Design & Lifestyle Blog

16 Sep ’10

Lounge from Heaven : Chester Moon

Filed under: Furniture — Tags: , , , , — Sahar @ 1:19 am

Quilting is back, and now its not exclusive to the classic furniture brands and designs. The detailing that was once a signature of the English Cigar lounge look has now been recreated, thanks to one of the top brands in the furniture industry that is known for its luxurious leather lounges and out of the ordinary designs. Baxter is a “unique brand devoted to a sophisticated clientele which appreciates contemporary luxury and moods that are consistently new and amazing”.

Last year Baxter released one of their icon pieces, the Chester Moon by the very famous architect and Designer Paola Navone. It was released as part of an African inspired project presented at the 2009 Maison et Objet.  In this collection, leather is presented as a new and versatile material, which is the utmost expression of quality and naturalness. Paola Navone reveals a decorative, new and unexpected side of leather in this line.

The Chester Moon sofa is a fully handmade sofa that takes up 45 days of manual labor.

Baxter’s Chester moon comes in 4 dimensions and reaches up to 395cm. Whatever the finish or dimension it should be treated in the space its in as a “statement” piece, against it should be a contrasting mellow yet elegant item that would allow it to accentuate. In an amazing AD by Nespresso and featuring George Clooney, the Chester Moon sofa was used to portray a cloud in heaven, which is exactly how it feels.

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12 Sep ’10

Alexander McQueen for The Rug Company

The Rug Company is internationally acclaimed for the high quality of its handmade rugs, wallhangings and cushions, and its unique collaborations with international design luminaries. The strongest names in fashion, art and design contribute to The Rug Company’s Designer Collection, including Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Marni, Diane von Furstenberg, Tom Dixon, BarberOsgerby, Eva Zeisel and Neisha Crosland. Their latest addition is the collection by Alexander McQueen finalized shortly before he passed away. After three years of design and production, McQueen’s hand-knotted series—four large rugs and two coordinating throw pillows—is considered the Rug Company’s most ambitious project to date reports W Magazine. For one rug, in a military brocade design, McQueen was inspired by a gold bullion–embroidered coat from his fall 2001 runway show; for another, he mined his iconic skull pattern in striking white and silver. The rug above is priced at $18,900.

MAC & Marcel Wanders: Combination Extraordinaire!

Filed under: Famous Designers,Fashion — Tags: , , — Sahar @ 7:35 pm

 

 

Marcel Wanders has teamed up with MAC Cosmetics in their annual couture collection which will be released on November 24th, 2010.

The MAC couture line consists of higher-priced, more luxury themed designs and products. Such collections are usually  considered ‘collectible’ (i.e.: Hello Kitty with Swarovski ,Monogram, Baroque Boudoir, etc).

The compact looks to be the Sheer Mystery Powder, which they launch in every couture collection.  There is also Air of Style concentrated perfume, a specially packaged brush , clutch, and four lipsticks and lip glosses.

To be honest I am looking forward to the packaging itself rather than what’s inside. Knowing how Marcel Wanders works, I am sure this will be one of the most stylish and intricately designed ones.

Mont Blanc releases John Lennon special edition

Today Montblanc unveiled their latest fountain pen—a  guitar neck clipped designed pen to honor John Lennon’s would-have-been 70th birthday.

This Donation Pen pays tribute to the legends of music and provides real help to young musicians by donating part of the pen’s proceeds to projects that support contemporary arts and music.

 

“To celebrate this edition, Montblanc will be hosting five simultaneous events in major cities around the world.The spectacular New York City launch event hosted by Susan Sarandon and Lutz Bethge, CEO Montblanc International will take place in a location overlooking Central Park, only a few blocks away from where the legend lived in his final years.
Throughout Sunday, September 12th Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin and Mexico City will be doing their part to bring to life John’s vision of bringing the world together. Of special note is the launch event to be held in Berlin – for it will be honored with the presence of Yoko Ono, who will be sending a special message of peace to the world in honor of the launch.”

Price for BP pen: $700 and FP pen: $920 prices go higher as gold and diamonds are added to the designs.

Update: Today , September 13,2010, Mont Blanc released the official stories behind their marvelous John Lennon pen collection with more photos of the various designs.

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The story of John Lennon for Mont Blanc is found in these 2 links: link 1  link 2

11 Sep ’10

Kelly Hoppen: Home with Style

Kelly Hoppen is one of the world’s most renowned interior designers. Her style is unique, elegant, minimal yet very comfortable and homey. Her work has been an inspiration to me ever since I started my work as an interior architect. The colors and design elements she uses are timeless. Her creativity allowed her to launch her own furniture and accessory line to enable her to create the vision she has for each space. This usually is a dilemma for many designers, not finding the suitable elements to create the final look they want to achieve. She, however, has solved this.  Her business Kelly Hoppen Interiors had a turnover of 18 million pounds last year. In addition to the retail part of her business, she runs the Kelly Hoppen Design school .

mirrored vase

Mirrored Vase- Kelly Hoppen Collection

This October(2010) she will be launching her new vintage line in Hong Kong, photos and information taken from Yoo. Yoo is a new vision to creating luxury property in collaboration with world top designers such as Philippe Starck, Marcel Wanders, and Kelly Hoppen.

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October 2010 colection- Kelly Hoppen

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October 2010 collection- Kelly Hoppen

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October 2010 collection- Kelly Hoppen

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October 2010 collection- Kelly Hoppen

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Apartment designed by Kelly Hoppen

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Latest Color Trends

Every season Pantone introduces the top 10 colors. All designers and consumers alike await this event as it will be prevalent around us for at least 6 months.Once a year however, there will be an announcement for the color of the year. The color of the year 2010 is Turquoise which explains why it is found in all seasonal palettes for 2010 in slightly varied hues.

As most fashion enthusiasts know, New York Fashion week started September 9,2010 and staying till September 16,2010. During this event Pantone released their Spring 2011 Fashion color report.

The Spring 2011 Pantone Fashion Color Report shows that Africa, India, Peru and Turkey are acting as inspirations for spring 2011.
“The colors designers have chosen for the spring season present an interesting marriage of unexpected warm and cool tones,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

spring 2011

Spring 2011 Trends

The designers who worked on the selection took into consideration the economic situation and aimed at using colors that can be extended from season to season. So you will notice that you can add to your closet instead of create an entire new wardrobe.

Below are the colors for fall 2010, full reports and pamphlets are found on the original site.

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Fall 2010 Trends

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Fall 2010 Must have color trends

Chanel Limited editions- Khakis with a twist

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9 Sep ’10

Creating your Space: First step

As an interior designer and a former advisor at Jackson Contracting, Inc, I keep getting questions and inquiries for tips to improve a space, especially from people around me or who I visit for the first time. In many cases it puts me in an awkward position, they would be asking me about their curtain fabric, while their issues are at a much larger scale. Their curtain would be the least of their problems.

People should understand the designing your space is not just choosing nice furniture or fabric, its working on the vibe of the area. if you have issues in your life it will reflect in the space you live or work in and vice versa, its just how the universe works. From personal experience as well as experience with my clients, you are the one who creates the energy around you.

When I speak about energy, some people give me the look, “yeah just tell me if the colors match”, but energy is in everything around us whether we like it or not. To simplify, “sound” is energy, we all learned that in physics at school, yet we don’t see it. That’s how everything else affects us.

What the Chinese have known for thousands of years, has only reached the Western World recently. The study of the effect energy has on our behavior and surroundings and the other way around. This study is known as Feng Shui. Feng Shui is no secret anymore, although 12 years ago when I first came across a Feng Shui book and read it, it was considered something very new and difficult to comprehend or explain. But through daily practices and numerous readings, I found that Feng Shui is actually more common sense than a complex study.

Clutter

The first rule of applying any update to your space is starting with clutter clearance. What is clutter? Clutter is piled stuff you haven’t used in a long time, it is piles of paper on your desk, it’s old shoes that don’t fit anymore in your closet, its clothes you haven’t worn in  years, its old Christmas cards that fill up boxes and boxes, its a broken 1984 stereo that you will never use again, its old cassettes and vinyl record you will never listen to again, its stuff you think your children will appreciate when you leave for them in your inheritance , and the list goes on… No matter how you try to enhance your living area or office you will never feel the change unless you get rid of that clutter and deal with the actual issues behind holding on to them. I don’t want to sound as a “preacher”, but trust me, my mom will read this and laugh remembering our endless fights to clean my room and get rid of my piled up unwanted “stuff”. 10 years ago I read a book called “ Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston and which changed my life. Personally I like all that’s eccentric and “out of the box”, its why I was interested in Feng Shui when almost no one I knew had heard of it. I bought magazines and books and applied as much as I could from them.

For anyone aiming at change in his/her life I recommend that book.It is the first step to refresh your life and aim at new beginnings. It did that for me. After reading it, piles of unwanted clothes, magazines, bills, meaningless sketches, were all taken out of my room (I was still living at my parents’ at the time). Instantly I felt everything around me fall into place. Just like a breath of fresh air. It was amazing.

Who Clutters?

According to Kingston, who is specialized in teaching the art of “space clearing”, the person who has clutter is mainly someone who keeps things “just in case”, others have identity issues and hold on to things they identify with and feel secure around such as gifts, many hold on to items as “memories”, all of which negatively influence us and keep us from moving on. It is difficult getting rid of clutter, but once you begin and see results you will be amazed at the results, this works every time. Try it with one small room and feel the difference in  at least a certain area of your life. Here comes the idea of how clutter in certain areas of your space affects specific zones of your life.

The Bagua

The Bagua is simply a diagram used in Feng Shui to correspond to the different aspects of your life in relation with an area of your personal space. You see, the name is complex, but the application is so easy it becomes second nature. below is a a very simple Bagua I got from Feng Shui for Real Life. Its a rectangle divided into 9 squares, each square corresponds to an area in your house, or room. You can use it for the entire apartment or for one single room at a time.

The first thing you have to do is sketch the outer line of your apartment or room, divide the space in 9 equal parts, you might have missing areas , its ok, and that’s how you know what each area corresponds to. That’s how you can start knowing where your problem areas are. For example, if you are having money problems, you might find there is something wrong with the room which is at the top left part of your apartment, the problems could be clutter, broken mirror, burnt out lights etc.. Always place the bottom part of your diagram aligned with entrance of your space.

simplified-bagua-map

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6 Sep ’10

The 10 Best of … Pens

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”

Joan Didion  (American Journalist and Novelist, b.1934)

No Matter how much we rely on our computers, IPads, mobiles etc.. there is a certain charm for handwritten notes and articles. Among my favorite accessories are pens. I can never write with an ugly pen or use one that deforms my handwriting, this is a sensitive subject to me. And as a designer, I use my pens to sketch and communicate my ideas and designs. This is why it is important to me.

I have compiled a series of photos for some of the best designed pens that are also from well known companies. The first brand, which happens to be my favorite as well, is MontBlanc.

Montblanc is well known for its limited editions. Pen collectors and admirers look forward to their upcoming tribute whether for a writer, a patron of art, or a theme, and Montblanc have truly mastered it. In 2010, according to Pen World, the readers’ choice award for “best tribute” was for Mont Blanc’s “tribute to Thomas Jefferson” pen.

Among their vast collection lies the   limited edition  Mahatma Gandhi  pen launched specifically for the 140th anniversary of his birth. This has to be my favorite. The details and design are just amazing.

Montblanc- Tribute to Gandhi 140yrs

The latest addition to the Patron of Art tribute, Montblanc launched recently The Elizabeth I Limited edition.

The Elizabeth I Limited Edition 888 is a 750 solid gold fountain pen featuring a barrel and cap in precious lacquer.

Hand engraved on its 18 K gold nib is a bejeweled gold crown in which Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1559.

Topping the cap is the Montblanc emblem rendered in shimmering mother-of-pearl.

The clip descends from a solid gold Tudor Rose while its embellishment, a princess cut green garnet reflects the bejeweled crown.

Montblanc- Tribute to Elizabeth I

Other amazing designs are the Mark Twain pen, The Lorenzo De Medici, and The Louis XIV shown below.

Mont Blanc- Tribute to Mark Twain, Lorenzo De Medici, Louis XIV

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