Today in New York City we are finally discovering spring weather. Spring always gets me excited about my garden, my home in Montauk and design inspiration. Inspiration is a topic I deal with daily when designing for clients or producing new products. I decided to share a past interview I did with House & Home magazine about the topic of inspiration. Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/MOF-l0wDOaE
This holiday season writer, Blue Carreon of Forbes.com contacted my New York office to find out what tips I can advise when decorating for the Christmas season. This is something I love to do because it gives me the chance to reveal some great tricks of the trade that won’t break the bank. This year, it’s all about potted evergreens!
Check out Forbes.com and click on the slideshow to learn how top decorators such as McDonald, Barry, Redd, Kelly Wearstler, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Charlotte Moss, Timothy Corrigan, Thom Filicia, Nathan Turner and Jonathan Adler are decking their homes for the holidays.
As someone whose clients prefer neutral color palettes, it’s refreshing to work on a job that requires colors that remind you of the South Pacific. So, you can imagine my excitement when the client’s “must haves” were vibrant colors for their Florida home. From fuchsia and cotton candy pink to orange – these intense colors brought back memories from my travels to Southeast Asia’s colorful street markets. When using color, remember that location of your home dictates what color palettes you should consider using. Consider cool grays and light blues if you live near mountains or yellows and greens if the property is costal. Do you have any methods that you use when working with bright colors?
Receiving my Honorary Doctorate from the Boston Architectural College in Interior Design was the start to an amazing weekend. Now I can really call myself a serious professional! After that, I arrived in Montauk where I was welcomed with pink champagne and applause from friends and family. The weekend ended with me in my garden – digging, pulling and planting. That was followed by walks on the beach. Life is good!
I cannot stress enough the importance of travel for stepping out of your normal environment. It opens your eyes and lets the child in you play. For me, this always brings such a strong creative energy. When I spent 3 days in Amsterdam earlier this summer I was able to think about new furniture designs, colorations and ideas for a proposed product that I am presenting to a manufacturer. It all came from the sheer pleasure of treating myself to an adventure. I feel that people who believe in staying at the office 24/7 are truly wrong; an accountant that I had many years ago always said that a designer makes money when he/she is out of office. I truly believe this. You don’t have to travel far to be inspired, just find a place where your eye can wonder and see things in a slightly different way. I promise it won’t be a waste of time.
I was so honored to be a judge at the Pratt + Paper & Ralph Pucci Design Competition and so thrilled to see this piece on it. It is very rare that I have to break my brain when picking the best, but I sure had to for this contest. Every single design was mind blowing and each one was so different and so intricate that it was almost impossible to judge. The experience was incredible, I hope you all enjoy the article.
Students: 27. Disciplines: four. Material: one. They all added up in “Pratt + Paper & Ralph Pucci.” Pratt Institute president Thomas F. Schutte initiated the competition and exhibition, for which undergrads and graduates studying interior, industrial, and fashion design or the fine arts were asked to use sheets of plain white paper, in any size, to create a garment or a sculpture. Fasteners were allowed, but the construction method had to be evident. As explained by the dean of the school of art and design, Concetta Stewart, the idea was to help students “understand the power of parameters as a catalyst for innovation.”
I was at an industry event the other night having a conversation with couple of designers about blogging. The general question was, what does one get from blogging and more so does anyone get work from it?
For myself I believe that most of my readers are designers ( I could be wrong) for me that makes it about sharing ideas, experiences and knowledge. Do any of you out there have a different experience with blogging? Have you ever received any work as a direct result from it?
When a friend says: “you must come and see my daughter perform, she has an amazing voice and is a terrific performer!” you immediately wonder, is this just the mother’s love speaking and what am I getting myself into?
Last night I went to see Rachel Brown perform and I was blown away, she has the sweetest, most haunting voice, she also writes her own songs. She performed with a quartet; three of the men are from Mali, the other one is from Senegal, the play a combination of electric guitar, talking drums, and other native instruments.
Talent & beauty run strong in this family, Rachel’s mother is the renowned wedding dress designer Amsale.
**For some reason we are having trouble uploading videos, so for now please see Rachel here**
I was lucky enough to be invited to sit in the VIP section directly in front Macy’s right across the street from where Matt Lauer was broadcasting to experience the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. All thanks to my good friend Chris Lipari and his connections.
We had to be there by 7:30am to be seated in the bleachers that thankfully had shelter from the weather. The morning was very cold and it got increasingly colder and colder as the day went on. But it was nothing because we got the see the Rockets, hundreds of kids from all over country dancing and banging on their instruments ( sometimes huddled in groups to stay warm), Broadway performances, and of course the floats and the balloons.
The Rockettes
Keeping Warm
There is nothing like seeing Spiderman floating down the street with The Empire State Building in the background. The day was a great send off to my trip to Florence.
Spiderman
Kermit
Hello Kitty
Kung Fu Panda
Confetti