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I will go to Copenhagen just to stay at Hotel Fox. Artists, designers, architects from around the world were asked to design rooms. Each room is a work of art. From wacky and comical to strict graphic design. These rooms give me such inspiration for my own home. Check them out, choose your favorite and book your flight!
RUGMARK is a global nonprofit organization working to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in India, Nepal and Pakistan. The RUGMARK label servers as an indicator from a 3rd party that no illegal child labor was used in the manufacturing of the carpet or rug.
RUGMARK is not the only seal of approval, but they are perhaps the most widely known. PBS recently feautured the organization in a "The New Heros", a series about organizations or people that truley make a difference in major world issues.
In their recent Annual Report, 2Modern was featured in an article demonstrating how an individual purchases a rug, where it is made, how it is certified and then delivered. This was a purchase of an Emma Gardner : Broken Circles Rug:
Live dispatch from NYC: If you are in town, make sure you check out the MOMA. There are a couple of very cool contemporary art exibits.
Take 2 covers a wide variety of Modern pieces from 1965-to present. Paintings, video, photography, large scale works, all on display. Several that are newly acquired that I had never seen or heard of. What is facinating is the impact of recent history in the outcome of the works. If in the city, take time to check it out: 1 hour or so.
I was recently in Sun Valley, ID and Snowbird, UT. It was very crisp. It felt like fall in the mountains. The leaves were changing color and everyone was talking about an early winter and a short summer. In San Francisco, the September/October timeframe is the infamous Indian Summer…where the fog dies down and it turns into our version of Summer begins.
Well, whatever season it is, this late summer/early fall time has some very unique attributes: deep reds and burnt oranges, cool air warning of winter, the first advertisements of the Holiday Season (always to soon)…
A good idea for contemporary accessories that match the season? How about the modern Flower Vase by Jacob Marks and Skram Furniture:
Flowers will add some freshness to a dry season and can work as a nice gift when that holiday shopping time comes roaring in!
I know it is the 2nd day of fall 2005, but designers are thinking about color trends for the next season already. From New York Fashion Week Spring 2006 hot colors include - Blue Placid Skyway, Deep Ultramarine, Lily Green, Fresh Viola, Melon and French Vanilla. I always peek at www.pantone.com for the latest color inspirations and trends. Click here for a preview of colors for Spring 2006.
What came first the chicken (lighting) or the egg (furniture)? An interesting trend to follow is furniture with lighting elements. These applications have definite appeal to the commercial industry: night clubs, restaurants, hotels, bars, retail. It adds interest, works day and night, has the ability to configure and serves multiple purposes. What we are finding is that residential customers are looking at this modern design technique as a way to utilize it in their home. It turns any area into a conversation piece.
What is interesting is that Furniture Designers are creating pieces with lighting and Lighting Designers are creating pieces that serve as furniture.
The GUS* Modern Light Block is an example of a modern furniture designer creating a side table/sitting block that has light. This was designed after GUS* had success with the Block in Steel and faux Cow Hide. This piece holds 500lbs!
The Light Bench by Pablo Pardo (Pablo Designs), is an example of a modern furniture designer creating a bench/coffee table that doubles as a contemporary lighting structure. I sat on this piece while speaking with Pablo during ICFF this year. I found that it was incredibly durable. This was not an interesting design with no function, it easily sat 2 adults at 200 lbs a piece. It is configurable, so it can be arranged in various combinations to create different aesthetics (parallel, perpendicular, etc.).
There is something really beautiful about nature in its rawest form. Sometimes as detailed as a seashell or dandelion. Sometimes as vast as a meadow or mountain peaks. I always appreciate when designers are able to capture this simple beauty and bring it into the home. Taking nature and successfully synthesize it into material or art that still maintains the original form of beauty. It is harder than you think. Especially in the modern realm…not hokey or country.
Amenity does a tremendous job at capturing nature within their textile designs. When I first saw some of their designs, it was an immediate “Yes”! There was no double-checking with other buyers, it was so well done that there wasn’t a hesitation to work with Amenity. Great work!
I just ran into Kristina de Corpo and Nicole Chiala, they have recently designed some new pillows and wall art, with the same organic theme. I can't wait to see them!
Is it possible? Culture? In Los Angeles? Absolutely. You know a lot of people give L.A. a bad rap for not having any real soul. A transient society with a superficial backdrop.
Well...I am here to inform you that if you look closer at the surface, you will find that there is quite a culture. Odd, non-traditional...yes! But brilliant and amusing nonetheless.
I am not going to rattle off everything at once. I prefer to jump in with a few little gems from time to time so you can get acquainted with what's what here in Southern California.
GEM #1:
Visit archINFORM
Did you know how many brilliant modern architects contributed to this landscape in LA? Probably not, but it makes sense...the showboating, uber-millionaires in the movie industry want the coolest pads of the day...that means early 20th century to present.
L. Wright
F. Gehry
Morphosis
Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Eames
and on and on...
Take a little tour. You will be blown-away. How?
Los Angeles Contemporary Architecture Metro Adventures Planning Guide
Till next time!
K Studio has developed a line of embroidered softgoods offering many combinations of fabrics, embroidery designs and thread colors. Each piece is made by hand in their studio in Grand Rapids, MI.
Shelly Klein, a graduate of Kendall College of Art and Design, has owned and operated a design studio working as a consultant for the contract furniture industry with clients like Herman Miller. Mary Klein is a veteran of the contract furniture industry with extensive management and manufacturing background. The combination of their respective areas of expertise resulted in a natural collaboration exploring a shared interest in combining good design with sustainable materials and business.
These prints are amazing. You can mix and match them just like creating your own bouquet of flowers. John Benz creates work that is stripped down to what is essential. The flowers exist unencumbered, floating between the edges of the frame, some creamy and soft, others textured and defined, each holding their place against the deep black of the background. He is interested in evoking emotion and influencing the undercurrent that exists around the artwork. His art is a visual reflection of this and an illustration of his desire for simplicity, and purity of form. 
Paul Wachowski is a classically trained artist who embraces our common suburban landscape and interprets it in an entirely fresh way. His original works are collected by private collectors, corporations, and installed in large format architectural installations and licensed for use in advertising and branding. In the same way that the Dutch masters openly and unreservedly captured the everyday human experience of the seventeenth-century, Paul Wachowski's modern prints capture everyday life in the twenty-first-century.
Manufactured Housing has really taken an appealing twist. These aren’t your typical trailer park dwelling. Some are thoughtfully-designed temporary dwelling with a modern twist.
I was just in Chicago and happened by the Field Museum. There is a temporary exhibit going on there (Feb/2005 through Jan/2006) that displays original models and drawings by noted architects and industrial designers. The display shows off the latest in designs for pre-fab homes.
Check it out if you are in the area.
If you own some land and don’t feel like putting a lot of time/money into a structure, this is a great alternative.
Decorate it with some modern furniture and accents and you’ve got a chic pad to host a dinner with Pooh, Smokey and Yogi.
Ann Faison is a hidden gem among Los Angeles artists. Relatively unknown, Faison’s delicate drawings are admired by many who own her work, including a large number of artists. Faison studied art at Oberlin College, before going on to earn an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Her drawings have been included in group exhibitions from Los Angeles to Athens, and she was the subject of two solo exhibitions in 1999 and 2001. Faison lives and works in Los Angeles. She has started a new line of pillows with her work. The tree pillow brings a little organic feel inside. A great contrast in a contemporary space.
