All posts tagged: City

Going round & round: YamanoteYamanote

Travelling around Japan earlier this year has got me seriously falling in love with the country’s beautiful places, people, food and culture. Give me a little nudge, a gentle reminder of Nippon life and I’m easily thrown into a nostalgia-induced state of wanderlust and itching to jump on the next flight eastward. Thus, I was more than fair game for Tokyo-based Swiss graphic designers Julien Mercier and Julien Wulff, who yanked me from my daily routine with excellent poster project YamanoteYamanote. Following the eponymous circular train line that whirls around the bustling metropolis and serves downtown hotspots Shibuya, Shinjuku or Akihabara, the duo creates two corresponding designs for each of the 29 Yamanote stations and their characteristic surroundings. Every new design, combining minimalism, hushed colours, a clever mix of Japanese kanji and Latin letters, is then presented at a one-time exhibition at a venue near each station. 素晴らしい! Keep up to date with the Yamanote Yamanote project here: yamanoteyamanote.com @instagram @facebook

Green Day © Rolling Spoke / Gus Kovac

Peddling through life on two wheels: Rolling Spoke

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a city like Amsterdam. Liberal, friendly, charming, lots of flowing water, a good music scene and people treat cyclists well, see them as given parts of traffic on the streets. No wonder Gus moved there. He is a tireless observer of the city and its inhabitants on two pedals and two wheels with all its little facets. Time for a chat with the man, who runs urban bicycle lifestyle blog Rolling Spoke. Hi Gus. Hoe gaat het? Please introduce yourself. My name is Gus Kovac. I’m a Canadian from Toronto and I’ve been living in Amsterdam for just over 3 years now along with my wife, 2 month old daughter and our cat. I run a blog called the Rolling Spoke derived from the simple pleasure of riding a bike in the city.It began as a creative outlet with the intent to present an unbridled view of urban life on two wheels. I aim to bring a different spin on things by infusing my passion for street …