So this was part of a scene from a Korean gangster film called A Bittersweet Life (달콤한인생.. for the Korean readers). It’s a brilliant revenge story which everyone should watch. Also for some reason, Korean films of the similar genre such as Old Boy seem to always get it right with their twisted plots, dark humour and stylish yet super-realistic and violent fight scenes and so on. Those two films definitely beat other revenge films such as Kill Bill any day of the week.

In this scene of the film, there’s a clash of two contrasting characters. So the man with the cigarette is meant to be the snitch of the film. Both characters here are under the same boss but the man with the cigarette is doing a deal and trying to appease the enemy over the phone. The man with the red lips, on the other hand, is a much darker, quiet and brutal character. Despite this he is loyal to the boss and, in the film, threatens the enemy over the phone calmly and reminds his counterpart where his loyalty should lie. Don’t know about you guys but I thought that scene was great which lead to me trying to illustrate it in my own way. Enjoy.

The specs:
Heavy duty black canvas with 3 layer breathable nylon in DPM (disruptive pattern material) on the reverse.
Hard-wearing, little to no stretching and completely waterproof
250mm sq sides and 500mm in length
Reversible 6mm metal zipper in orange
Only visible/external stitching is along the zip
Flushed metal D-rings on both sides for shoulder strap
Central “Proper Goods” woven label
Polypropylene webbing on both sides

More to come from my mighty hands and dying sewing machine. Think I should invest in something a bit more powerful!

Running around like a madman and scaling trees with a small hatchet meant I managed to collect a few small, and one or two large burls which will have to dry before I can do anything with them.

While I was wandering around looking for them, and on the way home I snapped a few pictures using my phone, hence the heavy use of Photoshop to pop the colours.

This is a motto shared among many of the Made Madd crew, and here is an example of what happens when it is applied.

This is a coffee table constructed purely from found wood. The tables design echoes the silhouette of the vessel that carried its parts; a lovely, yellow skip that was sitting outside a house development on Varden Street, East London. It appears the floorboards were ripped up from said development, and whereas I imagine much of the reclaimed wood went to a reclaimed flooring company, there were enough small lengths left in the skip for us to construct this.

Built by Dom and myself.

After a little research, I discovered that the ‘chunks’ of wood such as the one I was working on are actually known as ‘burls’. A burl is an irregular lump of growth on a tree, often prized by wood workers for its interesting, erratic grain.

See here for more information on burls: http://www.blakelyburltree.com/burl.htm

I can definitely empathise with the worship of these mysterious little things.  They are beautiful when worked and stained in the right way, and will be collecting more when I return to Wales over the Easter weekend for future experiments.

]]> http://www.mademadd.co.uk/roo/ring/feed/ 1 http://www.mademadd.co.uk/henry/skinny-man/ http://www.mademadd.co.uk/henry/skinny-man/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:54:48 +0000 Henry http://www.mademadd.co.uk/?p=202

This is a painting inspired by the movie ‘The Machinist’.

This movie is great. As Dom will recall… 1am, knackered, monged out but ‘The Machinist’ certainly didn’t send him dozing. He was so keen that he had to remind himself to stop asking questions throughout the film. But as I was saying, yes it’s sick but visually this movie is supreme (so is the story itself). Especially that bit where he does the skeleton dance at the start.  I love to draw but personally it’s best when you’re drawing something strange and physically eery. That’s really why I did this.

It’s a primed piece of wood and I started sketching with pencil then, using oil paints, put on a base painting with shades of dark blue and grey and the odd bit of off-pink. I was actually going to put some colour but it kinda worked. Hand was tricky… Did a crap job with the hand painted in a similar style as the body so I rubbed that out and painted my own hand on it. Then Katy, my flat mate, and myself, partly, drunkenly spilt her instant noodles over the damn thing. I had no idea it was there till a few days later. I actually left a few of those stains around the hand there. Anyways, enough chat, hope you like it.

Christian Bale in 'The Machinist'

Available in square and rectangular shape, made from veneered MDF and aluminium feet, it looks pretty solid if you’ve got the room for it.

BUT what about the seating situation? A second set of chairs to deal with the new seating and eating situation?

Not too many meals are on enjoyed on feet!

http://www.likecool.com/Home/Design/Basic%20Table/Basic-Table.jpg

From the man himself:

“In this shell chair the legs are held directly by the seat- and back shell. In combination with the substructure this parts become a stable unit. The intersection of the shells and legs results also into the armrest. The chair impresses with its easy-held outside and comfortable seating. Another focus has been laid on a low and good manufacturability. Berta is made from solid ash and ash veneered plywood.”

via the Contemporist

By the way, I’m Ollie.

Expect all sorts