Miyake’s Fall Winter 12-13 Paris runway show  started out with a mise-en-scene of  assistants steaming fabric lengths hanging on racks. As the audience watched, the garments took shape – stretching and shrinking, creating pleats that were pulled inwards with steam; while unresponsive areas puffed out into sleeves and cowl necklines. The end result- Genius!

via The Clothes Whisperer

Called ‘steam-stretch’, the innovative textile is ‘an instant technique’. Issey Miyake’s young womenswear designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae, said,” It’s a bit like microwave food. It’s ready straight away.”

via The Clothes Whisperer

The innovative “Steam Stretch” fabric can be programmed in advance, then to be transformed into different silhouettes with a simple “Steam finish”.  Using “steam stretch” wool and stretch yarn, woven on a curve line and shrinking to create an undulating weave, producing a trompe l’oeil ribbed knit effect. Comparing the process to the polishing of rough stones into glistening jewels, the colorful shapes obtained out of a simple piece of cloth is meant to “bathe the wearer in their own multicolored brilliance”.

Miyamae named the collection “Mineral Miracle,” because of the natural elements built into the instant “steam stretch” technique. It also refers to a selection of the outfits featuring diamond-shaped facets that break up the cloth, with different colors and fabrics. But, “Mineral Miracle” was all about fabric innovation, staying true to Issey Miyake’s legacy.

via Style.com

via Style.com

As always, the Issey Miyake show turned out to be a beautiful display of textures and colors, focusing on their unique textile technology development.

Share/Bookmark

Pin It

Spotted at M&O- studio job’s  (job smeets and nynke tynagel) collection of five stunning pieces of kitchenware entitled, ‘containers II’.

The project began during the design process of ‘piece for peace’ which the duo developed in association with Belgian crystal producer Val Saint Lambert. They stumbled on a supply of hundred year-old hand-blown crystal pieces that were never crafted into finished products. studio job transformed five pieces from the unfinished stock and rework them into unique vessels including a coffee pot, a waste basket, a  casserole, and a chafing dish.

Each piece became individual when they colored and intricately cut the original crystal , and added polished and patinated bronze elements. They were unveiled at Design Miami before crossing the pond to Paris for M&O.

Coffee Pot-colored and cut crystal, polished bronze, wood, high gloss polished coating

Wastebasket- cut crystal, polished bronze, wood, high gloss polished coating

U.S. United States Frigate casserole- colored and cut crystal, polished and patinated bronze, gilding, faience, wood, high gloss polished coating

Colored and cut crystal, polished bronze, wood, high gloss polished

Chafing Dish-colored and cut crystal, polished bronze, wood, high gloss polished coating

Share/Bookmark

Pin It

Walking the aisles and showrooms in Paris for Maison & Objet and Paris Deco Off, I couldn’t help but note several colors that kept popping up everywhere! Put these on your must have list for 2012.

Fool’s Gold

Schumacher's Ripple Effect

This bold citron gold hue with brassy green undertones was all over the place. This is a color that’s hard to put your finger on. I find myself drawn to it and recently when deciding to paint my living room this color, I had a heck of a time getting it just right? This hue definitely evokes emotion- shifting from in-your-face to  moody  and sultry.  We’ve seen it before, but this time it was the center of attention and not an accent; showing up on different surfaces on new product categories, was interesting finishes to almost in some cases looking lit from within. Plus, it was mixed and matched with new colors creating unusual fresh schemes.

Miss Print fabrics and wallpapers

M&O Scenes d' Interieur

Pamplemousse M&O

JD Staron Ikat Rug

Perse Velvet from Karin Sajo

If you love this fabric, call me I am carrying this collection.

Nobilis Window Vignette

Artketing Trend Presentation- M&O

Lelievre

Nobilis Spring 2012 Collection

Maison & Objet

It’s been a couple of weeks since coming home for M&O and Deco Off. I jumped right into business as usual and just now have had some time to reflect, organize and my thoughts about the show. So this week, check out my series of posts of what trends and themes I see coming from the shows as well as my favorites and picks for the coming season.

Next Post: Hot Pink and Red are back.

Share/Bookmark

May I toot my own horn? I am sooo excited to  have just been asked to be a member of the jury for the  Les Découvertes (= your favorite product) Awards at Maison & Objet .  I will sift through the different sectors of the  show, covering every aisle in order to find the best-of-the-best and  pick my favorite product in a specific sector .Les Decouvertes will reward the most impressive new products of the show as discerned by a jury( me!) which is completely composed of bloggers and design columnists.
 Watch for my posts from the show and see what I pick. Don’t forget to check out the more real time coverage of Heimtextil and imm cologne as I work my way through the January design shows.

Share/Bookmark

Maison and Objet’s Observatoire says, “Enough of gloom and doom in this crazy world! A pinch of folly and caustic humor can let your imagination take the wheel. It’s time to champion the right to a breath of mental fresh air, to have fun. Quirky, festive creativity is turning to whimsy and humor. Insolence and irony, extravagance and outrageousness are sweeping away things we’ve all seen before. Now is the time for sweet delirium and highly euphoric abnormality. In the offbeat bazaar of our contemporary cabinet of curiosities, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and it feels crazily good.”

M&O’s Observatorie is made up of three style agencies along with  other mover and shakers that come together before each edition and bring their  discoveries, their emotions and their intuitions about emerging lifestyles. This   brainstorming helps define a topic as the running theme of that season. Emotions, Desires, Secret, Luxuries, Use, Intensity- the themes refer to major, all-encompassing trends and not the whims of fashion. They have chose Crazy as the trend theme for the January 2012 edition of M&O. Here’s a peek…

Sweet Freaks | Monstrous beauties by Vincent Gregorie for Nelly Rodi

Eccentricity is energizing our imaginations. Wild flights of fancy and offbeat whimsy are shaking up a world caught between being too orderly and unhinged. Supercharged design is experimenting with curious overlaps combining the unusual and the refined. Juxtapositions, accumulations, and subversions are creating a dizzily psychotropic style. The home is mutating into a cave of wonders

Artketing | Mad about art by Francois Bernard for Croisements

We are all trying to proclaim our uniqueness, but sometimes it seems  pointlessness. Unique pieces draw out nothing but the boredom of the commonplace. Hyper-personalization is now designing our décors. So it’s time for the unexpected to leap into a scattershot yet elegant jumble that is both ironic and luxurious. Anachronisms, colliding materials, collusive colors… The home is becoming a work of art, and you are its creator

Dream Box | Gentle madness by Elizabeth Leriche for Elizabeth Leriche

A disconcerted, disconcerting age is exploring the strangeness of imaginary worlds. Dreams and nightmares are teleporting us into disturbing parallel realities in which our desires and fears are transformed. Optical illusions, losing our bearings, outsized objects, an upside-down world, distortions and other black magic… a phantasmagoria that enchants and bewitches. The house is experiencing the ready-to-dream.

Share/Bookmark