Architecture + Angst

My last post was about reading blogs and coffee and a contest at Heart Home. We all read blogs now, we have our favorites and there are so many on so many topics and themes.

Most of the blogs I follow are about the design industry, like Design Hunter, Vosgeparis and my friend Carol at Dear Designer where they share news of new projects and products. Others I like just for the visual inspiration like {this is glamorous} or Greige Design. I like Holly at Decor8 because Holly's is conversational, fun and uplifting, she has a compelling story.

And there are many, many more that I am sure we all love to read and share the things that  fascinate us and engage us. My sister and I post on this blog about our conversations on food, an exhibition visited, new products or a space or images that feed my imagination.

But there is one blog about coffee and architecture, Coffee with an Architect, by Jodie Brown, that makes me laugh out loud and I shake my head in agreement of how he puts into words and images what the existential experience of being an architect or designer is like. He does this with humor and references to movies and always, as I said, making me laugh out loud. Much of the angst I have experienced as a designer..

Jodie is an architect standing in front of an ideology asking it to love him.

Here's looking at you kid, xx

Introducing Vava

Hello all my friends, I am adding a contributor to my blog, she is Vava, she is my sister. She is in New York and has a home in Vermont with a fabulous garden. She is fantastic cook and has a well honed sense of fashion and style formed from years of working with clothes. We made paper doll clothes when we were kids and learned to sew making Barbie dresses.

When we Skype we talk about food, delicious meals we have cooked or a restaurant we have been to, a wine we have tasted. We talk about clothes and fashion, the cut of jeans, the blend of cashmere or the new collection of a favorite designer and I have often thought these conversations should be shared.

Being an interior designer and writing a blog on interiors and design, food and fashion would inevitably cross into the posts. When designing a kitchen, dining room or a cafe with a client conversations about food and cooking always arise, they go together. As so with many other parts of designing a home, we cross into other areas of design, art, culture, style, fashions.

I am looking forward to having Vava contribute, there will be recipes, there will be styling ideas and observations.... Come back tomorrow for Doomsday.

Don Draper's Apartment

Don Draper's new apartment on 73rd and Park is a dream, a Mid-Century modernist's dream, it has so many of the features we now love of a 60's living room.

The grass cloth wall paper, sunken living room, the white carpet the pendant swagged over the fireplace and the fireplace, I think I like that the most.

In the past few years I have had some projects where the clients want to change their 60's style living rooms. One had a whole wall with rosewood paneling, a fireplace off center with a travertine hearth and surround. The built- in shelves, in rosewood as well, added the balance to the tv, fireplace arrangement.  I advised against alterations, change the upholstery or carpet, but that elevation is now a "period style"

Back to Mad Men, the last episode had Betty survey the living room and take in all the modernity, it was an interesting scene considering she lives in a Gothic mansion.

I followed up on the decoration of this set, it was done by set designer Claudette Didul. She spent some time on research, getting inspiration from two books by 1960s bestselling interior design author Betty Pepis and "Decoration U.S.A.," a 1965 collaboration between Jose Wilson and Arthur Leaman.

I also learned she found furniture on Etsy and  Craigslist to create the right feel for the ad man's new apartment with his new wife.

The large recessed lighting, the colorful cabinets, Danish modern dining set and the window treatments, all stylish and so appropriate for the time.

White Kitchens

Automatism

For all who have been through renovating their own kitchen and to my clients who I have helped to renovate their homes, my heart goes out to you and urrrrrh! We endure...  but what keeps us going is the vision and the well ordered space to come, it is satisfying to see it come together.

I am still waiting on the plumber to install the first fix and the wood to adjust to the temperature inside, but clean newly plastered walls, wow. I am planning on all white, just white to make the space feel bigger and lighter and it is soothing.

Here are few white kitchens that look wonderful from some of my favorite blogs

79 ideas

79 ideas

Emma's Design Blog

COADG, Katie Treggiden

When I started my blog nearly a year ago, I had been reading dozens of them before jumping in. I came across the Design Blog Collective, it is a group of fun and creative people writing great, inspiring blogs. I was lucky to become a member and also found new friends, a community and a place to just talk blogs and design.

Katie started her blog Confessions of a Design Geek because of a passion she has for well made, well designed products and has written about them, interviewed designers, shows us things she has made earlier and tells about all the design shows, exhibits and festivals. I particularly enjoyed a series she did about the best designed cafes in London, a good coffee in pleasant surroundings.....

She has recently had a collection of interviews with designers published. Interviews where she really gets to the understanding the design process and asking the questions that started us into this work. 

Her book Interviews, Volume one  is available on her blog. Katie is now working on her dream of being a design writer, keeping us informed of new shows, new products, who is designing what and asking those questions of how to make it beautiful and useful. She also contributes to Heart Home Magazine, another publication by members of the DBCollective.

And she has a beautiful smile.

Home

Yesterday started the new interior and accessories exhibition Home,  I went to visit and saw the new light, colors and designs that will be in stores this year, some old favorites and some new versions of lights, I like the block of wood a lamp base, the big and bare light bulb is bigger and the Plumen curved and elegant fluorescent lamp was prominently displayed.

Colorful glass ware and inside lampshades:

and an updated version of a side table. A good show, also showing there is Heart Home Magazine.

CSYS LED Task Light

Source: jakedyson.com via Kelly on Pinterest

One of the new products I saw at Designjunction was the CSYS LED Task Light that has been designed and engineered by Jake Dyson. This was more than another styled light source, this was going back to the problems of heat loss, the waste of energy, that all light sources produce and the reason for the phasing out of the Edison bulb and replacing it with CFLs and LEDs.

When I spoke with Jake Dyson at the exhibition, he told me about how he had taken apart LEDs from all manufacturers and found there is heat loss with all these lamps. Plus the color changes and without diffusers there is an uneven spread of light. He was determined to build a task light that meets the needs of energy, environmental concerns and aesthetics.

Source: jakedyson.com via Kelly on Pinterest

As lighting designer, I have been hesitant to jump on the bandwagon of switching all Edison light bulbs to CFLs or to LEDs for task lighting. There are still some problems to be addressed, the color of the light changes over time and there is still heat loss with both lamps. All light creates heat.

The CSYS task light resolves all of these issues with the heat pipe technology. It has been in use in satellites and microprocessors and the primary role is to conduct heat away from its source. This keeps the LEDs cool, it does not require extra energy or an external pump and it is instrumental in keeping the light running a bright warm white without changing the color to the sickly greenish glow after much use which happens to CFLs and other LEDs.

How many times have you burnt your hand on a light bulb?

Source: jakedyson.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Another aspect of the light is the mechanics, I loved the way the light slides and glides back and forth, up and down and can turn 360°. This gives it amazing flexibility, you place the light where you need it.

The combination of design, engineering, technology, mechanics and materials make this a beautiful light. For me aesthetics are more than what something looks like, it is the way it is made, the materials, how it works, does it meet the needs of the user as well as the proportion, balance and color.

It would be great to see this lighting technology used in the British Library, schools and museums and I would like to use it next to my MacBook. Did I mention it also dims?

Please view the website:  http://www.jakedyson.com

Congratulations Jake. 

Heart Home Magazine

Source: hearthomemag.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

Heart Home Magazine was launched yesterday in London.

Last night we all enjoyed a glass of wine in toast to Carole King, Daniel Nelson and Ariana Trapani for their fantastic 1st issue of Heart Home Magazine. It is a online lifestyle magazine, much needed from London, full of articles and features of homes, fashion and food in Britain.

Source: hearthomemag.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: hearthomemag.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

Reading through the magazine with coffee this morning, there are articles about designers and stylists working in Britain, a good guide to the upcoming London Design Week and (very important) what to wear in each part of town.

There are features of homes, flats and lofts that show us eclectic styles from vintage to modern and articles about the great and influential design movements of Britain; the Arts and Crafts Movement to the Festival of Britain.

An interview with Terrence Conran who states that as a designer, one should not be a disciple but be in service to help people improve and enjoy their lives. I couldn't agree more.

Source: hearthomemag.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

Please read, share and enjoy Heart Home Magazine, the next issue is December 8th.

Celestial Commode

Source: kohlerinteriors.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Celestial Commode, Barbara Barry collection Baker Furniture

Source: google.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

Newgrange, neolithic burial site , Ireland

Source: google.co.uk via Kelly on Pinterest

When I saw the very attractive Celestial Commode from the new collection by Barbara Barry at Baker Furniture, I immediately thought of the large stone carved with spiral decoration in front of the entrance to a neolithic monument in Ireland, Newgrange.

The spiral is a motif that has been used to decorate surfaces forever as we can certainly see from this stone carved probably between 3100 - 2900 BC. If this stone was the inspiration for this piece of furniture, I find it fascinating how the links in design from ancient to contemporary can still influence the imagination. I visited this site a few years ago with my sister and was interested to learn this monument was designed to capture the sunrise of the winter solstice. That took some planning and  mathematical application.

However, the furniture from Barbara Barry has also inspired me and I have used pieces from consoles to coffee tables to bedside tables in apartments for clients in New York. I would say not only the surface decoration but the graceful lines and proportions of the furniture are elegant and can give any space a timeless quality.

Source: kohlerinteriors.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Blast Off

Source: nasa.gov via Kelly on Pinterest

NASA managers look on from Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center as space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Launch Pad 39A on Friday, July 8, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch of Atlantis is the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program.

Having grown up in Florida, we watched the rockets blast off as they made their way to the moon. It was an ambition of many to grow up to be an astronaut. Recently when I visited Kennedy Space Center with my son, a scientist, we saw the Apollo 11 space craft, the Saturn V rocket and were amazed at the engineering and physics that went into it. My son couldn't believe they went to the moon without a calculator and computer.

NASA and space exploration has fed our imaginations, our culture, research into science, design and technology. I look forward to the watching and reading about the next adventures.

La Perla Negra

Last week when I was on Bond Street, I visited some of the galleries. I was particularly impressed with work on show at The Opera Gallery of Lita Cabellut. This selection of her powerful paintings is a tribute to Frieda Kahlo.

Frieda Kahlo had life long health problems resulting from polio as a child, then a serious traffic accident as a teenager which broke numerous bones in her body. Through her long convalescence she learned to paint and it is in her self portraits where you see how she stoically bears the pain of her wounds. Powerful stuff, and it is those portraits that have touched many, particularly women seeing their own pain in their mind, body or souls.

Lita Cabellut has absorbed these paintings and has produced some excellent work, paintings that show her study of Kahlo but also exhibits her own skills and statement. She has taken the portraits and shown a different angle of her head and with bold brush strokes paints the pain that Kahlo endured. They are large, dramatic portraits. The heads and figures are on a deep inky background or a strong color which intensify the flesh tones and red flowers Kahlo was known to wear in her hair.

Art has been an important element to my life as designer. The canvas is another space to work out proportions, balance, form, color and light but often with painting there is narrative which can help us understand our story. Lita Cabellut is telling her story as well.

I recommend a visit to The Opera Gallery, the show is on till the 22nd of April.

The Bedside Table

This humble table next to our bed is an intimate piece of furniture. We wake up to it as we reach to turn off the alarm and go to sleep next to it as we reach over to turn out the light.

It holds our intimate items, the latest book of our current passions, always a lamp, some pictures of loved ones, a clock, maybe some flowers, a glass of water. Perhaps you will take off your earrings or your watch and place them there, maybe a night cream. It is a personal space but one not lacking for imagination or design.

As interior designer, I have thought of this space often as I have helped people choose the right table for their intimate needs. Like many design problems the same principles apply; the amount of space you have, the height of your bed and how much do you need to hold. Do they have to match? I would be the first to say no, but it is nice to have the right height just even with the bed and enough surface to hold a book and a lamp and whatever else.

A good use of a narrow space, holds the essentials, maybe a little high.

This is smart and minimal, easy to clean and take care of, but knowing me books would pile up on the floor.

A practical use of books.

A good flea market find.

Smart, tidy and good storage and a lovely lamp.

                                                   

   Mirrored, this is glamorous.....

        Very elegant, lots of surface space, storage, good light, maybe a little low.

Very Judd inspired...

           What is next to your bed?