I'm seeing Rex Ray's work a lot these days – in print magazines and stationary shops. This weekend I’ll finally get to see the real deal and I can’t wait. In conjunction with the release of Chronicle Books' Rex Ray, Art + Design, Gallery 16 in San Francisco is presenting its sixth solo exhibition of Ray’s new paintings and collages. For gallery hours and directions click here.
Posted by Kristine Langevin
Gift season is upon us, and DWR’s Tribeca Studio has partnered with the brand new website Supermarket to put together another great lineup of independent product designers for their third annual ModernMart. Most items will be under $100, and the objects range from gourmet soaps to handmade journals to modern jewelry, t-shirts, wallets, trays, and ties. The first 100 people in the door will receive a goodie bag, complete with the latest issue of Domino. Champagne, chocolates, and brownies from Mari’s New York will be served. As a special treat, Tim Harrington, who is not only half of featured design team Deadly Squire, but also the lead singer of Les Savy Fav, will be acting as the resident DJ for the evening, playing his iPod on the Geneva Sound System.
November 29, 2007 | Kimberly Oliver
DWR has ventured into the realm of consumer electronics with the addition of the Geneva Sound System to our collection. When I first saw it, the Geneva stereo inspired a classic case of purely superficial design lust. Apparently the Geneva sounds as sophisticated as it looks. While this doesn't really affect my personal purchasing decision, those of you in the New York area who ARE concerned with the interior and exterior capabilities of the stereo are invited to DWR SoHo's Studio on Tuesday, November 27 to hear Fabian Meier, CTO of Geneva Lab and a leader of Geneva's in-house design team, explain the technology behind the stereo and how it fits into the tradition of furniture for music that started a century ago with the Victrola. You can bring your CDs, turntables, or MP3 player and try out the system with your own musical selections. As a bonus, one lucky attendee will go home with a black iPod Nano, perfectly suited for use with the Geneva.
November 26, 2007 | Erin Brown
Michael Moreau, proprietor of our Cambridge Studio, is one snappy illustrator. His turkey seems to be channeling Poiret.
Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at DWR. Our offices and Studios are closed for the holiday but you can shop online all day and in between courses.
As the buyer for our new Tools for Living assortment, I had the pleasure of attending last month’s 100% Design Tokyo event. The conference was the impetus for the trip, but the real goal was to get lost on the streets of the city and learn how design plays a role in Japanese culture.
That role is huge. From the delicately wrapped packages in the Daikanyama boutiques to the careful preparation of my Yakitori (skewers of chicken and vegetables), presentation is fundamental here. There was a woman who was working on a relatively small flower arrangement (Ikebana) outside of my hotel room when I left at 8am. I returned to my room around 4pm, and she was just putting the finishing touches on the arrangement.
I ended my trip with a quick stop by the Senso-ji temple. Although a bit of a tourist trap, I came by the temple on a surprisingly quiet day. Looking at the gentle sloping roof of the temple and the Buddhas guarding the parks outside of it, I saw the principles of Tools for Living abound: The simplicity of structures from times past, purposeful in their design and function.
Posted by Kari Woldum, Tools for Living buyer
November 21, 2007 | DWR
I was in Manhattan late last month to view MoMA’s Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modernist Architecture, 1922–32. Those of us waiting for the corresponding lecture were queued in a corner of the second floor, overlooking the main gallery where an installation of work by Martin Puryear was taking place. As much as I was focused on Soviet modernism, I was transfixed by what was going on below. Puryear’s art is gloriously accessible, with its use of traditional materials (mostly wood) and craftsmanship that evoke the elegantly functional Shaker style or that of Isamu Noguchi. Unfortunately for me, the show was opening days later, when I’d be back on the West Coast. Still, I’m grateful for the look I had. To read more about the exhibit and Puryear click here.
Posted by Kristine Langevin
I knew of the California College for the Arts’ (CCA) command in the design world (afterall, our chief creative officer Jennifer Morla teaches there and last fall we sponsored a furniture production class), but it wasn’t until the New York Times article, “Where ‘ART’ Has Met Craft For 100 Years” that I learned of its history and inclusion of craft. Jazzed from the article, I took Bart across the bay to check out the Oakland Museum of California and Artists of Invention: A Century of CCA. The show is packed with more than 120 works ranging from painting and photography to video and mixed media. Some names were familiar to me – Richard Diebenkorn, Squeak Carnwath, John McCraken and Peter Voulkos – but many weren’t, so it was cool to get a visual history lesson of West Coast art. The exhibit runs though mid March and is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Posted by Kristine Langevin
This week we opened a 2nd DWR Studio in Las Vegas. Like all other DWR Studios, this new Studio has custom wall graphics depicting images tied to their home city. I think this may be the coolest Studio graphic in the country: Liberace in a bathtub. Need I say more? It’s fun, fabulous and oh so Vegas, baby.
We often write about museums here at Design Notes, but none have gotten me as excited Nestlé’s Chocolate Museum in Mexico City. I am a chocoholic and I must make this trip.
The museum is also an incredible modernist structure that was built in less then three months. Conceived by Rojkind Arquitectos, it is reminiscent of a giant, red origami worm. It leaves me wondering if I’d be more impressed with the building’s design or its sugary contents.
At the Venice Biennale (the bi-annual international art exhibit in Venice), I spotted Ero/S/ Chairs in a work of art by Isa Genzken at the German Pavilion. Genzken’s work employs wood, plaster, epoxy resins and above all concrete – the materials of modernism – but primarily synthetics, as well as everyday objects. She places design classics alongside cheap camping chairs, clothing, kitschy figures and plastic dolls and animals.
Running through November 21, there are 76 countries represented at the Biennal. This year’s exhibition is tilted Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present was curtated by Robert Storr. If your travels take you nearby in the next couple weeks, be sure to make the stop.
Posted by Jackie Hoving
Wendy Scuccimarra, an account executive at DWR’s Greenwich Studio, forwarded me some information on the possible demolition of Philip Johnson’s Alice Ball House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The house, what Johnson called his “little jewel,” was built for a single woman and rests on 2.2 acres. The current owner, Christina Ross, is trying to sell the home for an asking price of three million. Hopefully, someone will pony up, pay the three million and restore the home. It would be a sad day to lose the structure, especially within the same city limits of the Glass House. The Stamford Advocate has more on the issue here.
Niketown’s Visual Director found inspiration in DWR’s Archimede Laptop Caddy as the ideal method to display the 2007 collection Doernbecher Freestyle 4 shoes at six Niketown stores across the country. Custom graphics were applied to each caddy to describe the inspiration behind each patient’s design. Each year since 2004, a Nike shoe designer has teamed with a patient who has been treated for serious illness at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, OR. Through each of the six patient/designer partnerships, a unique pair of original “freestyle” sneakers is designed and produced. Thus far, more than $500,000 has been raised for the children's hospital. Shoes can be viewed and purchased at Niketown stores in Portland, OR, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York City. Learn more about the program and the designers and purchase sneakers on Nike’s website here.
Posted by Janell Anderson
Get out of the sun and into our Coconut Point, Florida, Warehouse Sale for big savings on first-quality samples, new in-the-box overstocks and discontinued outdoor furniture. Click here for details.
November 9, 2007 | DWR
To offset the eye candy pouring out of blogs like Blue Ant Studio and MoCo Loco, I regularly check out Design Observer for writings on design, media and visual culture. Lately I’ve been paying particular attention to the Recommended Books sidebar. (Admittedly, it’s shopping – and books are one of the rare things I don’t second guess my need for.) My first purchase was Michael Beirut’s Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design. He’s a founding writer at the Observer, a partner at Pentagram, worked for Vignelli Associates for 10 years (just out of college, can you imagine?) and I like the way he writes firsthand about his design life experiences.
Charlie Harper: An Illustrated Life was my next purchase. I’d known his work for some time, but it was his print exhibit and sale at the Dwell on Design conference that stoked me to get the book – and Design Observer that reminded me I needed it.
Then, last week I noticed Maira Kalman’s new book, The Principles of Uncertainty. I’ll buy anything she does, having first been smitten years ago with Max Makes a Million. Sure enough, my fresh copy arrived yesterday and I stayed up too late reading the first 150 pages. Check out the video just posted today of Maira discussing The Principles of Uncertainty at the New York Public Library.
Posted by Kristine Langevin
November 9, 2007 | DWR
Milliner and eccentric designer Philip Treacy has branched out from theatrical hats and is now designing interiors. His designs for the g, a glamorous hotel in Galway, are as luxe and colorful as his fashions.
Though the hotel opened some time ago, Shelter just this month featured a layout on the place. And it definitely caught my eye. It’s a hotel that mixes modern and traditional as effectively as it mixes its color palette.
