Expressing “Love & Peace” with high quality materials and always aiming for “The Best” in real clothes for the world using Japanese materials, traditional technique and high technology. @Isetan in Tokyo!!! 

Feeling the vibe in Tokyo! こんにちは日本! 

It is probably fair to state that Olympics opening ceremonies have come to represent the pinnacle of event management. Where else on earth do you have so much time, effort and money spent on an event that will be viewed by over a billion people? The Beijing Olympics back in 2008 really set a new benchmark for just how dazzling and epic an opening ceremony could be, in no short part to the inspired choice of Zhang Yimou as the head honcho of that spectacle.

One would be forgiven for being unsure how London's ceremony would compare given had it not been for the equally inspired decision to put Danny Boyle in charge of the whole shebang. He, like Zhang, is a man with impeccable artistic vision and design sense and, equally importantly, knows how to tell a story.

Here's the Pure team's highlights from that mind-blowing show.

The opening video shot in Boyle's signature frenetic style.

Grand and bombastic, the industrial revolution tears through and spills out of the stage.

The real James Bond, the real Queen... Someone dared to suggest it, and it paid off. Goes to show anything is possible!

Nothing screams epic better than giant fairytale puppets.

The universal language of comedy.

Each member of the audience was given an LED cell to hold - great device for boosting audience interaction and creating a huge visual spectacle.

The most creative and beautiful cauldron ever, from Thomas Heatherwick, also creator of the UK's amazing Shanghai Expo Pavilion.

Can't go wrong with Paul McCartney at the end singing Hey Jude...

Male consumers in Korea are chasing women's market share in the cosmetics category! 
Read more in this interesting article from the Los Angeles times.

South Korea's image-conscious modern male has overcome his inhibitions to embrace the benefits of make-up.
The handsome young men walk past each other in the blinding sunlight. Their shoulders lightly brush, and they turn their heads for a closer inspection."Wow, he's got great skin," murmurs one, while the other casually informs him, "It's just that I've changed skin lotion."

The scene is from a television advertisement, hawking what is euphemistically called a "color lotion" for men. Actually, it's a liquid foundation designed, as the ad says, to "cover the imperfections".

Cosmetics merchants in the West still fantasise about the day that men will wear make-up but in South Korea, the future is here.Color Lotion was introduced last year with a lavish advertising campaign starring World Cup soccer star Ahn Jung-hwan - the David Beckham of South Korea. The lotion chalked up $US4 million ($A5.8 million) in sales in the first six months, surprising its manufacturer.Meanwhile, the chairman of one of the country's largest cosmetics companies recently published his confessional memoirs with the title The CEO Who Wears Make-up.

"Why shouldn't men want to look beautiful and take care of their skin?" asked Yu Sang-ok, 70, the head of Coreana Cosmetics. "Especially as they grow older, they have to wear make-up if they don't want to look shabby."In fact, Korean men have been touching up their appearances long before the term "metrosexual" was coined by trend-spotters in the West to describe heterosexual men who willingly spend money on their looks.

Most politicians older than 50 dye their hair. President Roh Moo-hyun and his predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, are distinguished by prominent heads of jet black hair - as is North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, although his regime is sufficiently secretive that one cannot say with certainty whether his hair is dyed.

Kim Min-yoo, an Estee Lauder salesman at a department store here, says that prominent figures have been using make-up as well, but discreetly."It's always existed. Men would wear a little of their wives' or girlfriends' make-up. It is just that now it is out in the open and respectable," said Mr Kim, who wears his hair streaked with copper highlights and admits to applying a little powder and eyebrow pencil on special occasions.Seoul's plastic surgeons, boutiques, hairdressers and cosmetics merchants attract customers from throughout the region.The advertising for men's make-up here features young, girlish models - called "kkotminam", or flower men. But market research indicates that the best customers are middle-aged businessmen.

"We thought this would be popular with teenagers and men in their 20s, but we discovered to our surprise that it was men in their 40s who were most concerned about their skin being rough from the effects of ageing, heavy smoking and stress," said Chong Pu-kyung, who helped develop Color Lotion for Somang Cosmetics.

Until Color Lotion was released last year, men's cosmetics consisted of aftershaves, moisturisers, acne treatments and "whitening" creams, a ubiquitous product in Asia. The very idea of a foundation designed to cover the skin was considered too effeminate to be marketed to men.But the product's success broke through the psychological barriers against real make-up and it has since been emulated by other cosmetics companies.

Somang, meanwhile, is beginning to market its product in China, Vietnam, Mongolia and in Japan, where men's makeup is even more widely accepted.

Captured from the Los Angeles Times

Best way to seek out inspiration? Meet with other inspiration-seekers!
That's why Pure spent a few hours some of the best agencies in Seoul... Here we are at the beautiful showroom of Aile, a leading design and printing agency that produces some of the best printed work in the city! Some quick snapshots of their brand-new, super-hip showroom! 

Over the next week (under the pretense of working) Pure will be whizzing through Korea and Japan, soaking up whatever supersonic inspiration we can as we go. Tune in over the coming days for a mash-up of whatever random stimuli we happen to stumble across!

And here it begins... with a quick snapshot of Cheonggyecheon stream in the centre of Seoul.

Traditionally, the hectic pace of business in Shanghai slows down in July and August, allowing busy folk from all walks of life to take things down a notch. It gives us time to sit back, reflect on the good things in life, even enjoy a cocktail or two...

Why not make it a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?

Described as "the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging - expensive and bad for the head", the effect of drinking one "is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick".

        "Take the juice from one bottle of that Ol' Janx Spirit.
        Pour into it one measure of water from the seas of Santraginus V
        Allow three cubes of Arcturan Mega-gin to melt into the mixture (it must be properly iced or the benzene is lost).
        Allow four litres of Fallian marsh gas to bubble through it (in memory of all those happy Hikers who have died of pleasure         in the Marshes of Fallia).
        Over the back of a silver spoon float a measure of Qualactin Hypermint extract, redolent of all the heady odours of the             dark Qualactin Zones.
        Drop in the tooth of an Algolian Suntiger. Watch it dissolve, spreading the fires of the Algolian suns deep into the heart of         the drink.
        Sprinkle Zamphour.
        Add an olive.
        Drink...but very carefully."
Recipe from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

Bottega Veneta's fabulous flagship store located in the booming North Bund area is now home to a charming and refined gallery space on its second floor. With the opening of its first expedition - a thought-provoking showcase of contemporary photography from the region neighbouring Shanghai - Pure came in to assist on the production of the exhibition set-up, as well as the printed collateral to complement the artwork. The exhibition runs until October.

Ok we admit it. We have sinned.

We are creativity gluttons. We hunger for inspiration wherever we can find it.
We stuff our faces on a daily basis with whatever visual, aural or intellectual stimulation we can find.
So we joined Pinterest.

There, it's out in the open.