We love seeing two of our favorite materials — chairs and concrete — married into the stunning amphitheater designed by artist Armand Pierre Fernandez for Milan’s Parco Sempione, Milan in 1973. Embedded into the concrete steps are the personalities that chairs inevitably evoke, each seat curiously special and intentional. It made us think of artist Maria Lassnig’s view of chairs…
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Found at Lucinda Chambers instagram: Permission to NOT tile an entire bathroom wall, but just selected parts. Beautiful! As is her inspiration…
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They say that that if we want to get a good night’s sleep, our bedroom needs to be dedicated only to that and love-making and nothing that might stimulate thinking, even reading. But stumbling on photos of several artists in bed made us realize that we love, and miss, the idea of bed as relaxing, creative outpost and retreat outfitted with what we need to feed our heads and fuel creativity. That got us thinking about their use of big bedside tables…
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Designer Russel Wright had the habit of shaping parts of the land around Manitoga, his home and studio in upstate New York, into “rooms”. Rather than making a room, I love the idea of an outdoor room coming into being simply by finding it or naming it, as happened when I stumbled on some ancient Beeches. Their branches arch down to the ground to define the space around them, making quiet leafy rooms. The feeling of hanging out in them is extraordinary. Wendell Berry nailed it.
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I didn’t realize how naturally brutalist concrete sidewalks are — drab gray, strangely crude— until I saw leaves painted on the sidewalk outside a Harlem plant store. The harsh, dreary slabs were transformed and seemed to be casting light and a feeling of whimsy and charm. It made me wonder why sidewalks are rarely embellished, and how to do it…
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We hadn’t thought of a website having the ability to act as a sanctuary until we read about Laurel Schwulst’s odd, charming Firefly Sanctuary It is at once a digital space that mirrors a physical one — her Brooklyn apartment — and a quiet meditation on the “invisible, mental counterparts” to visible, physical things.
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New York Magazine’s recent article about designer Todd Oldham’s house in the Poconos is a revelation: an over-the-top, completely original color-riot of a country house. Its many cool ideas are driven by an unexpectedly liberating design philosophy.
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The art consultant and dealer Peter Heimer’s postwar Berlin townhouse has all sorts of cunning details. We love the yellow daybed Heimer designed himself. The slanted pillows are brilliant, forming a comfortable backrest when reading or lounging. I’ve discovered that you can get the same effect with a simple DIY.
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Over the years, one of the very best purchases I have made were two bamboo Wave Room Screens, made of thin bamboo slats that unfurl to create an organic wave shape. They have proven to be endlessly useful. They are a relatively inexpensive, stylish, bamboo alternative to the beautiful, classic Eames screen.
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A photo I stumbled on on Instagram made me loosen up my fevered drive to create bookcases for my many books, some of which are in boxes. Stacked — loose — can be so beautiful…
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The corrugated aluminum screen designer Jacques Boris made in the 1990s set off a firestorm in my head. Its elegant, visionary use of an ordinary material reminded me of Lino Schenal and Max Lamb’s transformations of styrofoam. If I had the means to cut through thick wavy metal and finish its edges and hinge it…
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We love this skeleton of a picture frame hung pictureless on a wall. As we gaze into its empty space, we find ourselves imagining all sorts of things while we enjoy its austere shape. It reminded us of the old silver frame we gave to artist Maria Robledo years ago. Picture frame as magical objet.
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Unbeknownst to many inhabitants of New Orleans, a small enclave of eccentric, often ingenious outsiders thrive in twelve homemade stilt-houses along the Mississippi, hidden from sight by the levees. Macon Fry’s book living in the “batture” is a compelling view of resourceful alt-living choices that may be the way of the future.
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A favorite instagram is gallerist Brett Gorvy’s, which pairs an artist and his/her work with a poem. It makes for a powerful dose of illumination. Take this sublime photograph by the great photojournalist Harry Benson*, of a young Brice Marden painting with a long-handled brush, illuminated, as if by fireworks, by a poem by Margaret Atwood. Perfection. Which got us thinking about that amazing brush…
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Spotted at @communedesign, a compelling idea for an impromptu plant stand at @hotcactus_la: stacked bricks. It reminded us of a story about bricks we saw in Apartamento years ago. What if we drew on some of THESE beauties from the vast and surprising world of bricks?
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Recently I stumbled an article about lighting designer and photographer Christopher Baker and potter Odette Heideman’s home in Maine in House & Garden. Amidst a trove of clever ideas was one I plan to steal.
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We love black-and-white checkerboard floors for how they seem to uplift just about any style room, like the ones below. Now we are smitten with THIS NOT-checkerboard for its subtle rebellion…
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In the messy digital file I keep of ideas for possible Improvised Life posts, I found trove marked simply “paper shades”. Their big message: A rice paper shade or two adds A LOT to even the most “undecorated” room. They have a unique, rather magical presence that pulls the room together. Here’s how.
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In the 1970’s mysterious Italian designer Lino Schenal clad his house in sculpted styrofoam, from walls to simple, stylish furniture. Fifty years later we looked to Max Lamb to reveal the secrets of the ubiquitous material for making artful, practical creations.
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Every time I see this photograph of a garden festooned with vintage rugs, I want to beam myself there Star Trek-style and lounge, reading, drinking tea, napping, with friends or alone. It reminds me of Morocco where the hot, dry weather encourages making outdoor environments with rugs. We can create them too. at least for a party’s worth of hours.
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