Postcards from Ogata
Alex Bates
Good morning Paris. The early bird gets the worm, right? Today is all about Ogata. A magical wabi sabi oasis in the middle of the marais.
Read MoreNotebook
Leaving your nest.
Alex Bates
In search of the balance of roots + wings. Excited for new adventures but comforted knowing this little home waits. We’re off.
Read MoreHighland Lodge : Wanderlust Wednesday
FLINT and KENT
Researching last-minute spots to spend my birthday watching the Northern Lights...Iceland? Greenland? or Northern Scotland? Check out this incredible home in the Scottish Highlands with interiors by UK designer, Suzy Hoodless. I wonder if they mind if we drop in...
This incredible lodge is constructed out of granite, steel, and glass, designed by leading American architect Moshe Safdie, sitting in a 57,000-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands. The project was years in the planning, an initial meeting with Moshe at The Metropolitan Hotel, London, on Christmas Eve, and many years of traveling to and from Scotland on various modes of transport.'... more here.
Niveous: Word of the Day
FLINT and KENT
One of my New Year's resolutions is to expand my vocabulary, so until I lose steam on this endeavor, I wake up to a new word every day thanks to my handy little dictionary app. Imagine how appropriate it was to wake up one morning in our cozy spot in Telluride to a beautiful snowfall outside the window, and the word of the day is:
niveous |ˈnivēəs|adjective: literary. snowy or resembling snow
Uphaa.com
Into the Light by reportageImages on Flickr
A few years ago, I had the good fortune to stumble into an exhibit of overwhelming beauty at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Titled Sensing Nature, it was a sensory exploration of the Japanese perception of nature in winter. Three years later, the stunning images from this show still haunt me, particularly the work of Tokujin Yoshioka. His installation, The Snow, involved a mesmerizing fifteen-meter glass tank of blowing feathers. Like staring at the ocean, the various waves and patterns created in that tank were transporting and peaceful. More about his work and inspiration here. And the video here.
The Snow by Tokujin Yoshioka
"Because I believe there is a hint for the future somewhere in-between the essence of the design and the nature, I would like to pursue designing works with this aspect."
"The most beautiful things I believe in this world is what is irreproducible, accidentally born, and disorder that cannot be understood by the theory. I believe the nature is the ultimate beauty in this world." -Tokujin Yoshioka
by JenniPenni on Flickr
I am a cold-weather girl and always happiest in the middle of a snowstorm, so what's not to love in an exhibit like that? Happy 2015! Enjoy all things niveous and inspiring.
all other images not credited found on Pinterest
Friends in Good Places
FLINT and KENT
The best part of working in the design industry for as many years as I have is all the amazing creative people you get to meet and work with on a daily basis, and it's even better when many become dear friends. Over the years some have started their own inspiring companies. So in gratitude to those friendships, old and new, and in the holiday spirit of counting one's blessings, I am officially declaring it a Friend's Christmas and am doing most of my shopping with them. #shopsmall #shopfriends.
I encourage all you last minute Santas to check out these beautiful sites for unique gifts.
*
BELLOCQ
Bellocq Brooklyn Tea Salon by Gentl&Hyers
Michael Shannon, one of the brilliant co-founders of Bellocq, and I worked together years ago at Martha. His elegant taste and unerring eye for detail and nuance are evident in the beautiful company he has built with another Martha alum, Heidi Johannsen Stewart and Scott Stewart. My personal favorites of their teas are
and
. The silver-plated canisters make a sweet gift with a handmade tea strainer at
.
If you are looking for a nice respite in your afternoon shopping in Brooklyn, stop by their tea salon at 104 West St in Greenpoint, or check out a local retailer
.
*
WMS & CO.
Exquisitely Practical Tools for Your Life and Your Desk
Bamboo wrapped rock, handmade in Kyoto, Japan
Recently launched by the brilliant husband and wife team behind Design MW, JP and Allison Williams,
is the perfect destination for gifts for those hard-to-please, already-have-absolutely-everything person on your list. The website offers a custom designed rubber stamp collection and design service that is perfect for a wide range of uses. Create a
for a voracious reader, a new business card for a serial entrepreneur or a personalized template for place cards for an obsessive hostess and of course the obvious, monogramed stationary. While it may be too late to get a personalized stamp in time for Christmas, why not slip a
for one in their stocking and let them design it? Or better yet, buy a readymade stamp, who doesn't need an elegant Bullshit stamp in their arsenal? The site also features an idiosyncratic and lovely collection of
desktop accessories, as well as JP's recently published book on Paul Rand, and for the really impossible, the handmade bamboo-wrapped-rock paper weight from Kyoto.
Exquisite indeed.
*
HUDSON | GRACE
A house. A home.
Cutting boards from 19c reclaimed wood
My dear friends from our GAP and west elm days,
Monelle Totah and Gary McNatton
, have created an evocative store with a very appropriate tagline. Their carefully curated collection delivers on its promise, they offer all the special pieces and details that transform a house into a home. Hotel silver, the perfect linen napkins, cutting boards made from reclaimed 19th century European wood and exquisitely scented candles. If you're on the west coast, check out their
and for those less fortunate, visit H|G online. I highly recommend their signature candle,
my all time favorite,
a luxurious blend of Mexican tuberose, Indian jasmine and Moroccan orange flower.
*
INGREDIENT STUDIO
for DARA Artisans
, is the talented chef, stylist and now potter behind Ingredient Studio. We worked together a long time ago in another facet of Marité's design career and stayed in touch off and on over the years. It's exciting to watch people get the recognition they deserve like the feature in
Off Duty section featuring her
. See her full story and some of her work at
*
PETER HOFMEISTER
one of my favorite's Peter's dramatic Solstice Ring
Peter Hofmeister is a new friend I met this year through old friends at
, but as it turns out we ended up knowing many of the same old design friends. The NYC creative world is actually a very teeny tiny world, especially when you slice it into the photographers that shoot it and artisans and designer|makers, it gets even smaller. This lucky red-string charm necklace is a collection we created together for DARA Artisans.
*
MARIA MOYER
Available at
is a woman of many talents from running her communication and strategy consultancy, Wink Communication, advising many of our industry's most influential designers and Fortune 500 companies's, to her work as an ardent social entrepreneur and accomplished ceramist. We met many years ago when our paths first crossed at GAP. She was leading GAP, Inc.'s environmental and sustainability efforts and I was trying to create an organic newborn collection. Kindred spirits from the start, we were able to reconnect years later and have some fun collaborating on a project at west elm that benefited
. Support Maria and one is likely supporting an important environmental cause. More about Maria at
*
M.PATMOS
M.Patmos handmade scarf from Nepal
is an award winning, CFDA certified, innovative designer with a passion for artisan work and sustainable methods and materials. Her chic modern designs are found at the coolest and the best from Barneys to many fabulous independents across the country and in Europe and Japan. Our's is a longtime friendship that started when we were working together right after she graduated from RISD. I have been very fortunate to work with her at our shared retail alma maters and on many different projects since. You can find her work on her
and at these
as well as a few of her goodies at DARA Artisans.
*
RTH SHOP
photo by Gentl&Hyers for DARA Artisans
RTH Shop Black Leather Wallets @ March SF
Meeting Rene Holquin of
a couple years ago was one of those amazing intersections of different people and places from my past ( here's a link to that
). Rene's style compass is always well ahead of the pack and is an inspiration to all those in the know. Check out his beautiful RTH shop in LA on North La Cienega in this
article and this recent article about his collaboration with Paulo Solari's Arcosanti in
*
DbO HOME
DbO Home Collection by Gentl&Hyers
for DARA Artisans
When I first met Dana a few years ago we realized we shared a very funny family connection, but more about that later.
Dana Brandwein and her husband / partner Daniel Oates's
designs are informed by their natural surroundings in bucolic Sharon, Connecticut. We first met professionally, when we collaborated on a project at west elm, where proudly they they are about to embark on their third collaboration.
*
DAVID STARK
David Stark: The Art of the Party
The perfect hostess gift for all your friends who love to throw parties or if you need some inspiration for your own New Year's Eve fete just around the corner. Check out this inspiring and practical book from the the most creative event planner,
, whose
reads like the list of the hottest events of the year, from Cooper-Hewitt's annual NDA Awards to the Robin Hood Foundation and the Metropolitan Opera Anniversary. DSD events are really elegant and fun art installations disguised as parties. His team is also Target's go-to genius behind their insane pop-up shops. David was a fellow RISD grad of Marcia Patmos' who brought him in one day, a lifetime ago, to help us meet a design deadline. Since then I have been fortunate to work with him on lots of projects and have loved watching his company soar. Thank you, Marcia!
*
RBTL
And finally, a fitting last word from the incredibly talented and thoughtful ladies at
, a passionate and positive crew that will go to the end of the world to exceed expectations in delivering super-duper, over-the-top customer service ( I speak from experience). They have fabulous art prints, greeting cards and hysterical, dare I say it, the ubiquitous holiday wine sock, though their's is super cool and graphic, of course.
As I look back through these images I have to give a special shout out to Andrea Gentl and Marty Hyers for their amazing work, it's incredible ( and fortunate) how many times our paths and projects have crossed over the years, lucky me!
Have a happy happy everything, now go finish up that list!
Remembering Ace Founder Alex Calderwood
FLINT and KENT
Alex Calderwood (photo: Damon Way)
Last week the hospitality world lost one of its more colorful characters: Ace Hotel co-founder Alex Calderwood. What follows below is a recollection from Tablet Hotels Magazine editor-in-chief John Speranza and a 2009 interview with Alex.
Traveling as much as I do, I appreciate the times when I can stay at a hotel that is as much comfortable and gracious as it is inspiring and fun. The Ace never disappoints on that front. Hotels, when done well, are 'cultural catalysts' as he describes and an integral part of the travel experience.
Alex's description of jumping into their first project with their entrepreneurial naiveté is also very inspiring and I think an undervalued but critical ingredient in successful start-ups. Not knowing what you're not supposed to do ( as scary as it can be) allows one to to cut new trails and forge ahead. Maybe courage at those times is really just naive passion, but sometimes you just have to follow your gut.
Thank you Alex + crew!
Ace Palm Springs
The Breslin at Ace New York
John Speranza, Tablet editor-in-chief: 'I met him only once, over coffee in a booth at the converted Denny’s diner in the newly opened Ace Hotel & Swim Club, in the course of an interview for the Tablet magazine. We talked about a lot of things, including the then-soon-to-open Ace Hotel New York and the particular appeal of Palm Springs for a Seattleite in the depths of a sunless winter.
Since then I’ve stayed at the Ace in New York at least a dozen times, and I’ve even moved to Seattle and experienced those sunless winters first-hand. But what stuck with me most about our conversation was Alex’s simple and sincere statement of the Ace philosophy, the humble and generous sentiment that is, for us here at Tablet, the key to the Ace hotels’ special resonance, and the reason the hotel world will be poorer for his absence.
From the 2009 interview: It seems to me you’re just trying to do what you, personally, want to see in a hotel.
That’s a good interpretation, actually. So much of what we do is just led by gut instinct. Just what feels right. There’s not a lot of artifice or a lot of calculated measures to get a certain clientele, it kind of just is us. Like-minded attracts like-minded.
Even when we talk internally, even the sales team, it’s not about selling for us, it’s about sharing. In that respect you’re coming from a different intention. I think that is reflected throughout the property, throughout the staff and so on. You’re just sharing an experience, and sharing things that we think are interesting, and people that we think are interesting.
What was it that made you want to get into hotels in the first place?
I think we’ve always seen ourselves more as entrepreneurs than hoteliers per se. We were in Seattle, we traveled a lot and really enjoyed hotels, and the experience of travel. So that was on our mind. And a hotel project came available to us. But we never looked at it as doing more than that. We jumped in very naively, just jumped in with both feet. I think our naivety actually was a benefit, in a way, because we just approached it the way we would approach it. We didn’t think about what’s conventional or unconventional.
What I find inspiring now is that hotels are a very interesting vessel, a container, almost, where a lot of interaction can happen. The actual selling of a room is just a transaction, but it’s a point of bringing people together. I think what’s more important to us is all the other things: creating the experience, creating what I like to call a cultural catalyst or a moment to interact. It hits all the senses, and it’s all about people, and it’s all about sharing, and it’s all about a hospitable way of moving through the world with grace.'