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Bamboo Unlimited: Marcelo Villegas Chairs

As a suitable tribute to a marvelous material, here’s a chair by Colombian bamboo builder and designer Marcelo Villegas. While too much of newly-designed bamboo furniture looks like you have to give up something to use it (like comfort, stability and style, for example), Villegas’ works are artistic masterpieces and … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Christmas Shopping in Bali Lesson 2: Word of Mouth

This year there are only five places to go Christmas shopping in Bali. Number Two: Word of Mouth, on Jalan Kunti near Bali Deli. The place is a showroom-playroom with a cafe and bar. Talk about one stop shopping. If you have to find gifts for everyone on a long … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Brussels: Apotheosis of the Arbitrary and the Extraordinary Ordinary

We are in Brussels today, where the arbitrary is deliberate, and the unexpected is . . . well . . . expected. Eccentricity is ordinary, serendipity is a ubiquity, and we keep bumping into people we know, as if it were all scripted . . . for the theatre of … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Hotel Tugu and Word of Mouth Bring Bebel Gilberto to Canggu

Brazilian diva Bebel Gilberto gave a surprise concert last Friday at Hotel Tugu Bali. The lovely Lucienne Anhar, la princesa de Tugu is always full of surprises. She and her mischievous friends Valentina Audrito and Abhishake Kumbhat cooked up the idea of the concert just three days in advance. Bebel … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 2 Comments

Bored with Boring Bali Furniture? Yaari Rom’s Got Insane Alternatives

This is seriously crazy furniture from certifiably wacky Bali-based artist, Yaari Rom. So if you’re bored of synthetic rattan sectionals and routine teak garden furniture, go see Yaari. Bali is a magnet for creative eccentrics, but few are as prolific and irrepressible as Yaari is. He does furniture, furnishing fabrics, … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 2 Comments
Tagged on : furniture design

Shoe. Chair. Design Synchronicity? Or Separated at Birth?

At left is a shoe by Rem Koolhaas and Galahad Clark, from their new collection of footwear for their UK footwear brand, United Nude. At right is a chair by Joris Laarman Lab at the Friedman Benda gallery in New York. Strange. Are black webs the new black? Dezeen blogged … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Roger W. Hollander, Irma Lake, and “Buffalo” Bill Gates

Last June I heard Bill Gates bought Irma Lake Ranch in Wyoming, the property of a dear friend of mine, Roger W. Hollander. I was happy to receive the news. I loved this place passionately, and will never forget the times that I spent there. Knowing the ranch remains in private hands is somehow heartening. … Continue reading

Author : Susi
Comment Number : 16 Comments

Living Modern: Embrace Time, Return to the Mountain

The recent mass mania for rigorous modernism has tended to vivisect what is most human in our homes, workplaces and public spaces. When the seminal modernist, Le Corbusier (above) declared, “a house is a machine for living in,” the operative word was living. The intention was to shape structures, spaces, … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Javanese Antique Furniture Enters the Realm of Fine Art

ICON Asian Arts (Bali) and Editions Didier Millet (Singapore) are collaborating to raise Javanese antiques to the level of fine art. The Bali gallery will host on 3 December 2009 two simultaneous events: the opening of the world premier exhibition of the Smith-Tirtoprodjo Collection of Javanese antiques; and the launch of … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Custom Furniture: 90% Perspiration

Last week was spent with two designers from Douglas Durkin Design, Greg Elich and Andrew Horn. They were in Bali to work on a collection of extraordinary custom furniture for a residence in Hawaii. For those of you who might imagine that creating high-end custom furniture is pure glamour, just … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Haunted by Gervasoni’s Ghost

We’ve found once again an extraordinary line of furniture that just works. Comfortable, stylish, elegant, confidently irreverant. It’s Gervasoni’s Ghost collection, a semi-spooky, seams-out fog of soft seating. When you have a space containing art and artefacts worthy of attention, you can either go museum-bench rigid with the upholstered pieces, … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Here Materials Matter Most

Been looking for alternatives to hard-edged modern-minimalist rectilinearity? Alternatives suited to a non-urban, natural island lifestyle? Here’s one – – furniture, lighting and accessories by Bleu Nature. This is rustic primitive minimalism without apology. Driftwood and hairballs against icy white set the tone of their new 2008-2009 collection. It’s beachy and … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Al Fresco Elegance by Basco

We’ve discovered a Spanish design firm that makes elegantly understated structures and furniture for living outdoors. The simplicity of their aluminum pergolas, furniture and accessories makes such a beautiful backdrop for beautiful people. Gandia Blasco’s outdoor collection is a blank canvas on which I long to compose perfect al fresco … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
Comment Number : 1 Comment
Tagged on : tropical furniture

Get Met Mania This Summer : Special Exhibitions Galore

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has outdone itself this year with a schedule of summer exhibitions to amaze its seasonal sea of visitors and keep the revolving doors turning at 78rpm until “back to school” time comes around. We don’t usually go Baroque here, but must make note of Art … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Chris Lehrecke Furniture : It Just Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This

Almost roshi-like in his clarity, acuity, devotion and low profile, Chris Lehrecke is a modern furniture master whose studio in upstate New York recalls Shaker values in its robust simplicity. Yet Shaker furniture his is not. The simplicity is there, and the earnest sobriety. Yet here is a collection that … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design
Author : Susi
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Interior Design, As It Should Be

One of our favourite interior design firms is Douglas Durkin Design. Douglas and his partner in the firm, Greg Elich, are two of the smartest, most honest and most genuinely talented designers out there. Specialising in high end residential work, the firm has grown exponentially since it was founded, exclusively … Continue reading

Filled under : Furniture Design , Interiors
Author : Susi
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Tagged on : interior designers

The Design Library for Textilians

An amazing resource in New York State, serving the world.  The Design Library sells and licenses antique textile designs from their vast collection of original documentary textiles. Most of their clients are in home furnishing, fashion and graphic design industries.  They have satellite offices in London and Manhattan, and staff … Continue reading

Filled under : Design , Furniture Design , Interiors , Textiles
Author : Susi
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Tagged on : pattern