Oliver Furth Design

Traditional Home magazine selected my friend Oliver Furth as one of the “Top 20 Young Interior Designers to Watch." It seems these days that Oliver is racking up honors from all ends of the industry, and I just want to share his work with those who love fresh points of view in design.

...And here's an educational nugget for your enjoyment:

TH: Is there a palette you are particularly drawn to, and if so, why?

OF: "There's a Pratt & Lambert paint I like to use on ceilings. It's called snow goose. It's the faintest shade of pale blue. Almost like a very cool white. It subconsciously reminds us of sky and because cool tones recede, it makes the ceiling look taller."


www.olivermfurth.com

Oliver Furth Design

Traditional Home magazine selected my friend Oliver Furth as one of the “Top 20 Young Interior Designers to Watch." It seems these days that Oliver is racking up honors from all ends of the industry, and I just want to share his work with those who love fresh points of view in design.

...And here's an educational nugget for your enjoyment:

TH: Is there a palette you are particularly drawn to, and if so, why?

OF: "There's a Pratt & Lambert paint I like to use on ceilings. It's called snow goose. It's the faintest shade of pale blue. Almost like a very cool white. It subconsciously reminds us of sky and because cool tones recede, it makes the ceiling look taller."


www.olivermfurth.com

Valentino: The Last Emperor

VALENTINO THE LAST EMPEROR is a feature-length film on the legendary designer Valentino Garavani in the wake of his exit in 2008 from the company he founded in Rome more than 45 years ago. Produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, the film is an intimate, engaging and very funny fly-on-the-wall exploration of the singular world of one of Italy's richest and most famous men. The film documents the colorful and dramatic closing act of Valentino’s celebrated career, tells the story of his extraordinary life and work, and also explores the larger themes affecting the fashion business today. But at the heart of the film is the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti.

Valentinomovie.com

-S

Valentino: The Last Emperor

VALENTINO THE LAST EMPEROR is a feature-length film on the legendary designer Valentino Garavani in the wake of his exit in 2008 from the company he founded in Rome more than 45 years ago. Produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, the film is an intimate, engaging and very funny fly-on-the-wall exploration of the singular world of one of Italy's richest and most famous men. The film documents the colorful and dramatic closing act of Valentino’s celebrated career, tells the story of his extraordinary life and work, and also explores the larger themes affecting the fashion business today. But at the heart of the film is the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti.

Valentinomovie.com

-S

Monocle Magazine Los Angeles Store

Led by former founder of wallpaper* magazine Tyler Brule, Monocle Magazine has grown since 2006 into one of the most respected and successful publication across multiple fields of arts, politics and fashion. Following the success of the first Monocle shop in London’s Marylebone last year, the brand will open a new store in Los Angeles on Monday, April 6.

“The Brentwood location of The Monocle Shop at 225 26th Street, Suite 19b, will feature new collaborations between the brand and designers, like the Comme des Garçons’ Hinoki candle, a unique sweatshirt from Tomorrowland, and a high-tech running kit created with John Smedley. “Monocle is opening a shop in L.A. for a variety of reasons,” said Brule. “One is the location. We were offered a great space in a high traffic area which possesses a similar demographic and ‘community feel’ to our Marylebone store in London. Two, we think L.A. provides a great opportunity for us–it’s a pop culture hub and evidence from our subscriber base suggests we have a ready-made market out there. Also, our online Monocle shop is already popular on the West Coast, particularly the Orlebar Brown Swimming Trunks and the Porter Bags.” - FWD

By the way, the latest issue of Monocle is pretty amazing... check it out : Monocle March/09

About Monocle...

The Concept:
Launched in February 2007, Monocle is a global briefing covering international affairs, business, culture and design. Headquartered in London with bureaux in Tokyo, Sydney, Zürich and New York, Monocle appears 10 times a year in print and is updated constantly at monocle.com. Developed for an international audience hungry for information across a variety of sectors, Monocle's team of award-winning editors and correspondents have been drawn from The New York Times, The Independent on Sunday, the BBC, CBC and a host of other news and current affairs outlets. More of a book than a magazine, Monocle's designed to be highly portable (it's lightweight and compact) and collectable (it's thick and robust). On-line, the focus is on broadcasting with a wide array of films, slide shows and audio reports. Edited by Wallpaper* founder and Financial Times columnist Tyler Brûlé, Monocle offers a comprehensive global briefing under a single editorial brand. In print and online, writers and photographers are dispatched to over 50 countries every issue to deliver stories on forgotten states, alluring political figures, emerging brands, fresh forces in popular culture and inspiring design solutions.

The Sections:

AFFAIRS
A global mix of reportage, essays and interviews with the forces shaping geopolitics.

BUSINESS
Devoted to identifying opportunities and inspiring the reader.

CULTURE
With a tight group of opinionated columnists, reviewers and interviewers, Culture delivers the best in film, television, music, media and art.

DESIGN
Bypassing hype, Design is dedicated to unearthing emerging and established talent.

EDIT
Bite-sized and thought provoking, Edits are vital life improvements curated in a fast-paced well-researched collection.

Monocle Magazine Los Angeles Store

Led by former founder of wallpaper* magazine Tyler Brule, Monocle Magazine has grown since 2006 into one of the most respected and successful publication across multiple fields of arts, politics and fashion. Following the success of the first Monocle shop in London’s Marylebone last year, the brand will open a new store in Los Angeles on Monday, April 6.

“The Brentwood location of The Monocle Shop at 225 26th Street, Suite 19b, will feature new collaborations between the brand and designers, like the Comme des Garçons’ Hinoki candle, a unique sweatshirt from Tomorrowland, and a high-tech running kit created with John Smedley. “Monocle is opening a shop in L.A. for a variety of reasons,” said Brule. “One is the location. We were offered a great space in a high traffic area which possesses a similar demographic and ‘community feel’ to our Marylebone store in London. Two, we think L.A. provides a great opportunity for us–it’s a pop culture hub and evidence from our subscriber base suggests we have a ready-made market out there. Also, our online Monocle shop is already popular on the West Coast, particularly the Orlebar Brown Swimming Trunks and the Porter Bags.” - FWD

By the way, the latest issue of Monocle is pretty amazing... check it out : Monocle March/09

About Monocle...

The Concept:
Launched in February 2007, Monocle is a global briefing covering international affairs, business, culture and design. Headquartered in London with bureaux in Tokyo, Sydney, Zürich and New York, Monocle appears 10 times a year in print and is updated constantly at monocle.com. Developed for an international audience hungry for information across a variety of sectors, Monocle's team of award-winning editors and correspondents have been drawn from The New York Times, The Independent on Sunday, the BBC, CBC and a host of other news and current affairs outlets. More of a book than a magazine, Monocle's designed to be highly portable (it's lightweight and compact) and collectable (it's thick and robust). On-line, the focus is on broadcasting with a wide array of films, slide shows and audio reports. Edited by Wallpaper* founder and Financial Times columnist Tyler Brûlé, Monocle offers a comprehensive global briefing under a single editorial brand. In print and online, writers and photographers are dispatched to over 50 countries every issue to deliver stories on forgotten states, alluring political figures, emerging brands, fresh forces in popular culture and inspiring design solutions.

The Sections:

AFFAIRS
A global mix of reportage, essays and interviews with the forces shaping geopolitics.

BUSINESS
Devoted to identifying opportunities and inspiring the reader.

CULTURE
With a tight group of opinionated columnists, reviewers and interviewers, Culture delivers the best in film, television, music, media and art.

DESIGN
Bypassing hype, Design is dedicated to unearthing emerging and established talent.

EDIT
Bite-sized and thought provoking, Edits are vital life improvements curated in a fast-paced well-researched collection.

Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-Sabi - for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers - By, Leonard Koren

It has come to my attention that the design world is silently and subconsciously preparing a drastic shift in popular theme.

Since the middle of the last century and onward, much of the design world has been defined by a concentration on modernism as a departure from 19th century classicism. A fascination on universal prototypical solutions and concepts that imply a logical and rational worldview have been concerns of the current design administration... that is, until now.

At the moment, what we are experiencing is a move toward personal, idiosyncratic solutions in design... a new appreciation for all things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete... a worldview that is self-referential, intuitive, ambiguous, and based in a metaphysical understanding that all things are devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness. What is being discussed here is the Japanese concept of "imperfect beauty", Wabi-Sabi.

Wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of traditional Japanese beauty. It occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West.

Wabi-sabi is the undeclared beauty that waits to be discovered. It is the beauty of things as they are...an embrace of the imperfections, pared down to its barest essence, at the border of nothingness.

Unlike Modernism which solicits the reduction of sensory information, this view solicits the expansion of sensory information. In Modernism, people are adapting to machines. In Wabi-Sabi, people are adapting to nature. Beyond the hype of all that is packaged as "eco" these days, is this new understanding of the relationship between design and nature.

Author Leonard Koren is a trained architect, but never built anything—except an eccentric Japanese tea house—because he found large, permanent objects too philosophically vexing to design. Instead he created WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, one of the premier avant-garde magazines of the 1970s. Subsequently Koren has produced unusual books about design- and aesthetics-related subjects. Koren resides in both America and Japan. For more information, visit www.leonardkoren.com.

This book is an updated version of the enduring classic that first introduced the concept of “imperfect beauty” to the West. Text, images, and book design seamlessly meld into a wabi-sabi-like experience.


-S