Category — Someone You Should Know

Karim Rashid has partnered with Velux for a new yet- to- be named collection of blackout skylight shades. These are not your everyday drab shades. The collection includes four unique patterns, each in two different colors. Customers can choose from vibrant pink and acid yellow or more subtle designs of black and white. Inspiration from digital technology on the one hand and floral motifs on the other, adds a modern yet poetic look to the collection. The new patterns bring an abstracted ‘digital nature’ into the home. Four of the designs have decorative metallic details creating a vivid texture. The blinds are not only art on the window but the shades in the new line are energy efficient, generating a 33% decrease in heat loss when closed.

“I want people to see a blind not as a genuine standard product but as a small piece of decorated art that adds beauty and even determines the style of the interior decoration.”

Wow that’s music to my ears! The window covering industry needs to hire him as a spokes person.

Running with the “digital” theme the collection seems to have taken, Velux is crowdsourcing the names of each of the patterns. The competition runs online this month and asks anyone to propose a name for the patterns which can be viewed and voted on by others. At the contest’s close, the most highly voted entries will become the official names of each of the blinds.

Teaming up with one of the design world’s most prolific designers demonstrates a new design approach in the VELUX Group.

“Choosing to work with Karim Rashid came from the recognition that if you want to be innovative, you have to experiment and demonstrate courage in the design process. So working together with internationally acknowledged designers like the ‘King of Colors’ represents a new experience at the VELUX Group. Usually our products serve the purpose of being discrete, but the new designs by Karim Rashid attract attention and add another feature besides quality and value for money to our products.”

“This distinction is incongruous as we always believe that we could have done things better… prizes are quite a healthy form of pressure; they force us to do better each time and always”.

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, 2011 now! design à vivre designers, show how this pressure can encourage even more precision. Designed to meet present-day needs but to resist the assault of time and fashion, their objects are sustainable by definition and consequently need to be precise. Their designs themselves are part of a long-term industrial process where design, in their opinion, owns the top spot. The importance of draftsmanship seems incongruous in these days of 3D technology. Yet it is natural for Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Slow Chair for Vitra

Ronan born in 1971 and Erwan born in 1976, have worked together for over 10 years. Their partnership is a permanent dialogue, nourished by their differences and guided by their need for precision and delicacy.

At the Salon du Meuble in 1997, they were noticed by Giulio Cappellini who assigned them with their first industrial design projects. In 2000, Issey Miyake asked them to design a space presenting his new Apoc clothes collection in Paris. Then came the decisive meeting with Rolf Fehlbaum, president of Vitra, which led to the design of a new typology of office systems called Joyn in 2002. They have worked with Magis to design two complete furniture collections: Striped and Steelwood.

Steelwood Chair for Magis

Finally, the textile walls  North Times and  Clouds designed through a  partnership with Kvadrat.

 In 2010 they presented two separate collections for two new editors: a tableware collection, called Ovale, for Alessi and a bathroom collection for Axor.

Alessi Oval Collection 2010

UPDATE: Being introduced at M&O  next week in the  Nanimarquina booth is ‘losanges’ , a new rug collection designed by the  Bouroullec brothers.

Intrigued by traditional persian rugs and the ‘kilim savoir-fair’ which the designers consider to be a delicate mix of rusticity and fineness, the ‘losanges’ project is carried out by craftsmen in northern Pakistan who weave the rug’s thirteen colors into a geometrical rhombus shape. ‘losanges’ is crafted by hand, and the afghan wool used to craft it is hand spun, allowing for particular color tones to be highlighted,making each one a unique piece. Can’t wait to see it in person.

 For those of you interested in the process; see below.

Full scale sketch by Bouroullec brothers

Traditional weaving process by Pakistani craftsmen

Photos Courtesy of Maison et Objet.

Every season at Maison et Objet, has its creators. These three cutting edge, push the envelope designers are definitely someone you should know.

The January 2011 edition’s Designers of the Year are:

 Maison et Objet – Edouard Francois

scenes d’interieur- Gilles and Boissier

Now!- Ronan and  Erwan Bouroullec

In 2011, scènes d’intérieur pays tribute to this expression of French fine decoration, embodied by the original style that Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier manage to develop.

Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier met at the start of their careers at Christian Liaigre in1995. He worked eight years there and became studio manager whereas she rapidly moved on to join Philippe Starck’s team where she stayed 9 years, reaching the top levels of responsibility in the interior design field. They decided to join forces in 2004 to create their own agency Gilles & Boissier. Winning clients like The Maison Boulud in Beijing, the Buddakan in New York with orginial and imaginative scenarios, they quickly acquired an international reputation in the worlds of hospitality, restaurants, and luxury. Their powerful, theatrical, narrative style inspires stagings that give the spaces they work with a unique sense of soul.

Apartment Plan

“We are condemned to bear this cross and flaunt it!”

Makato Cafe

Gilles & Boissier is the meeting of two rich and sometimes contrasting aesthetic approaches that come together in the design of varied spaces where staging often plays the starring role. Art holds a privileged place in their projects. Borrowing and breaking the rules and taking free inspiration from cultures and styles; their talent consists of a clever balancing act, perfect mastery of lines and proportions, constant attention to noble materials, often the know-how of top level artisans and young artists.

Murals in Artcurial cafe a collaboration with Cybrien Chabert

The secret of Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier also hangs on the confidence and complicity they forge with their loyal clients. Rémo Ruffini, of the Moncler brand assigned them to design a boat; then he submitted his quilted jacket brand to the designer couple. This was followed by new stores, residences and a new yacht. Alain Yau, the London restaurateur, founder of Hakkasan and Wagamama assigned them to a new address in Istanbul and continued the adventure with them in Miami, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Mumbai. Stephen Starr, another visionary entrepreneur, met them for the Buddakan project. Impressed by their work, he asked them to create Steak 954 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida then a brand new restaurant, Makoto, in Miami which will open in late January 2011. Ian Shrager, a pioneer in designer hotels  and initiator of new lifestyle concepts recognized the talent of Gilles et Boissier by entrusting them with the interior design of the Gramercy Park Hotel’s restaurant in New York, the Wakiya.

Artcurial Cafe Paris

 Dorothee and Patrick say it best…

Tomorrow: Edouard Francois

Photos Courtesy Maison et Objet

Kyle Bunting, famed designer of amazing rugs, upholstery fabrics and wall coverings made from intricately patterned cowhides, has taken his work to the next level by venturing into furniture. You’ve seen his amazing ,intricately patterned hair on hide rugs; now you can see his furniture -  but not just furniture; furniture  in the most amazing candy shop colors  straight out of Willie Wonka.

Kyle and his team designed a limited edition of furnishings and art only available at Gump’s. Pieces include cube-shaped ottomans with matching lacquer bases, the long hair “Fog Hide” chair, tables and consoles and the two-sided curved “Neu” screen. Each piece is made to order and can be fully customized by color and finish.

The process to craft these masterpieces was so secretive not even Kyle’s own wife Libby Bunting knew exactly what he was up to until the preview earlier this summer for Gump’s. He wanted it to be a surprise when he brought her to San Francisco and walked her into Gump’s, where the store windows had been taken over by some of the most colorful objects ever made from cowhide.

My faves are  a group of six four-by-five foot hanging  art pieces made of highly detailed cowhide by Bunting and his team.

Design or Art?

In addition,, Bunting harnessed the talents of design doyenne Holly Hunt, Art Ellsworth and Marvin Wilkinson of John Brooks, Geoffrey De Sousa, Erik Hughes, Jan Showers, Kara Mann ( a Chicago fav of mine), Fern Santini, Kris Lajeski, and design team Neri and Hu, to create 10 one-of-a-kind wood-framed, lacquered chairs with custom designed cowhide upholstery for Gump’s.

Kyle Bunting’s passion is hide and the design potential of the material. Working exclusively in hide for almost a decade, his focus   is the redefinition of how hide can be used in interior applications. His collection and studio   work reflect his passion for the medium and the unlimited potential of his designs and technique.  A visit to his site to page through his lookbooks are amazing inspiration. Kyle’s company has completed thousands of projects for design professionals and private   clients throughout the world. Today, Kyle and his team of contributing designers operate and find inspiration in their design studio outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country.

To me Kyle embodies what a designer should be- passionate about his work; inspiring to other designers; generous and collaborative by nature. “We are always looking forward,” says Mr. Bunting, “and with this new collection we are exploring a new realm of what’s possible with hide—moving from floors, walls, and upholstery to furniture and art.” Will window coverings be next?

I’ve been following UK designer, upholsterer extraordinaire Aiveen Daly for several years and her new pieces do not  disappoint. Known for her sexy details, she has worked with the world’s top designers- Liberty of London, Paul Smith and Bill Amberg to name a few. I always find design inspiration from her.

This stunning satin upholstered canopy bed bedazzled with hundreds of tiny pearls and silver studs.

Aphrodite silk lampshade with hand braided detail.

The Can Can chair- What's not to love. Corset lacings and it's RED!