Letter boxes in Macau

On my business trip to China, I stopped for a few hours in Macau, a former colony of Portugal.  I took this photo in the entrance of an apartment block. The order of the letter boxes is chaos!  …But I like to see it as “freedom”. 

Edit: Wen 

aiik people – MAIA

I’m Maia, from the Basque Country (France), a little place in the world still fighting for its flower, to become part of the bouquet of world flowers.  For the past 4 years I’ve been working for my own brand, Xibiouz, and trying to define an identity through the products. 

The idea of identity in our mix-fragmented-melting-pot-world animates me, and has done ever since I first started drawing and painting. I spent all my life moving between different places before realising I had to build my own roots all by myself. 

I graduated from Bordeaux’s Fine Art School in France.  As Andy Warhol said, “every day is a new day.” … That’s how aiik appeared in my life, with its own identity to create. I believe nowadays we need to develop ways of working with, and embracing, distance… and being part of a project with the goal of making a multi-cross-cultural-art-identity product… mmmm… I like it a lot! 

Enjoy… and let’s rock!

 

 

Meet Banksy

Well, actually you’ll probably never meet the guy. We’re not sure when he was born (maybe 1974, somewhere around Bristol, UK) and his real name could be Robert Bank. Oh, and we have no picture of him and don’t know how to contact him. But all this does not really mater. What we are sure of is that he is a world-renowned street artist. His work, displayed on the walls of many cities around the globe, is often humorous and usually conveys strong messages. It goes from graffiti messages like, “We’re bored of fish“, written in giant letters in the penguin enclosure of London zoo, to placing an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner in Disneyland, California.

One of his most powerful and moving works to me is the series of paintings on the Palestinian wall. Look at the pictures, they speak for themselves.

If you want to find out more, check out his website and keep an eye open when you walk in the street, art could be anywhere. (www.banksy.co.uk).

 

Edit: Baptiste 

 

Concerts à Emporter

There is a website called “la blogothèque" that has invented what they call “concerts à emporter"  ie “take away concerts". The principle is simple: an artist plays in common places such as a parking lot, a street or a store; artists participating belong to independent record companies and are not mainstream at all so usually nobody recognizes them. It is really fun to see how people react to those unprompted (and obviously acoustic) shows and to see how the magic of the music operates.

Here is the video of the Cold War Kids “take away concert", filmed last February:

Take away more concerts at la blogothèque.

Edit: Cécile

aiik people – JUSTYNA

Hello to all!

My name is Justyna, and I come from Poland. I graduated from the Academy of
Fine Arts in Łódź.  My passions are drawing and design. I was first introduced to the aiik project in Poland and am glad to be cooperating with the team now. We share an admiration for the loveliness of the urban lifestyle, and a fascination with the unusual ways of communication used by city dwellers.  Communication in urban spaces is a key theme in my bag designs.  I also love cats and enjoy designing cat-shaped cushions for cat-lovers everywhere.

I would like to share with you with my inspirations, thoughts and ideas in some photos and pictures from my everyday life. Enjoy!

 

PostSecret

“My friends and family think I am this sweet innocent girl. But they don’t know I’ve posted nude photos of myself on the internet.”

Well, I haven’t. But someone has. It could be your friend and you’ll never know. It’s just one of the anonymous secrets revealed in Frank Warren’s first published collection, PostSecret. In 2004 Warren printed 3000 blank postcards, addressed to himself, and left them in bars, libraries, metro stations, asking people to share a secret with him. It seems people had a lot to get off their chests because 3 years later the postcards are still pouring in. There are now three books showcasing the best of the secrets.

The original book is a mix of some of the funniest, most distressing and most beautiful cards. There are some in there everyone can relate to (“I’m terrified of not existing”). Some that are hard to imagine (“He’s been in prison for 2 years because of what I did. 9 more to go”). Some just plain random (“I ate all the blueberries, and they were delicious”)!

 

 

It is a beautiful book which reminds us of the emotions that make us all human, and the need people have to share their secrets, even if it’s sometimes easier and more satisfying to do it anonymously with the world, than personally with our friends or families. It will make you wish you could meet some of the authors to hear their stories in full.

My personal favourite, and possibly an idea aiik can pursue in the future:

“I’ve created over a dozen t-shirts with quotes and photos from obscure films in hopes that someone will recognize them and be the true-blue best friend that I’ve always dreamed of.”

See for yourself at PostSecret. They change every week!

And if you’ve got a secret:

PostSecret

13345 Copper Ridge Rd

Germantown, Maryland

20874-3454

Edit: Sarah

 

 

 

Vélib’ à Paris

We all know Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so why spend most of the time in the smelly metro compromising all the pretty views? Have you heard about Velib’? The principle is simple: you rent a bike at the station of your choice, ride it, and then turn it back at any other station. Don’t have time or money to join a gym? Wanna know Paris on the surface and not underground? Missed the last metro and feel sober and/or brave enough? Wanna fight global warming? Then you might wanna try Velib’. Let’s face it, we all look kinda cool when riding a bike in Paris (even cooler if you’re cute and can actually drive).

Click Velib’ for more information.

Edit : Leonor

aiik people – CHAOCHI

Hi… I am Chaochi from Taiwan.

Paris is a place everybody dreams of.  I am the lucky girl living the dream in this beautiful city.  It has been 5 years since I arrived in France.  I am a designer with a passion for music, movies, museums, and most of all, graphic design.  Paris inspires me enormously.  There are a lot of artistic resources in Paris.  The aiik team will present to you our favourite bits of this big city, and of course, other cities in the world.

So join us and enjoy yourself!