Dreaming of Oxford

Oxford is known as the city of spires and boasts an enormous concentration of amazing architecture and lots of bicycles. This famous seat of learning comprises of thirty-nine colleges, the buildings of which can be found dotted throughout the city. Entrance to the colleges is via grand portals overlooked by grotesque gargoyles, each with a porter’s lodge. Once inside this leads to a quadrangle with an immaculately kept lawn and floral beds, the whole surrounded on all sides by the college building.

The oldest college is University College (usually referred to as Univ), which was founded by William of Durham in 1249. Up until the 16-th century it was only open to Fellows studying theology. A special building in the college houses a statue by Edward Onslow Ford of the poet Shelley, a former member of the college who was expelled for writing ‘The Necessity of Atheism’, and then sending it to anonymously to all the heads of the Oxford colleges.

The Sheldonian Theatre, an imposing building also well worth a visit, was once described as ‘one of the architectural jewels of Oxford’ and can be found on Broad Street in the centre of Oxford. Its perimeter walls and railings incorporate thirteen heads on stone pillars, and these are known as ‘The Emperors’ Heads’, although with all the scholastic brains available in Oxford no one seems to be able to explain whom they are. They may represent Janus, who was both the god of doorways and of the New Year. The Sheldonian was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and funded by and named after the Archbishop Sheldon, its design being molded on the Marcellus Theatre in Rome. The Sheldonian is mainly used for university meetings and ceremonies, but at other times for classical recitals and plays.

Oxford has 150,000 inhabitants (approx) and due to the usual problems with parking, as with most cities, it can be best seen by bicycle. It boasts a plethora of restaurants and old pubs that serve pub lunches, real old ales, chocolate beer and in some cases ‘scrumpy’. This beverage is an acquired taste, a cider that lacks any fizz and looks as though one should flush it away rather than drink it!

One pub that is well worth a visit is The Turf Tavern a historic pub with wooden beams that is located just outside the old city walls. This is always a popular hangout for students and tourists alike. Another, dating from 1650 is The Eagle and Child, popularly known as ‘The Bird and Baby’. In the 1940’s and 1950’s this was the meeting place of a group called ‘The Inklings’, which included C.S.Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien who met there to discuss literature, writing and life in general.

For those of you in search of the more modern watering hole there is always Raouls’, in Walton Street with its endless list of cocktails to choose from. ‘QI’, (Quite Interesting) on Turl Street, (based on a TV quiz of the same name, where points are awarded for being interesting or funny) has an objective of being ‘…a place where you can have a decent conversation'. QI is a café-bar, bookshop, and members' club is a good place for morning coffee, food and has an underground vodka bar!

One pastime every tourist should try whilst in Oxford is ‘punting’; an age-old tradition where a long canoe shaped boat is propelled down the rivers of Oxford by means of a long pole. An interesting concept for many a new punter until he finds his/her pole stuck in the mud at the bottom of the river and is left frantically clinging to the pole whilst the boat continues its course further down stream.

Continuing on the boating theme there is the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, which takes place along the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake, a distance of four and a half miles. Every year, since 1829 the two rival universities have competed against each other with their strongest team of eight rowers, for the honour of the water. The rivalry between the two universities is an age-old matter and continues long after the boat race has finished in every conceivable manner under the sun.

The indoor market on the High Street in the centre of Oxford was designed by John Gwynn and is a fun place to shop. There you can buy meat, fruit and vegetables, bread, and hand made cakes, browse through boutiques, or just sit and enjoy a coffee in one of the several small coffee shops. The market, which dates back to 1772 aimed to remove the then messy market traders off the High Street and by being enclosed, offered shelter from the elements.

The Ashmolean Museum is well worth a visit and housing a diversity of archaeological specimens, paintings, and relics. But if that seems a bit tame the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has some marvelous dinosaurs and a dodo! The museum often has interactive exhibitions aimed at kids.

If you want to get the best views of Oxford and the surrounding area from above then it is worth climbing the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. The church is found on the High Street in the centre and is the best vantage point.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #12 Summer 2006 

The 'Monkey Rock' Groningen

The building of the Gasunie (Gas Corporation HQ) or ‘Apen Rots’, (Monkey Rock) sits defiantly on the outskirts of Groningen in all its 87 metres of blue and sandy coloured glory. This is the head quarters where the distribution of natural gas is controlled.

Consisting of two wings each with seventeen floors, the two wings form one angle of a pentagram at 108 degrees with each other. At the adjoining point of these wings the complex is opened up by lifts and a staircase. The staircase leans on a column in the form of a tuning fork, the stairs of which are turned 4.5 degrees per floor. The effect created by the interior gives rise to the building being named the ‘Monkey Rock’. The building covers an area of 45.000 m² and, from initial design to completion, took from 1989 to 1994,at a cost of € 63,50 million.

The Gasunie was designed by architects Alberts & Van Huut Ltd., in Amsterdam. Their vision before starting a project is to envisage the human being as the inspirational starting point, and then to design around this idea, so that the building not only fits in with its landscape but with the city it is placed in as well. It is most important that its human occupants can relate to the building and feel comfortable as they use it, either as an environment to live or work in. 

This organic style of building started in 1925, and continues to the present day. The style of this expressionist movement can be found to have influences from Art Nouveau and the architecture of the anthropological movement. Use of the mathematical Golden Ratio or Phi is often used in the construction. Also the relation between exterior and interior as well as the use of natural materials and colours, as opposed to monotone colouring, are an important part of the style.

Other architects who not only used the organic style in their work, but also were inspired by man and the natural world were, Antoni Gaudi, as well as a few of the modernists, such as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and Hans Scharoun.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #11 Spring 2006 

Janet Klok & Sparkle* Designs

Janet and I met on a warm sunny spring morning for coffee on the terrace of The Golden Tulip Hotel in Paterswolde. A relaxed and easy person to talk with, we were soon deep in conversation.

Janet was not always a jewellery designer and started by studying commercial business followed by computer programming. Although practical she decided that designing jewellery was more the direction that she wanted to go in and, influenced by a cousin who had a jewellery store, she decided to take a jewellery course. Interest in her work grew and as a result of this she began to get commissions, followed by invitations to exhibit her work in galleries and take part in fairs and markets. At that time she combined this with work in a bank, which helped to get her business on track and Sparkle* was born.

When asked about her style she describes it as ‘nonchalant’. The trademark of her designs are clean, sharp lines in silver, gold and titanium often with natural materials incorporated into the design. She uses precious and semi-precious stones, mother-of-pearl, pearls, coral, lava, lapis lazuli, and crystal to name but a few. These are either used in combination with other stones or in the case of the lapis lazuli necklace shown here, in bold chunks with small balls of gold in between each stone.

Janet draws her inspiration from art, and magazines as a starting point for an idea and then sees where it takes her as she progresses. What starts out as a necklace can invariably end up as a ring or bracelet, she never knows the outcome beforehand. She also likes to experiment away from what is typically her style and embraces a new idea or influence in search of a new style, which as always results in a totally original piece of jewellery.

Breathing new life into ‘old gold’ is something she likes to offer to people who have inherited gold jewellery from their families and loved ones. Often the item is not worn because it is either not really the person’s style or they are too worried they may lose it. Janet melts the gold down and throws the molten gold into cold water, which makes something completely new. The resulting shape is unique and can then be further decorated if asked for. In her experience this gives more pleasure to the wearer as it then becomes personalized but also retains its sentimental value being a reminder of the original owner.

These days Janet combines Sparkle* with part-time work as a project manager for Q-Group, a company who offer business and job solutions for entrepreneurs.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #11 Spring 2006 

© Alison Day
First published in the Connections magazine #12 Summer 2006

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Fabulous Fabergé Eggs

Easter marks the re-awakening of life and the fact that Spring is already in full swing after the long deathly months of winter. In its religious context this is reflected by the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after his crucifixion.

At Easter time the egg has long been given as a gift, symbolizing rebirth and fertility. Often, this is in its simplest form as a savory food courtesy of the chicken. Its more popular counterpart is sweet and generally made out of chocolate. In most cases the egg is decorated, painted or wrapped in brightly coloured foils. Hidden on the eve of Easter by the elusive Easter Bunny, and hunted for by excited children the next day in Easter egg hunts. This festival is one of the more delightful ones in the calendar year.

Historically there has been another genre of egg that was given at Easter, which although quite inedible was at the same time quite fabulous in its design and execution. These eggs were the Fabergé eggs, brainchild of Peter Carl Fabergé and his brother, Agathon.

This series of eggs were crafted in the workshops of the House of Fabergé between 1885 and 1917, having been commissioned by the Russian tsars, Alexander III and Nicholas II for their wives as annual Easter gifts.

Peter Carl Fabergé was trained as a jeweler and goldsmith and although his hand cannot actually be attributed to any of the Fabergé eggs, his membership of the merchant’s guild meant that he had access to the best designers and craftsmen around to execute his artistic vision. It was through this that he was able to build up the company founded by his father into one of international repute, creating artifacts influenced by ancient styles as well as the then more modern art nouveau. This put the house of Fabergé on a par with the American Tiffany & Co. The eggs were produced at the rate of one a year until 1917 when the October Revolution led to the demise of the imperial family, and Fabergé fled to Switzerland where he lived to the end of his life in 1920. It is said that the Bolsheviks gave Fabergé ten minutes to take his hat and leave.

The ingenuity and beauty of the eggs did not stop with the amazing enameling; precious jewels, metals and guilloche décor of its outside, but concealed an equally magnificent surprise inside. The first Fabergé egg, made to the delight of the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna’s (the whereabouts of which remains a mystery to this day) was a plain white egg with a simple gold band round the outside. The removable gold yolk within produced a multicolored hen with engraved feathers and rubies for eyes sitting on a nest. By pushing the beak upwards two more surprises were revealed; a tiny ruby egg-shaped pendant suspended inside a replica of a diamond set replica of the Imperial crown.

There are said to be a total of fifty Imperial Easter Eggs in the world, including the nine owned by the Russian energy tycoon Victor Vekselberg. He bought the eggs from the Forbes family collection auctioned at Sotheby’s; with a view to returning to Russia part of its cultural heritage. Ten can be found in the Moscow Kremlin Collection; five are at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Britain's Queen Elizabeth owns three. Others are in the United States, Switzerland and Monaco. The whereabouts of eight is still unknown.

Today descendants of the Fabergé brothers continue creating artifacts and reproductions to keep the Fabergé name alive.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #11 Spring 2006 

Annejoke Luiting & Mango Murals

For as long as can be remembered ancient civilizations have painted murals as a records of their existence, or as an enhancement to their living space. Today the mural is still popular as an artistic decoration in our interiors, in urban spaces to revive the greyness of modern architecture, and also in the anti establishment decoration of graffiti art.

My visit this time took me to Beijum, Groningen to the house of Annejoke Luiting. With a little mobile help and a lot of cycling around I finally found her house. The reason being that the numbering of the houses seemed to bear a striking resemblance to a thought process conceived by Dali, aimed to confuse and infuriate.

Upon entering Annejoke’s house I came into a hall the floor of which was decorated with a swirling mural. A staircase led up to the living area where another mural could be seen just before we entered of a decidedly Art Nouveau influence. The background, a warm orangey colour could be found to repeat itself throughout the decor of the apartment. The area was filled with the scent of aromatic oil, and three cats strolling around or sleeping in specially prepared baskets. Central to view was a large painting of a rose in warm shades of yellow. We sat down to coffee accompanied by a rather heavenly chocolate and Annejoke began to tell me about herself.

As a child Annejoke’s interests were with fashion, which led at the age of twenty-five to fashion school in Amsterdam. Here although she enjoyed the study it became apparent that she was not commercial enough for the fashion world. Confirmation of this was to be seen when she produced a painting for her end examination! After this she changed artistic direction and there was no stopping her, she had found her passion. Painting backdrops for a musical, mural commissions via friends and acquaintances as well as painting for her own pleasure began the build up of her portfolio.

Working part time as a telephonist/receptionist at Eelde Airport, Groningen brought in her first major commercial mural sponsored by Dutch Bird. Her assignment was to jazz up the rather boring departures hall and at the same time make it child friendly. This she managed to do not only by her use of colour and subject matter but also by the interactive nature of the mural, complete with drawers that can be pulled out of the wall. Since then she has had a lot of private commissions.

Her colour palette consists of warm oranges, reds, pinks and yellows and a major influence is the decorative style of Art Nouveau and the artists from that period. In particular including Gustav Klimt, J W Waterhouse and Lawerence Alma Tadema. The classical and marble renditions in the work of the latter intrigued her so much so that she has tried to reproduce the technique in her murals. Her use of shape is generally curvaceous and flowing, and the overall effect is graphic but painterly.

When asked about her philosophy on life Annejoke believes that there is a central “rode draad’, (red line) that we all follow. We are confronted by hardships, illness and problems to make us look at what we are doing, to accept change and thereby learn from it. This is also true of her personal paintings; she believes she still has a lot to learn about expressing herself in her work in order to more than scratch the surface of who she is.

More information about Annejoke and her work can be found here. 

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #11 Spring 2006