Curbed: All Posts by Janelle ZaraLove where you live2017-03-23T13:12:19-04:00https://archive.curbed.com/authors/janellezara8464590/rss2017-03-23T13:12:19-04:002017-03-23T13:12:19-04:008 furniture and decor pieces that channel your favorite artists
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<figcaption>A custom Frank Stella-inspired bed by Kelly Behun at one of two 92nd-floor penthouses at 432 Park Avenue in New York. | <a href="http://www.richardpowersphoto.com/">Richard Powers</a></figcaption>
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<p>Have a more artful home</p> <p id="mCsRws">While art and design are usually kept in separate categories, inspired furniture makers and craftspeople of all kinds have been mining art history for ideas for ages. </p>
<p id="tAEUHQ">Recently, designers’ efforts to marry the worlds of fine arts and design have resulted in new furniture and accessories that both pay homage to a few beloved art-world icons, and wonderfully blur the distinction between these two disciplines.</p>
<p id="rMlg3r">Below, eight picks of the best of the best in furniture and home accessories, inspired by the work of artists like Piet Mondrian, René Magritte, and more.</p>
<p id="zYCtX5"> </p>
<h4 id="5868lY"><strong>Sonia Delaunay</strong></h4>
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<cite>Via Wikimedia Commons</cite>
<figcaption>Sonia Delaunay’s “Prismes électriques” (1914).</figcaption>
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<cite>Courtesy <a href="http://www.maisondada.com/">Maison Dada</a></cite>
<figcaption>The Sonia et Cætera table by Shanghai-based <a href="http://www.maisondada.com/">Maison Dada</a>.</figcaption>
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<p id="lfSZTa">Twentieth-century painter and all-around badass Sonia Delaunay took an affinity for quilt-making and, with husband Robert Delaunay, created Orphism, a colorful movement that was a little bit Cubism, a little bit rock and roll.</p>
<p id="UE5ioS">Shanghai-based designers <a href="http://www.maisondada.com/">Maison Dada</a> took her vibrant spirit and applied it to Sonia et Cætera, an homage in the form of a color-blocked dining table. </p>
<h4 id="kYE1OZ"><strong>Sol Lewitt</strong></h4>
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<cite>Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixteen-miles/5787715503/in/photostream/">Andrew Russeth</a></cite>
<figcaption>Sol LeWitt, Three x Four x Three (1984).</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="https://richbrilliantwilling.com">Rich Brilliant Willing</a></cite>
<figcaption>The Witt fixture by <a href="https://richbrilliantwilling.com/">Rich Brilliant Willing</a>, designed in collaboration with <a href="http://www.rockwellgroup.com/">Rockwell Group</a>.</figcaption>
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<p id="p6oFxL">“Sol Lewitt is the ultimate geometric artist,” according to Theo Richardson of lighting studio <a href="https://richbrilliantwilling.com/">Rich Brilliant Willing</a>. It’s true; much of Lewitt’s three-dimensional work (which he called “structures” instead of sculptures) was built on repeating cubes. Taking cu[b]es from the late minimalist, RBW and <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/11/10/13574950/david-rockwell-group-set-design-stage-she-loves-me">Rockwell Group</a> designed a bare-bones chandelier of right-angled parts, and with a little sense of humor, they named it Witt. </p>
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<strong>Frank Stella</strong> </h4>
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<cite>Photo via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/clairity/24985382323">Flickr Creative Commons</a></cite>
<figcaption>Frank Stella’s “Damascus Gates.”</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="http://www.richardpowersphoto.com/">Richard Powers</a></cite>
<figcaption>A Frank Stella-inspired headboard by Kelly Behun in a model penthouse at 432 Park Avenue.</figcaption>
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<p id="I6EMVU">In the late ’60s, Frank Stella started his now-iconic Protractor series—vibrant paintings of large-scale concentric circles, just like the name would suggest. </p>
<p id="I4INVl">“It struck me as the perfect gesture,” says designer <a href="http://www.kellybehun.com/">Kelly Behun</a>, who, as an homage to one of her favorite artists, installed a 20-foot-wide custom channel-tufted-mohair headboard in the luxe new 432 Park Avenue model penthouse. </p>
<h4 id="eQo1cB"><strong>Kazimir Malevich</strong></h4>
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<cite>Wikimedia Commons</cite>
<figcaption>Kazimir Malevich’s “Supremus No. 55” (1914).</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollandhill.com%2Fcollections%2Fladies-gentlemen-studio%2Fproducts%2Fkazimir-pendant&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.curbed.com%2F2017%2F3%2F23%2F15025206%2Ffurniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritte" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Roll & Hill</a></cite>
<figcaption>The Kazimir Pendant, by Seattle’s Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.</figcaption>
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<p id="wxSSNp">In the 19th century, the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich birthed Constructivism, a movement of dynamic paintings made from basic two-dimensional figures. </p>
<p id="cKMKx5">“When we discovered his work at LACMA years ago we felt an immediate connection to his work and philosophy,” says Jean Lee of Seattle-based Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, and then last year, the new <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollandhill.com%2Fcollections%2Fladies-gentlemen-studio%2Fproducts%2Fkazimir-pendant&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.curbed.com%2F2017%2F3%2F23%2F15025206%2Ffurniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritte" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Kazimir Pendant</a> was born. It features overlapping panes of glass in contrasting shapes, textures, and colors. </p>
<h4 id="ChuAAV"><strong>Damien Hirst </strong></h4>
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<cite>Via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/centralasian/5579956037">Flickr Creative Commons</a></cite>
<figcaption>Damien Hirst’s “Pharmaceuticals” (2005)</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jonathanadler.com%2Fdecor-and-pillows%2Fdecor%2Facrylic-objets%2Flarge-acrylic-pill%2F15-6600002.html&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.curbed.com%2F2017%2F3%2F23%2F15025206%2Ffurniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritte" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Jonathan Adler</a></cite>
<figcaption>Jewel-tone, pill-shaped paperweights from <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jonathanadler.com%2Fdecor-and-pillows%2Fdecor%2Facrylic-objets%2Flarge-acrylic-pill%2F15-6600002.html&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.curbed.com%2F2017%2F3%2F23%2F15025206%2Ffurniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritte" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Jonathan Adler</a>.</figcaption>
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<p id="lyF4sk">It’s really no secret that Damien Hirst is fond of pills; the irreverent English art-world bad boy has both a whole sculptural series of Medicine Cabinets and a London restaurant decked out like a Dayglo pharmacy. </p>
<p id="U6zKHI">Channeling this chemical appreciation is <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jonathanadler.com%2F&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.curbed.com%2F2017%2F3%2F23%2F15025206%2Ffurniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritte" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Jonathan Adler</a>, who’s got both two-tone acrylic gelcap paperweights and little brass tablet-shaped boxes, ideally suited for holding—you guessed it!—more pills.</p>
<h4 id="evd8Ti"><strong>Piet Mondrian</strong></h4>
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<cite><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tableau_I,_by_Piet_Mondriaan.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></cite>
<figcaption>Piet Mondrian’s “Tableau I” (1921)</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="https://store.moma.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Mondri-Vase_10451_10001_253572_-1_26663_11556">MoMA Design Store</a></cite>
<figcaption>Frank Kerdil’s Mondri vase.</figcaption>
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<p id="sgMMpW">Just in time for spring flowers, the shop brought in Danish designer <a href="https://store.moma.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Mondri-Vase_10451_10001_253572_-1_26663_11556">Frank Kerdil’s 2009 transparent acrylic Mondri Vase</a>, compartmentalized in De Stijl’s signature primary colors.</p>
<h4 id="RXxwRQ"><strong>René Magritte</strong></h4>
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<cite>Via WikiArt</cite>
<figcaption>René Magritte’s “The Son of Man” (1964)</figcaption>
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<cite>MoMA Design Store</cite>
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<a href="https://store.moma.org/wcsstore/MOMASTORE1/images/products/122544_A2_Surrealist_Sugar_Bowl.jpg">The Surrealist Sugar Bowl, Peter Ibruegger</a>, is sold exclusively at the MoMA Design Store.</figcaption>
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<p id="z8QgZH">Turn to the MoMA Design Store for your ceci-n’est-pas-morning-coffee: the <a href="https://store.moma.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Surrealist-Sugar-Bowl_10487_10001_253608_-1_26669_26669_253619">Surrealist Sugar Bowl by Peter Ibruegger</a>, a fine-bone-china reincarnation of the recurring bowler hat motif in Magritte’s work. It’s best recognized from his 1964 painting, “The Son of Man,” more commonly known as that guy with the apple in front of his face. </p>
<h4 id="eGI2h3"><strong>Marcel Duchamp</strong></h4>
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<cite>Wikimedia Commons</cite>
<figcaption>Marcel Duchamp’s groundbreaking “Fountain” (1917).</figcaption>
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<cite><a href="https://store.moma.org">MoMA Design Store</a></cite>
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<a href="https://store.moma.org/wcsstore/MOMASTORE1/images/products/122919_A2_Dada_Egg_Cup.jpg">The Dada Egg Cup</a>, by Peter Ibruegger.</figcaption>
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<p id="RKZHuS">For a dose of breakfast levity, MoMA Design Store will also have egg cups in the always-appetizing shape of the most famous urinal of all time: Duchamp’s 1917 “Fountain,” a historic work that totally subverted existing notions of what art could be. (To date, these notions have still not recovered.) <a href="https://store.moma.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Dada-Egg-Cup_10451_10001_255061_-1_26669_26673_255070">The Dada Egg Cup</a> was also designed by Peter Ibruegger.</p>
<h4 id="ue8d9K"><strong>Bonus one-stop shop: The MoMA Design Store </strong></h4>
<p id="rqF5B1">Because M stands for “modern,” Magritte, Mondrian, and Marcel (Duchamp, that is), the <a href="https://store.moma.org/">MoMA Design Store</a> is naturally your go-to for tabletop homages to these groundbreaking modern artists this season.</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2017/3/23/15025206/furniture-decor-art-design-mondrian-magritteJanelle Zara2016-06-09T16:51:11-04:002016-06-09T16:51:11-04:00Inside the U.S. Pavilion at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale
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<p>Detroit takes center stage at the 2016 U.S. Pavilion</p> <p id="59wEvu">This year's<a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/"> Venice Architecture Biennale</a>, as in years past, is a sprawling showcase, combining built, <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/5/27/11800588/zaha-hadid-retrospective-venice-architecture-biennale">unbuilt</a>, and purely speculative architectural projects from a number of countries around the world. This time, though, the exhibitions have taken a more political turn.</p>
<p id="eJ3vkZ">Under the direction of <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/20/9938788/alejandro-aravena-venice-biennale-2016-director">Alejandro Aravena</a>, a Chilean architect and the winner of <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/1/13/10847596/pritzker-prize-2016-architect-alejandro-aravena-winner">this year's coveted Pritzker Prize</a>, the national pavilions are aligned under the theme "Reporting From the Front," which refers to "battles that need to be won," according to Aravena, "in order to improve the quality of the built environment and consequently people’s quality of life."</p>
<p id="TAtip3">For U.S. Pavilion exhibition curators Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon, this meant examining architecture as a regenerative force in <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com">Detroit</a>, a city that for several decades has, infamously, been suffering economic decline.</p>
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<p id="DuyRG6">As such, the two created "The Architectural Imagination," a show for which they invited a dozen American firms, including <a href="http://www.pscohen.com/">Preston Scott Cohen Inc.</a>, <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/3/29/11325988/mos-architects-works-element-house">MOS Architects</a>, and Detroit-based <a href="http://anofficeus.tumblr.com/">A(n) Office</a>, to speak to various local communities and "develop [speculative] programs that reflected what they learned from Detroit citizens," explains Davidson.</p>
<p id="3KGq8T">"Architectural ideas have the ability to capture the public imagination, and when the public is engaged, that’s when change occurs," says Davis. "The ideas presented in '<a href="http://www.thearchitecturalimagination.org/">The Architectural Imagination</a>' are intended to expand the conversation in Detroit, a city that is considering many possible futures."</p>
<p id="h67HsO">The curators divided the exhibition into four post-industrial sites "in four very distinct Detroit neighborhoods with different aspirations": the abandoned eight-block complex of the former <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com/building/1753/packard-automobile-plant-detroit">Packard Plant</a>; the High Line-like <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com/2016/5/4/11590562/dequindre-cut-detroit-past-present">Dequindre Cut greenway</a>, which occupies the site of a disused train track; an empty lot in <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com/neighborhood/567/mexicantown">Mexicantown</a>; and the derelict 1960 Riverfront Post Office. The architects took it from there, addressing a wide range of issues.</p>
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<p id="s9sCaa">Zago Architecture’s "A New Federal Project" proposes a program to house 68,000 international refugees in Detroit over a five-year period, presenting five new, visually cacophonous buildings around Dequindre Cut to house settlement services. Meawhile, T+E+A+M’s "Detroit Reassembly Plant" recycling project ostensibly mines the Packard Plant ruins for building materials, presenting blobs of useful new polymers that could be made by mixing concrete or brick rubble with post-consumer waste.</p>
<p id="z9DAfd">The exhibition sticks mainly to traditional methods (scale models, digital renderings, and sketches), but the pavilion also demonstrates how modern technology can influence the world of architecture in radically different ways. A video by Greg Lynn of <a href="http://glform.com/">Greg Lynn FORM</a> shows the architect designing a new hybrid transport/university/robot-driven manufacturing hub for the Packard Plant site using the Hololens, an augmented reality visor Microsoft handed the firm to play with.</p>
<p id="CRykxr">Using the visor, Lynn was able to easily rearrange 3D digital representations of buildings all over the site, which reportedly cuts down design time, and visitors to the exhibition were able to don a pair and wander the halls of the project digitally.</p>
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<p id="ovYAP9">One uninvited exhibitor used augmented reality to implement the realest exhibit of them all. <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/4/12/11387876/detroit-resists-american-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennial">Detroit Resists, an activist collective</a> that had earlier criticized "The Architectural Imagination" as a misguided and presumptuous exercise, installed its own exhibition on the American Pavilion site, visible through the LAYAR augmented reality smartphone app.</p>
<p id="SL3k1k">Billed as an "occupation," the Detroit Resists exhibition comprises images of protest that came homegrown from within the city itself: Right at the entrance, they placed a 3D watertower painted with the words "FREE THE WATER," a 2014 message to the city in opposition to mass utility shut-offs, as well as the slogan "Respect Existence or Expect Resistance."</p>
<p id="xIzJjA">In contrast to the slickness of the architectural models and Lynn's Microsoft-sponsored presentation, it reads as refreshingly authentic, passionate, real. Despite its direct opposition to the message of the curators' mission, the Detroit Resists occupation amplifies it, expanding the conversation about the city, and furthering the possibility for change.</p>
<p id="gXuQgj"><em>"The Architectural Imagination" is on view at the Venice Architecture Biennale through November 27. The show will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in February 2017. </em></p>
<p id="Rl3eEK"> </p>
<ul>
<li id="0NfThU"> <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/20/9938788/alejandro-aravena-venice-biennale-2016-director">A Primer on Alejandro Aravena, Director of the 2016 Venice Biennale</a> [Curbed]</li>
<li id="RA8NXK"> <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/4/12/11387876/detroit-resists-american-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennial">Detroit Group Claims Planned Festival Pavilion Neglects the City's Real Issues</a> [Curbed]</li>
<li id="amDCIP"> <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/3/29/11325988/mos-architects-works-element-house">MOS Architects Finds Inspiration in Video Games and Vernacular Design</a> [Curbed]</li>
</ul>
https://archive.curbed.com/2016/6/9/11879464/venice-architecture-biennale-us-pavilion-architectural-imaginationJanelle Zara2016-04-12T16:31:33-04:002016-04-12T16:31:33-04:00Detroit Group Claims Planned Festival Pavilion Neglects the City's Real Issues
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<p>The U.S. Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennial has garnered controversy</p> <p>Every two years, the <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/20/9938788/alejandro-aravena-venice-biennale-2016-director">Venice Architecture Biennial</a> serves as a global platform for dozens of countries to showcase the best and brightest in their field through thematic exhibitions.</p>
<p>For the <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/">15th edition of the fair</a>, kicking off on Saturday, May 28, U.S. Pavilion curators Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon turned their eyes to <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com">Detroit</a>, a city struggling through decades of economic decline and its consequences—dwindling public services, arson, and extreme poverty among them.</p>
<p>Their exhibition, "<a href="http://www.thearchitecturalimagination.org/">The Architectural Imagination</a>," features proposals by a dozen firms for problem-solving through architecture and urban planning "designed for specific sites in Detroit but with far-reaching applications for cities around the world."</p>
<p>Davidson and Ponce de Leon's enterprise has not been entirely well-received. In late February, an organization called <a href="http://detroitresists.org/">Detroit Resists</a> emerged online to argue that these efforts are both misguided and potentially harmful.</p>
<p>The anonymous collective of local activists, professors, artists, architects, and community members (of undisclosed number) published a statement relaying a fear that the U.S. Pavilion "is structurally unable to engage this catastrophe and will thereby collaborate in the ongoing destruction of the city."</p>
<p>They cite a correlation between Detroit's most iconic architecture and "the city’s enduring legacy and reality of racism." (Davidson and de Leon declined to comment for this article, citing the anonymity of the members of Detroit Resists.)</p>
<p>Via email, Curbed contacted the collective to expand on this statement.</p>
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<p><strong>The U.S. Pavilion actually seems to be the latest in a long line of well-meaning architectural think tanks that have taken it upon themselves to solve Detroit's civic problems. Is there a specific reason you chose to respond to this one? </strong></p>
<p>We completely agree with you about the long line of projects intended to "solve" Detroit’s problems. According to the curators [of the U.S pavilion], the exhibited projects are "designed for specific sites in Detroit but with far-reaching applications for cities around the world"—which makes us wonder if the "solutionism" here might be even more extreme.</p>
<p>What particularly provoked our interest, though, was the relation between the extravagant promises and promotion of the U.S. Pavilion, on the one hand, and the violence of contemporary austerity urbanism in Detroit, on the other.</p>
<p>To us, it seems as if the U.S. Pavilion might be directly participating in austerity urbanism, and in its displacements and dispossessions, by using the urban field it has created as a site to speculate on the "architectural imagination." This is what specifically solicited our response.</p>
<p><strong>I wanted to unpack your sentiments towards the Pavilion's statement. Do you feel that it's insulting? Do you feel that it's reductive? </strong></p>
<p>We were neither insulted nor reduced by the statement with which "The Architectural Imagination" was launched. On the contrary! We were motivated to apprehend that statement, as well as the project it describes, as extremely useful thresholds to discuss the politics of architecture in contemporary Detroit.</p>
<p>For us, the U.S. Pavilion offers a very constructive point of departure for conversation about and action on issues of great importance to us and to our communities—issues of austerity urbanism, gentrification, affordable housing, and racial inequality, just to name some of the most prominent.</p>
<p><strong>Can you provide a few specific examples of the toll Detroit architecture has taken on its residents?</strong></p>
<p>The best example is the single-family house. These houses are, of course, architecture, and they are also the predominant repository of wealth for many of Detroit’s residents, especially working- and middle-class black families that, for a whole series of reasons, have lacked the investment opportunities on offer to comparable white families.</p>
<p>It is precisely these houses that are currently under concentrated assault in Detroit’s current austerity urbanism—assaulted by foreclosures and evictions, by the so-called blight removal program, and by a water shut-off policy targeting homes where water expenses far exceed the EPA's recommendations.</p>
<p>In Detroit, then, what looks like a house often does not function as a place that houses; as vectors in austerity urbanism, houses have become sites of displacement and dispossession. To ignore these issues or, even worse, to approach them as site preparation for speculation on the architectural imagination is, for us, rather problematic.</p>
<p><strong>Do you see the potential of architecture to become part of a political solution, if it were governed by better public policy?</strong></p>
<p>We would say that architecture is not only a tool of the powers that be—though it certainly is that—but it is also a tool that can be used to resist and contest those powers. Indeed, we see the political capacity of architecture to reside precisely in its ability to advance resistance, contestation, and the imagination of a more equitable, inclusive, and democratic city. If and when the architecture governed by public policy fails us, then we can produce other architecture, as well as other policies!</p>
<p><strong>Have you had much response to your response?</strong></p>
<p>We have had a great response to our Open Statement. In Detroit, many individuals and several institutions have reached out to us to declare their solidarity, to ask to participate in our project, and to plan further on-the-ground outcomes of our critique.</p>
<p>More widely, faculty at a number of architecture schools and people at other institutions concerned with architecture have also reached out to us to solicit our participation in conversations about the U.S. Pavilion and the issues that it represents.</p>
<p>We’re very excited about all these responses because they extend our attempt to connect the U.S. Pavilion to ongoing discussions about equality, inclusion, race, architecture, and the city</p>
<p><strong>The curators have made a point to recruit Detroit residents on their advisory board. Do you find that this inclusion gives them any credibility in their efforts?</strong></p>
<p>We’re not sure if the term "Detroit resident" serves as the most appropriate descriptor of the members of "The Architectural Imagination" advisory board, even in the case of the board members based in Detroit; we wonder to what degree the board is representative of the city. But since the board members allowed themselves to be named and we are still anonymous, we think it's not appropriate for us to discuss this much further.</p>
<p><strong>Why does Detroit Resists remain anonymous? </strong></p>
<p>We wanted the Open Statement to be anonymous because we didn’t want it to be about us; we wanted it to be about the U.S. Pavilion, its particular apprehension of Detroit, and how this apprehension might relate to other processes of value extraction and dispossession underway in the city. Our hope was that our critique would speak for itself and so, with this hope, we signed it only by the name of our coalition.</p>
<p><strong>In lieu of architectural proposals, what real solutions would you like to see?</strong></p>
<p>We're interested in any efforts that promise to build an equitable, inclusive, democratic Detroit.</p>
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<p>∙ <a href="http://www.thearchitecturalimagination.org/">The Architectural Imagination</a> [The Architectural Imagination]</p>
<p>∙ <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/">Venice Architecture Biennial</a> [Venice Architecture Biennial]</p>
<p>∙ <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/20/9938788/alejandro-aravena-venice-biennale-2016-director">A Primer on Alejandro Aravena, Director of the 2016 Venice Biennale</a> [Curbed]</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2016/4/12/11387876/detroit-resists-american-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennialJanelle Zara2016-02-29T18:40:07-05:002016-02-29T18:40:07-05:00Palm Springs Modernism Week: A Nostalgia Paradise
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<p>Its history as a midcentury paradise for California's lovers of modernism has made it into a 21st-century architectural amusement park</p> <p>In its midcentury heyday, Palm Springs's idyllic landscape and remove from the glare of Hollywood studio lights made it a seductive escape for the silver screen crowd. It was there that stars like Frank Sinatra indulged their need to "get away from it all, but not too far" (most, the story goes, were contractually obligated to be no more than two hours away from the studio at all times). Palm Springs’ private playgrounds—backyard oases twice enclosed by high walls and then again by the community gate—also offered the LGBT community a rare protected enclave: Four different properties there once belonged to Liberace.</p>
<p>Their homes, in large part, were built by a handful of hyper-localized architects: <a href="http://www.curbed.com/tag/albert-frey">Albert Frey</a>, <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/1/9944462/donald-wexler-retrospective">Donald Wexler</a>, William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams, with a few cameo appearances from L.A. heavyweights <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/9/10/9922470/rudolph-schindler-birthday">Rudolf Schindler</a>, <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2016/1/20/10845262/richard-neutra-omega-house-case-study-house-unbuilt-virtual-reality">Richard Neutra</a>, and <a href="http://www.curbed.com/tag/john-lautner">John Lautner</a> among them, who developed a style now collectively called Desert Modernism. Even more than Los Angeles, Palm Springs provided the space and freedom to experiment in materials—broad expanses of glass, steel frames, corrugated aluminum—and notions of uniting the indoor and outdoor.</p>
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<p>This colorful moment in the 20th century has become the city's claim to fame, celebrated annually during Palm Springs's <a href="http://www.modernismweek.com/">Modernism Week</a>, when tens of thousands of architecture fanatics flock to the technicolor desert oasis each February. In the last decade or so, in response to the <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/4/8/9973300/why-everyone-is-obsessed-with-midcentury-modern-design">rising popularity of modernism</a> that many ascribe to "Mad Men," Palm Springs’ own rebranding as a modernist capital has grown exponentially.</p>
<p>Relatively recent preservation efforts revived buildings that had languished under decades of neglect: In 2003 the city converted Albert Frey’s 1965 <a href="http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/United%20States/Palm%20Springs/Tramway%20Gas%20Station,%20Palm%20Springs%20Visitors%20Center/">Tramway Gas Station</a>, with its dramatically parabolic roof, into a visitors center; in 2008, a pair of modernist enthusiasts rescued Lautner’s ailing 1947 Desert Hot Springs Motel and reopened it in 2011 as the luxuriously furnished Hotel Lautner. Modernism Week was established in 2006, and as icing on the cake, local radio station KWXY relaunched as MODFM last fall.</p>
<p>Modernism Week opens the doors to a few distinguished treasures—timed and (expensive) ticketed tours to Hotel Lautner, Sinatra's lavish Williams-designed estate, and Albert Frey’s final residence that beautifully protrudes from the rocky hillside. They've been carefully preserved to encapsulate a certain moment in time, and consequently, Palm Springs's origins as an extension of Hollywood.</p>
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<p><script src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:37.4537037037% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"><div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a target="_blank" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BB0bBJGj8t8/">A photo posted by Janelle Zara (@janellezara)</a> on <time datetime="2016-02-15T19:44:14+00:00">Feb 15, 2016 at 11:44am PST</time></p> </div></blockquote>
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<p>Although the stars retreated en masse when Modernism fell out of fashion in the ’70s and ’80s, what becomes clear is that Palm Springs is still a movie set—rows of pristine, contrived facades illuminated by the natural cinematic quality of the sun. For the most part, interaction with the architecture remains on the surface: the double-decker bus tours offers just a glimpse of Neutra’s iconic Kaufmann House over the surrounding wall, which features a warning that the security system is armed, and signs at the Saturday-night cocktail party at a show house newly built from a Wexler steel-frame design warned that the furniture was not meant to be sat in. The space age-reminiscent KFC that echoes Frey's parabolic roof and graphic, right-angled storefront of the local 7-Eleven were both built in the 21st-century, demonstrating <em>facadism</em> at its finest. And, as happens on a movie set, when the lights go out the production ends: after sundown, the streets clear out, and the city goes to bed.</p>
<p>The Palm Springs flair for pastiche, however, is also embedded into its history. The curves of the Victor Gruen and Associates 1959 Bank of America were drawn directly from Le Corbusier’s <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2014/6/17/10086918/wacky-church-architecture">Ronchamp Chapel</a>—spiced up with a little glitter in the form of mosaic tiles—and down the street, a Chase Bank built in 1961 by E. Stewart Williams bears an uncanny resemblance to Oscar Niemyer’s 1958 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A1cio_da_Alvorada">Palácio da Alvorada</a>.</p>
<p>Built on ideals of fantasy and retreat and a rejection of established ideals of taste, the Palm Springs spirit has, in one sense, shifted only slightly, from playground to amusement park. Modernism Week is akin to a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, recalibrated for the ultra-fabulous.</p>
<p><script src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"><div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a target="_blank" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BBsW1hZRDxA/">A photo posted by Olly Wainwright (@ollywainwright)</a> on <time datetime="2016-02-12T16:33:46+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Feb 12, 2016 at 8:33am PST</time></p> </div></blockquote>
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<p>∙ <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/4/8/9973300/why-everyone-is-obsessed-with-midcentury-modern-design">Why The World Is Obsessed With Midcentury Modern Design</a> [Curbed]</p>
<p>∙ <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/1/9944462/donald-wexler-retrospective">Remembering Donald Wexler, the Inventor of Palm Springs Modernism</a> [Curbed]</p>
<p>∙ <a href="http://www.curbed.com/2015/12/3/9894702/desert-modern-homes-arizona-midcentury-for-sale">Desert Modernist Al Beadle's Own Midcentury Home Asks $995K</a> [Curbed]</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2016/2/29/11135896/modernism-week-palm-springs-midcentury-architectureJanelle Zara2016-01-26T16:01:01-05:002016-01-26T16:01:01-05:003 Scandinavian Design Talents to Watch in 2016
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<p>As in past years, Europe's major furniture brands gathered in Paris last Friday at <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/maison-et-objet"><strong>Maison & Objet</strong></a> to unveil their latest wares, but, as at each edition of the fair, there was a lively curated section devoted to the <strong>young and emerging</strong>. For this installment of the semi-annual "Rising Talents," there's a regional focus on the Nordic countries, which highlights designers hailing from <strong>Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden</strong> with new ideas on <strong>sustainability, form, and comfort</strong>. Check out our top picks below.</p>
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<p> <a href="http://jonasedvard.dk/"><strong>Jonas Edvard</strong></a></p>
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<p> Edvard, a Copenhagen-based 2013 graduate of Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (where notable alumni include <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/olafur-eliasson">Olafur Eliasson</a>, <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/bjarke-ingels">Bjarke Ingels</a>, and <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/finn-juhl">Finn Juhl</a>) bases his design practice in <strong>material exploration</strong>. His previous experiments have produced chairs made from a combination of <strong>Danish seaweed and recycled paper</strong>, and lamps made from <strong>plant fibers and mushroom mycelium</strong>, a particularly useful form of fungus. For Maison, Edvard brought a composite of limestone powder and biodegradable resin, what he calls "a synthetic, recyclable stone," colored with natural pigments and molded into <strong>rough-hewn lampshades</strong> and <strong>smoothly-polished side tables</strong> to show the diversity of its texture. His goals with these unorthodox materials are to minimize his ecological footprint. "The idea is to take a material normally used for fertilizer and cement mixing and give people a chance to be sustainable," he says.<br> <a href="http://www.kjartanoskarsson.com/"><strong>Kjartan Oskarsson</strong></a></p>
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<p> The Reykjavík, Iceland-based designer takes a more <strong>hands-on approach</strong> to his lighting design; each fixture has a switch that involves some kind of kinetic operation, whether that's rotating a circular LED pendant by pulling down on its leather, wall-mounted strap (clockwise for on, counter-clockwise for off), or repositioning the LED-tipped copper pipes that together, fixed upside-down on a circular wooden base, form a very unusual kind of chandelier. "I emphasize an <strong>interaction between the user and the lamp</strong>," Oskarsson says. With this high-concept mantra, along with formal references to both simple geometric shapes and the branches of trees, the suite of his work expresses an innate appreciation for nature and simplicity. His materials, too, are all-natural, limited to <strong>woods, metals</strong>, and the occasional use of <strong>volcanic rock</strong>.<br> <a href="http://fargblanche.com/"><strong>Färg & Blanche </strong></a></p>
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<p> The Stockholm-based, half-Swedish, half-French duo <strong>Fredrik Färg</strong> and <strong>Emma Marga Blanche</strong> call their F-A-B collection "Couture and Prêt-à-Porter for chairs," i.e. handmade, fabulous garments designed to dress up ordinary, factory-produced Shaker furniture. As such, their focus leans more heavily on form than function, with <strong>highly-detailed hand-stitching</strong>, <strong>luxe leathers</strong>, and <strong>decorative wings</strong> that for some might recall the a Victoria's Secret Angel (in a good way). </p>
<p> They've been producing such refreshingly playful work with an experimental twist since their founding in 2010. Other career highlights include their Form +1 Award-winning <a href="http://fargblanche.com/Layer-armchair-WOOD-TAILORING">Wood Tailoring chairs</a>, which involved stitching thin wooden panels together through a process they like to call "extreme sewing," and "Longing to Fly, Longing to Fall," a short film they debuted at the 2014 Stockholm furniture fair that somehow artfully blended <strong>modern dance with furniture design. </strong></p>
<div> <br><div style="left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe style="top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/85718452?byline=0&badge=0&portrait=0&title=0"></iframe></div> <br> </div>
<p> ∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2016/01/25/scandinavian-design-norsebox-skandicrush-subscription-box.php">A Subscription Box for Scandinavian Design Lovers</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2016/01/22/swedish-design-studio-unveils-sleek-leather-yes-leather-rugs.php">Swedish Design Studio Unveils Gorgeous Leather Rugs</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2016/01/20/david-chipperfield-alessi-tonale-update-maison-et-objet.php">Architect-Designed Ceramics Are as Elegant as You'd Imagine</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/scandinavian-design">All Scandinavian Design coverage</a> [Curbed]</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2016/1/26/10843070/scandinavian-design-maison-et-objet-2016Janelle Zara2016-01-14T14:00:19-05:002016-01-14T14:00:19-05:00Trendy L.A. Neuehouse Coworking Hub Opens in Former CBS HQ
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<p>The <strong>glamour of the entertainment industry</strong> and the <strong>tidy forms of modernist architecture</strong> converged at the 1938 CBS headquarters on Los Angeles's Sunset Boulevard, designed by architect <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/21/arts/architecture-a-william-lescaze-retrospective.html">William Lescaze</a>. The Swiss-born Lescaze, commissioned to create a new kind of workplace typology—the broadcast facility—applied the hallmarks of the <strong>International Style</strong> to the building's graphic exterior: right angles, pilotis, and an all-white paint job. On the inside, though, he applied the softer touches of Streamline Moderne, the stylistic compromise between his Old World austerity and Hollywood's obsession with Art Deco—<strong>whimsical porthole windows</strong> and <strong>glass bricks</strong>; sinuous curves instead of sharp corners; grooves on the horizontal surfaces.</p>
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<p> Decades later, these details live on in the building's new life as the co-working space <a href="http://neuehouse.com/location/los-angeles/">NeueHouse</a>. After the decline of radio, the building switched hands from CBS to a number of different developers, the most recent of which was Kilroy Realty in 2012, which converted the space into the West Coast outpost of NeueHouse as part of <strong>a </strong>larger mixed-use development. Architect <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/david-rockwell">David Rockwell</a>, who designed NeueHouse's flagship <a href="http://neuehouse.com/">New York location</a>, overhauled the interiors to simultaneously preserve and modernize Lescaze's <strong>now-landmarked </strong>features.</p>
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<p> Like Lescaze, Rockwell was charged with designing a new workplace typology, this time the <strong>open-plan, shared office</strong>. Like its East Coast location, NeueHouse L.A. follows the 21st-century ethos of the flexible workspace: a variety of both private and social options for the independent and self-employed, or <strong>perhaps the young and restless</strong>.</p>
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<p> "It's a place where you go to <strong>work and play</strong>," Rockwell explains, and this version is bigger and brighter, with more than twice as much space. The ground floor features a <strong>coffee shop</strong> with luxuriously plush leather banquettes, and at the long oak <strong>communal tables</strong>, there are no assigned seats. Subscribers have the option of working in a cozy, treehouse-like perch overlooking a double-height space, or lounging around the stadium seating in the balcony of massive Studio A, where the pilot of "I Love Lucy" was filmed.</p>
<p> The levels of privacy increase with each floor and subscriber level, culminating on the sixth-floor, Paley Penthouse board room for top members, where Rockwell covered the walls in <strong>curved wood with metal flourishes</strong> and converted the adjacent rooftops into outdoor terraces. ("That's part of working in L.A.," he says. "We had to take advantage of the amazing weather.") In the intermediate levels, he installed his custom office system, a more open, contemporary play on the cubicle with walls made of corkboard and fluted glass.</p>
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<p> Throughout, interiors consist of both Moroccan-style shaggy rugs and textiles, much like in New York, and pieces the Rockwell Group custom-designed to reflect Lescaze's bygone era: long leather couches that evoke Le Corbusier, chandeliers in polished silver tones, and recurring grooved surfaces, like the tambour of the walls or the narrow, vertical tiles on NeueHouse L.A.'s two bars. True traces of Lescaze remain in the sculpted metal numbers fixed above the elevators, and the black-and-white wainscoting in the lobby. All these varied spaces read as cohesive whole—contemporary with a vague Hollywood undertone, which, like the weather, is just part of the L.A. package.</p>
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<p><br> ∙ <a href="http://neuehouse.com/location/los-angeles/">NeueHouse Los Angeles</a> [NeueHouse L.A.]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/renovations">All Renovation coverage</a> [Curbed</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2016/1/14/10846666/neuehouse-los-angeles-rockwell-group-cbs-hqJanelle Zara2015-12-09T13:30:01-05:002015-12-09T13:30:01-05:006 Must-See Design Miami Trends, From Pyschedelia to Furniture for Selfies
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<p>Amid the madness of <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/miami-beach">Art Basel Miami Beach</a>, the general consensus among fairgoers this year was that Design Miami was the sister fair to turn to when it's time to chill out. By comparison, Design Miami is smaller, it's more cohesive, and it always offers plenty of places to sit. More importantly, the fair's very international roster of exhibitors brought their finest game last week. Perusing the booths, we caught wind of the <strong>best trends to look forward to.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>1. A new focus on African designers</strong></p>
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<p>Each edition of the fair for the past several years has been <strong>dominated by European galleries</strong>—namely the Paris-based powerhouses that have cornered the market on <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/charlotte-perriand">Charlotte Perriand</a> and <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/jean-prouve">Jean Prouvé</a>. This year, however, the fair shone a new spotlight on <strong>emerging contemporary African designers and artists</strong>, thanks in large part to Cape Town-based gallery <a href="http://www.southernguild.co.za/">Southern Guild</a>, the <em>only</em> African gallery to have a steady presence at the fair. A major highlight of the gallery's booth was <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/12/02/porky-hefer-killer-whale-chair.php">Porky Hefer's "Fiona Blackfish,"</a> a suspended, handcrafted chair in the shape of an orca whale with a comfy sheepskin tongue.</p>
<p>New York gallery Friedman Benda brought works by Cape Town's <a href="http://www.imisoceramics.co.za/andile-dyalvane.html">Andile Dyalvane</a>, who's also represented by Southern Guild in his hometown. The <strong>textured surfaces</strong> of his ceramics (↓) pay homage to the skin-carving and scarring traditions of the South African Xhosa tribe.</p>
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<p>London-based <strong>Yinka Shonibare's</strong> "Windy Chair I (Orange and Blue)" took center stage at <a href="http://carpentersworkshopgallery.com/en/Exhibitions">Carpenters Workshop Gallery</a>, which now has locations in Paris, London, and New York. The piece's thin stainless steel and aluminum body has been sculpted and painted to resemble a swath of swaying traditional wax fabric inspired by Indonesian design, produced in Holland, popular in West Africa, and sold in London, resulting in a clever statement on trade winds; its curves are also surprisingly comfortable to sit on.</p>
<p><strong>2. Psychedelia</strong></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="data-instgrm-captioned" data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"><div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"><a target="_blank" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/-walDUgTb-/">come by my #designcurio presented by @culturedmagazine w @gallerydiet at @designmiami!! #designmiami #culturedcurio </a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by katie stout (@ummmsmile) on <time datetime="2015-12-01T16:49:15+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Dec 1, 2015 at 8:49am PST</time></p> </div></blockquote>
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<p>Has everyone been listening to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miley_Cyrus_%26_Her_Dead_Petz">Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz</a> on repeat? The booths were extra <strong>hallucinatory</strong> this year, between the <strong>hand-beaded magic mushrooms</strong> and colorful creatures of <a href="http://www.r-and-company.com/AFREAKS/">"Afreaks"</a>—a collaborative series by the L.A. based <a href="http://www.thehaasbrothers.com/">Haas Brothers</a> and South African collective <strong>The Haas Sisters</strong>—and the sensory overload of <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/katie-stout">Katie Stout's</a> plush "Bedroom." Stout designed a total environment as part of the fair's "Curio" series with a caricature of a teenage girl in mind: <strong>oversaturated colors, hyper floral motifs, excesses in material and texture.</strong></p>
<p><strong>3. The return of Chrome</strong></p>
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<p>This <strong>endless "trend" towards warm shades of copper and brass</strong> and rigid geometries might have finally run its course. Shiny pieces throughout the fair seem to say that <strong>curved chrome is making its slow and steady return</strong>, from the stainless steel, fluidly sculpted <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/shi-jianmin">Shi Jianmin</a> table and chairs at Ammann Gallery to the mirror-polished arcs of <a href="http://www.karenchekerdjian.com/">Karen Chekerdjian</a>'s "Rainbow" series of lamps at Carwan Gallery.</p>
<p><strong>4. Mirrors Everywhere</strong></p>
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<p>Feeding our narcissism and aiding our quest to take <strong>the perfect #artselfie</strong>, the booths were unusually equipped with <strong>mirrors</strong> this year. On the playful side were <a href="http://www.hayonstudio.com/">Jaime Hayon</a>'s paddle-shaped "Racket Mirror L" at Galerie Kreo and the polygonal, multi-faceted cuts of <a href="http://www.cristinagrajalesinc.com/artists/sam-baron">Sam Baron</a>'s appropriately titled "Jewels" mounted at Cristina Grajales gallery.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, themes of reflection take a darker turn—literally at Mexico City's ADN Galería, where Eduardo Olbés mounted sublimely polished <strong>chunks of obsidian and black jade</strong> on pedestals of wood to create "Smoking Mirror," and figuratively at Friedman Benda, where the nebulous outline of Marcel Wanders' "Mordrake" mirror is a commentary on body dysmorphia.</p>
<p><strong>5. Fresh French Furniture</strong></p>
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<p>Vintage French furniture at Design Miami is never in short supply—somewhere out there is an endless font of <strong>Jean Royère</strong> and <a href="http://curbed.com/tags/le-corbusier">Le Corbusier</a> pieces that the galleries know about and we don't. Although it's a recurring theme, the French offerings seemed surprisingly fresh this year, particularly in the Demisch Denant booth, where the New York-based specialists brought a selection of works from the '60s and '70s by Maria Pergay, Michel Boyer, and others working in sleek brushed nickel and stainless steel—perfectly timed to the return of chrome.</p>
<p><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/06/19/patrick-seguin-jean-prouve-design-miami-art-basel-richard-rogers.php">Galerie Patrick Seguin</a> happened to install a set of 1962 aluminum Jean Prouvé shutters between a <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/03/02/pierre-jeanneret-design.php">Pierre Jeanneret</a> sofa and a wall-mounted flatscreen television playing a short film on Prouvé's work. The incidental display offered a compelling case for <strong>a midcentury relic's place in the contemporary home.</strong></p>
<p><strong>6. Pavilions</strong></p>
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<p>When a <strong>starchitect-designed house</strong> is completely out of range, opt for a <strong>pavilion</strong>. During the fair, <strong>real estate mogul Robbie Antonio</strong> unveiled <strong>Revolution</strong>, a new source of collectible, limited-edition, prefabricated works by high-profile architects, starting with a <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/12/02/zaha-hadid-design-miami-pavilion.php">mobile dining room by Zaha Hadid</a>, and an art space by Richard Gluckman.</p>
<p>For a more rustic look, there's a <strong>Prouvé-designed 4x4-meter military barrack</strong> at Galerie Patrick Seguin. <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/06/08/prouve-demountable-home-redesign.php">The 1939 prefabricated shelter</a> was designed for easy assembly during war time, and is reportedly the very last of its kind.</p>
<p>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/12/03/design-miami-2015-instagrams.php">The 10 Best Design Miami Instagrams We've Seen So Far</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/06/19/patrick-seguin-jean-prouve-design-miami-art-basel-richard-rogers.php">Meet The Man Who Has 20 Jean Prouvé Buildings Stored in a French Warehouse</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/06/08/prouve-demountable-home-redesign.php">New Spin on a Classic Prouvé Prefab Goes Off-The-Grid</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/12/02/porky-hefer-killer-whale-chair.php">This Chair Is Shaped Like a Killer Whale That's Eating You</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/12/02/zaha-hadid-design-miami-pavilion.php">Zaha Hadid's Dining Pavilion Is Exactly as Weird as You'd Expect</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/03/02/pierre-jeanneret-design.php">Toasting Pierre Jeanneret, the Le Corbusier Sidekick Who Made a Name for Himself in India</a> [Curbed]<br>∙ <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2015/09/29/london-design-festival-2015-trends.php">8 London Design Festival 2015 Trends We Loved</a> [Curbed]</p>
https://archive.curbed.com/2015/12/9/9893090/design-miami-2015-trendsJanelle Zara