Modenus’ Daily Wish List: Downtown 20′s Muirfield Bench

I’ve loved Downtown 20 since the opened in 1996 and when I saw the Muirfield bench as a recommendation by Mary Douglas Drysdale in October’s Traditional Home, I knew it was going into this year’s Modenus’ Daily Wish List. It’s also available  in black but I’m on a color kick at the moment which is highly unusual for me, so let’s celebrate it – while it lasts – with a few more pieces from Downtown 20.

Scoop Chair works indoors and out equally well and personally I’m having visions of a pristine white bathroom with one of these as an accent.

And hopefully not the last glimpse of color in my otherwise largely monochromatic world, LOVE these Red Chow nesting table. Love, love, love in fact.

For more of their designs or a fab collection of vintage pieces head on over to Downtown 20 and please tell them we need them on Modenus, to keep some color in V’s life.

Snug furniture, Coast to Coast, Boutique Design and a love of ice cream- Don’t lick these chairs!

Should you find yourself in, or even near, New York today a trip to Boutique Design, or BDNY as it is known, may be required. And should you be lucky enough to find yourself there a trip to the Coast to Coast stand is a rather splendid idea. And when you reach the Coast to Coast stand, that’s booth 3071, you will find the new Snug Furniture Scoop Stool.

Inspired by the ever glamorous Maybelline Té’s love of ice cream they come in very many flavours. But please – don’t lick these chairs!

Things Modenus loves – Gotas armoire by Rotsen Furniture

Modenus and Rotsen Furniture go way back and Rotsen Furniture and I go back even further. I’ve been a fan of Rotsen’s gorgeous reclaimed wood designs for over a decade and love the juxtaposition of organic wood with modern shapes and materials that the company is known for but now they turn their attention to something new, and in my book the new style is good as gold.

From Leonardo Rotsen’s Brazilian Brilliance collection, this armoire is made with a combination of Peroba wood, gold leaf and rock crystals and at $7000 retail is worthy every penny and I’m assured that more pieces for the collection will be available soon. For more from Rotsen, please head over to their website.

Things Modenus Loves – beautiful, distinctive and modern furniture by David Rasmussen.

We are always keen to share beautiful, distinctive, modern furniture and were delighted to receive these images from David Rasmussen. This is the table that first caught our eye,  something you don’t see everyday, a table based on an artichoke. The top is an acrylic painting by Artist Scott Harris, the body is made from shop-molded plywood faced with  zebra wood veneer and coopered to form the elliptical shell.  Cocobolo legs are mortised into the shell. Never say we don’t give you details!  David Rasmussen is a Colorado based designer maker who produces one off pieces of furniture which are distinctive, modern and extremely well made. The designs may be contemporary but the furniture is constructed using traditional techniques and skills. Continue Reading…

Things Modenus Loves – Philippe Starck inspired chair by DSquared2 for Kartell

We first saw this at Salone in Milan but were reminded of it as we flicked through the pages of the latest issue of Mix, our favourite trends and design magazine from the good, and very clever, people at Global Color Research. And indeed, as Modenus UK gazes out of the window, he sees leaves turning brown, citizens in overcoats and a grumpy looking traffic warden putting a ticket on his car.  Oh.

Anyway, we love this chair designed by DSquared2 for Kartell. Of course if it sprouted new life in the Spring – that would be really cool! We think it should be called the ‘Autumn Chair’, you understand,  because ‘Fall Chair’ has rather different connotations. The twin duo Dean and Dan Caten designed this chair as a tribute to the city of Milan in interpretation of Philippe Starck’s Masters Chair.

Mix identify Ember as one of the four palettes which are the theme for its stand at 100% Design and choose this chair to illustrate it.  They will, no doubt, be telling us more as they have promised to escort our party of influential and prolific American and Canadian interior design and life style bloggers around the London show as part of Blogtour. And if you don’t know about Blogtour, where have you been?

Endesigns – furniture as unique as a hole in the ground

Endesigns is Katya Jovkovic and Ryan Brown and they make furniture in ways that other people haven’t thought of. Their Quarry Al range, for example, is the result of molding what they call ‘negative spaces in the earth’, and we call ‘ holes in the ground’ and casting them in aluminum. They cut away, they polish and they add mahogany elements and the results are unlike anything else you are likely to come across. This is their reception desk, an imposing piece of furniture if ever we saw one. Continue Reading…

Smitten with Soane

I was thrilled to see Soane join the already stellar line up of manufacturers at Modenus. I have been smitten with this British firm ever since I first saw one of their beautiful leather chairs years ago (the Casino chair is pictured below). Last fall I had the pleasure of meeting with Sarah Meeke from Soane, who brought me up to date on some of their latest projects.  Founded in 1997 by Lulu Lytle and Christopher Hodsoll, Soane’s seemingly simple goal is to provide architecturally inspired bespoke furniture and lighting. Continue Reading…

Turning the tables – The Capstan Table by DB Fletcher

This isn’t new but it is remarkable. Back in 1835 Robert Jupe,  patented his design for an expanding table. A century and a half later. DB Fletcher developed the Fletcher Capstan table. No one else makes them and DB Fletcher only make a few each year. It is a round table that is amazingly capable of doubling its seating capacity and, astonishingly, remains truly circular in the process. We have included a couple of videos, one shows the manual version the other automatic. They are spellbinding. Continue Reading…

A more relaxed park bench – by New Designer Minsung Lee

This made us smile when we saw it at the New Designers show in London. We hope it makes you smile too. To-gather by Minsung Lee from London Met University, is a park bench with a difference.  For a start, it is double sided, inviting you to lean over and converse with your fellow bench sitters. But even more striking is the angled seat which ,we first assumed, was intended to slide sitters into each others laps but which Minsung intends to be comfortable for those who prefer to be horizontal. Having worked with a number of public authorities who go to great lengths to dissuade people from using their furniture as a  place to spend the night we cant really see this appearing in your local park. But as we said, it made us smile and that always seems like a good enough reason to share.

Keeping it simple – Liam Treanor

We came across Liam Treanor at the New Designers show in London and were impressed by the simple elegance of his work.

Liam also shows a great understanding of the constraints of the industry and of batch manufacturing techniques as he strives to create quality furniture at a competitive price.

Focusing on the needs of the user rather than innovation for innovation’s sake he has produced a line which is distinctly Scandinavian in influence with shades of Modernism. Continue Reading…