May 2010 Archives

Red Hook based furniture design company Uhuru Design is dedicated "to sustainability and creating timeless designs." Their second "local materials" collection, Coney Island Line is created from reclaimed wood that has been taken from the demolished, iconic Coney Island Boardwalk. There are six limited edition handmade designs, each produced in an edition of ten. 

The silhouettes of each design bring back whimsical and child-like memories of Coney Island......the rollercoaster shaped chaise appears to be standing on the base of the cyclone..... the coffee table looks like a cog from a ride on the boardwalk......the drop-end table is reminiscent of the parachute jump.......the console's surface is the same pattern as the original boardwalk.......and the lamp references the concrete-filled oil cans that held everything, from umbrellas to stop signs......images from days long gone!!!! 

 

The furniture is currently at Brooklyn Designs in Dumbo, Brooklyn this weekend and May 15 to 18 at the Noho Design District Festival.

On Prince & Mercer Streets, in front of J.CREW ......sitting behind a very long table, probably made from a wooden plank and a pair of saw-horses, covered with a white cloth ........ sat Kristine, a 9 month pregnant "fashionista"!!!!! Spread before her was the most outrageous, incredible, over-the-top collection of leather wrap bracelets in the world ....... every color imaginable ........ with closures of stainless steel, gold plate, and gold plate oxidized bronze ........ an "accessoration" supreme!!!!! 

This F.I.T graduate and soon-to-be mother of two has been "working this block" for 8 years. She doesn't believe in trends ...... though she is definitely on trend at the moment .... leather is her passion and she never deviates!!!! She told me "I wear it and I believe in it, I never switch, not in 8 years." Her mantra is .... "If you don't know what you're looking at your not my customer!!!!" 

According to Kristine, "they" come from all over ..... men & women .... chic "accessorators," hip trendsetters, as well "uptownies's" who wear her jewelry to "funk-up" their Hermes look .... and  as she says.....they always come back for more!!!!!! I know I will!!!!! 

Amy Sillman's paintings at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. are extraordinary!!!! I am awed by the incredible use of color, gesture, and composition in each work ...... they are eye-candy and I want to crawl into them and wander around!!! Gallery owner Brent Sikkema told me that Amy belongs to an informal reading group of Williamsburg artists, and that they were reading about color theory, which influenced these paintings. Undoubtedly!!!!

In addition to the paintings, there are two sublime suites of drawings, one beginning with a simple drawing of a light bulb which "transforms into a flashlight, which turns into s medium for self-reflective investigation." The shown titled Transformer (...or, how many lightbulbs does it take to change a painting) runs until May 15th .