The ISA 120 Luxury Yacht Really Floats My Boat

click on the images to enlarge


The ISA 120 really is one of a kind. The sophisticated looking and technologically advanced yacht was built in the 45,000 square foot International Shipyard in Ancona, Italy. It is a streamlined, slim design with 3 decks and spacious, well-designed interiors. The ISA 120 has avant-garde propulsion and stabilization systems, and truly exceptional performance in addition to its stunning looks.



Now three years since its debut, the ISA 120, fiberglass planning yacht is the absolute jewel in the crown of the Ancona shipyard. This is the 9th incarnation of the yacht.



The yacht has exceptional peak speed - 36 knots, for a 120 foot yacht: The engine is a 3 Mtu 16V 2000 M93, each 1790 kW, coupled to 2 KaMeWa hydrojets and 1 central booster makes the boat extremely agile and maneuverable, with quick acceleration, gentle deceleration and turning.



Under the scope of constant innovation, the shipyard has chosen to develop and install the new stabilization system Quantum Zero Speed™ on the latest ISA 120. The active fins react instantly to the demands of the wave movement, contrasting it and reducing rolling during cruising to a minimum, making the yacht very stable also at anchor, thanks to the fact that when the yacht is moored the fins unfold to a wing, thereby increasing the active surface area by one third.



Another important feature is the use of Quantum stabilizers even in speedy cruising. There is no perceivable reduction in speed, as the yacht easily maintains speeds in excess of 33 knots.



There is a balanced ratio of external and internal space: large sea terraces with teak decks, the cockpit and flying-bridge are offset against the enormous light and airy indoor lounge area and the spacious cabins.

click on the images to enlarge

Aft deck and alfresco dining:



Foredeck:


The interiors can be fully customized. The owner’s cabin, for example, laid out on two floors, makes the best possible use of the bow area of the main and lower decks. Below are some shots of the interior.

click on the images to enlarge

Living and lounging areas:


interior dining:


Guest cabins and baths:





Crew cabins:

galley:

The Saloon /Kitchen:


The Master Cabin and bath:






Wanna buy one? Go here to purchase.
Wanna charter one? Go here to do that.

If drooling over mega yachts is your thing, be sure to see this previous post on the Wally Power 118 Superyacht of check out the wild Oculus Yacht here.

ArchiTech's Future Perfect: Mid-Century Modern Design Drawings

above: Henry P. Glass, Wacker Plaza Lobby - View From Entrance
Pencil on tracing paper, 1955, 16 x 21 inches

ArchiTech is a historically comprehensive commercial gallery of architectural art, in Chicago's River North gallery district. Their recent show, Future Perfect: Mid-Century Modern Design Drawings opened January 9 and ends this weekend on May 30, 2009.



The majority of the works in the exhibition are those of late Chicagoan architect and designer, Henry P. Glass (for which the gallery also serves as the representative of the estate) but the show also includes a few works by Vincent Raney, Bertrand Goldberg and R.G. Martelet.

David Jameson, the gallery owner, describes the exhibit as follows:

Mid 20th Century Modernism's most flamboyant designers. Industrial and architectural drawings from post-war to post-moon landing.

Utopian visions were nothing new to America's architects and designers after World War II. However, triggered by an explosion of affordable real estate and hopeful consumerism, manufacturers of the post-war era followed an entirely different design approach. This new philosophy of sensuous shapes envisioned furniture, lamps and radios as almost living beings that could run out to the buyers' car.

Henry P. Glass was perfectly suited to this new visual language. Freed from his Nazi prison camp, he began his design career in America with drawings that practically walked off the paper and into production.

Television and tourism helped transform the new reality away from wartime into the future and that's where we wanted to live. Bertrand Goldberg created theaters, hospitals and apartment buildings that could have come from colonies on the Moon.

In the era when a man's vehicle could resemble his rocket ship to get there, Ron Martelet drew speedboats that could transform into their own transport trailers. His Jet-Skis of the 60s looked to be straight out of "Goldfinger."

What began as atomic nightmares transformed into space age dreams in "Techni"-colors that were no longer army drab but instead, pink, aqua and hues never before classified. Mid-Century Modernism was something completely different.

Here are some drawings from the gallery exhibit. Please click on the images to enlarge:


above: Henry P. Glass, Kling Studios Lobby
Pencil on tracing paper, 1946, 18 x 23 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Kling Studios Director's Office
Pencil on tracing paper, 1946, 18 x 23 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Hotel Flamboyant Typical Cottage,
Graphite on Paper, 1949, 21 x 42 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Hotel Flamboyant
dimensions unknown

above: Henry P. Glass, Design for Hairpin Chair
Pastel and ink on toned paper, Circa 1940s, 9 1/2 x 15 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, DH1 Laminated Plywood Chair
Prismacolor on paper collage, 1966, 10 1/4 x 12 inches

above: 1958 Chair, Graphite on tracing paper, 1958
11 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Night Table Lamp
Graphite on tracing paper, Circa 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Desk Lamp
Graphite on tracing paper, Circa 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Swingline Desk and Armchair
Pastel and colored pencil on tracing paper, 1949, 16 x 13 inches

above: Henry P. Glass, Eastern Knitters Sales Room
Watercolor and collage on toned paper with shaped mat, 1946, 20 1/2 x 30 inches

above: Vincent Raney, Detail of Theatre for Los Banos
Pencil on drafting linen, 1947, 15 x 16 inches

above: R.G. Martelet, Detail of Design B (Boat/Trailer Combination)
Prismacolor and chalk on toned paper, 1961, 16 x 30 inches

above: Bertrand Goldberg, Architect; Henry Gould, Delineator, San Diego Theater, La Jolla Marker on artist's board, 1969, 12 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

click here to see more of David's notes on the Exhibition:


above: ArchiTech Gallery Owner David Jameson, photo by Jay King

ArchiTech Gallery
730 North Franklin Street
suite 200
Chicago, IL, USA
60654

Making Wit Of Waste And Light Of Weight: Wendy Gold's Art de Toilette

In 2007, I wrote a post about Wendy Gold's witty bathroom scales. As did many a design and trend blogger. Since then, Art de Toilette (which consists of her bathroom seats and covers in addition to scales), has grown and evolved, and the design of the bathroom scales changed as well, so it was time to do an updated post on her products.

Many a mommy blogger has mentioned her scale for pregnant women (shown later in this post) and you may have seen some of her other scales at various boutiques and galleries, but her special custom toilet seats are really worth a look.


In 2001, professional artist and graphic designer, Wendy Gold launched her toilet seat line with a high profile art opening in San Francisco. Since then she's been commissioned by art collectors, hotels, restaurants and businesses worldwide. Gracing art de toilette™ seats are such famous buttocks as Jack Nicholson, Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Fred Segal. They make great unique gifts and commemorative items - even celeb Sean Penn has commissioned the seats as gifts for Jude Law and John Travolta.

Wendy's seats are hand made and one of a kind and she'll work with you to come up with the concept and design. Contact her for pricing and more information.

To date Wendy has sold over 200 toilets seats and covers. Here are some examples (courtesy of Wendy):














Wendy expanded her line of bathroom art to include eight custom-designed bathroom scales in 2003. The line now contains ten (three of which have no numbers) and can be found at select boutiques and gyms across the country. The 'Bun In The Oven' scale, designed to put some levity in the sometimes harrowing weight gain of pregnancy, seems to be one of her most popular and is the first scale shown below.

Bun In The Oven:

Affirmation Station:

Bittersweet:

Down For The Carb Count:

The Confessional:

The Moment Of Truth:

Ignorance Is Bliss:

Shrine To Sweet And Salty:

Willpower:

Work It:


Prices for the bathroom scales are $95.00 USD. You can buy them online here.

Some of the other online stores that carry her scales include:
Jennifer Kaufmann
Uncommon Goods

Wendy holds a bachelor of arts from San Francisco State University and runs art de toilette™ from her studio with her dog "slim" as her chief creative consultant. Visit her design site here.

Art de Toilette