My updated dining room

You may remember a few years ago I purchased an antique set of caned chairs and table made by Baker -see the post HERE. While the caning looked great, it wasn't very comfortable or practical and I had decided to have cushions made.

I used Aku Merali at Marketplace Interiors in Alexandria, VA. He is a well respected upholsterer here in DC used by everyone, including the White House. He recommended attaching a pad on a wooden base to the chair instead of seperate cushions and I followed the experts advice! I am so pleased with the result and couldn't be happier. The fabric I chose is Ralph Lauren Home's English Riding Velvet in Lovat -a beautiful muted turquoise.

After picking up the chairs on Saturday morning (thanks Mark!), I decided to host an inaugural launch and had some friends over for some fresh strawberry shortcake and champagne. I bought the Paisley Table Throw from Potterybarn which coordinates beautifully with the chair fabric. To go with the dessert theme, I used my Strawberries and Cream china by Royal Doulton and some Adam styled antique silver from Ms. Pixies.

I am so happy with how it all turned out and even more pleased to share my small changes with you all.

Back from Market!

I'm back from my whirlwind adventure to Highpoint Market week which was so incredibly fun but also highly educational (pun intended)!The talk of market seemed to be the new line of Ralph Lauren lighting (which I was sad not to see for myself) as well as the new line of AMAZING furniture for Theodore Alexander designed by the history savvy and passionate Keno brothers of Antiques Roadshow fame; also - the return of claw and ball feet, even on very modern pieces. The Keno line has not officially launched but believe me when I tell you that you will be blown away; not just by the quality but by the incredible design, a reinterpretation of mid century modern. The brothers chose the company for their line because of TA's exceptional quality and old world contruction techniques out of Vietnam. I also fell in love with a few pieces of furniture for myself (oh to have a bigger apartment and larger bank account!). I am having an affair with a chair: the Louis XVI square back chair from Hickory Chair. Most notedly in the weathered mineral gray finish seen above with ivory stripe and a blue ultra-suede upholstery (just in case those fine folks want to send me this sample, hehe). It was probably the most beautiful chair I have ever seen and I felt it could have been inspired by the great Jansen and classic French 40s design. Look forward to a future post on this great company right here.I also loved nearly every piece in the Grand Tour line at Century. The textures and quality really just blew me out of the water; I was even stuck oohing and aawing while the rest of the tour group ran on ahead! I'll definitely be showing you more from Century soon as well.We were able to meet with the adorable Bunny Williams and see her new pieces from BeeLine home. There are a few new pieces I'm sure you'll be seeing EVERYWHERE very soon such as this Swedish cupboard below.In practical applications, we were fascinated by the technology being incorporated into furniture at Sligh. Media centers which look like fine antiques caught my attention. These hide all of your nasty cords and machinery behind fine wood doors and traditional design and operate through smart eye technology. They even ventilate the insides of cabinets much like a CPU so your equipment doesn't fry. They had some great office solutions too: stylish and practical; who says office furniture has to be ugly?The folks at Hooker Furniture are shaking off their traditional image and creating some amazingly cute new pieces at very affordable prices. I think you'll be seeing a lot of them in the future -especially some of the quirkier finds that they feel appeal to a younger demographic like these chairs below. Not everyone was as friendly as the above mentioned companies however. We had a bit of a run-in at one of my favorite furniture companies (where I've encouraged friends and clients to spend a LOT of money in the past) which shall remain nameless but you can probably guess who they are from the photo below. Social media is here to stay and companies need to keep up. Oh and also don't piss off a tired group of design bloggers because you'll hear about it again!Everything you hear about market is true: wear comfortable shoes as it's enormous, book your hotel room months in advance so you're not stuck miles away, the parties are so much fun you'll never want to leave and you'll be seeing old friends as well as make many new ones (compare it to an adult summer camp for designers perhaps?) If you made it to High Point this year, what were your favorites?

Heading to Market

April 2-7 is an important time for the interior design world: High Point Market in North Carolina. Comparable to the fashion shows which fill Bryant Park each season, High Point Market showcases the latest wares being offered by furniture companies such as Century, Theodore Alexander, Sligh, and Hooker Furniture who are sponsoring a number of us design bloggers to attend this years events. Let me know if you are there, I would love to say hi! See you at Market!

A grand instrument

In 1903, Roosevelt had a very grand piano commissioned from Steinway & Sons for the East Room. Steinway commissioned noted Aesthetic artist Thomas Dewing to paint the inside of the gilded case in a patriotic theme which he entitled America receiving the 9 muses.

In the painted scene, women in colonial revival gowns representing art, music, poetry and learning pay homage to America, the new steward of western culture, as represented by the seated woman. The piano now resides at the National Portrait Gallery, but I think it should be brought back to the White House, don't you?

The Material Issue

Material and its surprises:

A couch constructed from a solid piece of poly-foam. Here, the material not only allows the designer to test new possibilities with a new medium, it allows him/her a means to experiment with conceptions of traditional shape and form.



Non-traditional materials allow dialogues with new layers of undiscovered subtext. To wit: Lamp shades made from beet and cabbage leaves...



...dry pasta...



... and milk bottles.



Cowhide chairs: Molded and formed wet, then dried into the desired shape and structure from a single hide.



Described as a piece of hell frozen in space, designer Charlie Davidson has fashioned these "Black Lights" from layers of foil. Light eminates from the center and passes through colored gels.











Davidson then brings Hell back to earth in the form of his "Crunk" chair (below). Similarly constructed as the Black Lights but with added reinforcement. As described on Charlie Davidson's website:

Formed over a simple wooden buck from a giant sheet of aluminum foil measuring 5 meters square, the final shape was filled with self hardening polyurethane foam.

The cabbage chair by designer Oki Sato, otherwise known as Nendo. Fabricated from many layers of coated paper. For details and a demo on construction go here.





A chair of hemp rope coated in resin.




A table formed from hardened dollops of heated rubber.




Gary Harvey, a multi-hyphenate designer/businessman with a résumé that includes creative director at Levi-Strauss and Dockers Europe, plays with perceptions of elegance as well as material. For a vision he calls "street-tough glamor" he has developed a line of ball gowns constructed of recycled textiles.

For Cinderellas who rave on both sides of midnight, a dress made from black rock t-shirts:



And another of re-adapted laundry bags:




For a hair salon, an thematically constructed chandelier.



Canadian artist Brian Jungen juggles subtexts like flaming sticks of semiotics in his recreations of northern indigenous images. The material: Nike Air Jordans.



On his work, Jungen writes:

"It was interesting to see how by simply manipulating the Air Jordan shoes you could evoke specific cultural traditions whilst simultaneously amplifying the process of cultural corruption and assimilation."

Jungen's choice of Nike wasn't arbitrary. Besides producing shoes specific to the fit needs of native peoples (apparently, width is an issue) as well being the makers of the Nike Air Native, the Air Jordan's color scheme of white, black, and red is also the traditional colors of the Haida, an indigenous peo­ple of the Pacific Northwest coast.

As in all of the work above, maybe the act of "simply manipulating" material does indeed amplify the corruption. And perhaps it's this "corruption" that's not only at the heart of innovation, but modernism itself.

Leaving the material comfort behind may be the way forward.

Gray Matters

Her name was Eileen Gray (Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray). Her peers were MacIntosh, Lloyd Wright, Van Der Rohe, Le Courbusier, and various others of the mid-century Modernist brigade. As a designer she was manifold extraordinaire, bringing her vision to architecture, interiors, furniture, textiles, graphics, Art Deco, and Modernism.

She may be best remembered for this Bibendum chair:



Voluptuous is the overused word here but in an era besotted with the streamlined Bauhaus aesthetic this chair may be the leisure equivalent of the Venus of Willendorf.

When an object is copied and reproduced to such an extent as to seem universally ubiquitous, as the tubular steel and glass table below, it's easy to forget that it was once the product of a designer. To wit: Gray's steel and glass end table.







A quick Google search reveals many versions of this most copied day bed still abound. You might forget that she debuted this design in 1925. The tubular lamp is another of hers.

Early in her career Gray explored a fascination with lacquer, famously displayed in the black screen below. The fruits of this fascination would bring her the first of many successes to follow. It would also infect her hands with a lacquer-induced disease. Most fortunately, the disease did not discourage her.








If her work resembles Le Courbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, or the Eames it could just as easily be said that their work resembles hers.

Her version of the quintessential Modernist chair ca. 1925-29: A sycamore frame with chromium-plated mounts and fixtures, completed with leather upholstery.





There's a strategy behind this "Non-conformist" chair's (1925) one-armed structure: To allow the user the ability to comfortably lean or turn around while sitting.

Below, her graphic work in the form of two rugs and a print.

A Victorian treasure

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an event at a house which is stuck in time; 1898 to be precise, the last time anything had been changed. While these rooms feel dark and heavy to many of this today, at the time they were safe and warm. Not just the wealth of the owners is on display, but they also show how far industrialization had taken our society.

The little girl's room had dolls set out for a tea party which was pretty charming (although reminded me a bit of a horror movie!).The servant's dining room in the basement showed the heavy German influence of the family.

While it may seem overwhelming as a whole, if you narrow in on details one is struck by how every piece has been paid attention to; Pretty extraordinary!

The ceiling in the front salon was particularly pretty. I'll be offline for the holiday but will be back next week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Is it Christmas yet?

I am so in love with this Carlson Etagere from William Sonoma Home! If only I had the space for it I would get 2 for all my design books (and china). Of course, if someone at WSH wants to cut me a huge deal I could definitely MAKE room! *wink wink, nudge nudge*

The details are just gorgeous, like these feet, gilded accents and worn ebonized wood finish.

They're on sale now, so make me a very happy little blogger and buy a pair for yourself and send me pictures!