The stamps are here! Today is Charles Eames’ birthday (he would have been 101), which is why the Postal Service chose June 17, 2008 to release 16 42-cent stamps honoring Charles and Ray Eames. The stamps include images of the husband-and-wife team and their furniture, as well as their textiles, House of Cards and images from their films. Order your stamps from the Postal Service.
We’re long-time fans of Harry Allen & Associates – his collaboration with Areaware, the Reality line, has been one of our favorite collections of accessories. Now he’s partnered with Johnson & Johnson to recreate the iconic First Aid Kit. Its sleek, minimalist design and color-way is a must-have for any modern home, especially those like the ones below, full of children prone to scrapes and bruises. Via Soho’s Carie Scott.
David Baccus, the Proprietor of our San Jose Studio, uncovered some exciting news for all Eamesaholics while perusing Eames Demetrios’ Flickr page the other day. Yes, the Eameses will be commemorated with 16 stamps published by the United States Postal Service. Designs include the LCW, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman and the House of Cards. It may also be the only time you can get an Eames La Chaise for 41 cents.
Niketown’s Visual Director found inspiration in DWR’s Archimede Laptop Caddy as the ideal method to display the 2007 collection Doernbecher Freestyle 4 shoes at six Niketown stores across the country. Custom graphics were applied to each caddy to describe the inspiration behind each patient’s design. Each year since 2004, a Nike shoe designer has teamed with a patient who has been treated for serious illness at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, OR. Through each of the six patient/designer partnerships, a unique pair of original “freestyle” sneakers is designed and produced. Thus far, more than $500,000 has been raised for the children's hospital. Shoes can be viewed and purchased at Niketown stores in Portland, OR, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York City. Learn more about the program and the designers and purchase sneakers on Nike’s website here.
Posted by Janell Anderson
During the month of August DWR is celebrating women in design. Sandy Chilewich is one of our favorites. Her company, Chilewich, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Sandy recently chatted with me about her brand, her new designs and the female designers she most admires.
We’ve launched your new woodgrain lines and they’re really beautiful. How did they come about and what is different about this manufacturing process?
Woodgrain was more of an experiment to see how far we could push the envelope weaving with unique and challenging vinyl yarns. I wanted to see if we could create the shading and dimension of a woodgrain with a simple jacquard.
Are there other natural patterns that you’d like to replicate using manmade materials?
Yes, the success of the woodgrain from both a design perspective and from the great response we have had, has led to much experimentation. Not just wood, but it’s a secret.
When we met you spoke about a few collaborations you’re currently involved in. Can you share with our readers these stories?
I am working with Luisa Cevese, an Italian designer, who is known for her proprietary process of encasing textile remnants in polyurethane. It is absolutely gorgeous. She is now incorporating some of our “waste,” the selvage (the irregular edges that are cut off) from our spun vinyl products. Her process, which requires heat, melts our material in different degrees and it looks very different than the other materials she has used. She will be making table mats and bags. I am also intrigued with introducing wire into our products and have been working with a British designer who is an expert in weaving with metal. This is already very challenging but still promising.
Design Within Reach is celebrating women designers in the month of August and you’re definitely one of our favorites. What women designers have inspired you in the past?
My all time favorite female designer is Lucienne Day, who I imagine will forever continue to inspire me. She just has it all — such a tremendous graphic range and not a “one note” designer who’s imagery or some version of it is repeated over and over. She was constantly exploring, but her work is unified by a consistent personal aesthetic.
Design Within Reach customers may only be familiar with our floor coverings, but Chilewich also makes an extensive collection of bags and table top items. What products came first and are there new categories you intend to launch?
In 1997 when I launched the Raybowls™ they were my first foray into the home accessories market and, happily, they met with success. They had a simple and inventive mechanism for making fabric concave, with covers made from stretch netting usually found in lingerie. In a quest to source other suitable fabrics to incorporate into the Raybowl, I discovered woven vinyl. It didn’t work for the bowls, but where others saw an industrial material, I saw placemats, flooring, bags and more. The durability of the yarn, its tremendous design versatility and the fact that it is washable continues to inspire me.
Your products are all made in the United States. Do you do this intentionally?
It is great to be manufacturing in the States for many reasons. Most important is the ability to hop on a plane to do some R&D or solve a problem at the mills. Working on my home turf and speaking the same language (however I am not sure if our southern suppliers would say we speak the same language) just makes the design process, sampling, lead times, etc., easier. It is also very gratifying that I am supporting American production.
Chilewich’s color palette is very sophisticated. Have you or will you ever experiment with floor coverings or table tops in brighter colors?
I don’t know why people assume that bright colors are less sophisticated. It’s the particular tone which is decided upon from an infinite number of possibilities as well as the relationship to the other colors surrounding it. That determines sophistication. It’s true that I have focused on grays and browns in the past but this fall you will see indigo and next spring lemon and coral. I think they are thoughtful colors, which is for me what makes things sophisticated. It takes hours and hours of work to attain a color and palette that satisfies one’s imagination.
You’ve designed jewelry, launched a hosiery brand and now Chilewich. Any plans to venture into uncharted professional/design territories?
We are launching window treatments with the Shade Store shortly. This is our first licensing arrangement. I will be introducing napkins next season - my first venture with natural fibers, which is funny. There is much on the horizon that I am contemplating, but it takes a lot just to keep up with the growth of the business that I am in now.
When my wife and I bought our Eichler home six years ago, we never knew it would lead us to a game of petanque at the home of the world-renowned landscape architect Robert Royston. This past Sunday it all came to be. After discovering the original plans for our garden in our kitchen cabinets, my wife Iris tracked them down to the offices of Royston, Hanamoto, Alley and Abey. Robert Royston, along with Thomas Church and Garrett Eckbo, was one of the most influential landscape architects in America during the ’50s and ’60s (see the September 2007 issue of Dwell magazine for more on these legends). As it turns out, RHAA is still a functioning landscape architecture and urban planning firm with headquarters in Mill Valley, California, and, along with senior partner J.C. Miller, we have been working with them to restore our garden back to its original glory. During this time we’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Robert Royston on a number of occasions, who is still practicing landscape design at the young age of 80+ years. Still full of life and sharp as a tack, he plays a mean game of petanque and certainly gave our team a run for it’s money.
Learn more about Robert Royston in the recently released book, Modern Public Gardens: Robert Royston and the Suburban Park.
Posted by Micheal Sainato, DWR Art Director.
Charles Hollis Jones’ revolutionary use of acrylic has brought him to the attention of some of the 20th century’s most important architects and designers – including Paul Laszlo, John Lautner, Arthur Elrod, Hal Broderick, Stephen Chase and John Woolf. His list of clients includes a host of Hollywood celebrities: Lucille Ball, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sly Stallone, Tom Ford and countless others. The Los Angeles Times refers to Hollis Jones’ as a “pioneer in acrylic design”. On July 19th, the Beverly Boulevard Studio hosted a one-night retrospective of CHJ’s work. Two hundred of Charles’ die-hard fans were in effect. The admiration for this man and his work is undeniable. A few of the items on display included Charles’ Twisted Four Poster Acrylic Bed (designed for Dean Martin), the Wisteria Chair (named by Tennessee Williams) and the well known Sling Chair. People lined up to have Charles sign his recently published book, Charles Hollis Jones, and his “100 Chairs” poster. The evening ended with the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Jones and everyone noshing on cake from Sweet Lady Jane.
Numerous pieces of Hollis Jones’ designs will be available this October through the Wright Auction House.
Posted by Susie Cordes,Proprietor-DWR Beverly Blvd.
Heading on the road this fall is the first-ever international retrospective of the work of Eero Saarinen. Given Saarinen’s legendary status, it’s hard to believe that there’s never been a survey of his career, but this one promises to be worth the wait. Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future was organized by institutions both here and in Finland and includes a six-stop tour of the U.S., as well as an exhibition book by the same name and a documentary film. Learn all about it, including the tour stops, here.
Glenda Bailey’s Harper’s Bazaar, in my opinion the best fashion magazine in America, isn’t afraid to take itself less than seriously. This is precisely why the easy-to-read and unstuffy Bazaar made the perfect choice for a new editorial spread featuring supermodel (and DWR fan) Linda Evangelista, Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld and the Simpsons.
Marge Simpson finally lets her hair down as she sits with Donatella Versace and Homer gives Lagerfeld a run for his money in dark glasses and gloves. Maggie ends up in Jean Paul Gaultier’s Hermes bag and Bart’s made the front row for Louis Vuitton. Bazaar’s spread is a throw-back to the day when new fashions debuted in fashion magazines as illustrations and not photographs. It is also a nod to the fact that fashion design has become a part of mainstream pop culture. I only hope that more people in the fashion press took these risks. Besides, Lagerfeld and Gaultier have been caricatures for years. This just cements that fact.
Emeco is consistently named a favorite manufacturer amongst DWR employees (see the 1006 Navy, Hudson and 1951 collections, just to name few). Maybe it is the small-town roots of the company. Perhaps it is their reinvention courtesy Philippe Starck and Norman Foster. It could be the fact that the company uses 80% recycled aluminum in their seating. No matter whom you ask at DWR, you’ll always get the same response: We love Emeco. My personal favorite piece of Emeco trivia is the fact that their iconic Navy chair uses the butt mold of Betty Grable. Chairs don’t get better than that.
My friend Eric Lee and I took a scenic road trip through New York, Pennsylvania, Marylandand D.C. last week. One of our stops was Emeco’s headquarters in Hanover, Pennsylvania. It was a short, but memorable, experience. The Emeco plant seems almost untouched since the 1950s. The windows are mirrored, and the factory is small, uncluttered and full of chairs. I got to tour their “museum,” an interactive display and work room full of prototypes and one-offs. If only the powder-coated pink Navy chair had seen the light of day. Julian Schnabel would surely snap some up.
I’ve clearly taken large swigs of the DWR Kool-Aid. Let me explain: I was in London to see my fiancé perform with his band. I was walking through Camden on my way to the gig, when I spotted what I believed to be Egg chairs. I looked up to see the name of the establishment, because I thought to myself, “Who’s bold enough to put a bunch of fake Egg chairs in the window like that?”
Much to my surprise, I was looking right at the Golden Arches. McDonald’s! McDonald’s using Egg chairs? How could this be? Later that evening, I dragged my fiancé to the restaurant and we stood at the door like some kind of knock-off crusaders. What exactly would we do if we found out they were fakes? Would we call Ronald directly and complain? We marched in armed with a camera phone to take a photo of the “evidence.”
I was shocked to find that not only did all the seats have tiny red Fritz Hansen tags woven right into the seam but there were also authentic Series 7 and Swan chairs all throughout the dining room too! I was tempted to put the Series 7 upside down and jump on it to prove its remarkable contract quality, but I was looking crazy enough jumping from chair to chair screaming, “It’s real! It’s real!” So I tried to leave more quietly than I arrived.
Posted by Melissa Howard, Studio Account Executive-DWR Rosyln.
Our pals over at House Industries, the great design shop/type foundry responsible for those Girard blocks, just let us know about an upcoming lecture at the Eames Office given by Andy Cruz. Andy will be giving a look at how House Industries operates and he’ll also discuss their work with Neutra, the Saarinen project for Dulles Airport and the upcoming Alexander Girard font collection. He’ll also be breaking the news on the House Industries Eames project.
Seats are limited and registration ends this Friday so you should sign up ASAP. The Eames Office is in Santa Monica and we’re being told that those in attendance may be lucky enough to walk away with some limited edition schwag. They won’t tell us what that is but if House Industries, the Eames Office and AIGA are involved we’re pretty sure that it will be worth admission alone.
Posted by Bradford Shellhammer, Proprietor-DWR NYC Columbus Avenue
Speaking of Knoll, everyone at DWR is extremely excited about the launch of the 50th anniversary edition of Eero Saarinen's iconic Tulip Chair. Much like the reinvention of Herman Miller’s 50th anniversary edition Eames Lounge Chair in santos palisander, the Saarinen chairs, for a limited time, will be made in a platinum finish. True to the space-age stylings of the chair's design, the new finish is straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It would have been a perfect fit in Warhol’s factory. If platinum pedestal chairs aren’t your thing, don’t fret. Knoll is also reintroducing Saarinen’s Pedestal Tables in rosewood. They’ll be available, in stock, from DWR in August.
The Design Within Reach Studios were all sent out a great book this week. Published by Knoll, What is space? is obviously a sales tool. It is a catalog of room photographs featuring Knoll’s classic designs, mixed with their more contemporary pieces. Normally a catalog would not merit a blog post, but I cannot seem to put the thing down. It is so very inspiring. Some assume Knoll’s products are more suited for office settings. These photographs show how effectively Knoll, and all modern design, work in residential settings.
Even if you’re not going to spring for a Womb Chair any time soon, the book may give you an idea about colors, art or organization. Pop into a DWR Studio to check it out, or you can browse the book virtually on the What is space? link on the front page of Knoll’s website.
Chairs out of trash? I’ve written in this blog before about cool things being made with garbage and finally the rest of the world is catching up. Businessweek.com wrote about a new chair by designer Richard Liddle, the RD4, which is made out of recycled plastic bottles. This is his first commercial chair and it’s made with using a proprietary process that turns used plastic bottles into all shapes and sizes. He’s calling the process URE for Uncooled Recycled Extrude. That’s a pretty cool name. The chair was also featured at the HauteGreen event during the ICFF show in New York. You can get it at branchhome.com.
I’ve heard of all kinds of ways to say you love design, namely buying your favorite piece and putting it in your living room, but here’s a new one for you: tattoos. Take a look at the work of tattoo artist Nick Baxter, who is busy putting Eames, Mies and more on the arms of his clients. Isn't it great how individualized tattoos can be? How better to tell the world you love modern design then to put your favorite Eames lounge chair on your forearm? Wow, to say the least. Thanks to DesignBoom for sending these my way.
A challenge many manufacturers of modern classics face is how to remain contemporary. Classic designs stand the test of time and many brands have reinvented these pieces while staying true to the original designer’s spirit. With this in mind the always forward thinking Herman Miller has launched the Eames LCW chairs in a myriad of colors. They caught everyone’s eye at ICFF.
Gregg Vander Kooi, product manager of classics for Herman Miller, says of the new series "we collaborated with the Eames Office to choose a set of colors authentic to the period during which the LCW was designed. We looked to the colors Eames used for the Eames Storage Unit and the Eames Hang It All. And we also found inspiration in textiles designed for Herman Miller by Eames' contemporary and friend, Alexander Girard."
Those colors are initially going to be a run in light blue, white and yellow. Later in the year we’ll see orange, red, purple, green and black. The chairs will be stained with an aniline stain on birch veneer, a return to the chair’s original wood species. The first three colors will be available to order now (during our Herman Miller sale), though they won’t be up on dwr.com for some time. Color me excited. Call 1-800-944-2233 to order yours.
When I heard earlier this week that Isabella Blow died my heart sunk a little. She was the English fashion muse who discovered John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. She was the woman who actually wore Philip Treacy hats. And shockingly, she pulled them off. McQueen called her "the most interesting person I ever met." I bet. I had no clue of the depression she was plagued with. Today the New York Times delved into her life and set the record straight. Ms. Blow felt left behind by Mr. McQueen, financially she was a mess and she attempted suicide twice this year. One of those attempts left her with broken legs after jumping from an overpass. Outside the world of fashion insiders Ms. Blow's name would most likely go unnoticed. But to those of us that eat, breathe and sleep clothing she was an icon and a true individual. In hindsight you could say she hid behind those monstrous hats, their size matching her sadness. She'll be missed.
A few weeks before ICFF Barcelona textile designer and DWR favorite Nani Marquina chatted with Bradford Shellhammer about her latest designs, ICFF and her favorite color. Nani will be at DWR's Upper West Side showroom on May 18th for a cocktail party celebrating her work.
Hello Nani. I am excited to be hosting you during ICFF. What do you have in store for us during the party? We will introduce our last novelties and most innovative collections: Little Field of Flowers, Seagrass, Roses, Noodles and Flying Carpet.
What new products will you be showing that week? We'll be exhibiting at ICFF (Hall 1C Stand nº 932), where we will present the entire new collections for 2007 including the Tapete side-table and Déploye blankets. These two collections are the first step to a new range of home objects that we will launch next year 2008.
The party at Design Within Reach will not only showcase your products but Camper's new line of shoes. How did you get involved with Camper? We've had a very good relationship with Camper for such a long time. Camper is a Spanish brand from Mallorca, which is very close to us, and they are also very innovative. They have a very clear philosophy about well-being and they have a very close relationship with flooring and stepping too! Camper strongly bets on sustainability and innovation. We also love the brand because of its amazing communication image.
I am a huge fan of Tord Boontje. Can you describe the new rug he's designed for you? How did this collaboration come about? We also love Tord Boontje! His designs are very close to nature and the organic world. We were tempted to put these magnificent floral compositions over the floor. We worked so hard together to find the best way to enhance his floral graphic concept. We used a manufacturing technique that we employed for our Roses rug. This handmade technique is called hand loomed. So, we proposed to Boontje this type of craftwork allowing the use of die-cut felt flowers. Then the flowers are knitted onto the rug.
You're known for your use of color. If you had to choose, what would be your favorite color? Well, I think all colors are nice. The point is to mix them properly. If I have to choose just one color I guess all things done in red do improve so much.
Barcelona is such a hotbed for design: furniture, textiles, fashion. Are there any Barcelona-based designers we should know about? I guess you know Javier Mariscal; he's a must! Concerning new hot designers I really recommend Ana Mir and Emili Padrós, from Emiliana Design Studio.
I always feel the need to ask designers the clichéd question of what inspires them as I really do wonder about others' inspirations. So I am sure you've been asked before, but what inspires you? My job is chasing beauty. The fullest place where you can find beauty is in nature. I love to stare at spectacular landscapes, but this does not necessarily mean that my products directly remind one of these sceneries.
Where do you stay when you're in NYC? I love to walk all over Manhattan. I like going to the MoMA and seeing how the city changes every time I come. It is in a continual transformation and every time I visit the city I discover new places and images. I love the movement you can feel in every quarter and see how new quarters arouse!
Concerning your textiles: Where does the wool come from and where are the rugs manufactured? Our wool comes from India, New Zealand and, sometimes, from Morocco. Our main production is in India and Morocco.
You're fond of felted wools. How does this process differ from traditional piled rugs? Felt gives volume and movement to the rug and defines shapes. It basically invites people to touch our rugs.
One last question, what's been your favorite creation to date? I've been designing rugs for 20 years...so, there are lots! If I have to choose just one, it would be my last creation: Roses. This collection was brand new for its manufacturing process, which was very innovative, and its new material.
Uberstyle hightlighted the most amazing church last week. Designed by Qubus Studio out of the Czech Republic, the church does not feature pews but rather rows and rows of white Panton chairs. An eclectic mix of crystal chandeliers and Persian rugs round out the space, but it's the Panton chairs that have me most excited. The designers Maxim Velcovsky and Jakub Berdych cut crosses out of the chairs' backs elevating an already worshipped design to, shall I say, heavenly levels.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the typeface Helvetica, which was designed in Switzerland by Max Miedinger and Edouard Hoffmann. The Los Angles Times addresses its significance here, and MoMA found the anniversary so impressive they’ve staged an exhibition called "50 Years of Helvetica." Their website calls the font "well-proportioned letterforms that convey an aesthetic clarity that is at once universal, neutral, and undeniably modern." Tonight when I hop on the 1 train downtown I can look up at one of NYC’s subway signs and sing "Happy Birthday" to the letters I read everyday.
The MoMA exhibit features posters, signs and various graphic materials utilizing Helvetica. Also featured will be Gary Hustwit's documentary Helvetica. "50 Years of Helvetica" runs through March 31, 2008 at MoMA’s Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries, third floor.
Dutch designer Tord Boontje’s career is celebrated in the new coffee table topper Tord Boontje published by Rizzoli. The book is a fitting tribute to the man who has designed for Moroso, Swarovski and Artecnica. The book features sketches, design renderings, and text written by former Craft editor Martina Margetts. Boontje’s work is always a tactile experience and the book is a testament to his history of working with cut paper. As described by Rizzoli, the book is “an art object in itself, featuring a number of custom printing effects—stencils, perforated and die-cut pages, and textured and woven details—that capture the intricacy of Boontje's approach to pattern-making.” We’re excited as Boontje has recently collaborated on a new rug with Nani Marquina that will be available via DWR in the near future.
If you’re lucky enough to live in San Francisco, like the good folks at DWR corporate, then you still have a month to get over to the de Young museum to see "Vivienne Westwood: 36 Years in Fashion." Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the exhibit’s lone American stop is in SF. Westwood emerged from the worlds of punk and went mainstream oddly enough by defying fashion’s conventional logic. She never followed trends. She only starts them.
Her work takes traditional elements like tartans and tweed suiting and mashes them together with punk styling. It is the most perfect fusion of stuffy English tradition and London’s youth culture. And she’s also know for her expert tailoring, cementing her reputation as a fashion designer’s designer.
Included in the show are garments spanning her nearly 40 years of influence, including the infamous platform shoes that Naomi Campbell took a spill on the runway wearing in 1993.
Mr. Plastic himself, Karim Rashid, talks chairs in the May 2007 issue of Dwell. I’ve been meaning to feature the piece here for a while as I just love the idea of designers evaluating and grading their peers’ work. In this instance Dwell asked Rashid to evaluate 5 plastic chairs and then the Dwell editorial staff also weighs in on each Three of the five chairs featured in the review are in DWR’s collection: Jerszy Seymour’s Easy Chair, Vitra’s Verner Panton chair and the Heller-produced and Mario Bellini-designed ArcoBellini. The fourth chair is Ross Lovegrove’s fabulous Supernatural chair (pictured above) for the venerable and ambitious Italian brand Moroso. The fifth chair is the La Marie chair from Kartell designed by Philippe Starck.
What I love about Karim’s assessment is his total honesty. He respects the other designers work there’s no doubt. But he also points out what he finds wrong with the chairs: hard edges on the Arco, the Panton chair’s dated look and the tendency of the polypropylene Easy chair to get dirty. I’d love some of these designers, the ones alive that is, to take on Rashid’s designs in a thoughtful critique. Or better yet, maybe these frank conversations of design could lead to something even more exciting: a collaboration.
Perhaps best known for his diamond-back wire chair, Harry Bertoia was fascinated with expressing sound. He conceived of metal sculptures and monotypes to interpret his unique ideas. He was fundamentally both an artist and a designer, graduating from the Cranbrook Art Academy and later teaching graphics and metalsmithing from 1939 to 1943. I just read that the first exclusive auction will be held of his metal works, monoprints, and sounding sculptures at Wright 20, an auction house in Chicago. The auction is May 22, so you have just enough time to read up on him, check out some of his amazing designs, and fly to Chicago (if like me, you live in San Francisco.)
If the auction isn’t for you, then lucky for us, Design Within Reach is finally carrying his wonderful Diamond chair. I really want one of those.
Currently on display at the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris (Musée des Arts Decoratifs) is a retrospective of visionary designer and artist Joe Colombo entitled "L'invention du Futur." The exhibit begins around 1951, with his painting and joining of the Movimento Nucleare, or Nuclear Painting Movement, and much of his abstract/surrealist style painting that followed. This was soon followed by his work in 1952 on the design of the Nuclear City which, similar to (and possibly inspired by) Frank Llyod Wright's Living City, was a look into a future when a city may need to be entirely rebuilt from scratch or on top of another city. This almost Futurist view of how all elements of life and society work together as a whole would permeate the work through his entire, albeit short, life.
The exhibit brings together a large body of his work to light, most before unseen, with over 100 samples of lighting, furniture and other designed objects, several small scale and actual size models of buildings and interior environments, along with countless hand drawn sketches, photographs and diagrams. As you walk through his body of work there is an incredible sense of consistency that comes with Colombo's work that is sometimes lost with other designers that have created such a large amount of work. This no doubt is the result of his singular vision and relentless pursuit of an ideal living environment, which even today with the rise of modular housing, sounds more relevant than ever:
"We see the house as an instrument of the like that can satisfy a number of precisely defined needs...The 'Container' (the house) will need to be as 'elastic' as possible so that its contents can move around freely according an individuals personal dynamic; this is necessary for the lifestyle of today."
DWR is excited to host two events, one on each coast, with two excellent designers whose works we're excited to have in our assortment. At DWR Jackson Street on March 1st, Matthew Hilton will discuss his work, including the Profile Chair and the Cross Extension Table, which was the winner of the 2006 Elle Decoration Best in Furniture Award. 
On March 8th in New York City, DWR's West 14th Street Studio will host Jeffrey Bernett. DWR's partnership with Bernett started with the introduction of the Flight Recliner in 2005. We were so impressed with the piece (which was recently launched with new Maharam fabrics), that we asked him to create a desk (the Liege) and, most recently, a sofa collection (the Parcel Collection). And Bernett has delivered.
Accompanying both talks will be a slide show and a Q&A. Please see the individual Studio pages for RSVP information.
Despite over 1,000 entries to our Champagne Chair Contest, we always receive a couple of things that are going to stand out. Last week we got a letter from legendary designer Jens Risom. We were thrilled to hear from Risom, who is in his 90s and lives in Massachusetts. He printed out the Champagne voting page from our website and penned a lovely, silly note about how the only chair to sit in while sipping Champagne is “obviously” the Risom Lounge Chair. I won't try and recreate it on my own, take a look for yourself. Cheers Jens, keep the letters coming.
Hans Wegner, considered one of the masters of 20th-century Danish Modernism, passed away in January at the age of 92. Best known for his chairs, Wegner designed some 200 over his career. His Round Chair achieved some notoriety when, in 1960, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy were perched on them for the first nationally televised debate. The New York Times obituary quotes Paola Antonelli, the curator of architecture and design at the MoMA, “He was one of what I think of as the humble giants of 20th-century design, those men who would probably shun the term designer and prefer to call themselves cabinetmakers.” A gallery of his hugely influential work is available here.
Our 4th annual Champagne Chair Contest is coming to a close. But before it's over check out the five finalists in our Most Popular Chair contest and help us pick the chair that should embark on a nationwide Studio tour. The voting closes friday, February 9th at 5pm PT.
It's so sad to say goodbye to all the mini cork chairs. I hope you enjoyed the contest as much as we did. We even had our own chair contest here in our offices. Above are the 1st and 2nd place winners (go Katie Perry and Mattia Nuzzo) . Cheers to everyone who entered our contest! Check back next week to see all the winners.
I'm always fascinated by how we select fabrics for our upholstered products, and lucky for me we were just beginning to source new fabric ideas for an update to our Bantam Sofa. Here's what I learned from Michelle Sheppard, on staff of our Product Development team.
"First we get the request from merchandising to source a new fabric for the Bantam Sofa. The Bantam Sofa has a mid-century appearance, and I took that lead when considering the fabric choice. The fabric I found which best suited the Bantam design did not have an extensive color palette but I really felt the weave structure was the right fit for the Bantam design so I went to the mill with a custom yarn color request to have them weave us our own exclusive fabric colors."
"In the weaving process there is a warp and weft. The warp is the set of lengthwise yarns attached to the loom and the weft is the yarn which is woven back and forth, across the warp, to create the woven fabric. The color options I chose were for the weft yarns. The mill weaves a sample ‘blanket’ (photo above) with all the custom yarn color choices. When the blanket is finished, each individual square is an option for the final fabric. Next, I make a recommendation of several choices and review them with the upholstery buyer. We finalize the fabric colors and have the mill weave us sample yardage, which we can use to upholster a prototype of the Bantam Sofa. Once the sofa prototype is approved with the new fabric, it's put into production."
Not exactly easy, is it? I love learning new things at work.
The Bouchons, a family of fierce corks (above).
We just finished receiving (and opening) the hundreds of boxes of champagne chair entries. The last box I opened was from a group of french designers who have entered every year. Their entry was the most unique I had received and it came with a letter that perfectly summed up the spirit of the contest. Here it is:
Dear DWR,
Hello from the French group, the ones who have been there since the beginning, and these are our (not) chairs. Sorry in advance for writing such a long letter, but I feel our submission needs a bit of explanation.
We loved the spirit of the original Champagne Chair contest (2003-04): spontaneity, creativity and ingenuity - with a bit of silly thrown in. We organized a last-minute party with lots of delicious food and champagne, and got together with friends and co-workers to make chairs in that spirit. Your winning chairs that year were funky and fun and unlikely and heart-felt...and far from perfect. (Indeed, our then 10-year-old daughter's very imperfect but soulful "fairy chair" was among the top 20.) It is in the original spirit that we hosted the second and third parties. We don't take ourselves, or our chairs, too seriously, we don't come with drawings or mock-ups. We sketch and fiddle and glue and drink and eat and fiddle and drink and - presto! Chairs!
We are, mostly, industrial designers and we love the challenge of working within a unique and crazy set of constraints. It takes us far away from our daily work, while remaining solidly within the domain of industrial design. As much as we love our jobs, it's hard to beat the pleasure of creating little objects of quirky beauty out of the simplest of tools and materials. And I feel we owe you a thank you for giving us that opportunity.
This year, however, we didn't make chairs. What we made did not come from a spirit of rebellion but rather a desire to keep our "Champagne Chair Party" tradition alive. We love the party - the champagne and friends, the music and the pliers and the glue (oh! do we love the glue gun!) and the sitting around a big table making crazy sketches and watching them take form. But no one felt like making chairs any more. So we decided to make other stuff. During the course of the party we eventually came up with a French Theme, which resulted in the guillotine and a stately flag as well as a camembert and a baguette, and a model of Bleriot's Model XI plane. And a bouquet of flowers. In the end, I think we missed having a restrictive subject, but we enjoyed the freedom and fresh approach.
My husband, Pierre-Yves, and I did make two variations of one chair which is in keeping with my paper theme. In 2005 I made a paper maché chair; in 2006 it was a sort of basket weave chair (made by cutting labels into thin strips, wrapping these with strips of foil, coiling it into a mat-like seat and backrest). And this year I decided to use only paper. And glue, of course. Between coats of glue I made a family - les Bouchons! - of fierce little cork people to accompany our small submission this year. And while I love my chair - even if it is a bit less sturdy than I would like (in our "French Rules" chairs we don't allow ourselves anything other than Elmers and hot glue - I'm sure there must be another glue that would have done a better job) - it is the Bouchon family that I'll miss the most.
So thank you for giving us - year after year - the chance to be spontaneous and creative and ingenious designers - even if it does mean breaking the rules sometimes.
Bonne année!
Aymie Jones (the not French/not designer of the group) & Pierre-Yves Panis and all our designer friends
We're all super excited about the hundreds of entries we've received for our Annual Champagne Chair Contest. And I, for one, am super excited to get you all into the mix. Think you can recognize good design? Duh, of course you can. Cast your vote for the Champagne Chair Most Popular Award here.
We'll add new entries regularly, so check back often.
I'm Tony Meredith, a third-year student of Industrial Design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. The folks at DWR asked me to write a little bit about my experience in the Furniture Design for Production class that DWR sponsored at CCA in the fall of 2006. Let me start by saying that the class was awesome. How often do you get to study furniture design with one of the few truly independent furniture designers (Brian Kane) in the U.S.? Also, we were always given great feedback from a parade of interesting designers and people from DWR, so after every crit I would go back to my workspace and really bust out the work, because I knew that the amount of hard work that I put in would be appreciated and acknowledged.
In the class, we learned to draw furniture at full-size. Which sounds a bit basic, but most of the time in school we really only draw at 1/4 scale. So, drawing at full size was a real eye-opener – not everything that looks good small works out at full size. We also were really pushed to explore new sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, so it was sort of like a treasure hunt. The class was pretty competitive (the ID students had to apply to be accepted into the class), so it was always fun to see what the other students had been working on (usually all night, the night before!) at the critiques.
The critiques were really involved and fun. Usually a group of folks from DWR would attend and give real-world feedback on what would work in the furniture market and what wouldn't. Brian would invite other independent furniture designers to attend, as well. Mark Kapka (a designer who works for the likes of Keilhauer, Metro and Offi) came to several of our formal critiques and a bunch of our more informal desk crits too. I was always happy to hear his take on my project because his input was such an even balance. The conversations about how the corner and edge details should look on my chair was really helpful and eventually influenced the final design.
All in all, the class was a great experience, and the sponsorship of DWR just sweetened the deal. For more information about me and my work, check out my website!
The pictures are posted of all the wonderful chairs created by the students in our Furniture in Production class at CCA. Be sure to check them out here.
Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the final critique at the CCA Furniture in Production class. It was inspiring to see the chairs the students had created and the quality of these prototypes demonstrated how hard they had worked. (That, and the fact they looked like they hadn’t slept in days. Ah, to be a student again.)
The students had only two weeks to make a full scale prototype, which for most of us would be a mission impossible. But what they put together rocked. There was the "throwaway" chair made of recycled paper, the "evil genius" chair out of laser cut steel, a chair created out of recycled juice boxes, a chair made out of a giant innertube, two chairs that used different types of felt and the list goes on for a total of 14 truly inspiring chairs. Kudos to the students. You can see their final projects here.
Did you miss out on the fun? Follow along with our previous CCA posts here: 1, 2, 3.
One of the great things about living in NYC is my proximity to Moss. While DWR and Moss carry some of the same products – Moooi’s Random Light and Vitra miniatures come to mind – Moss sells a lot of items that are, how shall I say, a bit more eclectic and avant-garde than DWR’s assortment. I really have to limit my visits as I often walk out a much poorer man.
My latest venture to Moss yielded a toy-lover’s dream: the War Bowl. Made from melted army men and designed by Dominic Wilcox for mosleymeetswilcox, the bowl takes memories from my childhood and creates art from those relics. It’s yet another wonderful find for Moss, whether mounted to a wall or filled with apples.
I took a day off from work yesterday to attend a conference featuring Edward Tufte. He writes, designs and self-publishes books on analytical design, which have received more than 40 awards for content and design. Yesterday he spoke on “Presenting Data and Information.” Sounds a bit dry, right? But it’s actually fascinating to web geeks like myself. Anyone who has to share information with customers, co-workers, managers – anyone really – should consider checking out his books. And, if you have the chance, try and catch a lecture. Warning, he’s a wee bit, full of himself. At the end of the conference, the music started up (perfectly cued), and he took a bow – for a second I felt like I was at a music concert. Nevertheless, what he has to teach is pretty powerful, so I had to agree that the clapping was well-deserved.
Our first ever collaboration with CCA is winding down and the Furniture for Production students are entering their final weeks of class. Material choice, in particular the refinement of the actual use of the materials, and how they attach to the frame is, hopefully, being resolved. Professor Kane will be meeting one last time with the students for one-on-one critiques in an effort to get them ready for the end of semester crunch. I’m so nervous, aren’t you? Final presentations of the full scale prototypes will be on Dec 15th. I’m planning to attend. Just like you I’ve been checking things out from the sidelines, I can’t wait to see the chairs in person and meet the students.
Drawings: Top chair by Jeremy Kaplan, bottom chair by Albert Hsu.
Follow along with our previous CCA posts here and here.
It seems that Simon Doonan's fascination this holiday season with Andy Warhol has influenced his husband Jonathan Adler's designs. Adler, who mixes modern and kitsch better than anyone, has created what I consider to be the most perfect, poptastic gift choice of the season. Yes, ladies and gents, behold Adler's needlepoint Liza Minnelli pillows!
Warhol was fond of the Studio 54 scene and so is Adler apparently. He has taken his traditional handcrafted wool pillows, typically done in bold, colored geometric prints, and has covered them with the faces of Liza, legendary fashion designer Halston and the Studio 54 logo. Pop imagery combined with arts and crafts? Yes indeed.
Adler says the pillow is "Our homage to the hard-core hedonism of the disco era rendered in the paradoxically cozy medium of needlepoint." Brilliant, just brilliant.
The Furniture for Production students at CCA are totally hitting their stride in the class we’re hosting. They’ve been sketching furiously and presented their best of three drawings two weeks ago. Their next challenge was to pick one to focus on and creating a ¼ scale model of it. They presented these scale models last week. The details in the chairs are so cool. And I can’t help it, but aren’t all small things adorable? See for yourself here.
Want to make your own ¼ scale model chair? Our Champagne Chair Contest is coming. Check back in December to get the details.
The launch of the limited edition 20-06 Chair from Emeco and Foster + Associates (which is available only at DWR, I might add), was the perfect excuse to find out more about Norman Foster, a true living legend of architecture. His firm, Foster + Partners, has a positively staggering international portfolio. Start to look at their projects – which include London’s Millennium Bridge, the Bilbao Metro, Wembly Stadium and the Beijing International Airport (set to open in 2008), just to name a very few – and it becomes clear that their understanding of the big picture is remarkable. Whether it’s the London skyline or the Swiss Alps (check out my personal favorite, the Chesa Futura apartment building in St. Moritz; shown above), Foster and his team build structures that somehow manage to simultaneously stand out and blend into their surroundings. Thus, it’s so very exciting that they’ve gone from macro to slightly more micro with the launch of the 20-06 Chair. Their partnership with Emeco makes perfect sense – both strongly value the pursuit of quality and environmental-consciousness in their work. Definitely worth checking out.
Learn more about Foster’s approach and the emphasis he places on creating green architecture with this piece he wrote for CNN and find out more about his background and upbringing here.
Kid Robot is at it again. Having teamed up with fashion designers as diverse as Heatherette, Prada and Versace for past collaborations, it’s no surprise that their latest fashion muse is the Ralph Lauren of England, Paul Smith. Smith is no stranger to collaborating either. In the past, he’s developed a line of textiles for Maharam, designed a Mini Cooper in his signature stripe and redesigned Arne Jacobsen’s classic Series 7 Chair for Fritz Hansen.
Smith is known for his suits, loud shirts and multi-stripes. He is a dominant fashion brand globally and recent efforts have suggested he’s set to conquer the U.S. This year, PS has launched a store in LA (that Wallpaper magazine went gaga over) and a new flagship here in Soho. His first U.S. shop on 5th Avenue is a mixture of suiting, shirts, books and found objects that Smith has discovered all over the globe. It is also the only place you can snatch up a limited edition PS/Kid Robot T-shirt. For $120, you get the toy too.
Or you could wait until November 24th when the 8” version of his Kid Robot toy, the Dandy Dunny, will go live online. But you’d better be fast. They’ll assuredly sell out right away.
As you might have noticed in recent DWR catalogs, our art direction team has been spicing up our photography through the use of wallpapers that act as decorative backdrops to some of our more streamlined products. We’ve received many questions from customers asking where these can be purchased, so we’re more than happy to hook you up with a link to the Cole and Sons site. Their wallpaper designs range from the feminine to over the top (in a good way).
Even more adventurous are the designs from Nama Rococo, a wallpaper studio that claims to draw influence from the French artist Watteau, Chinese hand-scroll paintings from the Qing Dynasty and Funkadelic album covers. Not only are their wallpapers striking, but their website is fun to explore.>
Being a renter and someone who constantly likes to mix up my environment, I’m always looking for ways to customize my home on a whim. These designs might just do the trick.
Or so says Marcel Wanders in his latest design jaunt with Puma to bring some fun into the outdoor lounging realm. I love the idea of making camping/life outside more than just yellow and black gore-tex and green coleman grills. This is what crossed my mind today as my co-worker Karen John handed me a gold and black marketing book from one of our favorite Dutch designers, Marcel Wanders. Wanders teamed up with Puma to launch products designed a camping/beach/lounge experience. The line includes a shade structure, coolers, beach balls, flip flops and bags, all jazzed up with his black and white prints. Wanders and Puma seem like a match made in heaven. The line will be in stores this week. For now, I’m going to play with the marketing book, it has cutouts and dolls so I can pretend camp, all from the comfort of my desk. Now how about a desk meets tent type of thing?
The opening of a new bespoke shop in Notting Hill is probably not something that is normally newsworthy, however when you’re Claire Goldsmith, greatgranddaughter of Philip Oliver Goldsmith, it is.
Philip Oliver Goldsmith began as an eyeglass salesman in 1926. After finding that metal and tortoiseshell were far too expensive, he turned to vibrantly colored acetate. Ten years later Charles Goldsmith turned the concept of sunglasses, which at that time were made from used eyeglasses with tinted lenses, into a full-fledged fashion statement and permanent accessory. Soon the custom eyewear was gracing the pages of Vogue and Harpers. Through the middle of the century Goldsmith created some of the most eye catching designs to be captured on film, worn by the likes of Michael Caine and Audrey Hepburn, and on the runway by creating eyewear for Givenchy and Dior.
Eighty years later, Claire Goldsmith is not riding on icon status alone, she is attempting to reconnect to a past tradition and craft to create something new. She has called on the original craftsmen, most now well into their seventies, and has gone as far as to raid forgotten warehouses stocked with acetate to create great new collections from vintage stock. She has definitely taken the tradition and heritage to heart in her new undertaking, attempting to carry on the iconic legacy of her forefathers.
This makes me wonder if somewhere there isn’t a forgotten stash of rosewood sitting in a remote warehouse in Michigan just waiting to be formed into a new Plywood Lounge Chair.
The 2nd half of the CCA class, Furniture for Production, began last week. The students were asked to present initial sketches for a multipurpose chair targeted at the needs of DWR. Instructor Brian Kane said a successful solution will be based on visual and material innovation as well as ergonomic, manufacturing, and sustainable considerations. Unlike the foamcore project they worked on for their midterm, this chair can be designed in any material they choose. Still very much in the idea stage, nothing is considered impossible. However, they’ll soon have to decide on one idea to pursue for the rest of the class. Brian, along with furniture designers, Mark Kapka and Brian Graham, continue to help by sharing their own experiences. Eventually one or more chairs may be put into production by DWR. No guarantees of course.
California College of the Arts (CCA) and DWR have teamed up to host a class, Furniture for Production, in which students are developing seating solutions for contract and residential markets. For the midterm, students were asked to design a full-scale foamcore chair that supports their weight. The only material allowed was one 4'x 8' sheet of half-inch foamcare. No glue or fasteners could be used. Oh, and as if that wasn’t challenging enough, they had to create a design that could ship flat and be assembled on site. The innovative solutions included a rocking chair, a folding chair and a chair assembled with dovetailed joinery. One student even peeled the hard coating off parts of the foamcore to give his chair a shaggy texture. The result was more Muppet noir than cute. “A piece of evil should be in every project,” said the student.
View more projects here.
