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Oh, To Live In A Glass House

You may have noticed; as much of the consumer buying public did, that clothing company J.Crew placed the photoshoot for their last catalog on the immaculate grounds of the Richard Neutra-designed Kaufmann Desert house.

Kaufmann Desert House

If you didn't get enough modern design love from that, there are a few more design gems from that period in architecture that are still standing.

Philip Johnson Glass House

This building, known as Da Monsta, is the visitor center at the Philip Johnson Glass House site. The site also includes numerous constructions by Johnson in a few different styles.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has acquired two new modern-era designed buildings, the Philip Johnson-designed Glass House and the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House. Both houses can be seen in this month's (May/ June) issue of the organization's Preservation magazine which discusses a new appreciation of Modernism in terms of architecture and the need for on-going protection.

Farnsworth House

Other modern masterpieces around the country include:

A Rudolf Schindler House

Philip Lovell House

Pierre Koenig Case Study Home

Photos from Time Magazine and Moma.org.

Green Acres

Earth week has come and gone, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook. You've been noncommittal long enough. The planet needs you now more than ever. And no, you don't have to add another entry to your bulging to-do list. It's more of an attitude adjustment than a task specific assignment. Although you could take a big leap (i.e. build a field of windmills in your yard or install solar panels on your roof). Little things like switching to incandescent lighting, using cloth napkins instead of paper towels, recycling, and using recycled products, are all viable steps to ending the damaging greenhouse effect. A notable recent contributor of eco products with distinctive style is Umbra. Their enticing new eco-collection developed through reprocessing or with sustainable or biodegradable materials that don't slumber timelessly in landfills lets you reduce your environmental impact and keep the earth bright, strong and healthy for generations to come.

Flawless

Turner Duckworth have come up with a perfect design solution for a paint can. The can clearly and effectively displays the color and finish of the paint inside with a no-nonsense/frills approach to the layout. Almost makes me want to paint... but not really.

--sdotg--

nina van de goor.

You probably recognize the name from the latest issue of Inspiration, the eZine (p.s. Issue #4 will be released tomorrow at Design for Mankind!!!), where this photo of Nina's home nook left me itching for more of her fabulousness.

Never one to disappoint, Nina has opened her very own Etsy shop TODAY, filled to the brim with her beautifully crafted ceramics. At just $36-$38, these pieces are a TOTAL steal if you're a lover of handmade bowls.

Congratulations on the exciting news, Nina; I can't wait to see your new business bloom! :)

Argington

Great new organic bedding from Argington! Smooth and soft bedding for Cribs, Toddler and Twin Beds are 100% Certified Organic Cotton Sateen, and comforters and bumpers are filled with Eco-Spun regenerated polyester. Even the packaging is recycled kraft paper, you can't lose with Argington's new bedding!

Rapid Manufacturing: Throwing out the Mold

New technology in the form of Rapid Manufacturing is changing the way designs are delivered from conception to completed product. Using the revolutionary form of printing known as Rapid Prototyping that builds up a 3D object layer by layer of polycarbons, nylon or other materials, Rapid Manufacturing or RM can produce actual prototypes in as little as a few hours. This gives advantages to designers in terms of flexibility throughout the process, a shorter production time-frame with implications for cost reduction, too, and expands the possibilities for mass customization of furniture, lighting, textiles or even architecture.

Taking the process a step further, Belgian firm Materialise and Dutch architect and designer Lars Spuybroek of NOX have developed MyLight.MGX lamps, a series of twenty-four different polyamide models, each similar but unique, that are printed directly from digital information, doing away with the need for molds. Part of Materialise's 2007 Private Collection, these lamps are the initial step into a world where consumers could access a design online and customize it to their individual requirements. Or as Spybroek says ‘we could breed objects like we breed rabbits...’ The lamps were featured in the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at MoMA, New York, 

Also shown at MoMA and made by Materialise, Patrick Jouin's One Shot Folding Stool uses Selective Laser Sintering or SLS to to fuse together small particles of polyamide producing the entire object, seat, legs and articulation, in a single process, layer by layer. When folded the stool is the size of an umbrella, expanded it becomes a full-size stool; the One Shot is both a functional object and a work of art.

Other design companies using Rapid Manufacturing include Freedom of Creation who work in textiles, digitally weaving designs that can easily be customized by shape, color or size to become trendy bags, lampshades, accessories and more.

Although the technology has been around for a few years, the possibilities of Rapid Manufacturing are only just being imagined.

More Buenos Aires

If you're still in Buenos Aires since my last post, you probably had already gone to Palermo. Among other lovely design shops at Palermo, you can find "Sopa de Principe", an Argentine dolls and accessories factory were everything is made of soft fabric and a lot of creativity. Monsters, princesses and pets wait sitting inside big fruit boxes.

Created by Verónica Longoni, the pieces try to bring back the spirit of home made toys, very simple and technology free.

Eco-Friendly Paint Hues

Like everyone else these days, I am on an eco-conscious, reduce my carbon footprint, path.  When I saw these paints listed in Readymade Magazine's Digital Sampler Edition, I just had to share.  All of the paint hues are low voc paints (that's low volatile organic compounds) for keeping your internal spaces environmentally friendly

 

You can get clearer images with costs per gallon and websites from ReadyMade's online edition article (just go to the contents page, click on Re View, and go through each page until you get to the one on paints...you'll enjoy the ride).

I first read about ReadyMade going digital from Sustainablog, then visited because I am mad for ReadyMade anyway and I love this thing of magazines having full digital editions online.  Turns out if you subscribe to their online edition, Nau, Inc. that other infamous sustainable (yet fashionable) outdoor apparel company automatically donates 5% of the suscription price to the Offset portfolio of Nau's partner organization, Climate Trust.

So, does that mean if I paint my walls with one of these Low Voc Paints, that I can then buy into these gorgeous chairs by Stephano Giovannoni for Magis? Although, the polycarbonate was conceived for injection molding without gases.

Check out Climate Trust's site to tell you about carbon offsets and what they can do to help us reduce our carbon footprint....but really for me to answer the above question, I need to go here.

Jeff Koons on the Roof

On the rooftop of the Met, in NYC, is the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. It offers amazing views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline and is a great place on Friday and Saturday evenings to sip on some cocktails and check out the Jeff Koons sculptures that will be there till October.