Mishutka Design Studio

"The Angel" Book Showcases Victorian Scraps in Collages

A delightful new book published last November in Hamburg, Germany, showcases Victorian angel scraps in artistic collages.  Antique scraps used in these collages are part of a well-known collection in Denmark. Werner Bokelberg, a prominent German photographer whose work includes numerous celebrity photos and covers for Stern magazine, is the driving force behind this creative adventure.

"An angel walks through the room. No-one saw it. And yet we have all been seeing them ever since they left Heaven and came down to earth — the angels of our imagination shaped by tradition over millennia, clothed in our desires and longings. Why are they so much alike? Angels go by fashion. And so the Sons of Heaven, severe travelers between heaven and earth, turned into prancing boy and girl musicians, charming putti who resemble their antique ancestors — Cupids and Amorettos — earthly children wearing colorful little wings. In enlightened times, these metaphysical bats were nearly banished to the esoteric junk pile. But they owe their enormous distribution to technical progress. In the late 19th century millions of them reign supreme in the scrapbooks of adults and the albums of children. Only very few companies still manufacture the colorful "scraps". But the precious antique images, with subtle coloring and elaborate embossing, are cherished by collectors." (from the Introductory Section of the book)

"The Angel" was published as a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies; illustrator Angela Giorgi created the artwork, and a former editor of Spiegel Annette Meyhöfer wrote the story.

If you would like to order this beatiful, rare edition, please e-mail The Bokelberg Studio directly: bokel@bokelberg.com. "The Angel" will be available in the US  shortly, and I'll add more information as soon as I have it. What a lovely book, and a wonderful present to someone!

On another note, Mr. Bokelberg has an amazing collection of antique images of Berlin on his website. I truly enjoyed looking through them, and highly recommend visiting his website: http://www.bokelberg.com.

Have You Ever Heard of an Orchestrion?

Have you ever heard of an orchestrion? Probably not. Neither did I, until I had a chance to listen to Pat Metheny, a renowned jazz guitarist, perform at the Baltimore's Hippodrome Theater with his Orchestrion project. 

Pat's concept of what he calls "orchestrionics" has its roots in Victorian times. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the so-called "player pianos" (pianos that played mechanically by moving perforated rolls of paper through a mechanism that moved the piano keys) were at the height of their popularity. The same mechanical principles were later applied to a whole range of orchestral instruments, and these instrument arrays were called "orchestrions". 

Pat's modern interpretation of an orchestrion is an impressive improvisation performance during which he controls his extensive mechanical orchestra with digital commands from his guitar.

You can find out more about the Orchestrion Project, and listen to some music samples on Pat Metheny's website, www.patmetheny.com.