For creative people, inspiration can be found almost anywhere.
At the Rhode Island School of Design all students are required to look at nature, not just a passing glance but to REALLY LOOK, to understand what is at work on a structural level. This is encouraged in a magical place now called the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. Edna Lawrence founded the Nature lab in 1937, and it has served as inspiration for many, many generations of art and design students at RISD.
In discussions I had with fellow RISD alumnus and lighting designer Lindsey Adelman while mocking-up an enormous custom chandelier in a Greenwich Village home project, her profound connection to the innate understanding of structure, learned in the Nature Lab, became very clear to me.
Lindsey’s lighting designs are a wonderful combination of fine engineering and hand-craftsmanship, culminating in fixtures that have the essential structural characteristics found in nature.
Last week my long time friend and sometime collaborator Donald Kaufman shared some of his knowledge about light, color, and materials to a nearly full house at the New York School of Interior Design.
Selecting paint colors for a single room can be a real challenge, but can you imagine the process of selecting paint colors for the Met?
One of the largest museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has an estimated two million square feet of space (yes, that’s two million) – so there are a LOT of walls to paint!
The legendary purveyors of fine paint, Farrow & Ball, hosted an early morning breakfast this week at the Metropolitan to launch some new colors. After breakfast our group had a private tour in a nearly-empty building that offered insights into the complex process of selecting paint colors at this outstanding museum.
The Winter Antiques Show in New York City is an extraordinary annual event, showcasing exemplary art and antique dealers and their wares. There are so many outstanding offerings to see, ogle and understand that it can can literally make one’s head spin!
Louis Comfort Tiffany‘s more architectural chandeliers hold great appeal to me; this amazing example fromMacklowe Galleryis a showstopper. My friend, New York designer Alan Tanksley, told me that this fixture is “My NUMBER ONE, MOST COVETED item in the Winter Antiques Show. Its’ beauty haunts me…”
I’m not sure about you, but I always seem to find myself doing my holiday gift shopping in the final days of December; maybe it’s a New York phenomenon, everyone finds themselves busy wrapping up the loose ends at work, between parties and social engagements.
Finding the “perfect” gift for family and friends can be a highly stressful and expensive proposition. I have selected some items in the market place that are unlikely to be re-gifted or given away to charity right after the holiday madness is over.
These items resonate for me in how they can impact people’s lives, in the normal course of their days, where the impact may truly belie the cost.
And with the money you have left over I have two recommendations on two charities to make a difference in the world – a great gift to everyone – rather than contributing to the local land fill…
Tuesday night it was ‘Dinner at Tiffany’s’ with Becky Birdwell and the Design Leadership Network! The experience was more like bring in a James Bond movie than a normal shopping experience on the floor of this legendary jewelry store…
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Selecting paint colors for a single room can be a real challenge, but can you imagine the process of selecting paint colors for the Met?
