Design Week Wrap-up

ICFF was a whirlwind this year, and in the midst of it all I did not take as many pics as I wanted. I just forget to get out the camera. So instead of reporting day by day, here is a round up of the four days.

This year Harry Allen Design had work in a few shows. We took a booth at the ICFF with our friends Stefan Hengst and Casey Lurie. Stefan was showing a new line of digital wallpaper and Casey a new line of wooden furniture.

We showed DUNK, a new prototype waste can made from a hardened basketball net. 

On Friday night I headed to the BOFFO Showhouse where our Shed for Matter was on display. It looked great in the nature room, but of course I forgot to take a pic. Stefan's installation in the Future room was very impressive. 

And I loved this little lamp made out of cans in the Play room by Laz Ojalde. It reminded me alot of my recycled can clusters, needless to say, I love a tin can:

Saturday we hit NoHo to see our Cocktail Table on display in the Core 77 show on the Bowery. They invited five designers from each of the five boroughs to show. Our cocktail table is made from recycled bottles and sheet glass all sandblasted for a ghostly effect. It is a perfect side table and has a pretty low carbon footprint.

Patrick Townsend represented from Brooklyn, and Rama Corpash from Saten Island.

John and I ran into Guieseppe Lignano from Lot-ek (left) and his former student (I wrote down her name and lost it) who designed the show.

We stopped in to see my new glow in the dark "Bank in the form of a Pig"at 22 Bond. Get em while the last - edition of 300 - www.areaware.com.

We ended the evening on top of the new Standard Hotel on the Bowery with the folks from Dwell. The view was spectacular:

On Sunday evening I stopped by Moss Bureau, Murray Moss and Frankling Getchel's new office/showroom where I coveted these beautiful luster vases by Julia Kunin. 

Everyday we were at the fair. Our booth was right next to Areaware. My new introductions at Areaware included these rope vessels:

Two pastel (blue and pink) chrome pigs. Love!

I've sort of stepped back from the coloration of my objects, so brava to Laura Young for all of her sage decisions. Some very bright iterations of the classics - including a bright yellow Banana Bowl - wowed everyone. 

We also introduced two new hand hooks, but enough is enough. I'll post them at a later date.

New York Design Week

National Arts Club

I'm excited to be presenting my work at the National Arts Club on Wednesday.

15 Gramercy Park South
Meet & Greet: 6:45 PM
Lecture: 7:00 PM

RSVP: samantha@tigerlilysgreenwich.com

Milano: Day 4

My last day at the Salone Del Mobile was spent at the fair itself. Usually I think the offsite events are more interesting, and of course it is not possible to see everything so I might have missed something great, but this year I preferred the fair. I hate to say it, but the sobering effect the economy has had on the industry seems to have produced more considered work. Moroso and Kartel, in particular, looked amazing.

Warner Aisslinger's Hemp Chair at Moroso caught my interest.

Not sure who did this new waste can at Kartel, but it was a nice surprise and a great piece of plastic.

and Tokujin Yoshioka's new plastic chair for Kartel is perfect.

I then hooked up with my friend Theo Williams, Design Director for John Lewis.

We had a drink with from right to left, Philippa Prinsloo, Fiona Curran, Shawn Booth who worked for Harry Allen Design for seven years back in the early 00's, and his colleague, Alex LeTourneau, from Kohler,

A few of us went on to attend the Elle Decor Awards party. 

And party with some Swedes, including Ikea's Lars Dafnas (right) head of design management until recently, I believe.

Milano: Day 3

The day started with my friends Ilene Shaw and Katie Miller in the Tortona area where I was confounded by the Samsung exhibit. 

Admittedly, I am a luddite, but their vision of the future scares me. Too much electricity. Not enough doing. The basic idea was that they created all of these blank, greyed-out rooms, and then they gave you a computer tablet to walk around with. When the tablet was pointed at the room setup they came alive with visions of the future. The program was cool but when I looked up everyone was staring at their tablets, living another reality. It all just seems so remote.

I did however like the greyed-out rooms.

Then I took off to see my friends Fabio and Luigi in their new showroom called Primopiano. It is an amazing new space and they are showing some beautiful work. My favorite were the cast vases by Peter Marigold (in the image below with the boys).

Next up, Tom Dixon's new extravaganza, MOST, in the Museum of Science and Technology. Cool space, lots to see, including David Weeks giant Cubebot. The kid in the blue shirt was all over it.

In the evening I attended the opening for my Gaia Vase project for Gaia & Gino. I'll try to post some better pictures at some point. My vase was well received, many people were in attendance, and it was a fantastic party. 

Milano: Day 2

I spent the day wandering around Milano looking at design. There was a great buzz at Rosanna Orlandi Gallery and it was here that I saw some the best work.

A delightful, if messy, lamp that featured an actual soap bubble by Front:

Poetic unglazed Japanese ceramics:

Resin tables with hundreds of inlaid plastic pieces

And this illusional chair upholstered in "marble" pattern.

My last stop was the Triennale, the design museum, where the forthcoming London Olympics torch, by Barber Ogersby, was on display. Very cool.

And Ross Lovegrove had a show with the glass manufacturer, Lasvit. It was a display of undulating glass walls. Here is an image of Ross distorted through the glass. It all made me sort of queasy, but I have a low tolerance for undulating architecture.

Milano: Day 1

I arrived in the morning and spent most of the day setting up with the Gaia and Gino / Swarovski team. The show looks amazing, right in the heart of the shopping district on Via St Andrea.

I then headed over to my friend Tanja Solci's apartment to see how her renovation is going. She has redesigning her classic Milanese penthouse to include "a little more pattern". Its not done yet, but these shots will show you where it is headed. Sometimes I think the best design is about a commitment - and Tanja has made a commitment to color and pattern. The apartment is a swirl with flowers and bees and tartan and it is amazing.

Here is Tanja getting ready to go out. 

FYI, she takes forever.

Tanja and I went to a couple of events and then I ended up with some NYC friends at dinner, including David Weeks and Joe Doucet ...

Lindsey Adelman and Jason Miller...

We closed the night at Bar Basso, a mistake, and thankfully no pictures.

Sparkling in Milano

Our Gaia Vase for Gaia&Gino debuts this week in Milano...

adorned with Swarovski crystal...

Come see her sparkle...

Luxpack Shanghai

China being the new frontier, Harry Allen Design headed to Shanghai the week before last. 

We were showing at Luxepack, a trade show that showcases the luxury packaging industry. The booth was given to us free as part of the Platinum Pentaward we won for the Marc Jacobs Bang bottle. All we had to do is get ourselves there. 

The trip was grueling, so I was happy to know about the URBN hotel. It is a little boutique oasis in Jing'an constructed of reclaimed material, including the amazing wall of leather suitcases behind the reception desk. 

Shirley (HAD Studio Manager) and I ended up at Fu 1088, a very fancy restaurant the first night, located in an old house. Just the two of us in a room by ourselves. Amazing food, but not a great place to take the pulse of Shanghai.

The trade show was located just a stones throw from the Shanghai World Financial Center - an incredible building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Its hard to take a bad picture. I shot this one from the back of a taxi.

Our booth at the show was more modest in scale, but still pretty beautiful. We set up two Macs with our portfolio and made the last minute decision to black out as much of the dingy slat-board as possible. A variety of our packaging projects were on display at the back of the booth. 

We received hundreds of potential clients, and the response to our work was great. It is clear China is booming, but I'm not sure China is ready for us yet, and vice versa, but the jury is still out.

Next week Milano!

Green Walls

Sorry, it's been a while... I've been to China and am working hard in the studio getting ready for the Salone Del Mobile and the ICFF. 

However, on Easter Sunday we snuck in a visit to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden to see Patrick Blanc's vertical installations. It was a crazy idea to visit on Easter, one of the biggest days of the year at NYBG, but we got in and out early and it was a gorgeous day!

The Orchid show is well worth a visit, and it is up until April 22. 

My only complaint is that the conservatory is so stuffed with plants already that it is hard to see the "green walls" from the rest of the place. I would have preferred a gallery setting to isolate and accentuate, but the orchids are amazing. 

The Orchid Show used to fill the void before spring started in the Garden, gloomy March, but this year global climate change has the entire garden in bloom at least a month early. If this weekend was any indication, the end of the world will certainly be spectacular. 

Paperwork

If you have been following our work at Harry Allen Design, this might feel like déjà vu. We started making these paper lamps in the studio back in 2005 and subsequently tried to manufacture them in China. The project stalled, and it was not until Kenneth Cobonpue and his talented team at Hive took over the project that they came to fruition. Together, we basically invented a manufacturing technique.

Our Paperwork lighting for Hive speaks of the past, present, and future. The production technique is an innovative take on age-old papier-mâché, at the forms are lifted from traditional lamps. However, the molded-lamps have a very contemporary feel and they are lit by cutting-edge LED technology - an environmentally-friendly combination that will serve for years to come.

The lamps fall into Harry Allen's REALITY series, which consists of objects whose form is "sampled: from existing sources. Harry has never been attracted to overly-formal design. His design process emphasizes the inherent beauty of things - from beauty from concept, beauty from materials, and beauty from structure- REALITY takes his quest one step further and borrows forms from the world around us.

Paperwork will preview March 22-25 at the
Architectural Digest Home Show: Kenneth Cobonpue, booth #327.
Pier 95, 55th Street at 12th Avenue, New York City

David Rockefeller Award for MoMA

The David Rockefeller Award is presented annually by Museum of Modern Art to an individual from the business community who exemplifies enlightened generosity and effective advocacy of cultural and civic endeavors. The award is named for the Museum's honorary chairman, and early advocate of and successful pioneer in developing strong and enduring links between the corporate community and cultural organizations

We were asked by MoMA to re-imagine the David Rockefeller Award,. We figured the best way to honor these individuals was with MoMA itself. MoMA is a great example of philanthropy, and the great things that come of corporate giving, so we used it very literally as the decoration on the award. A little model of MoMA, rendered in an interpretive variety of materials sits on top of a cement base. It's our way of saying, thanks to the people who build, house, and preserve our culture.

Design Threat

HAD is participating in the AmDC show, THREAT, 3/9.

For this show, centered around the theme of Threat, we were asked to customize a baseball bat. Our baseball bat design is smart and gorgeous, if we do say so ourselves. Play the "Name that Bat" contest for a chance to win a bat and support the American Design Club! Please join us. 

Design Chicago

I spent last weekend in Chicago judging two competitions for the IIDA.

It was a very distinguished and fun panel of judges:

Around the table from left to right are Architect Michael Green (juror) of Vancouver, Interior Designer Gino Castano (juror) of San Francisco, Dennis Krause and Cheryl Durst who run the IIDA, smiley Me (juror), and Architect Dina Griffin (juror) from Chicago.

A couple of us had drinks at Ian Schragger's latest venture in Chicago, the Public Hotel, which sports a very restrained, elegant, Yabu Pushelberg interior. The leafed vault behind the bar in the Pump Room is amazing ...

as are the raw fiberglass globes over the tables. Sorry, this pic was taken in the dark after a few drinks ... sort of atmospheric, no?

 The results of the competition can be seen here: http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/competition-news