March 2010 Archives

Swedish design collective Muungano was started in 1996, and began as "a critical discussion about the meaning, methods and values of design but has broadened through the years to include a commercial stance to design." For the past several years the studio has been focused on projects in or related to Africa and this collection of furniture is a result of these collaborations. The collection, Baufrica, combines the form and function of Bauhaus design with the color and pattern that is found in traditional African design. The furniture is made of waxed ash, and multi-colored lacquered tubular steel. The modular collection is upholstered in neutral grey, strengthening the weight of the bright colors native to Africa. 

It  is no secret that the depth & quality of African color appeals to me!!!!! I think Muungano's ability to use this influence in an innovative and contemporary design context is very exciting ....... the union of "north" and "south" ..... the "cold" country and the "hot" one...... blending  traditional Bauhaus grey with bright "piped" African colors ....... resulting in a harmonic use of color as an accent, but one which does not trivialize or minimize it's presence!!!!!! They have used color as an excellent "accessoration!!!!!"

ROSE CUMMINGS LIVING ROOM

GRETA GARBO LIVING ROOM

JAMES GALANOS BEDROOM

Jeremiah Goodman's career has spanned decades, beginning in the 1950's at Lord & Taylor, where he created print advertisements, illustrating everything from fashion to furniture. A great bon vivant and charmer, Jeremiah has always had "fashionable" friends, circling the globe, including John Gielgud, Greta Garbo, Billy Baldwin, David Hicks, Mary Martin, and Elsa Peretti..... and early on, he began creating "interior portraits" of their favorite rooms. These intimate illustrations, begun in the 1940's, continue to be drawn today!!!! They have appeared in every major fashion and shelter magazine, and in 2007 Powerhouse  published a significant book of his "rooms," A Romantic Vision. This book is a "must have" in any design library!!!!

London art dealer Dean Rhys Morgan has "borrowed" several of his illustrations and created a collection of prints, making his work accessible to all of us!!! Design guru's John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross, great friend of Jeremiah's, are the representatives for this fantastic collection. Printed in London, this limited edition evokes all of the same passion, vibrancy, and charm as the original ...... an "accessorator's" dream ...... imagine a library wall covered with these beautiful images......Delightful!!!!!

This past week, at the NY Armory Show, I continued my love affair with the work of African artist, Pascale Marthine Tayou, exhibited by the Galleria Continua, located in San Gimignano, Italy.

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 1967, Tayou began his career in the 90's, when after abandoning his studies in law, he changed his birth name, Jean Apollinaire Tayou, taking a double name in the female form: Pascal(e) Marthin(e) and went abroad to begin his art career. His first exhibition was in 1994 in Cameroon, it was followed quickly by international recognition. Tayou refers to himself as "a lawyer not an artist" saying "I never intended to be an artist, but I'm curious." Currently living with his wife and children in Ghent, with trips to Africa, he says of leaving Africa "I never left my country, I am a traveler now."  The work, like his name, is fluid, easily transitioning between sculpture, drawing, video, and installation ..... purposely mobile .... reflecting his double-life, traversing two diverse worlds. In addition to the theme of movement between cultures, Tayou's work also explores the issues of the "global village."  

I saw Tayou's work for the first two years ago at the Armory and thought it was fantastic. These new pieces are equally stunning and for this "accessorator," his work continues to be among the most innovative and exciting at the show!!!!!!!!!

As a "pillow queen supreme," I change and rearrange my pillows constantly!!! I think that pillows are fabulous accents and changing them reinvigorates a room and me!!!! I love to create a new look and feeling ..... without an extravagant redo!!!!! Lately I have been thinking about black & white accents. I'm not "feeling" geometric patterns right now, and am looking for an alternative, so imagine my delight at finding these spectacular graphic images from Archival Decor!!!! Interior designer Jill McCrae and photographer Michelle Pattee are the creative co-owners of this divine San Francisco based company. The images they have selected, photographed by Michelle, are hand screened with water based sepia ink onto organic hemp. The pillows are backed with cotton velvet, filled with down stuffers and an antiqued bronze zipper seals the deal!!! DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!

My passion for English ceramics began with artist Barnaby Barford, a 2002 graduate of the Royal Academy. He is an elegant storyteller, creating unique narratives, using mass-market and antique found porcelain figurines to weave his tales. "Cutting up, exchanging elements or adding to them and repainting then, to create sculptures which are often sinister and sardonic but invariably humorous."

His current exhibition at the David Gill Gallery in London reflects his most recent venture .... animated film ....... creating a world for his characters. "I've always seen my pieces as scenes from a film- I want viewers to make up what happened before and what might happen afterwards- so it felt like a natural progression to work on a film," according to Barford. The work at the gallery is inspired (never replicating scenes) by the animation, he sees it as a "final conclusion to the entire project." Each piece stands on it's own, part of a story, but seen as a complete work of art.

Barford's animated film, DAMAGED GOODS, commissioned in London by the Animate Projects and funded by the Arts Council England and Channel 4, tells the tragic love story of two figurines, who's whole world is lived within the shelves of a bric-a-brac shop. It explores the ideas of forbidden love, material wealth, class division .... all within the "society" of the shelves. The top shelves house the objects that are lavish crystal, silver and gold objects, while the floor is covered with the bits and pieces of broken, discarded ceramics. 

 The film is spectacular ..... charming, innovative, touching, divine ... take a look!!!.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Danish brand Stelton, British fashion designer Paul Smith was given the task of reworking danish designer Arne Jacobsen's iconic Cylinda Collection. Smith has selected a range of 12 colors, from bright to pastel, to color the handles of the stainless steel coffee pots. In addition, he has created a collection, called Dot, of stainless steel bowls with 54 different colored inside surfaces and lids.

"I was very flattered when asked to work on this project, but equally nervous as I have such respect for this iconic collection by Arne Jacobsen.  To tell the truth I was unsure whether I should take the task of reworking such a beautiful, timeless set of designs. However, once I realized that I would just give a new lease of life through color, I felt more comfortable." Paul Smith

For me this is a match made in heaven .......I adore Arne Jacobsen's "Danish Modern" style .... I live with "The Egg", a chair to die for!!!  And, Paul Smith is the ultimate "Color King" ...... his iconic stripe pattern is this "accessorstors" dream ....... shopping bag, wallet, briefcase, and especially the trim around the seams of the most fabulous black leather gloves you have ever seen ..... which I own!!!!! So, I think that the only decision I will have to make in April, when this collection arrives in the stores is ....... which color handle do I want, because....... it is way tooooo piggy to get all 12!!!!!

The "Vanity" magazine table is designed by Dutch product designer Roderick Vos for Linteloo.  Each table is based on a system of nine compartments, each holding one magazine, the sizes are based upon the most common magazine dimensions. Included with the table is a wooden panel for one space, that can be used to place a coffee cup, a vase of flowers, or nothing!!! Beneath the table top three boxes are created, each can hold additional volumes of the magazines. Vos created two designs for this sleek table, one square and one rectangular, both having a matte black coated steel frame ...... taking a "problem" and creating a stunning "solution" is his design formula!!!!

Vos's message to his clients is simple ...... "I don't want to be constantly entertained, or entertain others. I want to make you happy with beautiful useful pieces. Objects that exude aesthetic pleasure. Strong shapes that feel beautiful, good and true. Such sensations are nothing to be ashamed of."

The "Vanity" table is perfect for "the accessorator," ....... I am a magazine junkie, who lives in a constant state of magazine mess ...... piles covering every surface, including the floor!!!!

N.Y. Magazine art critic, Jerry Saltz's review of the 2010 Whitney Biennial describes Portland-based artist Jessica Jackson Hutchins' piece "Couch for a Long Time," (top image), as "one of the best pieces here."  The sculpture, a "lumpy" sofa collaged with newspaper clippings about President Obama, cradles a series of "gnarly" ceramic objects. According to Saltz, "All the images together with the cracked pottery evoke intense pressure- the pressure that he, we, art and America are under."  In addition, Hutchins received kudo's from Holland Cotter in Friday's NY Times Whitney review, as well as being included in the Sunday NY Times T- Style section piece about "Whitney women" and ....... the Biennial has only been opened for five days!!!!! 

And if being included in the Biennial wasn't enough for last week .......... Jessica opened two simultaneous solo shows in New York City ...... at the Derek Eller Gallery in Chelsea and at Small A Projects on the Lower East Side!!!!! Her new work is still extremely intimate, very narrative, and a sublime blend of her favored materials ...... glazed ceramics, textiles, papier-måché, collage, and furniture!!!! The pieces are personal, adapting accessible and familiar ideas, sometimes including bits & pieces from her family. Both exhibitions feature a variety of works on paper, as well as a stunning selection sculpture. 

Furniture, either found or from her own home, is a major element in Jessica's work. In a number of pieces the furniture becomes the base for a combination of collaged elements that create "figures" holding ceramic vessels. In several pieces ...... including "Recliner,"  a recliner covered in papier-måché, collaged in color photographs and magazine images or "Leaning Figure," another similar work that has been collaged in a combination of paper, fabric, and paint ...... the furniture becomes an invisible armature. The piece "Kitchen Table Allegory" is the actual dinning room table from Jessica's home. It has been gouged and cut, is covered with colored ink residue, and has been pulled apart, as if waiting for a leaf ...... instead a ceramic vessel sits in it's center. Prior to being a "complete" art work, the table was gouged to create the "plate" for a series of collaged mono-prints that appear in both shows. The piece "Couple," a worn loveseat with two papier-måché, spray painted mounds and a ceramic vessel nestled between them, is another narrative work that intrigues the viewer and allows numerous interpretations. In addition, there are several anthropomorphic ceramic pieces that are monuments to human fragility, "Infinite Break" a reference to Tiger Woods, and "Disgraced Skater," a slumping athlete.