Equestrian Elegance - Revisited

What happens when you combine the Equine world and one of Frances top designers - a clean, timeless and impeccably detailed space.  Enter François Champsaur and his Yearling Auction House in Dauville, France.  I have a love and fascination with horses and rode for most of my childhood and adolescence (see Equine Elegance post one here) and so for me this is the perfect marriage of the French design philosophy at the moment and one of my lifelong loves. What I find truly amazing about this space is that he has personified the refinement of the equine world in a contemporary way, something that we aren't accustom to - usually it is all about pomp and pageantry.  While I wonder how the space actually functions, for me the aesthetic is so successful that really does it matter? Sometimes not...

Photos courtesy of Francois Champsaur

Quintessentially New York

Life gets busy!  Every once in a while you need to stop, take a moment and relax with those who are important to you.  It has been forever since my husband and I went for a Friday night drink after work, and so we decided that it was time to bring that tradition back.  With both our office in mid-town Manhattan we decided that it would be good to stay close and so decided on the recently opened Viceroy Hotel restaurant and bar Kingside.  Designed by Roman + Williams the oober cool NYC company, the interior is everything on would expect - rich woods, interesting lighting and cool details.  While the cocktails were true to NY prices and strength, the atmosphere was buzzing and really was a great choice for our step back into the NY scene - and seeing as it is down the street from my work I am sure to visit again.

Grubstreet

Kingside

Items of Interest - Part 4

It's no secret that emerald green was one of the colors of the year.  With fashion, fabrics and design making it a feature, it seems that it really was everywhere (even posted about it here).  So when I came across this table by François Champsaur on one of my searches I thought that it would make a nice end to this week of Items of Interest.  Manufactured by the French master metalworkers Pouenat, the shape, color and changes in plane make this piece fun and functional.  

Pouenat

PS - I am happy to say that I have finally joined the world of Instagram and I am addicted.  For all of you that want to share I can be found at handle @abaraness.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Items of Interest - Part 3

British artist Sam Orlando Miller's work has been in the design world for a few years now,  and while perusing Gallery FUMI in search of inspiration for my meeting I came across his mirrors once again and just had to include them in this weeks feature.  His play with different mirror finishes and colors, shapes as well as the positive and negative makes his work truly unique.  These are gallery quality pieces (and come with a price tag to match) each is hand-crafted and after seeing them in person, more stunning than you can imagine. As with most coveted design items these days, there are knockoffs a plenty (Restoration Hardware and West Elm to name a couple). So if you just have to have one, there are budget versions available, however don't expect the same detail, depth or craftsmanship - that is reserved for Sam's pieces.

 Sam Orlando Miller

Items of Interest - Part 2

There has been a surge in the design world with brass and copper.  What has been thought to be 'traditional' (and sometimes tacky in it's likeness to gold) is now regarded of as 'cool' and 'refined'. The Cloche lamp by Lars Beller Fjetland fits perfectly into this scenario. By creating an anchored cast iron base, the ash wood stem of the lamp rises elegantly to the bell-shaped shade which were made in either brass or copper - I think that the copper adds that extra little bit to it. The piece comes in four essay to assemble parts and really plays to the Norwegian designer's fascination with how materials and form work together.  Unfortunately this piece is just a prototype, but hopefully in the support of up-and-coming designers we will be able to have pieces like this on our projects soon.

Trendland

Items of Interest - Part 1

I have been doing research for a project into new and interesting Galleries, suppliers and artist.  As designers I feel that we are always searching for what is new, exciting and interesting and this project is no exception - especially since the client has several other properties and seems to know everything about the industry and the furnishings we show her.

Over the next couple of days I thought it would be good to share the things that have really stood out to me, and while we aren't using them, perhaps they can help inspire other designers or those reading for what they need. Hope you all enjoy!

The Virtu Series by DE INTUÏTIEFABRIEK (a Dutch design studio) features this wonderful vanity/dressing table.  I am not a girly girl, however there is something about this table that makes me want to sit, take time, and be a girl!  With it's simple palette, lines and change in finishes for me this vanity really is everything one should be.

Priveekollektie

Ed Burtynsky : Water

One of my favourite photographers is Canadian artist Ed Burtynsky.  His work is primarily focussed on the many ways in which humans impact the earth and is always on a monumental scale.  His latest series which is now on exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery here in New York (until November 2nd) is entitled Water and the subject matter is just that.  Our world as we know it would not be possible without water and he has captured some really amazing and artful ways in which we manipulate exploit it.  I love the scale of his subject and how every photo is truly beautiful and ones eyes search for a reference point or some sense of scale to understand the reality of the subject.  It is a truly spectacular talent he has and I recommend andy opportunity you have to see his work.

Photos courtesy of the Howard Greenberg Gallery and Ed Burtynsky

All in the Detail

Happy Friday all. It has been a great week of travel - another trip to Florida - and client meetings. I was doing some research into modern staircases and found this amazing images that I wanted to share.  I think that so often we as designers get caught up in trying to re-invent the wheel when coming up with an idea for our clients, however nothing is really 'new'.  Well that is exactly what I love about this staircase - it is a simple stair, however with the use of two different finishes of wood, and a clever design detail, you get something contemporary while still being timeless.  Very clever and very sharp!

Staircase by Clemens Bruns Schaub Architects

Beauty in Brazil

Set just outside Sao Paolo, sits the wonderfully elegant linear architectural wonder that is Casa Lee.  By the always stunning modernist firm Marcio Kogan Architects, the house is nestled into the tropical landscape in true Brazilian style.  Set in it's lush surroundings, the house has an amazing ability to morph the interior spaces into the exterior with teak flooring becoming decking and glass walls sliding away.  The materials are simple, elegant and support the grand architectural gestures simply and elegantly. 

Luxury Culture

Farnsworth House

I am so pleased to have a guest here with us today - my father!  When my parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago we did a little architectural tour of Connecticut.  Before arriving in the New York area however they spent a little time in Illinois, visiting Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House just outside Chicago.  Seeing as my father is an architect and architectural professor in France I thought that this would be a great opportunity to have him write about Mies' glass house seeing as I spoke about our trip to Johnson's house here.  Merci!

Visit to the Farnsworth House - Plano, Illinois

designed by Mies van der Rohe 1949 1951

StudyBlue

This summer we had the privilege delight of visiting the Farnsworth House. Coming from Europe we booked our visit long time in advance. The tickets, the authorisation to have inside private photography, the car, the GPS, all were ready even the sun was at the rendez-vous.

An hour and 15 minutes from downtown Chicago we arrived in rural, farmland Illinois. Along a small country road a sign indicate the “visiting centre“.

After the formalities we watched a short movie that introduced us to all the details related to the history of the house: Dr. Edith Farnsworth, Ludwid Mies van der Rohe, how they met at a dinner party where she had apparently organized to be sited next to him, how she asked him to recommend an architect, and how he said that he could do it.

Mies previous house the Tugendhat dated from 1930 and was a very large house built in Europe with an unlimited budget [1]. So almost 20 years later Mies got the opportunity to build a real glasshouse.

By that time Mies was well established in North America, he was the dean of architecture at IIT and had gained recognition. With the Farnsworth commission he was given the opportunity to build a project that would represent his ideas about architecture.

Indeed the Farnsworth is the realisation of Mies’ ideals:

“The Farnsworth House consists of three horizontal planes: a terrace, a floor and a roof. Welded to the leading edge of each plane are steel columns that keep them all suspended in mid-air. Because they do not rest on the columns, but merely touch them in passing, these horizontal elements seem to be held to their support by magnetism. Floor and roof appear as opaque planes defining the top and bottom of a volume whose sides are simply large panel of glass. The Farnsworth House is, indeed, a quantity of air caught between a floor and a roof “[2]

Finished in 1951 it is still a grand lady worth the detour.

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[1] I would recommend reading the book by Simon Mawer “The Glass room “ Little, Brown Book Group a fictional account of the history of that house.

[2] H.R. Hitchcock, A.Drexler, Built in USA : Post-war Architecture, NY, Simon and Schuster 1952 p 20-21

The Glass House

My parents were visiting this past week and so in true 'holiday with my dad' fashion we went on an architectural tour of Connecticut last Saturday.  Since there was so much to see I will be splitting out our day over several posts (even keep your eye out for a guest post) and what a better way to start then with our first stop Philip Johnson's Glass House.  

The Glass House

Completed in 1949 this building, just shy of 1,800 sq.ft. was built as a weekend retreat for Johnson and his partner.  With relatively uninterrupted views over the surrounding woodlands, this 'pavilion' as it's called, really is a little piece of heaven.  Large glass panels make up the walls - even called by Johnson as "expensive wallpaper" - with steel structure that sit at each of the four corners.  The palette is simple and uncomplicated really allowing one to feel as though you are part of the surrounding landscape. The glass walls are cleverly punctuated by a centrally located full-height door on each side, giving the house a great through draft and keeling the symmetry apparent.

The only solid structure of the house is a brick-clad cylinder that houses the bathroom on one side and the fireplace on the other.  The interior of the bathroom is covered with green mosaic tiles that mimic the greenery outside, and then a completely decadent leather ceiling. LOVE! The house is furnished almost entirely by Mies van der Rohe furniture which came from Johnson's New York apartment.

On the property there are several other buildings acting as art galleries for Johnson's extensive collection and a guest house - known as the brick house as it's exterior walls brick, punctuated only by three relatively small round windows the back.  Only an hour drive outside of Manhattan the house is in New Canaan and would be appreciated equally by those in the design field and those not.