Mystic Designer
Design Ideas
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Hoot
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Iconic Chairs - my Fav Dozen
History: Breuer was an apprentice at the Bauhaus in 1925 when he came up with the design idea for this chair. The frame was inspired by the tubular frame of a bicycle and it was revolutionary in the use of the materials (bent tubular steel and canvas) and methods of manufacturing. It is now considered one of the most iconic chairs of the 20th Century.
History: Le Corbusier designed this for the Salon d'Automne installation, Equipment for the Home in 1929 in Paris. The "Grand Confort," armchair has a chrome-plated tubular steel frame and the five voluminous, orthogonal leather cushions, evoking both comfort and formal reduction.
History: Commissioned exclusively for the German pavilion at the World Exposition in Barcelona, Spain, it was designed to be used by the King and Queen of Spain during the opening ceremony. The architect looked for inspiration to the throne-like form of the curule chair, a stool used by senior Roman magistrates, translating an ancient and regal design into a modern setting.
History: The Bibendum chair remains unique in the sense that no one else has produced a chair quite like it. A striking combination of slender steel and voluptuous leather-clad curves, the sumptuous Bibendum was designed for comfort. While highly regarded by many as a leading designer of her time, Gray did not receive widespread recognition until she was in her nineties, and the iconic chair – inspired by Michelin's mascot Bibendum Man – was largely forgotten about until it reappeared nearly 40 years later, prompting a new production of this design classic.
Her Story: I would totally annoy people by saying Bibendum a meeellion times a day if I had one of these...."I left it on the bibendum"...."no, you take the bibendum, I'll be fine on the sofa"...
History: Bertoia’s Bird chair resulted from a 1950 experiment with bending metal rods into practical art. Innovative, comfortable and strikingly handsome, the chair’s delicate filigree appearance belies its strength and durability. In Bertoia’s own words, “If you look at these chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculpture. Space passes through them.”
History: The culmination of Charles and Ray Eames' efforts to create a club chair using the molded plywood technology that they pioneered in the '40s. In Charles Eames' words, the vision was a chair with the "warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt." The result has become the consummate lounge set, timelessly blending old-fashioned comfort and visionary modernism.
8. The Egg chair, Arne Jacobsen, 1958
History: Designed exclusively for the Radisson SAS hotel in Copenhagen and made a memorable appearance in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jacobsen had a passion for modernism and his love for Scandinavian simplicity gave birth to some of the most recognizable chairs in the design world - the Series 7 chair and the Swan chair.
History: From the moment this chair was presented to Vitra it was intended for mass production. The first models were made from fiberglass-reinforced polyester but later versions were made in hard-foamed polyurethane. Vitra makes these now in injection-molded polypropylene, which is UV and weatherproof and can be used both indoors and outdoors. Panton’s other famous designs - the Cone chair and the Flying chair.
History: Designed for Lapalma, Shin and Tomoko Azumi's LEM Piston Stool reveals rigorous and original rethinking of the form and function of seating. The LEM Piston Stool's sculptural leather, stainless steel or beech wood seat not only swivels, but also adjusts easily from a counter height (26.5") to a bar height (31") with a lever that activates a gas cylinder. While utility strongly determines the form of this unique stool, it also has a visual lightness that creates the illusion of freedom from gravity.
Her Story: Four of these lining my kitchen island...perfection!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
WWJW
The birthday of baby Jesus that's what.
So what can I get Him? Someone who has everything!
All I could come up with is ....a makeover from Tim Gunn, the high priest of sartorial elegance and the only person who can do Him justice. The cloak and sandals are just not on trend anymore and that robe needs a belt. Brilliant!
And then I see that my friends at The New York Times beat me to it.
Behold:
Paint....does brand matter or is it just about color?
I am often asked for recommendations on brands of paint. I used Benjamin Moore exclusively but I did research choices so I could educate myself. So for the greater good, I need to pass on all this incredible insight.
You can get a good color match from any brand by taking in a paint chip or fabric or sample color. But why not let your fingers do the walking and try out Color charts.org, an online database of Manufacturers Standard colors. Besides browsing their library of paint colors you can Color Match and find similar colors available from different manufacturers. I found the perfect color for my bathroom at Sherwin Williams and found that Benjamin Moore had one that was a close match (I think 95%) called Bath Salts. Perfect name for the spa feel I wanted in my bath.
http://www.colorcharts.org/ccorg/html/aboutus.aspx
I do think that brand matters. In the end, its all the technology that we do not see that matters. So here are a few of the standouts.
1. Benjamin Moore: The little paint sample pots are addictive and you can never have just one. It was available locally for me and all the painters seemed to favor it. I used Linen white throughout the lower floor because I loved the color. I used Dove white on exterior trim because the slightly off white color seemed fresher than a stark white. I used their low VOC Aura paints in my daughters room and the coverage was amazing! It also cleans better than the their regular line. They are coming out with a zero VOC choice in Spring 2009 that I may use when and if I get to repaint anything!
How may times does this happen to you? You order a bed from Pottery Barn along with all the linen and accessories and it doesn't quite look like you imagined it. What if you painted the walls in the exact shade that the catalog staged it? Well, Benjamin Moore has teamed up with Pottery Barn and now they provide the paint colors used right in the catalog. How cool is that!
2. Fine Paints of Europe Superior quality paints but pricey. I really wanted to use their Dutch Door kit in Coach green or Espresso on my front door ( I also really want a dutch door). Their enamel paints are really long lasting and have a brilliant finish that looks incredibly elegant. Its not just the glossy color but there is a real depth to the color.
http://www.finepaintsofeurope.com/dutch_door_kit.aspx
3. Donald Kaufman Color Collection These are full spectrum paint colors with more depth and luminosity than standard paint. Their formula uses as many as 13 pigments for each color whereas most paints use 2 or 3. What does this mean? It is difficult to describe but I'll try - the paint seems translucent but with many layers of color that provides a depth that is mind-bending. It is as if there is much more information there than just color. Before all of you rush out to pick up this paint and some mushrooms from your backyard, I do have to caution you that their sample pots (16 oz.) will run you about $25 and a full gallon about $100. Still I hanker for the tinted white DK-24 in my living room.
4. Pittsburgh Paints These were the paints we used when we had the interiors painted after buying our house. Some of the rooms untouched in the renovation still have these colors and 10 years later they give us as much joy as when we walked in as new homeowners into our newly painted home. The color choices are great and the paint has amazing coverage. I once bought some cheap paint from Walmart to paint a storage closet and I couldn't figure out if was me or the roller or the paint. I figured I would use some left over Pittsburgh paint for the second coat (even though it was yellow). What a difference....and that closet remained yellow for eight years.
And I love that they have a page on color theory on their website. Ok, a pet peeve....why aren't kids taught color theory in art class? http://www.voiceofcolor.com/en/aboutcolor/color_theory/vocabulaire/index.asp