Das Rheingold

I saw Das Rheingold at the Met last night. I've always wanted to "do the Ring Cycle" and now I am a quarter of the way there.

I love the Metropolitan Opera. They keep threatening to tear it down, and someone might design a better building, but it is a pretty great modern expression as it is. It is always exciting when the starburst chandeliers go up.

The Robert Lepage sets proved that money in the right hands is money well spent. The production was a little set-heavy, featuring large creaking piano-key-like structures that proved a technical challenge to the performers - but ultimately they stole the show! So minor distractions are all forgiven in the name of new creative vision. Julie Taymor needs to see this.

Only weak link were the costumes - way too traditional for the brave new landscape.

Molto Chic

We are very pleased to see our Bank in the form of a Pig as the main accessory for the cover story in Italian Vogue - photographed by Steven Meisel.

Truck

A friend of mine was watching Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live" and saw our blue Pickup in the background of their set.



Let us know if you see any of our products out there!

HDL

Pipeline recently featured in Israeli magazine HDL.

Canadian Modern

I felt like a traitor diverting our ski trip from Japan to Canada last week, but the news from Japan was just too bad. Mt. Tremblant in Quebec is an easy get away with direct flights from Newark. We stayed at a cute little B&B, Le Gite Roupillon, and enjoyed three days of spring snowboarding.

The design highlight of the trip was the Scandinave Spa.

It is both modern and rustic, and it delivered on the spa therapy with a sauna, various hot and cold pools, a steam room located in the red turret (up on the left in the image), and a very cold river to plunge yourself into!

Love to Japan

John and I were supposed to be skiing in Japan this week, but the tragic events there prevented our travel. My work has brought me to Japan many times, I love the people and the country, and my thoughts go out to them.

A couple of times I hit the cherry blossoms just right. In April 2004 my friends Dara and Sojiro took me to the spa, and on our trip home we crossed a bridge in Tokyo, and this scene unfolded on either side. Hundreds of cherry trees dropping their petals.

That night, I celebrated with a huge group from Idee under the cherry trees in the park. Teruo Kurosaki was there, as well as Casey Lurie and Colleen Murakami. This is not a great pic but it captures the spirit.

My thoughts go out to all of my friends in Japan.

May Spring bring cherry blossoms, renewal, and hope for happier times to come.

New Love

In limbo after our trip to Japan was cancelled, I headed to the New Museum on Saturday with some friends. The building was just fantastic in the sun, and we saw Bette Midler in the galleries.

The highlight was the George Condo show. What a surprise. I did not know the work, and the images I had seen in the press did not do the exhibition justice. All of the creepiness, in context, is very sympathetic. In addition, Condo is a great technician, the drawings are wonderful.

And I love the work of Lynda Benglis, the second exhibition, but the installation was not so great. It could have used more room, and more content.

Texas Talk

On Monday I spoke to students at the University of Texas School of Architecture in Austin.

Despite midterm exams, a good audience showed up.

I stayed at the Hotel San Jose on South Congress Avenue. It was one of the first places in town to undergo a hip transition, as featured in the documentary "The last Days of the San Jose." Its hipness was contagious; a whole neighborhood popped up around it, and helped cement Austin's reputation as a very cool city.

The City is permeated with music. Last night the hotel lobby had a great vibe; locals mixed with guests, and a fantastic guitar player entertained the crowd.

Music posters are used as decoration all over town. The printing business in Austin must be alive and well with the SXSW Festival set to start this weekend. I would have liked to stay.

In like a Lion

March 3 was a good night for design in NYC. My partner in crime, journalist Melissa Feldman, and I headed out into the cold to attend some openings. Our first stop was Suite, the Park Avenue showroom that features a very sophisticated selection of European furnishings. Here is Melissa with owners Kris Fuchs and Maria Sepulveda.

Brian Messana of Messana O'Rourke was in the house.

And then it was off to Moss. My friends Murray and Franklin have long been showing work that crosses the line between art and design. Last night they made a stand, right on the line.

If art is out of bounds, then let it be Arthur. The lighting in the window was a beautiful play on the hanging lamp by young French designer, Christian Haas. If you need a reading lamp, look elsewhere, this one is a beautiful tangle of rope lit within by LEDs. Many of the objects inside straddled the line between art and design with elegant ambiguity.

I ran into Charles Brill, of Rich Brilliant and Willing, whose Bias clock was on display, and also the design czaress of Philadelphia, Lisa Roberts who is filming a TV show called "My Design Life" that will air on the Ovation channel in August. She and I pose here before the work of my favorite arthurist, Massimiliano Adami.

My final stop for the night was at my new favorite restaurant, Heartbreak, on the corner of 2nd and Second, my old stomping ground. I've been watching the space transform for more than a year. The red metal facade is of a quality rarely seen on a NYC restaurant. Heartbreak is a surprising eatery, like one encounters in Europe, where the cool design belies the warm ambiance and food. I love it.

Chef Ingrid serves up her signature Swiss fare. She owned AG Rotelle, the dearly-missed East Village eatery that closed in 2002. She's back and has created something special here. At first I hated the bold signage, but it has grown on me and is destined to be a NYC icon. And just you wait until the summer; that big red facade rolls open. The beautiful details just keep revealing themselves, last night I noticed that the pipes on the ceiling are foiled in bronze, gold, and silver.