Bijou peeps' Artwork

It's 31 August 2010, Merdeka Day and we received pleasant surprises on our Facebook wall, which had made us go all warm inside. Two Bijou peeps submitted their rad artwork for Bijou Bazaar. We felt like Nylon magazine for a bit there. :op

Owh ... thanks very much, guys!

The first submission was from Iylia Fahmi. If you remember him, he sang at our acoustic sessions several times last year. Our favourite song of his is "Til the End", the one about Facebook love.

Cute song.

Better YouTube it up people. ;o)

The second submission was from Azeem of Juxta Art.

His story was interesting. He first visited Bijou Bazaar in January '09, when we had our Youth '09 installment. Then an architect, he was so inspired by them peeps in the hall, he quit his job to focus on his art + music.

Yup! A musician too, his band is called JuxtaposeD.

Thanks again, guys. :o)

A quick announcement, folks!

We'll be holding a Bijou Bazaar installment in Jalan Bangkung, which is off Jalan Maarof, Bangsar on 16 September 2010 in conjunction with Malaysia Day Street Festival. A project championed by Bangkung Row restaurants in collaboration with 18 NGOs and Bijou Bazaar.

Make a date with us?

xoxo

Zillmann

Berlin Fashion Week 2010, which was reported as a cracked-out, no-holds-barred fashion spectacle ended last month. Once again, Berlin’s projektGALERIE whips up a batch of stellar fashion-infused events.

projektGALERIE is a showroom, temporary shop, press/PR agency and gallery. It exemplifies tightly concentrated cool that is Berlin. It was through projektGALERIE images that we stumbled upon the rather quirky designs by a young, up and coming fashion designer, Alisa Zillmann. Not surprising given the writer's obsession with hair accessories. Curious about the designer behind the designs, we got in touch with Alisa.

Despite the language barrier, Alisa who just celebrated her birthday last week was easy to get along with. We love her fun, bubbly and childlike cheerfulness. She managed to squeeze in some time to answer our questions, eventhough she's currently tied down with the preparations for her online store to be launched by the end of the month.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm Alisa, a fashion designer based in Berlin. I graduated from Berlin ESMOD School of Fashion in 2005 followed by an internship with Kaviar Gauche. Since, I've worked with Mabelline Jade and projektGALERIE. I'm a fashion stylist for a rather diverse portfolio of fashion labels and actors/actresses. I own a t-shirt label called ZILLE.

I'm currently retailing my designs under the fashion label ZILLMANN in projektGALERIE showroom.

2. Who is your style icon + what do you like about their style?

My personal style icons would definitely be Bridgitte Bardot, Twiggy, Coco Chanel, Gwen Stefani, and some friends. I think that they are just real and brave!

I love women who put an effort to dress up, but with a flair. I just can take the woman seriously, especially those who are authentic.

3. Tell us more about your brand Zillmann + your creation.

ZILLMANN is a fashion label based in Berlin, which is at the moment focused on accessories. The accessories such as exeptional hats and hairbands are primarily made for women, but also intended for extrovert men and boys.

I'm using feathers, rivets and other unusual materials for my fascinators (leather based) and hairbands. Every piece is unique in its own way, because they are handmade. The style is progressive and avant-garde but wearable as well.

Keywords associated with the designs are Native Americans + Pocahontas + Twenties + Thirties + Tomorrow + Birds.

4. What has been the most exciting part/thing to happen since setting up Zillmann?

At the onset, it was a mere experiment of bringing many different materials together to see how they developed into an end product. Since, the requests and interests have been overwhelming.

5. Apart from creating those dramatic hair pieces, what do you do?

I'm also an illustrator and a bartender. You will see them in my fotoshoot. It will also contain personal elements like my first one.

Perhaps I'll be in a band soon too.

6. Who do you want to see wearing your hair pieces?

Cool people with taste.

7. What first made you want to become a designer? What prompted you to set up Zillmann?

I knew, I have to go into arts. I need dramatic and joyful moments in my life but I also need boredom by doing nothing.

I had a lot of jobs in the scene ... I knew its a good time to start ...

8. We understand that your elder brother, Daniel, is the vocalist of the band Straight to the Rabbits. Tell us a bit about him + if his involvement in music has any influence in your design.

And he is also a very good actor and a very good artist.

We're connected by living out our creativity. We've even worked together (I designed their band logo, the embryo bunny) he also wears my hairbands at his concerts.

Luckily, we share a similar style and enjoy our work. Our parents are happy about it.

9. Name your top 5 books, movies, musics + website.

Books:

Haruki Murakami books (I love how he mixes reality and surrealism)

Artists:

Frida Kahlo

Otto Dix

Tamara de Lempicka

and many more

Oh love movies, especially inspiring movies from the 80ies:

Never Ending Story

Back to The Future

Star Wars

Roger Rabbit (I love Jessica Rabbit, I find her inspirational for my art)

and a lot of more

Music:

Florence and The Machine

Gwen Stefani

Kings of Leon

Kate Bush

Janis Joplin

Etta James

music to dance

many more

Of late, I spend a lot of time on my own website and blog:

http://www.alisazillmann.de/

http://eklektikenterprise.blogspot.com/

10. Share with us Berlin's best kept secret(s)?

You'll find the world in Berlin, it's quite a cosmopolitan.

11. Where would we find you on a typical Saturday afternoon?

Typical situation:

My friend Nora and myself, were work in the bar/club called Enklave (cellar room; you actually have to climb through a hole to come in) on Friday nights.

On Saturdays, I'll have a long brunch with my friends, Nora, Nicole and Amelle. While we're sitting in a cafè in Neukölln, we'd accidently bump into my brother and Dennis, Heide and Nico would later appear with their son Toni. The group at brunch would get bigger and we'll need more chairs. Though we are there with hangovers, we'll tell stories (very loud) till we hear more "hello guys" from the other side of the street.

Friends. Chairs. Friends. Chairs.

We'll be making plans for the evening. A lot of possibilities in Berlin. Eating ice cream at "Fräulein Frost" at 11 pm, chilling in one of our parks, dancing in clubs. Just moving between two districts.

But normally, we'd ended up staying in that first cafè, till it's time to go to bed.

12. In 10 years time, where would you want to be?

Still in fashion and arts.

To Bijou peeps, Alisa is currently running a competition on her Facebook group, which ends 31 August 2010.

Just print Zillmann logo, wear it creatively, take a picture to be posted in the Facebook group and collect the most "like" to win. Easy peasy!

Alisa is going to launch her online store at the end of this month, international customers are welcome. Fanpics wearing Zillmann pieces will be published on her website, with their approval (category: walk of family).

Note: the feathers used by Zillmann are from German (not protected) poultries including Turkey, Cock, Hen, Pheasant and Guinea Fowl.

Brett Domino - Justin Timberlake Songs Medley

Nerdgasm!!! OK, is that allowed? :op

Happy weekend, y'all!

xoxo

Malaysia's Unsung Poet Laureate

Do you know that Malaysia has got her very own Nobel Prize nominee, for Literature, in 2005?

You would expect such monumental achievement from our Bolehland to create tremendous bruhaha and would landed him a Datukship. The fact that there is little local media interest on him is curious, even the Mat Rempit North Pole Free Fall Expedition was better celebrated for the achievement, apparently, would inspire the masses. The Nobel Prize nomination came from the Philippines and the USA. Back then, only The Sun carried the story on our first ever Nobel Prize nomination.

Who is the unsung poet laureate?

Once upon a time, not so long ago, well, long before blogs, Raja Petra and Malaysiakini, there was Cecil Rajendra, a passionate activist who firmly believes in the pen being mightier than the sword.

He is much respected for his pioneering work as a human rights lawyer and environmental activist as well as his poetry. He named his fight for Orang Asli's right to own their land as his biggest legal rights achievement. His first collection of poems was published in England in 1965 when he was still a law student in Lincoln’s Inn, London. Using his talent to full measure, he tackles society's ills such as environmental destruction, poverty, oppression, corruption, racism and injustice with persistence and dedication. Not as widely read in Malaysia, Cecil Rajendra’s poetry has travelled far and wide, cited by WWF, UNICEF, UNESCO, National Geographic and Amnesty International.

Asked if he finds himself toning down as he ages in an interview, he replied that he sincerely hopes not. Many years ago, he answered the question in a poem:

As I grow older
I grow wilder
not wiser
I respect nothing
do not talk to me
of the temperance
of middle-aged men
I have consigned
Caution to the wind.

We were just informed yesterday that Cecil Rajendra will be reading parallel to our next installment, a massive collaboration to commemorate the birth of the independent and sovereign state of Malaysia in 1963.

*nerd mode switched ON*

w00t! w00t!

:op

What better excuse to join us this 16 September 2010 to celebrate the little, little things about Malaysia that fires hope.

Yes, we're secretly patriotic. ;op

We'll be seeing you soon? Post-It the date, y'all!

Have a blessed Ramadhan, everyone. :o)

xoxo