I just came across The Sospiro Programme via Global Business, BBC by Peter Day. It was an extraordinary experience. I enjoyed it immensely.
Thanks to BBC + Peter Day.
Useful link:
www.sospiro.com
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
The Best Advice
(via Fortune) Some of the best advice I ever received was unspoken. Over the course of my IBM career I've observed many CEOs, heads of state, and others in positions of great authority. I've noticed that some of the most effective leaders don't make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful. They listen. This is an appealing personal quality, but it's also an effective leadership attribute. Their selflessness makes the people around them comfortable. People open up, speak up, contribute. They give those leaders their very best. When it comes to specific advice, the best was from a former boss, who told me, "Don't view your career as a linear progression." He advised me to take horizontal rather than vertical steps: to try out situations that are unstructured, to learn different ways of working, and to get outside of headquarters and experience different cultures. I've applied this advice many times - most notably, taking a decidedly unstructured job at IBM Japan and then joining the fledgling IBM services business. After those experiences, I had the confidence that I could manage pretty much anything.
- Sam Palmisano
Chairman and CEO, IBM
Very inspirational. I have learned a bit more today.
- Sam Palmisano
Chairman and CEO, IBM
Very inspirational. I have learned a bit more today.
Alltournative
I really liked Alltournative's right combination of off-track adventure travel, nature and Maya culture. Brilliant idea!
Useful links:
www.alltournative.com
www.globalreporting.org
www.wri.org
Useful links:
www.alltournative.com
www.globalreporting.org
www.wri.org
The Online Way
I really liked Telling Stories the Online Way @ http://www.newsweek.com/id/130188. The impact of seeing real-world places in their context is a unique experience. I think they were brilliant.
Fine Jewelry News
Fine Jewelry News website is a great place for consumers + jewelry industry + it's educational and insightful.
I liked it.
Useful link:
www.finejewelrynews.com
I liked it.
Useful link:
www.finejewelrynews.com
Random Thoughts
In human affairs excesses provoke corrections, and the momentum of the correction carries on to provoke a new and different excess. So it is with politics, so with religion, so with art, and so with tides of opinion generally, including the stock market.
- John Train
- John Train
Diamond Pipeline Update
I found Chaim Even Zohar's Diamond Pipeline 2007 update @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?SID=&id=30244 educational and useful.
Thanks, Chaim.
Useful link:
www.kimberleyprocess.com
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?SID=&id=30244 educational and useful.
Thanks, Chaim.
Useful link:
www.kimberleyprocess.com
The Art Of Today
(via The Outline of Art) Frank Rutter writes:
2
Glancing briefly at the number of British artists who have attained eminence by the character and individuality of their work—a number so great that it excludes any possibility of doing justice to them all within the space of this chapter—it is not without significance to note how few of them have received their training in the Royal Academy schools. In recent years the most fruitful forcing grounds for British Art have been the Scottish schools and the Slade School in London; other painters of distinction have come from the Royal College of Art in South Kensington or have received their training abroad.
It has often been said that the rank of a living artist can most fairly be gauged by the esteem in which he is held by foreign countries. By this reckoning a high place must be assigned to Mr Frank Brangwyn, R.A, for few British artists have been more feted than he on the Continent and in America, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Brussels, Madrid, Holland, and Italy, all have showered honors and distinctions on this artist. Born at Bruges in 1867, of Welsh extraction, Mr Brangwyn was from boyhood familiar with the splendors of Flemish tapestry, and though he first obtained notice by his power of drawing as an illustrator, his real bent has always been towards decorative art. In his early boyhood he worked with William Morris, executing designs for tapestries, etc; but when he was only sixteen he left Morris and went to sea, and the knowledge of shipping and seafaring life which he thus gained stood him in good stead when he again returned to London and the practice of art. All his most important early pictures were of subjects he had seen at sea; among them may be mentioned ‘Ashore’ (1890), ‘Burial at Sea’ and ‘Salvage’ (1891), and ‘The Convict Ship’ (1892). The sturdy drawing, glowing color, and spacious design in these works marked out the decorative painter of the future, though at this time the artist was earning his living principally by seafaring drawings, executed for the Graphic and other illustrated papers. In addition to his drawings and paintings Mr Brangwyn also devoted himself to etching, and his plates of the working maritime life on the lower reaches of the Thames were among the earliest of his works to attain a wide popularity.
Influenced to some extent perhaps by the Belgian painter and sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), whose vigorous art illustrated the industrial and mining life of the ‘Black Country’ of Belgium, Mr Brangwyn soon made his reputation as a painter by his unique gift of basing heroic decorative designs on typical scenes and episodes of modern industrialism. In 1895 his ‘Trade on the Beach’ was bought for the Luxembourg, Paris, and a few years later his panel ‘Commerce,’ in the Royal Exchange, London, made his decorative gifts widely known to his own compatriots. His decorations for the Skinner’s Hall and the series of panels illustrating typical modern industries, originally designed for the British pavilion in the Venice International Exhibition and now in the Leeds Art Gallery may be cited as brilliant examples of the decorative mural painting which this artist has done so much to revive.
Though latterly gigantic projects of decorative painting in the United States have taken up much of Mr Brangwyn’s time, so that he is now a comparatively rare exhibitor in London, he has been a prolific producer of pictures, watercolors, and etchings in addition to his mural painting. He is limited neither in method nor in subject, but whether the latter be a scene in Italy, an impression of Pittsburg, or a table laden with the rich fruits of a sumptuous dessert, the presentation of the theme is invariably decorative and grandiose. ‘The Poulterer’s Shop’, which was bought for the nation by the Chantrey Trustees from the Academy of 1916, is a glowing example of the sense of opulent splendor which Mr Brangwyn’s imagination and executive skill can extract from dead poultry, a heap of vegetables, and commonplace utencils.
The Art Of Today (continued)
2
Glancing briefly at the number of British artists who have attained eminence by the character and individuality of their work—a number so great that it excludes any possibility of doing justice to them all within the space of this chapter—it is not without significance to note how few of them have received their training in the Royal Academy schools. In recent years the most fruitful forcing grounds for British Art have been the Scottish schools and the Slade School in London; other painters of distinction have come from the Royal College of Art in South Kensington or have received their training abroad.
It has often been said that the rank of a living artist can most fairly be gauged by the esteem in which he is held by foreign countries. By this reckoning a high place must be assigned to Mr Frank Brangwyn, R.A, for few British artists have been more feted than he on the Continent and in America, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Brussels, Madrid, Holland, and Italy, all have showered honors and distinctions on this artist. Born at Bruges in 1867, of Welsh extraction, Mr Brangwyn was from boyhood familiar with the splendors of Flemish tapestry, and though he first obtained notice by his power of drawing as an illustrator, his real bent has always been towards decorative art. In his early boyhood he worked with William Morris, executing designs for tapestries, etc; but when he was only sixteen he left Morris and went to sea, and the knowledge of shipping and seafaring life which he thus gained stood him in good stead when he again returned to London and the practice of art. All his most important early pictures were of subjects he had seen at sea; among them may be mentioned ‘Ashore’ (1890), ‘Burial at Sea’ and ‘Salvage’ (1891), and ‘The Convict Ship’ (1892). The sturdy drawing, glowing color, and spacious design in these works marked out the decorative painter of the future, though at this time the artist was earning his living principally by seafaring drawings, executed for the Graphic and other illustrated papers. In addition to his drawings and paintings Mr Brangwyn also devoted himself to etching, and his plates of the working maritime life on the lower reaches of the Thames were among the earliest of his works to attain a wide popularity.
Influenced to some extent perhaps by the Belgian painter and sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), whose vigorous art illustrated the industrial and mining life of the ‘Black Country’ of Belgium, Mr Brangwyn soon made his reputation as a painter by his unique gift of basing heroic decorative designs on typical scenes and episodes of modern industrialism. In 1895 his ‘Trade on the Beach’ was bought for the Luxembourg, Paris, and a few years later his panel ‘Commerce,’ in the Royal Exchange, London, made his decorative gifts widely known to his own compatriots. His decorations for the Skinner’s Hall and the series of panels illustrating typical modern industries, originally designed for the British pavilion in the Venice International Exhibition and now in the Leeds Art Gallery may be cited as brilliant examples of the decorative mural painting which this artist has done so much to revive.
Though latterly gigantic projects of decorative painting in the United States have taken up much of Mr Brangwyn’s time, so that he is now a comparatively rare exhibitor in London, he has been a prolific producer of pictures, watercolors, and etchings in addition to his mural painting. He is limited neither in method nor in subject, but whether the latter be a scene in Italy, an impression of Pittsburg, or a table laden with the rich fruits of a sumptuous dessert, the presentation of the theme is invariably decorative and grandiose. ‘The Poulterer’s Shop’, which was bought for the nation by the Chantrey Trustees from the Academy of 1916, is a glowing example of the sense of opulent splendor which Mr Brangwyn’s imagination and executive skill can extract from dead poultry, a heap of vegetables, and commonplace utencils.
The Art Of Today (continued)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Alex Metcalf
I really liked Alex Metcalf's Tree Listening Installation concept + the designs + the interactive mode. Brilliant!
Useful links:
www.alexmetcalf.co.uk
www.touchmusic.org.uk
Useful links:
www.alexmetcalf.co.uk
www.touchmusic.org.uk
The Government Art Collection
The Government Art Collection, in the care of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, U.K, has thousands of works of art, and now members of the public are invited to celebrate museums and galleries month by visiting the spectacular national art collection they never knew they owned.
It's a real treasure trove!
Useful link:
www.gac.culture.gov.uk
It's a real treasure trove!
Useful link:
www.gac.culture.gov.uk
Winza Tanzanian Ruby
Industry analysts believe highly saturated + transparent untreated rubies from Winza, Morogoro, Tanzania, may become the choice locality for ruby connoisseurs. There are many Winza Tanzanian rubies in the market and I hope they are not sold as Burmese. As always, if in doubt, consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Useful links:
www.gemburi.co.th
www.multicolour.com
Useful links:
www.gemburi.co.th
www.multicolour.com
Green Business Network In India
New Ventures India has launched Coaches Network to help SMEs go Green + the Coaches Network would also include top investors, business leaders and successful entrepreneurs who would devote time to nurturing seed and early and expansion stage green companies.
Useful link:
www.newventuresindia.org
Useful link:
www.newventuresindia.org
Emerald Update
Ronald Ringsrud has the latest information on emerald production from Colombia's premier mines, Muzo, La Pita and Coscuez + emerald proportions @ www.emeraldmine.com
I found the article on proportions educational + insightful. I learned something new. Thanks, Ron.
I found the article on proportions educational + insightful. I learned something new. Thanks, Ron.
Marketing Metaphoria
Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers by Gerald Zaltman + Lindsay H. Zaltman is a great book + I think metaphors/analogies are the best medium to connect the dots, and the book says it all.
Useful link:
www.marketingmetaphoria.com
Useful link:
www.marketingmetaphoria.com
The Art Of Today
(via The Outline of Art) Frank Rutter writes:
From John S Sargent To Augustus John
1
The art of today is a cosmopolitan business. Rapidity of communications and the interchange of international ideas have broken down the old frontiers of thought, so that while painters of various styles can now be found in all civilized countries, the styles throughout the world are very much alike, and it is difficult to make out a case for any distinctive national art. If it be hazardous, however, to assert that there exists at present a ‘British School’, distinct from the schools of painting in France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, it may nevertheless be said with sufficient confidence and today, in the words of Sir Robert Witt, ‘British art stands second to none in the world.’
Writing nearly fifteen years ago, the late Sir Walter Armstrong said: ‘The Pre-Raphaelite revolt is the last great movement which really belongs to the history of British Art. Those developments which have taken place since are more cosmopolitan than British. They have been moves towards assimilating our insular ideas to those of the Continent, which, in painting, means the ideas of France and Holland. Being all moves in one direction, they have had considerable similarity one with another, and it is scarcely worth while to dwell much on the differences which separate the neo-Scots school from that of Newlyn, or both from those franker disciples of Paris who have been so greatly encouraged by the genius of two Americans, Whistler and Sargent.’
Mr John Singer Sargent, R.A, who has been perhaps the greatest influence in portrait painting in our time, was himself Paris-trained. Born at Florence in 1856, the son of American parents—his father being a physician at Boston, USA—Mr Sargent was educated in Italy and Germany, studied paiting under Carolus Duran at Paris, and finally settled in England during the eighties. In his own person, therefore, Mr Sargent represented in the most marked manner the cosmopolitan experiences which go to the making of a modern painter. A word may be said here as to his master, Carolus Duran, who was born at Lille in 1837, for though this painter won the coveted Prix de Rome and spent four years in Italy, he became the leading French portrait painter of his time by reason of his later study of Velazquez in Madrid. Carolus Duran, then, was one of the pioneers who turned away the thought of his contemporaries and pupils from the Italian and Flemish to the Spanish schools of painting, and his art, like that of his still more famous pupil Mr Sargent, is largely derived from Velazquez. The English portraiture of the eighteenth century, as has already been shown, was modelled firstly on the practice of Van Dyck and secondly on that painting towards the middle of the nineteenth century, and still dominant at the present day, is based on the work of Velazquez and Goya.
While many have drawn inspiration from this common source, the results obtained from the following, in the main, the Spanish tradition, have varied considerably according to the individual temperaments of the artists. In Mr Sargent’s painting we see the irrepressible energy which we associate with Transatlantic business enterprise; he was a ‘hustler’ in paint who swept us off our feet by the amazing vivacity of his brushwork and by the almost uncanny actuality with which he set a living being before us. A vigorous draughtsman, using sweeps of paint with economic mastery, Mr Sargent developed powers of psychological penetration which made him supreme in the rendering of character. Some of his male portraits have been so merciless in their unmasking of the real minds of his sitters that they have justified the amusing but apt comment of ‘Mr Dooley’:
‘Stand there,’ he sez, ‘while I tear the ugly black heart out av ye.’
At the same time his ‘Lord Ribblesdale’ proves how noble a rendering of human dignity the artist can achieve when he is in complete sympathy with his sitter, while his brilliant group of ‘Ena and Betty Wertheimer’ is a masterpiece in which warm, living beings are presented with perfect naturalness yet with stately grandeur. The wonderful series of Wertheimer portraits, now in the National Gallery, is at once a revelation of the artist’s power in the expression of different characters and a souvenir of his long association with the astute and esteemed art dealer who, from his earliest days, stoutly affirmed his belief in the genius of Mr Sargent.
Since he first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879, Mr Sargent’s career was one of a steady upward progress. It was not till 1894 that he was elected an A.R.A, but before this he had exhibited with distinction both at the Academy and at the New English Art Club. His early portraits show traces of the influence of the Impressionists, but Mr Sargent’s connection with this school is less obvious in his portraits than in his landscapes and watercolors.
In watercolor Mr Sargent created a new and distinct style which had a great effect on his contemporaries. How skilfully he used it as a brilliant sketching medium may be seen in ‘The Piazzetta, Venice’. Here, like Manet, he saw ‘no lines in Nature,’ but built up a vivid impression of the scene before him by brilliant touches of color and strong contrasts of light and shade. It is a broad, vigorous style which, despite its summariness, gives a marvelous sense of actuality in the hands of a master. Though pre-eminent as a portrait painter and as a sketcher in watercolor, Mr Sargent executed notable works in a variety of styles and media. He painted important decorative works for public buildings in the United States, and he also did some scuplture, notably his ‘Crucifixion’ for the Boston Library, U.S.A, a bronze study for which may be seen in the Tate Gallery.
The Art Of Today (continued)
From John S Sargent To Augustus John
1
The art of today is a cosmopolitan business. Rapidity of communications and the interchange of international ideas have broken down the old frontiers of thought, so that while painters of various styles can now be found in all civilized countries, the styles throughout the world are very much alike, and it is difficult to make out a case for any distinctive national art. If it be hazardous, however, to assert that there exists at present a ‘British School’, distinct from the schools of painting in France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, it may nevertheless be said with sufficient confidence and today, in the words of Sir Robert Witt, ‘British art stands second to none in the world.’
Writing nearly fifteen years ago, the late Sir Walter Armstrong said: ‘The Pre-Raphaelite revolt is the last great movement which really belongs to the history of British Art. Those developments which have taken place since are more cosmopolitan than British. They have been moves towards assimilating our insular ideas to those of the Continent, which, in painting, means the ideas of France and Holland. Being all moves in one direction, they have had considerable similarity one with another, and it is scarcely worth while to dwell much on the differences which separate the neo-Scots school from that of Newlyn, or both from those franker disciples of Paris who have been so greatly encouraged by the genius of two Americans, Whistler and Sargent.’
Mr John Singer Sargent, R.A, who has been perhaps the greatest influence in portrait painting in our time, was himself Paris-trained. Born at Florence in 1856, the son of American parents—his father being a physician at Boston, USA—Mr Sargent was educated in Italy and Germany, studied paiting under Carolus Duran at Paris, and finally settled in England during the eighties. In his own person, therefore, Mr Sargent represented in the most marked manner the cosmopolitan experiences which go to the making of a modern painter. A word may be said here as to his master, Carolus Duran, who was born at Lille in 1837, for though this painter won the coveted Prix de Rome and spent four years in Italy, he became the leading French portrait painter of his time by reason of his later study of Velazquez in Madrid. Carolus Duran, then, was one of the pioneers who turned away the thought of his contemporaries and pupils from the Italian and Flemish to the Spanish schools of painting, and his art, like that of his still more famous pupil Mr Sargent, is largely derived from Velazquez. The English portraiture of the eighteenth century, as has already been shown, was modelled firstly on the practice of Van Dyck and secondly on that painting towards the middle of the nineteenth century, and still dominant at the present day, is based on the work of Velazquez and Goya.
While many have drawn inspiration from this common source, the results obtained from the following, in the main, the Spanish tradition, have varied considerably according to the individual temperaments of the artists. In Mr Sargent’s painting we see the irrepressible energy which we associate with Transatlantic business enterprise; he was a ‘hustler’ in paint who swept us off our feet by the amazing vivacity of his brushwork and by the almost uncanny actuality with which he set a living being before us. A vigorous draughtsman, using sweeps of paint with economic mastery, Mr Sargent developed powers of psychological penetration which made him supreme in the rendering of character. Some of his male portraits have been so merciless in their unmasking of the real minds of his sitters that they have justified the amusing but apt comment of ‘Mr Dooley’:
‘Stand there,’ he sez, ‘while I tear the ugly black heart out av ye.’
At the same time his ‘Lord Ribblesdale’ proves how noble a rendering of human dignity the artist can achieve when he is in complete sympathy with his sitter, while his brilliant group of ‘Ena and Betty Wertheimer’ is a masterpiece in which warm, living beings are presented with perfect naturalness yet with stately grandeur. The wonderful series of Wertheimer portraits, now in the National Gallery, is at once a revelation of the artist’s power in the expression of different characters and a souvenir of his long association with the astute and esteemed art dealer who, from his earliest days, stoutly affirmed his belief in the genius of Mr Sargent.
Since he first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879, Mr Sargent’s career was one of a steady upward progress. It was not till 1894 that he was elected an A.R.A, but before this he had exhibited with distinction both at the Academy and at the New English Art Club. His early portraits show traces of the influence of the Impressionists, but Mr Sargent’s connection with this school is less obvious in his portraits than in his landscapes and watercolors.
In watercolor Mr Sargent created a new and distinct style which had a great effect on his contemporaries. How skilfully he used it as a brilliant sketching medium may be seen in ‘The Piazzetta, Venice’. Here, like Manet, he saw ‘no lines in Nature,’ but built up a vivid impression of the scene before him by brilliant touches of color and strong contrasts of light and shade. It is a broad, vigorous style which, despite its summariness, gives a marvelous sense of actuality in the hands of a master. Though pre-eminent as a portrait painter and as a sketcher in watercolor, Mr Sargent executed notable works in a variety of styles and media. He painted important decorative works for public buildings in the United States, and he also did some scuplture, notably his ‘Crucifixion’ for the Boston Library, U.S.A, a bronze study for which may be seen in the Tate Gallery.
The Art Of Today (continued)
Monday, May 05, 2008
Invention Session
I thoroughly enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's article In the Air @ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all. It was brilliant + insightful. He was spot on.
Useful link:
www.gladwell.com
Useful link:
www.gladwell.com
Tan Dun
(via Wiki) Tan Dun is a Chinese contemporary classical composer, most widely known for his Grammy and Oscar-award winning scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.
I've always enjoyed his music.
Useful links:
www.tandunonline.com
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/04/arts/04dunt.php
I've always enjoyed his music.
Useful links:
www.tandunonline.com
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/04/arts/04dunt.php
BarberOsgerby
I really liked BarberOsgerby's designs because it's simple, has energy and consistent elegance.
Useful link:
www.barberosgerby.com
Useful link:
www.barberosgerby.com
Canadian Diamonds
Canada is now on the top of the pyramid as a rough diamond producer. Martin Irving is an expert on Canadian diamonds. He knows inside out the location and the available infrastructure which is crucial in determining the economic viability of the project.
Useful link:
www.diamondconsultants.ca
Useful link:
www.diamondconsultants.ca
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