June 22nd, 2009
Grzywinski+Pons’ Stories_NY

Perspective at grade, courtesy of Grzywinski+Pons
Good to know that in a few places in New York, the tired and poor can still find a (relatively) inexpensive hotel bed. Grzywinski+Pons, the architects behind the Lower East Side glass box known as Hotel on Rivington, has been tapped to design the more budget-friendly Stories_NY. The 12-story, 48-room hotel, to be located on 163 Orchard Street, will feature a street-level restaurant and lounge (just like Rivington) as well as a second-floor bar and terrace. The group is being quiet about the expected finish date, but it’s a coup for Grzywinski+Pons, who are also currently working on another LES hotel, the Nolitan, going up at Elizabeth and Kenmare Streets.

Elevation detail, courtesy of Grzywinski+Pons

Perspective at grade, courtesy of Grzywinski+Pons
Tags: Grzywinski+Pons, hotel
Posted in Architecture, Posted by Julie Taraska | No Comments »
May 20th, 2009
Product Placement 1.3: Sustainable Design - May 28, 7-9 p.m. at Designtex

Harry Allen's Uruku refillable lipstick case for Aveda, which is molded from recycled aluminum and a new material composed of recycled plastic resin and natural flax fiber.
We like to tell the stories behind products, but hear it from the designers themselves at
Product Placement 1.3, happening Thursday, May 28, 7-9 p.m. at
Designtex’s New York showroom, located at 200 Varick Street. Our theme this time is sustainable design, and our presenters are Harry Allen, MIO, Andrea Ruggiero, Karl Zahn, and Boa/Object Interiors. Each will give a five-minute rundown on the influences behind one of their products, followed by audience questions. $5 admission includes cocktails and various surprises. Space is limited, so it is essential to RSVP to
thisisproductplacement@gmail.com.

Biodegradable UFO plates by Andrea Ruggiero

MIO's multipurpose Loop by the Yard textile, which the company will recycle for you

Karl Zahn's Vladimir mirror

Console by Boa/Object Interiors, which features 3form panels, water-based lacquers, and recycled aluminum
Tags: Andrea Ruggiero, Boa/Object Interiors, furniture, Harry Allen, Karl Zahn, MIO, mirror, packaging, Product Placement events, sustainability, tabletop, textiles
Posted in Architecture, Interiors, Posted by Julie, Posted by Julie Taraska, Product, furniture | No Comments »
May 20th, 2009
Donna Wilson’s Nos Da Collection for SCP
Donna Wilson is a textile designer who kicks traditional home crafts into the 21st century. Her cloth dolls such as Edd Red head, which sports a enormous rouge head over a tiny body, are weird and wonderful, and are a complete departure from her more experimental items, including rugs she fashions from thousands of knitted glove fingers then casts into a layer of rubber. Her Nos Da collection of blankets and pillows she created for British retailer SCP fall between the two poles. Introduced in Milan, the pieces are made from wool spun and dyed in England, then woven in Wales at a mill that has been in the same family for over a century. The piece’s traditional double-cloth weave is a reminder of Britain’s great textile history: The method, in which a weft, or filling yarn, moves between two or more sets of weaving warps, dates back to 700AD. It also allows for complex patterns and surface textures. 
Tags: Donna Wilson, SCP, textiles
Posted in Posted by Julie Taraska, Product | No Comments »
April 13th, 2009
D-ash Design’s Mobile RocPopShop for Rocawear
Jay-Z sure has the life. He rolls with Beyonce, runs a chain of clubs, co-owns a basketball team, and retires from music—then returns from retirement—every six months. But despite the bling, our man Hova, as he is also known, is a man of the people, his 99 problems notwithstanding. So he’s commissioned architect David Ashen of D-ash Design to create an upscale mobile lounge designed to let his fans taste the nectar of success—oh, and also showcase the new premium line for Rocawear, his clothing collection. Called RocPopShop, the temporary store looks like a film-set trailer. But inside it spares no luxury, featuring mohair sofas, suede walls, custom zebra-wood cabinetry, a 46-inch flat screen TV, and a custom gaming zone. It debuts April 14 at the intersection of Pacific and Fifth Avenues, in Jay-Z’s native Brooklyn; it stays until May 3, when it heads off across the country. 



Tags: D-ash Design, David ashen, Interiors, Jay-Z, Rocawear
Posted in Interiors, Posted by Julie Taraska | No Comments »
April 9th, 2009
Olive Chair by Claesson Koivisto Rune

Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto, and Ola Rune are in Stockholm. Not only are the three in-demand architects and interior designers, but they also teach at Konstfack (the Eindhoven of Sweden) and create products for Offecct, Wastberg, and Sultana in their spare time. Their latest innovation, Olive, straddles the line between bespoke and mass-produced furniture. Featuring five different backrests and seats randomly paired together during production, the chair, produced for Swedese, was inspired by a bowl of the delectable drupes that the three designers were sharing. They noticed each fruit had a distinct shape but was related to the others, which got them thinking about ways to convey difference and similarity. Available in metal or wood, and with or without armrests.
Tags: chair, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Stockholm, Sweden, Swedese
Posted in Architecture, Interiors, Posted by Julie, Posted by Julie Taraska, Product, furniture | No Comments »
April 7th, 2009
Wonderwall’s Fred Perry Store in Moscow
Interiors firm Wonderwall trafficks in receding architecture and monochromatic walls. These minimalist tendencies have been the ideal foil for retail projects like Uniqlo’s New York flagship and A Bathing Ape’s global cache of outlets, as they bring quiet order to the riot of colors and patterns on offer. But Wonderwall broke out of its mold with its first project in Moscow, a store for British sporting wear company Fred Perry. The layout features a main area and sunken room, which is located a few steps down from a long hallway. Wonderwall principal Masamichi Katayama imaged that in an earlier life, the sunken room had been a secret salon where the young Soviet elite gathered. So he decorated it in a traditional Russian style, with brick walls, tufted leather sofas, and tapestries featuring regional designs from around the country. He contrasted these elements with white plaster expanses and modern materials like stainless steel, which appear throughout the rest of the space. But lest he forget his client, he also had the ceiling beams designed to form a Union Jack, as a nod to Fred Perry’s origins.




Tags: A Bathing Ape, Architecture, Fred Perry, Interiors, Masamichi Katayama, Moscow, Uniqlo, Wonderwall
Posted in Architecture, Interiors, Posted by Julie Taraska | No Comments »