2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

american hotel stories.

If you enjoy consuming Hollywood history, secrets, and insider details, then you'll love American Hotel Stories published by Assouline. The book trails some very famous and often elusive legends (Marilyn Monroe, Al Capone, Jack Kerouac) across the country during their stays in various American hotels -- that are legendary in their own right -- along the way disclosing some very titillating tales. Additionally, author Francisca Matteoli compiled an appendix of the country's most novel hotels so that you can live adventurously, too.

Ladder by Casimir Meubelen

Belgian designer Casimir recently presented the new series of storage furniture Ladder N1. Designer Casimir’s starting point for this series was yet another familiar object and archetypal design.

 

 

The ladder’s original form and function – a movable stairway – and an immovable shelving unit have now been merged into one piece by extending the ladder’s rungs into shelves and cases of different sizes. Ladder n°1 upgrades the stairway – still needed to reach the highest shelves – into a piece of solid oak storage furniture.

Visit Casimir Meubelen for more info

Ring Ring

Love this minimal magazine rack made from nickel plated steel rings by Black + Blum. Thoughtful Father's Day gift perhaps?

Also see wall mounted magazine rack here.

Pentagram Marks

Marks is a new book that brings us 400+ symbols that the awesome folks at Pentagram have given to the world since the 1960's. Up until now, this book was only gifted by Pentagram to its friends and clients, but now will be available for purchase in the US.

The limited edition of 1000 copies is printed on French-folded bible paper, bound in a red, cloth-covered softback cover and includes five ribbons for bookmarking.

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2009 Movie Extravaganza Post!

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a blast ringing in the new year... if not then this post will definitely fix that.

FIRST- The rumors on the interwebs have proven true. Thet are filming a real life version of "Where the Wild Things Are." Three cool facts that make this a little bit more exciting are:
1. They aren't using CGI but actual puppets and "wild thing" suits.
2. Driected by Spike Jonze
3. Screenplay written by Dave Eggers.

I know... you guys are probably muttering under your breath that I am a quack and this is all Grade A Bologna.
Exhibit A-C

(pics via imdb.com)

SECOND - Gary Hustwit, the guy who brought us the awesome documentaries on Wilco & Helvetica, has made another bad ass doco on object design called Objectified. So, for this 2009 Movie Extravaganza post I present to you the newly released trailer for the film.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

2009 will certainly go down as a very memorable one, to say the least. I think there will be a lot of reflection on what exactly transpired over this past year. There is no need to rehash it all, the Media does a great job at keeping us up to date with every detail possible.

I guess the one thing that I can decipher from all of this is this...if you are in a position of power, and your decisions impact several people, then make sure that you are acting with other people's best interest in mind. Make sure that your integrity is in check and that you are as concerned with other people's well-being as your own.

CEO's, Politicians, Hedge Fund Managers (Ponzi Scheme Operators), Teachers, Parents, etc...we all inherently know right from wrong. We all know when we are looking to 'just get ours', regardless of the end result of our actions on others.

I am sure I am preaching to the choir...as most of the people that are the root cause of some of these current global concerns will likely never read this, let alone have it sink in. Maybe if we start giving more attention to the people that are doing good things for people, doing the right or selfless thing when no one is even watching, then things will start to change in a positive direction. I hope that good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior isn't in 2009. That is my wish.

I sincerely hope that all of you out there have a very Happy, Healthy (and Conscious) New Year!

Greg

Agenda 2009

The Agenda 2009 is the perfect item for this time of year. Designed by Helene Ryenbakken, and a band of 3 other designers, as a promotional piece for Arctic Papers. Such a brilliant concept and awesome design . Unfortunately, it's only being distributed in Norway and Denmark... maybe if I ask real nice ( with sugar on top) then Helene can send me one!?

Me and four others made the 2009 agenda for Arctic Paper. Arctic Paper is a paper production company, and makes high quality, graphic fine paper. The agenda is given to graphic designers and art directors all over Norway and Denmark, and the purpose is to show off some paper qualities and promote Arctic Paper and Studio 3

The theme of the agenda is computer and internet on paper. You have these expressions from the paper world that the internet and computer have borrowed, and now we borrowed them back – in an internet wrapping. You can browse, bookmark a page, cut/paste, chat etc.

Check out Helene at her site here.

Happy Holidays everyone!

via

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Lili Lite

The Lili Lite is a multifunctional book shelf that is perfect for all you late night readers that appreciate functionality and kick-ass design.

Lili Lite is a reading light, a bookmark and a bookshelf combined into one smart product. A sensor turns off the light when an open book is placed on the shelf. When the book is picked up again, the light automatically turns on. Lili Lite also has a switch to turn the light on and off manually. Lili Lite is a witty design that combines function and style in a simple but ingenious way.

Designed by Studio Smeets and you can grab it here.

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Women of Design

If you have a favorite designer, lover of the arts/graphic or product designer this would make a great gift for Christmas.  I always love getting art books as a gift at Christmas that I wouldn't otherwise splurge to get for myself.

With the numbers out about women in the workforce (lower than in years past), especially in management or executive positions (one out of 5 I believe the statistics state), and having heard about how a women's group protested in New York about the lack of women's work being produced on Broadway.....well this is a more than timely tome to focus on just exactly the type of influence women have had:  the who, what, when, why, where and How of it.  Produced by How Books and available on Amazon.com, the authors have sought to bring full attention to the wonderful work, careers and contributions of women designers, writers, teachers and entrepreneurs around the world.

This is a sample page I especially appreciated.....a diagram of influence and inspiration.

The page appears as a fold-out and can be viewed in a larger image here.

The women in this book have been divided into three groups, representative of the time in which their influence was most heartily felt: Groundbreakers, Pathfinders and Trailblazers. These three generations have helped shape the modern landscape of design and Women of Design will help you explore their influences in depth.

More about the book and who and what is inside side can be viewed here, including more yummy sample pages.  And purchased on Amazon, here.

Homeward Bound

Perhaps you too have taken stock of your home and decided to incorporate more eco-conscious elements. Commendable decision, but where do you start? You'll find great direction in Judith Wilson's book The Natural Home: Stylish Living Inspired by Nature. Wilson covers everything from planning a green construction to blending naturally-sourced furniture and materials into a finished design. The book endorses major eco cornerstones including recycling, conserving energy and integrating found objects and antiques into your space versus buying new and contributing to the enormous drain on the planet caused by the continuous manufacture of new product. Awe-inspiring contemporary designs and numerous other styles are highlighted throughout the book. Wilson's Natural Home delivers ample proof that green can be as imaginative as it is pivotal in reducing carbon emissions.