Some of you may have been as stunned as I was when Eileen Gray’s Dragon Chair went for $28 million at the Yves Saint Laurent auction a year ago. While I find this figure rather ridiculous, I glean a lot of inspiration from my latest book acquisition, EILEEN GRAY. I’m also seeing some of the roots of Kelly Wearstler’s latest Bravura Modern phase (I’ve been trying to understand that since that Domino with her pool house in it came out). Now I am starting to see it everywhere!

You are probably more familiar with the Eileen Gray side table. They use it on practically every episode of HGTV’s The Stagers (I love that show, Canadian accents are the greatest, eh?):

My latest inspirations have come from her early play with geometry, namely the squares and rectangles she seemed to embrace before she got into curves. The following are from her lacquer phase:

Her Bilboquet Table: I love those Jenga-like legs!:

This woman was rocking tassels on her Lotus Table before Jonathan Adler’s parents, maybe even his grandparents, were even born:

You know, this post is going to get to darn long. I think I’ll stop here before Monday is over and continue showing you some treats from the fabulous Ms. Gray next Monday!

Dragon Chair image via Unbeige

Side Table image via amazon

All other images via EILEEN GRAY: Design and Architecture, published by TASCHEN

Name: Ellen and Everett

Where do you live? Oakland, CA

What do you do? Sr. Public Events Manager, UC Berkeley

DP Purchase/s: Pkolino Little Reader Chair

How would you describe your design style? Modern with a splash of vintage and craftsman, and a dash of romper-room for good measure

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? That amazing blue that you see in the sky at the very top (which is especially visible on cloudless sunny days).

Any favorite design ideas? I’ve started re-using my son’s favorite cool shirts to make into Read the rest of this entry »

We dropped in on the always delightful DwellStudio booth at the New York Gift Show yesterday. Here’s a preview from their soon-to-be-available Spring 2010 collection. More to come!

DwellStudio Peacock Bedding at the NY Gift Show:

I love to keep an eye on Lady Gaga’s wardrobe. She is the first person who has really kept me interested in all of her changes since Madonna.

While most people would think of Glenda the Good Witch when they see this, I think of…

The Bird’s Nest from the Beijing Olympics, by Herzog and de Meuron:

• Gaga image from who2.com.
• Nest image from archdaily

Phil says there are going to be six more weeks of winter. Why console yourself by grabbing a copy of Groundhog Day and laughing at Bill Murray tonight?

image from amazon.com