blythe's blog

One of the top winners at Highpoint this year was the shop Jaipur;  who make and import beautiful carpets from India.

another rug from their Artisan collection

Shayam Ahuja's fleur du lis, India

patchwork rugs made from recycled ones Leoxx, Netherlands

cool rug by  remy veenhuizen made from recycled blankets, Netherlands

patchwork rug by Sarita Handa, India

three dimensional wool rug featured in apartment therapy

"patchwork fred" by Shyam Ahuja (detail)

view inside Jaipur's shop

a living carpet made from the spaces between cobblestones by Shyam Ahuja, India

the floral carpet at the Grand Palace in Brussels which is made every two years.  up to one million flowers are used in each carpet.

Beautiful luggage encapsulates all the glamour and decadence of the golden age of travel. The  pieces below are both old and new and harken to a time when the journey was as important as the destination. We have had several requests for vintage luggage; especially Louis Vitton. The travel biblioteque below was used by Ernest Hemingway in 1923 and the model is extremely rare.  

Another great piece was the innovative Vitton armoire.  This sleek design offered more creative storage than ever.  It's the largest piece in the company’s vintage collection, measuring 100 (height) x 65 x 65 cms and included hanging space.

These beautiful crocodile suitcases  were made in the 1930's for Karen Blixen.  Hermès unearthed them in their archives and they think that since they were never used, they must never have been sent to her in Kenya. The sterling silver and tortoiseshell pieces are engraved with a crown and the initials DBF which stands for Dineson Blixen-Finecke, a combination of her maiden and married names.

Beautiful 18th c.canvas and leather vintage Hermes luggage; available through Christies May 19th, South Kensington Branch.

Vintage Dunhill leather case (also available at the Christies auction.)

Louis Vitton tea set; part of the vintage collection.

The beautiful trio below is from Norton MacCullough and Locke from England.  Although new, Norton's aim is to preserve traditional leather-working techniques and bespoke craftsmanship. Their beautiful pieces are one-of-a-kind, and feature details such as gold plated locks and hardware. Hand-finished. Alcantara linings, precisely fitted removable trays, and engraved mirrors are featured on the inside lids of dressing cases.

They also design jewelry boxes, trunks, hat boxes, suitcases, humidors, watch cases, travel desks, attaché cases, games sets and drinks cases.

As part of their Bespoke collection; Rolls Royce offers a nifty picnic basket for $30,000.

A vintage 1905 basket by Rolls is currently being offered for sale for half the price of the new version.

For a spontaneous celebration; try this champagne case by Swaine Adeney Brigg; a venerable British company founded in 1750, which has been supplying the British royal court with leather travel goods for decades.

It is made from the finest bridle leather using traditional methods in a workshop not far from Cambridge. One employee is always personally responsible for the quality of each individual product, and his or her name can be found on a card in each bag or case.:
 

Sources:  Louis Vitton; Porhomme; Norton; Rolls Royce

Two young designers Sahil Bagga & Sarthak Sengupta are making a splash with their innovative and playful designs. Their goal is to preserve the tradition and skills of local artisans in India by employing them in new and contemporary designs.  Their designs appear in boutique hotels, restaurants, and residences worldwide. Below are their Katran table lamps. Katran means "small pieces of left-over cloth", which are the by-product of India's incredible fabric industry. It's nice to see these cloth remnants collected, spun into ropes, and hand woven onto blacksmith made metal frames.

The  Katran "Stork" chair was showcased in the "Cappellini Next Exhibition" during Milan furniture fair 2012. Exhibition has also travelled to Bruxelles in June 2012. 

a Katran chair detail

The "Pelican" chair below is available a number of colorful options

In addition to creating furniture and lighting; Sahil and Sarthuk also design interiors

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The lamp below is called a Choori lamp.  Choori in Hindi means Glass Bangle. This lamp is inspired from Indian women who use clothes hangers to store their glass bangles.

This fun piece is called is a "Beetle Puffer Seat" which explores different knitting techniques using a women's self-help group from Haryana. 

This lamp is a part of their Longpi collection; a unique tradition of potterry from Manipur. The spouted backside of the lamp allows a handy grip for moving the floor lamp. The cane woven basket acts as a filter for soft lighting.

Sources:  Sahil & Sarthuk

Organic furniture was prominently featured at the most recent IMM show in Cologne, and is one of the big trends of 2013.  It's one of my favorite styles (lots of wood pieces waiting in the barn to be made into something.)

Below are a few examples of designers who know how to do it right.  The slab bench below is by Kaspar Hamecher of Belgium. Kaspar's motto:  "Kaspar loves wood and his chainsaw".... also his blowtorch...

prepping the wood

finished trio of torched tables 

Pie Studio's chair made from ratan and fiberboard

Pie's "Tonecoon Lounger" made from water hyacinth (and other materials)

back view of the lounger

Egan Koo's festive "Hyde and Seek" chair

Daniel Widrig's anteateresque table shown in two positions

elegant chair by Daniel Widrig

organic pendant from Pie Studio

Sources:  Pie Studio, Kaspar Hamcher, Egan Koo, Daniel Widrig

Henryote & Cie is one of the oldest seat joinery manufacturer's in France. Founded in 1867 the company has prospered as it was passed down from generation to generation;  Dominique Roitel is the current owner and proprietor of this venerable company.  His philosophy is to combine their tradition of craftsmanship and old world knowledge of furniture with contemporary designs.  This has proven to be very successful for them as they have become well known aroound the globe for their fabulous work. Just a few of their pieces are shown below.

Little outdoor table and chair exhibited at Maison Objet in Paris

Aptly named the "mermaid sofa"  this beautiful piece was designed by Dominique Roitel and comes in a number of colors

Intricate detailing of one of their leather covered mini-bars

A luxurious place to take a nap....

Detail of the outdoor table

The workshop of Henryot & Cie at Liffol-le Grand, France

For Laduree

You might not expect this great rustic bar from them

sources:  Henryot & Cie

Anjali Mody is a self-confessed furniture fanatic who graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, and then went back to India to found Josmo Studio in Mumbai.  The furniture and lighting pieces are fresh and fun, and are uniquely Indian.  All pieces are also designed to be extremely functional and purposeful.

Below is the "Love Me Do" Ottoman

A set of Chester chairs

The fun and versatile Bari Bookshelf

The Maharaja Trunk can be a table AND a trunk

Neon Armchair

Whimsical"U-stack" tables

A sibling to the Chester chairs - this is the Chester sofa

Josmo strives to adopt sustainable practices in every stage of production.

Anjali Mody in Josmo Studio

Dusty the doe-eyed dog

 Sources:  Josmo Studio

Sit and Read is both a retail store and gallery. Owner Kyle Garner carries unique vintage pieces and has recently launched a line of contemporary furnishings. The teak frame of the sofa below is designed by Ib Kofod-Larsen, and the cushions are upholstered in dead stock Hudson Bay blankets. 

beautiful set of vintage handmade chairs

This chair was made by a company called Lensol-Wells and probably designed by partner Hobart Wells.This chair is a great character piece and  the previous owner took the time to strip it down to reveal the stunning textile underneath. 

Below is a great set of chairs by Arthur Umanoff

vintage wool blankets used as upholstery 

Kyle working the Brimford Market

Launch party invitation

These guys know how to put a contemporary spin on vintage pieces.

Sources: Sit and Read

One of the most respected and talented furniture artists of our day is Jae-Lyo Lee who produces art that happens also to be functional.  He can somehow transform his materials without compromising their nature. 

I discovered this rock installation displayed in my hotel on a recent trip to Korea

Another example of Jae-Lyo's flying rock style.

Jae-Lyo leaves the materials as they are but shapes the space around

Jae-Hyo Lee 

The pieces below are actually nails in charred wood.  this was painstakingly done by bending nails  in different dirctions and perfectly aligning them on the surface,so that the overall impression is one of changing depth and movement.

Sources:  Jae-Hyo Lee; Melt

Fernando and Humberto Campanas didn't start out wanting to be the most revered designers in Brazil.  Humberto was actually a practicing  attorney who enjoyed dabbling in sculpture.  His architect brother Fernando, convinced him to change direction and they partneered to try their hand at making furniture from recycled materials in 1983--they never looked back.  Their originality and whimsy gained them a huge following and critical acclaim. Awarded Best Designer status at this year’s Salon de Maison et Objet, the Campanas' were given carte blanche at Paris’ biggest design venue, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the exhibition Barroco Rococo until 24 February 2013.

this exhuberant gothic sofa stole the show

it would be a shame to place this against a wall!

corrugated cardboard ceiling detail at the Maison et Obet show

The brothers’ stay away from straight-edged minimalist works; focusing instead on the handicraft and recycled ‘street’ look that has been central to their work.

the Campanas brothers relaxing after a hard day of creating things

the Vermelha armchair is their most known chair.  It takes a number of days to manually build the seat by hand a high degree of weaving expertise is needed. Five hundred metres of special rope with an acrylic core, covered in cotton, are woven onto the frame to create a structure and then plaited by consecutive overlapping, leaving sufficient surplus to form a kind of random weave which creates an unusual padding.

chair detail

paying homage to the Thonet with a few playful touches

the backside of a sushi chair.  A small number of these chairs are produced in the studio each year and mad from rolled felt around a metal structure.  each chair is numbered.

detail of a sushi sofa

fun with plastic tubes 

tribal gothic armoire unveiled at the Maison et Obet

Sources:  Campanas Brothers, Design Boom, WGSN

Hillia Shamia takes wood working to another level. She was at the end of her four years as a product designer in Israel searching for a way to do something unexpected and fun with natural materials.  Her quest led her to experiment with taking entire cypress and eucalyptus trees and pouring molten aluminum directly onto their surfaces.  The hot metal burned off the exterior part of the tree and the molten aluminm leaked into the nooks and crannies.  When cooled, she cut the cast's surface to create the beautiful pieces shown below. 

The metal casting is a labor-intensive process; takign up to two weeks to perfect.

The "leakage" of the molten aluminum carbonizing into the nooks and crannies of the wood is the secret the success of each piece

The cooled log with legs on either side is now cut down the center and cleaned up.

The final shapes are perfect for tables and benches and Hillia takes orders directly from her website.  She currently lives and works in Tel Aviv. 

Sources: Hillia Shamia

The clocks and timepieces conceived by Eric Frietas are the product of a fevered brain.  Each piece is finely built of harvested metal bits,  intricately cut steel, and salvaged clock motors. Little by little Eric studied the dying craft of clockmaking to bring to life his own intricate machines. It took him almost a year of making his own tools (and a lot of mistakes) before he heard the first tick. This is appropriately called no. 6

over 1,000 pieces of steel were cut for the clock above

drawing of a watch design, and yes it is available as a tatoo

actual  watch, but I advise the tatoo if you're wearing knits...

Chain detail of a clock. In Eric's twisted designs you see that he plays with simple taken-for-granted components like this chain. Here he puts arabesque flourishes in places where they don't affect the function but do transform the design. A chain, or a gear, or a spring doesn't have to be boring.

No. 7

the artist

Credits: ericfreitas.com

I started this week by searching for vintage wallpapers but veered off the track when i saw the latest by NLXL.  They are a new company (opened in 2010) in Holland and are currently creating two new collections; "Brooklyn Tins"  for Merci Paris and a concrete series for Piet Boon.  They also carry a scrapwood collection by Piet Hein Eek which is super fun.  

Some examples of their Brooklyn Tins line: 

Piet Hein Eek's designs by NLXL.  It's washable and NO slivers!

Cool faux concrete paper by Piet Boon

Another great line of paper and fabrics is by the UK company Timorous Beasties; founded by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmon.  They met while studying textile design at Glasgow School of Art and they have a wayward, playful and sophisticated take on insects, plants and toiles. The Beasties also provide a bespoke service from custom colours to original artwork.

The Grand Thistle (one in a series)

This pattern is appropriately titled "Grand Blotch Damask"

TM's patterns have also been reproduced on concrete tiles using proprietary molds to get high definiition detail like the bee below

A close-up of the high definition of this concrete tile

Sources:  NLXL; Timorous Beasties

We were in Istanbul recently and decided to go antiquing in the city that spans Europe and Asia. With a little research I found that the locals go to a street called Çukur Cuma. After a lot of back and forth with a taxi driver we settled on pronouncing it something like Choocker Juma. Its in the heart of the 18th century part of town on a steep hill not too far from the Para Palace Hotel (a must see). Anyway here's a little walk down the hill.

Kocgiri Antiques;  antique Iznik tiles, architectural salvage and everything in-between

Try lunch at Kedi; a great little cafe serving regional Turkish cuisine - yum. They are popular with locals as we found out. Food is displayed behind a glass screen for the Turkish impaired - like us. While we were eating some political party members came through passing out roses to all the girls so I got one though they must have known I wasn't likely to vote. One of the local men gave me his and when we left we gave both to the proprietor's wife. She collected a nice little bouquet. 

18 Istanbul restores Industrial antiques, signs and they also make new items. I really wanted that Cigarette sign but couldn't figure out what to do with it.

why use a computer when you can have this?  All it needs is a new ribbon and it will last another 100 years.

What a great door. Unfortunately it was in use and not for sale. 

The Turks love ceiling decorations like this medalion - pretty impressive. 

These chairs were waiting for restoration. If you think you don't have enough space imagine these guys.

Ok, not antiques but you can't visit Turkey without trying their pickles. They pickle everything and we couldn't get enough of them. More yum.

Lol cats Turkish style. The bottom one is not for sale.

A friend collects Fezs and we found the mother-lode. Turks are experts at hand pounded felt and take pride in their dying skills. 

We didn't stop but what  nice store front.

Not sure what this meter was for but I hope you can read Arabic script.

You see these in a few shops. They are grain threshers used in the mainland wheat country. Made by embedding sharp stone shards into a plank. Whack you grain stalks agains them et voila. 

We did end up buying a few things and not every store was open so we'll be back the next time we're in town. We hear there is another district like this on the other side of the Bosporus in Asia, a short and cheap ferry ride away. 

Hangers never looked so good.  This unusual pendant lamp made from 25 plastic hangers rotated around a central bulb, is crafted by Sonic Design in Brooklyn.  Their goal was to liberate the hanger from it's dark, and lonely existence, so if you decide to purchase, please keep the light on......

Made from discarded walnut scraps, this table is a stunning example of deconstructivism in furniture design.  By Saftiuk Conservatory.

A unique four-sized storage box that can open on all four sides.  by Takeshi Miyakawa.

This jewel-like wallpaper is one of many handpainted designs by Eskayel, from Brooklyn New York.  Each design is handpainted and reproduced on recycled material. 

Shanon Campanro, founder and designer of Eskayel.

Named in honor of 1940's stride pianist Arthur Tatum,  this unique lounge chair by Thomas Rumple of Nine Stories Furniture, is repurposed from an abandoned upright found on the streets of Brooklyn. The seat is thin and nearly transluscent; setting off the beautiful framework of this chair.  Despite it's delicate appearance, this chair could easily seat your largest guest. It is composed of 36 mortise and tenons and 25 ivories.  Think of this chair next time you listen to  "Handful of Keys" 

Do you ever wonder what to do with your keys, coats, and bags when you come home?  This hallway table designed by Big Prototype serves a multitude of purposes. 

Um Projects used the exact dimensions of a true milking stool their updated design.  The great proportion combined with multiple color choices make this a must use for home or dairy.  

All the designers above are represented by Voos Furniture; who are dedicated  to celebrating and showcasing fresh new design in NYC and beyond.  Voos is located in a 1500sq space in the heart of Brooklyn.

Rustic furniture and organic forms have always fascinated me. You can find examples of rustic furniture throughout history and all over the world.  Tyically rustic furniture was made from whatever materials were on hand or in good supply.  Organic forms made into something functional can be bad or good but they always have a unique personality and a story to tell.  I worked hard at it for a number of years only to realize how difficult it is to do it well.  Tracking down and finding your materials in the woods is the easy part;  assembling them into something that you can be proud of is another matter.  Organic shapes are difficult to work with using conventional cabinetry methods - and the saying "you can't fight mother nature"  was probably invented by a frustrated furniture maker.

Laura Spector is a great example of a designer who can do this well walking the line between rustic and refined.  Her work is influenced more by the British decorative arts of 18th century, than the rustic style of the Adirondacks .  She somehow conveys the whimsy of natural forms while also suggesting wrought iron. 

She hunts the forests of Western Connecticut stalking the Oriental Bittersweet vine. The plant was imported from europe in the 19th century as a decorative plant, only to turn invasive and kill many trees and shrubs by strangulation.  She literally has saved hundreds of trees and carried off tons of vines in the process of gathering materials, keeping park landscapes healthy in the process.  

You could really classify Laura's work as outdoor art which also serves as a functional purpose but many of her pieces could be used indoors as well.

Below are a few examples of her work.  The first photo is of the artist at home in her Connecticut studio.

An example of one of her Bitterroot benches

these giant spheres are available in many sizes.  these are five, four and three feet in diameter

Sources:  Laura Spector Design; New York Times