I’m so knotty…

I haven’t posted in over a month. So sorry, assuming I have loyal readers out there. Wanna know what I’ve been obsessed with lately? Thought so.

Sewing… and more specifically altering.

Spring has sprung and it’s time to jazz up that summer wardrobe. Hopefully soon I will be posting photos of my latest sewing accomplishments. Until then here are two sewing machines that sum up my personality and design aesthetic; highly technical with a classical sensibility, and couture taste on a flea market budget. Thank you and good night.

She’s a thing of beauty, and is now something that is looked at rather than used.

She’s unaffordable and does things that can only be qualified in monosyballic sounds. And by unaffordable I mean $9,000. Eat your heart out.

Walls… the forgotten element.

Happy New Year!

And… we’re back. So I’m a nerd and I’ve been thinking about mimes a lot lately. I mean, a lot. Maybe it’s their lack of words to achieve understanding. Vow of silence in my future? Doubt it. Actually it’s the mime’s first trick that appeals to me most, establishing walls around themselves. Perhaps because my area of expertise lies in interior design and most of my creative expression occurs within four walls.

In my quest to reinvent interiors, walls have been my obsession as of late. Generally when people think of interiors, they try to figure out how much stuff they can possibly cram into a space, and the walls (ceiling and floor included) are usually an afterthought. After rearranging my apartment recently, I’ve been thinking about ways to create the illusion of a well thought out room, but in a 2-dimensional way instead of 3. Stay with me. When people think of walls, they think about colors to paint them, where to hang art, and that’s about it when it comes to the vertical spaces. You might see a shelf here or there, but largely wall space is not maximized. And with my new vision, belongings could be mostly an illusion… on the wall! Let me illustrate my point.

Don’t really have a green thumb? That’s ok, me either.

Don’t eat at home much?

Don’t have a junction box?

Just like cute things?

Skeletal Lamping?

Do you like touches of elegance wherever you go?

Can’t afford anything else by the Eames’?

So many uses, so little time. Explore more wall creativity at whatisblik
That’s where all the photos above came from and they have some really ingenious ways of utilizing all surfaces flat. Very affordable too, I might add. Keep your eyes out for options labeled re-stik, a re-usable option!

See you around the way!

I Love NEON.

At least in my book anyway. It’s neon-ness puts it on the same plane as black, beige and white. Try it. You’ll see that the neon you are incorporating stands alone, that you may try to color coordinate other parts of your outfit or artistic composition but when it comes to the neon touch it’s the form, not color that makes you want to incorporate it.

A customer came into the showroom I work at last night and I literally wanted to snatch her handbag from her and keep it as my own. It was that lovely. This reminded me of how much I love neon. Especially neon orange. Those close to me have seen me with neon orange nails, handbags and accessories for quite some time now. I tried to find an image of the neon orange Swatch watch I wore until it was beyond repair, but was unable to. I even replaced the original neon band with a beige and white striped one; because the neon numbered clear face was neutral. I received many compliments on my custom designed Swatch watch.

I was able to find pictures of the handbag I covet. I will say it was more alluring in person, and the pictures don’t do it justice, but here we go. Many of you may be familiar with Rebecca Minkoff, I however am not, so let me be excited. Enjoy.

The color combination I most prefer.

A trio of options.

And an ode to neon. Other Minkoff designs.

Design Inspiration!

During my work week I upload new design inspiration photos to an album on my facebook account. Thus far it’s been mostly furniture and product design, but I’m thinking I will branch out into architecture inspiration in the very near future. Stay tuned! Today’s pick was the lovely and luxurious slow chair. I’ll take mine in pink.
Designed by: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
For: Vitra

Please share your design picks with me as well!

I can see (Eichlers) for miles and miles and miles…

The title is a reference to The Who song I can see for miles. So now you can reread the title and sing the melody… or not. Regardless of whether you like the song, or Eichlers for that matter, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you can literally see Eichler homes and high rises for miles and miles.

In San Francisco they can be found in Diamond Heights, Cathedral Hill, Russian Hill, and Visitacion Valley. Sequoyah Hills in the Oakland Hills is home to another cluster of Eichlers. And Marin is home to many, many neighborhoods of Eichlers, existing in North and South Terra Linda , upper and lower Lucas Valley, Sleepy Hollow and Strawberry Point in Mill Valley. More information about available bay area Eichlers can be found here. CA Modern or Atomic Ranch are great periodicals to check out the latest Eichler trends and furnishings.

I have been fascinated by Eichlers for some time now and have recently embarked on the journey of researching them and trying to see as many as possible. I will post photos of the Eichlers I see on my Flickr account, so stay tuned.

Joseph Eichler was not an architect, contrary to popular belief, but was a real estate developer. One major characteristic that sets him apart and earns my respect was that Eichler, unlike most builders at the time, established a non-discrimination policy and offered homes for sale to anyone of any religion or race. In 1958, he resigned from the National Association of Home Builders when they refused to support a non-discrimination policy. Eichler sought to provide inventive affordable postwar homes to the masses (in northern and southern California).

So what makes an Eichler an Eichler, you may ask. Features include floor to ceiling glass walls, post-and-beam construction and open floorplans. Basically a modernist dream. The primary design philosophy of these modern homes is to bring the outside in. Which I find incredibly harmonious and beautiful. The famous Eichler atriums embody this concept.

Eicher homes are also known for Tongue and Groove decking for the roof, concrete slab floors with integral radiant heating, sliding doors and cabinets with sliding doors, and Japanese Shoji style closet doors. These homes tend to only work well in temperate climates, hence the placement in California. An Eichler community is also evident by the mindful placement of parks, yards, and the appreciation of the land it inhabits. Minimal, purposeful, and peaceful.

Like most genius ideas, Eichler was way ahead of his time and had a hard time convincing his war weary clientele to opt for innovation rather than convention. By the mid 1960’s Eichler Homes was in financial trouble and by 1967 declared bankruptcy. I would venture to say that Eichler is pleased his designs are highly sought after at present, but probably wishes the selling prices were more geared toward the working class. Joseph Eichler was a pioneer and a visionary. I look forward to seeking out the creations he enabled through talented architects such as: Robert Anshen (Wright disciple) of Anshen and Allen, Claude Oakland and Associates, Jones and Emmons, A. Quincy Jones, and Raphael Soriano.

To our favorite “Wild Thing”…

When I was the ripe age of six I received a wonderful book entitled Where the Wild Things Are.

I still have it. And inside is a note from my aunt, uncle and cousins calling me their favorite Wild Thing. Not far off, as I was quite a wild, opiniated child. Imagine that. I now own the book by Dave Eggers with the same title, have seen the film and have been inspired yet again by that young boy Max nearly 25 years later.

The way the Wild Things slept in piles reminds me that I am in this bizarre interim of my life. No longer a direct part of my original family unit, and waiting to create my own, I find my pile quite small. It’s pretty much me and my pillows. I have seen this concept of sleeping in piles being synonymous with love and comfort in another book called Look Me in the Eye, by John Elder Robison, brother of Augusten Burroughs. The author has Aspergers and talks in the book of needing to create piles around him in order to sleep well. Again reminding me of the comfort found in these piles.

In recent furniture searches I found this genius design called Living Stones, by Smarin.

I mean seriously. Awesome, right? Everybody Pile UP!

A summer of Frank, a fall of _____?

Frank Lloyd Wright seemed to echo all of my doings this past summer. When traveling my favorite thing to do is pick out a book at the airport. This summer, on my way to New York, I selected “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan.

When I saw the cover of this book, the stained glass caught my eye. Obviously designed according to the Golden Ratio I was curious as to which Frank the book was referring to. The book had me at Mamah Cheney, as I read the back cover. Frank Lloyd Wright’s love affair with Mamah was more dramatic then fiction. That’s all I’ll say about that in case you aren’t familiar with the story.

Once I landed in New York, trying to squeeze as much culture as possible into a four day trip, I went to the Guggenheim, one of Wright’s masterpieces. Unbeknownst to me, the museum was curating a large body of Wright’s work. Amazing! I love when life connects the dots, and things seem to make sense and have an otherworldly alignment. Three (w)righteous alignments.

As if that wasn’t enough to confirm my timely obsession, Design Within Reach, my employer, worked closely with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to gain exclusivity and bring a few of his furniture designs back into production. Specifically a couch, recliner, and my personal favorite the barrel chair.

When reflecting on my summer of Frank I ask myself what did good ol’ Frank teach this young lady. Well a couple of things. The most important being that when it comes to greatness, vision and passion far outweigh functionality. For example, Fallingwater, a home designed for Edgar J. Kaufmann Senior, has cantilevered balconies that amaze and astound. The way he designed the structure to interact with nature rather than alienate causes much reflection with the way we tend to handle new construction.


However The senior Mr. Kaufmann called Fallingwater “a seven-bucket building” for its leaks, and nicknamed it “Rising Mildew”. The conclusion? Greatness is not determined by practicality and that’s fine by me. Because the exterior of that building inspired and continues to inspire exponentially more people than the few that were originally permitted to inhabit its damp quarters.

Apparently life had one more strange alignment for dear Frank and I. While fact checking Fallingwater I saw that the preliminary plans were submitted to Kaufman on October 15, 1935. My birthday! Don’t look at me, I’m just the messenger.

Addendum (11/8/09) And another fun fact… from my mother after she read this entry. In 1978 when my mother was pregnant with yours truly, she and my father were looking for apartments in Springfield, Ohio. My father wanted to move into the Frank Lloyd Wright “Westcott House” which had been turned into apartments in 1944. It was the only Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house in Ohio. However my parents were rejected because my mother was pregnant with me and they primarily wanted to rent to students, which my father was at the time. Can you say discrimination! So close to living the dream…

Here we go!

I’ve been talking about doing this thing called blogging for a very long time. So here I go… I hope to keep a record of noteworthy events, people, and design. Design makes me happy, and therefore the combination of the two of us equates a euphoric feeling that some may interpret as love. I certainly do. Enjoy!