Tree licious

I stumbled on this AMAZING tree house design in Dwell. It is perched on a hill in Los Angeles.
These photos are taken by Eric Staudenmaier.

"When a 40-year-old pine tree fell over at the rear of a Brentwood estate in Los Angeles a few years back, its owner, an art lover and a philanthropist, let it lie. The tree revived itself, continuing to grow from its newfound horizontal position. At that point, the owner decided to honor its resilience by incorporating it into a 172-square-foot office / guest house."

Rockefeller Partners Architects spent about eight months on the design. “It was a complex little puzzle,” said Chris Kempel, the project’s architect. “It was like taking a box and poking it with chopsticks,” he said about five slightly canted steel columns that pierce its cedar exterior. “We had a bunch of fun with it.”"

Makes me want to go hug that tree :)

and she wears many hats...

Piers Atkinson has worn nearly as many hats as he has designed.

An artist, illustrator, milliner, costume designer, party planner, fashion editor, project manager...

His creative energies only seem to be matched by his insatiable curiosity.

Here are his designs for hats and headbands from his Sprin/Summer 2010 collection

It is appropriately called 'Sex on the Brain'

Enjoy!

a sweet and delicate apology....

I soooo apologize my lovely 4 followers (as my friend stated) for writing, posting and uploading inspiring images so infrequently. My life took a complete unexpected turn-around and I found myself a bit upside down. I am still in my awkward upside down position...but I decided I do best in precarious positions...so here I am.

Please accept a delicious Pierre Herme Macaroon in a tempting flavor and color of strawberry, lemon, green-tea, rose, saffron-scented peach and apricot as my apology. I promise I will try to write more frequently...whether I am on my head, my side...or conventionally on my feet.

Maison et Objet Fair

Just some images from the Maison et Objet Fair in Paris this Fall. I haven't been online in a while and I needed some inspiration. I hope these images will inspire you...'Titikaka' bench by Naoto Fukasawa for B

'Taste' porcelain collection by Paolo Navone for Reichenbach

'taste' collection by Paolo Navone

'Mormor' series by Gry Fager for Normann Copenhagen

'Pleat' ice bucket by ECAL/Delphine Frey for Christofle

transitory objects

there is a shift between art and architecture...a shrinking gap between the two disciplines. with this as a cue, the Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary Art museum has opened it's latest show TRANSITORY OBJECTS.

vienna holds a special place in my heart since it is one of the places i studied architecture. unfortunately i cannot attend the show, but if you happen to be there, think of me.

an architectural prototype from nikolaus hirsch and Michel Mueller called cybermohalla hub, 2008.

francesca woodman's then at one point i did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands, from 1976. an example of woodman's notion of the body as an architectural object.

made from low density, recyclable polymer, greg lynn's FORM blobwall from 2007 is a lightweight, highly aesthetic reworking of the building brick. would love to use this on one of my buildings ; ).

laszlo moholy-nagy's neon signs were taken in chicago in 1939. this image is one of the first and most jarringly contemporary examples of light trailing in photography. I love this artist!

alisa andrasek is director of biothing - a laboratory that produces artificial computation techniques for design. these flower-like models, Mesonic Emission from 2007, were produced using laser techniques.

iconolicious ZAHA

i am so excited about the truly inspirational architect Zaha Hadid's first italian project which will soon open...the upcoming Maxxi National Modern Art museum in Rome.

this new project covers a large strip of the waterfront area of Reggio Calabria and includes two separate buildings, as well as the landscaping work between them. As the city’s mayor, Dr Giuseppe Scopelliti stated, this will be a project, planned to give a new breath to the whole area: ‘Ever since I was first elected in 2002, I was looking for a project to rejuvenate and regenerate the area. We decided to invest resources in the beautiful seaside kilometre of the harbour, to create a prestigious project, something that would become a icon of Reggio Calabria.’

the complex will consist of a Museum of the Mediterranean History and a multifunctional building for performing arts, including a library, auditoriums, gym, craft workshop areas and a cinema.

keeping its connection with the Reggio Calabria area strong, the museum will be devoted to one of the most famous people coming from the region, Gianni Versace.

‘It is a fantastic, very ambitious project. We really pushed the limits with the design,’ Patrick Schumacher added proudly during the signing ceremony last week, explaining how the design draws inspiration from organic forms, aiming for distinctive shapes, in order to be visible both from the sea and the coast; the complex is set to become one of the region’s most contemporary landmarks.

this may require a trip to Reggio Calabria!

vc&a sparkle

we were in beverly hills and i was dying to go into the divine and ever so exquisite van cleef and arpels shop on rodeo. mr. hubbilicious looks for any excuse to enter spaces which ooze extravagance and glisten with very colorful 'sparkle'...although he claims it's for my sake that he likes to frequent these types of boutiques.
while there, we were surprised when we overheard a father trying to coax (if not beg) her 6-ish year old daughter to loooove a dainty little trinket-ish clover from the sweet alhambra collection. uuhmmmm...who does that??? his wife was decked out in vc&a ...while dressed in the typical southern california uniform of a tank top, jeans and flip-flops. anyone walking around rodeo with heels and head-to-toe haute-iness is definitely not from here. i love where i live.
anyway...so i decided to dedicate this space to estelle and alfred...without whom we wouldn't be able to spend thousands on trinket jewelry and wear it with pride. to arpels and van cleef...i will love you forever!

this piece was inspired by the textile below

chantilly lace shawl, 1860

vc&a...we feel eternally feminie in your presence...

dragonfly brooch in round diamonds and pink sapphires

sketch of a choker made for the duchess of windsor, 1934

btw...mr. hubby did surprise me with my very own trinket...thanks hubby!

flutter licious

a native american butterfly legend...

if anyone desires a wish to come true
they must capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it.
since they make no sound,
they can't tell the wish to anyone but the Great Spirit.
so by making the wish and releasing the butterfly
it will be taken to the heavens and be granted.
{author unknown}

style icious

check out this hip, modern, chaotic and crazidelic hair salon/music hall in dublin--the style club. all due to the vision of new yorker garry cohn (an architect who works at douglas wallace in dublin). 'I was thinking of Alice in Wonderland as a punk rocker,' he says of his interiors. 'It works because of the carefully placed proportions of graphics, geometrics and natural forms, meaning your eye doesn’t get lost. And then the white floor with its tiled runner grounds the whole space.'

alice in wonderland as a punk rocker

wall of convex mirrors

26 styling stations

even the washrooms have style

carefully placed proportions of graphics and geometries

natural graphic forms throughout

the exterior

yummi licious

i was thinking about my mother in law who is going through a hard moment....so i decided to bake some yummiliciousness with my girls. flowers make us smile....so we did. hope you do also!

they were delicious...

p.s. please think a positive thought for my lovely mother in law!