Welcome to iNSIGHTS & iNTERIORS, the new online journal from the award-winning interior design firm iContact Designs. We look forward to bringing topical, informative information on the exciting and ever-evolving world of interior design to these pages and our readers.
A chain of events lead to the creation of this stunning chandelier. Terzani, a leading manufacturer of luxury Italian lighting, partnered with Barlas Baylar of Hudson Furniture to create Atlantis, a stunning new chandelier. Designed by Baylar and manufactured by Terzani, Atlantis incorporates four miles of delicate nickel chain, looped and draped from three organically shaped metal bands to form a series of shimmering metallic tiers.
Seemingly alive, Atlantis shimmering light creates a vibrant source of energy. Like water in the ocean, Atlantis’ chains appear liquid, cascading over its gloss nickel bands and falling down towards the abyss before turning back into itself. Elegant, eclectic and powerful, atlantis floods rooms with a light unlike any other piece.
Talk about typecasting! With a nod to typography, THAYER COGGIN, INC. proudly introduced its Claes chair at the October 2009 High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina. The chair was designed by Clark Coggin, award-winning, graphic designer and educator who is the youngest child of Thayer Coggin, founder of the company.
While touring with Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh would illustrate postcards that he would send to family; soon postcards became larger artworks in gallery shows. For his music business, Mutato Muzika, he designed a logo, but instead of planting it outside, he opted to fashion it into the office welcome mat. After walking across it for nine years, he had an epiphany: to translate his favorite postcard drawings into rugs. The resulting collection, now numbering 88 designs, is partially based on those illustrations, which he describes as “a concerned social scientist’s attempt to make sense of chaos on planet Earth.”
Many have an edgy or quirkily cartoonish look, and sometimes a personal story. There’s Freaked Pig, based on his oldest pug dog freaking out over the addition of a new family pooch; Super Thing 3000 and Here to Go—Shout, which take their names from Devo songs; the AMT series revolves around airline turbulence and what appeared in Mothersbaugh’s line of sight while flying. Others, like Pink Meatball and Devo Rope, are more random. The vibrant pieces are woven of nylon, wool, or silk, depending on the design. Perhaps a natural transition from flooring, http://www.mutatovisual.com.
Intelligent design makes this a natural selection for the home or office. The Evolution storage cabinet transforms from a carved baroque piece into an ultra-modern unit, all of solid natural or tinted oak and burnished brass. It measures 106 inches wide by 22 deep by 35 high, or custom. Check out Property Furniture at: propertyfurniture.com.
Hayden Design’s “Hex” chair is made up entirely of…you got it…recycled tennis balls! The tennis balls are strung together with polyester cord. The chair is 22 inches in diameter and 37 inches high. Check it out at hughhayden.com.
Just when you thought you’d heard it all, along comes “SONIC Fabric,” a strikingly beautiful and durable textile for a range of interior and fashion designs. Sonic Fabric has texture and feel of a light canvas with a mysterious sheen.
Every batch of Sonic Fabric is recorded with an intricate collage of sound prior to weaving. Sonic fabric emits sound when you run a tape head (the little thingy inside the tape deck that touches the tape) over it. Because the tape retains its magnetic quality through the weaving process, it acts as a big wide band of tape.
The invention was inspired by the use of small strands of cassette tape used as wind indicators, or “tell-tails,” used on sailboats, and by Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags inscribed with wind-activated blessings. Thus the wearable works of art are intended to emit good vibes into the vicinity of the wearer.
Crate & Barrel’s CB2 blog had these wonderful dirrections to create your own holiday ornament wreath. We thought this could be a great way to find a use for all those miss-matched old ornaments we had laying around and a great way to re-purpose them.
Here’s the instructions from CB2 to create your own holiday ornament wreath. Hey, this would be a great project for the kids and family, too!
Supplies:
1. Strong stiff wire that can be bent into a ring. We used aluminum wire gauge 20, about 55” long–due to the scale of the products in the shot, our wreath was rather large, about 28″ in diameter. A wire hanger is also a simple way to go.
2. Ornaments. We used a total of 81 ornaments. For a smaller version, we’re guessing you could make a 14” wreath with about a third of the ornaments depending on how full you wanted it.
3. Strong tape to fasten the ends of the wire ring together or, pliers to twist the ends of the wire ring together.
4. Ribbon to hang the wreath.
Directions:
1. String one ornament at a time onto the wire ring, alternating colors, using smaller ones to fill in the gaps.
2. When the ring is completely covered in ornaments, fasten the ends together.
3. Use a ribbon to cover the spot where the ends are fastened together, and hang!
Tip: best not to go too large in diameter as the wreath could become too heavy and stretch out.
Audi went from tickling the blacktop with their smooth rides to tickling the ivories with their Audi Design Grand Piano built by the 182-year old Bosendorfer company of Vienna, Austria. This slick musical machine features a lid that wraps down to the base, giving the piano an almost aerodynamic shape. This grandest of grands debuts for many grand: $140,000 to be exact.
The question “what are three of your favorite chairs and their respective designers” was asked on the LinkedIn Interior Design group forum recently and while most respondents listed the usual suspects, it made us think of a few more contemporary examples of great chairs. We’ve included them below:
Any of the signature Chris-X (pronounced kris-krôs) chairs by Christoper Guy. Guy is well known for fusing classicism with modernism in his designs. If you’re not familiar with this British luxury furniture designer’s work you’re missing some of the sexiest designs around.
The Plywood Chair Collection by The Cherner Chair Company. A mid-century icon and perennial favorite.
Being from the Motor City, our list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the “seat belt chair” aka the Greenbelt chair from Peter Danko. The basket woven seatbelt chair backs and seats last many years and the belt fibres moiré effects are visually stunning. The belting is not only comfortable and a recycled material, it is an alternative for the environmentally problematic urethane foam seat suspension.
