Tom Dixon's Final Frontier

What I like about Tom Dixon is that he creates modern spaces that break the vicious cycle of repetition. Lately, it seems like every contemporary designer is recreating the same room (over and over again). If you close your eyes, I know that you'll see it... a couple Barcelona chairs, pendant lamp, zebra rug, and boring artisan tchotchkes. Don't get me wrong, I like a good homage, but I also believe that designers can get lazy when they look to the past instead of creating the future (especially in modern design).

Tom's designs reflect what modern is today...respectful of the past & inspired by the future.

In July 2007, Tom Dixon launched a US division of the Brit-based company.

Tom Dixon says, "For us, the United States is really the final frontier ...a mysterious and exciting continent with a rediscovered interest in contemporary design - we feel the time is now right for an innovative British brand to feel relevant and welcome here."

Current L.A. exhibition: Twentieth showroom @ 8057 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048

Visit www.tomdixon.net to see his entire collection of furniture and lighting, and to see past and current design projects.

-S

Quick Note: Photos taken @ ABC Home & Carpet in NYC, during my recent trip last month.

Tom Dixon's Final Frontier

What I like about Tom Dixon is that he creates modern spaces that break the vicious cycle of repetition. Lately, it seems like every contemporary designer is recreating the same room (over and over again). If you close your eyes, I know that you'll see it... a couple Barcelona chairs, pendant lamp, zebra rug, and boring artisan tchotchkes. Don't get me wrong, I like a good homage, but I also believe that designers can get lazy when they look to the past instead of creating the future (especially in modern design).

Tom's designs reflect what modern is today...respectful of the past & inspired by the future.

In July 2007, Tom Dixon launched a US division of the Brit-based company.

Tom Dixon says, "For us, the United States is really the final frontier ...a mysterious and exciting continent with a rediscovered interest in contemporary design - we feel the time is now right for an innovative British brand to feel relevant and welcome here."

Current L.A. exhibition: Twentieth showroom @ 8057 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048

Visit www.tomdixon.net to see his entire collection of furniture and lighting, and to see past and current design projects.

-S

Quick Note: Photos taken @ ABC Home & Carpet in NYC, during my recent trip last month.

Little Next Door

For those of you who have had the pleasure of dining at The Little Door, you will just adore their new café.

Situated right next to The Little Door, Little Next Door is the quintessential Parisian cafe.

The ambiance is very french and cute, and the food is imaginative and delicious.

If you love freshly baked pastries, house-made jams, and a space that evokes the passion behind European café culture, than you must check out Little Next Door.

Let's go for brunch this weekend, I'm free!

Little Next Door
8142 W 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
9am-6pm Daily
Phone: (323) 951-1010
Check out the menu @ http://www.thelittledoor.com/lndhome.html

Quick FYI: If you love the cute stripe shirts they wear at Little Next Door, they are made by Saint James @ www.saint-james-tricots.com, and costs $90.

Little Next Door

For those of you who have had the pleasure of dining at The Little Door, you will just adore their new café.

Situated right next to The Little Door, Little Next Door is the quintessential Parisian cafe.

The ambiance is very french and cute, and the food is imaginative and delicious.

If you love freshly baked pastries, house-made jams, and a space that evokes the passion behind European café culture, than you must check out Little Next Door.

Let's go for brunch this weekend, I'm free!

Little Next Door
8142 W 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
9am-6pm Daily
Phone: (323) 951-1010
Check out the menu @ http://www.thelittledoor.com/lndhome.html

Quick FYI: If you love the cute stripe shirts they wear at Little Next Door, they are made by Saint James @ www.saint-james-tricots.com, and costs $90.

Same Guy: Eero Saarinen

Did you know that the famed mid-century "tulip chair" and the iconic St. Louis Arch were designed by the same guy?!

Eero Saarinen was one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. Although his career was cut short by death at age 51 in 1961, Eero Saarinen was one of the most celebrated architects of his time, both at home and abroad.

In the postwar decades of what has been called “the American Century,” Saarinen helped create the international image of the United States with his designs for some of the most potent symbolic expressions of American identity such as St. Louis Gateway Arch (1948-64), General Motors Technical Center (1948-56), Detroit and TWA Terminal (1956-62) at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport

Quick note: The complete collection of Eero Saarinen's furniture designs are still in production by Knoll.com. Or, you can see the collection at any of the DWR showrooms in L.A. - DWR.com

Same Guy: Eero Saarinen

Did you know that the famed mid-century "tulip chair" and the iconic St. Louis Arch were designed by the same guy?!

Eero Saarinen was one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. Although his career was cut short by death at age 51 in 1961, Eero Saarinen was one of the most celebrated architects of his time, both at home and abroad.

In the postwar decades of what has been called “the American Century,” Saarinen helped create the international image of the United States with his designs for some of the most potent symbolic expressions of American identity such as St. Louis Gateway Arch (1948-64), General Motors Technical Center (1948-56), Detroit and TWA Terminal (1956-62) at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport

Quick note: The complete collection of Eero Saarinen's furniture designs are still in production by Knoll.com. Or, you can see the collection at any of the DWR showrooms in L.A. - DWR.com

Innovator: Will Alsop

The Sharp Centre for Design by Will Alsop

Ontario College of Art & Design

100 McCaul Street

Toronto

Ontario Canada

Article from www.galinsky.com

Alsop Architects (Robbie/Young+Wright Architects - local architects) 2004.

The Sharp Centre for Design was built to accommodate an expansion of the Ontario College of Art & Design in downtown Toronto. The project was funded by the College, the Province of Ontario, and Rosalie and Isadore Sharp - the benefactors after whom the building is named. The building houses new art studios, lecture theaters, exhibit spaces, and faculty offices. It is the first building completed in North America by the English architect Will Alsop.

With the addition of the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Will Alsop cleverly addresses the complicated notion of expansion in a dense urban setting with his soaring black and white box. The building stitches a connection between existing buildings while providing new space in the rectangular volume that proudly soars above. Organizing the rectangular block above the site allows the street level to become what promises to be a new and valuable civic space that can become an extension of the activities of the college. Still the building may be criticized for being somewhat exclusive, failing to offer a serious connection to the street. However regardless of this consideration one cannot help but believe that there is room in Toronto for this type of assertive expression.

Provocative, unconventional, hopeful, whimsical, and perhaps irreverent, the building is remarkable in the context of Toronto. As a winner of a 2004 RIBA Worldwide Award, the building was described as "courageous, bold and just a little insane."

Check out http://www.alsoparchitects.com to see all of Will Alsop's amazingly innovative architecture worldwide. His website is so inspiring.