Sit! Stay!

I just ran into a friend who told me her mother-in-law is coming for a visit. My friend, FM, needs to buy a chair for her; one that is comfortable and requires little bending to get in and out. Could I recommend something? She thought she might try IKEA and while some of them do look pretty good, I worry that they just won't last. She also thought she might try Design Within Reach, while much more expensive would be much more durable.

My first online stop was Hive Modern where I found these (both by Saarinen):



and this Eames/Saarinen collaboration...



All of the chairs have fabric options (which will probably rile the purists) but I know that FM's apartment is predominantly white (good girl) so she can get them in white or off-white.

Then I went to DWR and found this lovely piece designed in 2005 by Jeffrey Bennett.



These chairs range between $1200 and $2600 so FM would really need to be committed.

(i also snooped around Knoll but the site is not as navigable. however,i think any dedicated shopper would try the source to see if there is a break in price)

Just to offer FM some choices, I went to IKEA and found this for $300.



FM thought this looked comfortable and said "...it just has to last 7 days in the end...."


Hee!

Everyone needs a cupcake

Especially on Monday...





(thanks the daily what)

Really?

I decided on a new feature. I thought about calling it: "Really?" but that term seems pretty well used up. Anyhoo, we'll let it go until something better hits. But that's what I think when I look at stuff like this...






















































We all telegraph impressions with our belongings and the clothes we buy. I just think we could try for a little more subtlety.








ggggggg-ggggggg-gggggggguh.

Stutteringly astounding Marni

I am quite a fan of Marni.





The company's work is imaginative and conceptually accessible, albeit pricey. Sometimes the pleasure is in the looking.


Recently Vogue's Steal of the Month" featured some new jewelry by Marni. Allow me to quote a portion of the first paragraph...

___________________

"Young, old, rich, poor, this necklace is for everyone!" exclaims Marni's Consuelo Castiglioni, the latest of a burgeoning group of esteemed designers turning out chic with conscience. (italics mine)

The designer, "always looking for new materials", has strung together a necklace of flowers that were once plastic drinking bottles, recycled in Columbia.

___________________

Oh my, how imaginative!

The levels of wrong are obvious. Especially with the necklaces ranging from $320 to over $600.

gggggg-ggggggg--ggggggguh.

Come on Ikea...

Today's post is about product promotion. I saw an Ikea ad in the recent Dwell magazine that I really wanted to write about but couldn't find a pic. Thumbing through other mags (too cold to walk outside and look at a billboard and we zoom past commercials on TV) and nothing really stuck out as much as the poorly executed Ikea ad.

For the long run (post college), I am not a fan of Ikea. The stuff breaks. You have to drive out to New Jersey for replacement parts (seriously, for a 1" round thing) and you have to go through the entire store before you get to the replacement parts section. Yes, I did hear that there is a shortcut but you have to go through some secret door of which only the initiated are aware and I haven't been invited behind that velvet rope yet.



The ad is for an Ikea Kitchen starting at $1699 (based on a 10X10 kitchen) Pretty damn nice looking. Small type informs that the one WE are looking at goes for $4340. (white painted finish drawers and drawer fronts. REQUIRES ASSEMBLY AND INSTALLATION (DO NOT FORGET THAT). the total price includes cabinets, fronts, interior shelving, drawer and drawer dampers, hinges, toekicks, legs, visible moldings and panels. countertop, sink, faucet, handles and knobs, appliances and light are sold separately (AND DID I MENTION THAT IT REQUIRES ASSEMBLY?)) Oh and things break.

Shoddiness aside, the ad features the "Petersens", a family of three who decided to build their dream kitchen after "Emily" moved away to college. Much to their surprise when mom and dad returned from somewhere, perky Emily perched, well of course, on the kitchen island made a "viola" gesture toward her first homemade dinner. The unnaturalness of the faux family is heightened by dad's appearence. He looks like the plumber awkwardly dressed up in someone else's fancy shirt and mom looks like the real estate agent who has been lurking outside the front door. Their expressions betray that the "actors" probably don't get a lot of this type of work. Or any work at all for that matter. Since Ikea saves so much money on a shoddy product, you'd think they'd spend a few extra dollars on talent and try a little harder convincing me they had something good to sell.

What a tool

Such a perfect day to work outside in the yard. If only I were good at it.

I have dreams of turning the yard into an English garden.



or maybe a French one.



Not sure that I really know the difference. This looks nice.




All I know is that I probably need something more serious than this


(which, except for my chain saw and weed whacker is all I have)


however, this is the tool with which I am far more familiar.



I always think it is best to hire people who are better trained than I.

You say homage, I say uninspired

One thing I keep noticing as I flip through design mags is that there is a crazy proliferation of objects, mostly furnishings, that are just one bend or curve away from their classic predecessor. Is this an homage? Is this laziness? Has everything been done?




There are some well made pieces such as the Casala Carver chair


















They look like an homage to the 1963 40/4 chair designed by David Rowland.








But I just don't know. Have they really improved on the design? Or do the designers just lack imagination?



CB2 and Ikea used to have a direct rip of the Arne Jacobsen chair.




and maybe they got a cease and desist because now I can't find the pics but no matter, if you really want one, they aren't hard to find. Here's one for $65.99 (not going to link to the site).



Here is a great short film of the making of the original Jacobsen (for Fritz Hansen) chair:





But the big offenders are the super cheap knock-offs. Here is the original...



and here are the poor cousins





(the one on the left is from CB2. the one on the right is from its design sucking parent crate and barrel







Feature: Cruisin' the mags

Paring down

The dreaded kitchen gadget drawer.

Like a junkie, I frequently find the need to hit up my local kitchen store (in my case it would be Broadway Panhandler or Sur La Table) and buy something I usually don't need. I usually pop in with a purpose but allow myself the time to wander, to browse, to find another time saving kitchen device I really don't need.





These items are usually small and rarely expensive. But after so many years the drawer becomes jam-packed with stuff. Stuff, stuff and more stuff.


Lately, however, for some reason the gadget drawer at the humble cottage has held an enormous appeal to some little friends.




(the things they decided to munch on were odd choices: the basting brush (ok oil), the trussing string and any OXO good grip handle. Go here for more mouse food)

We took note of their calling cards each Friday after we arrived, dutifully cleaned out the drawer and plunged everything into the dishwasher. Saturday morning's became kitchen tool curation day. What did I really need? What did I really use? I think now I finally have the contents of the drawer pared down to what is truly used and needed. Best part is that the drawer always closes with out any rearranging.

(Thanks to NK for asking the all important questions: "Do you use this? How about this? This?" He did a beautiful job on the drawer.)

By the way Food&Wine's February' issue give a list of kitchen essentials for the mimimalist cook. Gadgets include Locking tongs (check), mixing bowls (check), spatuala/rubber scraper (check), chopping mats (nope), and scissors (check-4 pairs).

(and another btw, I don't own those two egg-y things at the top of the post)

(yet another btw, Williams-Sonoma, of course, is a great place to get needful and needless gadgets. but the idea is to pare down, not stock up!)

Feature: Make my day: gadgets

Wheeeeeeeeeee

I would SO do this...










Feature: Out of My Reach

Don't make me start shopping...

Today's product design post is dedicated to museum shops. While you can shop in person or online at most musuem shops, there is one store, that only has an online component.

I receive a daily email from designboom, a publication that devotes itself to searching out all things design. I know DB doesn't fall into the category of museum but I can say that their collection is at least curated, by what criteria, I have no idea, but surely some choices are made.

The sale of featured objects may have been going on for awhile but yesterday was the first time I noticed it. Go to the designboom shop and take a look around.







I don't think they really have it together as a retail shop. (For instance where is that pen that draws a straight line?) But hey, it's a start.

go here for the palette coasters.

It's 5:00 somewhere

Or as my mother used to call it: "Post Time", which for you young 'uns means the designated starting time of a horse race; and that is also a good time for a cocktail.




Maybe because every now and then the weather has reminded us that winter won’t last forever or because it is too easy to suck down all kinds of alcohol a little too quickly, NK and I have been adding soda water to our evening libations, creating a refreshing cocktail that, for some reason, makes me think of wearing sweater sets, Jack Rogers sandals and dining on the patio. And I don’t even wear sweater sets.




Our consumption of seltzer water has risen considerably. So rather than lug home 100 pounds of brand new petroleum based bottles filled with simply made bubbled water each week, we are now making our own (Thanks LO for turning us on to the brand).



The SodaStream may not really improve on the classic but it certainly seems easier than trying to locate the Co2 cartridges that I know would have proved lethal in my hands. Unfortunately the SodaStream is made of plastic. It would be nicer if seltzer maker were made of brushed steel but then it would have been too expensive and I'd have been more tempted to continue to lug home the 100 pounds of bottles each week (or rather ask NK to do the lugging).


And BTW, I do wear Jack Rogers sandals.




Feature: The Classics

Inflexible

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 to 10steps.SG for a nice compilation of the MTV logo:


Be sure to check out the MTV logo story on Frank Olinsky (the logo's designer) 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)

Oh ja hey...

In 2009 Dwell magazine published an article about Danish Designer Jens Risom (written by Amber Bravo). I had seen some of his beautiful pieces in the past but had no idea who made them.





























The article is worth reading so I won't paraphrase. But suffice it to say, our gent all the way to the right is the only one still designing (and still living).














(thanks Design Within Reach for republishing the 1961 Playboy centerfold of the gentlemen designers. Please note, however, that Ray Eames is not pictured. I guess she would have ruined the continuity of the photo)


Feature: Made in: Denmark