MOD NARRATIVE - CITY DREAMIN'

This MOD narrative features a cityscape with floating décor accessories inspired by Robert Polidori, a photographer whose love was avant-garde film. He thought of rooms as metaphors and vessels for memory. Here, there is stillness, contemplation and beauty. 

DIFFA DINING BY DESIGN 2013 - ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST SHOW

This year I was excited to be able to go to the Architectural Digest Home show with #BlogTourNYC - Modenus as a BlogTour alum. I saw some wonderful old friends and met some fantastic new designer friends from abroad amid very tasty Marys & Mimosas, a great event hosted by Veronika Miller of Modenus and the AD Home show.

Part of BlogtourNYC was DIFFA’s (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) Dining by design.. this is the part of the Architectural Digest Home show where amazing talent creates unique dining–scapes that inspire and amaze. A special treat was when Arteriors owner Mark Mousa and famed Interior Designer Barry Dixon gave us a personal tour!  The creativity this year was beyond amazing: jewel tone colors, layers of texture, bold graphics, and hints of old-world craft combined with modern touches....

today's ANGLE: the Cleveland Museum of Art

.......an attitude, a point of view, a design perspective 

from Interior designer, go-to color maven and artist Lisa Smith. Known as the "color girl and thinking interior designer," Lisa runs her own firm called Interior Design Factory Ltd, in conjunction with her fantastic blog Decor Girl. You can follower her on Twitter and Facebook.

Today's city slant :  
The Architecture Equals the Art Collection. 
Cleveland,OH 

FOTOBLECH: PERFORATED SHEETS IN ARCHITECTURE AND ART

COMPANY: fotoblech

PRODUCT: perforated metal on aluminium, stainless steel, synthetics

CHARACTER: pixel grid of different sized perforations. Coated by anodizing or electroplating.

Fotoblech company has given designers a creative platform to dream up unique ideas with perforated metal sheets. With multiple sized perforations from large to small, in conjunction with color gradients, shadows and highlights, metal appears three-dimensional. See some of the options below.

BORDBAR: RE-PURPOSED FURNITURE MADE FROM AIRPLANE TROLLEYS

MOD MUST HAVES

pure, novel, stylish

for furniture lovers

These colorfully graphic trolleys really caught my eye at the imm_cologne show! 

Bordbar, a Cologne based company ingeniously transformed authentic PAN AM airplane serving trolleys into unique pieces of furniture for a wide array of functional uses. CEO Valentin Hartmann of Bordbar told me that "we have found new homes for these trolleys."  I love all the possibilities! See only some of them below:

today's ANGLE: RICH ROOTS WITH A TOUCH OF MOD IN NASHVILLE

an attitude, a point of view, a design perspective 

from Interior Designer Kim Salter of Design Thoughts blog 

Today's city slant :  Nashville, TN

I am very excited to announce that my dear friend Kim of Design Thoughts blog will be coming back every 15th of the month to give her slant or 'ANGLE' on what TO DO, design HOT-SPOTS and her perspective on Nashville!!

small town in the BIG CITY!!

OGASSIAN CONCRETE

LA Designer Daniel Ogassian designs the most wonderful concrete tiles stemming from pure geometry. To Daniel,"the DNA is where he finds the life, the activity , the movement."

COLLECTING DESIGN PROGRAM: HISTORY,COLLECTIONS HIGHLIGHTS

Modern magazine presents the first educational program devoted to the study of collecting modern and contemporary design in partnership with New York School of Interior design called: Collecting Design: History , Collections, Highlights!

Join Daniella Ohad Smith Ph.D. on an exploration of themes and styles such as French Art Deco, Mid-Century American design and Postmodernism in a weekly two-hour class. 

There will be some amazing guest speakers including: Robert Kaplan of Cathers & Dembrosky, Carole Hochman of Barry Friedman LTD, Alberto Aquilino of 1950, Jeffrey Head arts writer , and more!

For more information and to register, click HERE.

BARKCLOTH AND BARKTEX: TEXTILE MADE FROM TREES

MOD Must Haves
pure, novel, tactile

for textile lovers

Do designers know about the company Bark Cloth and its special textile handmade from the bark of ficus trees in Uganda, Africa called Barktex? The bark is taken from trees and beaten into sheets. The bark will grow back every year so this textile is sustainable and ecological. Take a look at its unique texture, tactility and character:

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The production is simple but craftsmanship is required to produce excellent quality. Backed with technical fleece or shimmering silk, dyed with rare plants and coated against fire and water, the potential range of use is enormous: fashion, interiors and automotive.

BLINGCRETE: REFLECTIVE CONCRETE

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Reflective Concrete + Light = Blingcrete! 



Logically when you think of concrete you think of heavy forms used for construction purposes. A new product called BlingCrete, produced by Hering Bau International uses retroflection, which means rays of light bounces back to its source. Its concrete surface feels light and becomes enlivened!

ARTIST PETER BYNUM'S BRANCHING ARCHITECTURE

(images taken at AD show 2012)

Dive into Peter Bynum's underworld....

His innovative paintings are mesmerizing! Organic forms with branching architecture, whether capillary or plant-life are surrounded by 360 degrees of light. Forms appear to float in between 6 to 10 layers of glass. Your eye moves through semi-opaque and transparent spaces.  The paintings are hooked up to dimmer switches so the viewer can change the intensity of the light and fully engage and experience the work. Would be a wonderful focal point to any room!

Seeing his illuminated paintings on glass is very exciting. Peter Bynum is showing some of his work at the Musuem of Arts and Design exhibition entitled "Playing with Fire" focusing on the American history of studio glass now showing thru September 2013.. 

ORGANIZED DESK WITH THE MOS

MOD Must Haves

pure, novel, tactile

for TYPE A personalities

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Having a problem with tons of wires on your desk? 

Need something to organize you? 

Living in a computer complex world, I gotta a simple solution for you, the MOS Organizer! 

MOS sent me their Magnetic Organization System (MOS) and I have to say it just does that, organize your computer wire mess!

MIELE AND THE COLOR WHITE

The color White harmonizes and balances space

PHOTOGRAPHY: JON MILLER, HEDRICH BLESSING

One of the most important examples of modernist architecture is the Farnsworth house, designed by architect Mies van der Rohe. It's minimalist white steel framing and clear glass walls celebrate simplicity, transparency and purity of form. The Farnsworth building is the architect's statement about the potential of a building to express "dwelling" in its simplest essence.

The distinguished German appliance company, Miele has employed this respect for pure lines and transparency when developing the new kitchen series Brilliant White Plus. 

AUGMENTED REALITY: EPFL + ECAL

on the MDG RADAR in New York City


get digitally INTERACTIVE 

Eyebeam Art & Technology Center unveiled Gimme More: Is Augmented reality the next medium?, an award winning project by EPFL + ECAL LAB   whose core mission is training, research and technology. Something not to miss and is still going on thru Saturday, March 2. The public is confronted  with more than just any exhibition. With digital technology, an object can tell a story, reveal information and force conversations between body and space. 

Artists are questioning the prospects of what makes the value of an object, its identity, and our relationship with it. There are some intriguing ideas here, certainly projects that demonstrate how the importance of our body determines the placement of virtual information. Take a peek at some of the images I took below.

TEXTUR by CEM SEVER

I met the artist, Cem Server and he demonstrated how the motion of your body controls the location of digital data. I really enjoyed Textur and how it turns the user's body into an antenna that collects the surrounding flows of digital information. 

He questions, "Are we aware of the virtual stream of information submerging us? Are we in tune with the content?"

ModDesignGuru nominated in 2013 JDR Industry Blogger Awards

OMG, I am so excited to announce that ModDesignGuru has been nominated as Best Architecture Blogger in the 2013 JDR Industry Blogger Awards!  JDR (Jackson Design and Remodeling) has been a pioneer in the design and build remolding industry for over 20 years. They believe in embracing innovation and excellence. I am so honored and amazed that my design blog ModDesignGuru has been recognized!!

Voting is open NOW until 4/12/13 at 4 p.m. (Voting limited to one vote per person/computer.)

I would so appreciate your vote!!! Please vote for Mod Design Guru here.

TREND: JEWEL TONES IN DESIGN

Anna Sui - Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Fall 2013

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colorful, artsy, chic

Jewel tones (purple, orange, pink, red, etc) was the color scheme of Anna Sui's collection for New York Fashion week Fall 2013. Rich, saturated colors also hit the international trade show imm-cologne in Cologne, Germany. Eye-popping furniture and lighting designs  splashed with intense color made designs dynamic and distinctive. 

Montana is a system that offers a world of possibilities. You have the freedom to create unique and personal storage creations for your home. 42 units, 4 depths, 49 colors and 10 different designs. A whole wall of color, love it! 

3D PRINTING: NERVOUS SYSTEM

3D printing, a new construction method has become a buzz word over the past few years. You can make almost anything from aerospace parts, to jewelry to products for home design. The process is as follows: you enter a CAD drawing and the printer produces thin layers of materials, fusing them together turning your creation into a three-dimensional object. Voila!

Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jess Louis-Rosenberg of Nervous System design company are creating some awesome affordable lighting, jewelry and housewares using 3d-printing. All inspired by nature with complex and unconventional geometries. I was amazed to learn that on their site you can create your very own custom cellular jewelry and sculptural design using their Cell Cycle design app. Click HERE.  

(all images via n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com)

Connect and learn more on their 
WEBSITE, FACEBOOK & TWITTER

TRUFIG: flush wall mounted interior solutions

MOD Must Haves
pure, novel, tactile, wondrous 
for detail lovers

A representative from the TRUFIG company came to my office. I was blown away by their product! Their revolutionary flush mounted solutions are great for architects and designers who focus on modern details.  

Say goodbye to ugly looking switch or outlet covers.

Trufig's cover plates seamlessly disappear into any wall surface! 

Outlets mesh into sheetrock walls:

CREATIVE CATWALKS AT NY FASHION WEEK FALL 2013

BEYOND THE BREATHTAKING FASHION AT THE 2013 MERCEDES BENZ FASHION WEEK, 

IT'S THE EVENT DETAILS THAT MAKE A SHOW.

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 JASON WU

AN OVER-SCALED CRYSTAL CHANDELIER SET LOW TO THE GROUND SET THE MOOD

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PAMELLA ROLAND

FEELING THE OPULENCE OF RUSSIAN PALACES 
SEEN IN THE INTRICATE PAVED-LIKE FLOORING AND BROCADE WALLS

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PRABAL GARUNG

STRONG, FOCUSED AND CONFIDENT WARRIOR WOMEN ACCENTED BY 

STRONG, PUNCTUATED LIGHTING

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MARC JACOBS

THE SUNS WARMTH CASTS ROMANTIC SEPIA COLORS

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DONNA KARAN

ANGULAR METAL WALLS ECHO THE LINES 
AND DRAPING OF THE MATERIALS 
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SALLY LAPOINTE

FIERY NEON LIGHT BEAMS DEFINE THE CATWALK

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RALPH LAUREN

CHANDELIERS ADD A HISTORICAL LOOK

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MONIQUE LHUILLIER

A PROJECTION OF MALACHITE OPULENCE 
EMITS THE BACKDROP OF THE STAGE

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