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July 22nd, 2008
Design Field Trips
If you are starting to melt in the city or the confines of your perch in the country, here are a few fieldtrips worth taking:
Taliesin West
Founded in 1937 by Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona was FLW’s winter home and also a school, up until FLW’s death in 1959. Today, the site is used as a school for architects. Tours have expanded to include not only the original site, but also the small shelters designed by the program’s apprentices. (http://www.peterbeers.net/interests/flw_rt/Arizona/taliesin_west/taliesin_west.htm).
Glass House
These tours of the late Philip Johnson’s New Canaan home have been sold out since the house opened to the public in April 2007, but book now for 2009! The house was complete in 1949 and became a National Landmark in 1997.
Levittown
The first mass-produced suburb, built between 1947-1951 on land formerly used as potato farms. Though there were four Levittowns, in total (New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and New Jersey), the New York community was the largest and most famous. The houses were identical. The first 1,000 houses on the New York site were rented two days after an announcement of the project in the New York Times.
Storm King
[photo: tripcart]
Open-air sculpture park in Mountainville, New York with large-scale sculptures by contemporary sculptors including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alice Aycock, Mark di Suvero, Andy Goldsworthy, Alexander Liberman, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Serra [credit: Wikipedia]
Add Comment » Tags: , Frank Lloyd Wright, glass house, levittown, philip johnson, storm king
June 10th, 2008
Eileen Gray entered the design world with lacquer—literally. Born in 1878 in southeastern Ireland, Gray wandered into a lacquer repair shop in London, in 1905. By 1921, she had opened her own store in France. She became known for her lacquer work, and was popularly linked to the De Stijl movement as well.Her portrait [above] was taken by Bernice Abbott, in 1926, which was, itself, an accomplishment.
Furniture:
 
 
More information can be found on various sites, including this one.
Architecture:
 
[top: Gray’s own house, in southern France ; bottom: storage cupboards are built into ceiling recess]
photos courtesy of www.tangle.com and bonluxat.com
1 Comment » Tags: , bernice abbott, eileen gray, FURNITURE, lacquer
June 10th, 2008
Please come visit us at Neocon. We are at the Mart for one more day.
Add Comment » Tags: , CHICAGO, FURNITURE, NEOCON, NEW FURNITURE
June 10th, 2008
Love it or hate it, it’s coming. And it’s still causing controversy. As much as we love good design, we also love vital (and viable) waterfront areas, especially in the city. We will report back with a dispatch from the front line of the big box store in the city.
 
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May 27th, 2008
What is it about a very sharp pencil that makes for a feeling of possibility? If it only costs 59 cents to feel on top of the world, spend the 59 cents! We’ve found some kindred spirits at Pencil Revolution. They understand the “finer points.” In fact, they offer several reviews of the pencils featured below.
I’m a big fan of the “black warrior” pencils, by Mirado (featured above). 
You can write your name on this pencil!
[photos courtesy of The Pencil Revolution]
1 Comment » Tags: , Inspiration, MATTER, pencil revolution, pencils, writing
May 22nd, 2008
Joel Grey’s bungalow in the New York Times, today:
It’s his second home, and 650 square feet.
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May 19th, 2008
Here is a sneak peak at a book we are looking forward to holding, come September (you can pre-order now). In many ways this project inspired a lot of other daily photography and drawing projects in the blogosphere:
  
3191, A Year of Mornings began on January 1, 2007 as an almost daily photo conversation, in blog form, between two friends that live 3191 miles apart. It lasted the entire calendar year ending on December 31, 2007.The project is now being transformed into a book which will be out in the Fall, published by Princeton Architectural Press. In preparation for the book, A Year of Mornings is no longer available for online viewing.
Add Comment » Tags: , book, friends, mornings, princeton architectural press
May 19th, 2008
We always hear great stories about friends finding furniture, prints, and great fabric on ebay, but it can be overwhelming for the novice. We appreciate good curators, when it comes to art—and ebay, too! Here are a few of our favorite ebay curators:
Reference Library: Andy Beach makes you sorry you lost on things you didn’t even know you wanted:
 
A little more polished, Refinery 29. Here are some of their picks: midcentury rope chairs, a canvas yurt, and vintage lockers!
  
Add Comment » Tags: , bid, curators, ebay, FURNITURE, lighting
April 21st, 2008
Good signage not only does its job, but it can change your experience of a place. The sign above, by Martin Wong, was part of a public art project called Traffic Signs for Hearing Impaired.
Here’s a great interview with Mies Hora, about sign and symbol obsession.
Add Comment » Tags: , artist, Mies Hora, public art, signage
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