Idea building

I caution my students that artist will take over your job if you are not strong in your convictions....In the mean time I totally applaud this project by artist Amy Yoes-The Kitchen Project executed in New York-the client commissioned her to make a functional kitchen AND like a film work she had done years prior. Yoes made the exuberant moves that she has been getting acclaim for and then carefully choreographed the LED lighting to move and change constantly. There are so many things she has turned on her head with this work. Coming from someone who has done MANY kitchen renovations.... One the project moves beyond the kitchen as a status symbol, the piece is an idea and it functions, the piece is more than a static illustration of movement the lighting makes movement.

Building Fables

Madeline and I had another great pilgrimage this week. A trip north to Oxford Mississippi. Home of all things literary, Oxford is a very charming town. We ate at a Madeline friendly establishment but next time I hope to indulge some of the culinary treats there. We went to the very famous Square Books and then on to the home of Mr. Faulkner. His home stead is modest as most historic writers houses are but the grounds do evolve the gothic of Faulkner's work...project brewing, where is my needle?

Building Face

I failed to mention another great show at The Birmingham Museum of Art. The Sculptor Charlie Lucas's work occupies a rather sever courtyard outside the museum but its another example of great sighting for work. This is a must see if your in the area.....

Building Fabric

Just as I was feeling all original about the sewing chairs, I see this in Vogue Living! Foiled again......The designer is Massimiliano Adami and this was introduced in Milan. Pretty cute, but is it handmade? It would have to be.

Friends that build

The current issue of Dwell needs to get renamed Annie's and Caleb's Friends. Not only is the killer home of Hadley and Peter Arnold in this issue the very great project from no roof architects is prominently displayed.
Yea Hadley and Peter, hey Scott and Margarita!

Building questions-not answers

Another Mississippi Artist that will be interesting to follow is Charles Carraway. He is a painter who renders small canvases into surrealists questions. Beautiful craftsmanship.

Building Shape

I am going to sidestep the Mississippi weekend and pop over to the Birmingham Museum of Art-which we did today. The Museum is becoming one of our favorites-with its wonderful modernists surprises...today one was Cornell box and about six collage/drawings...a little mini Cornell show! But my favorite for the day is this
Tara Donovan's piece that floats over the museum cafe. Made out of Styrofoam cups the cloud spans the room and is just perfect in the space...such a bright move.

Building Ideas

I have been working although its a struggle with so much going on. I have been working on these peices for a year, sewing chairs. The sofa has the plan of Le Petit Trianon embroidered on it and the yellow chair is an attempt at flora and fauna overtaking the chair. More pieces will follow these.

Building Flights of imagination

I am going to do an all Mississippi weekend with some artists and artisans that I have spied through the spring. Most intriguing to me is the work of David Lambert-find this video of his work on the MPB web site. A Mississippi Sculptor and maker of magical spaces...think room full of little airplanes-so great.

Summer reading

Okay, Mad's out of school today. I have two weeks until summer school and then Maine. Here is my summer reading list. I have started all three but now need to buckle down for the real reading. I will let you know what I think.....

Building yellow

This is a great project for the soft architecture collection. I found this via the grijs blog and I am fascinated by these very thin Roman Walls portrayed in my very favorite shade of yellow. The artist is
Aki Nagasaka , check out more intriguing work.

Building sense of the world

I had to share this great interview Li Edlekoort about the design student show she curated at the Milan furniture fair. Of course some is the work is from the beloved Eindhoven but this is work from all Europe. Edlekoort is so smart and says that "the crisis is cool because it is a reality check" Finally someone is saying it aloud! Enjoy listening to a very smart lady.

Furniture from a landscape

I am gingerly trying to develop a palette for the Maine project-don't want to get too excited as it sounds like the roof is coming off and the floor is getting jacked up so we are a long way from rugs and lights. But I keep coming up with this image of Sam Maloof's work and its beautiful take on American furniture and craft. Not that a Maloof piece is in my future but the directness, elegance and rigor...that's my interest.

Brick Building

I found myself really liking this piece by Richard Woods and Sebastian Wong That debuted in Milan last month. Learning more about Richard Woods work I enjoy his take on the domestic and how he makes builders into superheros-maybe?

Images that Build

One of the premier artist here in Mississippi is the Critz Campbell. He is a professor in the Art Department and is working on a body of work that is meticulously crafted and pretty darn clear. I can only say I would never have the guts to work from Faulkner but this Mississippi son goes all the way. This is a piece from his
George Series and the immediate title is "Our Mother is a Fish" - one of Faulkner's most brilliant chapters.....

The Kindness Rug

You know that you are doing things right in life when your students become friends and very talented friends at that. Mary Chan was a student at Parsons and has since opened her own studio Studio Bartleby. She sent me word that she is doing a lot of textile work and is producing bespoke hand knitted rugs. Does the Maine project NEED one? We shall see.

Indoor/Outdoor

I found this lovely image of a fore court for a garden designed by Isabel Duprat. Not much out there on her but this series on Brazilian landscape designers from Garden Design Mag. I love this rulemaking-just rocks with water, rocks to walk on and some dancing trees....

remembering new design

My first brush with design must have been in the mid-eighties and I must have seen images of the work of Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti probably in an Interview Magazine or some such animal. But I remember the impluse of wow I want to be that bold and not some darn careful with design. Now and look at this work and yes have to grapple with taste issues but still envy the boldness. Life has changed for this duo but chick the link to see amazing fast train interior designed by Garouste.

Building Images

This is note to myself to work this project- This is an image of Douglas Coupland's Canada House project. It has been installed in a few ventures and is an attempt on his part to visually demonstrate "Canadianism". I want to some day ask writers to design the interiors of a series of rooms or small houses-maybe what one could do with the FEMA trailers?????

Model Building

I thought I would share with you some of the images I am gathering for the first days of studio this summer. In an effort discuss a conceptual model please review-a still life by Hella Jongerius, a guitar by Picasso and a maquette by Anthony Caro

building quilts

During our lunch at the Delta Bistro in Greenwood,MS I noticed the vintage quilts on the walls embellished by a local artist(should have gotten the name)...it reminded me of these quilts by Ronan and Erwin Bouroullec. Hanging quilts up in rooms is a very renaissance act-tapestries would go up in rooms during the winter to keep warmth in the masonry rooms and go down during the summer to keep it cool. In restaurants its a great device for dampening sound in masonry spaces.

My garden...

There is tremendous irony in this title. I "wish" to work on the garden here at 305 but honestly my years as a New Yorker have rendered me useless. Me,green,big...no good. What I really want is Maya Lin to be my friend and come and do a tiny Wave Hill in my back yard-something epic,total,maintenance friendly. See her new work at
Storm King this year and her very beautiful and inspiring web site.

Adventures

This has been a great day in Greenwood Mississippi. We had lunch at the The Delta Bistro, shopping at a great bookstore... a couple of times and popping in to grab some nice cooking tools at The Viking Cooking School. This is the beginning of Madeline's second Mississippi summer and as you remember she had a ambitious reading list last year. Life has changed a bit and the reading list has evolved thanks to a great afternoon in a premier independent bookstore;
it includes Catcher In The Rye, Rebecca, Hounds of the Baskerville, and Tarzan. The proprietors of the book store felt she was the prefect age for all of these? I will keep you posted.

Building Summer

This has been a very intense week and I have not gotten a lot of thoughts down but next week I will be refreshed. I really want a turf sofa in our back yard(this image from a clip book and a very early Ready-Made Issue) but this weekend Mad and I are off to a mother -daughter spend the night and visit to the The Alluvian and a trip to Turn Row Books in Greenwood, Ms

The architect

Sometimes you forget who the most talented people in your life are....In my case its my husband. For a number of years he has kept the blog formpoetrypolitics. It is a verbal rant as well as a visual rant but dog- gone -it somebody's got to draw it. For a number of years Caleb did a drawing a day -lately less but the body of work is amazing,dizzying and intense...I'm lucky.

New Building Blocks

I posted this last night and I was probably a little too excited....but technical difficulties have subsided and its beautiful. Yes, we have edited...most people don't do that but we really wanted to highlight the kind of work that we want to continue to do. So ladies and gentlemen a new C+C web site!!!!!!!
The web site is designed by the talented Justin Taylor...

Going the way of the furniture

I am really intrigued by the work of Sebastian Brajkovic. His work is shown widely in London and Rome and I have not been so interested in the "how does he do that" in along time. Go through is web site, which more manifesto,studio visit than advertisement and see the amazing "consangenious furniture project". So many questions, so great.

building well

We are very very honored to have been given an
Excellence in Historic Preservation from the Starkville Central Neighborhood Foundation for 2009. We really enjoyed taking care of 205 South Lafayette.....

Brooklyn Building

I wanted to remind you one more time about the Brooklyn Design event and the Dwell Home Tour happening next weekend. You will get to see inside this favorite project of ours the Barr Residence on Bond Street. The interior design was done by the owners the very talented Alan Barr and Bree Dahl.

Stick Building

I am really inspired by this work that I found when I was dismissively looking at a copy of Southern Accents. Deep inside was a piece on Chapel Hill sculptor Patrick Dougherty. The mag is fill with VERY beautiful images and it makes you just want to go out in your yard and make something you can hide in????

Building thin

I love this La Maison de Marina piece for a number of reasons. One it has more responsibility than just that of a stool and two its made out of very delicate spare members. This I think, is a new consciousness in furniture design-an economy of means. A teacher once explained to me the difference between an American sawhorse and an Italian saw horse; the American is over built made out of available 2x4"s,but the Italian one, made in the country where forest has been scarce since roman times, is made out of very thin 1"x1" members......

Building Soft

The NYT's review of the Fashioning Felt is very good. If you are in New York go for it. They mentioned that the origin of Felt in contemporary art is from the work of Joseph Beuys. I love this image of a Beuys installation, isn't it clear-piano in a room of super sound absorbing walls.

Chair Heaven

I had to share this image of what I would say is chair heaven...just think what we could do to those babies. Its from the very peaceful blog beautyeveryday by Kristen Bach, Rebecca Wood, and our friend Rinne Allen. I love the site because it really is a site about the "eye" and how one see the world, your not to consume it just revel in these talented women's sensibilities.......