Design Public

Every so often I receive these big tempting catalogs called “Neiman Marcus: The Book.” As an added bonus, there is often a copy of INCIRCLE entree*. The only times I ever yearn to be rich are when the Hartsfield-Jackson security line for serfs like me is endless and I long for my own jet, and when I flip through entree.

This photo was taken by Kevin Garrett, who scouted out the best places to stay in South Africa for the magazine. It is the lobby of The Saxon Boutique Hotel in South Africa. I love the way the baskets are composed, and the color and texture they give to the wall; texture tells the whole story in this room.  It seems very Vicente Wolf, whether it be something that would inspire him or something he would design. 17-hour flight in coach or not, I have been dreaming of going to this place ever since I read his article.

In fact, I couldn’t help but thing of  the Kelly Wearstler Santa Monica Viceroy Hollywood Regency version of adding texture to a wall with “native” round objects.  She keeps her color palette neutral (albeit what I call “Wearstler-crisp”) as well:

photo one by Kevin Garrett for Neiman Marcus INCIRCLE entree

photo two from KWID.com

*I can’t for the life of me figure out how to put the little thingee over the second “e” in entree. I can’t for the life of me remember what the thingee is called. Is it a tilde? I took Latin and Spanish, not French!  And “Intro to BASIC” instead of “Intro to HTML” or “Typing for Dummies”.

I just noticed this over at Urban Flea, who noticed it over at Home Rejuvenation. IKEA has moved into Monorail interiors; this one is the Kobe Portliner . I haven’t seen this much effort go into public transportation since Campbell Scott’s character in Singles campaigned for his SUPERTRAIN (”if you give them great coffee, and great music..I don’t know, people really love their cars.”).
 
Before that, it was probably Eero designing his new and exciting “moving waiting rooms” at Dulles. Although the interior design was sharp, they are actually shoeboxes on wheels that provide a bumpy stuffy ride over to the terminals. Saarinen or not, give me a people mover any day. Better yet, make me walk off my Biscoff cookie.Sadly, can you imagine how badly destroyed the interior above would be after one week in most U.S. cities? It would be tagged, burned, covered in lugees, etc.

I have so much to share with you about my 48 hour jaunt to Savannah I can’t even stand it. One question: Why are store owners so hinky about letting you take photos in their store? Creative theft? One gave some long excuse about the owner being a stylist for some magazine, which maybe made sense and she was very gracious about it and she recommended the best and cutest bakery to us, so whatever, but the one I really could not figure out was The Book Lady. This is the coziest most amazing little bookshop I’ve ever visited. It was right out of a movie - half first floor/half basement of a lovely Savannah house, filled with comfy chairs, floor-to-ceiling books, a fireplace, etc. When I asked to take a photo, the grumpy girl behind the counter who had just sold me $94 worth of used books made a face and mumbled something about “revealing specifics.” Apparently, in the cut-throat world of used book stores the titles they carry are top secret or something, I guess, I really don’t know what the big whoop was. In spite of the rudeness and the lack of photo, you must check out this shop, it really is amazing, especially when the man who farted out loud nonstop the entire 20 minutes I was in there is NOT present.

Now onto friendlier places, we are in love with Moss, located at 137 Bull Street. You can also check them out online.

The proprietors of Moss were much more gracious. I tell you what, someone must be a master merchandiser to make me think that a taxidermied (or was it freeze dried???) squirrel looks good on a wall, but they did.  In fact, this store fits in perfectly with the nature study aesthetic we’ve been featuring here recently.  They have  has everything from upholstered chairs to quilts, birds’ nests to journals, lovely jewelry to letterpress cards. It is an absolute no-brainer to find a beautiful and unique gift in there for just about anyone on your list, no lie. Thanks for letting me snap away, Moss guys!

Now this is how to merchandise:

I’ll be back tomorrow with more about Savannah. Right now the other half of my curry chicken salad sandwich on home made bread from Back in the Day Bakery is calling my name. Later!

Sometimes inspiration is right outside your own door, other times you have to travel far and wide to find it.  I am a cruddy photographer and was waiting to snag my travelmate Christina’s pictures from Prague to share with you, but we just can’t seem to get it together, so you’re stuck with mine for awhile.

I get inspired by little things, like the color of this wall and the shape of these windows:

As a landscape architect, I am obsessed with paving and patterns in the stones… (more…)

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I’ve been completely jet lagged after the 12 hours on the plane home from Prague and my brain has been a few sandwiches short of a picnic this week.   I know we’ve all seen the Vitra Panton chairs in all kinds of settings, from Elle Decor to The Real World: Austin house, but I spied my favorite context for them yet - Old Town Square in Prague.  Thought I’d share:

Hey All!  There’s a chance I may get to go to Prague next week.  I say chance because I have the worst buddy-pass karma in history and I don’t know if I’ll get a seat.   Perhaps if I do make it there, I’ll be stuck for months trying to get a flight home.   Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions of sites or favorite secret places they want to spill?  It’s my first time visiting the Czech Republic.

Thanks!

Becky

amazing photo from flickr member Gifted Gourmet

I admit it:  I’ve been letting the designer interviews fall by the wayside recently, and I’m so happy to get them going again.  I recently had the opportunity to have a cyberchat with Johnny West of Maku Furniture. Johnny is committed to working to live, leaving as small a footprint on this earth as possible, and surfing, among many other things! You can learn more about him and his adventurous globetrotting on his blog, and you can find the Maku Designs Collection here.

So Johnny, Please tell us a bit about the path that led you into designing furniture. How did your current company, Maku Furniture, come together and get off the ground?

I kind of say this in jest but the brand was born out of our desire to surf in Indonesia and was a joke between friends. “Oh hey we should start a furniture company so we can justify surf trips to Indo…” In reality, I have always been very much a design enthusiast. Be it cars, surfboards, architecture, or furniture I have always been intrigued by cool designs. I have made career in the Action Sports Industry and more specifically the Snowboarding Industry for the last 15+ years overseeing marketing and design for some of the top brands such as K2 (Global Brand Director – Snowboarding) and O’Neill (Brand Mgr / Director of Sales and Marketing). So a “work to live” philosophy is very prominent in my life. I wholeheartedly believe that you have to enjoy what you are doing and have fun in life! I have been fortunate enough to be able to live this mantra and make a career in an industry that I am very passionate about. However, as I have matured and been able to afford some of the nicer things in life, I saw that there was a distinct lack of really cool contemporary designed outdoor furniture in the marketplace. Sure there are some cool brands but a lot of them are almost to “sterile” and I wanted to create a brand that is open, inviting, accessible, casual, fun, yet very contemporary and talked to those people that are passionate design and lifestyle enthusiast such as myself. (more…)

Yesterday’s mail was so good - a great coupon to Saks Off Fifth, a scrumptious Elle Decor (I’ll tell you more about that when I have more time), the yellow and black old Playboy club ashtray I won on eBay, and a Sundance Catalog (it’s too much to ask to get a personal letter these days, so something impersonal from Robert Redford is as good as it gets). Check out the trailer they have on the cover - I thought it was just for styling, but it’s available for $24K. Here’s the product story:

This trailer was designed from plans dating back to the 1940’s and has been enhanced with modern-day functionality improvements. During the era of post depression, highway construction, and Roosevelt’s push for developing the National Parks, more people started traveling across the country. Teardrop trailers — or a “tent on wheels” — appealed to these travellers for many reasons: they were an upgrade to tents and they were lightweight enough to carry behind the “cars of the day”.

(more…)