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Axel Vervoordt : : Living with Light

Axel Vervoordt

 Belgian designer/art dealer Axel Vervoordt and his design company whose bespoke interiors impeccably blend antiques and contemporary art have a new book. Axel Vervoordt : : Living with Light explores the Vervoordt design principles and philosophy of living in harmony with natural elements – light, as well as water, metal, wood – and blending the power and influence of nature with the inspiration of art.

“Light is law. It is power, force and life. Light is an energy that helps create the world and define our experiences.” – Axel Vervoordt

Axel Vervoordt : : Living with Light will be out in October , but available here for pre-order.

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: : Whitewash : :

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Photographer Nicholas Alan Cope‘s monograph captures the dramatic light and shadows produced by the Southern California sun on the landscape of Los Angeles modern architecture.

In the foreward written by Designer Rick Owens: ” I moved to Paris from Los Angeles 10 years ago and haven’t been back since. But this is exactly how I remember it. Bright hot incessant clear light, casting blackety-black shadows from Brutalist blocks that take the history of architecture and silently reduce and contain it like lunar tombs. Or Aztec temples morphed into foam-core cartoons.

This kind of light makes decisions easier, more black and white. Good vs bad, pure vs impure, aspiration vs collapse. Determined grim optimism vs self indulgent despair. The suggestion of an old Hollywood monolithic black-and-white movie set encourages self invention and self consciousness as you make your way down an imaginary long white staircase. There’s not another living soul on the set and the spotlight is on you, wiping out any flaw or imperfection, hallucinating yourself into who you wanna be… 

Exactly how I remember it…” ~Rick Owens, November 2012

For more information and to purchase Whitewash from powerHouse Books see here.

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David Stark Talks to Ghislaine Viñas

Tribeca-Lofts-by-Ghislaine-Viñas3-587x347

I thought this was a really great interview with the fun and talented Interior Designer Ghislaine Viñas  on David Stark’s Blog.

As talented as she is, she tells in the interview : “actually I don’t really like designing for myself because I can never make up my mind – I am my own worst client”, which is exactly the same way I feel about designing for myself.  Hearing that just made me feel good.

See the whole post and lots more of her work here.

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Shop the Store : : Pigeon

With 18 years of restaurateuring in Los Angeles, most notably Cobras and Matadors, Church and State, Potato Chip, and Escuela,  Steven Arroyo turns his hat to one of his long time passions; Design, into a new business venture.

His newly opened Pigeon on Beverly Blvd,  carries his hand picked vintage home furnishings, found curio, and even his own custom designed pieces.  In the few short weeks of being open, the store has already been getting noticed by Design magazines, people who want to collaborate with him, and the many who are intrigued by the diagonal blue and white stipe sign out front who have to stop and find out what’s inside.

I asked Steven to answer a few questions:

What tunes are you listening to right now?

Anything played on 91.5 KUSC.  I’m finding classical music to be the most gangster and rock n roll right now.

What things do you like to collect?

I’ve been collecting books, and old bistro chairs since the turn of the century. That’s about it.  I’ve been selling the chair collection, but I would never sell a book I only have two of.

How do you describe your style?

 ill 🙂

What is your most treasured possession?

I have a few pieces of art, and a few pair of boots I really treasure. But the thing I would  part with last are photos of my children growing up and my parents growing old.

 Pigeon is located at 7613 W. Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036  thepigeongalleryla@gmail.com

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This Is How We Do It….

I am excited to post about this new book because it has the work of our friend Sage Vaughn on the cover.  Yay Sage!

“Milk and Honey: Contemporary Art in California” highlights new work by contemporary artists who are aesthetically and regionally joined through a variety of mediums and demographics. By showcasing unknown and emerging artists alongside established icons who all call California home, “Milk and Honey” recognizes the fact that region and lifestyle directly influence the working process and ultimately the state of contemporary imagery.

In the same spirit as Roger Gastman and Jeffrey Deitch’s recent seminal MOCA show: Art in the Streets, “Milk and Honey” celebrates a group of contemporary artists with roots across various areas, including graffiti art, surf, and skate culture, and other uniquely Californian influences. As is evident in that highly acclaimed museum show—as well as the current Pacific Standard Time Show throughout Los Angeles—California affects trends and sets the stage nationally and internationally, for some of the most creative art being made in the world today.

More than 50 artists featured, including: Ed Ruscha, Ed Templeton, Cleon Peterson, Megan Whitmarsh, Sage Vaughn, RETNA, and Ye Rin Mok. As well as essays by Lucy Goodwin, PM Tenore, and many others.~ amazon

Get it here.

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Maxfield Gallery : : Mayer Rus

SERGE MOUILLE LIGHT, CHARLOTTE PERRIAND COFFE TABLE, JEAN PROUVE COUCH

BORIS LACROIX CHROME LIGHTS, PIERRE PAULIN CHAIR

CHARLOTTE PERRIAND STOOLS

OSVALDO BOSANI SOFA, SERGE MOUILLE LIGHT, ROBSJOHN GIBBINGS TABLE

JEAN PROUVE BENCH, JEAN ROYERE COFFEE TABLE, 50’S ASHTRAY

CHARLOTTE PERRIAND FORME LIBRE TABLE, FRANK LLYOD WRIGHT SECTIONAL

JEAN PROUVE GUERIDON, FRENCH FIBERGLASS CHAIRS

Last week I had the pleasure to attend a fête in honor of Mayer Rus’ new postion as the West Coast Editor for Architectural Digest at the oh, so stunning Maxfield Gallery in West Hollywood.   The most fabulous time was had drinking champagne along side Art Luna, Tim Clarke, Commune’s Lisa Eisner, David McCauley, Trina Turk and of course Mayer himself amongst the gorgeous selection of vintage furniture housed in the gallery.

~thanks lena

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Eero Saarinen : : A + D Museum

Born in Finland, Eero Saarinen (1910 – 1961) is recognized today as one of America’s most influential architects of the 20th Century. The exhibition at A+D Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles will highlight his short but brilliant career beginning with the Smithsonian Gallery of Art Competition in 1939 and culminating with Dulles Airport in 1962 and highlighting his influence on design in mid-Century America. 

This exhibition is a tribute to Saarinen’s short and brilliant career which was bookended with two iconic buildings: the Smithsonian Gallery of Art, a museum of modern art on the Mall which remained unbuilt and the nation’s first jet airport, Dulles International Airport which was completed one year after his death. 

The much-publicized national competition of 1939 catapulted Saarinen into the architectural limelight at the age of 29, marking a triumph for the modernist camp.  Opposition to the cutting edge modernist vocabulary was strong in the pre- World War II era and even though it would influence museums built throughout the world for decades to come, the Smithsonian Gallery of Art remained an unbuilt icon. Lost for 50 years, the discovery of the drawings twenty years ago and their secure place at the Smithsonian Institution confirms that architecture even when unbuilt can be influential, provocative and groundbreaking. 

Shedding light on Saarinen’s secret professional life

The exhibition at A+D Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles is unique in shedding light on this little known chapter of Eero Saarinen’s secret professional life. While still in his 30’s Eero established himself as one of the most creative product designers with recognizable furniture broke technological and aesthetic boundaries with such icons as the tulip chair and the womb chair. ~ A + D

Opening reception October 5th, 6-9PM

For more information and tickets: Architecture and Design Museum.

6032 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

 

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Richard Etts Lamp

 

 

I’ve always found that designing the interior for my own home to be quite challenging.  I’m not sure why that is.  You’d think that because I’m a designer that it would be easy.  right?  NOT.

Take our bedroom for instance: I have purchased and then returned 3 different style lamps to go on the side tables.  I just haven’t found the right ones the really work, design wise.  UNTIL now.  I just spotted this Richard Etts lamp in  Alex P. White and Strauss Bourque-LaFrance’s home featured in NY Magazine.  LOVE.LOVE.LOVE.

With the help of Alex’s boss, Interior Designer Kelly Behun, helped bring the artistic couple’s design ideals HOME  with “equal mix of pieces the artists had previously collected on their own and new objects they acquired or designed together”.  

Maybe I need to hire a designer?   hmmm?  Don’t think my ego couldn’t take it.

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Houses of the Sundown Sea

text by Lisa Germany with accompanying photos by Juergen Nogai

Gesner himself at his 1957 designed Wave House in Malibu

Wave House

Raven’s Eye in Malibu

For more than 60 years, passersby have strained to catch a glimpse of maverick architect Harry Gesner’s houses in Southern California. This is the first book to examine Gesner’s architecture, tracing his career from 1945 to the present and opening the doors to 15 of Gesner’s intriguing homes, all located in or near Los Angeles and built in the 1950s and 1960s. An insightful and revealing text accompanies new photography by Juergen Nogai along with historical photographs and Gesner’s own drawings, floor plans, and blueprints drawn from his remarkably rich archive. Gesner’s utterly unique, often eccentric and unorthodox designs are outside the canons of doctrinaire modernism, yet he is undoubtedly a Modernist, and one whose romantic, quixotic nature has caused his truly extraordinary body of work to be overlooked by many—until now. ~via Amazon

Harry Gesner draws inspiration from nature and the energy of having lived by the ocean in Malibu all his life. Gesner, an avid surfer, whose Malibu Wave House has given inspiration to such architectural icons as the Sydney Opera House, describes his experience in 1956, sketching the ideas right onto his balsa-board with a grease pencil, sitting out in the ocean facing the beach where he camped for a few nights to get to know the elements. ~Eric Minh Swenson