High Contrast

I think the mix of white slip covers and the dark table is such a pretty look.  The depth of color cuts the sweetness of all the white and adds a graphic punch, it goes from romantic to modern with the addition of the table.  There is still a softness and ease – even the dark painting  has a moody romantic edge, but the clean lines and simple solid covers on the upholstery make for a well-edited space that for me has the perfect balance of sharp-modern and soft-easy.

Get the look with this chair from Lee Industries.  American made upholstery from a decades old manufacturer in North Carolina, Lee uses kiln dried wood, 8 way hand tied springs and guarantees their frames.  Most of their furniture ships in 4 to 6 weeks and slip covers are offered on many of their pieces.  This is the perfect table if you want to recreate the look in the image above.  The ‘Tapered Round Dining Table’ from Kravet (item number WD5/54RD) is 54D x 30H shown in Charcoal, Light Distress, Inlaid Plank Top, Ogee Edge… Additional Sizes Available, for a price Kravet will make just about any size!  I love the quality of the construction, and finish on these tables, I have sold several lately and have not been disappointed yet.

Yes, Lee makes several dining height benches, settees and sofas that would look great pulled up to the Kravet table.  And just incase you’re looking to pull off the entire room, OLY offers paintings with the same moody style take a look at the one I just found on their website…

Something Cool – Veronica Klaus

Vintage flair and colorful layering would describe this chic apartment, it also happens to describe my friend Veronica Klaus who created this colorful and chic space (the photo was taken by Marcia from tablehopper.com). When I saw this image I was immediately smitten… It could be a Elle Decor cover!  I love the repurposed books and salvaged chair – with beautiful needlework – and the bright vintage rug.  And yeah everybody loves a little animal print and this zebra, paired with the florals is spot on.

I’ve been smitten with Veronica and her singing voice for many (many) years and it just so happens that she is gearing up to record her next album, Something Cool and she could use some help actually… CDs are expensive and she’s started a kickstart campaign to help get it made.  I understand “Something Cool” will try to capture many of her live performance “greatest hits” so it will no doubt be great.  Check out this link for more information on Veronica and help support her next musical effort.

V… I’m thinking zebra and floral mix might make album art?!

Bright Lights Big City

My good friend Peter Teague took this photo of New York from 7 World Trade Center.  What a beautiful image of the city that never sleeps!  The night tonight is clear and crisp, the stars are out after a bright sunny day today.  I’m heading down to New York this weekend  and look forward to slipping into that grove for a few days.  Who knows maybe I’ll get my hair cut and try on lots of shoes, and maybe I’ll go up to the museums and the park and stay up town for a show… and for sure I’ll be spending hours in ABC Carpet and Home.  Check back soon for NYC updates!

Yes please!  I think this is a promotional image for 1 Madison.  the newish apartment building that is having difficulty getting occupancy.  Don’t know if it’s financing or what but I will tell you the building is BEAUTIFUL.  Certainly a favorite in recent years – as is the Gehry building at 8 spruce – One Madison is a thin black needle of a building with glass boxes cantilevered off one side.   

Just Beautiful – Borrowed Blog

So a favorite pastime of mine is just clicking on anything of interest on friends of friends Facebook pages.  It’s my version of Pintrest I guess, liking things enough to recycle them, occasionally I post them here. Well just the other day I sorta hit the “beautiful picture” jackpot.  Don’t ask me how I got to his page but Francesco Mugnai from Florence Italy blogs… and boy does he find some beautiful images.  I clicked through almost all of his pictures (and there were a lot) one more beautiful than the last.  Here is a tiny sampling of some of the images I found so beautiful.  Enjoy.

Here’s a link to his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/blogoffrancescomugnai

Suzanne Kasler for Lee Jofa

Atlanta-based interior designer Suzanne Kasler has translated her classic, yet modern aesthetic into a debut fabric collection for Lee Jofa.

Her extensive collection of new and vintage textiles from all over the world inspired Kasler to reinterpret her unique finds. The exclusive collection, which consists of archival designs in prints, jacquards and embroideries, features rich and exotic suzanis, stylized paisleys, naïve l’indiennes, rustic crewels and lush floral designs.

Complementing her signature decorative designs are an offering of stone washed linen textures and crisp silk taffetas in an extensive range of colors reflecting Kasler’s distinctive approach of mixing subtle neutrals with fresh color. Lee Jofa is pleased to present her inaugural collection which is embodied in the sophisticated and stylish interiors she envisions for her clients.

When I saw this beautiful printed fabric from Suzanne, I flashed on this work (above) by Damien Hirst.  They are quite different in style but the color palette is strikingly similar.  Which brings me to a point I’d like to make:  ART does NOT have to match your SOFA.   While I would like the way this modern art would wake up the traditional aesthetic of the room above, I would probably choose not to specify this particular piece because it matches.  Buy art because it speaks to you, because it’s beautiful, because you like the message, the artist, or the colors… BUT don’t buy it because it matches your interior, because it doesn’t have to.  In fact it will stand out more if it doesn’t and that’s a good thing.

Some text taken from: DesignWire

David Prince – Borrowed Blog

Someone over at Desire to Inspire has a crush on David Prince, and I may be crushing on his work too.  Just look at the richness of his work.  beautifully lit, and cropped perfectly his work seens to have a special quality… vintage for sure , but there’s something more. Here is what the Dersire to Inspire folks had to say:

True love ….. again. We’ve featured photographer David Prince‘s work before. We’ve simpered and praised, declared his work the best, sworn our undying love … then forgotten him and moved on to other photographer crushes. What was I thinking! New work since our last foray into Prince’s portfolio. Love the boho, easy elegance that is creeping into the shots. The earthiness, the softer light, the exploration of the imperfect. The man’s a genius. Mea culpa. I should not have strayed.

The Secret of Sand

Beauty in every grain, remarkable photographs reveal the hidden charms of ordinary sand.  Viewed at a magnification of over 250 times real life, tiny grains of sand are shown to be delicate, colourful structures as unique as snowflakes.  When seen well beyond the limits of human eyesight, the miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock.

Professor Gary Greenberg who has a PhD in biomedical research from University College London said: ‘It is incredible to think when you are walking on the beach you are standing on these tiny treasures.

Magnified:The grains are shown to be delicate, colourful structures each as unique as a snowflake.

Colourful: The miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock.  Sand is tiny fragments of rock that have been worn away over thousands of years.  Contrary to popular belief, sand is made as rocks crash and break in rivers and streams on their way to the sea, rather than the ebb and flow of the tides.  Deposits left by breaking rocks in the sea turns to silt and is much lighter so is dispersed over a much wider area out to sea, rather than on the shore line.  Some of the rock is soluble, but other bits remain and as they are slowly rubbed down over time they get smaller and smaller until they become what we know as sand.

‘Every time I look through my microscope I am fascinated by the complexity and individuality created by a combination of nature and the repeated tumbling of the surf on a beach.’

Prof Greenberg, who searches through thousands of tiny rocks with acupuncture needles to find and arrange the most perfect specimens, then uses a painstaking technique to create his images.  He has spent five years searching the globe for remarkable sand grains like these to photograph.  Gary’s pictures are available from his website sandgrains.com and his book ‘a grain of sand’ which is available on Amazon.

Source: DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Vintage Vixens

Models in the Window, picture by Ormond Gigli , New York 1960

Would you believe these were all a facebook grab?!  A friend of a friend… Who knew?  I love the lines and the silhouettes of women’s fashion from the 40′s and 50′s.  Clean and straightforward but dramatic and so full of opulence and luxe.  the glamour of it all just cuts through me for some reason.  I wanted to write more about why this is so fascinating to me but I’m still not sure why… Maybe these women remind me of my mother from when I was young?  Perhaps it’s simply the well designed clothes and well designed shots, stylized and chic… not sure just love it… hope you enjoy.

Fiona Campbell-Walter wearing a duchesse satin ball gown by Cristobal Balenciaga.Photo by Frances McLaughlin-Gill at Château de Versailles for Vogue 1952

Model wearing a Christian Dior evening dress/ Photo by Erwin Blumenfeld, New York, VOGUE US, 1949

Stella Oakes wearing Balenciaga – photo Henry Clarke 1951

Sunny Harnett wearing this classic gray flannell by Harvey Berin, picture by Irving Penn for Vogue 1952

Get To Know – Jill Malek

Jill Malek specializes in print and pattern design for invitations, customized stationery, book layouts and web sites. In 2008, she expanded her love of printed matter to wallpaper design.

By enhancing spaces with rich textures, she has applied her experience acquired from graphic design to the art direction of interior spaces. Since creating her wallpaper patterns, her designs have subsequently appeared as wall decals, on yoga mats, and on kitchen appliance surfaces.

Her custom commissions, both locally and abroad, include work for The Rockwell Group, Vosges Haute Chocolate, MTV Networks, Foley and Corinna, Charles Chang-Lima, Bochic, Box Studios and LG Hausys. Her wallpaper has appeared in many high-profile locales, such as the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Hotel and Resort Casino, the Jones New York Shoowoo stores, the Google offices in Los Angeles, the Ritz Carlton Restaurant in Boston, and the new Wieden + Kennedy offices in Minnesota. She lives and works in New York with her husband Vram and her son, Luca…both ongoing sources of inspiration.

http://www.jillmalek.com/

Hong Kong Hustle

…is what we did that today in spades. After an early morning coffee and a trek to the top of Victoria Peak, we went shopping for linens, ceramics, and furniture.  a brief lunch by the pool at the Four Seasons and we were back to shopping this time for clothes – I love Shanghitang – and finally foot massages and pedicures.  Thats my kind of hustle!  Exhausted, I could do it all again tomorrow.  One of the better websites/blogs I have found since being here is hongkonghustle.com.  Young and current it has something for anyone intrested in design, food, nightlife and the whats what in Hong Kong.  Even if you’re not planning on visiting Hong Kong anytime soon, it’s an interesting read with lots of pretty pictures and who knows you might just end up ahead of the curve on the next big trend.

Secret Garden

Love these butterflies with wide-spread wings and beetles with long feelers arranged in a circle with legs next to each other  forming brooches, pendants, rings and bangles. They also occur individually, as an ear stud sitting on the tip of the ear, or as a pin, nonchalantly crawling on the lapel.  All of these are the works of Nikolay Sardamov.  

The insects are their own silhouettes: silver shadows, sometimes gilded or blackened. They sit in symmetric ornaments which grow into three-dimensional constructions and resemble flowers in bloom. The beetles and butterflies turn into petals. and they are breathtaking. And the secret of the garden? Its flowers can spread their wings and fly away.

Vivianna Torun Bulow-Hube – Master Jeweler

Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe (born December 4, 1927 in Malmö – died July 3, 2004 in Copenhagen), often known simply as Torun, was one of Sweden’s most important 20th century silversmiths and a master jeweler. She is the first female silversmith to have become internationally famous.  Among her most important works are the watch “Vivianna,” the bracelet “Mobius,” and the earrings and necklaces “Dew Drop.”  Throughout her career, Torun worked in Sweden, France, Germany and Indonesia.

In 1948, saying that she didn’t want to design jewelry for the wives of wealthy men to keep locked up in private, Torun began making what she called “anti-status jewelry” out of twisted silver wire embellished with crystals and stones. In 1959, she designed the Mobius necklace, which included a lead crystal drop to be draped over the shoulder of the wearer. It was described by Barbara Cartlidge, author of the reference book Twentieth Century Jewelry, as a “milestone in the history of modern jewelry.” In 1962, Torun designed a stainless steel bangle-style wristwatch for an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.   It later became the first wristwatch to be produced by the world-renowned Danish silver company Georg Jensen.

In 1960, Torun was awarded a gold medal at the 1960 Milan Triennale and also won the American Lunning Prize for design, given annually to innovative Scandinavian designers in their thirties. She then met, for the first time, Danish silversmith Georg Jensen, for whom she began designing exclusively in 1969.

Torun is the designer behind some of the most famous Georg Jensen jewelry designs, including ‘Mobius’, ‘The Vivianna / Open Watch’, ‘Beans’, Forget me knot’ and ‘Hidden Heart’. She is the second most famous Georg Jensen designer, behind Jensen himself. In 1992 she was awarded the Prince Eugen medal by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden for outstanding artistic achievement.  Also in 1992, the Georg Jensen form held an exhibition honouring 25 years of its association with Torun, 45 years of her work with silver and her 65th birthday. In the same year, theMusee des Arts Decoratifs in the Louvre held a 45-year retrospective of Torun’s work.

Torun’s jewelry was inspired by natural shapes such as flowers, leaves, swirls and the flow of water. It is described as sober, minimalist and simple. Torun has been praised for her ability to shape solid materials into seemingly flexible forms, so that metal flows like water around the wearer’s neck and shoulders.  She did not use valuable stones, preferring instead pebbles, granite, rock crystal, moonstone and quartz.

Torun’s jewelry has been worn by celebrities including Billie Holiday, Ingrid Bergman, and Brigitte Bardot, and her customers included Pablo Picasso and Duke Ellington.  Her work can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Swedish National Museum in Stockholm, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Montreal, the Louvre in Paris, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London, and in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

OLY art

Oly design studio has been a favorite resource for me for many years.  I love a mix of antique, modern and natural organic element in furnishings and Oly delivers.  These beautiful images work perfectly with the old gold tables, the organic lighting fixtures and unique furniture from Oly.  you also can’t go wrong with their finishes… all of them are so good you can almost choose with your eyes closed.

Modern Prairie – I’m Working On It

Would you believe I’ve just taken on a client who has recently purchased a prairie style home?  The house offers a large livingroom with a good-sized fireplace and plenty of room for seating.  The plan is to honor the lines and vibe of the house without creating a museum to the distinct style.  We will definitely take liberties, and pull in other styles including perhaps Deco, Arts and Crafts, Asian, and modern.  Pieces will present themselves with time, right now I’m more focused on color palette.  I want to use the strong earthy palette of craftsman pottery in the space and balance their strong presence with light neutrals – that will “pretty it up” – and a mix of different wood types.   Furniture will be clean lined and for the most part straight lined, although we may throw in a curved sofa.  Some things I pulled  after our first meeting included these…

Mona Lisa Remixed

Leonardo da Vinci’s classic distilled, reduced & remixed down into 140 exact circular characters of colour. A work about the illusion of familiarity, inspired by Seurat & sitting too close to the TV. Makes little sense close up. Makes every sense from the other side of the room.  I got mine… I think this is so cool.  Reminiscent of Damien Hirst’s work – see below – the concept of taking a well know masterpiece and reworking it into a contemporary piece is great I think and for 44 pounds ($70.00) this piece will look amazing in my bedroom against the chocolate-brown grass cloth wallpaper walls.  Available from www.someprints.com it is being labeled as the Mona Lisa for the Twitter generation.  A stunning & vividly coloured Giclee print (unframed). Professional high quality 600pdi print on 190gsm matt white paper. Signed & dated on the back in pencil. Rolled up, wrapped in tissue & posted in a sturdy cardboard tube… and free shipping!

Artist: Damien Hirst

Michael Dute – Borrowed Blog

A friend of mine turned me on to a new style blog that is very well done and interesting. The Style Saloniste moto is: Celebrating and analyzing interior design, style, new books, fabulous people, bold world travel, creativity and inspiration, and they deliver.  Here is a small (edited version) of the full blog post…

With paint-brushes, patience, style, skill, wit and passion, San Francisco decorative artist Michael Dute conjures up exotic worlds on the walls of his Berlin apartment.

“I wake up and I’m in China or Pompeii or eighteenth-century France,” said Dute, who now lives in Berlin. He specialises in interiors inspired by 18th-century European architecture, Chinoiserie, and invented decor.
During the week, Michael Dute paints luscious murals and glamorous rococo-inspired decorative wall panels for interior designers and private clients all over the map. But after-hours he paints only for his own pleasure.  Come for a visit, and see the rare beauty and technical mastery as he paints an embellished other-world. It’s a work in progress. I’d say two more years…

Two years ago, Michael Dute airlifted himself to Berlin—to be inspired, to see art, to feel the energy of the city. Then, restless artist, he got to work on his house.  “I painted the walls in the tradition of 18th-century European artists who created highly detailed imaginary seascapes and landscapes with panoramas of people and temples and trees,” said Dute. “I’m willing to put in years of effort to make these paintings exceptional and timeless. This way of working is very fulfilling. I never tire of these paintings. There’s always a detail, a color, or scene or an implied interaction that captures my attention.”

Painting for hours a day, and often for weekends at a stretch, Dute executes his murals, ceilings and painted woodwork in the minutest detail, down to the frothy waves on lively seascapes, the belts and ornamentation on Chinese robes.

“My vision is to suggest the residence of an 18th-century French or Italian philosopher/scientist who was crazy for the idea of China or Paris ,” said Dute. “He had never actually been to China or France or the Veneto. But he’d seen paintings and porcelains. They were the inspiration.” — Michael Dute

“In my painting and subject matter, I am always inspired by French artists like Fragonard and Boucher who painted exuberant, exotic scenes and landscapes based on their romantic views of idyllic life in the countryside, and in China,” Dute said. “Like Boucher, I love to depict leisure scenes, but I’m a pragmatic artist, so I also put my people to work weaving silk, fishing, harvesting, washing clothes in the river, dyeing silk, rowing a boat. This gives the paintings more energy and movement and gives them some bite. They’re dynamic, not too sweet.”  — Michael Dute

Click over to the Style Saloniste to read the entire post and others.  

Lisa Daria – A Painting A Day

Good decorating usually includes good art, it finishes a space and art also says a lot about the person that chose it…it’s personal.  Paintings can move us, photographs haunt us, feelings are typically involved when it comes to choosing and enjoying art.  For me artwork is a little like having people in the house, each piece has a personality, it reminds me of a certain time place or person and the artist is always there too.

When chosing art, please keep in mind that it has to speak to you, it doesn’t have to match the sofa but it should be the right scale for the wall or wherever you are planning on putting it.  If you fall in love with a tiny painting like the one above from Lisa Daria, hang it in a small grouping with other paintings or find a small wall ( between two doors perhaps ) where the size feels right.  Good art does not have to be expensive, but remember when buying that someone created that art, they spent time and energy to bring that piece to life.  So, if you have to… save towards each piece, or buy one at a time and slowly build a collection.  Art is so worth it.

Lisa Daria sells a painting a day on her blog.  She is amazingly talented and I wouldn’t mind owning one or many pieces of her work.  Please check her out by clicking here.

 

Facebook Fine Art

I have fighting the urge to post my Facebook Fine Art findings, worried it wasn’t design inspired enough for the readers of Billblog… But come on how pretty is this?!  If this were a painting I’d buy it.  If I could only decorate with the colors in this photograph for the rest of my career, I’d be ok with that.  This image is how I found it on Facebook, no re-touching, no fuzzy lens trickery… Love it!  Hope you all have a great week, Happy Sunday.

 

Chihuly in Boston

Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1965, Chihuly enrolled in the first glass program in the country, at the University of Wisconsin. He continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he later established the glass program and taught for more than a decade.

In 1968, after receiving a Fulbright Fellowship, he went to work at the Venini glass factory in Venice. There he observed the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works today. In 1971, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. With this international glass center, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.  His work is included in more than 200 hundred museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including ten honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

That said, I have to say the hanging “chandeliers” are his most successful work in my mind.  Tonal variations found in those rather than the garish mix of colors seen above in “Mille Fleurs” work toward a more  sophisticated aesthetic in my mind.  I also didn’t care for the way many of the pieces were curated with baskets, blankets, and different wooden forms.  Again the “chandeliers” are simply glass and largely one color allowing the medium to be appreciated to its fullest.

In 1999, Chihuly mounted a challenging exhibition, Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem; more than 1 million visitors attended the Tower of David Museum to view his installations. In 2001, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London curated the exhibition Chihuly at the V. Chihuly’s lifelong affinity for glasshouses has grown into a series of exhibitions within botanical settings. His Garden Cycle began in 2001 at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. Chihuly exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London, in 2005. Other major exhibition venues include the de Young Museum in San Francisco, in 2008, and most recently the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2011. (Not to mention the Bellagio)  That is a lot of work for one guy you might say… well it appears that he now employs a team of artisans to create the works and is one hand to guide the look and execution of each piece.   

Facebook Fine Art (SNAPshots)

I am struck by beautiful images taken by friends and friends of friends on Facebook with so much regularity that I have started a small file on my desk top for images that really speak to me.  A quick glance at this photograph might lead many to assume it is a painting, the soft focus suggests a photorealistic style of painting and the horizontal blocks of color suggest a well thought out  from a This painterly image is quintessential summer to me… I can feel the cold water on my warm sunburn, smell the distant campfire in the air and know most certainly that dinner will be barbecued all with a glance into this image.  Growing up we spent summer vacations on a lake, car inner tubes were  the floatation device of choice back in the day and we caught crawfish off the pier, this image is all of that for me.  I’m guessing that most people have their own interpretation of this beautiful SNAPshot or perhaps are making memories to be recalled another day.  Whichever it is for you, Happy Summer.