Paradise by the Sea

With all this freezing weather we seem to be having, isn’t it just time for a sunny getaway? I was warmed instantly by this stunning open villa in San Salvador designed by Cincopatasalgato Architecture and was itching to share.  With a palette made of primarily of whites, natural materials and some concrete this retreat really is all about the view and the volumes.  After having to rely so heavily on heating for the last couple of months, wouldn't it be amazing to be able to just forget about the walls?? 

Photos coutesy of Cincopatasalgato Architecture

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

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

Film Review : Oyler House

Last week was the Architecture and Design Film Festival her in New York. It was the second year that we attended (see post here) and so decided that we would take advantage of more tittles this year.  Seeing as we just have the weekend we packed 3 feature movies with 4 short films into two days. As with all film festivals some were good...and some were really bad! While couple stand out as really remarkable movies that inspired and motivated us (My Brooklyn - a documentary on the changes to downtown Brooklyn focussing on Fulton Mall, and The Grow Dat Youth Farm - a short documentary on the amazing work being done in New Orleans) one movie stood above the rest.  The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat by director Mike Dorsey is an outstanding piece of film making.

Curbed

Built in 1959 in Lone Pine, California, this bungalow style mid-century modern house is literally all about the view.  With one entire side made of steel-framed glass windows, the house is open to the desert and mountains beyond.  The movie tells the story of Richard Neutra and Richard Oyler and how this piece of architecture played such a crucial part in both of their lives.  With most of the story being told by the incredibly charasmatic Oyler, one really gets a sense of how this house is a truly spectacular piece of architecture.  The current owner, actress Kelly Lynch, and Neutra's son's are interviewed as well helping to round out the perspective of how this house and it's surroundings are truly one of a kind (note the image of the pool below, made from a hollowed out boulder in the on the site).  Dorsey does a wonderful job of bringing the viewer in to the story and helping to make one understand that this is more than just a house.

You can watch the trailer here.  Keep an eye out for the film on Netflix or iTunes, it really is worth a watch and I would love to hear if you have seen it/when you see it, and how it has inspired you.

An Eclectic Eccentric

OEN

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

Into the Fire

Every once in a while I come across a piece of design while searching for something completely different and it renders me speechless.  Today is no different! While on 1stDibs looking for some interesting chairs for a project down in the West Village, I came across these Giacometti andirons and had to stop and take a moment to admire.  To me they are the epitome of form and functional.  Sold through Wyeth here in New York these 1950’s pieces are made of guilt bronze and iron.  I love the shape, materiality and scale of these pieces, and although made almost 70 years ago they still feel so current and really would make a statement in any fireplace - you’ll have to leap over the $24,000 price tag to take these home though! 

Photos courtesy of 1stDibs for Wyeth