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Where do you least expect to find a fridge?

Yes, precisely that - in a library! Some time ago, FAB28RR1 decided that he needed to learn more, to occupy his mind and make some progress in the field of literature so he accepted a job in the Hoogeveen Library in Holland. FAB28RR1’s job is to promote all the newest collections of young adult books to the younger visitors of the Library, and he does this by using different themes. FAB28RR1 chooses content especially to captivate and delight the young target group.

Occasionally FAB28RR1 likes to surprise the visitors, especially when his door is closed because nobody suspects what is inside, they see him and ask themselves “what is a refrigerator doing in the middle of a library?” FAB28RR1’s presence stirs the curiosity of young visitors and encourages them to discover books with varied themes. He first promoted Young Jury books, then he was filled with romance…what will come next? You’ll have to go visit the library to find out! Have you ever seen such a cool bookcase?
 
You can also follow the adventures of FAB28RR1 in Hoogeveen Library at pinterest

What’s not to love about the new Group Chantelle’s ’Passionata’ advertising to celebrate its Spring/Summer 2013 collections?
Bar Rafaeli, homemade food and top design are a pretty hedonistic mix at any time. Smeg was tickled pink to support a company which champions the cause of women worldwide, and has synergetic values of enhancing everyday with design and special pieces while respecting the traditions of artisanal savoir faire.

Group Chantelle has six brands including Passionata, Orcanta and Chantelle and for six years it has supported La Flamme Marie Claire, dedicated to girl's schooling throughout the world. Candles are sold and lit to light up girls’ future: flames being the symbol of hope are available in the group’s stores throughout the year.

The Passionata brand emerged in the late 1980s transforming lingerie with its beautiful use of colour and modern design, another milestone in the group’s 130 year heritage. The Smeg FAB fridge range was a perfect fit for the Passionata ‘So Pretty’ and ‘Lovely Passio’ collections thanks to its highly distinguishable use of colour, its sense of individuality and an undeniable playful edge.

The new ads are all about style, creativity and femininity and between Bar, Smeg and Passionata we reckon they’ve definitely nailed the brief.

SMEG50style interviewed a pretty chilled out FAB28 in Norway to reveal how he may be well on his way to being the next big hit out of Scandinavia since ABBA:

“Mamma mia, I was minding my own business waiting to have some minor alterations down to my frame when an acquaintance of mine, Bjorn, who turns out to be a pretty crafty guy - and die-hard muso - asked me to be in his band, The Powerpack. To be honest, I pretended to be cool about it but my shelves were shaking with excitement. I knew I had what it took to break into the music industry  but someone just opened my door to a life in music. The rest, as they say, is history… "

Bjorn said he didn’t want me to take centre stage after hearing my voice but he then came around and said we could become a duo producing some chilled out bass sounds with him, as bass guitar supremo, and me, as the FAB bass speaker with 4 fitted 10" Celestion BL10-150 8ohm speakers (for those who get my pumping muso lingo). It was too good to turn down so I said ‘yes’ before I knew he was  going to take to me with the router and power saw and to create my new “vocal chords”. Afterwards, I was fitted with sheep’s wool inside to make my range deeper than Barry White’s -despite my white exterior- and I was finally ready to play my first gig.

I’ll keep you all updated on how our first session goes and we may even add to the FAB family on tour as I hear  Bjorn has conjured up a radical concept to transform my cousin, FAB10, into a sub woofer system as well. At least we can then hang and chill out together on tour…”

Have you got a Smeg fridge at home? Go to the kitchen and have a good look at it. What did you notice? Nothing? Go back to the kitchen and observe it again: how does it look? What have you put on the door? Have you decorated it with magnets? Have you put a memo board on it? Have you covered it with colourful post-it notes? Now you are getting a bit closer to what the artist Stuart Semple saw when he looked at the surface of the door and was able to gain such a deep understanding of a pop icon that he resurfaced with an excellent idea for a series of installations. A fridge door, my friends, is a page which tells a thousand stories. Unlike with a toaster or a blender, a fridge door is a space where people can leave notes and exchange messages and bit by bit that door can be customised for a highly personal effect, similar to an enormous, metal household social network webpage. Why does Stuart use the door of a Smeg fridge to display this Facefridge (or Fridgebook if you prefer)? In his words: “There’s something so gorgeous about Smeg fridges, they are just iconic in every way, they just personify refrigerator, they are timeless. I’ve always loved them, there’s something strangely nostalgic about them too”. Now go back to the kitchen and have a look once again at your personal profile - sorry, your Smeg fridge.

According to recent research by the University of La Paz, there is a direct relationship between the production of an artist and the creative stimulus of his working environment. It is said that Hayez painted within the Vatican rooms and that Vasari spent more time with the works of Michelangelo than he did with his wife.

In short, when a genius is surrounded by art he creates even more art.

It is natural to ask ourselves what would have happened if the greats of the past had been able to have one of the models from Smeg’s 50’s Retro Style line in their studios.

Perhaps today we would be celebrating the cubist FAB of Picasso, people would be queuing at the museum to see “Woman with fridge” and Duchamp would have exhibited “Le réfrigérateur”.

You should therefore understand just how lucky contemporary artists are, since they are the only ones to be able to draw upon the beauty of household appliances to give form to their own beauty. A bit like what the Italo-Dutchman Selwyn Senatori did (www.selwyn.nl). A successful exponent of neo pop-art, Selwyn applied his paint and his style to his personal collection of FABS and then displayed them in a beautiful exhibition at the Piazza Dam Pop-Up Gallery in Amsterdam.

Which, coincidentally, is also his studio.

Let’s do this in an orderly fashion. First of all, you should know that this is a true story. Now then, some time ago, an alert popped up at the Metropolitan Police 's HQ, a system monitoring unusual goings on across the web.

Their attention was caught after spotting  some messages on Twitter from people claiming to be inside a fridge. Further investigations led the riot squad, kitted out in full uniform, to the East End of London, a place by the name of  Artillery Lane. The building, raided by the policemen, was furnished in a vintage style dating back to a bygone era, the trendy 1950’s. The place was called the Breakfast Club. Nobody knows if it was the eclectic and unmatched style, colour, or even the messages  and tweets  which led them to this  secret detention place, but the policemen were instantly directed towards a solitary Smeg fridge in the building. They opened it ,and, with amazement,  discovered that the fridge door was infact the secret passageway to a cell jam-packed with  prisoners. They were special prisoners though: captured to lead a life of fun and relaxed small talk, held  on the grounds of  their passion for places with unique style, hostages of design.
 
To the policemen, the relaxed atmosphere and the quality of the food and endless menu of drinks the place offered gave them no alternative other than to also declare themselves prisoners for a couple of hours in the bar inside the fridge, run by the Mayor of the mysterious Scaredy Cat Town.

Anyone wanting to become a hostage of design should visit http://www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com/ for more info.