Winter Trend Watch: Hankering for Hygge
If you’ve paid any attention to interior design lately, you’ll have come across Hygge, the Danish interiors concept that seems to be hot now.
For Shellshocked New Yorkers, Post Election Subway Therapy
Say this for psychic turmoil: it stirs the creative soul. From Hemingway to Van Gogh, Virginia Woolf to Frida Kahlo, the most powerful artistic expression rarely emanates from a place of equilibrium and serenity. For many Americans—New Yorkers, in particular—neither equilibrium nor serenity comes easily, and, in the days and weeks following the Presidential election, emotional dissonance reached an apex not seen since 9/11. And so, Subway Therapy provided a highly original, if ultimately feeble, salve. Matthew ‘Levee’ Chavez, a New York-based artist, is the founder of the Subway Therapy project, a collaborative endeavor which requires the participation of passing strangers, and which predates the election—but sticks to its original premise: give frustrated and perpetually vexed subway riders Post-It notes and a pen, and they will write.
“When people are overflowing with emotion, help channel their energy into something good,” explains Chavez. “Subway Therapy is about making people smile, laugh,
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Pantone 2017 Color of the Year: Greenery
Calling it a refreshing and revitalizing shade, Pantone has selected Greenery as its 2017 Color of the Year.
After choosing TWO colors as its 2016 Color of the Year, Pantone went the traditional route this year, selecting Pantone 15-0343, better known as Greenery, as its 2017 Color of the Year. “Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings…a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew,” explained the color authority, adding that “Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.”
While last year’s dual selection of Rose Quartz and Serenity—pink and blue—brought with it distinct of political social changes a they related to gender roles and gender itself, Greenery has a more subtle inference to current events. “The more submerged people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the
In London, Contemporary Christmas Tree Art Installations
In the newly refurbished rotunda of London’s Tate Britain, an upside-down Christmas tree installation by artist Shirazeh Houshiary.
Time Magazine Names Iconic Stahl House Photograph Amongst its Most Influential
GUBI Shines a Light on Greta M. Grossman
If you find yourself suddenly in-the-know about Greta M. Grossman, you can thank GUBI. The Danish design brand, which is equally focused on the past and present, has been instrumental in introducing a whole new generation of design enthusiasts to Grossman, a Swedish product designer whose name never rolled off the tongue as easily as those of her male contemporaries, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. Chief amongst the iconic Mid Century products that GUBI has reprised is a collection of modern lamps designed by Grossman in the 1940s and 1950s, each piece instantly recognizable for its restrained beauty, brass detailing, and anthropomorphic form.
Shop the GUBI Greta Grossman Collection here >
Without a doubt, the most famous of
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Digital Art: MOMA Acquires Original Set of Emojis
Lamp Dance: Hector Serrano’s Ballet Pendant Lamps for Arturo Alvarez
Aside from their ethereal beauty, Spanish lighting designs by Arturo Alvarez have one thing in common: SIMETECH®, the proprietary patented material composed of stainless steel mesh and silicone, on display in the majority of the brand’s modern lighting designs. A highly malleable and moldable material, SIMETECH® is a key component to the sculptural, asymmetric forms that define Arturo Alvarez lighting designs—and never more so than in the brand’s recent collaboration with Valencia-based designer Hector Serrano, whose Ballet series elevates SIMETECH® to its most graceful heights yet.
Save 20% on Arturo Alvarez Modern Lighting >
The designer explains, “At the beginning, I didn’t know how to contribute with something new and I felt a mix of sensations: on one hand, insecure about my ability to accomplish the assignment, on the other hand, respect for the work done by Arturo. I decided to keep going, but taking it from the beginning as an experiment. I would try
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Modern Lighting Sale | Save up to 25% on Top Brands
We’re in the midst of a major Modern Lighting Sale, featuring a range of celebrated and innovative lighting brands from around the globe. Lasting through the end of October, this sale offers of up to 25% on pendant lights, chandeliers, table lamps and modern floor lamps by well-known contemporary design names, like Tom Dixon and Louis Poulsen, and bright new stars, like Britain’s Innermost and Denmark’s Lightyears.
Other featured global names in this month-long Modern Lighting Sale include Italy’s award-winning FontanaArte, Spain’s innovative LZF, Denmark’s venerable Louis Poulsen, and American brands, Sonneman, and Pablo—and many more. Pendant lights, modern floor lamps, ceiling and wall lights, and contemporary table lamps are all featured in this sale. Shop the Modern Lighting Sale here >
Blu Dot Annual Sale : Save 20% October 6 – 30
Our Annual Blu Dot Sale presents a rare opportunity to save on an inventive range of modern furniture, lighting and home decor items, bestsellers and new designs alike. Featured amongst the broad range of Blu Dot offerings are the beguiling Punk Lamp and beautifully contoured Clutch Dining Chair, two elegant contemporary designs with Mid Century Modern overtones.
The Blue Dot Punk Lamp cuts a compact, immensely simple profile, featuring a monochromatic powder coated steel base and shade, topped off with a solid walnut wood switch. Three finishes—charcoal, white and metallic copper—and an exceedingly reductive profile give the Punk Lamp its irresistible visual appeal, while its diffused lighting ups the ante on ambience.
The Clutch Dining Chair is a roomy, comfortable chair that gets its distinct identity from a gently bent molded plywood seat, upholstered bentwood back, and solid wood legs (in a choice of ash or oak). Clutch’s rounded edges
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David Bowie’s Art Collection Includes Vintage Modern Design Objects
David Bowie’s eclectic art collection, which includes vintage deign pieces, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s London in November.
Ettore Sottsass’ Carlton Bookcase, an icon of 1980’s design, will be auctioned off in the Bowie/Collector sale at Sotheby’s London.
Knoll Annual Sale: Save 15% | Get Free White Glove Delivery September 16 -27
Our Knoll Annual Sale has just begun, presenting a rare chance to own authentic, groundbreaking modern furniture by some of design world’s storied figures and rising stars. Now, through September 27th, save 15% on all Knoll chairs, tables, and storage pieces from Mid Century giants, like Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, and Eero Saarinen, and more recent creations by contemporary designers, like David Adjaye and Barber Osgerby. Along with a 15% reduction, this event features complimentary white glove delivery, as well. Shop the Knoll Annual Sale here >
5 Knoll Designers Everyone Should Know >
Finnish born Eero Saarinen, created dramatic architectural landmarks—the TWA Flight Center at New York’s JFK Airport and the St. Louis Gateway Arch—and transcendent furniture designs. His elegant pedestal-based Tulip collection, and the sculptural Womb
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Yayoi Kusama Applies Her ‘Dot Obsession’ to Philip Johnson’s Glass House
Philip Johnson’s Glass House, covered in the signature dots of Japanese conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama.
On the New Jersey Shore, Mid Century Treasures Galore
The facade of a Mid Century motel in The Wildwoods, New Jersey, invokes a distinct west coast architectural vernacular.
Tyler Haughey’s phtograph of a Jersey Shore motel shows a remarkably well preserved Mid Century facade.
British Accent: The Ageless Anglepoise Lamp
If being immortalized on a postage stamp is any indication of an object’s significance, it’s safe to say that the original Anglepoise desk lamp qualifies as a full-fledged icon. Back in 2009, Britain’s Royal Mail included the classic Anglepoise table lamp amongst its 10 British Design Classics postage stamp series, cementing the famous lamp’s place amongst the most recognizable of Britain’s design objects—alongside other ubiquitous symbols, like the red double decker bus and the London Underground Map. And little wonder, considering the Anglepoise’s timeless appeal. Developed in 1931 by an automotive engineer named George Carwardine, the first Angelpoise lamp had a novel three-spring system that was revolutionary enough to be granted a patent in 1932. In production since then, the familiar anthropomorphic Anglepoise profile has been endlessly replicated by countless manufacturers of modern lamps, but stands alone as an emblem of British lighting design innovation.
Shop the
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New Soho Building Features Cast Aluminum Facade
XOCO 325, a new condominium building in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, features a cast aluminum facade.
Pantone Unveils Mobile Color App for Designers
Keeping itself ever-relevant, Pantone has released a mobile app that gives designers a seamless way to capture colors from a variety of sources and match them up to the company’s famous color swatches. Pantone Studio, a collaboration with the L.A. based design practice, Rokkan, gives creatives a comprehensive mobile color tool at their disposal, thanks to an application that convert’s images captured via a device’s camera into color values that reside alongside Pantone’s own RGB, HEX and CMYK numbered hues.
According to Rokkan, the impetus for this new app was Pantone’s desire to expand its identity beyond that of a venerable color provider to that of a state of the art software company that can now serve up its full range of products on digital platforms and devices. To that end, “Pantone Studio is all about color.
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New Arrival: Scraplight Collection by Graypants
New Arrivals: Sustainable Scraplight Collection by Graypants
We’re delighted to welcome Graypants to our brand family, and the company’s flagship Scraplight collection of modern pendant lamps to our lighting offerings. Graypants is a Seattle-based design practice, founded in 2007, that has taken the concept of ‘upcycling’ to ravishing heights, thanks to a range of contemporary lamps made entirely of repurposed corrugated cardboard. Adhering to a motto of ‘responsible design, responsible materials, responsible production,’ Graypants conceived of an ingenious method of laser cutting strips of scrap corrugated cardboard, and then hand-assembling them into modern lamps so sumptuous and decorative as to wholly belie their humble origins.
View Scraplights by Graypants >
Elegant and vaguely exotic, Scraplights cast an ethereal glow that lends itself equally well to residential and hospitality contexts, while presenting clean modern profiles that unfailingly beguile, whether
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Decorative and sustainable, the original Scraplights by Graypants are especially striking in multiples.
Louis Poulsen Releases Panthella MINI by Verner Panton
The new Panthella MINI, a scaled down version of Verner Panton’s 1971 table lamp, has just been released by Louis Poulsen.