Boat building............

I am pleased that I was exposed to the artist Yayoi Kusama via seeing one of her works rather than on the web. Kusama's body of work is epic and a purple row boat enveloped in soft sculpture tendrils is a powerful object in the very well done Matter of Abstraction show at MOMA.

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 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 good work

My SCI-Arc classmate Tami Wedekind is making some great things! Site specific architectural fabric can be devised for a variety of uses. I really love this partition in a commercial space, it really makes you think about how to make space with giant orange flowing shapes at your disposal....rather than just drywall.......

building in unexpected places

I am intrigued by Polly Apfelbaum's work. This image of a bedspread lead me to her work that includes many works on the floor, wall as canvas and some general inversion of what is art product and decorative art. Really great.

floor making

My other inspiration treat was a new monograph about Patricia Urquiola, Spanish born-Milanese designer. Her book is very different from Hella Jongerius whose book is all process and Urquiola's is all glorious form! I really was taken with this rug project for Paola Lenti in 2005. I am really excited about both books and how I much I can learn from just looking at their work...happy holidays ME!

Building warp

One of the many fascinating things at the MOMA Bauhaus show are the fabric/weaving samples from the textile workshop lead by Gunta Stolzl and work done by Anni Albers its a wonderful insight into the structure of fabric and the ideas behind the product. My favorite Bauhaus text on this particular workshop is Woman's Work by Sigrid Wortman

building nature

Well, I'm still in Black and White mode......must be because the project I am working on is black and white drawings...oh well. I am missing sewing though and want to shift to some more soft chairs. This work by artist Tamar Mogendorff is inspiring, although I think one should sew giant coral........its just me.

Building hutong

I am really intrigued by these carpets by Instant Hutong the architecture practice of Marcella Campa and Stefano Avesani. These are more than carpets, made by the same technique that communist propaganda signage was made of,they are studies in the intricate density of the Beijing Hutong.

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 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.

Building revolution....

As I was wrapping up the aeries on fabric architecture, my friend Erin Wilson e-mailed to remind me of the work of Do Ho Suh-the Korean artist who first got noticed with the "Perfect House" project that was made from organza.... He continues to wow us with his ethereal spaces.

Building materials

I am going to look for this book while in NYC. Isabelle de Borchgrave work looks very intriguing, part artist part masterful business person.....Quite an inspiration.

Building terrain

Ah another artist I wish I was??? Leah Evans from Madison, Wisconsindoes very special work. Very large quilted maps. On her artist statement she very wisely says, "...maps create more of a question than an answer."

Sitting on a method

This is more work done by Neta Amir. I am very jealous that she had this idea first. I can just image a whole generation of people sewing there own apartment rather than buying small picture frames to make yourself happy????

More Soft Architecture

For the next week I am going to gather up all then examples I can find of work than is being done under the "Soft Architecture" genre. People who are working with textiles and fabric at an epic to furniture scale. The first to really open up this method of working is the wonderful Petra Blaisse. Founder of the studio Inside/Outside her work is balanced between the giant drapery work that she is known for and garden design. Her book has been on my bedside table for two years now and I look to her as to how an alternative practice can be developed.

Building ideas

The holiday season, political change in the air, a horrific economic crisis and I keep asking myself what does a design industry look like if there is no commerce? So I put up images of curtains- ? But maybe these curtains, giant knitted rugs, and chairs from nature are a signal. Maybe there is a reinvention of design- these curtains are pieces you can manipulate yourself, rugs could be knitted if your life slowed down, nature is free. See Florian Krautli's work for some soft architecture.