Design Notes

Save up to 80% on International Contemporary Furniture.

You might be headed to New York, May 16–18, to go to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). If that’s the case (or if you’ll be in the area anyway because you, you know, live there), perhaps take some respite from the convention madness in Secaucus, New Jersey, at the DWR Annex Warehouse Sale. We’re offering a free shuttle bus to the Annex, leaving on the hour from our West 14th Street Studio in Chelsea. Arrive at the Annex to find customer returns and “scratch and dents” at deeper-than-usual discounts. We’ve got a ton of product to sell, including sofas, dining tables, case goods, workspace and more. Learn more here.

James’ Time.

We’ve been big fans of James Victore for years, having hosted his art exhibits in several of our Studios and just this year we launched an exclusive Victore-designed surfboard for Tools for Living. And while we like the idea of keeping his designs to ourselves, we cannot help but feel a little proud when we see his work gain broader exposure. After all, he is family.  Case in point: The above designed cover for Time’s issue featuring their annual list of the most influential people in the world. The magazine challenged graphic designers to submit their cover ideas and James made the top five. Even if we didn’t know him it would still be our favorite.

Google, meet Jeff Koons.

When I went to search for a restaurant today on Google, I knew instantly what I was seeing: Jeff Koons’ take on the Google logo. The internet powerhouse has gotten search page makeovers from designers/artists as diverse as Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Graves and Dale Chihuly. Not only can users choose news, email and games for a personalized Google homepage, but now they can play an active role in its actual design. Pretty cool. My fave: Nigo, founder and owner of hip-hop clothing label A Bathing Ape.

An old map made new.

Massimo Vignelli's somewhat-forgotten 1972 New York Subway map has been given new life thanks to Men’s Vogue. The iconic designer and his design team have updated the changes made to the subway system within the last 30 years and a limited run of 500 posters have been printed. Each is signed by Vignelli and available through Condé Nast, with each sale benefiting Green Worker Cooperatives , a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating worker-owned and environmentally sound cooperatives in the South Bronx.

Trading Spaces at the Annex.

This Saturday, Goil Amornvivat, of TLC's Trading Spaces fame, will be at the Annex to create an exclusive window design that will remain on display for a month. A percentage of sales at the Annex from May 3–11 will be donated to the Asian American Writing Workshop (AAWW) – a nonprofit devoted to fostering creative writing by Asian Americans – in the form of furniture for their new office space. Goil’s class at Parsons the New School for Design is currently designing the new space as part of a class-wide project and DWR is happy to help. Stop by this Saturday from noon to 4pm to meet Amornvivat. He may be able to give you a few helpful hints for your home.

The future in wool and concrete.

Design Miami/Basel has announced their 2008 Designers of the Future. Martino Gamper (whose If Gio Only Knew, pictured above, was exhibited during last year's conference), Max Lamb, Julia Lohmann and the team of Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram will be tasked with creating “a new object, installation or series using concrete and wool,” and will also provide a video detailing their process. These will all be exhibited at the Design Miami/Basel show in Switzerland, June 3–5, 2008. Learn more here.

Get on board.

On Thursday, March 27, the DWR Denver Studio hosted our Second Annual Design the Modern Board event. More than 250 people were in attendance and we raised nearly $2,000 for Snowboard Outreach Society – a nonprofit that provides mentoring and snowboarding opportunities for underserved youth.

In partnership with K2 Snowboards, we invited graphic designers throughout the Rocky Mountain region to submit snowboard designs. The winner of the contest, Lucas Oxoteguy of Loxo Design, will receive a K2 board featuring his design (pictured above center). Runners up Leonardo de la Rocha (above left), a student at the Art Institute of Colorado, and Melissa Kendrick (above right) of Ebb and Flow Design, will receive top sheets of their designs and a pair of K2 bindings.

Hapa Sushi donated sushi, which was beautifully displayed on snowboards and skateboards. Vodka 14 donated cases of their organic goodness and Izze donated cases of their fizz. We also had an amazing group of DJs in the Studio, all of whom donated their time. We were so amazed by the generosity of our neighbors and by the talent of Colorado’s graphic artists.

Posted by Amy Marshall, Proprietor, Denver Studio

Destroying a classic.

The above image, I’ll admit, caused me to wince. I thought, “who would do such a thing to such a perfect design?” The answer is Mark Wentzel, an artist in Georgia represented by Project 4 Gallery in Washington, D.C.  His “XLounge” is a conceptual piece focusing on the “masterful design of the Eames Lounge Chair and its significance today.” It is a statement on the chair and America’s consumption of products.

Restoring a classic.

DWR staffers get asked all the time, “where can I find a good restorer for an original Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman?” Today’s New York Times asks that exact question and their answer is a great resource for those with chairs that are showing their age.

News on Nouvel.

French architect Jean Nouvel has been awarded the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the industry’s highest honor. Acknowledged for his “courageous pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field,” the award is seen as a rebuke to his critics and a tribute to his unorthodox approach. Learn more about Nouvel’s notable and notorious career from this New York Times article.

Sitting on modern gold?

Much of the architecture and urban planning of Chandigarh, India, was designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in the 1950s (Corbusier’s Assembly Building is pictured above). As the New York Times reported last week, they also contributed a slew of furniture which, until recently, was being snatched up by international dealers who found these pieces of modernist history in city junkyards. Happily the city has now realized what was happening and taken measures to keep Chandigarh’s heritage intact.

La Fonda del Flor.

I received an email from Flor last week about the soon-to-launch Alexander Girard collection and in the commotion that was our Semiannual Sale, I forgot to post something here. (Bad.) Then I happened upon Dwell’s site today and saw the above image and I’m mightily impressed. (Good.) The La Fonda del Sol squares are picture-perfect and Dwell blogger Christopher Bright explains that "Girard wrote a letter to Herman Miller president D.J. Depree back in 1953 expressing interest in creating a modular carpet tile system.” That time has finally come for Mr. Girard.