Monthly Archives: December 2009

Christmas Blues

10 Replies

Rockefeller Christmas TreeThe tree is shedding, one is starting to get nervous about the bills coming in, the pants are tight, the sense is that there’s a whole new year looming ahead, but we have to remember what it really represents. It represents a period of hope, of renewal, of ending something old. 2009 was a disgusting year for all of us, I think , but here’s to the hope that 2010 will bring us a little more positive energy, health, love, etc, etc.

So sweep up the Christmas tree debris, pack away the balls and get ready to start a great new year!

Ask Vicente: India Recommendations

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DiningName: Herbie Parets
City: Miami
State: FL
Country: USA
Comment:

Hi Vicente,

I follow your blog regularly and have purchased from your store a couple of times. Your style, blog and store is a great inspiration to me and other designers I know as well.

I am going to India for 4 weeks in February and am very excited. I was wondering if you’ve been there and if so, do you have any recommendations on places to visit, markets to see, restaurants, etc.

I would greatly appreciate any advice.

Best,

Herbie

Vicente Responds:

I love India – you are going to have a great time, Herbie!

Some of my favorite places in India are:

India is a shopping paradise, the craft emporiums are good places with set prices for those who don’t like to bargain – it’s a pretty safe option. I don’t know if you have a travel agent, but Cathy Whitworth arranges a lot of the trips in India and goes there once or twice a year – she would be a great source for you. She’s been my travel agent for many, many adventurous trips!

Oh yes, be sure to stick only to bottled water – Delhi Belly is a nightmare.

Ask Vicente: Getting Into Photography

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Vicente Wolf photographName: Melissa Allam

Comment:

I just found this video off of the blog visual vamp.  Thank you so much for posting this.  It is great inspiration and motivation for me.   I have a two year degree in interior design and have decided to start my own business next year in interior and event design.  I decided this because friends keep asking me to do parties and weddings, so I have kept a file of picures and am starting my own business next year.  I have one question for you though.  I have taken all my own pictures with my little point and shoot camera.  I’ve thought about taking a photography class so I can take more professional looking pictures.  How did you do it when you first started out?

Vicente Responds:

First of all, stick to one thing first (you’re talking parties, photography and interiors) – master one thing first and then go onto the next. (Jack of all trades, master of none…) Photography for me was a natural follow on after I became successful in interior design – I wanted to enter a new career and it was the only way of getting published. I didn’t do any photography courses, but rather picked up a camera and started to figure it all out. I’ve never been one to attend courses and believe that if you get a good camera and have some patience, that’s the best way of figuring it all out.

Ask Vicente: Easel Cables

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EaselFrom: Katie Leslie

Subject: Easel Cables

Hello! A question for your “ask Vicente” column. I really enjoyed your Park Ave. apartment spread in Met Home this month with your tempered use of color. But about that flatscreen on the easel… what in the world do you do with all of the cables and cords?

Hope all is well,

Katie Leslie

Vicente Responds:

Katie, I use audio system tubing, which is flexible and comes in white, clear or black – it has a slit on the side and it consolidates all the cables – from the back of the TV into the wall. It looks like a little worm and in diameter it’s about an inch and a half. We run it down the back of the easel and then it slinks to the outlet. By the way, this project is as un-tempered as I get! I usually don’t work with such bold contrasts – oranges to blues… I try to stay in a much more subtle tonality.

Ask Vicente: Ribbon Chair

3 Replies

From: Mary Hayes
To: info
Subject: Ask Vicente

Ribbon ChairHello Vicente,

What talent you have.  I would so appreciate your advice. Attached is a photo of what I have to work with in my living room.  The ribbon chair is mixed in a room with traditional bookcase and desks.  Could you please suggest a style and color for a large sofa and two chairs and also a coffee table.  Sofa would be opposite an ivory brick fireplace and the chairs perhaps placed in front of the fireplace opposite the sofa.  The rest of the house has grey porcelain tile on the floors and tan and white walls/furnishings.  Thank You!

Mary

Vicente Responds:

Mary – try to place the desk in another part of the house. The mixture of the bookcase and the chair is okay, but the two pieces together start to overwhelm it. For upholstery of the sofa and club chairs, try to find one fabric that is much more classic and the other one to have more of a midcentury feel to it. I think the ribbon chair is like an accessory in the room – the color have nothing to do with what you’re saying the rest of the house is, but think of a dark tone for the sofa, a medium tone for the club chairs and consider reupholstering the ribbon chair in maybe the tone of the tile.

Ask Vicente: Floor lamps

2 Replies

LibraName: Judy Broughton
City: Boerne
State: Texas
Country: USA
Comment:

In your design choices, I often notice you use floor lamps with a white shade that usually are angled so it can be used for reading. I have hunted for something similar but without any luck. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
Judy

Vicente Responds:

The ones I used for many years have sadly been discontinued – they were such great lamps. FLOS has some really nice ones and I’ve started to use the Cedric Hartman floor lamp again, going back to the ‘80’s, but they’re so elegantly beautiful. Hinson has a great lamp called the Libra that’s in the same style as their wall arm lamps, and one that I use often as well.

Bonemarrow for Christmas

11 Replies

The holidays are a time for giving – gifts, time, money, but I’d like you to give something else.

Seun Adebiyi is facing the the battle of his life, and for his life. This 26-year old has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Time is running low and because he is from Nigeria, finding a match remains an exceptional challenge. In addition to fearlessly facing leukemia, Seun is a super-hero in many other rights: he is a Yale Law School graduate, a massage therapist, a private pilot, and an Olympic hopeful (in the skeleton!).

We need you to help raise awareness in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma. Only about 17% of African-Americans ever find a match.  We need help finding a match for Seun.

Seun’s employer, Goldman Sachs, will generously be sponsoring a bone marrow drive in New York City on January 10th. Goldman Sachs is also helping Seun take the search global, by sponsoring his travel to Nigeria, where he and his mother will host the first-ever Nigerian bone marrow drive.

If I haven’t yet convinced you that you need to register to become a bone marrow donor and tell everyone else to do the same, read this article in the  New York Times, and follow Seun’s blog here. If you have a blog, please help me spread the word by posting this on yours.

If you are not yet a registered donor, please register now at http://www.dkmsamericas.org/. All it takes is a simple cheek swab. You could save a life.

Ask Vicente: Thailand Shopping Hot Spot

5 Replies

3 Vases whiteName: Kati Curtis
City: New York
State: NY
Country: USA
Comment:

Vicente, i am another designer here in Manhattan, and I know you’re known for your extensive travels and the wonderful things you bring back to your showroom, VW Home. I’m traveling to Thailand this winter and I’d love it if you wouldn’t mind sharing some of your favorite places to shop for your clients. ?? Thank you!

Vicente Responds:

Hi Kati – Chatuchak Weekend Market is the best for shopping, but get there early on Friday – that’s when they set up and the crowds are less crazy. I suggest taking the new Skytrain to the end terminal called Morchit, which is exactly where the market is located. If you have to go on Saturday, get there at 8am. Many of the places are still closed then, but you’ll be there as the shops open up.

Chatuchak offers clothes, animals, books, plants, artifacts, unusual things, wooden workings, material, ceramics, baskets, antiques, plastic fruit, silk flowers, antiques, shoes, silverwear, jewelry and housewares, to name only a few. I have in the past brought items of clothing or bags that I wanted to have copied as the tailors are excellent at copying existing fashions. But keep checking it to be sure that it will fit correctly as they do sometimes screw up.

Design – Where to start…

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spadesHow can a designer conceptualize a job without having full information? It’s like deciding to marry someone before you meet them. You need to know what the perimeters are, what you are dealing with and only then can you start the creative process. Anything else is a waste of time.

In this office we always meet with the clients at our office first, look at any floorplans they may have and once we’ve agreed to work with each other, we go to the space to study the particular light or quirkinesses that we have to take into consideration, then we measure the space and photograph everything. From this we can start the design process.

Anything else is just building sand castles in the sand. That’s what most clients do, it’s not what a designer is supposed to be doing. A designer is supposed to be prepared, have all their information and work with facts combined with creativity and professionalism.