Harry and Sal's Design Blog: January 2008

HARRY: This is a quickie - I've got to get ready for work and feed the kids! My friend Liane just sent me a link to Chris Jordan's extraordinary work. Chris is a photographer and his latest works depict America's mass consumption. The series is called Intolerable Beauty. Above are mobile phones and cigarette butts. (I don't smoke but I do have a bunch of old mobiles I'm not sure what to do with.) Such intolerable beauty.

Labels: Art, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/31/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: Forgive me dear readers for my lack of posting of late, but sick children do not a happy blogger make, nor a terribly productive one come to that. But I'm back, with gusto and elan - or something like that :-) Now - don't you just love these Botanist benches from Orange 22? I'd seen them before, in Dwell as I recall, but only discovered where they actually came from recently. Orange 22, a design lab are located in the same former bank building in downtown LA where I'm currently working from time to time. And who could miss this gorgeousness? Designed by Brandon Lynne and Dario Antonioni, the Botanist benches and stools/side tables come in natural or vinyl finish - they'd make a great coffee table too!

Labels: Furniture, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/28/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: Having returned from two years in LA and settled back into Sydney I feel slightly jealous of any fellow Aussie living OS. Vicki Archer's book, My French Life was certainly fuel for that fire. My friend Helen is a great fan of Vicki's and showed me the book over the weekend. Vicki left Sydney a few years ago for France and renovated a beautiful old home in the country. Julie Gibbs at Penguin/Lantern published Archer's book - Gibbs' has got a great eye for beauty. Photographer Carla Coulson shot the pics for the book (I worked with Carla when I was deputy of the Sydney Magazine and she does do great work). The book's definitely worth looking at...life overseas is worth thinking about. Although Tokyo interests me much more that France....

Labels: Books, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/21/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: Here's a good 'reuse' object. Liz Grotyohann, is a New Jersey-based graphic designer uses old magazines to create these classic vases. She lines them with resin so they are watertight. I also came across Chilean designer Rodrigo Alonso Schramm's N+ew stool on treehugger He has taken electronic waste and created a stool. I'm not sure I like the look of it but I love the idea.

Labels: Green, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/20/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: Since I've been working on my own, consulting and what not, stationery has started to play a more important role in my life. Let's be frank, Staples for my office supplies just now ain't cutting it, especially when I have notebooks like these to drool over! Studio Matador is a wonderful collaboration between artists and designers in Melbourne, Australia and they have developed an exquisite selection of limited edition notebooks. I've highlighted a couple of my personal favorites here. Above Kat McCleod, below Pandarosa and Mark Kayler-Thomson.

http://www.studiomatador.com/macleod.htm

Labels: Art, Sal, Stationery

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/18/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: I'm getting into knots. I wrote a story recently for Belle magazine about a house in Queens Park - it was the home of Liane Rossler and architect Sam Marshall. A great house but the thing I keep thinking about was the pine cladding. It's a sustainable timber but very knotty - and they relished the knots. Instead of hiding them they made a feature of them. There's a sense of wabi sabi - beauty in imperfection. I love it. I was checking out Dwell's site when I came across this kitchen in a Thomas Robertson house in LA. It's got that same feel. Modern with a twist. Long live the knot.

Labels: Architecture, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/17/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: It's been a while since we've written about anything about ceramics. Can be hard to get inspired, but I'm really digging these cool espresso sets by Not Neutral from Rios Clementi Hale Studios.
Very Naples-stazione-centrale-circa-1972. Love it!
They also come stacked in a lovely box - great for a gift.

Labels: Ceramics, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/14/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: I am always forgetting to bring my various bags to the supermarket. But Envirosax can fix that. They've bundled five bags together and folded them up into a handy pouch that fits in the glove compartment of the car (or a large-ish handbag). I figure buy 2 packs - one will always be in the car. And they come in great colours and patterns including a new organic cotton, hemp and linen range.

Labels: Green, Harry, Style

posted by cerentha harris at 1/10/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: Meredith, Meredith, Meredith. This dear woman is going to kill my pocketbook with all the fabulous links she is sending me! I'm probably one of the last to sample the delights of Small Magazine. I'm not even sure where to begin to describe it, only that it has some divine inspiration for kids design. This month is the style issue. Small is original and unique with a distinct point of view and the photography is wonderful to boot. It was through Small that I came across the work of Bella Sera (above). Wonderfully quirky hand-sewn clothes for kids. Enjoy!

Labels: Kids, Sal, Style

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/10/2008 1 Comments

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HARRY: I'm looking for a desk lamp and although this one is deeply impractical I would love it. Artecnica has taken the delicate Garland by Tord Boontje and turned it into a table lamp with the launch of their first interchangeable stand (the stand comes in silver or brass and you choose from their range of shades).

Labels: Harry, Lighting

posted by cerentha harris at 1/09/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: Art + Social Conscience = Very cool gear. Such is the ethos behind the folks over at Partofit.org and I can't disagree. Whether you're drawn to the social responsibility part, or just the hyper cool graphics part - there's something here for you. Encouraging civic discourse and making activism fun. Wear the shirt, make a statement. Can't wait til they get more designs!

Labels: Sal, Style

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/08/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: I posted a while back on the silver/gold trend. Barney's has this great monocle pendant - 18k gold disc suspended from a blackened silver chain. Sadly, my birthday isn't til June! I also stumbled across my friend Vanessa's website. She's a graphic designer and jeweller. I used to work with her at the Sydney Morning Herald. I've got a ring and a necklace of hers and I love her new stuff. Check out the bracelet and rings below.

Labels: Harry, Jewelry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/07/2008 0 Comments

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SAL: well it's good to be back! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and got a little bit of a break! The New Year of course brings all these pieces in the design sections about trends for 08. One which specifically resonates with me brings back ideals of a simpler aesthetic using old and vintage pieces to spruce up your rooms. I've always been a big fan of flea markets and in the drive to reuse, reduce, recycle, finding new uses for old things seems especially relevant. The LA Times had a great piece on this last week that's a good jumping off point for inspiration. Else you can kick off your search with a browse through Etsy's new vintage section. Some lovely finds in there.

Labels: 2008, Green, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 1/06/2008 0 Comments

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HARRY: Well I am still on holidays...yep this is a long one (it will be my last in a while - I start a new job in Feb and the kids start school). We've had such a great break doing next to nothing (I can say though that the Bee Movie is far far better than the dreadful Chipmunk film - I refuse to even include a link to the appalling movie. My excuse for such childish fare? A five year old and a two year old...at least I am reading Elizabeth Farrelly's Blubberland so I'm not completely brain dead). We head back to Sydney next week, but couldn't resist checking out Urban Outfitters' new stuff. I LOVE this chair with its midcentury echo. I wish they shipped to Australia. So annoying. And my latest obsession is butterflies...not a particulalry new one, I know. But I do like this clean-lined shower curtain. Must go now - we're watching Great Gatsby on DVD!

Labels: BedBath, Chair, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 1/05/2008 1 Comments

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