the LA advantage (launch party for kelly wearstler's 'hue')

we'll keep this brief, because we are a just a little bit tipsy, and more then a little bit tired- and not that we want to rub it in or sound cocky, but sometimes it's nice to live in los angeles.

ok- picture sucks- you'll just have to take our word. (or go to wire image)

m21 just returned from the book release party for kelly wearstler's new 'hue' (ammo books) at the avalon hotel, and it was kinda awesome... lots of beautiful people, including kelly (in a short, short, black dress and black boots- hawt as ever), her handsome husband, brad korzen, and their two adorable boys; as well as a random assortment of LA celebs (and if we watched more TV or went to more movies, we'd probably even know their names!), and of course, the usual interior design industry suspects (like moi). one celeb we did recognize was gwen stefani, along with what looked to be most of the other members of no doubt- she sure is purty in person, and smelled good too! (we got stuck behind her for a minute in the crush of the crowd, that's how we know about the smell part). one random sighting was morgan spurlock (supersize me) and his handlebar mustache- kinda weird, but also kinda LA- you never know who will be rubbing shoulders with whom...

added 11/20- image of a redesigned avalon hotel pool/dining cabana, stolen completely without permission from the kelly wearstler inc. facebook fan page (go for more party pictures).

the party also celebrated kelly's redesign of the avalon, with louise nevelson-esque screens and dramatic large scale memphis-esque totem sculptures in the lobby; along with an updated dining area around the pool, with geometric murals and large, round lacquer mirrors inside the cabanas. the avalon was trés chic when it opened- ground-breaking even- but the upgrade was needed after all these years, and of course, the fantastically talented ms. wearstler didn't disappoint with the spruce up- we look forward to cocktails around the pool this summer!

ok, that's it- we 're off to bed. 'nite!

fabric paradise (and a brief twitter primer)

orli ben-dor, senior editor of house beautiful, tweeted this picture of the brunschwig & fils showroom today, and we thought it just too pretty not to share with those of you who are twitter impaired. truly, an ikat lovers paradise- we want to use them ALL.

and to those of you who are twitter impaired, we suggest you give it a go. yes, it can be a random grab bag of useless trivia "i'm making pasta for dinner- you?" but it is also a tremendous resource for disseminating information and resources. we can't tell you of the number of interesting sources for interior design products we've bookmarked since we started tweeting this summer. we are hooked, and you should be too! now we know, we know- who has time for one more thing? FB, blogs, twitter- too much, too much! but why not give up one hour of reality TV a day, and tweet instead? trust moi- it's better for your brain- you won't find pretty new fabrics while watching RHONJ...

m21 recently sent this quick primer to fellow blogger, grant k. gibson, when he was starting to tweet, but by the time we sent it, he'd pretty much figured out everything on his own. so waste not, want not and voila! an upcycled blog post!

m21's quick twitter primer

1. sign up at twitter.com and then pick one person you know- perhaps @maison21- and go though the list of who they follow, selecting anyone that sounds interesting. you can always unfollow your selections if they turn out to be a bore, or an over-twitterer. once you start following people, they will often in turn follow you back, but it's not automatic; if they don't, no biggie- it's not an insult or anything. (same thing if a tweet goes unanswered- there is a lot of stuff out there).
   
2. start sending tweets- they can be just like what you'd post as FB status updates, or they can be related to design or whatever you want them to be, just under 140 characters. RT or retweeting is a great way to establish a presence- if someone tweets something you found interesting, simply copy the whole thing with their handle (@maison21 for example) and add RT in front. it's like linking to other blogs, and a perfectly acceptable way to spread info while making your twitter presence known. in fact, retweeting is what makes twitter really work. (btw, hootsuite does this automatically for you, see #4)
3. another way for people to find your tweets is by use of #hashtags, ie putting #decor or #dogs or #foodie at the end of your tweets. people searching for those topics then find your posts. it sounds complicated, but it's not- swear.
4. m21 strongly recommends registering with a 3rd party interface to organize and schedule your tweets- the interface at twitter.com just isn't very user friendly. we use hootsuite and give it two big thumbs up (it's FREE). you can set hootsuite up to automatically tweet your latest blog posts, use it to shorten any links you might want to post (the 140 character thing means most links are too long) and also organize the people you follow into groups, then view everything all at once, all on one page- an impossibility on the real twitter site, and perhaps a reason people don't "get" twitter at 1st signup (we didn't for sure, and took us months to figure out the appeal)
   
5. watch as the numbers of people who follow you grow! m21 started tweeting in may, and now 6 months later we have over 300 followers (some of whom are admittedly spam/marketing followers- a fact of life on the twitter, but we try to weed them out). we aren't very aggressive about collecting followers either, so 300 peeps is pretty impressive in our book. you'll gain followers too, if you tweet- simple fact. but you have to interact if you want them to start following... we find tweeting is a great way to interact with people who we might not otherwise have any contact with- there is no invite system like facebook, so you can tweet with a surprising number of people you never would speak to in real life. they probably won't answer (for example, anderson cooper has yet to respond to our declarations of love), but hey- if andy ignores you, who cares! plenty of other people won't.
   
6. for you bloggers, we find tweeting more of a conversation then a blog post is, so it's an awesome way to speak with your blog community; plus the 140 character thing keeps interactions short, sweet and to the point! m21 now finds he gets a lot his news and entertainment from twitter too, so in a way, it's not a waste of time at all, since we don't have to visit a bunch of different websites- just click when we see something interesting! it's one stop web info shopping!
   

so see ya on twitter! or the fabric showrooms, or simply here, on decorative but not serious...

points for personality (williams-sonoma home event)

the williams sonoma home store, wearing its holiday best

last week, m21 had the pleasure of attending a design panel/reception co-sponsored by interior design magazine and williams-sonoma home, to highlight both WSH's holiday collection and their design trade program. m21's friend, heather, over at habitually chic had profiled monelle totah, WSH's VP of home product design, awhile back, and was gracious enough to introduce monelle and m21 via email; then the nice PR people at WSH coordinated it so m21 meet with monelle, as well as her WSH design cohort, kirsty williams (also a VP of home product design) to chat with them a bit before the event- m21 actually ended up feeling a bit guilty about that, 'cuz pretty much every question m21 asked was later covered in the panel discussion by moderator edie cohen (deputy editor of interior design magazine), but monelle and kirsty couldn't have been sweeter or more personable, and m21 got to take some pictures of the newly holiday-decorated store, so all was not lost...

monelle and kirsty (right) smiling at m21- or perhaps laughing at m21- as he attempts to inconspicuously take a photo without flash. sorry about the blur- we really should have used a flash...

the evening was a success on many levels- first, it was packed with over 200 rsvps, and the discussion was standing room only. 2nd, the store was freshly turned out with the holiday program introduced that evening, and was an excellent advertisement for the brand- pretty and sparkling, with candles lit and a fire blazing in it's hearth, and just enough holiday decor to enhance, yet not feel like santa's workshop. kudos to the visual team- you've almost put m21 in the mood for the holidays! almost.

by far the biggest success of the evening though, was getting to know the personalities behind the product- everyone on the WSH team was delightful, and monelle and kirsty are excellent ambassadors for the brand; their commitment to, and love of design was apparent from the brief conversation m21 had with them beforehand, and again, in the evening's main event discussion. topics covered were wide ranging: monelle and kirsty discussed their inspirations, including bi-yearly trips to europe; both to shop the paris shows as well as draw inspiration for upcoming new designs- look for an eastern influence in 2010/11 as they recently returned from istanbul, and had raves about what they discovered there. (note to the CEO of maison21 inc- please send your head designer on bi-yearly inspirational jaunts to europe- thank you).

loving the needlepoint!

the ladies also talked about their inspirations and favorites from the current holiday season- monelle loved the crewel and needlepoint textile products (me too), while kirsty was inspired by her scottish heritage for the tartan mini-collection (a great way to add holiday flair without seeming too theme-y). when asked how they predict trends, and if they were working with shorter lead times, like the trend in the fashion industry, both women responded quite emphatically that the WSH brand was not fashion oriented and trendy, but rather classic and seasonal, as befitting a luxury retail brand, so production times to introduce new product of a year, to a year and a half were standard. m21 found this interesting, since both crewelwork and needlepoint seem to be most definitely having a moment right now, yet the current WSH collection was conceived quite some time ago! guess monelle and kirsty are either psychic, or they really know what they're doing!

loving the doggie silhouette displays, too. there's the 'could be holiday, could be year round' tartan, too.

m21 was happy to hear that williams-sonoma is now offering COM (customer's own material) for their upholstery in the los angeles store, and will be rolling it out to the rest of the chain for in-store sales. customization is a huge factor in appealing to repeat business from designers, so this a always a welcome feature. it's also especially welcome for those of you decorating your own homes, who may not have access to custom upholstery work rooms- if you have a WSH near you, well, now you do!

one of the moments that most impressed m21 during the evening was a discussion about sustainable design- both monelle and kirsty were emphatic that yes, they used sustainable hardwoods (and reclaimed lumber when possible), but their real commitment was to the people behind the product, and developing relationships that empower rather then exploit the artisans employed in producing WSH's product line. it's one thing to read about responsible labor practices in a dry corporate press release, but another thing entirely to hear two people passionate about it in person, and witness the visceral horror on their faces when speaking of walking out of factories with poor working conditions, and the pride when discussing building relationships with artisans, which often can keep whole villages afloat. quite refreshing to hear in a time of global job contraction, with so many corporations racing to the bottom in cutting costs...

glassware produced by henry dean for WSH- pretty stuff, and the price point is excellent for the quality. m21 wouldn't mind finding some under his tree! (the white and b&w especially, santa)

last, we mentioned that the turnout was excellent- higher then we'd normally see at an event like this. that was probably due to the interior design magazine subscriber tie-in, but also quite possibly because of the WSH featured designer series- many of the attendees were probably hoping to follow in the steps of our friend habitually chic (and thomas o'brien, and carolyn roehm), and be included in an upcoming catalog! sadly, they announced that the next series of designers had already been selected, so we'll just have to wait for the spring catalog to see who they are!

less then perfect

ya know how you look at some people, and think that everything is perfect in their lives, and comparing their life to your own, can make you feel slightly depressed and more then a little inferior? but then you find out their dirty little secret- like a hidden drinking problem or a bad case of obsessive/compulsive disorder- and suddenly you realize your own life isn't so bad after all?

thank you twitter for giving me that moment today- at least m21 doesn't live with serial killers:
"little bloody mouths"- i just don't know if i can feel safe around a martha stewart craft project, ever again... ;-)

love.

antique & modern.

two great tastes that taste great together (actually, maison21 thinks they taste greater when combined in a room, then when used separately- it's all about the tension of opposites). so when we spotted the evolution credenza designed by ferruccio laviani (available through property, new york), it was instant love. maybe not for everyone (we imagine the price isn't for everyone either), but m21 thinks it's a brilliant antique & modern mash-up.

m21 also recommends you take a spin around the property website - it's a cutting edge design lover's dream store... (via interior design magazine)