Whitney Houston. Singer. Actress. American. 1963-2012.

How will I know, from the self-titled Whitney Houston (1995) album... a childhood fave... RIP.

Tom Ford. Designer. Photographer. Film maker. American.

Ford was born in Austin, Texas, but spent most of his childhood in Santa Fe, Ford moved to NY to study art history at NYC, but after partying too hard during the Warhol/Studio 54 era, he dropped out and moved to LA. He worked as an actor for a while before moving back to NY to study architecture at Parsons School of Design. Tom Ford then transferred to Parsons' Paris campus, and in his final year of architecture he suddenly decided to switch to fashion. In 1990, Ford moved to Milan to join Gucci as the company's women's wear designer. In 1992, he became design director and in 1994 he was appointed creative director of Gucci. He designed all product lines, and headed all advertising campaigns and store design. In 2000, following the acquisition of Yves Saint Laurent and YSL Beaute by Gucci, Ford took over as creative director of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche + YSL Beaute. Ford left Gucci in 2004 to then start his own brand, Tom Ford, in a year later with menswear and accessory collections. In 2009, Ford made his first film, A Single Man, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. It was only after seeing this brilliant film that I fully appreciated the genius of Tom Ford. He is one of the most talented, versatile artists of our time. His vision for design and style has no boundaries-his work is both classic and trend-setting.

Steve Jobs. Creative. Entrepreneur. Rad dude. American. 1955– 2011.

fantastically inspiring speech... all too relevant today.

genius.
RIP.

Kamal Mouzawak. Chef. Writer. Culinary activist. Beirut.

The Brownbook Urban Series.

Kamal on (my fave) Anthony Bourdain's No Resevations - Back To Beirut episode.

Kamal Mouzawak created the first farmers’ market in Beirut, called Souk el-Tayeb (tayeb means ”tasting good” in Lebanese), helping to preserve the food traditions/culture of sustainable agriculture in Lebanon. Kamal works to protect the interests of small, local farmers and producers, enabling them to sell their products directly at the market, thus ensuring a fair price for their goods. "In a country as divided as Lebanon, nothing can bring people together as much as the land and food”, said Mouzawak. Souk el-Tayeb has evolved into a network of 100 members serving over 350 farmers, at three different farmers markets, and has collaborated with similar agricultural initiatives in neighboring countries. Souk el-Tayeb has expanded its operations to include educational programs in local schools and food festivals across the country to celebrate Lebanon’s culinary heritage. Kamal comes from a family of farmers, which is why he has such a deep appreciation for his country's rich diversity of naturally grown foods. His restaurant, Tawlet (“table” in Arabic), located in Beirut, offers Lebanon’s artisan food producers/cooks from different regions, the opportunity to showcase their traditional dishes on a rotating basis. Radness.

Watch MONOCLE's feature on Kamal here.

Andy Ricker. Chef. Rad dude. Vermonter. Portland.

my beloved papaya salad-served at all locations-true Thai staple.




Ping interior.

(sorry for the brutality of the Today Show-but love the recipe)

Andy Ricker visited Thailand the first time as a backpacker in 1987 and has since spent several months each year traveling, eating, cooking and studying food culture in Thailand and neighboring countries. Andy worked in restaurants all over the world before settling in Portland in 1990. He is now the owner and executive cook of the award-winning Pok Pok Restaurant (1995), Whiskey Soda Lounge-a bar lounge featuring authentic Thai 'drinking food', Ping restaurant located in Portland's Chinatown, and most recently Pok Pok Noi (little PokPok). Most of the food at Pok Pok comes direct from Thailand, and the dishes served are the same ones found in the restaurants, homes and streets of SE Asia. Andy is a member of the collaborative Chef Stable Group. Established in 2008, ChefStable offers established chefs the opportunity to build and open their concept in partnership with the group of resto pro's. Ricker won the 2011 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Northwest, shining international spotlight on him as a champion of true Thai food.
Check out his wicked website HERE.
chefstablegroup.com

Louise Hazel. Heptathlete. England.

At only age 25, Commonwealth gold medallist Louise Hazel is currently training for the 2012 Olympics, which are being held in her home town if London. Hazel runs for Birchfield Harriers of Birmingham which she joined when studying French Studies at the The University of Birmingham. A heptathlon is part of track + field athletics - it combined seven events-the name derives from the Greek hepta (seven) + athlon (contest). The seven include: 200-meter and 800-meter runs, 100-meter hurdles, shot put, javelin throw, high jump, and long jump. If training for 7 activities isn't enough, Louise also enjoys boxing on the side! awesome. I'm inspired by Louise, both for her mental and physical strength. As you can tell from the videos of her performance, the girl's an incredibly talented young athlete.

Ferran Adrià. Chef. Author. Creative genius. Spain.

VCrown©2011






EL BULLI - COOKING IN PROGRESS trailer. 2010. Directed by Gereon Wetzel.


Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations El Bulli. August 2011.

I adore/admire chef Ferran Adrià, the creator of elBulli- a Michelin 3 star restaurant in Catalonia, Spain. Described as 'the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet', Adria has created numerous cooking techniques and food technologies used in molecular gastronomy + the culinary experience. El Bulli closed this past July 2011, but will reopen as a creativity center in 2014. The center will be a think-tank where candidates from around the world will be invited to brainstorm and extend the boundaries of culinary innovation. Much of the exchange of ideas will take place via the Internet and the Centre’s creations will be open for feedback from guests during specially-organised tasting sessions. The Centre’s creations will also be available for restaurants around the world to adopt.

The Dalai Lama rocked it first.

The Dalai Lama is a mega trendsetter in my books... from the style of his lunettes, if he wasn't wearing robes, I reckon he'd be rocking some mighty fresh gear. Being that the whole '70's inspired frames' is hot, I think The Lama deserves some street cred.

Daniel H. Pink. Author. Motivational Speaker. Original thinker. DC.

I'm ALL about Daniel Pink right now... saw his TED talk a while back but only recently got into his books... eye-opening and validating to realize that being SO right-brained is something to foster and not be ashamed of. For the most part our society values left-brain thinking more than creative right brain logic-but things WILL be changing with shifts in the economy/offshore outsourcing/globalization etc. "Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate." (A Whole New Mind) IT'S ABOUT TIME.
danpink.com

Ed Begley Jr. Actor. Environmentalist. American.

I first came to know Ed Begley Jr. from his role as Stan on Arrested Development... eventually I learned that he was also a serious environmentalist with his own his show on Planet Green, Living with Ed about how he lives sustainably. "It started in 1970, because of the first Earth Day. As a Boy Scout I’d had exposure to the outdoors, and I grew up in very, very, very smoggy L.A. in the ’50s and ’60s. You’d have trouble breathing. By 1970 I said, “I’ve had enough.” He decided to 'greenify' his home by installing nine solar panels on a tracker that follows the sun, collecting rainwater with barrels connected to the rain gutters, he also created a solar oven and set up a stationary bike which generates power (15 min of biking creates enough energy to run his computer all day+power his toaster!). Ed travels most places on his bicycle, even to different cities on his campaign LOOK UP, an public outreach project which helps educate homeowners on saving energy/ money. He also created a line of nontoxic cleaning products, Begley’s Best, as a way of raising money for charity... Oh and did I mention Ed's vegan? clearly the dude walks the talk and never compromises his values... he's a personal inspiration and hero.