What I’m Completely Obsessed With

Hello, Darling. Where have you been?

I absolutely adore these whimsical lights from Ingo Maurer and want to share it with my readers.

The Johnny B. Butterfly and the J.B. Schmetterling (Schmetterling is German for butterfly) lamps feature realistic butterflies, moths, and dragonflies created by California artist Graham Owen.

The J.B. Schmetterling is the deluxe version of the smaller Johnny B. Butterfly. The larger J.B. Schmetterling (18.11″H x 12.59″DIA) is a limited edition fixture. The pendant lamp has a white 3D-printed ring shade that shields a 70 watt halogen bulb. Eight, highly detailed, handmade insects are attached to the ring and seem to be attracted to the light.

The smaller Johnny B. Butterfly sits a teflon ring with three insects. Both the light bulb and the teflon ring are the original Johnny B. Good fixture from Ingo Maurer.

The Johnny B. Butterfly retails for $3,600 and the J.B. Schmetterling retails for $7,000.00.

Also available in limited edition is the J.B, Dragonfly in red.

November 17, 2013

Tent London and Superbrands

Saturday seemed to have snuck up on us on Blogtour. How did the time pass so fast? With the morning free to do as we pleased, Corey Klassen and I hopped on the Tube and headed to Westminster Abbey. After waiting in the que for a while we had jus enough time to make a quick run through before we needed to meet up with the group. Too bad photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside.

Westminster Abbey is a treasure house of paintings, stained glass, pavements, textiles and other artifacts, Westminster Abbey is also the place where some of the most significant people in the nation’s history are buried or commemorated.

We made our way to the Old Truman Brewery at 91 Brick Lane, Spitafields, where we were confidant we would be able to find good food for lunch. I selected Pad Thai and it was just what I needed after my breakfast on the go. Along the way we collected some photos of great graffiti work.

The Old Truman Brewery houses more than 200 small, creative businesses and a bar. It encompasses 19 buildings, linked by a series of alleyways and courtyards, but the main area – the Boiler House – is easily identified by its 160 foot chimney with ‘Truman’ written up the side.

We met our BlogTour group at Tent London and sister show Super Brands, part of the London Design Festival, in its seventh year at the Old Truman Brewery.

Tent London and Super Brands are often described as one of the most creative parts of the London Design Festival. It’s a place where you can see smaller one-off designers who are creators showing their best in contemporary design next to temporary showrooms for big names like Jacuzzi and Ligne Roset.

Tent London also contained smaller shows within the show itself such as 100% Norway, Super Design Gallery, Brink, Vernacular by The Crafts Council of Ireland and The Craft Market.

This is another show where I gravitated toward lighting – especially the hand-made fixtures. A few show stand-outs included Welsh weave designer Louise Tucker‘s hand-woven lighting collection from sustainable veneer, Eco artist Sarah Turner who makes incredible lighting from recycled plastic bottles and Glass artist Péter Borkovics.

Our design filled day was capped off with a quick walk to a Electra House, famed designer Lee Broom‘s first dedicated retail space. We were graciously welcomed to the showroom by Broom who shared his adjacent design studio with us. The design boards were incredible – especially the one for Christian Louboutin’s posh new boutique at Harrods.

During last year’s London Design Festival Lee Broom launched his Crystal Bulb Shop – a general store complete with a sawdust floor. This year the Crystal Bulb Collection includes a frosted version, a table lamp, and a cluster chandelier that features varying bulbs suspended at different heights. A new wooden pendant and table lamp are slated to launch soon.

“The shop is actually in my own studio and it’s become a tradition now to totally transform the space each year. The building’s called Electra House and it used to be an electro-plating factory where they used to do a lot of the Corbusier pieces.”

November 9, 2013

Getting to Know Gessi

Gessi, the Italian firm that has been creating and manufacturing exclusive bathroom fittings for more than 20 years, has adopted sustainability as the cornerstone of its design and production system. It is an integral part of the values, the culture, the creativity, the technology and the entrepreneurship of the company, and is fundamental to all of its planning, production and control decisions.

Their products are not just “Made in Italy,” they are “Made in Gessi.”

The entire production process is carried out in an integral fashion within the Gessi Industrial Park itself, including the design, engineering and manufacturing of the products and their components (even the plastic parts), as well as all of the graphic art and videography.

Gessi is succeeding at reducing its ecological and social footprint upon the Earth through the environmental and social performance of its products, both during production and during the lifetime if their use though advanced solutions for water and energy saving.

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Primary Shapes

“Gessi’s mission is to create products with an enduring style that can be truly appreciated every day for years to come. To help achieve this, Gessi has evolved its own refined design language, based on elementary primary shapes, such as the rectangle and the oval.”

Larry Allen, CEO, managing director of Gessi USA has observed an increasing interest in simple, yet sophisticated high-quality bathroom environments.

Rettangolo and Ovale, two Gessi classics, along with Goccia which was inspired by a water droplet; all contain the same essential shapes, clean forms and harmonic proportions sought after by today’s homeowner.

I seriously love the ceiling mounted towel bar with the ceiling mounted towel bar in the dark finish! I’ve only shown examples from three collections. Gessi has so many exquisite luxury bath fixtures I suggest you check out their website.

Gessi was a BlogTour London 2013 Sponsor but the views and opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and I will be honest in what I share. Unlike BlogTour LA that went to the Westedge Design Fair , Gessi was not exhibiting in London so I did not get to see their beautiful products in person. I hear the Platinum covered vessel sink was amazing.

October 21, 2013

London and Architecture

The third day of BlogTour London started with a tour of the Waterloo Poggenpohl Showroom. What a wonderful place for inspiration. No expense was spared on the materials used to create the beautiful showroom.

I talked a bit with Poggenpohl Waterloo’s Kevin Robertson about changes and trends he sees among their projects. He’s experiencing clients pulling away from the overly minimalistic kitchen designs. It’s safe to say Londoners still prefer clean kitchen design but the increased interest in wood countertops and architectural accents is a positive change.

Corey Klassen and I check out a custom stainless work top with integral sink and Blanco accessories

Poggenpohl was founded in 1892 and has remained a leader in the cabinetry industry for over a century. Poggenpohl prides itself in being at the forefront of the kitchen industry with trend-setting concepts. The minimalist lines and modern sensibility set them apart from the “many traditional cabinet makers offered in the U.S. and a new generation of homeowners are beginning to embrace this more transitional approach to design.”

An example of Poggenpohl’s commitment to innovation is their newest collection, +Artesio, designed by celebrated architect Hadi Teherani.

“The customizable +Artesio system includes not only cabinetry but also walls, floors, dining furniture and an independent ceiling with built-in ventilation, lighting and sound, delivering what Elmar Duffner, Poggenpohl’s chief executive, called a “room-in-room solution” that would be ideal for a high-ceilinged loft. A wide range of material choices for the cabinetry — including laminate, wood, glass and leather — allows for further personalization.”

After our visit to the showroom, Poggenpohl sponsored an architectural tour of the Southwark and South Bank area, led by architect Timothy Bruce-Dick. I don’t have too many photos or notes because I decided looking up and walking and trying to capture tweets/photos/thoughts was not a good combination for me.

It was nice to walk for a while and just take things in. We’d walk through an area and take in the architecture and then meet our bus and ride to the next stop.

Some areas that stood out for me was Lloyd’s Register of Shipping; the original facade was built in 1901, 65 Hopton St.; a bright yellow round building with stepped design, Neo Bankside; a modern glass residential building with external bracing system, One America Square; a striking art deco building on a nondescript street and the Lloyd’s Building; home to Lloyd’s of London and sometimes called the inside-out building.

We concluded our tour outside St. Paul’s Cathedral and walked across the London Millennium Footbridge to the Tate Modern for High Tea. The view was incredible and as my first experience with High Tea, it will always be special to me.

After devouring all the sweets and finger sandwiches, we strolled back to the CitizenM. The evening’s plans were for a cocktail reception/launch party sponsored by Modenus. That night Veronika Miller unveiled the New Modenus website. If you haven’t been in a while you should visit it again. It is always evolving with new products, designer showcases, and blog posts.

I’m sure Veronika would way the evening had a few glitches but overall it was a huge success. Some of our group bought masks during the architecture tour and brought them to the party – they provided much entertainment.

(Poggenpohl and Modenus are sponsors for BlogTour London 2013, but the views and opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and I will be honest in what I share. You, the reader, are my top priority and it is my goal to make sure you can trust the content and integrity of this blog.)