Archive for May, 2011

An Artful Weekend in Beverly Hills

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

This spring’s Beverly Hills Affaire in the Gardens was the busiest I’ve seen in five years.  The park,  full of fine art, live music and gourmet vending trucks seemed to lure out every resident in the village.  Kids were dancing,  parents were shopping and the artists all had smiles on their faces, saying, “ the Affaire in the Gardens is back!” That means people were buying art and lots of it. 

My “best in show” ribbon went to the geometric cocktail table made of reclaimed wood pieces by Terry Hansen. I’m hoping to use this in our funky, meditation room at Maison Luxe Greystone Mansion Showcase Event. 

Came Sculpture playful metal pieces put a smile on every one’s face, captivating young and old.

A sucker for anything high glossed and nautical, I loved the combo by Neil Zeye.

Malen Pierson delighted with his life sized animals made of recycled iron.

The glazed pears by Ojima Ceramics were sublime.

Other worth mentioning were: Gabe Leonard’s spin on movie art, Iris Work’s large landscape photographs, Steve Keating’s photography and Veronica Schmitt  paintings. 

 Later that night we headed over to Robert Reynold’s studio for a birthday bash.  The beginnings of his latest body of work were on display - a Zen inspired boat.  Perhaps he’s feeling a bit free these days due to the move he and studio director Gemma are making to LA’s Old Building District.  They’ve scored an amazing studio on the roof with a birds eye view of the city from the mountains to the Pacific Ocean.   The bonus here for all you  art buyers is that the entire 5,000 square foot studio (in the LA  Arts District) is on SALE.  The studio at 821 Traction Ave. is open 9-8 throughout Memorial Day Weekend.

This one’s favorite and I’m trying to score it for a client, so hands off!

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Legends of La Cienega: Mood Boards

Friday, May 13th, 2011

This morning I will be speaking at Legends of La Cienega on the topic of creating mood boards.  Here’s a simple 5 step approach that’s an efficient and impressive way to convey your designs to your clients:

  1. There are many benefits of creating a digital Mood Board.  It’s incredibly fast to search online and simply copy/paste images onto a page, or create a visually compelling and exciting presentation using other graphics programs.  Now you won’t have to shlep a big board with you from place to place – just email it.  This conveys your ideas to your clients, and with their reply you’ll have an idea of the direction they’d like to go.  It speeds up the design process so the project can start moving right along.
  2. Let’s say you want to evoke the feeling of a Bali style resort and need a little inspiration.  There are many places you can search for your style: HGTV, online Magazines (Elle Décor, Traditional Home, Veranda, Architectural Digest, Luxe – or Google “Interior Decorating Magazines” and a list will pop up).  Blogs are also a fantastic way to find inspiration and see what trends people are writing about.  Some of my favorite blogs include So Haute, All The Best, Apartment Therapy, Tobi Fairly, Remodelista, Design Sponge, Inhabitat, Decorati, 1st Dibs, or Desire to Inspire.
  3. There are simple and effective ways to do an image search on Google using keywords, quotes and (+) signs.  For example (Bali+Style+Design) picks up all 3 words listed on websites or images.  Quotes make sure that the entire phrase – in that order – will pop up (“Balinese Design”).  Don’t forget to save each image that inspires you.
  4. If you know the piece you’d like to use in your design (sofa, drapery, rug, tassel, etc.), or just have a general idea, search for the item on a vendor or Industry Partner’s website, online catalogue, or again on Google Images.  Most of your favorite showrooms or stores will have plenty of items for you to skim through.  Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, again save your image under an informative name (vendor + item+description, ie: Scalamandre Wallcovering Stripes).
  5. A program like Photoshop or InDesign would be ideal for creating your mood board, but don’t worry if these aren’t available to you.  Simply insert your images into a Word Document, organize and title each image for an easy presentation and voila!

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Poisonous Preschool

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

During spring break my daughter’s preschool refinished their wood floors.   As excited as she was to see her teachers and friends on Monday after the break, our visit resulted in a big fat round trip right back to my house.  In two decades of refinishing floors, I don’t believe I’ve ever smelled a more noxious interior.  There was no way I was leaving those tiny lungs to fend for themselves. 

 

I immediately turned to the smartest guru I know for healthy green interiors, Mary Cordaro.  In addition to being a certified Bau Biologist, she deeply cares about the effects of built environment toxins on infants and children. Mary, of course, had plenty of answers for me and generously shared her time and research.

Mary Cordaro

The brain of Larry Gust , another green building expert, was also picked.  Between Mary and Larry I had enough info to go back to the preschool and discuss options.  Unfortunately there weren’t many because the product used was within the legal limits (unbelievably) for VOC levels in a preschool.  The owners felt badly that they didn’t know more before they finished the floors and said they would research more for future renovations.

Moral of the story: GO OUTSIDE OFTEN and get fresh air for as much time as you can EVERYDAY.   The design and maintenance of places where we work, pray, shop and study are mostly out of our control and these interiors are loaded with carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals).  Most Americans are forced to work in very unhealthy environments for 40 plus hours each week, year in, year out.   And many live in homes that contain materials that are toxic.  It’s just not good for our bodies or souls.  Human beings are meant to be outdoors.

Christopher Kennedy

During the week of research it took to determine how long my daughter would need to stay away from school while the VOCs dissipated, I was invited to Niche’s party for Kettal thrown by LUXE Magazine.  Ironically Christopher Kennedy, the designer on LUXE’s current cover, was speaking about his concept of bringing the Inside …Outside due to the toxicity of most interiors.  Unlike architects like Phillip Johnson (Glass House) and Frank Lloyd Wright (Falling Water), who strived to bring nature into our interiors, brilliant designer Christopher Kennedy proposed we do the exact opposite and pay special attention to our exterior rooms.

    

Kettal’s chic outdoor furniture

He echoed my sentiments about human beings not really being meant to live in boxes with manufactured air and toxic paint.  He talked about the interior air being much worse than outside air and the positive effects that sunshine and fresh air has on us.  He even reminded the designers in the crowd to include outdoor spaces in their interior budgets so clients wouldn’t be tapped out at the end of their projects and miss designing quite possibly the most important spaces- the outdoor spaces.

 

(Falling Water and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, beautiful, yes,  but not necessarily designed for outdoor living.)

Thankfully my daughter’s preschool has a great playground that the children use for many hours during each day.  And… those floors  have almost finished off-gassing.

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