Chris Moon

Bloody hell, doesn't time fly....

2012 has started with the tumultuousness that a new year can sometimes bring- we have decided to move house (again!) and this time not just around the corner but three provinces over.

Candi's (the missus) doggy business kicked off to a hit-the-floor-running start, with people actually having to be turned away. The trend was going that way by the end of last year but the onslaught was somewhat unexpected. So, decisions have to be made, at the moment Furbabies still mainly an at-home one (wo)man operation, as it is it cannot get any bigger - space wise essentially. There can never be more than one class on the go and at present its impractical to extend training hours any further than they are already reaching. Also Candi has dreams to teach other forms of dog schooling, agility is already taking off (in a dedicated but casual sort of way) and other types are on the cards.

Me myself have had a dream for a number of years now to take up my Mother's offer of putting up a wee house on a corner (swathe??) of unused wooded hillside overlooking her bed and breakfast operation, Millgate Cottages in Balgowan, KwaZulu Natal. Me, I'd like to turn the forest into a walk-around attraction - a mini version of The Lost Gardens of Helligan in Cornwall a place we visited a few years ago. There's a small hill, some steepish bits, lots of indigenous trees and plants and an overwhelming lot of undergrowth and alien plants that really need to be hacked out - but, I have a vision, somewhere in here (taps head). Any advice on deterring snakes will be welcome, I also got eaten alive by ticks up there!

A friend has asked for musical recommendations, what I've found/discovered/uncovered/dug out of some greasy bedsit in cold hard suburbia. I was all set to do some sort of listy thing but then, on reflection, it got me thinking of where I am on music these days...

Buggered if I know.

The utter fantasticalness of the net is that I can, on a whim, listen to anydamnthing I want to at a moments notice. However, this has its downsides- for one, there's just so much bloody stuff to listen to. I have eschewed  mainstream music in its entirety, and this includes many acts that would usually be classified as 'alternative' - a label I long ago considered irrelevant - a label that has become so comodified that it includes virtually everything even remotely left of field - I cannot say when was the last time I listened to music radio station, on the odd time I've had to endure such my suspicions have largely been confirmed. Total 100% regurgitated facile elevator music. I sometimes wonder if I have turned into that generation who, as a lad, would condemn my music as unmitigated bollocks - but I don't think so, Max Bygraves remains a long way from my playlist.

So, in the quest for musical genius - and yes, it is still out there, I do not, and will not subscribe to the stupified  'All the good stuff has been done, maaan' mindset that many 'musos' subscribe to as they plunk out yet another crusty cover. I have resources, and I shall reveal a few.

First up the NBT radio show is an indispensable source of new, groundbreaking  acts. Martin intersperses each show/stream of largely undiscovered gems with good solid oldies - not your 'Oh here we go again ' yawners, but carefully selected to underscore and enhance the newer stuff. Be it rock, folk, electronic or just plain eclectic, it all gets a whirl and is a damned good launch pad for missions of further exploration.

Buggrit, my last post on here reflected my frustration at trying to find balance...I then went and spent near 2 months chasing the elusive dollar, getting up at 6, hitting the net, chasing freelance projects etc etc. To say its been a waste of time would be wrong, but dammit the return aint been great and then smacked with a string of expenses I didn't need.
 Apart from a few dalliances with some Crawlspace stuff, I've done absolutely nothing on my drawing projects: Boys With the Filters and Karroo Rats, both that I'd had high hopes to do large things with by the year end.

Balance....

OK, time out, its time to bask in the holiday glow for a bit...

The one thing I just can't seem to regulate, now I'm freelancing again, is the balance between work/play/relaxation.

The one reason I gave up the day job was the hours spent doing buggerall and dwelling on the fact that I could be doing something- anything. Now I have the opportunity, I do just that - except, it rolls over into the time I usually spent out-of-work. It's winding me down and wearing me out. Whether I'm designing something (a mug, a badge, a showstand),

Way back then, pocket money didn't go far and even when the paychecks started rolling in R150 didn't go that far either (though, at 35c a beer at The Swan and the NME at 25c it weren't all bad). Still, shelling out for a record album was not something to be sniffed at (haha still isn't) and of course, it was the imported stuff that counted, local pressing were well crap most of the time. I still managed to spend a goodly chunk of the paypacket on music.  There was a popular photographic/electronic chain, Etkinds, around back then and at some stage they had come up with the idea of having a stand of vinyl deletions in their stores at around a Rand a platter, loads of crap but with a bit of diligence I would afford myself the prize of finding something off my usual beaten musical track. My first introduction to the likes of Rick Wakeman (Six Wives of Henry VIII), Can, Amon Duul and Faust (I distinctly remember passing up a copy of the untitled Faust album on clear vinyl through not having just a few cents more...) and others was afforded me by these racks of gems.
Some of the finds I gleaned back then have fallen by the wayside, either 'borrowed', lent out (then forgotten) or swept away by other misfortune.

So, as I've explained, I've left the dreary world of retail display, a field that, by and large, has devolved into a position of jumped up shelf packer, the object being - to get as much stock on the floor as possible, without piling it too high that customers will knock it over...

I've done some silkscreening before and intend to get back into that, perhaps stretching my abilities to more experimental pieces as opposed to simple t-shirt designs, playing around with half tones etc.
In the meantime, I've invested in some equipment that takes printing on objects one step further. The one thing I can now print on to is a mug! A bit of design and manipulation on the computer and my cartoons can appear on drinking utensils of various size.

Next week sees me launch of on my own steam again after a fruitless (somewhat involuntary) return to retail display. The lack of posting here is probable evidence of my state of mind as of late, trolling into the airport everyday in order to either pack/repack shelves, install/repair crappy shopfitting or cater to the unsubstantial whim of someone higher up the chain, blah.

Anyway, bygones, as from next week I'm dusting down and resurrecting my silk-screening and in addition to that I've invested in equipment to print on other things like mugs, plates, puzzles etc and a badge making set-up...

The mind boggles at what I can put images on - and from that, what I can create to suit each medium. Essentially I'll be creating stuff to supplement Candi's puppy training operation and then grow from there as I familiarise myself with the mediums.

All in all I see more time on hand to continue my cartooning/illustration aspirations. First up, get cracking on Marc Latilla's script!

I can't help but get up early on the weekend - well, basically the same time as during the week - I'm not a lie-in kind of person, even if I try, I tried, but my one bedroom window looks West, and I can't help but go grab the camera :

Fiddling around again with found sounds, odd ideas and loads reverb.

These doodles end up at my Soundcloud page under my Crawlspace moniker..

 Opium by Crawlspace

http://soundcloud.comCrawlspace

Monday, pissing with rain, feeling rotten - persistent nagging headache/gutache/dizzyness - blaaaah. Drove the bakkie into work this morning, wasn't going to risk the bike - too damn wet, too many idiots on the road (watched gawd knows how many drivers nipping through red traffic-lights - in the pissing rain - I mean wtf?!?!?!?)

Pfffft, who's really in control

I started this blog a few months ago, last August to be precise, because I'd been cast back into the role of fully employed retail display type person through events not completely of my own choosing. I started it as I thought it might aid me in embracing a field that I had, a few years previously left for good, I do tend to maintain that if you're going to do something-do it properly, with vim, vigor and enthusiasm.

However, as of late, all the old ghosts have come back to haunt me. I have thought, and think even more so now, that encouraging folk to buy things they don't really want or need is wrong. Over consumption will be our undoing and I've for a long time disdained marketing and advertising, retail display is merely part of that process and I've run out of ways to justify it otherwise. (My re-entry to retail was as a buyer, and I foolishly thought I could do some good, encourage a bit of enterprise, or something. It was also interesting. ) At some stage I'll take the gap and abandon it, for good this time - well as far as retail goes, anyway. It is, however, the trade I've worked in for over 30 years and will be hard to not utilise skills learned in other projects - one I remember fondly from a year or so ago was for a museum exhibit.

I think, for fun, I'll keep this blog going though and perhaps use it to show the excesses we go to to sell some piece of tat, some piece of glittery gadgetry with its built in obsolescence, some ridiculous fashion statement tacked together to last a season - barely. Perhaps I'll try shine some light on the opposites of that as well.

Goodnight.

I’ve spent the last week slogging it out at my place of permanent employ getting our new venture off the ground and open. The store was finally handed over to us on Tuesday and with a supreme load of effort from all concerned we managed to open for Saturday morning trade.

The idea behind ‘Made in South Africa’ is to feature and encourage local talent to go a bit beyond the craft stage in the production of goods.

The store can be found at the International Departures section of Oliver Tambo Airport on the landside – so locals can shop there as well.

Featuring housewares, clothing, costume jewellery and home decor items from all over South Africa.

As promised, last blog, I nipped past Eastgate to get a bigger perspective on Truworth's winter window presentations, there being more window frontage here than at Cresta.
A better shot of the whole panel than the Cresta pic due to the fact that at Cresta I had the Saturday morning shopping swarm to contend with but at Eastgate it was first thing in the morning.

Another window, what strikes me is better mannequin placement than I've seen for a while at Truworths.
I also had the opportunity to snap some of Truworth's speciality line windows:

Inwear

Those pod people again at

LTD.

In fact, the more I look at the mannequin’s expressions, the more I understand Donald Sutherland’s concern…

Daniel Hechter

A bit severe, methinks, icy metallic, er, faceless?

Truworth’s Man

Oddly enough , I didn’t get what was going on here till I saw the photo, I didn’t see the optical illusion thing with my own two eyes.

At least the speedbumps have gone…

February and already the plane trees are turning, an ominous sign as I tootle through to the airport on the Enfield.

OK, right, before we get into 2011 let's just round-off, shoot down, etc the remnants of 2010.

Several of us visually merchandisingly sussed folk get together (net-wise) and give a little feed-back on some retail-display related stuff and then give the thumbs up or down on what we've seen/experienced/uncovered.

Now no-one likes criticism but it's an essential part of growing, getting better, yadda-yadda fishcake and we try to be as constructive as possible (or not, and put the, er, boot in >:-) )

Christmas!

As I mentioned in my last post on such, I saw very little to fill me with Christmas cheer, but then, I'm a cynical sod and possessed by the Spirit of the Grinch so I relied on my compatriates to blog and post and comment etc. I did take pics buuuut, meh, couldn't be bothered.

Ingrid has a great blog on the whole subject of visual merchandising so I'll direct you there for the Xmas



Caviar

I should put an xmas blog together...meh. Truth is I'm a tad jaded with retail at the mo', xmas makes it worse - malls full of excessive consumerism.I've also not seen much that makes me go 'Ooh-aaaah', pretty pedestrian in the main, an overt pc-ness of avoiding the term 'Christmas' and using 'Holiday' instead - *shrug*

..And of course, after seeing the windows the likes of Sainsbury's and Harrods etc in London put together (look 'em up...'Google' it) a couple of pics of tin foil birds and 'alternatively' coloured window displays seem a bit, ah, silly.

I'll feel more inspired after a break in the Midlands , perhaps and get back on board next year.In the meantime, check out my other blog :Whoops Dimensional Slippage

Happy holidays and a festive New Year - drive safe and we'll see ya next year.

It aint often I'm impressed, I've gotten too damn cynical for that I think. Too much hard sell, marketing and generally catering to the lowest common denominator has been dragged before my withering eyes (and no small part of that installed by me, myself.)

I was in Eastgate (buying yet more Xmas lights), and , as I get there before the general opening time of 9 a.m. I get to have a wee shufty 'round the centre. The last time I was there I passed a boarded up 'watch-this-space' shop front, this time it was open, I'm thinking I'd caught it on opening day as the fella at the door was stressing that the power had not been switched on yet and-it-was-nearly-opening time.

The store- Poetry. On chatting to the fella at the door Poetry is part of the Cape Union Mart chain, catering 'exclusively' for ladies and very obliging he was when I asked to take pictures. Although very straight forward, sparse even, the windows were fresh and garden themed, featuring fresh, bright potplants even! Not a very big store, but in my mind, not big enough for sectioned off/backed windows, the big, wide and open-backed windows took the eyes into the store looking interestingly full yet not cluttered behind.






The classic looking cupboard in the one window complemented the one's used for merchandising instore which helped with the feeling that the floor merchandising and window presentation were one and the same.




Elsewhere in the mall I snapped this small boutique, Ana Sousa. Not as obvious in the picture as I would've liked was the 'prop' which was an interestingly complex tangle of wire and leaves forming a sort of a chair/stand for a shoe/accessory group - anyway, it caught my eye and made for an eye-catching focal point in an essentially minimalist display.








And on to the first Xmas window for 2010 on this blog - A.D. Spitz shoes. I've seen some really interesting windows from Spitz and some dreadful ones. Shoes on the whole can be difficult to 'display', the easy thing- to fill the window with everything you have or risk the shoes being overpowered by props, especially in a window, the size of the one featured. Here, I think the backing works well. focusing on the small, neat shoe and accessory groups. The three dimensional reindeer heads were repeated in smaller windows and instore.




I promise to get back to being brutal next time....

Cue relevant theme music......

Had to pop down to Cresta Centre yesterday - crikey, twice in a month, this is getting a bad habit, but 'onest guv' I needed a new 'puter screen and I thought, on the off chance, I might find a copy of the new Grinderman album (ha, ha, fat chance!).

So, out wi' the handy cell-camera for a few window piccies to maul on line.I'm using the cellie camera more and more, I get irate looks and was chased out of Eastgate a couple of weeks ago for daring to brandish my usual camera (though that might've been merely due to an overly authoritative security guard wanting to make a point).

I'm collaborating with a few other window-dressery types online to do a worst of best of thing, Ingrid Summers being one of the co-conspirators....

So without further ado, Here's Foschinni, well placed in the mall nice, neat, nothing overtly ooohhhmygawrsh, but typically (for Foschinni) well balanced/lit/etc etc. Put it in the 'good' catagory...



Identity, a young fashion chain, linked to Truworths I think. Fun window, catchy theme but let down by not really connecting to the merchandise, in fact almost overpowering the stock - too much prop, methinks.














Now, this I call bad. Neatly dressed, well lit, prime bloody position in the mall, but come on?!?! Where's the effort, would a leeeetle propping go astray? It's obviously a matric dress window. No idea on mannequin placement in relation to mannequin or window frame... The cost of the garments alone tells me that couldn't a leeetle budget be found to get decent windows in?















Miladies at the mo' must be one of the most boring clothing chains around, apart from that other one ermmmm, dammit, the name slips my mind at present. Look at this...be still my heart. Up, up and errrr, take it away....The accessories window leaves me equally cold...I think it has to do with my aversion to mirror-chrome, next thing it'll be all burnt orange and shag-pile - watch.













These guys need their posteriors well kicked, very good position, within the 'entertainment' section at Cresta, across from a Barnyard venue and right next to a Spur. The stock available alone could create a window of awesomeness. Surfwear/t-shirts/skateboards. What do we get:
"In Your Wildest Jeans"?????? oh dear, Billabong, I think somewhere along the line there's been too much sun and toke too many.


Then I went blind... or perhaps the hangover was kicking in...I actually forget the name of the place, I was in shock, City Girl or City Nights or some such- big, neon, red. There should be some kind of law in malls about this kind of thing, there are no words to describe the horror, perhaps they are trying to be cynically hip in some way...Take it awaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy....

So, hot on the heels of this morning's post I find myself with time on hand so I nip down to the Cresta mall in Blackheath. Cresta is often seen as the poor mans Sandton City, its certainly, in my eyes, more 'popular' as far as headcounts go (in fact I seldom go there , too damn crowded! Oh, and btw , I loathe malls......)

I initially wanted to check out the Edgars revamp, very smart it is, typically 'Edgars' with a far more open feel than previous incarnations with a good line of sight to the far reaches of both floors with lots of name logos and graphics to pull you through. I still feel though, if you were blindfolded and led unknowingly to the middle of an Edgars store that you wouldn't really know where you were when the blindfold was removed.

How time flies!! A month fraut with store relays (and re relays), running around sourcing props and a weeks leave levered in at the end to unwind a bit, but also do the million and one things that needed to be done around the house.

Anyway, Jerry.....? Jerry was a trainee I had way back in Jet Eloff Street, when Jet still did windows and not those bland 'big-poster-ad-and-an-unnesesary-pile of-merchandise-next-to-it' things they do these days. Jerry was keen, worked hard/played hard as I suppose we all did. The only thing I battled to get him to do right was merchandise selection. Though main windows featured advertised lines as close to the pictured items as possible there were always inbetween times to take care of. Also at that store, we had more than enough window space to go beyond the advertised lines. Jerry seemed to battle co-ordinating colour,ending up with mismatched clothing across the window front.When this happened on preplanned advertised stock I began to realise that Jerry was perhaps colourblind. It just meant that one of us would check the merchandise before it was steamed and prepped.



The point of this reflection on past days is I think I know what's happened to Truworths windows over the last few years....Jerry's working there!! I must admit that I have been out of mainstream visual merchanding in any capacity but as an observer for a while now, but I have always thought that colour co-ordination was one of the main tenets of a good presentation - did that change?






Also, for fun I thought I'd snap some windows away from the big sparkly malls. The headless Truworths model presentation above was from the shopping centre in Brixton, the other two from a large mall in Kempton Park - better models but still not a patch on what you'd find in, say, Sandton or Canal Walk.



However, from upper class to middle of the road and down, all the windows were clinically tidy, well lit and similarly propped.
Also snapped, a new theme from Truworths - shipping/camoflague? (all a bit close to the present political climate methinks ;-p)



Whilst in Kempton Park I noticed the Edgars mens theme, I suppose unuaual in that many Edgars stores I see these days have little or no window space (reminds self-must get down to see Edgars revamped Cresta store) -but a pretty bland presentation anyway. (Aside,Edgars was one of the stores I used to regularly check for innovation and high standards - used to...)





One from Foschinni - subtle use of the red used to emphasis the cancer awareness campaign, though perhaps the round cancer sign could've been better positioned. I find the window nice, tight and crisp.