>> dwell on design 2011

I just got back from this year's Dwell on Design exhibition in downtown Los Angeles, which was a pretty good showing! The guy up there in the Sleeper get-up is spray painting the rhythm of random people's heart beats and then auctioning off the artwork for charity. Here are few pics of items and designs that caught my eye.

A+R's genius Hot-Pot BBQ by Black + Blum and great wireless portable speakers also at the A+R booth.

Rewired and re-purposed shoe lamps (?) and Heath's house number plates, which are to die for.

Minimalist loose-leaf tea strainer and ceramic speakers by Joey Roth.

Molo Design's lighting booth was pretty dreamy and loved this pendant cage lamp.

Public Bikes out in full-force!

LOVED these cast honey bears by Lesley Anton. So cute!

Nice lookin' hammocks. Nice lamp?

Charley Harper + Todd Oldham, so great.

>> the pink swan project

My friend Larissa over at Suite NY turned me on to their Pink Swan project this morning. 19 designers, architects and fashion icons were given the iconic Fritz Hansen Swan Chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1958 to customize. The chairs will be auctioned on charitybuzz.com and proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Hot puppies.

>> Eliot Noyes

Just playing some accordion...

Architect Eliot Noyes' daughter, Derry Noyes, practicing her accordion in the living room of her home (designed by her father). Note the vase in foreground by Pablo Picasso. Photo by George Silk, 1963.

Just cleaning my rifle...

The Talbot Rantoul summer house designed by Noyes. Neil Rantoul cleaning his rifle on a pull-down bed in the boys' quarters which doubles as a painting studio. Photo by John Dominis, 1965

>> tiiiimber!

Jeep Grand Wagoneer; select edition Eames Hang-It-All ($249); five year diary ($25); George Nelson Polygon wall clock ($540); folding knife ($45); Donna Wilson pillow ($92); Rook table lamp ($159).

>> nesso lamp

I watched Kramer vs. Kramer for the first time this weekend, and yes Hoffman and Streep were superb, but that apartment was per-fect-ion. How great is the Nesso Lamp ($380) designed by Giancarlo Mattioli in 1967? I want to get that exact lucite side table too, only then not leave my husband and 6 year old son. I also noticed the Nesso Lamp has a starring roll in Roger Sterling's new office on Mad Men, although that is supposedly 1965, two years before the lamp was designed...Mad Men mistake?

>> living architecture

Just back from the west coast book launch of Living Architecture ($75), a beautiful Assouline tome chronicling 20 of America’s most innovative and iconic houses of the 20th century. Your coffee table with thank you for it.

>> case study #22 chaises

The Case Study #22 chaise collection was designed in 1939 and manufactured simply from stainless steel, powder coat and marine cord. The design has held up for over 70 years and is today built in the exact specifications of the originals. If you're worried about outdoor furniture going out of style, I'd say you can safely bet on these guys ($550 for lounge chair and ottomon, $1,295 for chaise).

>> schnabel house

Yesterday I was one of the few who have ever ventured inside The Schnabel House in Brentwood Park, a residential home designed by Frank Gehry for Rockwell and Marna Schnabel in the mid 1980s. I don't want to give too much away because this will be appearing in print soon, but it is an incredible property, and I mean literally incredible, as in, hard to believe. The above photo on the right is just one of the several freestanding structures on the property; Marna Schnabel wanted a dome on the property to mimic one of her favorite L.A. landmarks, the Griffith Park Observatory, and Gehry made it so. Photo on the left is Gehry jumping on one of his cardboard desks in 1972. Now back to the transcribing...

>> der neue zollhof

I've been doing a ton of Frank Gehry research recently for a story I'm working on and randomly just came across this photo I snapped five years ago in Düsseldorf. It's the Der Neue Zollhof, a group of Gehry designed buildings situated at the Eastern edge of the Rhine River harbor. I remember arriving in Düsseldorf and expecting it to be the German equivalent of Delaware—and then seeing these beauts and rethinking the 'Dorf completely. Next on my Gehry list would definitely be The Guggenheim in Bilbao. Anyone have any other favorite FOG buildings?

P.S. Hilarious side note: Frank Gehry's first cousin introduced my in-laws. We were all talking last night and I realized I was the only one in the room who hadn't met The Starchitect.

>> who wore it best?

I.M. Pei or Philip Johnson?

>> current obsession: leather egg chair

One of my pet peeves is people reading over my shoulder, so it is natural that I'd enjoy the semi-private feel of Arne Jacobsen's iconic Egg Chair ($5,934), which I'm especially fond of in a blond leather upholstery. Jacobsen designed the chair in 1958 for the lobby of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen for exactly that reason—to allow a bit of privacy in a highly public space. Now I just need to find one at a garage sale.

>> tom dixon offcut stool

I've been design crushing on Tom Dixon since his copper pendant lamps hit the scene four or five years ago and it's not waning, at all. His new offcut stools ($235) are constructed from furniture waste generated during the manufacturing process. The legs are usually discarded irregular pieces of wood called "waney edges". Plus, no glue or screws are used, it's all held together using wooden pegs. Totally utilitarian. Love it.

>> one king's lane tastemaker tag sale preview

If you're not yet turned onto the glory of One King's Lane, it's an online home decor discount retailer for members only (membership is free). The discounts are often enormous and the brands are typically high-end. In other words, go there now. Every Saturday they've been featuring Tastemaker Tag Sales, a selection curated by an well-known interior designer. Tomorrow it's Windsor Smith, and above is a preview of what's going to be hitting the site at 11am EDT! Pieces sell out quickly, so if you like what you see, don't mess around.

To get a sense of the deep discounts:
Chair: retail price $6,500, OKL price $2,999; print: retail price $279, OKL price $139; pillow: retail price $280, OKL price $139; Georgian Perior: retail price $16,500, OKL price $7,999; Vintage Terra Cotta Planter (price TBD).

>> in the loop

My friend Alex and I went to the Los Angeles Antiques Show preview night yesterday at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, which is open to the public now until Sunday and worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood. There are 50-some exhibitors from all over California, the U.S. and even a few in from Europe. The booth that I really thought was stealing the show was predictably the New York and L.A.-based antiques dealer Downtown. I forgot my camera battery (of course), but they have a great little set up of mid-century designs that actually look really fresh. Downtown also has a collection of pieces inspired by iconic design that they manufacture new, like the above Frances Elkins loop chairs, that I would literally kill someone for. I know the new outdoor chair on the far left can be powder coated in hundreds of colors and I think goes for about $2,200 a chair, and my guess is the prices get steeper from there.

A scan from my copy of Frances Elkins Interior Design ($44) of Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler's living room in Lake Forest, Illinois circa 1934.

>> the touch

That's revered glass blower and furniture designer John Pomp pouring a bottle of Newton Unfiltered Cab in his new limited edition decanter called The Touch ($500) made exclusively for Newton. It's really quite a piece—sturdy and gorgeous and made from 30% recycled glass. And let me tell you, the wine is as good at 10am paired with an LA Mill cappuccino as it is when I typically start drinking red wine (noon or so).

Ahhh, breakfast of champions.

>> beige + blonde

Skinny feather pillow ($325); gold etched disc earrings ($30); ikat box clutch ($99); Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead ($17); Moscot Lemtosh sunglasses ($179); sequin sunhat ($95); straw doggie carrier ($45); Artek Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto ($250); shag pouf ($385).

>> what's inside: Alexandra Becket + Greg Steinberg

Yesterday afternoon I sipped iced tea with textile artist Alexandra Becket in her fabulous newly remodeled house in West Hollywood. She and her fiancé Greg spent the better part of last year working on stripping walls, razing the garage, demo-ing the tiled roof and putting in a new kitchen, bathrooms, landscape—and of course scouring estate sales and flea markets for those perfect accents. He loves Tiki Modern and she loves Mid Century, two styles that happily marry in an L.A. home. While hanging out with Alexandra, I felt like I was hanging with Los Angeles history because she is the granddaughter of Welton Becket, the architect who designed The Capitol Records building, LAX, The Beverly Hilton, The Cinerama Dome...is there a major architectural landmark in L.A. that he didn't design? It was really cool to hear her stories. Thanks Alexandra!

Above photo is a shot of her studio office located in their garage. Becket has sold textile designs to Trina Turk and Anthropologie to name just a few clients. She also has had her artwork displayed at DWR.

Alexandra and Greg landscaped with mostly drought-friendly plants.




The fireplace was painted white when Greg moved into the home in the 1990s, they stripped it and found beautiful 1920s tiling by Ernest Batchelder!

Tiki, the cat, prefers Danish Modern.


A LIFE magazine from 1956 sits in their living room. The cover story is a Palm Springs home that Welton Becket designed for a mechanical engineer. What you're looking at is a rotating sun deck apparatus for even tanning. Ah, the 1950s! Check the dog in the middle!

>> giulio cappellini

Earlier today I interviewed Giulio Cappellini, the head of the avant-garde Italian design house Cappellini. He spoke faster than I thought was humanly possible in a combination of Italian and English, but it was one of the most energizing and interesting interviews I've ever had the privilege of conducting. Check the Los Angeles Times Home section blog for a little story about his latest collaboration with Disney. It's pretty wild.

Some Cappellini pieces through the years:

Rive Droite armchair by Patrick Norguet with Pucci fabric, 2001 ($4,160); Ribbon stools, 2007 ($538); 2009 re-issue of the Proust armchair by Alessandro Mendini, 1978 ($11,855); Stich chair, 2009 ($719); Rainbow chair by Patrick Norguet, 2000 ($15,688); Peacock armchair, 2009 ($6,406); Wooden chair by Marc Newson, 1992 ($5,641); Cappellini stool by Tom Dixon, 1992 ($894).

>> Kelly Wearstler in L.A.

Ironically it wasn't until last night that the Los Angeles-based interior designer started retailing her objets d'art (formally exclusive to New York's Bergdorf Goodman) in Los Angeles. TableArt, the tabletop Mecca of Melrose, now carries both her tabletop lines for Sferra and Pickard AND the Bergdorf stuff! There was a slew of new sculptural pieces (prices range between $195 and $2,195) as well as some of the pieces we've seen before. Not surprisingly, guests of the West Coast launch were as enthralled with the fashionable designer's python boots and fur stole as they were her china patterns.

Wood sculptures carved from white oak on display near the shop's entry ($1,995, $1,195).

Wearstler was also signing her most recent monograph, Hue.

Love these striped ceramic pieces ($350-$690)

The Sputnik centerpiece ($2,195) that is now synonymous with KW tabletop.



Brass Hand ($1,495)

Only Walter Lowry would serve guests with glass tumblers and cloth cocktail napkins (that of course happen to be by Kelly Wearstler for Sferra).

Kelly Wearstler and TableArt owner Walter Lowry, and a shot of the designer with yours truly.

>> vivienne westwood wallpaper

Today was the second time someone emailed me about British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood's new home line which includes wallpaper available at Cole & Son. Obviously the Union Jack steals the show, but there are some other great patterns too.