The Style of Elements

We've moved!

2011-01-24T11:20:00.003-05:00

The Style of Elements is going to take a slight turn and focus solely on product design. It will still be about what catches my eye…so either the posts will be about objects that make me happy or just plain ol’ piss me off.

I will examine the things that touch our lives, weigh their merits and successes, faults and failures. Wherever possible I will find a deeper story, something to contextualize the object with something that gives it meaning, keeping in mind that elements are still only a part of a larger whole. I hope, that no matter what the posts will be more than informational, they will be entertaining.

This is going to be fun!

So the new address is: http://style-elements.blogspot.com/

Mailbox Wars

2011-01-17T13:41:00.011-05:00

Recently our mailbox out at the humble cottage has been a victim of some high school miscreants/hooligans/ne'er-do-wells. They took out one mailbox

and we promptly replaced it. And they promptly took it out. So we left it as it was and named it the Gehry mailbox. But either the weather has taken a toll or the future jailbirds are slowly clubbing it to death.

So now we have to creatively thwart the entertainment-challenged reprobates. First thought is to fill the new mailbox halfway with bricks; with the hope that the bat wielder will bruise a hand.

I know we are asking for an M-80 retaliation. Will keep ya posted. Please feel free to offer suggestions. Just not the mailbox version of a mini-van.

I'll take it

2010-12-21T09:16:00.004-05:00

Over the years I’ve noticed a fairly consistent criteria for the objects on display at Moss; a high-end household retail store on Greene Street in SoHo. There are items that are handsomely made and purely, exquisitely beautiful. Other pieces tend to be handsomely made and rather funny. But overall, they tend to be seemingly rare items I have never seen anywhere before.

The objects, furniture and jewelry in Murray Moss’s collection are as intricately curated as any museum show. For the most part, what you find in a museum store is only representative of the museum’s collection, sort of a brand extension and not a picture of what the museum exhibits in its galleries. But the objects at Moss’s gallery are for sale, making this the museum store that puts the museum back in the store.

One of the most breath-taking objects was a scaled down version of the Metropolitan Opera’s central descending chandelier, designed by Hans Harold Rath and manufactured by J&L Lobmeyer in 1960. For Moss, it was replicated and brought down to household size (at least if your household was on the scale of a minor Renaissance palace). Objects such as this are the stuff of dreams, utterly unattainable, but here it was, for sale at Moss.

(You can still buy it online. Go here: http://www.mossonline.com/product-exec/product_id/41765/category_id/455
and just click “I’ll TAKE IT” to put it in your basket. How remarkable, that you can “one-click” a $68,765.00 chandelier. Too much wine and an itchy finger could get you into lots of trouble.)

Moss also has some of the most beautiful collections of hand painted porcelain dishes such as the $2600 five-piece white place setting with gold trim by Wolfgang von Wirsen designed in 1944. Or my favorite, the Chinese oval platter for a mere $709 that is reminiscent of Hermes. A curatorial point well taken; one can find Hermes easily, one cannot find this 1730 plate by Johann Joachim Kaendler so readily.

But the items that delight the most are the ones that exhibit humor. A matte bisque 10” Jackdaw perched on a branch for $2350 or Cindy Sherman’s Madam Pompadour Limoges porcelain. A 1916 17” porcelain miniature Doberman pinscher for $4,000? Now that’s funny!

But not everything in the store is cost prohibitive. For my birthday one year, some friends bought me two Artecnica transSglass vases made from recycled wine bottles. One was a bottle that had been laser cut just below the shoulder. The top portion was then inverted and placed neck down into the bottom of the bottle. Sandblast and then viola, a flower vase for $62. Or there is the high-density polyethylene fiber Tvyek bag by designer Saskia Diez for $60.These items can be found on-line but the finding requires knowledge of their existence.

What heightens the museum experience is that all these pieces are behind glass, beyond reach. The couches and chairs all wear signs that say, “do not touch.” I tend to touch anyway but know that I dare not sit on anything unless I demonstrate a sincere desire to purchase. However with a charming gesture of self-parody, the store requires its employees to wear uniform t-shirts also printed with the words, “do not touch.”

Curation is not only the act of inclusion and subsequent omission; it also asks that the curator make choices that are of interest to the viewer. I find that Moss consistently shows me things that are not only interesting but are objects that I can rarely, if ever, find on my own.

(sadly i can't get pics of most of these items)

Drowning Beautiful

2010-11-13T10:03:00.003-05:00

this is fanTAStic

(thanks jeff)

Give Stefan Sagmeister 10,000 bananas

2010-10-22T11:25:00.003-04:00

"Give Stefan Sagmeister 10,000 bananas & some glue, and he give you a giant Banana Wall, part of an art installation on Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far exhibition. Titled Self-confidence Produces Fine Results, the Banana Wall is made of real bananas stacked up in a giant wall at Deitch Gallery."

from design yearbook via the daily what.

Well looky here...

2010-10-11T09:57:00.001-04:00

(storyboarded and directed by banksy. thanks daily what)

Banksy strikes again

2010-10-09T17:33:00.002-04:00

Can't believe I haven't posted in a month. Let's just say that school requires A LOT of attention. (must remember to breathe)

So here's a little eye candy:

From the wooster collective

Technology is pretty

2010-09-10T16:50:00.003-04:00

I have a strong feeling there will be fewer and fewer lengthy posts over the next few years (did I mention I was starting grad school? oh yes, I did). Anyhoo there is no need to stop providing you with wonderful things to look at.

So here...

New Deitch Wall

2010-09-06T18:01:00.004-04:00

Looks like it was done by one or two taggers but you see the names of many more historical street artists. Will find out more...

Update:

Here is the story.

Which brings me to another question. Aren't these some of the same guys who complain that Fairey and Banksy are sellouts? Is this wall commissioned art?

hmmm.

Also around the corner from the Deitch Wall on Houston and Bowery, I found these:

Now this space is usually reserved for commercial wild-postings. If this is a print tease for some new show, I can't wait to see what it is.

Hee!

You say lycopine, I say to-mah-to

2010-09-05T18:12:00.006-04:00

I can’t believe summer is almost over. (summer, for me, ends when I have to start wearing socks). And with it, what I probably lament the most, is the end of those incredible fruits and vegetables. Oh and rose’. I think I will especially mourn the end of the fresh tomato. Oh and rose’.

Out here on the North Fork, where NK and I spend our weekends, we have had a crazy fabulous foodie summer. Starting with asparagus and kick-ass strawberries, then we move into other berries, tomatoes (New jersey? Where’s that?), zucchini, eggplant, lettuces, peaches and corn (again, New Jersey? Yeah whatever). Hoping to make it last till November, I have been putting up the tomatoes (olive,oil, salt, slow roast for 4 hours at 200, then pack in more olive oil and place in snap lid jars) and freezing the corn.

As readers in the New York area know, we have fanTAStic farms out here on the North Fork. Some are wholesale only such as Satur Farms in Cutchogue. How crazy is it that, off-season, I buy my lettuce from Whole Foods in the city and drive the one + hours out here to eat something that is grown 4 miles away from me? Whatevs. But many other farms have their classic roadside farm stands. The problem becomes: which one to buy from?

I asked fellow NoFo-er MM which ones he liked and he said that he favors what he calls “sincere farms”:

“My criteria for farm stands are the same as for wineries: sincerity. By that I mean it really feels like it's part of a farm, the people who run it are farm-friendly and everything they sell is local. One that meets all of these criteria best, I think, is also one of the smallest - on Mill Road behind the Home Depot (once I didn't have enough cash and he said to just give it to him next time). Reeves (Sound Ave) and the one on 25 next to the Calverton post office ("Farmer Dan") are pretty sincere as well. Windy Acres has a real farm feel to it but is a little too commercial. Fox Hollow (Sound Ave just east of Twomey) is good too but scores low on friendliness. Lewin (on Sound in Wading River) is the opposite of sincere, flunking on all counts.

I also have a soft spot for the egg table on Sound just west of Edwards with the honor payment system. Can't get more sincere than that!”

Ty Llywd (pronounced Tee Clewed, dummy. Duh!) is one of my favs. It is close to home and I have to say most sincere. It seems that few of the stands are near their farms. Ty Llwyd is all in one: farm, farm house and farm stand. I can see the chickens from the road (so I know for sure they are free range, not just let out of their cages for 15 minutes a day) and when I asked for lettuce, we went into the garden and cut it from the ground. Yum.

These are the foods we grew up with and oddly, for most people, they are the hardest to find. How sad is it that it has become a luxury to eat good fresh tomatoes that are not mealy, are tasteless and have the texture of cardboard?

But enough talk about food. It’s Labor Day weekend. Say, who’s thirsty?

Rem Koolhaas preservation tour

2010-09-03T11:43:00.002-04:00

Discuss

Unnecessary desires

2010-08-29T11:06:00.004-04:00

Maybe it's because September is nearly here that my inner geek gets so excited about school supplies. Maybe it's because school starts in a little over a week but I just love this sort of thing and think I need one.

I'm thirsty

2010-08-19T07:03:00.005-04:00

It is true that you can determine something about a book by its cover. Now that we have so many different types of covers to choose from, the likelihood of the cover being reflective of its contents is very high.

That cover may be how you adorn yourself, the furniture you choose, which copy of Lolita you put in your Amazon shopping cart or it can be the label on a wine bottle.

NK and I are big fans of rose’ wines, as are about 95% of our friends. What most of us seem to have in common is that we love the more salmon colored rose’ rather than the darker cough syrup-y Tavel types (difference being the skins are kept on longer, making the wine darker and other things that wine-makers and enthusiasts know more about). These lighter types are closer to the wines made in Provence, which, as all of you know, is rose’ country.

One of our new favorite rose’ wines comes from Croteaux Vineyards on the North Fork. Rose’ is all Micheal and Paula produce. LO and RS introduced us to the wines and we became smitten. Then we visited the vineyard for a tasting and we fell in love. In his city life, Michael Croteau is a commercial art director, which is abundantly apparent when you look at the vineyard’s environment.

We felt as though we were in the south of France. Or what we imagined the south of France to look like. Besides designing the physical environment, he designed the wine labels as well; as an extension of the surroundings.

As it turns out, he also designed the label of another favorite wine of ours: a Channing Daughters rose'; which we chose to buy based on two criteria: the color of the wine and the design of the label. Coincidentally, of all their wines, the one we loved most was made with grapes from Michael’s vineyard. Fancy that.

And Michael also shared an opinion with us that we have held as well but never voiced. And that is…

There is rarely a good bottle of wine with an ugly label. Those who have the good taste to make a good wine usually have the good taste to make a good label.

So there!

More stop motion fun

2010-08-18T12:25:00.001-04:00

I especially like the paint-resistant lettering at the end.

(daily what)

Hee!

2010-08-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

Animated street art.

Hmmmm, which one should we get?

2010-08-10T16:45:00.003-04:00

3-D door covers. I'm thinking the escalator.

(thx NK for finding this)

Heveltictoc

2010-08-07T07:12:00.000-04:00

This is way cool.

(and again,thanks go to the daily what.)

Class airfare

2010-08-06T07:11:00.001-04:00

Pretty funny post from my friend, Laura Belgray.

Astute observations about moneyed (or not) hierarchies.

(and even sadder is that I have been in business class when a steward and passengers made fun of those in coach. flying business/first can turn you into a regular lindsay lohan)

Now I know what to do with all my extra pillows

2010-08-05T07:05:00.000-04:00

(thanks daily what)

Use all your stuff

2010-08-04T13:04:00.003-04:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile but it isn't because I am spending all my awake time playing with my new iPad. Just most of my awake time.

Since we moved into the humble cottage a little over a year ago, I have developed an inclination to use up or cook and store all then perishable items we buy for the weekend. I don't know what precipitated the desire, it just seemed like a natural way to behave. (OK, a tanking economy and joblessness can invigorate more responsible behavior.) I feel very proud when we leave a relatively empty refrigerator at the of the weekend (and like this weekend, the end will be today which is Wednesday. Hee!).

Last night we had an heirloom tomato and eggplant gratin; the recipe from my favorite source: Food and Wine magazine. Fantastic! Probably the best to date, I have to say. Anyhoo, quite a bit left over but not enough as a stand alone. Mmmmmmm, it was amazing as the vegetable for this morning's frittata. I would have taken a pic but I was too hungry.

Sometimes it is a bit of a challenge to use everything well. I try to avoid having to make things like watermelon and peach pasta or lobster salad with blueberries and pickles.

Then I remembered the Whole Foods recipe app that I have on my iPhone. It's the recipe search app which is fab for the phone cuz not only does it make a shopping list of the ingredients, it let's you tick them off as you go.

But wait, there's more. It has an "on hand" function. Yep, you guessed it, no more cucumber pies.

And I really don't think I was all that wasteful before, I was just less mindful of my habits.

Today's lunch will be blueberry, cantaloupe, peach smoothies, salad with anchovy/garlic dressing, crumbled goat cheese on top and cucumber/mint water. Oh and hotdogs. Because the humble cottage is on the North Fork, with the exception of the hotdogs and salad dressing ingredients, absolutely everything was grown or made within a 9 mile radius. Yum.

Shhhhhhh (oes)

2010-07-29T15:05:00.007-04:00

LS, my shoe sculpture buddy sent me this link to Atalanta Weller. I am speechless. Yes I want. Urgh. Language gone.

We popped by the one store in New York that carries her stuff to see them in person but alas there was only one pair left. We will have to check it out when the new collection comes in.

What I really love is what she did for Barbie's 50th birthday. I should have had them for mine. Barbie is fierce! I want to be her.

Anyhoo, the blogger Style Bubble went to Atalanta's studio and got some nice pics of her process. And got to try on these cool shoes. (Thanks LS)

fanTAStic.

Grrrrr again

2010-07-28T16:10:00.018-04:00

Hmmmm. I wonder if the economy is starting to turn around. I remember a time in New York when you needed to either dress fashionably or be famous in order to be treated well by store clerks at the higher end stores; the downtown Barney’s excluded, they were always nice.

Then the faltering economy of the Bush 1 years forced shops to treat what few customers they had left a bit more politely. I do remember being spoken to at Bergdorf’s. Unheard of! Even though we had 8 years of peace and prosperity during the Clinton years, the nastiness did not return. Maybe peace and prosperity makes people happy. But the best treatment I had when shopping was during the Bush 2 years, with the economy flailing out of control. Too bad I couldn’t afford anything anymore. (and if there are readers who don't know me, please know that I am not shallow enough to judge a presidency on my ability to buy things I do not need.)

Yesterday I made visit number 3 to a new shop on Great Jones called The Future Perfect (I know, dumb name). And on visit number 3 the same shopkeeper/sales lady treated me with the same disdain as she did the other 2 times. Maybe it’s because I didn’t look hip enough, or because I have a few wrinkles (ok a lot) or because I picked up a number of objects and said “Oh I have that” or “I got these in Paris”

or “NK just found these on-line and bought a set”. The biggest insult had to have been saying that “I got these coffee mugs at the MoMa design store”.

I went in yesterday to see if they had a glass pitcher (ya know for cucumber water-ceramic isn’t working) or to see if there was anything new. Same shitty attitude.

Later that evening as I was recycling magazines, I ran across a New York mag on “Design Liberation” from May 11, 2009 that I hadn’t read yet (slipped through the cracks). Decided to flip through before discarding. Lo and behold there was a piece on The Future Perfect. Couldn’t wait to see what they said cuz now I am gunnin’ for ‘em.

I quote: “ David Alhadeff’s Williamsburg store The Future Perfect is one of the city’s design bellwethers, a cheerleader for innovation and craftsmanship, and the place where many New Yorkers first saw Scrapile by Carlos Salgado, or Jaime Hayon, or Jason Miller.”

Design bellwether? Really? Maybe for Williamsburg. 3 of the items that I have which they are also selling I found in museum design stores. Ok, one of the stores was in Paris but so what? Who cares?

Anything that can be purchased from a museum store won't be exactly unique. Many many many people probably own these things. (remember I am not the one trying to say that I am oh-so original here).

I believe NK found the Lovegrove&Repucci dishes on The Daily What.

Then the article takes us around the owner's apartment where I see he has the same Phillip Starck chair that you can get at Barney’s. Or a ton of other places.

And gee, we even have the same Modernica daybed.

We bought ours 13 years ago. Not to undermine my surroundings and objects but I am not in the business of trying to find what is the most innovative.

I am sure that Mr. Alhadeff is a very nice man. And I don't have the impression that, in his home, he is trying to be preciously one-of-a-kind. He just has a nasty shopkeeper on Great Jones who seems to think she is in a rarefied environment . Anyhoo, I guess the economy must be doing better if you can afford to be disdainful toward potential customers

Oh and trust me, if she had been nicer, I would have raved about the store and told everyone to go there. They do have some things you won’t see very often including this taxidermy rat lamp.

Wearable art

2010-07-27T14:03:00.031-04:00

More fanTAStic architecture that happens to be sculpture that also happens to be a pair of shoes. (from United Nude)

I am interested in the form of a functional item and wonder why so many items seem to be designed by people who have no interest in form.

But I suppose it all has to do with who is designing the object. The person who designed my weed whacker doesn't appear to have had much use for form but it does function fairly well. I would be happier, though, if it were more ergonomically designed to fit my body and to move with it. It would be much more fun to sashay all over the lawn than to look like I am searching for coins.

These shoes are designed by Rem D. Koolhaas (yes, a nephew of THE architect and an architect himself) and the ecologically minded Galahad Clark (of THE Clark shoe company) Please to enjoy them all.

Please note that the shoe on the left is called the "Eamz" as the heel is the same as an Eames chair leg.

And this one I love because it reminds me of Bizarro World from the Superman comics.

Hee!

An update on the "Mobius" shoe. The staff at the Bond Street store said that the leather upper is much softer so the shoe should no longer tear the bloody hell out of your feet.

Haha Zaha

2010-07-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

I know that Zaha Hadid isn't loved by everyone but I do find this building thrilling. The small scale model looks like a book having been left out in the rain.

hee!

go to design boom for more.

And for those who missed her Chanel in Central Park building/installation go here to NY mag for the article.

also here for another article on the Chanel piece.

___________________________________________________________________

book>rain=inspiration

!!!

2010-07-22T07:20:00.002-04:00

(nor!!!x2)

Happy happy birthday to me

2010-07-21T14:15:00.003-04:00

Playing with my new toy.

Thanks NK!!!

I want to go to there

2010-07-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

(thanks daily what)

I am grateful for my President for many reasons and one of them is simply because he is a Democrat. Without a Dem in office every so often, our environment would be 100% in the toilet. Isn't it funny how instantly corporations and businesses go green the second a Dem is elected? (and less funny, just how quickly these corporations drop the caring facade as soon as a republican gets into office)

So of course I am suspicious when the words "green" and "sustainable" and "local" are suddenly abundant in advertising. Regardless, some of these places must be sincere. That's the fortunate fallout of the environmentally correct zeitgeist. There will be some that are sincere. I would like to think that this is one.

More on this gorgeous place here.

(and we shan't talk about the carbon footprint of the plane trip because i can't afford to go there anyway) hee!

Lazin' on a sunny afternoon

2010-07-20T07:30:00.001-04:00

No, this isn’t a continuation of the Gwathmey@Astor rant (I do promise to quit that one day). This is a continuation of 7/14’s rant regarding the laziness of Sunday’s (7/11/10) NYT real estate writer who, when writing about Noho, failed to explore the area above Great Jones St.

Now here is an article that justifiably limits the scope of discussion to the 3 blocks of Lafayette just north of Houston. The writer, Christopher Gray, had a specific reason to limit his perimeters. It was an historic piece specifically about those 3 blocks.

This is the exact same swath that C.J. Hughes wrote about last Sunday. Mr./Ms. Hughes didn’t have any such reason to restrict the boundaries.

While Mr. Gray does mention two restaurants: Bite and Pinche Taqueria, he does so to emphasize some of the particular challenges that greeted developers. Both are housed in a lilliputian triangular building that gives the taco place 12 feet of working space and the sandwich restaurant is “barely 5 feet wide where the cook stands, and about 18 inches at the tip”. Those dimensions make the restaurants worthy of comment.

Curiously, these are the only 2 restaurants featured photographically in last Sunday’s article.

Coincidence? Or as I suspect, the photos were left over from the earlier article.

OK, now I'm done ranting.

(lauren T)

(thanks to DS for pointing out the Gray article. And BTW, DS and family used to live in the Gwathmey/Astor building while they were renovating their West Village home. Please know that because some of the finest people have lived in that crazy building does not mean that they themselves are not crazy. They are wonderful)

Fantastico

2010-07-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

New Os Gemeos work in San Diego.

(thanks daily what)

Well, this is just evil

2010-07-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

PAY & SIT: the private bench (HD) from Fabian Brunsing on Vimeo.

(from the daily what)

Ok, NOW I get it

2010-07-15T07:30:00.001-04:00

The Gwathmey building at Astor Place is an homage to the undulating water towers on the corner of Mercer and 3rd St.

Witty!

I really must get out more

2010-07-14T14:33:00.038-04:00

(t-shirt courtesy of artist Lauren Bergman. go here for her "little bitches" t-shirts and BUY HER ART)

When in the city, I spend most of my time within a 4-block radius of my apartment. I know that that is the case for most New Yorkers who usually only venture farther because they have a job to go to.

This undoubtedly contributes to my becoming a bit of a crank about my neighborhood: Noho. (please note I am not the sort of crank who refuses any sort of development or progress in the ‘hood. Just the type who likes to rant about anything that strikes me as stupid)

Regarding the Sunday Times real estate article on Noho, I have decided that the writer is, oh, about 12. The article is truly lazy. He/She rarely strayed past a 2 block radius, spending most of the time between Bleecker St.and Bond St and never too far from Lafayette. Ok, so the writer might be a 19-year-old intern who is really anxious to get back to his/her pad/bar in Williamsburg. The photo essay is even worse.

First of all, who would use this as the opening photo of a slide show that is supposedly meant to make the area look appealing? And for anyone familiar with the neighborhood, do you think that the intersection of Bleecker at Mott St. is the most representative image?

Uh yeah, that sure is the best shot you can find of the neighborhood. Then, of the 10 photos, 9 are from between Bond St. and Bleecker. I guess if the photographer had become more adventurous, then the writer would have had to walk as well. For the 10th pic, the photographer became really brave and ventured one full block north to Great Jones Street. Wow!

The article is titled "Living In: Noho". The title alone allows one to explore more than the obligatory mentions of the expensive new condos on Bond St. Not only do the photos refuse to stroll farther north than Great Jones, the writer mentions a few scant businesses outside of his/her radius of comfort. One is Joe’s Pub. Uh anyone? Anyone? Anyone want to point out that the building that houses the bar also houses The Public Theater? I know we are talking real estate here but when applicable, cultural and artistic endeavors in a neighborhood also contribute to the definition of the neighborhood’s charm.

A little more, not even a whole lot more, investigation would have made the article richer. I can’t believe that Noho Star is the restaurant chosen to represent the ‘hood. There’s Il Buco, 5 Points, a little concept restaurant called “Smile”, and hell, there’s even Indochine. Eep, but the writer would have had to venture a little further in or up.

The slideshow wastes 2 pics on our poor man’s Flatiron Building, which has 2 fast-ish food restaurants. It’s all just so lazy.

Besides the lack of The Public mention, we also have the Bleecker St. Theater where NK and I have seen, Sarah Silverman and Mike Birbiglia. Go here for more. We still have Blue Man Group but am pretty hesitant to label that “culture”. I think The Public Theater would have been mention enough.

But the best part of the article is that the writer speaks to the photographer, Stan Reis (ya know THE Stan Reis) about his real estate investment. Maybe longtime resident (and neighborhood advocate) Chuck Close wasn’t available for comment. Or Sheryl Crow. Or Patrick Demarchelier . Or any of the people from the estate of Robert Rauschenberg who are planning to use his former residence on Great Jones and Lafayette for his foundation. Maybe they weren’t considered as witty as Stan.

And finally why shoot real estate like this:

When you can have this:

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

My aim is true

2010-07-09T15:18:00.009-04:00

Last weekend I got to check out the OXO cherry-pitter. AM brought hers so we could do a little product testing. I mentioned in a previous post that I thought it was a good-looking tool but perhaps a little over-done (overdesigned?). Did we really need the little glass encasement that aimed the pit more directly into the bowl? I thought the addition was put there simply to set it apart from other pitter choices. People should just learn to aim better.

We gave that one to my 13-year-old niece, GW. AM used the other (the one without the glass encasement) in the cherry-pitting race. They both worked as well as one another, both quick and efficient but it soon became obvious that the OXO was the far superior tool. Not only did it direct the pits squarely into the bowl, it did the same with the flying cherry juice. My poor ugly grey pitter sprayed deep red cherry juice all over my beloved white kitchen. Looks like I will be headed to Broadway Panhandler soon. Hee!

Praise the miracle sponge. It is truly magic.

Go ahead, have another cherry...

Bigger than the 4th of july

2010-07-08T12:29:00.003-04:00

"After months of works and buckets of paint, the new wall painted animation is ready..."

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Visit blu for more.

thanks NK

The Trump card

2010-06-29T15:15:00.002-04:00

In a previous post I briefly alluded to my dislike of the Gwathmey building at Astor Place (445 Lafayette) by expressing a desire that we don’t see anything more of its ilk in my neighborhood. And even though much has been written about it, I will throw my own rant into the conversation because the building offends me daily (don’t forget, anyone who suggests therapy, will get punched in the neck).

I wrote about it in one of my SVA MFA application essays that explored why some buildings in NoHo work and some do not. This building does not. I will reprint part of the essay here:

"It struts arrogantly out of nowhere, so inconsistent to the vibe of the neighborhood that it seems as though the building is screaming an obscenity at it. It is defiant and has no reason to be. As I watched it go up, I experienced actual anger. Noho is a very inclusive and welcoming neighborhood. All this building ever said to me is “You don’t belong here. You can’t afford it. We don’t want you”.

I have heard it compared to a swimming pool because of the shape and the blue glass of its construction resembling water. I prefer to think of it as an amoeba. However neither a swimming pool nor an amoeba work as a door to the neighborhood. When a piece of modern architecture is situated side-by-side with handsome 19th century buildings it must be majestic, soaring, inspirational. It must lead. Paul Goldberger called the Gwathmey building “an elf prancing among men” with a “garishly reflective” façade channeling not Mies but Trump. (The New Yorker May 2005)

Mr. Gwathmey said, “This design is about the facets reflecting what is there” - that it reflected the neighborhood without it bowing down to the late 19th century environment. Because of the curve and the single glass frames, it appears we are looking at the building through the lens of his favorite toy (NYT, May 2004), the teleidoscope, rendering the reflection cubistic and not at all like the neighborhood.

On the ground floor of the Gwathmey building resides another urban blight: a bank, adding to the recent spate of bank branches on every corner. While this is technically a public space, it adds nothing to the public space. Pamela Puchalski, who created the Center for Architecture, told me that “architecture IS the public so it absolutely has a responsibility to a community beyond the individual - be it the owner who developed the building or the occupant” - that it needs to provide a nice experience for the people who are walking by. Sadly, the bank simply retains the coldness of the rest of the building and does not provide a nice experience. Ms. Puchalsky did dig more deeply into environmental and economic responsibility but those topics are for a wider discussion.

I have been in two of the apartments and they are cold, impersonal. The windows offer no privacy (much to the surprise of DS and DS). The rooms ramble on. There is no center. No core. No heart. The materials for the walls, doors, windows, drawer pulls, and doorknobs seem shabby."

Part of the offense lies in the time in which it was built. Had it been built in the financially aggressive (and finally destructive) 80’s, there may have been more applause for it. But in 2004, that sort of excess in New York belonged to the vulgarity of a Trump building and had no place in NoHo.

Hee!

Run faster, jump higher

2010-06-28T15:40:00.007-04:00

How cool is the Keds company? They commissioned Jenny Holzer to design some sneaks as part of the kedswhitney collection.

I should have waited cuz I just got these last week.

Is there harm in having more than one pair? Especially since what I want says "PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT".

Ay, a conundrum.

Hee!

The sea, the sea...

2010-06-25T18:15:00.004-04:00

Who would have thought that this:

could inspire this:

Actually, I am sure it didn't, I have just been reading a lot about Sealand lately.
(Uncorporate Identity)

Anyhoo, here is more on the Marina Sands Skypark in Singapore.

Oh yeah, I can do this....

2010-06-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

Watermelon carving from Vid Nikolic on Vimeo.

Hee!

2010-06-23T17:54:00.002-04:00

This doesn't have anything to do with the scope of this blog except that I like it.
(oh and its for a good cause)

HIGH-FIVE WORLD CUP!! from Shakira Isabel

2010-06-22T17:31:00.014-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a lot of changes going on in my neighborhood.

We moved to Noho 13 or 14 years ago when the ‘hood was still slightly dicey at night. On Bowery there were many SRO’s (single room occupancy) which gave gents a place to sleep for $5 or $6 a night. This particular street had a long history of being a place where men whose circumstances spiraled downward, came to live. There is a great book called “Flophouse: Life on the Bowery”, that tells the stories of some of these residents. Many of them depressed, most of them alcoholics. The photographs of their faces reveal the tolls their hard lives took and the conditions under which they lived.

Most of the flophouses are gone.

(The White House Hotel does remain open and is listed as a hostel for European travelers. You can imagine what these kids think when they see that the “ceiling” of the room is merely chicken wire).

Because we had two of the friendliest dogs, we were as familiar with our neighbors as we were with many of the local homeless guys. An older gent, Teddy, we nicknamed “the philosopher” because he conducted most of our conversations about current events with a historical perspective and from a philosophical point of view. He wasn’t really local; he just knew where the money was (one early morning, I saw him get into a cab to go home). Tee hee. Teddy knew I liked to read so he always brought me books. If we didn’t see him around for a while we (and I mean the entire neighborhood) asked other “homeless” guys if they knew where he was. Having severe asthma, he was often in the hospital.

From the perspective of Jane Jacobs, the community activist, Teddy was one of our “eyes” of the neighborhood. A person, a bar, a restaurant or a church also keeps an eye on the neighborhood, thereby making it safer. The "eyes" may not actively be watching for crime; the simple presence of their eyes will deter misdeeds. And woe to the driver who ignored Teddy’s parking advice.

Our tenant, the crabby owner of Plantworks, keeps an "eye" on the neighborhood during the daytime. For one thing, he seems to know more about NYU’s slithering intentions than anyone on the Community Board. Popular bars, such as Swift Bar, which is about 4 doors away, act as a policing agent at night. Any city street that is busy with walking traffic is safer than one that is desolate.

Because of the economic downturn, we watched many nearby businesses close. On the right (or wrong-grey and blustery) night, one could feel the potential for the desolation to return. So when a certain unnamed community organization does everything in its power to make sure there are no new bars and very few restaurants opening up by asking the question: “Do we really need another bar in Noho?” I always say yes. And I don’t even go to bars.

The owners of the bars, restaurants and shops have an interest in keeping the neighborhood safe. The building uses in this neighborhood are important so I will continue to protest the possibility of NYU being given permission to put classrooms and dormitories in the 'hood. Any vacant lot that becomes a classroom will be empty of people at night. Any torn-down building that becomes a dormitory will house thousands of transients who have no vested interest in the neighborhood. We have quite a few vacant lots and former SRO's waiting for some type of conversion and we all know that NYU has all the money in the world. At least the Swift regulars are regulars. And the homeless guys were always watching too.

We live on the second floor of our building and we often hear the drunks leaving Swift bar late at night. We put up double hung windows and actually are charmed by the Irish accents even when they are arguing (“Ah Bridget, why’d ya have to go and kiss ‘im?")

We haven’t seen Teddy in quite a few years and assume the worst. But perhaps he found a better neighborhood.

I want to go to there

2010-06-22T14:34:00.000-04:00

I will be fascinated to see what they do here

Funny types

2010-06-17T14:55:00.002-04:00

This font wants to tell you something...

Thanks, NK, for this.

Scary things

2010-06-15T11:38:00.019-04:00

Many things scare me: like color, clutter, and wallpaper. Color because I have to figure out what to wear instead of black, clutter because I prefer chaos to stay in my head, and wallpaper because, well, it is just just scary.

But I was looking through an interior design magazine (Met Home I think) and found something that took by breath away. It was wallpaper.

I must have this wallpaper. Originally I thought to put it on one wall in a guest bedroom at the humble cottage but because of its expense, JT thought it would be better in our bedroom so that we could see it more often. And because we plan to blow out the ceiling of the bedroom, we will be giving the attic space to that room’s ceiling height. These birds could flutter up to 14 feet. Fantastico.

Trove Wallpaper is designed by Randall Buck and Jee Levin. To get to see the products you need to make an appointment. I was given the grand tour of the showroom by Randall Buck (the nicest man). I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and power of their designs that I almost started to cry. I know I started to shake. Beautiful things do that to me. There were so many choices that I wanted wallpaper on at least one wall in each of the private rooms.

To further complicate the decision-making process, each design comes in many different colorways. I was absolutely set on the pure black and white bird pattern but started to gravitate toward the black tinged with a faint pale pink.

I was also drawn to this pattern because of how real the insects seem. Randall suggested going with one full wall of pure black in a bathroom. I LOVE that idea.

Unfortunately the renovation at the cottage is on hold for awhile. And by the way, I am not really afraid of very many things. DD, on the other hand, is very happy that we are choosing to put the birds in our bedroom and not the guest bedroom.

That crazy stefan

2010-06-14T13:15:00.004-04:00

I do like this chair but it belongs in a museum or gallery setting rather than a home. Basel is a perfect place for it.

I like the idea of peeling off the worn or used prints however it would call too much attention to itself if placed in a home. Unless, of course, your home is a home to museum pieces and then I probably would need to leave and get a drink after a few hours.

Let's go lego's

2010-06-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

Hee!

We are the village green preservation society...

2010-06-09T12:56:00.021-04:00

Recently our little section of Noho received its landmark status, which was great news. Basically it means that the exterior of all the buildings in the designated area cannot be altered nor can they be torn down. Therefore the aesthetic and historic nature of the neighborhood might be preserved. Woo-hoo, right? What types of businesses that can move into those buildings is far less regulated. For example, a Subway sandwich shop is now located on Bowery between E. 4th St. and Great Jones. A Subway? Really? But at least NYU is still unable to bring classrooms or dorms into the neighborhood. By the way, have I mentioned how much I hate NYU? Probably not. More on that later.

Curiously, though, is where the designated area stops and starts. Take a look at the little map here. We are in red.

What is going on on the northern and southern corners of East 4th and Bowery, the northern and southern corners of Great Jones and Bowery, the southern corner of Bond St. and Bowery (all in white)? Hmmmmmmm these corners (or gateways to the neighborhood) did not make it into the landmarked district. “Why is that?” we asked...

“BECAUSE THE DESIGNATED AREA HAS TO STOP SOMEWHERE.”

Really? Really?!? Really?!?!

Oh gee, ya couldn’t have made the non-landmarked area start, oh say, across the street on the east side of Bowery. No, that would make too much sense to keep the designated area within its street-imposed grid. Instead, leaving the gateways (and please read “super attractive corner lots in a hot little ‘hood”) to the neighborhood open to developers who might possibly give little thought about building height, materials, aesthetics and that little problem of fitting into an historic district. And let’s not stop with the physical aspect of what makes a building fit in down here. There is a vibe, that when taking all the physical aspects into consideration, when added up, gives a neighborhood it’s feel.

When I get off the subway,I do my absolute best to stay off Broadway and head over to Lafayette with its wide sidewalks,

The Public Theater,

Colonnade Row,

and the Devinne Press building. The list goes on. It is one of the most peaceful walking experiences in New York. When I was working and taking the subway home, it was always that particular short walk which diffused the tensions of my day.

I am not suggesting that each new building be on the respectful level of the Bowery Hotel but please let’s not tolerate the architectural ego of the Gwathmey building at Astor Place.

(by the way, we did gain a little more landmarking on the north side of east 4th st. but it ends still short of the corner where a 15-story rental unit has gone up. the material seems a little shabby but it could have been worse. oh and some of the apartments rent for $20,000 per month. yikes!)

The spiderman cometh

2010-06-08T20:36:00.003-04:00

The ultimate office prank.

It sure beats taping up the entrance to a co-worker's cubicle and filling it with packing peanuts. Or attaching blank Post-It notes to every square inch of her cubicle. Or simply turning each piece of furniture upside-down.

Thanks to NK for this.

RIP Takashimaya

2010-06-04T13:09:00.001-04:00

So sad.

Let the games begin

2010-06-04T12:38:00.001-04:00

Love these t-shirts.

Time for an intervention

2010-06-03T19:39:00.003-04:00

Brilliant.

From the daily what:

"Street Art of the Day: In this short show reel dubbed “STOP POP and ROLL,” urban interventionist Aakash Nihalani takes his familiar geometric tape art to a stop sign at the corner of Bridge and Water in DUMBO.

Keep an eye out for street art Easter Eggs from Banksy, BNE, C215, Cahil Muraghu, Cash4, Eric Burke, KH1, NEVS, Spector, and others.

[thanks aakash!]"

This mess we're in

2010-06-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

I am a sucker for design. And just so you know I am not as pretentious as all that, I can be a sucker to a fault.

While we were renovating our newly purchased cottage on the North Fork, I needed to get a few items to tide us over until the big move when we pulled our real stuff out of storage. One was a vacuum cleaner. I just needed to get something to suck up stuff like plaster and dog hair, nothing too elaborate.
Went to Target ( first time. fell in love.)

Anyhoo, I went for something that we did not have in storage: a cordless stick vacuum cleaner. Lo and behold there was a Dirt Devil designed by Karim Rashid.

And let me tell you it sucks. Or rather it doesn’t. One of the worst products ever. I trusted the Dirt Devil brand and was pleased that it looked so cool and space-age. I am sure there are better looking ones out there but this was the best looking that Target had to offer.

Got it home and was first disappointed by the cheapness of the material. I definitely do not know my plastics grades but this had to be one of the flimsiest, the drinking straw being one grade less. Well, no matter if it worked well. I plugged it in and let it do its requisite charge for 24 hours.

Not only did it leave trails of plaster and dog hair, the charge lasted about 7 minutes (or less, I can’t picture me vacuuming for any longer than 5 minutes)

But I did hear this one works REALLY well.

Don't worry, NK, I won't buy it.

I was told there'd be pie (there's a gadget for that)

2010-05-31T07:00:00.004-04:00

Ah, cherry season is almost upon us. (and I am not talking about June brides. Seriously, you guys. Jeez.)

I think most of us opt to rinse, eat and spit (another June bride joke and I’ll punch you in the neck). Because the fruit is soooooo difficult to pit, we are deprived of so many more ways to appreciate the cherry.

To kitchen fiends, the answer is obvious. But to this particular gadget fanatic, I just found my answer last year. And it is my second most favorite kitchen tool. There are a lot of different designs but I think this is the cleanest look.

Mine is grey, made of hard plastic and plain old ugly. When I bought it, there wasn't another choice in the store and I didn't have the patience to look around for another. It does work well, yet I am hoping it breaks soon.

The OXO version looks like overkill but I should probably do a comparison. Will let ya know.

Last summer I was cutting up fruit for a salad and one of my guests, AM, asked what she could do to help so I handed her a colander of cherries and the cherry pitter. Because the design of the tool itself is shaped like the job it is supposed to do, it sort of had implied instructions or “the system image” as Dr. Donald A. Norman (Emotional Design) would say. And I believe AM enjoyed the chore because I think I remember hearing a “wheeeeee”.

It is a lot of fun to work with because cherry pits go shooting off everywhere. I wouldn’t call it a design flaw. Wheeeeeeee! But you can learn to aim them into the bowl if you like.

She liked the tool well enough to buy one for herself and she also buys it as a host gift. Not one to be beyond borrowing the ideas of others, I too bought one for my next-door neighbor, MY, as a thank you for “a welcome to the neighborhood” dinner party. I also included the small colander, a tea towel and re-usable shopping bag (all from Broadway Panhandler). Apparently cherry pie is her husband’s fav and I was able to make the job just a little bit easier. Yay me.

It is also called an olive pitter and yes it works for olives but not so well with all olives. Kalamata, yes. But cerignola olives, no.

The cherry/olive pitter can be found at Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table and Broadway Panhandler.

And then there is the ultimate cherry pitter. Hee!

A girl can dream...

2010-05-28T07:00:00.001-04:00

oooohhhhhhhhh

If I could, I'd have floor-to-ceilings on one wall in every room.
(when i originally wrote this post, i didn't realize that the site updates regularly, so check out the archives)

Ooooooooh shoes. There I said it.

2010-05-24T18:45:00.002-04:00

They’re shoes. Or are they arctitecture? Or are they sculpture? I know that must seem ridiculous to most guys and the gals who don’t love shoes. How can anyone seriously elevate shoes to the realm of art? But no surprises here …I don’t really care.

My first foray into shoes as sculpture began with a shoe by Robert Clergerie that I found on sale when I was at a conference and not attending the lectures. It was sculpture. So beautiful. So simple. I had to have it.

Bad pic but they are fan-TAS-tic. The band is black suede and the heel base is brushed steel, finished with a rock hard piece of plastic heel that can withstand Manhattan streets. Question was and is, do I wear them (they are extremely well constructed and comfortable) or do I use them to separate books on my bookshelf? Plain and simple, they are sculpture.

That shoe made sure that my head was turned any time I saw something that looked like mid-century sculpture.

Then I found this at a store called United Nude, in the neighborhood that is now called NoLiTa. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw these:

It was based on the Mobius strip and someone made it into a shoe. As I sat down to write about the shoe that started my love of shoes as sculpture I found this story about the guy who designed this one.

Nephew of Rem L. Koohaas, Rem D is also an architect in his own right. I just love that he brought his design sensibility to shoes. Just look at this...

I might need these. They have a new store on Bond Street (why didn’t I know about this? Thank you NY Mag for letting me know what is going on in my own ‘hood)

Here is another Robert Clergerie shoe that I love and wear frequently. Believe it or not, they are extremely comfortable.

I think these examples distinctly put some shoes in the category of sculpture. But I don't really think of sculpture as something worn. As they have a functional purpose, does that put them in the category of architecture?

Well, the top pair of Clergeries may have to go into the more rarified category of art because I really don't want to risk destroying them. The orange Mobius shoe may go there as well because they are so poorly constructed that they tear the bloody hell out of my feet and cannot be worn without a host of ugly band-aids.(LS can attest as well. She has the same shoes)

The next shoe post will be on just plain old beautiful shoes.

Hee!

Oh Hel(vetica)

2010-05-23T20:38:00.010-04:00

Where to start? How about not quite the beginning? A few months ago, I attended a lecture at SVA given by Gary Hustwit, the director of the documentary film: Helvetica. I wanted to see the film for quite sometime and I wish I had seen it before I heard him speak. I would have appreciated the lecture that much more.

But first let me begin with the same forward apology I did when talking about street art. I am not a graphic designer and I never studied type. So there. But even at my level of appreciation, there is a lot to say about Helvetica. Barely scratching the surface here.

Anyhoo, I have since seen the film and cannot recommend it enough because for one reason...

“The film looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.” (Go here for more)

According to the doc, “The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form.” It was meant to allow the words to house the meaning rather than the typeface making a statement.

However, there are definitely occasions when the font can and should overtake the words.

Go to callmequell for a quick history of Helvetica and a nice POV. The writer also links to a 2006 NYT article written by Douglas Coupland who points out:

"I think the most common set-decorating error in films these days can be reduced to one word: Helvetica. I’ll be watching a World War I drama, and there at a train station in the background is a sign saying ”Ypres” in 200-point Helvetica Bold. Movie over — at least for me. Once I see Helvetica in any pre-1957 movie, all I can think is that the art director was so clueless he either used Helvetica in a historical drama, or hired someone stupid enough to do so, and never double-checked the work."

Hee!

From my friend, LM (a very big deal in the world of print):

“Though I’m sure a lot of designers may consider Helvetica to be a cop out and pretty vanilla, I think of it as a fail-safe. When I don’t have time to explore different typefaces I can always count on Helvetica. It’s almost always appropriate because it’s incredibly versatile. It’s very chameleon-like. Depending on the setting and use it can look timeless and sophisticated (say, in a museum). Or it can seem very basic & utilitarian (subway signage). Or fun and friendly. Helvetica in black all caps (serious) has a very different feel than in orange upper & lowercase (playful). Tight or wide letter spacing can also change it’s personality. Plus it comes in a huge range of weights and styles; from black to ultra thin to oblique, etc...

A lot of faces have only one personality. For example Trajan looks reserved and classic. You just can’t make it look otherwise.

Typefaces come & go. Some are incredibly popular for a while then fizzle out. Look at Tiffany and Cooper Black, two typefaces that were very popular in the 70s, but they’re both so distinctive that you can rarely use them today without seeming retro. Whereas Helvetica just keeps going...and going...and going.... throughout the decades.”

I also love that the font elicits reactions from people who otherwise wouldn't be concerned with such things.

For a while Helvetica was the default font in the email systems of many corporations. Fine with me. But I noticed that as people were able to personalize their messages, quite a few of them (mostly outside of the creative services departments) rebelled and chose another type face to show that they

thought about type,

had a creative spirit and

were rebellious enough to reject the corporate font.

They were (perhaps unbeknownst to them) participating in the anti-Helvetica movement. Most of them chose Arial or Verdana. Which both seem to be slightly derivative of Helvetica. (now is the time to remember that I did not study type)

Maybe we all choose a type that we feel reflects us in the same way we choose what we wear.

Helvetica Neue has been my font for, oh let’s see, maybe 15+ years. To me it is Helvetica Refined. Oh yeah and I am all that. Hee!

On the receiving end

2010-05-21T07:00:00.002-04:00

Ah the “hostess gift”. It is a wonderful tradition but the term is so damn archaic, so Neanderthal (“Here’s a lovely pink spike for your club, Noomby.”) that it does a great disservice to the act and to the article given. Historically, the gift is presented to the hostess by a female guest. Therefore single men get off the hook and hosts get screwed. It was meant as an advance “thank you” for all the hard work she put into the event. Guys, you get squat.

I really hope that times have changed enough that we can all, boys and girls alike, lose the “ess” in “host” and give a gift to the person(s) having the party without the act being a chick thing. Ok? Ok.

That said, there is an incredible range of useful and fun gifts you can bring. In this climate, I especially emphasize useful. There are a number of things to keep in mind when considering what to bring. Always best is to consider the hosts. Do they like car wax? How about light bulbs?
Please keep in mind the relative clutter in the person’s home. Do they really need more stuff? If not, stick to perishables such as good olive oil or items that will deplete in time. Be sure, if you choose items like soap or candles, that they are of fairly good quality. Irish Spring is probably not the best choice. Santa Maria Novella has really great stuff for both men and women.

I know I can always use paper cocktail napkins (hmmmmm what does that say about me? Shut Up!)

Now let’s get down to some fun (and useful) stuff.

This $35 juicer from the MOMA Design Store is one of my absolute favs. In addition to all the wonderful qualities that I ranted about in an earlier post, it is the perfect size gift for those whose kitchens are spatially challenged.

If they have room, a 2-cup Saki set is nice or this set of 3 brilliant lamp shades ($15 MOMA DS) I recommend going to Crate and Barrel and buying 3 very inexpensive wine glasses with a broad bowl base which can comfortably house the tea lights. While you are there you can also pick up a bag of tea lights so that the gift is complete.

The Rabbit wine cooler is wonderful because it folds flat and will store well in the freezer.

And finally who doesn’t need one of these?

Fantastico!

Don't fence me in

2010-05-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is fantastic.

(thanks go to The Daily What)

Tag, you're it

2010-05-17T16:36:00.002-04:00

Banksy's in NYC now.

Update (BTW i don't think it's a dis. i think these guys are talkin' to him) hee!

The Birds and the Bees

2010-05-17T07:00:00.010-04:00

I have a superhero in my backyard. I also have a spy and a thief.

My superhero wears a black cape with white epaulets at the shoulder and a black mask. His unitard is a bright orange and the boots are yellow. He sometimes hovers upside-down. He is very brave.

My spy nervously hovers and glances furtively. He stays close to my left shoulder. They say he is waiting for a female. Not sure what she looks like but I am sure he will when he sees her.

My thief is the best of them all. He has a rakish black mask that is shaped like the boy wonder, brown hair that spills out behind where the mask is tied. His cape is grey and his unitard is a white that spills into a light yellow. He usually hangs out with a gang (Mr. White,Mr. Orange and Mr. Brown) but today he is just hanging with the Mrs. Nice man.

We also have a fierce hunter and some ugly hangers-on.

We do have the requisite robins, sparrows, swallows, seagulls, cardinals and other birds I can’t yet identify (perhaps another bloody Mary will help and yes I am writing this on Sunday for a Monday post)

It is a pretty action packed backyard. Or maybe the bloodies are just working their magic. Fantastico!

Save the Date

2010-05-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

If you are in NYC on May 18, 2010.

Inflexible

2010-05-13T12:16:00.015-04:00

Why do I always seem to do battle with myself every time I start to work on a post? (you shut up. no, you shut up) I find myself ready to make a pronouncement then realize I haven’t thought things through thoroughly. Soooooo here we go again…

This post is about logos and originally I was going to come out (swinging) and saying: FLEXIBLE LOGOS ARE THE BEST LOGOS. ALL OTHERS ARE BAD.

There may have been flexible logos before, but MTV definitely made the flexible logo part of their identity. Their ever-changing mark signified forward thinking, playfulness, and a reflection of the culture of their audience. The logos were often wonderful expressions of graphic design, possibly crossing the line into art.

Go here for a nice compilation of the MTV logo:

Be sure to check out the MTV logo story where you will find:

"The next, and probably most revolutionary part of the story came when they were asked to come up with the "corporate colors" for the logo. The decision was made that there weren’t any, and that the logo should always change. Knowing that many animators, designers, ad agencies, etc. were going to be working with the logo made them think how, just like rock music always changes, the logo should also. This was a concept that had never been used on a logo before. The "M" and the "TV" could be made of any colors and/or materials."

There were obvious rules. The big “M” always stayed in the same font family (ish), the font of the “TV” never changed and the size relationship to one another didn’t change nor did their placement. After that, let the fun begin. What we were given was a character unto itself. It had a personality and an attitude. While there were many animated logos, you never saw the NBC Peacock spit tar into the CBS eye.

When I was running The Movie Channel, we always had fun with the logo. When promoting a specific movie, we often animated it into the actual footage for the promo’s end page. When we shot original footage for the network, we would place the logo on any and all spherical and disc-like surfaces (dog toy, cocktail napkin with drink ring). Both the MTV and the TMC logos were for entertainment networks and I think the logos had the obligation to entertain. (NOTE: as soon as i find copies of the TMC logos. i will re-post)

But I think we are meant to take comfort in certain logos that don’t change very much or if they do, they evolve. The fact that they remain the same signifies (falsely or not) stability. Banks tend not to change their logos drastically. Government offices don’t try to hip up their logos. These institutions mean to convey a solid presence. Again, falsely or not.

Or my favorite...
I find comfort in the relative stability of Barney's.

(chase, mobil, pbs and barney's logos courtesy of Chermayeff & Geismar)

As my friends know, I am starting the MFA program in Design Criticism at SVA in the fall. Like MTV, the “D-Crit” department has an ever-changing logo. The “D” and the “Crit” remain the same. They are separated by an “X”, a crosshatch, an intersection. Placed under the intersection are still images rapidly cut together. The images appear to be objects, events or concepts that have been previously critiqued or may be critiqued in the future. It is important that the logo remain ever changing so that viewers see a never-ending range of topics relevant to the program. Go here for a peek.

No, you shut up.

Collecting Intelligence

2010-05-10T07:00:00.004-04:00

Just finished an essay on book collecting by Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) called “Unpacking My Library”. While I own a good number of books, by his standards, I could never be called a collector. For Benjamin there were 2 types of collectors. No, let me take that back; there is the acquirer of books and then there is the collector of books. The acquirer will purchase luxury editions and libraries with no real love for their content; he has purchased the bibliophile’s version of the trophy wife. I had a friend, RP, who had 6 different copies of Lolita in his library and has never read the book. I was baffled.

The collector has deep passion for each leather-bound book or even cloth-bound book. The collector will read the books that can withstand handling and if not, it goes in the glass case. However the collector knows the title is worthy because he will have read a different edition of it. This collector is cognizant of its quality and worth.

Ok, so I am not a collector but I do think I have the same passion for books, as does Benjamin. He mentions that the act of buying of a book gives it its freedom. It rescues the book from a lonely shelf and transports it to the hands of a lover.

If I am not a collector of books then you can call me a collector of stories. And I believe that just by reading them, I, or any reader, have given these stories their freedom. I love to look at all the books in my library, both read and unread. The ones that have not yet been read remain under figurative lock and key until it is their turn. Make no mistake, I also do care deeply about how they are packaged. It is rare that my book covers are not interesting or of some good quality.

One of my absolute favorite books is my paperback copy of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey with its spine so broken, it is held together by scotch tape. So no, I don’t have any editions that are worth much of anything but I do have some titles that are worth the world.

(this is the copy that i bought in paris) Hee!

Please to enjoy

2010-05-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog.

absolutely beautiful

thanks to PJ for finding this.

(and apologies to NK for not crediting him earlier on the things he found for me. hee)

Female Design

2010-05-06T23:02:00.004-04:00

(I apologize for the f-bombs but this puts me over the edge.)

As I read this I could barely breathe. A “nick”? “down there”? Really? Really?

Really?

Are you fucking out of your minds? ARE YOU FUCKING OUT OF YOUR MINDS?

I know this is coming from a “good place”, that it is meant to prevent future female genital mutilation. But you are not stemming the tide.

For FUCK’S SAKE. You are cutting little girls.

Please do not confuse this with circumcision which is supposedly done for health reasons or whatever. When they cut little girls, it is only because they are afraid the girls will experience sexual pleasure later on in life. There is NO practical purpose.

I can’t breathe.

'Tis better to give...

2010-05-05T12:48:00.010-04:00

Re-gifting or re-giving is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift. (wikipedia)

The practice of re-gifting is frowned upon/taboo in polite circles but occurs regularly in most. I, of course, have NEVER re-gifted. Hee. But if you look at it differently, it is morally and ecologically sound to re-gift. Let’s say you receive a sweater that looks like the microscopic cross-section of a paramecium and it doesn’t happen to be your style. It is far better to give that sweater to someone whose taste it suits than to add to the ultimate waste in the world by buying another one just like it for a different relative with questionable taste. Now there are two paramecium sweaters floating around the world when there could have been just one. And think of what happens when both of those sweaters start falling apart in about 6 months with the synthetic fiber having a carbon half-life of about 5,730 years. If you don’t know anyone who might be interested in the sweater, you can re-gift it to a local charity. Morally sound.

Or you can be evil like me who re-gifted a lot of t-shirts designed by a reprehensible person to all the homeless people who hung out in that said person's neighborhood. Or maybe that is just creative re-gifting.

There is, however, a wonderful item that changes the dynamic in a fun way. It is the gift that expects to be re-gifted.

Next time you go to a party, bring the wine in the Built wine tote and leave it behind so that your host will have something to put her wine in when she goes to her next dinner party…and so on.

Last winter TP brought 2 of them over. A few weeks later I took one of them over to LM and MM’s house (to which they replied I would be seeing it again when they next come to visit). The second one we took over to LO and RS’s house last Saturday (to which LO replied she would be bringing it back over to TP. I doubt one has found its way back home so quickly).

The reason it can be re-gifted is because it really isn't the gift in the first place. It is just the wrapping. The wine is the gift.

Therefore, when the Built tote is the gift itself, you may not re-gift especially when it is the beautiful one given to us by our niece, GK. This one will only be going out to the deck and back.

Fantastico!

Well, Looky Here.

2010-05-04T14:58:00.029-04:00

UPDATE: Sad news on a Melbourne Banksy wall from reader Mike

Let me begin first by saying that I know next to nothing about street art. I am a fan, but still, a layperson. When I was preparing to write this post, I went around the neighborhood (east village and Noho), snapped some pics, planned a brief outline of the discussion and then I started reading.

Oops.

The more I read, the more I realized how much I don’t know. The thoughtfulness, passion and scholarly writing by the fans and critics humble me.

(By the way, there are a lot of Banksy and Shepard Fairey discussions right now. Just to get you started.)

I doubt I’ll get any serious street art writers/bloggers reading this but if you are, stop right now. I will only piss you off.

So much of the street art has become my local outdoor wallpaper. And like wallpaper, the more you see it, the more immune you get to the details. Because I became so used to it, I stopped seeing it. But when the art started to be sanctioned, I began to pay attention again; probably due to the expansive scale and exceptional intricacies not afforded to the artist on the run. The Haring reproduction on the Deitch Wall (Houston and Bowery) was the first piece I noticed in 2008. Then, of course came Os Gemeos and now Fairey (see 4/28 post).

We all watched with great curiosity the building of the Cooper Square Hotel (more on the building in a post on EV/Noho architecture later) as it was destined to do battle with its surroundings. They hired four graffiti artists to paint one side of the building in order to make the building feel like part of the neighborhood. While many neighbors complain about absolutely everything, I think the gesture is fantastico.

And just last week Shepard Fairey remade the wall of the Cooper Square Hotel. Yes this street art is sanctioned (and this can even be called corporate) so it can’t be called graffiti but the temporariness of it does give it some cred.

Here are some fine samples of what we have come to expect from the art in my hood.

Having these guys around brings comfort when so many some of the big pieces like ESPO and REVS have disappeared.
thanks for the espo pic

The street art discussion will continue on future posts. Fantastico!

iCandy

2010-04-30T11:03:00.003-04:00

Can't post much today. Am off to SVA's Design Criticism Conference all day. But here is a little something to enjoy:

click here

(thanks to NK for finding this)

Get Thee Outside

2010-04-29T12:09:00.001-04:00

If you happen to be in midtown, check this out.

We can thank Creative Time for another public art experience.

La mort d'hiver

2010-04-28T12:31:00.001-04:00

It’s spring. Sort of. And that means it’s time to retire my fall/winter uniform of the black turtleneck and Levis. And when I say uniform, I pretty much mean 7 days a week, unless we are going out and only then would I switch the Levi’s out for a skirt (usually black). The combo is an absolute classic and it especially works for the out-of-work woman who has no need to think about what she is going to wear everyday.

I think I first fell in love with the black turtleneck when I was in the 6th grade. I had just gotten my black “English Racer” 3-speed bike and I remember thinking I looked pretty cool racing down the street with my wild long blonde hair. (too bad my looks didn’t show up till the 7th grade-in the scene I am evoking, I am just a too tall, skinny, goofy-looking dork).

My personal television style icon was Emma Peel. Her black turtleneck exuded an elegance combined with a stylish toughness. I wanted to be just like her. I totally used that turtleneck to mask my shyness. Probably still do.

When I was in high school, my drama teacher sweetly demanded that I be narrator/stage manager for our production of “Only I Never Saw Another Butterfly” the collection of works of art and poetry by Jewish children who lived in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. I have debilitating stage fright. (you may wonder why I took theater to begin with) I told her that the only way I could do it was if I wore a black turtleneck and remained seated. She said yes. Whew!

(all throughout high school and part of college, I continued to take theater and speech classes so that I might get over my stage fright. never worked)

In film, the black turtleneck is an iconic look that has become almost cliché for the rebel poet outsider. From James Dean to Kevin J. O’Connor’s character in Peggy Sue Got Married. I looked around a lot and couldn’t find a single image of Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey or Neal Cassady in the requisite uniform.

And of course there is the classic tortured artist: Jo Stockton.

No matter, I still like the black turtleneck no matter how pretentious it makes me. Hee.

I expect that, in a few weeks, it will be retired until September. Next quandary: color. Color scares me.

Going outside, there is another sign of the oncoming warmer weather and that is the Deitch Wall on Bowery and Lafayette. Each spring for the last 3 years, we have been graced with public art on that corner, beginning with a reproduction of the Keith Haring that originally appeared on the wall. I look forward to the new murals and hope they continue every year.

('08)

(niece, bro/sis-in-law)

('09 brazilian twins Os Gemeos)

(prepping the wall for this year's mural)

('10 Shepard Fairey)

Go there now.

(and thanks go to Banksy for the image at the top of the post)

Reddy, Set, Go!

2010-04-26T18:53:00.000-04:00

As I may have mentioned, I am obsessed with my kitchen; keeping the space sparse and serene. The obsession doesn’t end there. I cast that eye on just about everything. An environment that is sans clutter makes me happy. I tend to get agitated if there is stuff everywhere. (again, remember that if you mention therapy, I will punch you in the neck)

A key element to a serene environment is lighting. In fact I believe it is the most important element.

All our overhead lighting and floor lamps are on dimmers. I keep a healthy supply of 25-watt bulbs on hand for table lamps. My insistence on good lighting flows over to any place at which we might spend more than 30 minutes.

There is a restaurant in the East Village called “Hearth” which had fine enough food and the service was good but the lighting was too bright. We won’t be back.

(it seems this pic makes me out to be a liar but trust me when we were there, it was way harsh).

The lighting in 5 Points on Great Jones Street is inviting and cozy (a word I will do fair battle with later). They have an understanding of the dimmer switch. Apologies for the lack of an interior pic. We are big fans of the Meyer/Freeman endeavors.

The natural light that pours into Noho Star on Lafayette makes the experience during breakfast and lunch just so wonderful but they haven’t figured out how to maintain the feeling after the sun goes down. In fact this shot could make one wonder how in the world such a place is remotely acceptable even during the day. But the nat light makes this one of the best breakfast/lunch meeting places in the city.

Pleasant lighting is what gives a room its calm. There are certain spaces, that by the nature of their purpose, should give better thought to lighting design. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are places that frequently have anxiety and fear associated with them. These places, above all, should have better lighting.

Balls!

2010-04-23T13:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my friend, AS, and I went to the Cooper Hewett Design Musuem which had free admission. To the gift shop and the garden.

So we went to the gift shop and I bought these:

The toys (which are for adults only cuz they can cause, oh, uh, death if swallowed) are called buckyballs named after a carbon molecule called a fullerine.

The spherical fullerines are called buckyballs as well

because they resemble the geodesic dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller.

Like many things from the 70’s (fern plants, elephant bells, Kurt Vonnegut),

the geodesic dome house was a good idea for that era alone. I have to admit it is iconic but mostly as one of the symbols of the time. Few symbols of any decade remain timeless and that’s ok. I like it that a decade gets to own certain images and ideas.

But the symbols, articles and artifacts that do remain timeless become even more robust as they age.

However, if you take an idea and imagine it differently you can have a toy or a bracelet.

Fantastico!

There is no spoon.

2010-04-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

I had some wonderful responses to the last WTF post, enough to keep a kitchen conversation going for quite some time. I love the passion with which people can talk about their kitchens and the stuff in them.

I can trace my passion back quite a few years. The cooking revolution began in our house when my brother liberated the 4 of us. Both my parents worked and JW pointed out that mom kept working when she came home from work. We were rather mortified when we realized the unfairness of this and all of a sudden mom got more help than she could have wished for (well, once we got past the learning curve; yes, there really is a magic to housewifery).

Dad bought French and Japanese cookbooks, then sought out the various tools, pans and gadgets required by the recipes. Cooking became a family affair, a new social construct in the Weiser household. It lost its functional drudgery, it became fun. Maybe that’s where my love for the perfect tool, pan and gadget began as well as my interest in cooking. That and trying to replicate restaurant recipes.

But back to the solution to the wooden spoon holder.

ML suggested “maybe an interesting white vase? Adler maybe?? think of something out of the ordinary not usually used for this purpose.”

AS thought “Jonathan Adler has white lacquer bath accessories- I wonder if one of them would be big enough for a spoon holder? OR- what if you got a clear glass vase and painted the inside white- taking DD's idea for the backsplash?”

As Jonathan Adler has a fairly sizable presence in the apt and country house, this is definitely the way to go.

SB said” i'd recommend a le creuset white stoneware container - or better yet, keep the few wooden spoons in a drawer and replace the rest of your utensils w/ rosle stainless steel ones and get a rosle wall-mounted (or inner cabinet mounted) bar. rosle makes the rolls-royce of utensils - best garlic press ever and gravity-activated tongs.”

I believe that LM found the perfect solution (also from Jonathan Adler) but I don’t know if I have the guts to do it.

.

Then, when I threatened to get drunk and paint the backsplash LM said "now dear, don’t do anything rash. put down the wine and step away from the backsplash.

embrace the cozy! the vag vase will give it some edge."

Over the next week or so, I intend to look into SB’s Rosle vs. everything else POV. I have quite a few of their whisks because I was drawn to their design. Will head over to Broadway Panhandler and Sur La Table to do some investigating.

Hee!

WTF: why am I so obsessed with my kitchen?

2010-04-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

I need some help here. I am trying to maintain the sparse/clean look in my kitchen but acknowledge that there are some things that need to stay on the countertop.

A little background: we just renovated the common areas of our house: kitchen, living room, dining room and somewhat, the guest bedrooms. Our friend and architect, DD, gave us lots of white, clean lines. Everything was perfection until we moved in. Ok it’s not so bad, it is nearly perfection now, which is why I am obsessed with keeping it that way.

We threw away our microwave because it looked terrible on the counter. I refused to give up valuable cabinet space to house it unseen.

Our Nespresso coffee maker is a sleek white and chrome number. We shelved the Hello Kitty toaster only because it made just 2 slices at a time. Now we have a brushed steel toaster that I am still considering hiding in the pantry/laundry room until we need it.

Then disaster struck. We (I) decided to match the backsplash to the tile on the floor. It really is lovely and very light. But my stark white kitchen is gone. It has gone from white and angular to, ugh, “cozy”. I was inconsolable. And I am not exaggerating. We used white grout, which helped but definitely not enough for my liking. LM, MM, and NK really like it and want me to get over it. I have to cuz it was stupidly expensive.

(DD said it would have been nice to use clear glass that was painted white on the backside. That would have been soooooo beautiful)

The only thing I can think to do now is make sure that everything on top of the counter is as white as possible. Hmmmm do they make white lacquer toasters?

Does anyone have a suggestion for the wooden spoon holder? I just bought a clear plexi one from the Container Store but because it is clear, you can see the entire length of the wood, hereby warming the kitchen up even more. I need this element to help hide the mistake that is the backsplash and help return the kitchen to its intended style.

And if anyone suggests therapy I will punch you in the neck.

The E-Conversation

2010-04-15T17:48:00.001-04:00

(photo courtesy of the "Slash" exhibit via AM)

Nearly everyone has an opinion about the e-reader and most are rather passionate about it. I expect New Yorkers are going to have a unique perspective because of storage issues. Few people have the luxury to house the books they might want to collect.

Having read quite a few opinions about e-readers (and I never know if these people are just cranks or naysayers), I thought I should poll friends of mine, who are neither cranks nor naysayers.

From DM: “am anti-e-reader. I like holding a book. That said, if I was a commuter (from the burbs) I would definitely get one.... just to have the ability to flip back and forth between books and mags.”

From LO: "I don’t have an e-reader and I don’t think I want one. I like the feel of a book in my hands. I also get most of my books through the library. Nypl.org is one of the best websites I have ever used. You order books on-line, they send the books to your nearest branch (one just opened up two blocks from my apartment), they send you a notice that the book is ready to be picked up, and you pick it up. Just genius. Good tax dollars at work!

I travel a lot and so an e-reader seems like I would be the ideal candidate but I’m not interested. I stare at a computer all day; I don’t want to have to stare at one in my free time. I like electronic gadgets but I like the feel of a hardcover or paperback in my hands. A good time would be to sit on the beach with a cocktail in one hand and an e-reader in my other? Doesn’t work. You sit at the beach with a cocktail in one hand and a book. You sit by the fireplace with a cocktail and a book. Call me old fashion, or screw that, make me an Old Fashion and give me a book!"

I doubt, though, that any of us expected the iPad to be able to do this:

Hee!(thanks to NK for finding)

From MR: "I have a kindle and I love it, I think its brilliant, I have books "stacked up" in my read list because they are so easy to download, I pre-order books, I actually forgot that I bought a couple things ...so maybe that's dangerous. But I think its great; you can change the size of the type, which is great when I forget my glasses.

When I first got it though I kept reaching out to flip the page! Took a bit to get used to but now I like it - not for reference books though, or for anything you need to study, even though you can underline and take notes, I think it would be so much easier to mark a page and refer back to it, vs. doing an electric search for a term. But for novels, I think it is fantastic."

While I expect to continue buying real books and hope to buy the second generation of the iPad, I am concerned about book culture. Will book stores go the way of record stores? What about libraries? Even though I frequent Amazon all too often, these institutions comfort me.

There's a Gadget for That: the iPad

2010-04-14T17:36:00.001-04:00

Update: Does the iPad pass the all-important canine/feline/baby test?

oh, what do corgies know? (and thanks to NK for finding these)

I want one. I really do. I don’t need one. I just want one.

I have no problem admitting that I love all things Apple. First and foremost, it is about the design of all their products. So much has been said about the design that I need not add my 2 cents. Function follows form in my attraction to their products but function wins out when I buy.

As most of my friends know, I am an avid reader. I love my books. I love my library. I enjoy looking at the old titles on my shelves. I treasure them because they are old friends. I enjoy the physicality of them. As every book lover will tell you, we enjoy holding the book and turning the pages. That will never change.

I also own more than I will be able to read in a lifetime. Ok that’s not entirely true. If I were stranded on a desert island with all my books and live until I am 100 years old, I could finish them. Given the sheer number, you can guess that we are surrounded by them. And that makes me very happy. Every single title, with hope, will transport me, challenge me, disturb me, delight me.

(the books pictured represent a fraction of the library. and yes, that is a stuffed squirrel facing down a ceramic Jonathan Adler squirrel)

So there is the internal/mental satisfaction I get from reading. And then there is also the physical act of it.

When NK and I go on vacation I always bring too many books. Not that I expect to read them all, I just know that what I am in the mood to read in the city will be different than what I am in the mood to read when we are in the Caribbean or in Italy. So I tend to bring 6 or 7 books, each ranging from 200-350 pgs.

Ok obvious transition to why I need the iPad. But just want to say one more thing about the physicality of reading. I love the way my Apple products look and feel. I enjoy holding my phone, changing songs on my nano, tapping away on the MacBook Pro. I held a Kindle and thought it felt comfortable. I think I really will enjoy holding the iPad. NK?

For me there isn't an issue of either/or. I often have to search for different editions of the same book if the first one I pick up has an ugly typeface or that the contrast between the dark lettering and the white page is too pronounced. The iPad won’t have that problem. I know I have room for both the physical book and the electronic book in my life. The circumstances under which I will be reading will end up dictating which format I choose. As soon as I get one. Hee.

Just to continue the conversation, I polled a few avid readers for their opinions and will publish those findings in a later post.

MoMa's Virtual Aquisition

2010-04-12T15:17:00.000-04:00

Recently MoMa added the @ symbol to their permanent collection and I absolutely love the idea of adding something they can’t own. Not only are they adding something that is well designed: it is simple, clean, works very hard with a minimum of effort; they are adding an idea, a concept to their collection.

By doing so, there is no inside or outside of any sort of box type thinking. There is just no box. Only thinking.

I think I will put it in our permanent collection too. Hee.

For the full article click here.

The Perfect White Shirt: part 2

2010-04-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

I am not the best of closet organizers but at least I do keep all my white shirts together. I have a lot of favorites such as a sleeveless peasant-ish Marc Jacobs and a Gucci halter-top. I have a beautiful, very fitted Anne Fontaine top but the color has dulled due to much dry cleaning. It looks like a trip to her store is in order soon. Hee!

But my perfect white shirt is made by Etro. Strangely I wear all my other white shirts far more frequently because I feel the need to save the Etro for a special occasion. I tend to wear it when I need to feel confident, polished, put together.

It is 100% cotton and of the poplin family rather than the oxford family. If I knew more about shirts, I imagine that thread count might be a factor in its perfection. It feels amazing on. So soft and yet so structured. It has darts and is fitted perfectly. The cuffs are crisp and the collar stands stiff and tall. There are no design flourishes and from a distance it looks like a normal shirt but you can tell there is something different about it because every time I wear it I am complimented on it. It is classic and simple.

(This weekend I intend to take a page out of Carolina Herrera’s book and wear my PWS with a very fully pleated floor length Yohji Yamamoto black skirt to a black tie wedding. Thanks, Carolina!)

When I asked several friends to tell me what they look for in a PWS, all took the question very seriously. It is a serious matter. The boys are as equally passionate as the girls.

Across the board, collar and cuffs that hold their shape are the most important detail. Z.A. likes hers a tad see-through: “nothing sexier than a black bra under a beautiful white shirt”. T.K. likes his shirt opaque but the fabric cannot be heavy. He feels that the custom shirt is the only guarantee for the perfect fit. For L.O. it’s a classic white button-down 100% cotton shirt with bigger than average, stiff, crisp collar and cuffs. It’s form fitting but not tight. It’s very white.

L. B. likes the Thomas Pink shirts with French cuffs.

M.C. is looking for "sleeves that can roll or be pushed up without looking sloppy, a collar that's neither too big nor too small, a middle button that's not too low so I feel forced to be buttoned too high and the way in which the collar parts". J.T. looks for design details that set it apart.

Theory makes a nice fitted shirt at a comfortable price point but it relies too much on synthetic fabrics to keep the shape.

Banana Republic also makes a nice shirt at a good price point but it doesn’t keep its shape very long. Boo.

Some friends commented on the first PWS post and I want to share. Most have a renewed commitment to finding one. And this, so true, from AT: To me the crisp white shirt signals luxury: the person wearing this either has enough time to launder it, or she has enough money to have it washed and pressed every time she wears it! I'm always envious of white shirt wearers.

Use Your Good Stuff: the china syndrome

2010-04-05T15:24:00.000-04:00

Good design attracts us. We may not know why we like something, we rarely explore the why. We are simply attracted. We can hold an object, look at a wonderful building, appreciate a handsome pair of shoes. It just makes us feel good. We like that someone thought of it.

With that in mind, we owe it to ourselves to do our best to surround ourselves with things that attract us, things that make us feel good.

At a certain point in my adult life, I acquired a set of “everyday” dishes and a set of “good” china, everyday and good silverware, everyday and good glassware/crystal. Like most others in the same predicament, I saved the good stuff for special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Not sure exactly when that changed. Maybe when I started using my Waterford crystal every time we had wine (ok, every night). Then I brought out the china and started using it for every meal. We either donated the everyday stuff to younger family members or to a local church. The good china is so lovely to look at and it definitely made the food taste better. Or maybe it was the wine. I hope it makes our guests feel a little more special too.

I also started acquiring various sets of china and glassware. In the city we use my mother’s Minton Japonica pattern as well as NK’s aunt’s china.

We use the silver plate flatware from my practice marriage because the knives from my grandmother’s silver feel weird. The silver plate isn’t holding up so well and I have a feeling it will get donated soon. Or perhaps Ebayed in exchange for some good sterling. Hmmm just checked on some patterns so that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. This was my mother's pattern, someday I'll see about collecting it.

Out in the country, we have more fun. Am using my Minton Consort for breakfast, which NK discovered has gold around the rim after putting a plate in the microwave. Hee!

Robert Lee Morris’s Camelot; an incredible white plate with iconic gold crosses which we use for dinner and a fun new graffiti set that we use for lunch. No real reason to separate the patterns into specific meals, just making sure we use them all.

Have also bought some random fun pieces like these:

These are fun for mixing it up. I hope to acquire some random Hermes plates at some point. Hee!

There's a Gadget for That: the lemon juicer

2010-04-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

My most absolute favorite kitchen gadget is Tool’s Design lemon juicer found at the MOMA design store. I have two. I show it to all my friends when I am cooking. It will be my gift of choice at Christmas. Everyone needs one. Or two. It is the perfect thing.

Most people use a classic type of juicer which consists of a shape similar to the inverted fruit, usually attached to a juice catching dish. And like most juicer’s, because the shape reflects the shape of the fruit, the design seems like a natural solution to the problem of extraction. All function. No style. Waste of space. Please discard.

In my world, Phillip Starck became the person who turned the ordinary into something innovative, controversial and yet practical. For years his 1990 Alessi Juicy Salif dominated the well-designed juicer category. While Starck’s piece is whimsical with a playful sense of menace (it reminds one of the aliens from War of the Worlds), it takes up too much space with its 11.5 inch height and 5.5 inch diameter and it tends to occupy a place on the counter as an objet. It has become precious. It screams: “look at me”. Starck is rumored to have said: “My juicer is not meant to squeeze lemons, it is meant to start conversations”.

The Tool’s Design lemon juicer was designed in 1995 by Henrik Holbaek and Claus Jensen. It won the Danish Formland prize. It also starts conversations.

It is a polished stainless steel spiral 3.25 inches long and .75 inches in diameter. Operation is simple: Insert the tool directly into the fruit, invert and, with a squeeze, all of the juice pours out. Until I discovered this tool, I had never found a device that gets this much juice out of a lemon or lime.

Vitruvis (30 B.C.) said that architecture must contain three elements simultaneously: Commodity, Firmness, and Delight. Paul Goldberger translates this to present day and states that a good “building must be simultaneously useful, well built and visually appealing.”1. I believe that these three elements should always be considered crucial to good design.

What I love about the Tool’s Design lemon juicer is that it does just that: it strides beyond its function. It is elegant, simple, sturdy. It implies motion, it demands action. It also fits neatly on my finger and would make for a nice piece of jewelry were not the cutting edge so sharp. There is a grace and elegance to it. The curve is soft but it also has an element of ferocity because of the sharp edge that drives into the fruit. It is the ultimate in simplicity yet works very hard in its functional capacity. It is sculpture. Everything in the kitchen should have so much thought given to the design.

The designers were inspired by the method a juice seller used to sell orange juice to tourists in India. The man entered the bus, softened the orange with his palms, jabbed a piece of tubing into it and pressed out a glass of juice. For Holbaek and Jensen “the problem comes first”2 and they decided to examine how to make a consumer tool that did the exact same thing.

They knew it had to be sharp and had to break through the separate chambers in the fruit. They came upon their solution through a great deal of thought and hard work. Ultimately the solution came about as a “complete surprise and really a lucky strike”2. They were considering the threading geometry of a screw and while wrapping a piece of aluminum around a broom handle; they stumbled upon the complete product. It was a project that solved itself.

In the end the tool only works on lemons and not oranges but “unknowing about that, we started with a blank canvas which is always a good way to start if you want to discover something new.2

Like the Juicy Salif before it, this tool is a conversation starter. Over the last few decades the kitchen has become the epicenter of home entertainment. When friends gather for dinner, everyone crowds around the kitchen either participating in the cooking or participating by keeping the cook company. Gone are the days of the sequestered housewife serving the guests like a waitress. This is the arena in which people will observe and absorb cooking techniques. The lemon juicer by Tools Design has never failed to spark curiosity, admiration and conversation.

1Why Architecture Matters by Paul Goldberger. p.7

2From an interview conducted with Henrik Holbaek. Feb 21,2010

Welcome to the Blog

2010-04-01T19:18:00.000-04:00

I originally thought of calling this blog “The Elements of Style “(you all better know your Strunk and White!) but that name felt like it would imply that the blog is only about fashion. And there already is a blog called Elements of Style and it is about fashion. So there.

I want the range of topics to be much broader. By using “elements” as the subject, it implies that each topic is really only a part of another whole. For example, if I am discussing a particularly graceful kitchen tool, it is only one element of my kitchen, simply a part of what I include in my home. If the topic is about new architecture in my neighborhood, the buildings I talk about are only a part of the larger whole. The perfect white shirt is only one element of how I adorn myself.

At its heart, the blog will be about design. Design is very important to me and I am very passionate about it. It touches nearly everything in my life and all of my choices as a consumer. I consider the design of everything that I purchase: furniture, lighting, clothing, air purifiers, kitchen appliances. The articles with which I surround myself, especially lighting, furniture and interior design, lead to a comfortable and satisfying home atmosphere. And some things make me extremely happy.

I intend to discuss the style of each of element, how it relates to us and explore its social and cultural implications.

But, have no fear; fashion will be a big topic. It is a part of me. A big part of me. And a big part of my friends. Hee.

The Perfect White Shirt

2010-04-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

Part 1

When I started writing about the perfect white shirt, I thought I would exhaust the topic in fewer than 500 words. Not so. I have a feeling this will take 3-4 posts. Hee!

So, what is it about the white shirt and why do we seek its perfection? Why do we desire it? Lust after it?

We have a relationship with the clothes we choose. It is one of the ways we express ourselves, let the world in on a part of who we are. It is an element of our personal style.

The perfect white shirt is iconic. It’s white, it’s bright, it demands to be looked at. Bright colors attract attention and scream, “look at me” but the white shirt does so without saying so.

For me, it was Audrey Hepburn, in her “boyfriend” white shirt or the timeless crisp short sleeve from “Roman Holiday” and Katharine Hepburn, in her tailored version, who turned my attention to the perfect white shirt (there aren’t a ton of Katharine pics, but we do remember her in the PWS)

But it was Carolina Herrera who got me thinking that I might be able to have one for myself. It was something that existed in the marketplace and not just in the stylist’s cache. I loved the apparently simple design paired with a formal skirt or jodhpurs. Very fitted with cuffs and collar keeping their shape. Also very white.

Still, why? Ms Herrera, who has made that shirt the mainstay of her personal style, said that “fashion is to please your eye.” What pleases the eye makes us feel good. The perfect white shirt elevates every skirt or pant. A well-made garment makes us feel a little richer, a little better looking, a little more confident. The perfect white shirt definitely pleases the eye.

The perfect fit, the right fabric, the correct sleeve length, the cuff and collar, the design elements, the strength and shape of the button, the various price points, the intention (whether or not it is meant to be formal or casual) it all goes into the perfect white shirt.

The designer, Anne Fontaine, appears to be on the quest for many perfect white shirts. According to Wallpaper magazine she conceives of 500 white shirts per season, 1000 per year. That is 17,500 to date. Really? Really! Another source, however, sites that her production is a bit lower: 300 designs per year. Regardless 5,100 variations on the white shirt are still impressive.

As evidenced in the spring/summer 2010 collection she has ventured into other colors. But to me she is the leading force in the pursuit of the perfect white shirt. For more Anne Fontaine click here.