Designing Worlds visits the mainland – and explores the Hotel Chelsea

Hotel Chelsea in the New York District

Join us today, Monday 19th April at 2pm SLT in our beautiful studio in Garden of Dreams as we journey back into the past for a show first shown in November 2011, when we paid a visit to the Mainland, and explored – among other locations – the Hotel Chelsea and CBGBs.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/513175829. And you can join the special Watch Party at 2pm SLT in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

This was our second trip to the Mainland of Second Life, and we visited some fascinating and beautiful locations, including the recreation of an historic piece of New York City, magnificent temples to ancient deities, and an art gallery that’s 3km tall.

Our guide on this journey was Nexus Burbclave, who had recently undertaken the Mainland Renaissance project to highlight some of the fascinating builds of the mainland.

The famous CBGBs

Nexus took us to the Hotel Chelsea in Lanestris, a loving recreation of the well-known new York location, where we met Mykal Skall, its creator who works with Enola Vaher, the manager, to bring this fascinating area to life, and we talked about the build and the district that surrounded it. And Elrik took a look at the famous music club – CBGBs.

Temple of Nautilus

Then we moved on to explore the beautiful Temple of Neptune in Nautilus and saw some of the gorgeous Linden designed buildings there on public land.

A highlight of the show is our visit to Solkide Auer’s amazing 300 metre tower at Italic Art, on the mainland slim of Slitheen – he was going to remove it, but he left it up a little longer so that viewers of Designing Worlds could see this amazing build for themselves.

Travelling through Solkide’s tower

And we finished with a resident build in Nautilus – Kothar by Valentine Easter – which we think may surprise you!

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Designing Worlds visits the fabulous Fantasy Faire 2021 – Part 1!

Fairelands Junction, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Welcome to the first episode in the new season of Designing Worlds, as we pay the first of two visits to the amazing Fantasy Faire that took place this year from April 22nd till May 12th (thanks to a special extension from Linden Lab).

From 2pm today Monday 17th May you can see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/channels/dworlds. Or you can join us for our Watch Party in the beautiful Designing Worlds studios in the Garden of Dreams at 2pm SLT today!

Featherfall, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In this first show, we talk to Zander Greene, one of the founders and co-ordinators of Fantasy Faire, and learn something about how the Faire this year has raised the astounding total of L$23,794,648 (US$95,178) by the end of the event, and also about how the Faire is organised, with many people coming together to create this fantastic and much-loved event.

Ostara, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Then we take a look at some of the wonderful Fairelands that formed the environment of this year’s Fantasy Faire – which was an especially draconic one – as we hope to show!

It makes for a gorgeous show, so do tune in from 2pm, or join us at 2pm SLT at the Watch Party in Garden of Dreams!

A’Dracunus, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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For more information about Fantasy Faire 2021, don’t miss the extensive web-site: https://fantasyfairesl.wordpress.com/

Peaville Goes Nuts, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Designing Worlds looks back at … The Looking Glass

The Looking Glass, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Join us today, Monday 19th April at 2pm SLT in our beautiful studio in Garden of Dreams as we journey back into the past for a show first shown in June 2016, when we visited the beautiful Looking Glass region, which at that time had been totally redesigned by Sharni Azalee and Marcus Inkpen.

DW307 – The Looking Glass Revisited from Richard Elen on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/169056906. And you can join the special Watch Party at 2pm SLT in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

The Looking Glass, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Marcus and Sharni had done a complete redesign that has been two years in the planning, and several months in the execution and – as we discovered when Marcus showed us around – the end result is gorgeous, and has become a favourite place for many on the grid – including us; we filmed the 2019 Halloween Tale there.

The Looking Glass, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Sharni was unable to join us (she’s based in Australia and was soundly asleep when we filmed) but Marcus was able to share with us many of the beauties and the fun things that await visitors to The Looking Glass. It makes for an amazing eye-candy episode as he shows us the Art Gallery, the hidden upper streets, the towers, the bridge, the performance areas, the landscaping … and we certainly didn’t have time to cover everything!

The Looking Glass, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

It’s a show you won’t want to miss – so do come and join us for the Watch Party – or watch it on the web!

You can visit The Looking Glass on Horizon Dream here.  And make sure to look out for Sharni Azalee’s stunning region J’Adoube at this year’s Fantasy Faire, opening on Thursday 22nd April!

The Looking Glass, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

 

 

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Designing Worlds looks back to … a longstanding roleplay estate in Second Life – Avilion!

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/516465206. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

#DW152 Exploring Avilion Feb 13th 2012 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

Originally a special Designing Worlds for Valentine’s Day Eve, Saffia and Elrik visit the extensive regions of Avilion in Second Life, a complex of mediaeval-themed roleplay, residential and communal areas with an extremely strong sense of community.

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

The regions date back to 2006, and are home to the famous and extremely romantic Avilion Ballroom. Saffia and Elrik also explore combat areas, visit a gypsy encampment and elf circle, and discover the Avilion Library, where the history of the community is maintained.

And, of course, no visit to Avilion would be complete without a visit to the famous ballroom – something that our Prim Perfect readers voted to see included in their favourite Valentine locations.

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Thankfully, unlike many other locations we have visited, Avilion is still with us – an estate of seven associated regions. You can visit the information point on Avilion here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Avilion/248/128/22

It makes for a fascinating and beautiful show – so do come and join us at 2pm or watch online!

Avilion in 2012, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

 

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Designing Worlds visits the Home and Garden Expo – Part 2!

Designing Worlds Cafe at the Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In our new episode of Designing Worlds, we are paying a second visit to the Home and Garden Expo. The Expo ran from 27th February to 21st March, and was a fabulous event with amazing displays of homes and furnishings, gardens and landscaping, and a range of art displays.

Join us at 2pm today Monday 29th March  when you can see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/channels/dworlds. Or join us for our Watch Party in the Designing Worlds studios in the Garden of Dreams at 2pm SLT.

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In this show, we explore the beautiful Designing Worlds cafe, in a building created by Danny Bourne, and landscaped and decorated for us by undercoverlady, visit the fun location of Waffleville (created for tiny.dinkie/petite designers and shoppers) with Kaerri Rae, organiser of the Expo, and talk to Stingray Raymaker, Ambassador for the American Cancer Society in Second Life.

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

And we also take a look at the Home Decorating Contest, talking to four of the contestants: Prokofy Neva, Terra Tepper, Madison Granger and Corvi Ashdene. Wildstar Beaumont has also supplied one of his wonderful slideshows of the decorated homes too! To find out the results … see this post!

Houses in the Decorating Contest at the Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Finally, we take part in the beautiful lantern ceremony.

It makes for a gorgeous show, so do tune in or join us at 2pm SLT at the Watch Party in Garden of Dreams!

And if you missed last week’s show – which was the first part of our visit to the Home and Garden Expo, you can see it here:

DW431 – Home & Garden Expo 2021 – I from Richard Elen on Vimeo.

To find out more about the Home and Garden Expo, visit the website: https://slhomeandgardenexpo.wordpress.com/ – and discover how you can be part of it next year!

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Designing Worlds visits the Home and Garden Expo Part 1

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In our new episode of Designing Worlds, we visit the Home and Garden Expo which ran from 27th February to 21st March, and was a fabulous event with amazing displays of homes and furnishings, gardens and landscaping, and a range of art displays.

Join us at 2pm today Monday 22nd March  when you can see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/channels/dworlds. Or join us for our Watch Party in the Designing Worlds studios in the Garden of Dreams at 2pm SLT.

In this show, we talk to Kaerri, the organiser of the Expo, talk to Danny Bourne or reBourne prefabs, a popular designer who has returned to Second Life after a long hiatus (and who could be seen on last week’s archive show), and see a range of exhibits, talking to some of their designers – Christiana of Needful Prims, silkiss of oobidoo, and Mizou Vavoom of Carpe Diem Design.

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We also have a whistlestop tour of some of the places that really caught Saffia’s eye as she raced around the Expo very early each morning performing rolling restarts on the regions (or, as she referred to it, taking the regions for their early morning showers!), and, of course, a glorious slideshow from Wildstar Beaumont. Finally, we end with the traditional lantern ceremony that marks each day of the Expo – as it has done since 2012.

It makes for a fun-filled and well-packed show, so do tune in or join us at 2pm SLT at the Watch Party in Garden of Dreams!

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

To find out more about the Home and Garden Expo, visit the website: https://slhomeandgardenexpo.wordpress.com/ – and discover how you can be part of it next year!

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Next week, in Part 2, we’ll be looking at the Designing Worlds cafe, created by undercoverlady, exploring the role of the tinies in their own village of Waffleville, looking at the beautiful houses decorated for the Home Decorating contest (and talking to some of the contestants), and talking to Stingray Raymaker, Ambassador for the American Cancer Society.

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Another show not to miss!

Home and Garden Expo, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

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Designing Worlds looks back to … the early work of Pitsch Parx and Danny Bourne!

Danny Bourne’s House, with the interior design by Pitsch Parx

Join Designing Worlds at 2pm SLT Monday 15th March for this week’s show from the archives which goes right back to January 2011. The Second Life Home and Garden Expo is happening at present (running until March 21st – see more here: https://slhomeandgardenexpo.wordpress.com/) and some notable designers from the past have returned, including Pitsch Parx and Danny Bourne. This show is a salute to a beautiful house and terrific interior design that the two of them created.

#113 Designing a Second life Home with Pitsch Parx – 31st January 2011 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/373065980. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams. Note that since US clocks have gone forward, this will be an hour earlier for everyone else!

Danny Bourne’s House, with the interior design by Pitsch Parx

We met pitsch Parx of UrbanizeD, whose interior design concept this beautiful home was, and he gave us a guided tour of the house. We will also met Danny Bourne, the creator of the building, and Charlene Trudeau, owner and manager of SkyBeam Estates.

The house attracted attention in the blogsphere at the time, and you can read more about it here on Chic at Phil’s Place, but today viewers will have a chance to see it in detail! Incidentally, Chic Aeon, the writer of that blog post, is one of the contestants in the Home and Garden Decoration Contest at this year’s Expo – you can go and discover all fourteen houses here!

Danny Bourne’s House, with the interior design by Pitsch Parx

All in all, I think you will see from this show why the Home and Garden Expo, and all of us here on Designing Worlds, are so excited to welcome the return of Pitsch Parx and Danny Bourne! So do tune in or join us at 2pm SLT at the Watch Party in Garden of Dreams!

Photographs by PJ Trenton and Alaex Aeon

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Designing Worlds looks back to … the second Home and Garden Expo in 2009!

Home and Garden Expo – May 2009!

Join Designing Worlds at 2pm SLT Monday 8th March for this week’s show from the archives which goes right back to May 2009. The Second Life Home and Garden Expo is happening at present (running until March 21st – see more here: https://slhomeandgardenexpo.wordpress.com/) but we have our show from the SECOND Home and Garden Expo, way back in 2009.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/371353284. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

#041 The second Home, Garden and Patio Expo – and the very first Designing Worlds show! 6th May 2009 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

This was the first episode of Designing Worlds, the rebranding of MetaMakeover, as our partners SLCN changed over to being Treet TV. Appropriately enough, this episode saw a visit to the opening of the second Home, Garden and Patio Expo which that year covered four sims – twice the size of the 2008 Expo. Our sister publication Prim Perfect had a pavilion at the show where they’ll be showcasing new designers as part of their Prim Perfect Pathfinders project – and you can read about the show in much more detail here: http://bit.ly/32lAidp

Home and Garden Expo – May 2009!

There are quite a few changes from that show to the Expo this year – as you’ll be able to see in future episodes, as we are broadcasting two shows from this year’s Expo later this season. But, for now, relax and enjoy The Way We Were!

 

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Designing Worlds explores One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021

Poetry and Prose Area, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In our new episode of Designing Worlds, we visit the fantastic event that was One Billion Rising 2021, held on February 14th. For the ninth year, men and women in Second Life joined activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and people across the world to Rise, Resist and Unite as a show of unity, individual strength, and the need for change – to confront the devastating statistic that 1 in 3 women around the world will be raped or beaten in her lifetime – that’s One Billion Women and Girls.

Art Installation by Jaz, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Join us at 2pm today Monday 1st March  when you can see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/channels/dworlds. Or join us for our Watch Party in the Designing Worlds studios in the Garden of Dreams at 2pm SLT.

Landscape designed by Eclair Martinel, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We talk to the organisers of the event (and Saffia was one of them!), Briony Writer, Dawny Daviau, Kess Crystal, Adele Ward and AvaJean Westland. We learn about the vital role of volunteers, the role of dance and music, and the importance of the landscaping – including the #MeToo Forest and the regions, decorated by Krystali Rabeni, Eclair Martinek, Dawny Daviau and Kess Crystal. And we look at the beautiful stage, created by Kilik Lekvoda, all following the special theme of this year’s OBR, Rising Gardens.

Hall for Heroes, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We discuss the art installations, and we take a look at these, talking to Jaz, one of the creators, as well as visit the moving “I Rise” photo installation and the amazing Heroes’ Pavilion with its contents created and curated by AvaJean Westland.

“I Rise” Photo Installation, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

It’s a very impressive show, so do tune in or join us at 2pm SLT at the Watch Party in Garden of Dreams!

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Art Installation crated by Lampithaler, One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

To find out more about One Billion Rising in Second Life, visit the website.

On the Stage at One Billion Rising in Second Life 2021, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Designing Worlds looks back to … the beautiful Costa Rica estate!

Prim Perfect offices on Costa Rica, photographed by PJ Trenton

Join Designing Worlds at 2pm SLT Monday 22nd February for this week’s show from the archives which goes right back to February 2012, as we visited the beautiful – and very fashionable – Costa Rica estate (alas, no longer on the grid).

#DW151 Visit the beauties of Costa Rica – Feb 6th 2012 from Saffia Widdershins on Vimeo.

You can watch it on this blog, and you can also see the show on the Designing Worlds Vimeo Archive channel at: https://vimeo.com/513196409. And you can join the special Watch Party (at 2pm SLT, Monday 25th February) in our studio on Garden of Dreams.

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In this episode we explored Costa Rica in the company of Giancarlo Takacs, the founder of Costa Rica, MariellaAnna, who is one of the Events Directors and Mimi Juneau, the Doyenne of Fashion, who held regular events in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

We explore locations used to host some of the fabulous events hosted in Costa Rica, and talk about these, as well as the natural beauties of this stunning estate, and the importance that the real life Costa Rica has played in the creation of these buildings – whether it is the Opera House, the Music Temple, the Welcome Cente, the volcanoes … or the Costa Rican-themed headquarters of Prim Perfect, created by Dijodi Dubratt.

Prim Perfect offices on Costa Rica, photographed by PJ Trenton

And it might just be that there’s a rather alarming surprise for Saffia …

Costa Rica, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

 

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