Eye Candy

Isn't this one of the most gorgeous tables you've ever seen? I love the limestone wall, the marble floors, the sleek design and all the wonderful gold accents in this picture. 

Wish Fulfilled

For Christmas, my wonderful boyfriend D.D. got me several great things, one of them is a gorgeous bell jar with a venus flytrap in it! I'm so nervous about making sure this little guy lives but I am so excited to start taking care of it. 

Nature reimagined by Geraldine Gonzalez

I'm a huge fan of jellyfish and Medusa's. Check these out by Geraldine Gonzalez. 

Design Inspiration: Sol LeWitt

This is a piece by Sol LeWitt at MASS MOCA that I have fallen in love with. I would love to do something like this on a long wall in a hallway that I have in the apartment. Thoughts?

Desgin Desire: Glass Bed

Designed by Italian manufacturer Santambrogio Milano these pieces of furniture made from glass are something quite interesting, that you don’t see everyday. The collection uses the ultra-clear Diamant Glass that is produced by Saint Gobain. At a first glance I’ve thought that this design is totally impractical, (lord knows i love things that are impractical) but after I’ve saw that the design is made using superdurable tempered glass I’ve changed my mind. This past weekend, D and I went to ABC Home and Carpet and saw some fantastic glass tables and now I've found dream bed! This is what the Snow White of the 21st century would be sleeping on. 

Design Desire: Bottle Stopper

Check out these fantastic raw crystal bottle stoppers. I want the clear one...you can get it here for a mere $55 bucks. 

A Mug that Packs a Punch

This is one set of steal knuckles that won’t get you busted in parts of the U.S. and Canada—but it still delivers the force of a punch. The wallop is in the handle coated in 14-karat gold. The ceramic mug is safe to drink out of...although the piece is intended as an object d’art and limited to 100. The latest in the capsule line of locally made accessories from P.A.D., the Los Angeles design duo comprising of architect Thomas Robertson of Ripple Design and Eli Bonerz, a founder and art director of the XLarge streetwear brand. This item is an A+R exclusive.

Camping Style:Raindrop Shaped Treetents by Dré Wapenaar

Sylvan housing has just come out with these wonderful dewdrop shaped Treetents by Dutch sculptor and designer Dré Wapenaar. Originally designed to ease the lives of tree-hugging activists, they also make excellent treetop retreats for campers, kids, and anyone soothed by an evening spent softly swaying among the branches. Each beautifully formed droplet attaches directly to a tree trunk and is roomy enough to sleep a family of four. I would love to go gamping in one of these!

Desiree Dolron: Cuba Captured

DOLRON’S THIRD PROJECT,TE DI TODOS MIS SUENOS MEANING ‘I GAVE YOU ALL MY DREAMS’, TITLED FROM CASTRO’S LINE FROM HIS SPEECHES, WAS EXECUTED DURING TWO TRIPS TO HAVANA IN 2002-2003. ALTHOUGH GOING WITH THE INTENTION TO PHOTOGRAPH FIDEL CASTRO, ONCE THERE, DOLRON REALISED THAT, AS WELL AS THIS GREAT COMMUNIST LEADER, THE ESSENCE OF CUBA THAT WAS OF INTEREST TO HER LAY WITHIN ITS PEOPLE. WITH THIS VISION SHE CREATED A BODY OF WORK WHICH FOCUSED ON THE COMMUNITY WHERE SHE WAS LIVING. THE HOMES, KITCHENS, LOCAL SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, BEDROOMS AND STREETS; SOMETIMES INCLUDING A FIGURATIVE ELEMENT, SOMETIMES ABSENT. UNLIKE HER ACCLAIMED PROJECT, XTERRIORS (EXECUTED AFTER HER RETURN FROM CUBA) ALTHOUGH HAVING A DIALOGUE, EACH PORTRAIT OR SCENE STANDS ALONE WITHIN THIS PROJECT. SHE PRESENTS US WITH JOSE MARTI, THE FREEDOM FIGHTER AND POET, STANDING CROSS ARMED ABOVE THE LIBRARY; TALL, DEFIANT AND PROUD OF THE SHABBY, OLD, DOG EARED BOOKS WHICH LIE BENEATH HIM.

 

AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, I HAD ANOTHER AUNT ARRIVE FROM CUBA JUST LAST WEEK. THE SITUATION ON THE ISLAND IS GETTING PROGRESSIVELY WORSE AND DAILY LIFE IS BECOMING MUCH MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BECOME THE REAL VICTIMS OF THIS IDEOLOGICAL struggle. HOPEFULLY, WE CAN SOON BRING CUBA INTO THE FOLD OF THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY AND ENGAGE THE PEOPLE AND THEIR GOVERNMENT IS TALKS THAT WILL PRODUCE REAL CHANGES.

 

THAT BEING SAID, I THINK DOLRON REALLY CAPTURES THE SENSE OF GLOOM THAT HANGS OVER HAVANA IN THESE AMAZING PICTURES THAT WILL BE UP FOR AUCTION AT PHILIPS DE PURY IN LONDON NEXT WEEK. SADLY, THESE PICTURES ARE ESTIMATED TO GO FOR 15,000- 20,000 POUNDS EACH AND I DOUBT ANY OF THE MONEY WILL SEE ITSELF BACK TO HAVANA. 

P.S. SORRY FOR THE CAPS. SOMETHING IS OFF WITH THIS DAMN BLOGGER!

Dexter Decor: Blood Splatter Dining Room by Amy Lau

Amy Lau was one of 11 designers who transformed a Gramercy Park townhouse as part of Showtime’s Design House project. Their inspiration came from the six original hit series. However, it is Amy Lau’s dramatic dining room makeover which stands out. Her macabre decor was inspired by Showtime’s Dexter series. Of course I’m totally in love with Michael C. Hall. The result is a dining room fit for a serial killer.

The dining room is largely done in white - better to see the fake blood splatters everywhere - on walls and even embroidered on chair upholstery. Candlesticks shaped like human vertebrae carry blood red candles.  The glasses on the table have “blood” filled stems and tell-tale fingerprints. The ceramic tableware was handmade and incorporated blood splatter, veins and capillaries patterns. Dismembered flatware completed the ghoulish atmosphere.  Many of the Dexter inspired designs are now for sale on Showtime’s website. 

In the Garden

The Louvre Museum is so insanely big, that it would require an immense staff to simply watch all of the security cameras alone. Therefore, half of the security cameras in the Louvre are actually fake. What if you installed fake security cameras in your garden? But on top of that, what if they were actually birdhouses! FANTASTIC! 

The Wolfgang S. birdhouse seeks to defy: It gives ordinary citizens the ability to arm themselves. In addition it will create more habitats for singing bird species. Absolute added value for security and enviromentalism - everybody wins! 

Designer: Dennis Nino Clasen (Germany)  

Manufacturer: Friesland (Germany, leave it to the Germans!)

Decorative Desire: Ceramic Computer

Bored of that tired old white Mac computer that everyone and their great aunt has? Pure* Art Line has come out with a line of  computers that are minimalist towers made in ceramic. That alone was enough to make me giddy...but now they came out with one in GOLD.  Move aside Apple. They have also commisioned artists to create their own designs on the ceramic casing. You can take a look at them all here.  Pictured below are the computer (left) and amplifier (right).

Cutlery Craving: Cutt

Cutt is the name of this amazing set of cutlery pictured above. The set is made of sterling silver. I love how geometric they are and look as if they have been cut from diamonds. They are neither highly functional nor very ergonomically friendly, but that has never stood in my way before. Beauty above all else! (At least in theory) The design of Cutt focuses on the cultural development of european tableware in form and context. Cutt is produced in Vienna by the traditional Wiener Silberschmiede Werkstaette company. Just wait until I invite you over for a dinner party and force you to eat with these! 

Barcart Redux

I have been consumed with the idea and inherent romance of barcarts...I need one ASAP. Until then, I've found some other ones that I like. The last one is a vintage French barcart from the 60s. J'adore. 

The Glamour of a Barcart

Oh..I dream of the day when I am entertaining my dear friends in my fabulous apartment and I roll out my glamorous barcart, filled with gorgeous bottles and every sort of glass and mixer. I really think these should be more common. How do you like this simple, classic and stylish cart from Restoration Hardware?

Decorative Desire: Head of Lenin

Designer Maxim  Velcovsky has created a series called Ornament and Crime, in where he explores the history of socialism and communism through decorative bourgeois creations.  Velcovsky  made busts of Lenin and other communist and socialist figure heads (pun intended). He decided to cover their faces with a traditional onion pattern. Onion pattern, originally named bulb pattern, is a white ware decorated with cobalt blue or pink. The pattern was a popular decorative pattern for the china of the Czech middle class in the 18th and 19th centuries. GENIUS. I want them all. 

Pillow Talk

Look at these sexy pillow cases for your sexy bed. What a fun way to spice up the bedroom. I'm not a fan of even having a television in the bedroom. I really do believe that the bedroom should be strictly reserved for sleep and sex and I really think these pillow cases get that message across. Third Drawer Down has oodles and oodles of wonderfully unique textiles for the home. Check them out here. 

Bookshelves

Bookshelves have been on my mind recently. My roommate got his back from an apartment he was subletting and so we now have a really big bookcase in the apartment. At first, it seemed so overpowering to me, but after an evening of re-arranging furniture and making our downstairs neighbors hate us, we found a spot we could both agree on. Now I think it looks great and is helping the main living area look more finished. Expect pictures soon, but in the meantime, look at this cool bookshelf below. 

Crystals REDUX

So, Lady Gaga performed in NYC a couple nights ago and just look at what she was wearing! 

Oh man, I can't get over my crystal obsession, especially when fabulous people start WEARING them!

Bookworm: Eunoia

I have never posted about a book, but I love love love language and found this book and thought it was just amazing, so I wanted to share it. Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel. Mr Bok believes his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language. Below are extracts from each chapter.

from CHAPTER A - FOR HANS ARP

Hassan Abd al-Hassad, an Agha Khan, basks at an ashram - a Taj Mahal that has grand parks and grass lawns, all as vast as parklands at Alhambra and Valhalla. Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack. Hassan claps, and (tah-dah) an Arab lass at a swank spa can draw a man's bath and wash a man's back, as Arab lads fawn and hang, athwart an altar, amaranth garlands as fragrant as attar - a balm that calms all angst. A dwarf can flap a palm branch that fans a fat maharajah. A naphtha lamp can cast a calm warmth.

from CHAPTER E - FOR RENE CREVEL

Westerners revere the Greek legends. Versemen retell the represented events, the resplendent scenes, where, hellbent, the Greek freemen seek revenge whenever Helen, the new-wed empress, weeps. Restless, she deserts her fleece bed where, detested, her wedded regent sleeps. When she remembers Greece, her seceded demesne, she feels wretched, left here, bereft, her needs never met. She needs rest; nevertheless, her demented fevers render her sleepless (her sleeplessness enfeebles her). She needs help; nevertheless her stressed nerves render her cheerless (her cheerlessness enfetters her).

from CHAPTER I - FOR DICK HIGGINS

Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs.

Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch. Kingbirds flit in gliding flight, skimming limpid springs, dipping wingtips in rills which brim with living things: krill, shrimp, brill - fish with gilt fins, which swim in flitting zigs. Might Virgil find bliss implicit in this primitivism? Might I mimic him in print if I find his writings inspiring?

from CHAPTER O - FOR YOKO ONO

Loops on bold fonts now form lots of words for books. Books form cocoons of comfort - tombs to hold bookworms. Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth. Dons who work for proctors or provosts do not fob off school to work on crosswords, nor do dons go off to dorm rooms to loll on cots. Dons go crosstown to look for bookshops known to stock lots of top-notch goods: cookbooks, workbooks - room on room of how-to-books for jocks (how to jog, how to box), books on pro sports: golf or polo. Old colophons on schoolbooks from schoolrooms sport two sorts of logo: oblong whorls, rococo scrolls - both on worn morocco.

from CHAPTER U - FOR ZHU YU

Gulls churr: ululu, ululu. Ducks cluck. Bulls plus bucks run thru buckbrush; thus dun burrs clutch fur tufts. Ursus cubs plus Lupuspups hunt skunks. Curs skulk (such mutts lurk: ruff, ruff). Gnus munch kudzu. Lush shrubs bud; thus church nuns pluck uncut mums. Bugs hum: buzz, buzz. Dull susurrus gusts murmur hushful, humdrum murmurs: hush, hush. Dusk suns blush. Surf lulls us. Such scuds hurl up cumulus suds (Sturm und Druck) - furls unfurl: rush, rush; curls uncurl: gush, gush. Such tumult upturns unsunk hulls; thus gulfs crush us, gulp, dunk us - burst lungs succumb.

Crystal Chairs by Igor Solovyov & Tokuji Yoshioka

I have recently been very seduced by crystals. I have been toying with the idea of painting a mural in the living room of crystals. My sketches have multiplied but I continue to waver. This past weekend D.D. took me on a surpise trip to ABC Carpet on Broadway and we oogled all the furniture and especially the insanely priced crystals they had everywhere. I found these chairs by Igor Solovyov and aren't they amazing?! They make me very happy and I wish I could have one. I would love to own one in a very pale pink so that it looks like quartz. 

In a much more literal interpritation, I found this chair by Tokuji Yoshioka. The chair is actually grown slowly while submerged in a tank like the one seen below. 

Design History:Gabriella Crespi: Architecture & Disco

So, I know that all my design history posts seem to be focused on the same period, but I can’t help that I am drawn to this period so much. I promise that I will be more thoughtful in my attempt to diversify, but if you read the November issue of Elle Décor’s article on Willy Rizzo, you will see that I am not alone in my obsession with the lead designers of the 70s and 80s.

Today’s pictures are of Gabriella Crespi’s furniture and accessory designs. Throughout her career as a designer she designed lamps, silverware and jewelry, in a huge range of materials, from metal, wood, marble and bamboo to seeds, shells and gemstones. Produced mainly in the 1960's and 70's, her creations graced some of the most elegant homes in the world. Elizabeth Arden ''fell in love with my designs, and wanted everything in the collection,'' Crespi said recently. Thomas Hoving, Princess Grace, Gunther Sachs and the Shah of Iran were other aficionados.

Today, her furniture and decorative objects are beginning to bring high prices, as the design world turns its focus from mid-century to late twentieth century.

The multifunctionality of her furniture is a Crespi trademark. She made coffee tables that rose to dining height, bookcases that became room dividers, seating that converted into beds. This is due, no doubt, to her architectural studies at the Politecnico Institute in Milan. ''I was in love with Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright when I was young,'' she said. Le Corbusier, happens to be my second favorite all-time architect and his aesthetic has heavily influenced my eye, so it is no wonder that Crespi’s furniture is right up my alley.

She was born in Milan in 1922, and raised in Tuscany near Florence. She met her husband, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, at a tennis club in Milan. They were married in 1948. The Crespi family is one of the richest families in Italy. Gabriella Crespi is currently 86 and lives in the Himalayas where she studies with a spiritual guide and attempts to live in silence.