DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: JOE GINSBERG'S MARMARA PARK AVENUE HOTEL

Marmara Park Avenue

One can say that New York City artist and designer Joe Ginsberg is a Renaissance man. With formal training in art, sculpture, color science and photography, Joe Ginseberg's multi-faceted background informs interior spaces with thoughtful ingenuity. The NYC Marmara Park Avenue, an American flagship of the Turkish hotel chain the Marmara Collection is his latest creation. The 1927 building located on 32nd street between Park and Lexington avenues underwent a full renovation to house the luxury boutique hotel,128 key units in the heart of Manhattan.

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

The cool factor about this forthcoming hotel and Joe Ginsberg's design is that it aims to make guests feel as if they're coming home.  Each hotel room is designed to look and feel more like apartments rather than the standard traditional hotel room layout. For the NYC visitor, this urban oasis is perfect for an extended stay.  The design includes custom-designed and individually produced items from artisans across New York City's five boroughs. Nothing mass produced. Love that!  The signs that this is going to be an unique experience is when you walk through the front doors. The black riveted iron façade is spectacular. Its a big, wow!  A neutral palette combined with richly colored accents and art indulges the visitor to find refuge from the busy New York City streets.

I'm excited to share an interview with Joe Ginsberg today!

YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE?

I create designs that are timeless and classic. Our interiors carry a distinctive hand made sense of craftsmanship evident in our unique material applications and custom fabrications. In my drawings, you can see the visual process of how one idea leads into the next. My work spans multiple platforms from my paintings to the interiors and collections I design. 

Private residence

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY?

To approach each project and creation with a new point of view each time.

Paul Rudolph Landmark Estate

DESCRIBE the vibe and creative process in your STUDIO?

The creative process is one that I embrace and aim to have my studio run in the same way. Together we work collectively as a team to unify our ideas and voice, bringing together our independent design aesthetics and goals.

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

which of your material innovations are your favorites and why?

It's hard to have a favorite child.

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

BIGGEST DESIGN IMPACT THAT inspired the marmara park avenue project?

A design impact hasn't inspired the Marmara project. Rather, it was my gut that told me to create the modern metropolis setting in the heart of the city.

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

LESSONS LEARNED ON THE  MARMARA PARK AVENUE PROJECT?

I continue to develop a deeper understanding of how to deal with challenges that arise with each project. 

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

MOST IMPACTFUL entity (space, art, music, etc) THAT has INSPIREd your work?

Nature, the street, Picasso and the Beatles.

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

BEST DESIGN ADVICE YOU FOLLOW WHEN YOU ARE UNDER THE GUN? 

Keep your cool. 

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

MANTRA YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING BY LATELY?

Lose yourself to find yourself. 

Marmara Park Avenue Hotel

Thank you Joe for the great interview! 

To connect with Joe, 

check out his WEBSITE, FACEBOOK, TWITTER

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DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: Catherine Latson Organic Narratives

Natural materials take central stage in Artist Catherine Latson's work. She takes cues by nature's intrinsic properties and allows her organic materials to inform her work. What really caught my eye was the natural structure, patterns, and textures of Catherine's garment series at the 2014 Architectural Digest show.... In amazement I had to step closer to understand what I was looking at. In her garment series, she explores the language of clothing and each piece explores different personalities  - reaching corrosion, imperfection, and decomposition. Catherine Latson adds,  "these personalities are the making of good stories. Ultimately, my work is designed to complement any space that welcomes whimsical use of natural materials." 

I'm excited to share an interview with Catherine Latson today:

SIGNATURE STYLE

Weaving stories using unconventional materials in unconventional ways is, I suppose,my signature style. The Garment series explores the language of clothing. Clothing is a uniquely human experience and I want to turn that experience on itʼs head by offering unconventional versions of the packages we put ourselves in and, perhaps, too often define ourselves by. While the forms I offer are recognizably human, they are twisted, abstracted, seemingly decomposed. The materials confuse the situation even more. I want to keep the viewer guessing. I reach for the imperfect and corroded. Those are the

makings of good stories.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

I donʼt get caught up in concept. My work doesnʼt preach. I have a penchant for the whimsical and hope my work offers something a little different.

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

I let my materials take the creative lead. I am drawn to organic “stuff”, to natural textures and structures. I spend much of my time gathering, dismantling, and concocting new ways to assemble the crazy things I find. I plan very little in advance. Materials are pushed and pulled until something unfolds and I run with it.

GOALS I SET

Balance. Not taking oneself too seriously.Prying myself from producing work to do the business of an artist (PR, etc.) more often.

THE 'A HA' MOMENT

I started taking notice of framed antique clothing, everything from christening dresses and wedding veils to military uniforms and undergarments. What a strange trend. While I respected the sentimentality of these keepsakes, there was something haunted about them. There was no narrative, no story, no “who”. They were shells of human stories, little souls frozen in time, stained and frayed. Thatʼs when I decided to weave stories.

LESSONS LEARNED IN THE GARMENT SERIES

Avoid fragile. Some of the most beautiful organic materials are also the most delicate. While the finished product looks great, they donʼt tolerate a lot of moving around. Mother nature wins every time. I used a pile of dry (or so I thought) seed pods in one piece. Midway through making the piece, the pods opened, releasing fuzzy, milkweed-like fluff. It was actually pretty cool, but imagine if it happened after the piece was purchased. Sell to buyers with a sense of humor.

BIGGEST DESIGN IMPACT

While the fashion industry is not a place I look to for inspiration, Alexander McQueen was a brilliant mind. He made the grotesque beautiful and broke all the rules with theatrics. He loved the mechanics of nature. He didnʼt create costumes, he created creatures. His exhibit, Savage Beauty, at the Met was breathtaking. Each piece had a haunting story. I was transfixed.

MOST IMPACTFUL SPACE

Twin Knolls. This private Vermont family retreat was designed and built in the 20ʼs by Paul Thayer (famous for the Long Trail Lodges). It is an earthy, magical place. Hearths you can walk into flank the two-story main room. Birch bark lampshades, twisted root drawer pulls and door handles, and bark covered railings, bed frames, and structural beams are just a few of the details that make this place unique. Bench swings hang inside from timber rafters. Porches wrap the place with views of the Green Mountains. Critters come and go, but we share the place on good terms. Our family has spent 50

years there and it hasnʼt changed an ounce. It is a rustic work of art. It is a gem.

DESIGN ADVICE UNDER THE GUN 

Ask yourself if you want to be working for someone who has you under the gun.

MANTRA OF LATE

Seek quiet and simplify. It is such a noisy world. Everyone is talking. We need to turn off the machines and listen.

Thank you Catherine!!

You can connect with Catherine Latson on her WEBSITE

Image credits: Catherine Latson

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Designer Spotlight: Apryl Miller, inhabitable art

Apryl Miller was not an artist when she decided to craft an expressive home for her family. She always knew she was creative but it wasnt until she began to work on her apartment that her creative juices starting flowing, more like pouring out of her! Growing up in a DIY family, she embraces the new , the different and out-of-the-box thinking; though she adds,"my version of it is - there is no box." Apryl has changed the way we think about living...she ultimately has made a world unto itself with bright colors, intricate patterns, imperfect furniture that is strictly made by her....nothing is store bought. There is a lot of emotion in her work and her apartment is basically an inhabitable art installation in the heart of New York City. 

I am so happy to share an interview with Apryl Miller today.........

SIGNATURE STYLE

Dense patterns and bold colors. The more the better.

Detail-Master Bath tile floor

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
I put as many colors and patterns together as I possibly can and I never think of matching, but, rather, of juxtaposing and cacophony.  The more wrong my combinations seem, the more right they are, as a harmony rises to the surface from my mixtures.

Master Bath

BIGGEST DESIGN IMPACT

The melding of my visual work with my writing.  They come together now, instead of being separate expressions.

There Where and The How Left you and your Silence, 2012

GOALS SET TO BECOME AN EXPERT AT ART INSTALLATIONS

I never set any goals to become an expert, I work intuitively and I just let my wellspring flow.

Master Bath

LESSONS LEARNED ON THE HYPERALLERGIC APARTMENT

Someone once said to me, "It's not that you think outside the box, but with you, there is no box."

Detail-Master Bath tile floor

MOST IMPACTFUL SPACE THAT INSPIRES YOU

I am a church goer, so I am always moved by the presence of God, that is inherent in religious buildings.  Stepping inside my master bath always uplifts me, as it is the embodiment of what I call the home as a heart thumping, breathing entity.

A Daughters Curtained Stage With A Bed Tucked Underneath.

BEST DESIGN ADVICE YOU FOLLOW WHEN YOU ARE UNDER THE GUN

Finding oneself a deer in the headlights yields magical results.

My Studio Bathroom Sink

MANTRA YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING BY LATELY

God is in the details. And. I have nothing to lose.

 Table Leg Views In The Kitchen

MANY THANKS, Apryl!!

You can connect with Apryl Miller on her

WEBSITE & BLOG

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Living Growing Art in Manhattan by Plantwall design

Vertical Gardens are growing in Manhattan by Plantwall design! I met Marie- Christing Steffanetti of plantwall design at Wanted Design NYC and my eyes googled at the spectacular vertical green display.  I had to learn more and see some of her other green creations...She later shared with me her gorgeous two-story garden creation in a West Village apartment building. Two-thousand plants with approximately 25 different plant species create a kaleidoscope of color! 

 

A vertical garden is easy to build and request low maintenance according to Marie. Their patented invention consists of a hydroponic system that nurtures live plants specially positioned on a vertical wall.

Different variety of plants are able to be nourished and watered with an integrated customized automatic irrigation system. Amazing how the plants stay in place....they are securely hooked onto a designed fabric filled with pockets of soil. 

Each positioned plant is like a brush-stroke to a painter. Its living, growing art! 

 

You can connect with plantwalldesign on their WEBSITE and FACEBOOK 

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MoD Must Have: Element Ceramic's Tactile Porcelain

MOD MUST HAVES

pure, novel, stylish

for sculpture lovers

Heather Knight

"the natural world holds a wealth of imagery from which I filter into this work" 

I stumbled upon Heather Knight of Element ceramics a gifted ceramicist whose work captivates your eye with all its textural movement. Inspired by nature, the clay becomes alive with repetitive texture and produces the illusion of movement. I wouldn't be surprised if something started to wiggle..... Heather is constantly looking for new hints of inspiration in nature on walks through the woods and beach adventures. She adds, "I look at nature for inspiration, the ocean, seeds, leaves, flowers, grass and trees. I collect objects and images that inspire me and let them sink in, I try not to over think and work intuitively."

I asked Heather to tell us about her creative process. She adds, "All of my items are made by hand. I build the bases of the tiles with slabs and then individually apply each texture - a process of delicate, repetitive hand work. The bowls all start with slabs and then I impress the texture, making each mark with my hand or tools." 

Heather's craft has such a simple form; yet each piece is so dynamic and complex. You just want to reach in and touch it. Her bowls would look fantastic as a centerpiece on a kitchen island.... Her sculptures would add dramatic interest to a styled bookcase or dining room table...... peruse a little..

You can connect with Heather on her WEBSITE,  FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and ETSY, yes you can purchase one of these beauties!!!

(all images by Heather Knight)

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MoD Must Have: Volcanic Glaze Sculptures

MOD MUST HAVES

pure, novel, stylish

for sculpture lovers

Progression, 2012

Surf Volcanic Glaze, cone 6

22 tall x 18 x 16

There's something about ceramicist Josh Herman's work that keeps you engaged...its dynamic, its organic, its geologic, its visceral, its mindful, its one-of-a-kind sculpture. His creative ceramic work ranges in scale and has been seen in galleries, hotels, and luxury decor shops for the home.

Josh is a master of the textural and tactile. His sculptural forms come alive with his applied volcanic glaze, a glazing technique which took seven years to master. The outcome is an innovative surface that is pocketed with craters. 

Progression, his latest piece forces the viewer to walk around it, to explore its texture and dynamic forms. Like a cubist painting, Progression can only be enjoyed from multiple views....take a walk....

Josh, also a friend,  shared with me his process of this very special piece. I asked him what his inspiration was for Progression .... 

He adds, "I do not so much think of inspirations but I think of my process about pieces. In this piece, I wanted to carry forward the principles of movement and a 360 degree dynamic quality that I achieved in Growth and Chaos. I also wanted to work in a smaller scale. Larger pieces are more demanding in attention, time and engineering. (Read a previous interview HERE with Josh Herman to see Growth and Chaos)

As I began to work on the piece I was not all that excited by it. At about 12 inches of height, I was bored and not seeing the organic movement that I had hoped for. My assistant said, "Just keep building taller." And that is what I did, I just keep adding to it and really the top half is where it got more exciting. Since, I did not think it was anything special, I was freed (in my mind) to experiment more. I started to add forms that stretched the form in different ways. Then the top tube forms and undulations just brought it all together. The piece really came alive. 

As the viewer rotates around the form, there are totally different shapes and  views. Its almost as if there are many different sculptures to look at. Balance seems to be a key principle in my work. So much so that the forms can be too uniform all the way around. I mean that if you look at it from any angle it would be similar to the other angles. So I want to keep balance but add in a more organic free form quality. The metaphor I think of is a succulent that grows in amazing patterns and shapes. Its different from any angle you look at it but its all the same language. Make sense?

After I fired it, I thought it was a good piece. It had a quite quality to it. But as we lived with it for a bit of time, it grew on all of us here in studio. That's really the test, does it get more interesting over time? Well, this piece certainly did get better. I think its a really good successful effort. The new owner is thrilled with it.  She is a modernist living in a Norm Applebaum (He is a big Modern architect here in San Diego. He is still alive) designed house. Its super cool and I thrilled to have a piece in that house."

 

Thank you Josh! I really enjoyed reading about the process. Progression is the perfect name for this piece as it perfectly encompasses time, and space!

You can connect with Josh on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, GOOGLE+

You can purchase some of his volcanic pieces via DESIGN WITHIN REACH.


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