furniture

DIY: paint your linoleum floor white

February 3, 2009

When I moved into this typical 1930s apartment in Vancouver’s east side in 1999, the first thing I did was paint over the kitchen’s dingy gold linoleum flooring. The linoleum was the worst thing about that apartment.

Eileen Gray’s Satellite Hanging Lamp

January 27, 2009

On occasion, the women of 20th C design do get a certain amount of recognition. This rare aluminum pendant lamp by Eileen Gray, previously owned by Yves St Laurent, is up for auction at Christie’s and is estimated at US$1 million.

Categories: architect, design, furniture, Uncategorised

The ladies of 20th century furniture design were offered to pose on fur rugs or ponies, which is why, we suppose, that photo was never to be.

January 20, 2009

Left to Right: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom

Photo from a 1961 Playboy article on 20th C “masters of design,” who are here dressed either as accountants or architects, it’s hard to tell which, but it’s a lot of zippers.

Categories: architect, design, furniture, humour, politics, Uncategorised

“Raw blonde”

Supposedly raw blonde is a trend for 2009. I think that might be me, based on this definition. Warm but austere and at this point pretty pale.

This room somehow manages to be both sensual and monastic at the same time, so perhaps it represents the perfect refuge for a recession.

Categories: design, furniture, interiors, textiles, Uncategorised

Pole shelving – turn this ugly example into something better

January 17, 2009

Yet another 60s DIY project from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970. While the bookshelf directly above is cringe-worthy (almost in the “so bad it’s good” category, but not quite), it could be very mod if it were updated and re-made properly with more attractive materials.

Categories: design, DIY, furniture, interiors, Uncategorised

Egle Amaldi’s bookshelf & modernist Cado shelving

These staggered, airy midcentury modern arrangements are so much less chichi than the many fancified contemporary bookshelves you see around.

I love this simple, balanced living room belonging to Italian architect Egle Amaldi in the 1960s.

Categories: architect, book, design, DIY, furniture, interiors, Uncategorised

Molo

January 15, 2009

Just a few blocks up the road from my studio is the workshop of Vancouver’s Molo Design. You’ve probably seen their accordioning softseating or their softwall room dividers which are now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

1960s DIY projects – geometric wall treatment, vertical lanterns

January 12, 2009

Here are two quite beautiful DIY projects from the 60s, both found in The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970. Most of what you find in the book is a bit kitschy, but these two ideas seemed brilliant.

Categories: craft, design, DIY, furniture, Uncategorised

More Furniture in 24 Hours – 4 pieces

January 9, 2009

A final post on great DIY furniture from Spiros Zakas’ 1979 “More Furniture in 24 Hours” book. If you want the building plans for any of these pieces, go to this Flickr set.

Categories: book, design, DIY, furniture, Uncategorised

More Furniture in 24 hours by Spiros Zakas – V Armchair

January 8, 2009

A third design from Spiros Zakas’ 1979 “More Furniture in 24 Hours” book. See our first post on this book. Click below to find plans for building this chair or go to our Flickr set for high res versions.

Categories: book, design, DIY, furniture, Uncategorised

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This blog is a long, somewhat messy photo essay on the history and politics of design. Design's socio-historical context—that is, the constraints and influences on the way we make objects, dwellings and cities—seems too often ignored. We no longer know where our styles, tastes or objects really come from, and this damages our creativity and sense of meaning. Historical knowledge is so fugitive in the New World, with everything so decontextualized in the rapid flow of commodities and images. Don't even get me started on tumblr and pinterest. As Fran Lebowitz said, "Designers now, they all have these things called mood boards. I suppose they think a sense of discovery equals invention. It would be as if every writer had a board with paragraphs of other writers—'Oh, I'll take a little bit of this, and that, he was really good.' Yes, he was really good! And that is not a mood board, it is a stealing board." As for the sort of design I'm personally interested in, full disclaimer.....read more ____________________________________

To read about my book project on Vancouver's UN-Habitat Forum event of 1976 concerning just and sustainable urban settlements, click here. Few know that Buckminster Fuller, Margaret Mead, Mother Teresa, Paolo Soleri and Maggie & Pierre Trudeau, along with many thousands of others, came to Vancouver in 1976 to talk about better, safer, fairer and greener cities worldwide. In fact it was the founding conference of UN Habitat, an agency built around a foundational document called The Vancouver Declaration. My book is about what happened that year and is a snapshot not just of Vancouver but of how people around the world began to view cities and themselves differently in the wake of, among other things, the first oil crisis. ____________________________________

furniture

DIY: paint your linoleum floor white

Eileen Gray’s Satellite Hanging Lamp

The ladies of 20th century furniture design were offered to pose on fur rugs or ponies, which is why, we suppose, that photo was never to be.

“Raw blonde”

Pole shelving – turn this ugly example into something better

Egle Amaldi’s bookshelf & modernist Cado shelving

Molo

1960s DIY projects – geometric wall treatment, vertical lanterns

More Furniture in 24 Hours – 4 pieces

More Furniture in 24 hours by Spiros Zakas – V Armchair

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