building pattern 3-tips of the trade

Part of my interest in pattern this week is the time has come to think about things like that for the Pearl Street project. But guess what no money left. So I will officially forgo my 'want' of true Scandinavian prints and look at the wonderful world of Ikea fabrics. You can not beat the price 8.99 to 5.99 per yard. Cautionary note: these fabrics are made of good quality cotton duck cloth so they are fine for drapery and light use areas-probably not good for sofas and dining chairs. Scandinavian pillow cases here I come.......

building pattern2

There is a class in architecture school called "Fear of Wallpaper-recovery and control". I am graduate and I am happy to say I am seriously looking at the work of Madison and Grow as part of my 12 step program. Who can not love a body of work that identifies wallpaper as a material-see pattern titles like"Sunrise on Duck- cloth" and a company who uses Heidegger as a photo prop....Here is some super smart work.

building patterns

One of the high points of the conference I was just at,was the talk that University of Minnesota professor Stephanie Zollinger gave about the oral history project that she is producing about Jack Lenor Larsen. The father of modern fabric design, he paved the way for many a designer, and the business of design. Some great resources for studying Larsen's work at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts archive and his house on Long Island that houses his foundation-Longhouse. Its a very particular way of being in the world....

Building pretty.....

Okay, I admit it I spent way too much time at Target in Atlanta assessing the Liberty of London products......I did okay, did not break the bank. It did assert the designers option that if one is to do prints they must be done well and these are for the most part. The Home collection would be fun for a house pick me up.....

What is Good?

What is Good? has been a mantra in our house for years ever since Madeline asked the question at 2 years old after getting into trouble...I knew I was in trouble at that point. But this question has never been more apparent to me than this weekend when the dreaded education conference was held in the in dreaded Atlanta Westin Hotel. But this weekend with many a designer I found that Mr Portman has a vast imagination and has nothing on Tom Ford and the "Gucci Style"....Oh to make a educators conference feel chic-good job. My mind has been changed.

Building Real good........

I am opting out for a couple of days to go to Atlanta again for a presentation. But before I go- I want to shout from the highest roof top that 272 21st in Brooklyn has just received Platinum status for LEED certification. This is most certainly due to the razor sharp vision of client/contractor /visionaire- Andrew Giancola. And way to put it together Caleb!!!!!! Yea US!

building with paint

This is a project just finished by Paula Sher of Pentagram Design. The recently completed First Achievement Endeavor School in Clinton Hill Brooklyn uses all graphics, all the time, to make the school a potent learning environment...So cool.

Building paint

We have been looking at a proposal for a project that just uses paint as the material. This is the work of artist Margaret Kilgallen. Her obsessions were old fashion sign painting and American folk art....and world making.

Clear building

Caleb just got back from a site visit in Maine. I am really happy with the simplicity of the front and back facades.....NOW I will work on the inside.

building exhibitions

For those of you in LA again. A few of Caleb's drawing will be exhibited in this show. Put together by Barbara Bestor at Woodbury University its the beginning of an annual event to explore drawing and its role in the design process. Opening is March 25th, 2010.

building form

I don't normally do the product launch thing but I an huge fan of Wieki Somers and I had to pick this one up. Called the grasshopper chair. I love that because so many product names have no relevance to consumers just special little designer jokes... Anyway. I love this guy and appreciate Somers elegant move from avant garde designer to someone that come be in the marketplace. This product is for the french firm Tectona.

Building the way one should......

If I were in LA I would so go to this series of workshops at Woodbury University in Burbank. Run by dear friends Hadley and Peter Arnold the Aridlands Institute is a research center that addresses aridity,climate change in the built environment particularly examining water scarcity in the American West.
These workshops are intended to promote "smart, beautiful design solutions" for green roofs to gray water....

Building sound

In my quest for fabric that might tell stories I found the work and world of artist Alyce Santoro. Her Sonic Fabric is quite the invention: 50% cotton and 50% recycled audiotape-the fabric can be "played" by interaction with a tape head....

building embroidery

I have been thinking about the potential of my embroidery work and its ability to tell all the stories for this General Grant project. I have been casting about looking at the work of MIT researcher Leah Buechley who devised a DIY micro controller for interactive fabric work. This piece was done by Graduate student
Becky Stern; who seems to be one to watch.

better building

We had tea with our friend Serban Ionescu last holiday and I showed his amazing loft. The work was recently featured in WorkingClass Magazine and of course the photos are way more pro....enjoy.

Rose building

Oddly enough there is some real innovation in Pouffe design. I spotted this one on the far left corner of a spread in Living ETC..... And yes your room would be a better place if you had the felt rose covered pouffe in your life...See John Lewis for info.

Building bright!

Here is an image I wished that I had shown my students before they left for break....A Tord Boontje masterpeice; the Shadowy Chair pushes all sides of the envelope,formally, structurally, and taste...yea!

Building Egyptian....

I took Madeline to Atlanta to see a Broadway show at the Fox Theater...reviving many memories for me. No wonder I dislike going to movies-when I realize the opulent Fox is where I went to movies as a child. One of the only historic theaters that has a full time restoration department, they recently restored much of the Egyptian revival furniture placed throughout the Gentlemen's smoking area and Ladies Lodges......
Madeline liked that I could enjoy the building and she could enjoy the show. And yes, I know its odd that I keep bumping into Egyptian Revival examples in the deep south...one could write a paper on that....

building the first ideas.....

I sometimes surprise myself when I realize I have not talked about someone I deeply admire on C&B. The work of Bay Area artist David Ireland is surely one of my favorites. He came upon 500 Capp Street in 1975 and proceeded to expose the life of the house through the renovation. His beautifully polyurethaned walls are always on my list of "to try" on a new project. And of course you know how I love hanging chairs.......

Building stories from a dress

I was so inspired by the remodelista post about LA purveyor Blackman Cruz. These Clarke and Reilly chairs are not just beautiful but the act of recovering them with a Mennonite petticoat is a wonderfully romantic effort.

Building green good.....

There was a lot of great information available about the Make It Right work down in New Orleans last week. One project that got talked about was the Keiran Timberlake addition to the Make It Right sustainable community. Timberlake is a very bright fellow and said some very provocative things at the conference-"the Beaux Arts education is dead", we no longer need a single author for projects but a collective author.... This building will be one to watch as the 9th Ward grows into the single completely sustainble community in the U.S.

Building earth

I do not get a lot of comments on this blog but when I do boy are they helpful. I just want to pass along the beautiful work of Seyed Alavi and his landscape in wool carpet that "deenie" sent in response to the Angela Adams work.



I am having a hard time linking Alavi's work-so please go to yesterdays post and see comments-Deenie turned me on to him....

Building the forest floor

I have had this image in my head for a while-a carpet that mimicked the forest floor. Fortunately the rather deft designer Angela Adams beat me to it.

Building great ideas

If you are in New York this week. I would try to see this at F.I.T., March 11th 6pm......

spring building

We went away for the weekend and it seems that spring has sprung here in North Mississippi. In celebration I will share a collection of decorative objects that celebrate the event! This first piece is by London designer Asif Kahn entitled Harvest, done while working as the Designer in Residence at the London Design Museum....

Library building......

We got to spend some quality time at Octavia Books off Magazine..... one book for daddy, one book for the girl and two books for Mommy!

building the known

I am at a Architecture conference this weekend. And amidst some super seriousness I hope to see this building. Designed by Architect's architect Coleman Coker is raises the question why can not simple" stick" construction be molded into different forms. His Alligator house creates whole new possibilities......

Building new ideas

My friend Ghislaine as well as dear Caleb turned me on to the now dormat work of
Platform 21. But the manifesto still is a bold document of the sustainability movement......

Building history

I did not expect to see jaw- dropping historic architecture on my "mommy jaunt" to Mobile, Alabama....But never under estimate a small southern town. Two beauties that I spotted are authored by local architect George Bigelow Rogers. Arriving in Mobile on his way to a vacation in Mexico young Bigelow decided to stay and reap the rewards of a boom economy at the turn of the century. From what I can quickly see one of Bigelow's first commissions was the re-design of the Methodist Government Street Church already dubbed the "The Beehive"...Bigelow's choice of style in this instance is the Spanish Colonial....but what a warm up to his 1920' commision of the Scottish Rite Temple in all its Eygptian Revival Glory..What a guy this Bigelow must have been.

Building lace

I showed this Tord Boontje image to my students last week as I left for Mobile.... The power of Boontje's work is is willingness to fail. This is a one-off chair that is seen in galleries but did not make to market. I also wanted my students to see that this lace obsession can be worked into function.....I will keep you posted as to the outcome.