the attendees which contained various renderings of the airport (previously posted about here) as well as PDF’s containing information on the airport design plus some facts and figures. None of the documents say when the airport will be completed but they do say construction begins next year. Oh and it will have a metro station meaning I will be able to take the train from my home to the airport… that’s if they ever build the metro.

Other interesting facts, the airport will be covered with solar panels as previously speculated and they’re actually aiming to be the first passenger terminal in the world to attain the LEED “gold” accreditation (laymen terms = it will be very environmentally friendly). The steps which in my previous post I thought were weird (check image above) turned out to be water falls which makes a lot more sense. Check out all the renderings below, they’re slightly updated and polished compared to the previous renderings that were posted. Finaly here is a link to a zip file containing the PDF’s in Arabic and English. [PDF LINK]

Thanks Rabee

The rendering above is of the new design for the Pushkinsky cinema in Moscow. It was designed by architect Hend Almatrouk and Gijo Paul George. I’ve never seen anything that looks like it and I also hadn’t heard of Hend before. I was just checking out her blog and she’s got a lot of crazy stuff. Here are some related links:

Time Warp Architecture – Trend Hunter
Rossiya’s Flourish – suckerPUNCH
Hend Almatrouk on YesYous
Hend’s Blog

Thanks Mohammad

Update: Hend sent me an email saying that she has a design studio which she started with her partner Gijo Paul George called “Studio_Toggle”. They’ve got better quality shots on their studio’s website so check it out [Here]

Back in 2009 right after 360 Mall had opened I posted about how they needed to install plaques to tell people about the vertical gardens and the Dale Chihuly structures. That was back in September 2009 and nearly two years later 360 Mall started installing these plaques. I shot the one above in front of Ladurée while heading towards OFK. Good move.

I found out about Contemporary Art Platform from the Art Kuwait website and it looks like a big and cool looking space that might end up becoming the trendiest exhibition spot in Kuwait.

CAP already have a Facebook page with a small description and pictures which I just realized were taken by my brother so I’m going to try and get some more information from him. Here is their Facebook page [Link]