Caillou Boats
growing up in a salty boat community outside SF,
I have always been intrigued by boat building.
along the funky docks of houseboats and anchor-ins,
old sailors would be working all day on their boats
carving, sanding, painting



It's hard not to romanticize Hemmingway
"the old man and the sea"
I think great design begins with a great boat
before Ferraris, Lamborghinis and MGs
I think the boat was man's first beloved vehicle.

In Tiverton, Rhode Island,
John Meikle makes it so again

A Daily Dose of Architecture

Wooden church of Kärsämäki
by Anssi Lassila (2004)
(winner of a student competition hosted by University of Oulu)

I'll never forget.
In my first architecture class:
Constructing Home
I learned about a very rad Austrian lady:
Margarete Schüette-Lihotzky
In 1926 she designed the:
Frankfurt Kitchen

The Frankfurt Kitchen was a social experiment based on time/efficiency studies. Each element was positioned in way to minimize unnecessary movement. Lihotzky was largely influenced by that classic American text: The New Housekeeping (1913) by Christine Frederick. Frederick analysed the bodily movements and circulation patterns of the housewife as she engaged in daily work in order to arrive at new principles for household design and labour---It forever changed the way we look at women, domesticity....and the Kitchen.

read on

WW11 army canvas

Bensimon
If anyone is going to Paris,
can you pick me up a pair of Bensimons?
my all-time favorite tennis shoe

I'm not a huge fan of Kate Moss
however,
this outfit is très chic
I'm digging shirts tucked into high waisted, wide legged jeans

it Design

7mm thick cardboard = bed

Andrew Rodgers via Treehugger
robert smithson-style earth art
(Arava desert, Israel)

(watch)

this is auto
meatpacking district, nyc

Emily Hass + Tivoli Audio
the 3 pillows remind me of the 3 coolest people I wish I knew:
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy + Rothko + Josef Albers

The Feminine Mystique

Our most :: notorious fashionable lovely :: female outlaws

1. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) - Faye Dunaway
2. Pierrot Le Fou (1965) - Anna Karina
3. Irma Vep (1996) - Maggie Cheung

L. Williamson

Leslie Williamson, was featured in the July/Aug 07 Dwell Issue and I loved her photographic series on famous architects' and designer's interior spaces---like that of Walter Gropius. Unlike typical 'contextual' architectural photographs, William's captured tighter and more unrestrained aspects of these seemingly sterile environments: "By focusing on quiet, interior vignettes, Williamson reveals and intimacy in each space, and, in turn, makes each person's life's work all the more tenable---Dwell"

Take a closer look

If I could buy anything this fall, it would be these 4 pieces at A.P.C.

Back in wonderfully neurotic "Manhattan"

DDR "communist-chic"

::Via designboom::

Digging this DDR pre-Goodbye Lenin-style nostalgia fest of:
retro plastics, wall fabric, linoleum-lovin' East German consumer design

It's weird digging "communist chic"
there was really nothing chic about communist Germany
It's interesting how time can sedate history
...history becomes art
(everything thing a bit lost in translation)




::Via Dezeen::

NOW:
...trabant cars & pastel kitchens are rad...

"Ostel, a new budget hotel in Berlin, (photos above) celebrates Communist retro chic.
Rooms are furnished with Communist-era pieces rescued from
private houses and second hand shops,
and have nostalgic names such as:
Stasi Suite and Pioneer Camp." - Dezeen

(hmmmm...still a little uncanny)

1. a Rougerouge old photograph
2. one day at 46th & Irving ::Mollusk::

-->Tyler's HI SHREDABILITY <--

In the same sort of tune as Thomas Campbell
....and the Quilts of Gee's Bend:
VOLKSWARE
{a small design company out of Amsterdam}
assembles furniture_rug_ clothing
from discarded materials

Thomas Campbell
all-round-creative-surf-artist-dude
sewn, collage, Beautiful Loser's, graffiti thread hangin' down-style
Album cover for the equally intriguing: Tommy Guerrero*
16mm film: Sprout

Heading back to NYC in a few days
and will surely miss the yellow plums & red apples

home in san francisco
Listening to: Joni Mitchell
Anticipating: plum season
Wearing: TOMS

unfortunately, didn't meet:

TM Studio Office (2003)
Guo Kuang Road, Shanghai
Architect: TONG Ming, TM Studio

fortunately, met:

Zhujiajiao Cambridge Water Town
Architect: Studio Shanghai
Benjamin Wood

Was thrilled to visit Ben Wood's Studio Shanghai architecture firm (read NYtimes article)...based in their new adaptive re-use complex in the very Xintiandi neighborhood they restored. Really cool people with an interesting approach to development in Shanghai. Studio Shanghai was one of the first architecture firms in China to explore alternatives to suburban growth and outlandish development schemes. For example, their new 337 housing development in the Cambridge Water Town showcases how modern architecture is able to naturally merge with ancient Chinese principles.

The Bund Interiors

Shanghai decor

The Bund is a historical strip in Shanghai that hosted some of the wealthiest and notorious banks in the world during the early 20th c. ---the pinnacle of the roaring 20's Chinoiserie 'east meets west' party scene. And then...all the lights, jazz and glamour dimmed for 5o years during the communist republic. Now, these beautiful old buildings are being restored and converted into the most posh bars, clubs, fashion houses and restaurants...to recreate, in more modern terms, the infallible decadence of Shanghai.

Here, at #6 on the Bund
Each floor level hosted its own international designer
illustrating unique themes, materials, textures, moods
and sharing one thing in common: luxury

Decadent 'Shanghainese' lighting

Not exactly my taste of lighting. However, it was just so striking and photogenic that I couldn't pass the opportunity of being inside # 3 on the Bund (Aka, Dolce & Gabanna Building). Soon I'll post the equally decadent interiors of this building...6 floors dramatized by some of the top Interior Designers of our age.

These are a bit more quirky. I love how the artist used kitchenware for these chandeliers