touring the LCDQ with #blogtourLA, with special thanks to dragonette ltd. & mecox gardens!

will taylor of bright bazaar  and i, captured by the awesome justina blakeney, LA stylist/blogger/jungalow queen!

i was privileged to spend a good chunk of time with the kids from modenus #blogtourLA last week and even had the chance to lead them on a mini-walking tour of the la cienega design quarter (though we were only able to visit a fraction of the fabulous showrooms. apologies to everyone we couldn't visit- next time!)

me, speechifying (a brief history of the LCDQ).

we started our day with a breakfast at the beautiful walker-zanger tile and stone showroom, co-hosted by architectural digest, where these reclaimed wood hex tiles, rocked my world!

then i took the bloggers on a brief walking tour of the LCDQ, with the first stop at the beautiful mecox gardens los angeles showroom, whose fearless leader, dave benbow, put a spread of frozen margaritas and fresh made tacos! thanks dave!

photo by gudy herder, my new spanish friend who also did a post on mecox here.

mecox detail from stagetecure

i was delighted to be reunited with my dear friend, ashlina kaposta, the decorista! nothing better than drinking margies with your friends and getting to call it "work"!

some special LA friends joined in the fun as well. ginna christensen, of the amazing rug company 27ground and i are smiling here because we have a maison21-27ground rug collection in the works. still in the planning stages, but i am over the moon!

mecox vignette by bright bazaar 

after lunch at mecox, we moved on to dragonette ltd (one of my favorite vintage galleries with a section of the best of the 20th century) for dessert and bubbly!

yum!

dragonette vignette, courtesy of lynne byrne of decor arts now

27 ground's ginna christensen, blogger and fabric designer, typhanie peterson and i chatting with patrick dragonette, our host extraordinaire, picture by my coconspirator, jill seidner of material girls, who helped host the tour. 

i swear, the bathroom at dragonette is nicer than most people's living rooms!

my favorite painting at dragonette, captured by veronika miller, guru of blogtourLA and modenus.

the blortour gang moved on to kelly wearstler's after this, but i had to head home to check in on ted and richard, but i met back up with them for a fun-filled oktoberfest dinner at teh new poggenpohl showroom on beverly:

the blogtour gang with apologies to ronique & susan who got cropped out of this photo. :-(

i'm hanging with the #blogtourLA kids today! (plus cute animals)

so be sure to follow along on instagram & twitter for all teh fun.

in the meantime, here's a lil ted and richard action to make you smile.


ps-  if you'd like to help more homeless animals have wonderful lives like ted & richard, please consider sponsoring me in "the race for the rescues", benefitting the amazing molly's mutts and meows, who saved ted (and friday the pit bull).

october events in southern california!

good gosh almighty- fall is here with a BANG! so many great events happening over the next few weeks:

i will be reuniting with veronika miller of modenus as she brings her signature phenomenon, blogtour, to los angeles for the first time! so excited for this opportunity to hang out with my social media friends from around the globe. jill seidner of material girls and i, as blogtour london alumni, will be hosting the #blogtourLA gang on wednesday for a brief visit to the la cienega design quarter and the west hollywood design district, with hosted stops at dragonette and mecox gardens. partay!

then there is the premier of the westedge design fair, sure to be chock full of the best in cutting edge design. i know that some of my favorite lighting peeps, zia-priven, have been working on something BIG and special to decorate barker hanger during the event running october 3-6, so can't wait for that!

and the following week, look for me at one of my favorite events, the los angeles antiques art + design show at its new location in culver city, oct 9-13.  i'll be stopping in over the weekend for a panel or two, but will for sure be at the star studded opening night to benefit teh decorative arts and design council at LACMA, a great cause!

and in the midst of all this madness, i'll be part of a panel on "career blogging" at design camp orange county, oct 9-11 (i'll be focusing on blogging to brand and build a design career. i might have some experience in that arena. or not). speaking at 9am on the 11th will be interesting, since my brain doesn't turn on 'til noon, so who knows what i'll say?) there are just a couple seats left for camp so GET ON IT!  ;-)

then, on the 14th, i sleep. ;-)

designer inspiration: du verre hardware, brutalism, silas seandel, and blogtour london

i recently purchased a 1970's brutalist lane dresser for a client (above from 1stdibs, mine purchased locally at sunbeam vintage), and i couldn't be more in love with it.  in fact, both my clients and i are so inspired by it, we are having a a dining table base custom-made in the same style by warner brothers studio facilities.  in a few weeks, a real life version of the below sketch will have sprung to life, and be living in my client's dining room (with a bronze tinted glass top):

of course, both 1970's lane, and 2013 maison21 are drawing on famed furniture maker and artist, paul evans, who worked with metal to turn furniture into sculpture  and was pioneer of a 1970's decorative arts movement called "brutalism" (a more "decorative" version of the harsh but concrete-cool brutalist movement in architecture around the same period).

paul evans cabinet at sebastian + barquet

brutalist furniture and sculpture is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, but not every project can use such a strong statement, so when brainstorming for another project, i remembered the fabulous jewelry-like hardware from du verre. du verre was one of the sponsors of my modenus blogtour london trip last fall, and as always, when introduced to new design partnerships during such events, they have been firmly lodged into my brain for use in a future project and now i think i have the right opportunity! thanks modenus for reintroducing me to du verre so they could be my inspiration for the cabinetry in my project.

these sculptural "offset" collection pulls will look fabulous on the ivory lacquer and walnut cabinetry i'm envisioning- jsut hte right hint of brutalism to keep from being boring...

as would "rio"

or "kuba"

or even this simpler "forged 3" for just a hint of brutal style. 

table base my modern metal master, sila seandel.

and if you are interested in investing in a true handmade work of art, sculptor silas seandel, has been creating works, many in a "brutalist" style, of out of NYC for over 50 years and is still producing amazing pieces, like the bronze table base above. if you love abstract metal sculpture, take a spin around this living legend's website- there are some spectacular pieces in production, and he still handcrafts custom work- loads of design inspiration! can't wait to feature some of his new or vintage work in a future project...

vintage silas seandel at todd merrill

lovely lapicida (a showroom visit with modenus blogtour london 2012)

i admit it- i am a jaded interior designer, and not easily impressed so when see something that blows my socks off, i am always tremendously excited; such were my feelings after taking a tour of the stunning lapicida showroom during blogtour london. i was seriously impressed by the level of skill and craftsmanship of what i saw, and the tour made me incredibly excited about the possibilities of using stone in new and luxurious ways. now all i need is a client with the deep pockets and keen desire for the best to allow me to work some stone cold magic. so inspired, still, 3 months later!

interior of lapicida's entry vestibule

and exterior- clever for a stone company, i thought.

i have NO idea how they accomplish this magic, but this is metal plated stone- i got VERY excited over the possibilities here.

etched and plated, inspired by 1950's italian designs. the chic side of retro.

this deco inspired design shows lapacida's CNC carving abilities- if you can imagine it, they can carve it. very cool technology.

more CNC carving- this is NOT cast plaster, but solid stone panels. chic. chic. chic.

i want this detail in the doorway to my living room from my entrance hall. grand, traditional and modern, all in one.

the lighting in the showroom by uk lighting designer, john cullen, was almost as impressive as the stone, and again, very inspiring.

polished marble and inlaid metal banding- i can haz in my bathroom, plz?

more bathroom goodness.

hope you enjoyed out showroom tour- visit the lapicida website to learn more!

and visit the modenus website to learn more about our other amazing blogtour sponosrs!

blogtour london: 100% design & amtico

we went to what seems like a bazillion design shows during blogtour london, and 100% design was the first we visited, and a favorite, with its multidisciplinary design emphasis. we only have one suggestion to make it better: WIFI! (oy, the luxury problems of the social media junkie).

we were whisked to the 100% design show in a fleet of mercedes town cars. a boy could get used to this kind of thing.

the entrance to 100% design was a light show in a darkened tunnel- really set a mood of anticipation. US trade shows could learn a thing or too about creating some drama to heighten the experience within.

loved these sconces from delightfull. love their whole lighting line, actually, and we would be very happy if they had a showroom here in LA that i could take clients too.  their retro inspired pieces are right up our alley, and it would be awesome to be able to show them off in person.

these are steel boxes on a magnetic wall- configure and reconfigure to your heart's delight! very cool for an office, kitchen or kid's room- anywhere flexible yet attractive storage would be useful. from magnetic spirit.

loved these clustered metallic pendants from original BTC lighting.

everyone was charmed by these flat pack lamps from vita living

the amazing 3d cork tiles (top) from granorte aren't available ...yet, but we also really liked their cubist printed cork (below).

these cratered metallic wall tiles from zsolnay were far and away my favorite product at 100% design, so naturally, they have no US distribution. so cool.

here's a close up so you can understand a little better why i rave.

last, these simple pet dens from arquipets were the one item i wished i could have brought home in my luggage. richard would LOVE one, and they aren't an eyesore like so many pet products. modern & fun- exactly what you want from a design show!

while at 100% design, we were treated to a champagne fueled luncheon in teh knoll media lounge by one of our sponsors, amtico flooring

you can tell by how tightly my pretty blogtour friends raina (a stylist's life), erin (modenus) and jennifer (dec-a-porter) are gripping their phones, that we had wifi here! jennifer is particularly excited by this development!

i was vaguely familiar with amtico flooring before blog tour, associating it with hospitals and schools, and frankly, i gotta admit, i wasn't initially excited about blogging about it. BUT this is why things like blog tour, where manufacturers and designers come together one on one, are so important! at a US trade show, i would have walked right by their booth, thinking it was too contract-y for me, but meeting them in person forced me to look, and well, i guess you could say i was FLOORED by what i saw. i mean, how groovy is the above floor? i would TOTES use it in a graphic residential kitchen, yet if it wasn't for blog tour, i might never have known it existed.

so many interesting combinations, the variety is near infinite, and it's durable as all get out, so perfect for hard use applications.

after talking to amtico's designers, and viewing the possibilities of their incredibly diverse product range, i'm completely psyched about how i can use their product in all kinds of cool ways.  look at those juicy colors- can you imagine the possibilities for fun with m21, a good installer and a palette like that? can't wait to dig in!

of course, we've barely scratched the surface with our two blogtour london posts thus far, so expect a very british fall here at m21 as we intersperse london coverage with coverage of design and events closer to home, and as always, thanks to modenus and our blog tour sponsors for providing us with teh trip of a lifetime: