The Weekend Design

Breaking the back of the couch…its a real thing.  Click here. Love it. 

I saw the idea for this homemade “happy” on Design Sponge.  It was the perfect sewing challenge and an appropriately sentimental “happy” for a friend of mine who is getting married and insisted on no gifts.  The typewriter provides a vintage touch, while one can indulge on a small swatch of fabulous fabric.  This opens up a world of of possibilities; typing on fabric, my mind is churning.

Simply roasted with fresh ingredients–couldn’t be better.  Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower from Bon Appetit.

I have been learning a great deal in my life about simply doing the next thing.  Unsure of the journey ahead, I can often retreat into stagnation–as if the inability to plan 10 steps negates the right-ness of the next, single step.  The garden table was such a first step; the steps that followed (the copious purchasing of plants each weekend) followed with graceful fluidity.  A peak at what’s blooming…

I was recently introduced to “donkey ears,” a member of the kalanchoe family.  I was instantly smitten; the garden shop was unsure whether it had been propagated in shade or sun and recommended I ease it into a sunny spot, after a warm-up period in the shade.  Mine has almost doubled in sized; clearly happy.  New plants are easily started with the ‘babies’ at ear’s end.  I have started a few–one for a dear man, practically a second father to me, with whom I get lost learning about what is blooming in his garden.

Ran across these wonderful photographs by Laurent Chehere–a strong artistic flair to beautiful photographs.  Only too sad one can’t scoop up a copy.  I think they would be wonderful on an art wall with a  bit of both the traditional and avant-garde.

Patrick Blanc’s work truly astounds me–vertical gardens provide such a showcase.  It is so interesting how the eye travels across the wall noticing the fluent intricacy, then doubling back to notice the separate varieties of plants installed.  What an art.

 Rudi Double Loop – Roll and Hill; Bluff City 14-Inch – Roll and Hill; Spiral Pendant – Serena & Lily; Marmont Pendant – Serena & Lily; Orange Murano Glass Disc Chandelier – House of Honey – 1st Dibs; Sputnik-like, Round Brass Chandelier with Crystal Glass Adornments by Emil Stejnar – Galerie D Epoca – 1st Dibs; Blake Pendant – Jayson Home; Muriel Chandelier – Jayson Home; Interiors courtesy of Elle Decor and House Beautiful.

By a severer taste than mine these houses would all be mocked perhaps; yet I cannot help thinking that those who designed them and their gardens achieved their object, which was to suggest happiness.

– C. S. Lewis

The MOMA is featuring an exhibition on Henry Labrouste March 10th through June 24th.  I neglected to see the structures which are considered Labrouste’s seminal works: Bibliotheque Nationale and Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve in Paris, last summer.  The MOMA’s exhibition explores how “influence can lead to innovation.” The academics, including French nationals, interviewed for the MOMA’s exhibition tell of how the appreciation for Labrouste was birthed by American architects–who saw Labrouste’s work with new eyes in the 1960’s.  Since that time, appreciation for Labrouste has steadily grown and his structures more ardently admired.  The exhibition discusses the impact of technology on public spaces and the envisioned future of the public library.  The video below brought to my attention the proposed modernization of the New York Public Library, which we will discuss soon.  I have an almost instinctual rejection at the thought.

Labrouste is credited for a host of proficiencies.  I couldn’t put it any better than the New York Times piece by Michael Killaman, “In our era of starchitects he makes an instructive case for his unwillingness to compromise, his dedication to function, his decorative originality and his unorthodox hybrid aesthetic, which married industry to classicism.”  Take a peak and watch the videos–particularly the French academics!