Design Public

I am particularly fond of viewing photos of Design Public products in action…like folks swinging on a Fatboy Headdemock, or modeling with their Vitra Nelson Clock, or dressing up their OFFI My Pet Lamp. In this case, the “action shot du jour” is of four legged friend Mr. Buddy scratching his little heart out on a Marmalade pet care Sweet Lounge Cat Bed and sitting on a Hepper Wave Pet Bed. Obviously, Mr. Buddy’s owner, Anthony, has done a might fine job of pampering his purry pal.

Name: Anthony and Mr. Buddy (the cat)

Where do you live? Seattle, WA

What do you do? Director of Development

DP Purchase/s: Marmalade pet care Sweet Lounge Pet Bed, Hepper Wave Pet Bed, Hepper Nest Pet Bed, Weegee Floor Lamp.

What’s your favorite DP product and why? All the cat goodies. Mr. Buddy (our cat) can’t live without them! All the items in pet stores are bland.

How would you describe your design style? Retro modern

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Take a look at our Flickr friends find: Kim Gombes. I saw Kim’s photo on Flickr of her Hybrid-Home Limited Edition Print Visible Robot and knew right away that I wanted to see more. Lucky for us Kim wanted to attack the challenge of photographing the print as it glowed in the dark…AWESOME!

Name:
Kim Gombes.

Where do you live?
San Diego, CA

What do you do?
Former T.V. News Producer now Stay-at-Home Mom to my 4-year-old son.

DP Purchase/s:
Hybrid-Home Visible Robot Print by Brian Flynn. I bought it as a birthday gift for my husband (because it reminds me of him). It’s cool. It glows in the dark, which I was not aware of when I purchased it and we had quite the surprise the night after I hung it.

What’s your favorite DP product and why?
I love DP’s selection of Sustainable Modern Kids and Baby Products. I feel good about (more…)

DP customer Mary Krefting has it made. 1.) Her oldest child, Mason (age 3), is brilliant. To Mason, a Zid Zid Poof is not just a Zid Zid Poof. Instead, it is a vast mountain for his train set to coast around. Genius! 2.) Her youngest, Sofia (age 1), is the perfect floor model to accompany a TrueModern’s Orange 4 Drawer Dresser (seen below). Well done, Mary. Well done.

Name:
Mary Krefting

Where do you live?
Marin County, CA

What do you do?
Video game Designer turned Homemaker and Mom of 2 (Mason, age 3, and Sofia, age 1).

DP Purchase/s:
Fauna Balsa Wall Hanging Camel Print, Zid Zid Kids Silver Poofs, True Modern Orange 4 Drawer Dresser.

What’s your favorite DP product and why?
True Modern Orange 4 Drawer Dresser because it pulled my son’s room together beautifully and is easy for him to open and close the drawers himself so he can choose his own clothes in the morning.

How would you describe your design style?
I like clean, modern, meaningful furniture (more…)

Ever drool over the thought of a new rug with a striking design but you are not sure how the pattern may work in your space? Meet Christina & Alex. Their Vail mountain home is a fantastic source of inspiration, showcasing the Thomas Paul Feathers rug in plum and cream. Notice how the Thomas Paul Swallows and Buds accent pillows in plum on their couch perfectly tie the rug in to the room. Enjoy!

Name:
Christina & Alex

Where do you live?
Vail, Colorado

What do you do?
Christina is a small business owner

DP Purchase/s:
Thomas Paul Rug Feather in Plum and Cream

How would you describe your design style?
Classic, modern design

If you could redo any space, past or present, what would it be?
We regularly redo our great room with rotating accent colors for a fresh look, yet keep the larger pieces of furniture the same

What’s your favorite color or material?
Black and taupe/creme with rotating accent colors — this season’s accent color in our great room is ‘eggplant’ (more…)

The newest addition to the DP family: Mod Mom Furniture. Mod Mom, aka Kiersten Hathcock, personally designs and builds all of her modern, mid-century inspired children’s furniture from her home garage.

Personally, I think it is hard to beat beautiful handmade furniture built by a mom with a power saw.

Enjoy the Q&A!

We know a little bit about your story…ex-TV network marketing executive turned stay-at-home mom turned self-taught furniture designer/builder. I absolutely love that you went for the power tools rather than the sewing machine or knitting needles. Now we want the full scoop. How did Mod Mom Furniture really get off the ground?

Mod Mom Furniture really came out of me needing two things: 1.) Another source of income (since we lost my salary) and 2.) An outlet to channel all the drive and creativity that surprisingly didn’t go away when I decided to stay home with the kids (then 6-months and 4-years). After leaving the corporate world, I took freelance marketing jobs and even nannied to help make ends meet but also be home with the kids. During that time, in 2005, I rekindled my love for woodworking while building a tiki bar and luau tables with a friend for my husband’s birthday party. I had forgotten how much fun it was to build and started to really think about how I could turn it into a business.

I started very slowly building toy bins and selling them to friends (who were kind enough not to point out the flaws because they wanted to be (more…)

Every so often we like to acknowledge our longtime friends, a.k.a. repeat DP customers. This week we were honored to meet Rachel Clarke and take a sneak peek into her DP decked out home. Enjoy!

Name: Rachel Clarke

Where do you live? Los Angeles, California

What do you do? VP of Finance for a Public Relations firm in NYC.

DP Purchase/s: Blu Dot GoCart Bookcase and 2d:3d In/Out Box; Vessel Squat Bench & Flop Cushion; Everyday Studio pet water dish; Hepper Wave Pet Bed and Pod Pet Bed; Offi Scoop Table.

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Designers Matthew and Ariana Broerman of Paper Cloud have brought a truly handmade approach to design. All of their pieces, from journals to pillows to cards to lampshades, are made solely by the duo in their Cincinnati studio.

If you are on the hunt for a geniunely handmade item for your home, Paper Cloud is a great place to start. Enjoy the Q&A!

I find it inspiring that you two went from making handmade holiday cards for your friends and family to starting a business as extensive as Paper Cloud. A dream for many of us (myself included)! How did Paper Cloud come together and get off the ground?

When we started Paper Cloud in the fall of 2005, we had both been working as designers for two years in Cincinnati. We got great responses from the cards we were making for friends and family and we loved the idea of working and designing for ourselves. Matt comes from a very entrepreneurial family, and he grew up seeing the freedom and flexibility you have when you own your own business. Both of those things (more…)

Spring is just around the corner so now is the time to start thinking about outdoor living. With the warm welcome of sunny days ahead, let me introduce the Zen Outdoor Bench by Aric Mayer and Marni Saling of Aidan Olive. The Zen Outdoor Bench is beautifully crafted using local materials, local builders, and local facilities. Enjoy the Q&A!

I am very curious about both of your previous experiences or “past lives”…

Aric, you appear to be a man of many artistic talents. I noticed that you have worked with all sorts of mediums such as paint, wood, film, photography…you even learned how to build your own tools! How has your artistic background impacted your designs and business practices? How would you describe your design style/philosophy?

AM: It seems that what I work in comes first from a personal need to be in that medium. Then I start at the beginning and strip the materials back to their basics. With painting for a while I went all the way back to Vasari’s notes and made all my own paint and ground from scratch, (more…)

I am pleased to introduce the newest baby and kid furniture line to be added to our site: Spot on Square. Co-founders, Bob and Nicole Springer bring a clean and calm collection to the scene, keeping unnecessary noise away from your child’s treasured space.

The Hiya series, a nickname given to Bob and Nicole’s son by his twin sister, conveys a childlike sense of purity, simplicity and sustainability. Enjoy!

Where did the name Spot on Square come from?

Our son was drawing on the driveway with chalk. He had drawn a square with a circle in it. When I asked him about it he referred to as the spot in the square. Nicole and I thought this was great graphically and began to think about how we could use it. After a bit of thought we came up with Spot On Square. We felt that this was a good fit being a bit of a play on words yet it was quite playful at the same time.

Bob, you appear to have quite an extensive industrial design background. Tell us about your experiences and how has it evolved into to starting Spot on Square? How about being a father, how has this played a role?

I had the opportunity as an undergrad student to be an understudy to an eccentric Finnish designer named Stefan Lindfors. During this time I worked on a number of furniture projects and gained a love for furniture design. My time since has been primarily in a corporate environment. (more…)

Jed Crystal of Hepperâ„¢ has done exactly what I have hoped someone would do with pet products…he has created pieces that are aesthetically pleasing (especially for a modern home) while also perfectly functional for your furry friend. A true master of form and function.

If Jed Crystal is the designer, who then is Hepper? Hepperâ„¢ is the name of a rat-cat who moved in with Jed and was subsequently nicknamed Hepper (as Jed notes, “short for Hepburn, as in Audrey, as in elegant, beautiful and oh-so stylish”). Hepper is now the official product tester for all Hepperâ„¢ pieces. Enjoy the Q&A!

You seem to be a man of many hats. I saw that you have history and experience designing backpacks, gloves, footwear, lighting, furniture, housewares and now for pets. My goodness! What was the turning point that led you into pet design? How did Hepperâ„¢ come together and get off the ground?

Design is around me all the time – I’m the guy who is under tables in the furniture stores looking at joinery – so the pet products have actually been brewing for quite a while. The first inspiration was when Booker (big fat “shadow tiger” cat) came to live with me 12 years ago. He’s had (more…)