Chairs and Buildings

Simple Building

2009-07-14T15:46:00.005-05:00

We basically have to have all the building decisions done before we head back to Mississippi in two weeks. I hate working like this and feel like projects should grow. But I will really on 20 years of experience to push through. The only project I have ever envied was the Marfa home of Liz Lambert. I feel like it is what is type of space. The first images I saw of the space from House and garden were much stricter, so I am glad to see that the home part of her project has kicked in.

Building Beauty

2009-07-14T08:16:00.003-05:00

My very dear friend Jean Glenn is showing work this summer at Tew Gallery in Atlanta. The opening is July 17th and the show is up until August 14th. Her work is very wonderful...please go take a look.

Building alittle thinking less.

2009-07-12T19:39:00.006-05:00

I am having precious little design insight and creative progress..I am taking a lot of pictures of bottles while hunting for old sinks and doors along route 1.......

Building alot.....

2009-07-10T07:11:00.006-05:00

Well we are in Belfast and this is the Pearl Street project. Adorable 1800 town house.....and then Caleb felt we should re-do the foundation. So its jacked up and the concrete has been poured, the foundation wall will get built in the next week or so and maybe floors before we leave.

Building Away.....

2009-07-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

On to Maine.... I am going to take a "blogger break" while the military mission that is "get the family up to Maine" is in progress. Probably by next friday I will be working again. Stay tuned for a new project and all its trails..... Hope your holiday is good.

Building super craft

2009-07-04T06:30:00.001-05:00

To further my point about Hyper-Craft...I spied these two pieces in an exhibition of work by students at the Beckman College of Design (found on the via Yatzer). The necklace chair is really interesting. Last winter in New Orleans I saw a amazing Victorian House that had a wooden garland much like this- draped on every porch bay. We all marveled at the detail and said that it must have been built by a 19th century shipbuilder because they would be the only one with such a skill. How did this student acquire this skill? Modern technology?

Building efficent

2009-07-03T06:30:00.001-05:00

If you study the history of furniture, there is a reading of a piece that talks about the materiality and its consequence in culture. For example, the feather weight furniture of Versailles is mostly a result of royal courts moving from palace to palace....the furniture designer was looking out for the people who had to move the court. Recently, I have seen furniture that is very delicate in material but made in an almost hyper-craft mode. Is this the result of a new consciousness? A desire to respect the material,use less of it and revel in new technologies for the construction of the work.......This is a very respectful stool/hat rack by
La Maison de Marina.

Building hutong

2009-07-02T06:30:00.001-05:00

I am really intrigued by these carpets by Instant Hutong the architecture practice of Marcella Campa and Stefano Avesani. These are more than carpets, made by the same technique that communist propaganda signage was made of,they are studies in the intricate density of the Beijing Hutong.

Building visions

2009-07-01T17:26:00.003-05:00

I would like to say a word about the passing of modern choreographer Pina Bausch. I learned a very important lesson about how to make a total work. Bausch is a master at what I like to call 'world making". While watching a piece of hers many years ago I realized that all the women dancers(about 20) had the exact same lipstick color on. A small gesture but so important for the over all sensibility of the work. Strength, control and rigor...she will be missed.

Web building

2009-07-01T06:30:00.000-05:00

Both of these chairs remind me of weaving pot holders when you were a ten year old girl...Only Giant! The sofa is from Imaginary Office and the chairs are available at Karkula.

Knitting space

2009-06-30T06:30:00.001-05:00

A number of years ago I got to see Petra Blaisse speak at Parsons about her work and one of the best moments was her telling the story of knitting the giant sock that hides the audio equipment at the glamorous Prada store in Soho. With giant knitting needles she and an assistant made the beautiful piece in their room at the Grammercy Hotel. So now we see the first in a trend toward the epic handmade.......

Knitting chairs

2009-06-30T06:30:00.000-05:00

Expert craftperson Ruth Cross knitted this seat cover. For some reason, the knowledge of the craft involved in the piece makes it destined to be an heirloom rather than just a chair......

Building floors

2009-06-29T06:30:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about the depth of the DYI movement and what it means to the design world. There are a number of designers that are using the vocabulary of DYI and sustainability and working within the realm of commerce. One such designer is Christien Meindertsma. I have written about this work before and even coveted it... But the project Idaho seen on his web site explores the "farm to table" culture of decorative arts. The process of getting to know your sheep and then on to the product seems more and more evident in our culture...The other interesting thing that I have seen quiet a bit is the bump up in scale of the knitting to accommodate the epic task of knitting a rug.....More to come

building fossils....

2009-06-28T06:30:00.000-05:00

I will finish up the ceramic series with this beautiful piece by Maggie Wells. Wells is now represented at Karkula in Manhattan.

Building the fantastic

2009-06-27T06:30:00.001-05:00

Okay, I admit it I have the "I wants". These amazing ceramic tiles by Ashville artist Heather Knight caught my eye this weekend and I am hooked....... I like the idea of a don't touch part of the bath and such a surprise coming out of a field of dumpy subway tile.......

How function is built.

2009-06-26T06:30:00.001-05:00

The most beloved functional pottery for me is the work from Bennington Potters in Vermont. Started in 1949 work out of the Potters Yard has been a staple of all good new england modernist households. The white series is the group to covet.

The form builder

2009-06-25T06:30:00.001-05:00

I would assume that Wouter Dam is the most adventurous ceramicist working currently...to have the bravado not to make a secure vessel...and revel in the shape making that Richard Serra and Frank Gehry wish for. Not to mention the color. I could look at this work all day.

Building form for a week

2009-06-24T06:30:00.001-05:00

I wanted to do a ceramics series since its summer and I am in between projects and studios. The grandfather of modernist pottery is Georges Jouve. In a modernist decorative arts store you will see a Prouve piece and Mouille Lamp and a ceramic piece by Jouve all done in Paris in the 50's. I love this cylinder shape because I now know that a 6" tall cylinder is one of the first acts to master on a potters wheel. See Patrick Seguin's web site for the greatest hits of French modernism

A furniture thought

2009-06-23T09:44:00.005-05:00

Yatzer posted this image of a Richard Artschwager chair. I thought I would add this quote from Gord Peteran that combats this anti-chair that Artschwager promotes-"Furniture is our first sculptural encounter, after the body of the mother and slightly before spatial volumes of architecture."

The building beautiful for the beautiful.

2009-06-22T20:37:00.007-05:00

About a year ago, one of our most talented comrades from New York had us writing recommendations for her to architecture grad school and then we got an e-mail, "I am going to Africa to design and build a school"....we were surprised but Valerie Buchheit is a very special person so- no not a real surprise... Well the school in Tanzania is done and I am tearing up at how truly beautiful it is. Well done Valerie! thank you for the pics...

Building Surface

2009-06-22T11:02:00.007-05:00

I thought I would share my "repetition as method" endeavor. Its not finished yet but I'm inspired by
El Anatsui and Tara Donovan's work. I am trying to make a functional piece out of recycled water bottles... I will keep you posted when the piece is finished....

Repetition Builds

2009-06-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

When I saw Miss Frida's door I was reminded of these brilliant dresses by artist Susie MacMurray. Entitled
"A Mixture of Frailties" I was awestruck by them when I first saw them at The Museum of Art and Design in NYC last year.....

Building the same yet different.....

2009-06-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

Of course the genius of repetition is the artist Eva Hesse. Many of her sculptures are simple , simple forms gathered together and made the same way yet belying their differences. Such personality in each vessel.

Multiple building techiques

2009-06-20T06:30:00.001-05:00

While I have been working on this epic drapery project I have been thinking about my Icelandic friend
Frida Gylfadottir's door. Covered in rubber gloves, the door has the friendliest vibe to it. Such a nice idea.

Building with multiples

2009-06-19T17:08:00.004-05:00

I am finishing a project were I am very deep into repetition as the method and the materiality. This stool by Natalie Kruch is a great example of this process. The simple material of a balloon transforms the stool to other ends. The press about this work says that the stool was student work and she was inspired by the Brazilian Campana brothers and their use of vibrant everyday materials ganged together to create something entirely new.