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I know I will offend a web designer or two, but I can’t hold back anymore, please someone tell me what’s up with Italian (ok, and French) websites? I do a lot of product research and anyone in my office knows that I’m back to Italian design when the music starts blaring and my face reflects sheer terror, utter confusion or both. It’s not that some of the sites aren’t attractive but could we maybe make a conscious decision to let the products be beautiful and the site primarily functional, before I lose the will to live? Rant over.
Now, having worked my way through such a site I want to share a piece, or two or three by Barazza an Italian steel fabricator come appliance manufacturer. I have no idea how well they work, but love the design elements that range from classic to modern to custom.
I love this classic, yet unusual pair. The range we’ve seen in similar, and more expensive variation, from LaCornue who, by the way, employ a website that actually manages to show the visitors what’s for sale and where to get it, but the sink – amore mio – I love this freestanding little number. Great little unfitted kitchen combination, no?
From Barazza’s Modern collection, above is the Velvet touchscreen wall oven with an optional sideway sliding door and the Select gas cook top, which is just a pleasure to look at and that is likely all I would do with it, as my family will be happy to attest to.
Also from the Modern collection, the brand new B_free series (thank you for correcting that Holly at BarazzaUK , a series of modular elements that make customization a snap, provided your counter top is long enough.
And just because they are steel people and because they can, Barazza offer a line of custom configurations made to order and that makes me re-think my current kitchen Island. So maybe it is a bit far for special ordering and those websites will continue to make me cranky, but a bit of Italian eye candy never hurt anyone, right?
As a designer I am always thinking about how I can create unique and innovative luxury textiles that create an illusion for the viewer, because I achieve a sculptural aesthetic usually associated with solid materials. My philosophy is centred on the importance of hand craftsmanship; all of my textiles are manipulated by hand. I have been running my business HelenAmyMurray for 6 years and my clients range from individual private residences and larger commercial projects usually through interior design and architectural design practices. The applications for my textiles range from bespoke upholstery to wall coverings. I have also recently had my first solo exhibition of non-commission led work. I am developing a special collection of chairs and framed wall pieces that will be available to order through gallery representation in London, Paris and Milan.
Helen Beard’s distinctive pieces begin with drawings of quirky individuals and curious places, which she uses to illustrate her hand-thrown pots. By grouping the pots together, she likes to tell a story, creating whimsical scenes that capture the insignificant yet precious moments that make up our daily lives.
Every pot is individually thrown in Limoges porcelain on a potter’s wheel before being hand-painted. The pots are decorated using a technique that Helen developed to create an effect similar to watercolour and ink. Her freehand line drawing is transferred onto the pot using a form of relief print. Colour is painted over the drawing using different washes of ceramic stain, and finally the pots are dip-glazed and smoothed down ready for the final stage of firing. Each is unique – a work of art, but also a functional piece of domestic ware.
Ok fine, I know I have to accept that even temporary human cloning is just not a good idea no matter where you stand but there are instances where I would really like to be able to design, blog, develop Modenus, spend time in the Twittersphere, hang out with my daughters AND go to every single trade show out there. As it stands my weekly schedule of well over 60 hours seems to leave little room for some of those activities, especially when I have my priorities sorted, and I do. So I’ve asked if anyone would be so kind as to submit some live pics from “Dwell on Design’ this weekend and Nancy at Hornbeck Design Partners (@DzineThrone) was kind enough to indulge me with a few of her favs.
Rough Edges Design-Concrete lamps
Chair upholstered in zippers
Chair made of recycled tires
Thanks for the great live images Nancy. We love to show what people find attractive at design shows so come on everyone, Nancy says that wasn’t so hard. Well actually she didn’t, she’s preparing for a dinner party and had to squeeze this in for us, so we thank her even more and hope she has a great evening!
One could say she’s just one of those designers, those touched by some celestial power that provides the ability to create, always new, always fresh and always surprising. But Patricia’s take on her own work is much more grounded and level headed. She says she studied for too many years when she should have just followed her passions but is today in a place where she is fulfilled by her work and clearly knows her place in the design world. So less celestial intervention perhaps but rather drive, focus, determination, talent and of course the knowledge of having found her calling.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive listing of italian design houses you can Google away or, much easier, look up Patricia Urquiola’s CV. Born in 1961, the Spanish designer moved to Italy in her twenties to continue her architecture studies that she had started in Madrid. She graduated from Milan polytechnic in 1989, having been mentored by Achille Castiglioni. The years that followed were filled with work for Depadova, Agape, B&B, Alessi, Driade, Foscarini, Kartell, Flos, Molteni, Artelano and of course Moroso. Since 2001 she has her own studio in Milan and focuses on product design and architecture.
“Antibodi” for Moroso (2006). Frankly I can’t imagine what would happen to the flower (or are they starfruit inspired?) shapes, if one sat on them, but a show stopping stunner nonetheless.
Both pieces above from the Canasta collection for B&B reflect her talent, fearlessness and sense of humour with the use of the ueber-proportioned woven pattern.
The Tropicalia cocoon swing for Moroso
And finally, well not really finally but I’m running out of room here, from the Crinoline Collection for B&B Italia. This chair inspired me to write this blog because it defines Patricia’s style so very well. Unafraid of pairing her trademark floral form with sinuous curves and natural fibers. Bravissima!
Today was a day for browsing the web for new material, organising files, planning editorials… all in all a very efficient and structured day. I have to do that once in a while to remain sane. And in all my need for order and focus I happened upon pure pleasure, on the surface not orderly or structured but in the end executed with vision and planning and most certainly passion. All of this after a day of innumerable tweets about our blogg-off on the topic of “What is successful design?”, this was refreshing, inspiring and to the point.
Isaiah Zagar is 71 years old and says he might have been an artist since birth. He tells the story of his mother’s reaction when he was given crayons to color on a piece of paper and instead began not just coloring the paper but let his hand and eyes be the guides that led him across the table, then the floor, the refrigerator, the wall and finally the ceiling… where his artistic reverie was interrupted by his mother’s hysterical cries. He says, realising the impact of his action on other human beings was all he needed to know that this was were his path had to lead.
Influenced by folk artist Clarence Schmidt in 1959 and enforced in his opinion about him in 1961 where a MoMA exhibit “The Art of Assemblage” showcased works of masters like Picasso and Gaudi alongside that of Schmidt, Zagar continued in this vain to this day. He creates mosaic street murals in Philly, the US and for international installations.
This a detail of a piece done on Randolph Court.
Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Garden on the 1,000 block of South Street in Philadelphia is a maze of ornately designed mosaics with inlaid pieces of poetry. I know he says he’s inspired by Schmidt, but I’m pretty sure I see more than a little Gaudi here.
The collection of his work of 40 years seems endless and each piece holds new visual and contextual treasures to discover. So to all you mom’s out there: When you’re kid is standing on the table coloring the ceiling, may want to go easy. See what happens when you let the sweet little ones color outside the lines.
So here we are, Twitterati and reasonably active members of the Design Blogoshpere, Concretedetail, Paul_Anater, Dogwalkblog and I, and we may have, not for the first time and assuredly not for the last, possibly tweeted each other into a corner. The question “What is successful Design?” and the subsequent challenge to simultaneously blog on the topic arose from a cute little “oh-my-gosh-who-would-have-ever-designed-such-ghastly-crap” blog that I had just published. When the post was criticized by one of my fellow bloggers on account of there being real problems like the oil-in-the-gulf fiasco and people who designed garbage like that only did it to get attention and I should not stoop to give them credence by writing about them.
I beg to differ on that POV. By writing in a way that people may find appealing, humorous, informative or even provocative, I create an audience. Now in order to keep an audience I have to keep things fresh and interesting even at the risk of having to employ the devious art of showcasing half-naked-sumo-wrestler-side-tables but in doing that, I now also have an audience which may occasionally listen to serious topics on design, products, business or even the oil spill.
But all this was just an aside and feeble attempt to remember how we got to asking the question in the first place.
But here it is: When do we call design successful? Is it when people ooh and aah? Is it when it ends up in Architectural Digest? Is it when a homeowner call his designer and tells him that for the first time his “house is now a home”? Or is it even successful when something is so much of a train wreck – I do have to ask..the chair(?)above, who the $&*# designed that? – that people talk about it and spread it from blog to blog? They’re all design and in their way successful but wherein do we gauge their success?
Notice how I didn’t even dare bring up the idea of a design being more profitable than others, ha, what nonsense. Is it not often the design we pour ourselves into, and oeuvre d’Art that is all consuming and by “all” I mean one’s time, one’s energy, one’s ability to focus on any other project and one’s profit ? So no, money can’t be the big indicator here.
My answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. To me there is no right or wrong in design, other than the chair above and possibly the disaster below. The definition of the word ranges from “to conceive and plan out in the mind” to “to execute”, in other words you have an idea, you plan how to realize the idea and you actually turn around and build it. Voila. By definition the design is successful if you’ve taken it from concept to completion. If someone doesn’t like it, too bad, they can come up with their own.
What I would really like to hear or see are your ideas of successful designs and with that hopefully inspire a pretty blog, full of beautiful designs and creative solutions, to where I no longer feel forced to pull all the stops just to get a little attention around here.
To all you color theorists out there, we want some answers!
Why is it so important for us to establish the gender identity of our offspring? If it’s a boy he must, at all cost, be raised from birth in a blue room and the girl in the pink? With only the most adventurous of parents moving to a bold (and non gender specific) yellow. Why do we do it and what came first? Did little boys all over the world scream “I want a blue room, I want my whole world to be blue!” or did we create an appreciation for specific colors in our children by imprinting their impressionable minds with these colors?
Now red tones, presumably including particularly intense shades of pink actually increase heart rates and levels of aggression while blue is considered a calming color. So what are we saying here? Give the girls some extra oomph to counteract their naturally sweet and even keeled dispositions and and provide a palliative environment for the guys to keep their exuberance down to a dull roar? Or are we, by surrounding the little princesses with all things pink, fuchsia and Barbie, creating the more aggressive of the two genders? And is all this color stereotyping a global phenomenon or is the pink/blue thing in particular an American thing to do?
MissPrint are building a reputation for bright, inspired vinyl wallpapers and bespoke woven fabrics. When we met them at the recent ICFF they told us that the fabrics they design are produced by the latest generation of a long line of Huguenot weavers. The very same people who produced some of the fabric for Lady Diana’s wedding dress.
The style is playful and whimsical but the business of creating a line of unique wall coverings by hand is very serious. Because the pieces are handmade designers can look to Missprint for custom creations, so get creative, creative folks.
This is Saplings, available in six color combinations including a couple of metallics. Like all MissPrint papers, it comes in standard 52 cm × 10 metre rolls.
Poppy is such a great statement and very pop-culture indeed but, ahem, who on earth thought to use that chair for a catalog picture?
Saplings again, only this time in a larger format, now this I can get into. So there you have it, another Brit favorite at ICFF and so much bold color coming from a country so grey. Maybe because or maybe despite. Who knows!
In perusing some of our favorite blogs, I’ve come across an incredible furniture line from France on French Life Style. Artcopi, a small family owned furniture manufacturer near Nantes in the Loire region have been creating occasional furniture pieces since 1972. I fell in love with the line’s creative use of color and shape that gives life to an old favorite.The Bombé chest. And just this once I will shut up and let the pictures do the talking, please hold the applause at that.
Amazing eh? I will now venture forward and call the good people at Artcopi and do whatever it takes to show their products on Modenus. How do you say “Whatever it takes!” in french. Anyone?
