2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Edgy and Sensible Art

I am posting a day early... I am off to Vegas for the Furniture Trade Show at World Market Center.

I will leave you with this introduction to a cool artist I have met through the High Point Furniture Show. His name is Parvez Taj. A Canadian living in Los Angeles, Parvez is producing some of the best urban art out there right now. Parvez works out his LA based studio and travels the world collecting images and ideas. Check out his website www.parvezmichel.com Parvez has roots in the fashion industry so it's easy to understand where his influences and well, simply put, his taste come from. He has an eye for cool and totally gets urban style for the home. Parvez has a unique method which incorporates, photography, digital manipulation and giclee technology to create unique art.

Sexy, thought provoking and edgy, this art garners the attention that it is getting. Viewers are left with multiple images to ponder and revisit with each gander.
Well priced, Parvez is careful to create pieces that are original and affordable. I think we can all agree that there is a market for sophisticated, fashionable art for the modern home at an attainable price. Art is an investment in your home's decor, being able to buy pieces and make an interesting statement is important to the home fashion-conscious buyer today.

Parvez also works with other mediums such as aluminum, stained glass and stone. You can check out all of this on his other site, www.parveztaj.com. What's also cool is that Parvez will customize. I have worked with him on a few projects for furniture showrooms where he takes the fabrics that I am using and incorporates my color into a custom piece for the space.

Look for this up and coming artist to emerge into the art scene spotlight soon. He was recently given an opportunity to show a piece in New York through Visa's, "...Life take's Visa campaign". Parvez was recognized as one of 15 artist who are setting trends and making an impact in the art world today. Once you check out his stuff, it's easy to see why he was selected among thousands of artist today.

Amy Butler "Lotus" Collection

By: Holly Becker, decor8

I love Amy Butler fabric, she is the one designer that really makes sewing feel hip and fun vs. old-fashioned (in a boring way) and stale. With each new season, she launches beautiful new fabric that can be used in a myriad of projects, from slipcovers to pillows, aprons, handbags, organizer totes, lampshades, everything you can think of. Her latest collection is called Lotus and I think it's stunning.
Aren't these gorgeous?

(images from amy butler)

Right on Target!

Let me introduce you to a little known store with more and more style everyday. Their prices are always affordable, and there's probably one of them right near where you live. This little store is called Target, and everytime I go in, I 'm amazed at how cool they can be. Lately, they have been getting in some really hip interior decorations and furniture, and it's all within the working person's budget.



Having checked online at target.com, none of these hip pieces seem to be up on the site yet, so you'll have to pop in to a store to check them out, and everything varies from store to store.

Going Beyond Primary Colors

If you're a mom or plan to be one soon, you gotta love the options for kid decor these days. You no longer have to be a slave to the primary colors or building block motifs of yesterday's nursery. There are thousands of options on the market these days to make a cheerful, urban and not so ordinary space for your baby to gaze upon each morning.

I found rompbklyn.com has a fun collection of animal silhouettes made from vintage wallpapers. Each cutout comes with instructions on how to hang your new friend using a brush and paste mix. You can create your own little zoo with these delightful creatures or pick a theme such as cooky crocs to take your sleepy baby into slumber land.

Another great source for fun and far away fantasies can be found at Stella Bebe. This website has many cool finds to outfit your little bambino's play space. Check out the Java Lampshade. I love the uniqueness that something this simple can add to chocolate and ecru theme nursery, (my personal choice of colors when it comes time to decorate a baby room). I am old school and will wait to see what my little gift will be so I thought it would be fun to someday decorate our first baby's room in chocolate and ecru. If our bundle is a girl, there will be hints of raspberry thrown in my accessories. I'm totally down with a boy too because blueberry will be fun to work in with the chocolate decor.

Don't forget the furniture. Check out the Funky Monkey. Super cute stuff. I especially love the Cubino Chairs. These durable and easy to clean chairs are canvas covered foam so no corners and edges for baby and toddler to bump their heads as they explore. I also loved the camping theme replacement knobs. What a great way to update that hand-me-down dresser.

Another great site of course is 2modern. There's a whole section dedicated to everything baby and I adore the Modern Basics and Nurseryworks line found on this site. Very urban and super non-fussy for the modern mom.

I love all the choices available to mom's and mom's to be. Don't get stuck in a rut with red, yellow and blue. Play it up, have fun and get funky with your baby's new room.

Sendomatic Design Competion!

What is the design competition?
The Sendomatic Design Competition is an opportunity for any creative individual - designers, students, artistically-inclined hopefuls -  to produce a fabulous original design and win great prizes. The winning design will be spotlighted on the homepage and featured in the Sendomatic Design Library. Let the creative juices flow and send something spectacular!

What do winners receive?
The winner will receive a $200 gift certificate at 2Modern and unlimited use of Sendomatic for one year. 2nd & 3rd place will receive home decor items from Inhabit. All winners will have their design featured in the Sendomatic Design Library.

When does it end?
Submissions are due by Feb. 15, 2007. Between Feb. 16 and Feb. 26 entries will be narrowed down to several finalists. We will notify you if you are a finalist. The finalists designs will be posted and voted on by Sendomatic visitors. So, if you are a finalist, tell your friends about the competition and ask them to vote!

ENTER HERE >

Blossoming With Beauty!

By: Holly Becker, decor8

For anyone who knows me, I'm always on the look out for a new blog to sing praises about. On my own blog, decor8, I post a Blog of the Week exclusively for this reason - to spread the love by sharing other amazing blogs, showing my overall support for the growing community of talented bloggers out there. I am always in awe by what I see on blogs and by the talented people who sit down to write about the things they love just for the sake of sharing what they're into. I think that's pretty cool.

Recently, Irene Hoofs wrote to me about her blog, and the moment I clicked over, I asked her if she'd like to be featured as my weekly blog. Readers loved her, and so I'm here now to further sing her praises to the 2Modern audience because I think you'll really like her blog, Bloesom, Dutch for "blossom".  The blogger is Irene of Irene Hoofs, a graphic design firm based in Toronto, Canada.

Irene is an illustrator, graphic designer, and a website designer. In addition to her work, she blogs about lovely items that she finds, from textiles to ceramics and art. It's always fun to look at the world through the eyes of a talented artist, which is what makes Bloesom a nice experience for me.

An Amsterdam native, she recently posted a most helpful guide, Amsterdam On My Mind, for your next journey to the land of tulips (and hash brownies), one that I am printing and taking with me as I head over this year.

Bloesom is a blog to add to your list of daily reads. Gorgeous finds, and although written in Dutch, her weekend reads are always in English, so you always do what I do -  scan through her images during the week and click on the links,  and do some reading on the weekends when she posts her weekend specials in English.

(images from irene hoofs)

Cast This

Podcasting has become more and more popular over the last year. It seems like everyone has their own podcast now, on everything from knitting to news in Germany. Where blogs once ruled as the bench mark for the "In" crowd, now sits podcasts; your nobody unless you've got a podcast!

So with that being said, let's take a vote: 2Modern Design Talk Podcast, would you subscribe? We'll probably do it anyway, but just out of curiousity :P

"In Situ": Contemporary Furniture at the Walker

I just had the opportunity to visit "In Situ: Contemporary Design at the Walker", a new series intended to showcase the best and brightest of new furniture design.

The inaugural installations are by Minneapolis-based Blu Dot -- an easy choice for the Walker to be sure, but their designs need no nepotism, they make it into the museum on their own merits. On display in the Cargill Lounge is Blu Dot's new Couchoid seating system, surprisingly comfy and oh-so-mod:

And installed in the Bazinet Garden Lobby outside the Cinema, the very classic forms of their Buttercup lounge chair:

The best part? You can sit on it! (Well, everything that's not on a pedestal, that is.) The Walker actually moved the building-standard benches and seats out of these two areas, encouraging visitors to test out these works of art. The Buttercup installation also includes the device used to "mold" the plywood seat shape. Both installations include didactics on the company, the designers and the products, though most visitors might not even realize what they're sitting on is in fact an exhibit.

The Blu Dot installations will remain for a year. The Walker's Design Department, curators of the series, has not yet selected the next in the series; they are reportedly exploring several different options, some of which are designer-centered, others which are manufacturer-centered -- and others based on <i>geography</i>. Curious! It wouldn't be a shock to see installations from Herman Miller, Steelcase or Vitra, or iconic designers like Rashid or Starck or even Gehry, who has done a number of custom seating systems for his projects plus one for commercial sale (for Heller, pictured below). Or geographic -- contemporary Asian? Italian? Scandinavian? Will they go with a tried-and-true workhorse, or something really out there? I can't wait to find out. (And give it a sit!)

Gehry's "deconstructive" sofa, armchair and "twist cubes" for Heller.

[Walker installation images (c) Gene Pittman, courtesy Walker Art Center.]

Urban Art At Affordable Prices

I could use some fresh and modern art in my home but being an artist myself, I have 3 problems. First I have a hard time hanging my own pieces in my place. Second, I am pretty picky when it comes to the art I will put in my place and lastly, I live on the budget of an artist. These three things really limit my options when it comes to art so when I find a good resource, I can't help but feel overjoyed.

Modern Digital Canvas is an online company who loves urban and fresh expression as much as I do. They have a fantastic gallery of pieces to choose from for the modern guy or gal and the prices are considerably fair for the size you can get. Each piece is printed on a hand stretched, cotton canvas but looks painted. They also take the time to put a special coating on each piece so that there is no fading. Your art will outlast you. Any good piece should right? I mean have you been to the Lourve lately? Talk about some long lasting stuff...
All the pieces are wrapped around the kiln-dried frame and can be mounted with or without a frame. I suggest without, it looks cool. In addition, when your piece arrives in 1-2 weeks, it's ready to hang. md-canvas is careful to package your piece in a wood crate to prevent damage to your new masterpiece so no worries there either.

All pieces are available in Medium, Large and Jumbo. Check out the site for pricing on each size. Pricing is determined by size and image.
Have a favorite shot of your own? Not a problem. Log onto md-canvas's subsidiary company, www.photo2canvas.com. At this site, you can get all the details on how to submit an image that you prefer and they will print it on canvas for you.

Need to match an exact color and your monitor is playing tricks on you? md-canvas has this figured out too. You can easily request small samples of each piece for $9.95 per sample. This will take care of any buyer's remorse or unwanted headaches in the future.

Got a birthday coming up? I thought this might be a great link to send to the folks. All mom or dad has to do is click and buy. Next time they stop by, they can admire your stunning taste in art and your ability to value their dollar bill...

Check it out and good luck choosing just one... there is always Christmas, it's only about 331 days away.
Note: all images are from www.md-canvas.com

Mix & Match with Loadbearing

Mix and match colors to create your own custom designed storage unit from Loadbearing. Select from 13 colors or 2 woods. Super for kids room, office or bedroom. Fantastic quality and reasonably priced!