swedish styling

Less and less I'm attracted to the minimalism of true mid-century modern and more to clean but livable decoration, with some rustic industrial thrown in for good measure. This house decorated by the Swedish design firm Alvhem Mäkleri & Interiör comes pretty darn close to my ideal. Except I'd add some color to those walls!

via desire to inspire

all-nighters

The NY Times is doing a series of columns about insomnia called "All-Nighters". Since that's a subject near and dear to me, of course I was interested. It started yesterday with this statement:

What do you do when the world’s asleep and you’re awake? All-Nighters is an exploration of an ancient malady and modern fixation — insomnia. With contributions from writers, scientists, artists and others, it will document the many ways we approach sleeplessness — as a nuisance, a disease, a curse, an opportunity or even a gift.

Today's column:

A Thousand and One Sleepless Nights

by Patricia Morrisroe

An Excerpt: Sleep and death have long been intertwined, with the ancient Greeks creating a colorful genealogy to explain it. Nyx, the goddess of the night, gave birth to twin boys: Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death). Hypnos fathered Morpheus, the god of dreams, who lived surrounded by opium poppies, the giver of dreams. While there would be no Morpheus without Hypnos, the Greeks weren’t very interested in sleep per se, but in its magical offspring: dreams. They made pilgrimages to special “dream temples,” where, after offering sacrifices and bathing in sacred waters, a healing deity would appear to them in sleep, curing whatever troubled them. The Chinese believed in two different souls — p’o and hun — that represented the physical and spiritual worlds. The hun, which could separate from the body during sleep, often visited the land of the dead, where it brought back news of deceased ancestors. According to Robert L. Van de Castle, in his book “Our Dreaming Mind,” if the soul failed to return to the body before the dreamer woke up, “dreadful consequences would follow.”

Read the entire column here.

Her forthcoming book is available here.
A mesmerizing mix of personal insight, science and social observation, Wide Awake examines the role of sleep in our increasingly hyperactive culture. For the millions who suffer from sleepless nights and hazy caffeine-filled days, this humorous, thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book is an essential bedtime companion. It does, however, come with a warning: Reading it will promote wakefulness.

Yesterday's column, On the Timing and Duration of Sleep by Ben Schott, was a table with all kinds of interesting details, part fact, part wives tale, about insomnia. See the original and larger version here.

one dupatta, du dupatta

For Pakistani women, dupattas are more than a fashion statement

The long scarves that many wear with traditional shalwar kameez outfits are laden with religious and cultural significance. For some it's a sign of Islamic modesty, for others a cumbersome relic.

Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan - Seeking a competitive edge, fabric designer Vaneeza Ahmad spent hours on the phone to China but couldn't find anyone to make her new line of dupattas, the omnipresent scarves that Pakistani women drape over their arms, head, chest.

Read more here.

shoes as sign of economic status

Exhibit lifts the skirts on feminine footwear
By Natalie Armstrong

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Centuries before Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama were sized up over their shoes women's feet had been a platform for showing off their economic and political status.


A new exhibit of more than 60 pairs of rare platform and high heel shoes shows how extreme and impractical footwear became a fashionable symbol of social standing in the 16th and 17th centuries.

"This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see these truly incredible pedestals that women walked on," said Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum.

The exhibit, "On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels", includes footwear on loan from 11 international museums. It will be open until September 20.

"The shoes themselves, because they were hidden under women's skirts, were not even visible at the time. When you go and look at Renaissance painting you see these incredibly tall women but you can't see the chopines," said Semmelhack.

"We're lifting the skirts of these women and letting you see these accessories that link very closely to economics, gender and politics -- not just high fashion."

The chopine platform shoe is a columnar shape that "rises the wearer up as a single unit," according to Semmelhack. A pair of Venetian chopines in the exhibit is nearly 20 inches tall.

She said the shoes of upper-class women and courtesans rose to unprecedented heights in Italy and Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. They were used to display family wealth, especially in Venice and Florence where the textile industry was important.

LOFTY HEIGHTS

The taller the platform shoe, the more dress fabric needed and the wealthier the family, she explained.

"Excessively high chopines in Italy offered the opportunity for more fabric to be displayed but it also offered the opportunity for servants to be displayed," Semmelhack said.

"Women wearing excessively high chopines could not manage to walk without the assistance of at least two servants. In fact, the reason why men still offer women their arm today dates back to when women wore chopines and needed that little extra help to be able to go forward."

She described 16th-century Italian chopines as "a form of foundation garment, the same way corsets used to be worn in the 19th century or women wear Spanx (underwear) today to reshape their body. They were a form of footwear that was not meant to be seen so much as to elongate the body."

But in Spain chopines peeked out from under skirts.

"Spanish chopines tend to be excessively decorated, very visible, very flashy, much more equivalent to a pair of Manolo Blahniks today than the Italian chopine which was completely concealed and not as decorated," said Semmelhack.

By the 17th century the chopine was replaced by the high heel after explorers discovered new routes between Europe and the East and Venice became less important.

"That's where I explore the history of the introduction of the heel into western dress and the shifts to England and Spain as the most important countries and eventually ending with France," Semmelhack said, adding the political connection between England and Persia increased interest in the heel.

Men also embraced the heel in the 17th century due to influences from the near East. Except for horseback riding and a blip in the 1970s, heels have been a woman's accessory.

"They are now increasingly carrying larger burdens of expressing our wealth, and our femininity and our sexuality," Semmelhack said.

"It can also be related to socioeconomic status and the fact that everyone has two feet means it is a huge business."

The Bata Shoe Museum, home to 13,000 pairs of footwear worn over the past 4,500 years, examines the social and cultural life of people through footwear.

profile in style :: diane keaton

I love Diane Keaton. We’re all aware that she is a wonderful actress. But did you know that she’s also a photographer, clotheshorse, design enthusiast and overall aesthete? In NY Times' Profile in Style, Keaton gives exclusive access into her polymath universe.

priscilla woolworth's general store

LA-based Priscilla Woolworth (yes, that Woolworth) started an Eco-Friendly General Store to promote her commitment to living a greener domestic life. Woolworth sources "eco-friendly products that are practical, well designed, and affordable".

via remodelista

on reading - a photographic exhibition

On Sunday we had the pleasant surprise of coming across a photography exhibit at the Carlsbad Dove Library of Andre Kortesz called "On Reading".

André Kertész: On Reading

Feb. 21 – April 18, 2010

William D. Cannon Art Gallery

at the

Carlsbad Dove Library

A prominent member of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s circle in 1920’s Paris, André Kertész created a series of photographs in Europe and the US, examining the power of reading as a universal pleasure. These 104 stunning photographs are drawn from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago.

Known for his extended study of Washington Square Park and his distorted nudes of the 1930s, Andre Kertesz was a quiet but important influence on the coming of age of photojournalism and the art of photography. For more than seventy years, his subtle and penetrating vision helped to define a medium in its infancy. Though he spent most of his life in the United States, his European modernist sensibility is what made him great, and that is what he is remembered for today.

For nearly twenty years his gifts remained relatively unrecognized in New York. It was not until 1964, when John Sarkowski, curator at the Museum of Modern Art, organized a one man show that Kertesz’s career was reawakened. Over the preceding years, art photography in the United States made serious leaps and began to recognize the advances of earlier European artists. It was this renewed interest that eventually brought an otherwise forgotten genius back into the public eye. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Kertesz was shown regularly at the major international museums — having one-man shows in Paris, Tokyo, London, Stockholm, Budapest and Helsinki. In 1983 the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, and the following year he passed away in his New York home. Very few artists are able to witness the formation of their own artistic medium. Kertesz was not only able to witness much of the beginnings of hand-held photography, but had a profound effect on it. With subtle and whimsical artistry, he took full advantage of a medium not yet sure of its own potential, and for that, contemporary photography remains in his debt.

In January 1999 he was the subject of the PBS series American Masters.

The book about the exhibit was re-released in 2008 and is available at Amazon.

dalai lama video

 

the dalai lama speaks

People today are "too much concerned with exterior material values and not our inner values," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said.

Happiness, he said, touching his heart, "ultimately depends on here."

"External disarmament" first requires "internal disarmament," he said.

"At the fundamental level, we are the same human being," he said. "Mentally, emotionally, physically -- same."

Read more here.

roger ebert surfaces

Remember this guy? Turns out he's quite an inspirational person.

Patrick Goldstein writes in the LA Times:

There are really only two words you need to describe Roger Ebert: indispensable, which would apply to his four decades of brilliant essays and criticism; and indomitable, which would apply to how he's handled his past few years of debilitating physical struggles.

If you haven't read Esquire's current profile of the 67-year-old Chicago Sun-Times critic, you should carve out the time to do it. Written by Chris Jones, it is both sensitive and unsentimental, especially in the way it describes Ebert's battles with a series of cancer surgeries that caused him to spend more than half of a 30-month stretch in hospitals. A mere shell of himself physically, he still manages to work nonstop -- he saw 281 movies in a 10-month stretch last year -- even though he is now unable to speak and is fed via a G-tube through a hole in his stomach.

But he's a writer, so he keeps writing and writing, better and better than ever. His reviews remain a must-read, as are his blog posts, which range from acerbic political observations to delightful personal remembrances of his youth. After reading the Esquire piece, I suspected that Ebert would be unable to resist offering his own personal reaction to the story. And sure enough, it's up on his blog now, and is just as absorbing as the original Esquire feature.

Read more here.

olympics opening ceremony

k d lang sang a beautiful rendition of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (also Canadian) at the opening ceremony last Friday. What a powerful voice!

ny fashion week round-up

Dark colors reign in NY fall, winter 2010 fashions
By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dominant colors in the coming fall and winter fashion season will be solemn grays, browns and plenty of black, reflecting a no-nonsense mood among consumers and designers struggling in the dismal economy, judging from collections unveiled this week in New York.


Just a few splashes of fruit, spice and jewel tones lit up otherwise dark collections from the scores of designers who displayed their fall and winter 2010 lines at the semi-annual fashion event.

Such dark tones are a sign of the times, said Marigay McKee, fashion and beauty director at Harrods.

"New York has been a monochromatic story for the last couple of seasons," she said. "Obviously the economic events of the last couple of years affect the way designers put together their collections and what customers are looking for."

Indeed, in the collection by designer Tony Cohen, showing in New York from the Netherlands, nearly every look was black. In styles by Luca Luca, gray dominated, and Canada's Mackage used mostly black, camel and deep blue.

"It's a gloomy season for the most part," said Judy Licht, who covers fashion for the Huffington Post. "I'm seeing a lot of black and neutral creams, navys and grays."

Designer Michael Angel used midnight blue, and Brazil's Iodice stuck largely to black and beige, with just a splash of tangerine.

PLAYING IT SAFE

"Black is the signature color," is how New York designer Nicole Miller described her line. "Also camouflage and hints of brick, olive and ash."

Designers are playing it safe with an emphasis on such dark hues, said James Aguilar, a spokesman for Prime Outlets which carries designer lines.

"Black always sells. The challenge there is you don't want to see a rack of just black clothes," he said. "Retailers are still going to have to get that item that pops and makes the collection come to life."

Using dark tones he called caramel, ochre, olive, putty, charcoal and mocha, designer Adam Lippes brightened his collection with splashes of crimson.

Donna Karan's DKNY line showed black, charcoal, umber and oxblood with accents of sapphire blue and peach.

Olive green and browns imbued with deep red and purple, are appealing, said Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus.

"We think the customer's going to be very interested in this whole idea of these olive colors and these deep, deep browns as the new neutral for the season," Downing said.

Accent colors tended toward shades of berries, spices and sunsets. The Ports 1961 collection used colors labeled mulberry, rosemary, chicory, pepper, sage and ginger.

Colleen Sherin, fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, said she welcomed the accent colors to inspire consumers to spice up their wardrobes.

"Color elicits an emotional response in the consumer," she said.

finally!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama for closely-watched White House talks today, risking fallout in China over the get-together and Obama's statement supporting preservation of Tibet's identity and human rights.

Read entire article here.

clever idea

Discovered (and admired) via Apartment Therapy: the simple steel Recycling Frames at Matteria. Use two frames to create a recycling center for three collection bags. Available in four colors (silver, white, red, black), the Recycling Frame comes with two paper bags and is €35.

dreaming of umbria

Torre di Moravola
Loc Moravola Alta, Voc San Faustino, Montone
Perugia, Italy
Italy isn’t exactly hurting for impressive small hotels, but Torre di Moravola stands out all the same. It is a thousand-year-old Umbrian hilltop watchtower converted into a seven-room boutique hotel. But while the exterior may be a thousand years old, the interiors are as modern as they come.

It may have a little something to do with the owners. Christopher Chong is an architect, a former Norman Foster associate, and his wife, Seonaid Mackenzie, is a designer. And what they’ve done is more than a renovation. Within the outer shell of the tower they’ve constructed an entirely new inner structure, with seven strikingly modern suites arranged around a central stair.

This turns out to be a surprisingly green way to build. The old stone walls keep temperatures stable, and the central stair gives rise to convection currents which ventilate as well as any air conditioning system. And the suites, with their stone walls and sunken baths, stay remarkably comfortable, despite their minimalism.

Most unexpected, perhaps, is the rooftop infinity pool, with obviously wide-ranging views of the tower’s surroundings. The restaurant follows the slow food philosophy, and you’re minutes from the ancient town of Montone, which offers other options, none of them particularly fast. As Italian countryside getaways go, it’s hard to do much better — and as a design pilgrimage it’s practically a religious experience.

retro-garden photography

The Hipstamatic application puts a filter on iPhone photos to make them look as though they were taken with an unreliable plastic camera from the 1960s, rather than this complex mobile smart phone. The interface, pictured above, is designed to look like one of those cheap cameras, which adds to the fun.

The Hipstamatic effect gives an instant haze of memory to the photos, as though you are seeing whatever is before you through the filter of a dream. The functionality however, is completely 2010: You can instantly upload photos to Facebook or Flickr. The two photos below are from my first shoot at the Descanso Gardens on Saturday afternoon.

The hipstamatic app is $1.99 at the iTunes App Store. Once you have the app, you can also purchase additional "film," "flashes" and "lenses" (technically each a different digital filter) for 99 cents each.

-- Deborah Netburn

Photos: (top) Hipstamatic iPhone interface. Credit: Hipstamatic

via the LA Times

rustic table

John just finished making this rustic table. The top is of live-edge walnut he bought from a guy on the east coast. The legs are made from ceanothus off our property. Pretty cute!

wright auction

Historic Frank Lloyd Wright collection sells at auction, will go to Taliesin West

On Sunday, a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright photographs, drawings and documents from the estate of Wright scholar Henry-Russell Hitchcock sold for $48,800 at a Bonhams & Butterfields auction in Los Angeles.

The winning bid -- more than 20% above the high end of the pre-auction estimate of $30,000 to $40,000 -- was made by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The organization is based at Taliesin West, the architect's residence and studio in Scottsdale, Ariz., from 1937 until his death there in 1959.

Catherine Williamson, director of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams & Butterfields, called the sale "surprising in a good way." The foundation's purchase fulfills two functions, she said. "The material is a rich archival source and will attract a lot of scholars, and the material is also appropriate for display."

Compiled during Hitchcock's collaboration with Wright on the 1942 book "In the Nature of Materials: The Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright," the 1,000-plus-piece collection will expand the foundation's archives, said Daniel Marquardt, chairman of the board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. "It's an important snapshot into Wright's world view and philosophy at that particular period."

The works will be available for viewing by appointment at the Taliesin West archives. They also will be among the documents that the foundation loans out to museum exhibitions around the world.

-- David A. Keeps

via the LA Times

my kind of camping

Combining unique luxury tented accommodation with wonderful food & warm hospitality, Paperbark Camp is a peaceful bush retreat in beautiful Jervis Bay - think camping for grown-ups! Just over two hours drive from Sydney on the unspoilt south coast of NSW, Jervis Bay is a nature lovers paradise with spectacular coastal scenery, clear and calm water for swimming and pristine white sand beaches for strolling and relaxing on.

via searching for sporadic surprises

valentine's day is sunday

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

diy :: valentine's day origami

Here's a beautiful and fairly simple diy Valentine's Day card if you're searching for a last-minute idea. Click here for the downloads and tutorial.

via eat drink chic

blog birthday

Today is the one-year anniversary of this blog. I had no idea where I was headed with it when I started it. And I still have no idea. But it's been fun. I hope everyone has enjoyed it along with me.