Lifestyle

Francesca Amfitheatrof Designs a Jeweled Watch for Louis Vuitton

Published

2 years ago

March 10, 2022

Throughout the excessive jewellery displays in Paris in January, Louis Vuitton quietly launched a brand new growth: the primary jeweled watch by Francesca Amfitheatrof, who grew to become the model’s inventive director of bijou and watches in 2018.

Named Mini Malle, it was displayed on the Louis Vuitton flagship on the Place Vendôme as a part of the second chapter of a set referred to as Bravery, designed across the life story of the home’s founder, Louis Vuitton. August 2021 marked the 2 hundredth anniversary of his start.

The timepiece belongs to the five-piece Mini Malle parure, a grouping that Ms. Amfitheatrof stated was impressed by the purse referred to as the Petite Malle, or small trunk, launched in 2014.

The watch revisited in white gold and diamonds a number of the bag’s trunklike particulars, like nook items, hinges and domed studs. Its 16.3-millimeter sq. case accommodates a quartz motion by La Fabrique du Temps, the model’s manufacturing facility, and is mounted on a squared-link chain bracelet; the piece is about with 617 brilliant-, baguette-, square- and custom-cut diamonds.

Although diminutive — even understated — in contrast with splashier items within the assortment just like the Multipin necklace, a buckle design set with greater than 100 coloured gems, the jewel marks the primary time that Louis Vuitton has overtly positioned excessive jewellery as unisex.

In a cellphone interview, Ms. Amfitheatrof stated that she had wished her first jeweled look ahead to Vuitton to be small in measurement and gender-fluid, partially as a result of she had observed males sporting extra timepieces that will have been characterised as female prior to now.

“There have been so many enormous watches, I felt type of bored with it,” she stated. “I all the time observe my intuition about what folks need to put on, and to me it seems like these proportions are slightly extra balanced. There’s an openness to it.”

Different items within the Mini Malle parure embrace a diamond-studded sautoir that may be remodeled right into a choker and two bracelets, and a signet ring with diamond marquetry and an LV Monogram star-cut heart diamond.

The watch, which the designer stated required greater than 550 hours to provide, is priced at 400,000 euros ($454,600). In contrast to many excessive jewellery creations, which normally are considered one of a sort, the model stated the watch might be reproduced and even tailored to a consumer’s specs.

Ms. Amfitheatrof added that incorporating jeweled timepieces into Louis Vuitton’s excessive jewellery assortment opened up a product class with “a brand new story line” that will complement the extremely difficult mechanisms developed by Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking division.

“The whole lot has come collectively so we are able to make issues which are distinctive,” she stated.

Lifestyle

Hold on to your wishes — there's a 'Spider in the Well'

Published

4 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Hold on to your wishes — there's a 'Spider in the Well'

Spider in the Well, written and illustrated by Jess Hannigan

Once upon a time, in the folkloric town of Bad Göodsburg, which is probably in Germany, there was an overworked newsboy.

Not only did he bring the people their daily news, he also swept their chimneys, shined their shoes, and brought them their milk.

He was overworked, and underappreciated.

So, when the townspeople discover that their wishing well is broken, the newsboy sets off to fix it — and get some revenge. Thus begins this children’s tale of extortion, labor rights, and justice.

Author and illustrator Jess Hannigan spoke about her debut picture book, Spider in the Well, with NPR’s Tamara Keith. Here are excerpts from that conversation, edited in parts for clarity and length.

Spider in the Well

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Spider in the Well

Interview highlights

Tamara Keith: How did you come to write a book about a spider, when I understand that you are afraid of spiders?

Jess Hannigan: I am. I don’t care for them. But do I love the webs they spin? Yes. Do I love the spooky aesthetic? Of course. Basically, the whole story came about because I really just had the image of looking down a well with the web, with the spider in it, and I thought that would look cool. And then I kind of asked myself, like, ‘Is there a story here? Why is he in there? What’s he catching in the web?’ And it kind of just wrote itself from there.

Keith: Is everyone in Bad Göodsburg a little bit bad and a little bit good? Or are all people a little bit bad and a little bit good?

Hannigan: Well it’s supposed to be, you know, real life. I really like when a character is in a gray area with some good and some bad because it’s realistic and relatable. And we have heroes and we have “villains,” but they’re just like us. And that way they’re humanized. And you just get to kind of discuss who you side with, who you agree with.

Keith: How would you describe what this book looks like?

Hannigan: I did the whole thing completely digitally. I kind of was going for a sort of imperfect printmaking effect because I love the look of block printing, but I don’t have the patience. So this was kind of a happy medium of me achieving that kind of folkloric, old-timey printing look without any of the labor.

Keith: Where did you draw your inspiration for the art? The colors are not colors that you traditionally see in a children’s book. It’s like black and hot orange and purple.

Hannigan: A lot of my inspiration for the kind of shapes that I use comes from like, Polish posters. They’re from the 1960s and ’70s — Polish poster design was crazy and they had the wackiest shapes and colors, and I was introduced to those back in college.

These were just the colors that I had been obsessed with at the time that I happened to be making the book. They are like these kind of sickly, weird tones. And I used all those purples and greens for the “bad guys” because I guess it suited their vibe. But I’m actually colorblind, very slightly. So everyone’s been telling me this book is such a lovely shade of orange and I’ve been telling everyone it’s red.

Keith: What lesson do you want the kids who are reading this book — or who are reading it with their parents — what do you want them to take away from it?

Hannigan: I didn’t go into making this story with a lesson in mind. I know books with morals are important and they have a place for sure. But really I just wanted to make people laugh. And to go back and read it again and think, ‘What the heck was this guy even doing? Where did they learn how to do blackmail? Who taught them about extortion and labor rights and things?’

I love stories like that, that just make you wonder more about them.

Lifestyle

Diddy Posts Apology Video for Cassie Beating

Published

4 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Diddy Posts Apology Video for Cassie Beating

Diddy‘s uttering his first words about the videotaped beating of Cassie … saying he “takes full responsibility for his actions,” and claims he’s already gone to rehab.

He posted a video Sunday morning, looking directly into camera, he said, “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you gotta do that. I was f***ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom.”

A 2016 video shows Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in an altercation that matches some allegations in now-settled lawsuit https://t.co/fYUQ2z2MYN
— CNN (@CNN) May 17, 2024
@CNN

He says he’s not making any excuses for his behavior — the brutal March 2016 assault on his then-girlfriend Cassie while they were staying at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. The surveillance video — obtained by CNN — showed Diddy chase her down a hallway, grab her by the back of the neck and hurl her to the ground .. where he kicked her and dragged her.

Diddy claims he “sought out professional help” after the incident. He says, I had to go into therapy. Go into rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace.”

He didn’t offer any detail about how long he was in treatment.

TMZ Studios

He ended the video with an apology, of sorts … “I’m so sorry, but I’m committed to be a better man each and everyday. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”

What’s interesting is he did not directly apologize to Cassie — and, so, it comes off more as an apology to the public than the victim.

Remember, Cassie described the attack in the sexual assault lawsuit she filed in November against Diddy — a lawsuit they settled just one day later.

At the time, Diddy’s attorney emphasized the settlement was in no way an admission of guilt, and Diddy himself would later deny all the allegations made against him in several lawsuits.

Lifestyle

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!

Published

11 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

NPR’s weekly news quiz hosted by Peter Sagal. Have a laugh and test your knowledge with today’s funniest comedians and a celebrity guest.Hate free content? Try a subscription to Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!+. Your subscription supports public radio and unlocks fun bonus episodes along with sponsor-free listening. Learn more at https://plus.npr.org/waitwait