They came to Can It!

 

Above, Can It! hostess Veronica Webb autographs her portrait. 

Last night, Design Within Reach's flagship SoHo Studio was transformed into a festive event space for Can It!, the gala benefit hosted by DWR and VIPP to raise money for DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. Five of the one-of-a-kind customized VIPP trash bins were auctioned live at the event. Flashbulbs popped as, under the supervision of Sotheby's auctioneer Benjamin Doller, Nigel Barker and Can It! hostess Veronica Webb auctioned off David Rockwell’s LED-covered bin for $6,500. Yoko Ono’s bin went for $3,400, and Ralph Lauren’s leather-clad bin closed at $3,000. Lady Bunny’s eyeful of a trashcan was auctioned off for $1,100 with the help of Evette Rios, and Veronica Webb’s Africa-inspired waste bin, complete with her portrait and the Robert Lee Morris tribal jewelry she wore in the photo, brought in a whopping $7,500.

 
Above, VIPP USA president (and grandson of VIPP founder Holger Nielsen) Kasper Egelund poses with Lady Pink's bin, which raised over $4,000. Below, some of the bins waiting to be won in the silent auction. You have to wonder what signature touches George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia and Charles Eames would have applied to their custom VIPP bin.

 
Between the live auction, silent auction and eBay auction, DWR and VIPP successfully raised over $50,000 for DIFFA.

Cranbrook comes to DWR.

The Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum hosted the 10th Annual National Design Awards on October 22, and the DWR E62nd Studio proudly offered our expansive split-level space to the Cranbrook Academy of Art's Alumni Reception to honor their winners and finalists. The illustrious crowd of designers and architects, both famous and soon-to-be famous, nibbled, imbibed and reunited merrily.

Luminaries in attendence included Lorraine Wild (2001 finalist), Neils Diffrient (2002 winner), Lucille Tenazas (2002 winner), Masamichi Udagawa (2003, 2006 finalist and 2008 winner - designer of the new subway trains and Metrocard machines for the MTA), Kathy and Mike McCoy (2005 winners) and Andrew Blauveldt (2009 winner, on behalf of the Walker Art Center), as well as noted inventor and industrial designer Eric Chan.

We had the opportunity to chat with Neils Diffrient who was charming, courtly and laugh out loud hilarious.  After going through the chairs that he designed in the DWR collection, he was game for a photo op, perching in his now iconic Freedom Chair with Headrest sandwiched by me and Reed Kroloff, Director of Cranbrook.

A great time was had by all, and the atmosphere was enhanced by the images of Cranbrook alumni Ray and Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia and Eero Saarinen that adorn our walls. For us design-obsessed DWR employees, it's a daily privilege to be associated with the Academy's amazing legacy. As the New York Times said in 1984, "the effect of Cranbrook and its graduates and faculty on the physical environment of this country has been profound...Cranbrook, surely more than any other institution, has a right to think of itself as synonymous with contemporary American design."

Posted by Jae Hah, Proprietor of DWR East 62nd Street Studio

Vipp VIPs.

If you’re in New York, check out the Vipp exhibit at our Tools for Living store in SoHo. On display and available for bidding are 35 Vipp bins that have been redesigned by Yves Behar, Calvin Klein, Nigel Barker and others. On October 28, the bins will be part of a charity auction benefiting DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). Shown above is Jes Gordon and her bin, which she describes as a “sunny disposition + gritty-ness = turning garbage into gold.” The materials used include Plexi, LEDs and an illustration by David Pfendler. Learn more here.

Buildings sang to him.

At DWR we're very excited about Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, the new documentary about the noted architectural photographer. We're honored to be able to introduce our audience to the film, which is both a moving biography of a true character, as well as an engaging primer on modernist architecture from the 1930s on. DWR is hosting several talks with Eric Bricker, who directed Visual Acoustics. Bricker spent seven years with Shulman, and knew his subject as a dear friend. In the first of our Q&A sessions, held at the DWR Flatiron Studio in New York, the first-time director shared clips of the film and spoke about his experience working with Shulman in the final years of the photographer's life. Visual Acoustics opens in New York on October 9 at Cinema Village. People in the Los Angeles area will have the chance to meet Bricker at the DWR Beverly Boulevard Studio on October 14 (as a sneak peek just before the film opens there on October 16). Check back here soon for DWR's full review of the engrossing film. Below, Bricker rests post-Q&A in his favorite piece of mid-century modern design, the Eames Lounge and Ottoman.

Announcing the winners of the DWR | Tabletop Contest!

Sincerest congratulations to:

DWR Staff Prize: Fred Carriedo, who takes home the Grand Prize of four Singe Dinnerware sets, as well as the Amsterdam Flatware and one Water Pitcher.

Community Prize: Nicole Lanteri will receive a $50 DWR Gift Card.

Random Prize: Mary Rauch will receive a $50 DWR Gift Card.

Thank you to all who entered – there were many great ideas to select from. Keep on the lookout for a new DWR contest soon.

From the CEO: What is of value to you?

I have had a lot of discussions lately regarding “value” versus price. Probably stimulated by an earlier blog post by moi. It really is an interesting subject, and it varies by person and topic. What is of value to one is, well, not so much of value to someone else. Or as my mother used to say, “one man’s garbage is another’s treasure.” 

But I have been giving this subject a lot of thought and would like to know what you all think on the subject. In the times we are living in, it seems very relevant to me. We are faced with green washing, organic everything, and so many claims that it is hard to tell fact from fiction and really understand the impact on our lives that some of these decisions may make. 

Is the organic avocado that was flown in from Peru really a good thing? Is the hybrid luxury SUV that gets all of 19 miles per gallon really a good thing? Or in our case: Is an authentic reproduction of an Eames chair that is three times the price of an unauthorized one really worth the difference? 

DWR celebrates (fashion) design.

Tribeca recently hosted an event to kick off NYC Fashion Week. Part of NYC Fashion’s Night Out, this fun soiree was filled with beautiful people, great music and amazing designs. Preston Lee and Yotam Solomon exhibited three presentations of haute interior design with haute fashion using DWR products. You may remember Lee from Bravo’s Top Design, season two. He creates spaces with an old Hollywood aura and a modern twist. Yotam Solomon is the youngest designer ever to show at Los Angeles Fashion Week. This Israeli-born prodigy is already an editorial favorite and has been featured in Women’s Wear Daily and British Vogue for his beautiful ready-to-wear collections as well as his amazingly cutting-edge, high-fashion shoe designs. 

This weekend: tables, chairs, sofas, desks…oh my.

We’re having  three Warehouse Sales at our Annex locations, this Saturday and Sunday. The Annexes – in Palm Springs, Cleveland and Secaucus, New Jersey – are receiving large shipments of seconds and customer returns. You’ll find sofas and lounge chairs up to 50% off, workspace and bedroom furniture at up to 60% off and dining tables as much as 70% off. This time though, we’re making things a little more interesting: For the serious bargain hunters out there, we’ve added a “deeper discount” section that will include the same great stuff, but for a lot less (potentially with a few more dings and dents). Plus, each location will be holding raffles for free merchandise. Click here to learn more and find a DWR Warehouse Sale near you.

Optimism is the new black.

Here at the Philadelphia Studio, we’re definitely in agreement with Adam Garcia of 160over90, our local winner of the Paulistano Uncovered Design Competition, that “happiness is where you find it.” His design for a new cover for the classic Brazilian sling chair, called Optimism Script (below), gave us something to smile about. Local designers filled the Studio last week to celebrate DWR’s newest design competition, which was started to celebrate innovative emerging designers and held at five Studios nationally. 

Dolls for a great cause.

It may have been raining in New York City on July 23, but that didn’t stop people from coming out for the highly anticipated Nesting Works event at DWR: Tools for Living in Soho. The event, which was a benefit for the New York-based charity organization Housing Works, was just as flooded with guests as the streets were with rain. 

Tools for Living invited eight artists, designers and illustrators – Claw Money, West One, Aaron Meshon, Mike Perry (pictured after the jump), Alison Riley, Travis Cain, David Zachary and Heidi Kenney – to each interpret our blank Matryoshka Dolls. While some of the artists, like Heidi Kenney (pictured above), did a rather traditional interpretation of the Russian dolls, others, like industrial design duo David Zachary, turned the whole concept upside-down, transforming the dolls into a set of functional lamps.