November 28, 2008
Russian architecture from here and here and here. All but one building is in Siberia. The top two are classic Siberian houses; the third is the Church of the Transfiguration on Kizhi Island in Karelia, near Finland.
Like nomad fashion, Russian styles keep circulating and recirculating in fashion. Maybe it’s because layered-against-the-elements clothes are compelling in uncertain times. Whatever it is, and whatever romantic, escapist fantasy these styles are probably satisfying, they’re beautiful.
November 25, 2008
Spock: They remind me somewhat of the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin… but they seem to eat a great deal.
I fell in love with this artifact when I saw it in the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico in Mexico City in 2000. One of my best friends and I were in Mexico City and were wandering around the museum’s immensitude for a couple of hours when I turned a corner and suddenly saw this piece.
November 24, 2008
Hard-edged rooms, even the rustic kind, seem to need at least one big soft thing. Scandinavian interior design uses textiles in this way, and increasingly the term for the contemporary application of this idea seems to be “warm modernism” or “soft modernism.” The more unrelieved the hardness, the more warmth is needed and the more excessive the textures can be.
November 23, 2008
A favourite San Francisco live/work loft space. I partly love it for the great painting of the burning ruin—the text at the bottom reads “Monument to Frankenstein.” I can’t find the source of this photo so if anyone knows, please tell me.
November 18, 2008
Poster by Raymond Bellemare for the Canadian Graphics and Design Directorate (Graphisme et Dessin) of the Organizing Committee of the 1976 Olympic Games, Montreal
Only 32 years have passed since this fantastic official poster for the 1976 Montreal Olympics was produced, but from a 2008 vantage point it’s hard to imagine how a committee ever okayed it.
Granted these are already amazing spaces, but wooden pony walls can work in smaller spaces also.
November 17, 2008
I can’t explain why, but there’s something so charming about this traffic-blocking gate on wheels seen in a great mod bistro in Bangkok. It’s rolled away from the restaurant door during the day, then rolled out to block the door at night.
November 14, 2008
It’s not clear who would have room for a large inflatable cloud at home, but technically we do actually have room for this in our studio and we’d love to have it, if we could afford it.
