Building memorial

Sadden to hear of the passing of Louise Bourgeois but thrilled by her life and work.

Building the Country

Reading a very fine book. Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla Miller. Not exactly beach reading but definitely summer week of thunderstorms. Its really is about American design-carefully detailing the rise of the artisan class in Philadelphia before the Revolution. I highly recommend it.

Didn't get to build............

Caleb not not win the Times Square Re-Fresh competition but we actually liked the entry so much I thought I would share what he did. Taking cues from his "form poems" he devised a series of moves that he thought moved the typical black asphalt and white line street painting to another level. They picked a swimming pool concept...that happens alot in NYC summer competitions.

the way to build....

The New York Times ran an article this morning on the interactive component of the Judd Foundation web site and its virtual library. This feature will underscore Judd vast intellectual interests. Pretty cool. The Foundation new web site also sports a furniture section with a rousing essay by Judd about the conception of his furniture work (remember he was a writer first) and a terrific inventory of the new production pieces.

building image.......

I was really taken with this image of "collateral" blankets made for the Ace Hotel. These blankets are actually designed by a studio called The Official Mfg. Co. in Portland-young-design and advertising veterans came together to proclaim themselves as "thing makers" and make a living at it...job well done.

building sculpture

I keep bumping into Gaetano Pesce work-this image of his Shadow chair in a collector's nyc apartment is lovely. Its so interesting the leap from bumpy ugliness to elegant gesture and form........is it conscious or market driven? I also like that he bills himself as "architect, artist, designer"

Hot building

We are setting up a new studio which I will tell you all about shortly-but my head has been in boxes and not intellectual content. Caleb reminded me of the work of Alexandre Arrechea-Cuban artist who participated in Prospect 1 in NOLA. And on a hot day here in Mississippi Arrechea's work"Hot Sofa" really spoke to me......

Building for Pearl Street

I finished (with the help of Micki Hagler) these six chairs for the Pearl Street dining room. One of the big things that will unfold his summer is I will be taking orders for Walker Evans chairs-I will fabricate them in sets of four, six and eight. Contact me if you are interested.

Pilgrimage

Mad and I are escaping from Moving chaos and driving down to Jackson to get Pointe Shoes-for Mad not me- and go to the Eudora Welty House.

Building 'I Wants"

We are in the middle of a BIG move-studio-move half house-crazy move. And through it all I seem to have this deep desire to buy (during a move one needs to BUY ANYTHING) this book-
Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, because why, because I need to wrap a branch and make fabric flowers.... Anyone have it? What do we think?

Building us

We are gearing up for our movements toward New England in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about the interiors of the Pearl Street house and thought that it would be great to have most of the furniture be by me...The architect Turner Brooks installs mostly his furniture-takes on Adirondack chairs, toys that he has made for his kids and giant models of projects.....Brooks is a real architect's architect and a joy to move through the New England landscape with him...

Epic

And if you are talking about Masonic Temples , this image of the Philadelphia Masonic Temple- Candida Hofer-2007

idea building with free masons

I am starting some research for a new project; looking at masonic temple interiors......These random images are great.

The cover up

It is well known that I have a thing for "chair dresses" and now I see someone grappling with the old -fashion table cloth idea. This resolve by Finnish designer Teija Losoi of Lost Design is intriguing-sort of Martha Stewart in Go-Go boots.....The table cloth is meant to show off the form of the table rather than hide it and the tension on the pull cord can vary the sculptural shape. Clever? Washable?????

smart building, when its very hard

This work goes into the "man, I wish I had thought of that" folder. Not showing at ICFF is Chris Rucker, NYC furniture designer. He does have a show at the Industry Gallery in D.C. that I would love to see. Elaine Louie wrote a short piece about his work in the Times and quiet frankly I think got it wrong. The base of his work is making minimal furniture works out of Strand board-a cheap sheathing material that you get a Home Depot. This material has NO structural integrity therefore he has to be VERY clever in its construction to get the piece to function. Louie just proclaimed it "like Donald Judd", a short answer to more complicated work. And as for me the packing blanket work is great.

Building friends

ICFF this year is turning out to be like the High School reniuon you did not go to because you did not lose those 20 pounds. So many people that I have meet through Chairs and Buildings will be there. I got an announcement from Elodie Blanchard saying that she will have "large things,small things,to hang, to carry, to remember.." I love that you can see the way she thinks in her work. She is sitting in her studio, she thinks-"there are millions of rubber bands in the world-let's make something more special than just rubbers bands".......and so a bowl is born-

Building movements

One of my C&B friends is artist/designer Amy Helfand. Yesterday after posting the Girl Effect video I was alittle blue about design objects and their role in society. Then I looked at Amy's new web site and found this work. Simple graphic gestures and a powerful title-Mt Rogers Protest illustrate that decorative objects can write a story and move you to action. Look for her work at ICFF and realize how bloody smart she is.

Globally building daughters

let's take a break from sofas and objects and watch this project from the Cooper Hewitt Global Triennial opening this week. then go forward with your day.....

Building anything you want....

I just thought this Moooi Boutique sofa was sweet, nice color-cute that you can take the skirt off or not-THEN I saw the "sofas can change your life" movie on the Moooi web site. That Marcel Wanders, he has alot of energy.....

cushion building

I have a folder full of sofas and daybeds that I will post this week and then I am on to NYC. This- I saw in person, an Anthropologie daybed "hand carved"... What impressed me was the cushion. A tapestry fabric on a four inch cushion that really made me think about other ways to dress a sofa.

Building the surreal..........

While reading about the Dorothea Tanning show at The Drawing Center I found out about this project. Developed around 1972 from soft sculpture work that she did, The Hotel de Pavot 202 is a rare surrealist installation. And people worry about me stitching up the Civil War....

Building daughters

On Mother's day I am happy to share that I got to take Madeline to one of my favorite places. The Rural Studio's SubRosa. Designed by Sam Mockabee before his death and built by his daughter, Carol- as a homage. It is a very emotional space for me. Thank you Madeline for sharing a secret.....

Building fun

off to Rural Studio for end of the year celebration, glimsping New projects-nice day in the country.

building the epic

Working in the tradition of Ann Hamilton's early work Jarod Charzewski's work currently on view at the Halsey Institute in Charleston, S.C., entitled SCARP is a stunner. Making space with found fabric...awesome.

building the best.......

Ah my heart be still, just got word of the John Pawson Pavilion in Milan made from a recycled content "stone" material. I love John Pawson's work so much that I carry around his cookbook in hopes of becoming more like him....Check out Deezen today for more info.

building artfully

I first became aware of Jorge Pardo's work when he completed the Dia Bookstore about 10 years ago. The bookstore is long gone but the work has continued to use the conceit of interior design quite artfully. As if he had a southern mother, Pardo does everything wrong, therefore everything right.

Word building

Liam Gillick is always someone to watch in terms of spacemaking. This is an image to steal from: floating words for your hallway?

Building rooms

I cleaned out a number of client files and drawing packages this weekend and I noticed that I would never show a client a room from a shelter magazine I was very reliant on contemporary art images to get at ideas in a room. This way there was alot more flexibility in the development of the space. This week I will go back to some of the artist I used to jump start projects. Today Dan Peterman is front and center I love this installation of fabric only for space making..

building General Grant's legacy.....

For the past 10 months or so I have been obsessed with General Ulysses S. Grant as well as his wife Julia Grant. I have done a number of projects where they are the catalysts for ideas. This week I finished one phase. This is a love seat commissioned by the Ulysses S. Grant Association (funded by a Art Incentive Grant from MSU) that describes through embroidered maps (by me!) the military movements through Mississippi during the Civil War. This piece will be joined by another "map chair" later in the summer. It will be carried over to the Grant Association reading room in the morning.

building suspect.....

I had this image lying about and I thought that I would share it because I love the original Christo Wrapped Chair. I looked more closely at the authors, Godspeed and one can learn from the inconsistencies in their "verbage". Their site proclaims they are a design brand yet they Comment on the culture of high design...and then they list their galleries? Also this work pictured is entitled "Remembering Christo and Jeanne-Claude" Jeanne-passed last year, Christo did not.
Terrific impulse, Godspeed, not so great intellectual follow through.....