High Life

If you have not seen the Highline, ignore me and go. It is an amazing new addition to New York. I am however a bit conflicted about it.

John and I, and our friends Cathy and Jeff went to visit the newly opened section on Tuesday evening. It was busy, a freeway of sorts. Beautiful planting and views of the City, but I have yet to relax up there. Maybe if I wasn't so hungry, it was way past dinnertime for me.

It seems more promenade than park to me. 

And dare I say the design feels a little self-conscious. I don't love all of the swooshes, and references to movement. 

I do love all of the remnants of NYC history, and the new views of West side architecture that it provides. 

The new "lawn," is tiny. Not sure why they even tried.

And the birdhouses ... not a bird in sight. 

Hey, I'm a critical New Yorker, and a design snob. The plantings steal the show. 

I cant wait for it to settle in, to see what it becomes, how it really contributes to the City. 

Starving, we ended the evening at the Fatty Crab. 

Oy. Too cool for me. Loud music, small plates, and "... you are going to want to share everything (we will?), and all of the plates will come as the chef makes them in no particular order..." etc, etc. 

I feel like my mother, but do you mean that you won't serve me a normal meal or you can't. Interesting Malaysian flavors, but I am yelling at my friends and making a mess. Eating with my hands, and the waiter could at least learn to pour water in the glass without spilling. Oh, and it was $80 a head.

Live and learn.

LOT IN TIMES TODAY

Our LOT collection for NDT Brazil is featured in the Home section of the NY Times today. Read the story here.

Core 77 Design Awards

A lot of interesting conversation went down while judging the Product and Equipment category of the Core77 Design Awards.

These awards pick up where the ID Design Awards left off when ID Magazine folded. My fellow judges and I, (below L to R) Zoe Coombes, Rama Chorpash, Maria Popova, and Julie Lasky, took all day to wade through the many entries. 

There were some amazing and beautiful entries, and discussing the ever-changing boundaries of design was fun and challenging.

Beyond Design

On Wednesday and Thursday I participated in a design conference called DesignBoost. I didn't know much about it except that it was curated by a friend of mine, David Carlsson of David Design and more recently the DavidReport. He is a multi-disciplinarian design impresario and I like what he does so I agreed to participate in his program at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and it proved interesting.

In general there is a lot of metal masturbation around the design community. We like to debate our role in the world, and critique ourselves. It can be fun; it can be an eye roll, but this conference had an interesting format.

First, on Wednesday afternoon, I participated in a group discussion around the theme of how designers can be more proactive when it come to social responsibility. Many of us acknowledged that ultimately many of the decisions to be more socially responsible were not up to us. We all agreed to do our best. Davin Stowell of Smart Design spoke about trying to frame the context of the design work. Involvement in the planning stages obviously provides more opportunity to do good - make products greener, more efficiently, etc etc. This of course requires that clients ask you to do the framing, and more often than not I am not involved in that part of the process.

In the evening I attended the "speed dating" dinner. A networking dinner that took its format from speed dating. It was lively because a) it started with a whiskey tasting, b) everyone moved one seat to the right every four minutes, and c) they served a lot of wine. It was more of a drunk dating dinner - a pretty good way meet new people, and David had assembled and interesting group of participants. Unfortunately it seemed every time I moved they served a plate of calamari two places to the left. Just out of reach. 

The "dating" begins:

And then we got down to business. I met some nice people.

And finally on Thursday I spoke to the group, presenting my work in the context of "Design Beyond Design," or the future of design. The future as I see it anyway. I think at some point it may be posted on their web site. Unfortunately I missed all of the other presentations because I had double booked - in addition to DesignBoost, I was judging the Core 77 Design Awards and I had to run back to finish up.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HARRY ALLEN

Or at least part of it. Check out the interview Harry did with Living Etc.

Color Report

I was inspired by the mounds of fresh strawberries at the farmers market yesterday. Red is delicious.

Hand of the Designer

The Hand Hooks, from our REALITY line, were cast from Harry's hands, so it is fun to see where they end up. They were recently spotted in the home of Anthony Almaguer and Steven Burgert, owners of I.D. Chicago.

Harry's hands are all around the world - offering, grabbing, holding, beckoning, and making themselves useful where ever they go. Check out the frosted Offer Hook used as a soap dish, right below the My Brothers Mirror! These guys have amazing taste.

Rhodie Warriors

Last weekend John and I decided to add some large Rhododendron Maximum to the border around our yard - for privacy sake. On Thursday morning I used the truck - one of its few useful missions so far this summer - to pick up three 7-8' tall native Rhodies.

Please note the new wooden rails on the truck bed, they are another small design project a long time coming, but they look great and are very useful when carting large plants around.

The atmospheric photos are thanks to dirt on my iphone lens.

Here is John with one of the new additions.

The first planting presented the biggest struggle. We discovered three large rocks right where we wanted the shrub - strategically placed to block out the neighbor's driveway. We wrestled the rocks and won. Ben obviously does not see what all the fuss was about.

And those three big, flat rocks that we removed will turn into next weekend's project, as we expand the rock garden that runs along the base of our rock wall...

Suite Friday

I have been working on a few residential projects - I know, yikes - it involves a lot of specifying and shopping, but I am enjoying the research. Last Friday, late in the afternoon I swung by Suite NY to see what they have. They carry some of the best European furniture brands, from Alper to Foscarini to dePadova, and the new showroom at 419 Park Ave is incredible, up on the 17th Floor with views of the Empire State Building.

Kris Fuchs and Maria Sepulveda who own the place are friends and since it was the most amazing Friday, after I saw all I needed to see, we hung out on their balcony for a bit. Right across from them is this amazing new glass-balcony bar in the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel. Looks like a great place to visit.

I have the greatest respect for anyone in the front trenches selling design, and Kris and Maria are two of the hardest working gals in the business, but we were not working very hard on Friday afternoon.

Shiro Kuramata

Harry's piece on a forgotten icon for W Magazine - "Design Hits, Revisited".



Designer Harry Allen believes that Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata (1934–91)—who in reality was more unloved than merely forgotten—has been overlooked because his favored mediums (mostly wire and Lucite) are out of fashion. “He had a great sense of experimentation and playfulness, and was a master of rethinking materials,” says Allen. “Why shouldn’t a chair [above] be made out of metal mesh?” Allen also cherishes his Kuramata acrylic vases, which he bought late one night at a museum in Tokyo. “I’ve only put flowers in them a couple of times,” he says. “They really don’t need to be accessorized.

By Mark Ellwood
May 2011

Spasso Mascot

Our blue-chrome Bank in the Form of a Pig is frequently at risk of theft by customers at one of the "impossible-to-get table" restaurants in New York City, Spasso! Read the article here!

BANG WINS FIFI !

The Fifi Awards, an annual event sponsored by the Fragrance Foundation, honors the fragrance industry's creative achievements. It is basically the Oscars of the fragrance world. Harry Allen Design is honored that our bottle design for Marc Jacobs BANG won a Fifi for Best Packaging of the Year in the Men's Luxe category!

Organized Foliage

Memorial Day weekend in Bedford has been a nice re-entry from Japan. Honestly, I had a great time in Japan, and I have a feeling everything will work out fine. People are hopeful, life goes on. I'm afraid my posts might have been overly-dramatic. In any event, it is nice to be home.

On Saturday John and Alfredo trimmed our new hedge, behind the pool, for the first time. I'm sorry that I did not take a before shot, but I like this picture because the hedge still has some growing to do, but even so one can see how structural the hedge will be when it fills in.

One of my first rules of design is Order equals Beauty.

It applies to most artistic pursuits. A grade school music teacher once asked my class what music was - we were stumped - the answer was "organized noise." That definition blew my little mind - so accurate and brief, yet so broad in its implications. Under the definition, the new hedge is "organized foliage." Architecture is "organized building materials", industrial design could be organized "form and function." As soon as man gives order to something it becomes more considered, and when that consideration is perceived by others, it is pleasing. Of course there are a billion different ways to organize things, and equally as many interpretations, but that would require more than a blog post to explore.

I've been watching these European Hornbeam saplings grow for two years, and that has been exciting, but the reality of the transformation, from a few disheveled plants to a new architectural element behind the pool, is more beautiful than I could have imagined. Special thanks to the landscape artists, John and Alfredo - for imposing order, for cutting it so level and perfect, for taming nature, and for speaking to me through the new hedge.

Farewell Tokyo

My final day in Tokyo was mostly meetings, in un-airconditioned rooms due to the energy consumption regulations. I spotted this sign on my way to drinks in the evening.

And then yesterday, when I got to the airport lounge I was both awestruck and saddened by this incredible feat of automation:

Awestruck because the Japanese perfected the automatic beer pour - please note that it even has an extra squirt of foam at the end. The foam on the beer is a much appreciated culinary delight in Japan. Saddened because the heated, self cleaning toilets, and automatic faucets that I have marveled at for years, now look so wasteful. The nuclear tragedy to the north, and the ensuing energy crisis made me look at the Japanese love of the new, and subsequent energy thirst, in a whole new light. I would not wish this tragedy upon anyone, but if someone can make good of it, the Japanese can. I cannot think of any society I would rather have exploring clean energy solutions than the Japanese - just look at what they did for beer.

Report from Tokyo

5/23/11

When I checked into the Cerulean Tower Hotel, the guy behind the desk leaned in and asked me how I felt about being in Tokyo. Apparently there aren't many tourists visiting these days. The sunset from the 35th floor executive lounge was beautiful, but thoughts of nuclear meltdown are never far away.

5/24/11

A little earthquake this morning was another reminder that the calm is borrowed, but I am not one to dwell, and I headed out on the town. My first stop was the Kuramata/Sotsass show at 21_21 Design Sight . Always nice to see Kuramatas work, but the show did not really cover any new territory.

My next mission took me to Asakusa, a neighborhood famous for it's historic area. One of the most prominent landmarks, however, is a crazy Philip Stark building (the one with the giant horn-shaped golden potato on top of it).

I was on a quest to buy a traditional Japanese lantern, and thanks to a lead by my friend (and former HAD employee, Aiko Tokunaga) I found what I was looking for at the Onda lantern shop.

I then stopped in to see my friends Iki and Kun (I forgot to take picture) whom I have known since their days at Idée. Despite news and government reassurances to the contrary, Kun is a doom-and-gloomer. He related stories from surfer friends of bodies washing ashore so radioactive that they cannot be touched. He warned of eating vegetables, fish, and milk and hanging out in the park (as the grass absorbs alot of radioactive fallout). Honestly, he really freaked me out. He has very little faith in the powers that be. I hope he is wrong, but with that on my mind, I picked up a package of Meiji chocolate covered almonds and took a nap.

This evening I had dinner with my friend Benjamin Budde at a place called Iri, in the Uehara neighborhood. Which, coincidentally was built by Kun and shares a building with Iki's new flower shop, The Little Shop of Flowers.

Iri is a beautiful, totally delightful local food restaurant, and The Little Shop of Flowers is a perfect little flower shop with wooden doors that open onto the street. Even so, I found it hard to shake Kun's words. Where did the fresh peas come from that went into my soup, or the duck that went into the confit? Who is monitoring the safety? I'm sure my woozy, jet-lagged brain is contributing to the paranoia, so off to bed I go.

Bananas Marquis

What pop band superstar spotted my Banana Bowl in Brazil?

Del marquis of the Scissor Sisters (aka Derek, back in the day when he was an intern in the studio) has been spending alot of time in Brazil these days, and he sent me this picture from Benedixt a store in Sao Paulo that carries my REALITY products.

Ben's Bridge

Back to reality. The ICFF is over and we spent the weekend in Bedford. We recently completed a small design project that has been years in the making. We always had problems with our doggie door. It was great at letting the dog come and go, but it also let cold air and water in. So I devised an air trap of sorts, a double doggie door/covered bridge that will hopefully take care of the problem. We had the roofer give it some shingles while he was re-shingling the house last month, and Ben has figured it all out.

OFF TO TOKYO FOR A FEW DAYS!

ICFF Roundup

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair was on last week. The design world dismisses the fair as small and uneventful, but I always see beautiful things. I love to cheer on the home team. The design community in New York fights the good fight despite our lack of manufacturing and support from the top. Here are some of the highlights:

My good friends And Kovel and Justin Parker of Esque glass studio made an impressive showing. In addition to being the toughest glassblowers around, I appreciate their craft-meets-art aesthetic. We did a collaborative project a few years ago called Harry Allen Esque. This year they featured lots of leather details.

There blobby glass pendants are on my wish list.

I spotted these little cast paper Trash Me lamps at Ameico. They are not new, designed in 2010, but they are very cool.

Reza Feiz showed these elegant stools. Reza is from LA and I cannot help seeing a hint of Hollywood Regency in his contemporary work.

Theo Richardson and Charles Brill, of Rich Brilliant and Willing showed for the first time, which I thought was way overdue. They are manufacturing their own items now. Their formal language is simple and smart, and very American in their pared-down aesthetic - there is no other way to make things here.

This reclaimed rug from Nomadic Trading Company of North Carolina caught my eye. It is a composite of a few antique rugs from Turkey, sewn together. I love informal haphazard designs like this, and this one has a lightness that I do not associate with Oriental rugs.

This chair was the star of the Wilsonart collaboration with Rochester Institute of Technology students.

My old pals Koury Guzman showed some subtle patterns. The inlaid brass on the table played nicely off their subtly hued and patterned rugs.

Bernhardt Design always shows a special project or two, and this year they showed Tools@Schools a collaboration between Aruliden design studio and the students at The School at Columbia University. The young students learned about design and contributed ideas to the project. Aruliden gave it form. The resulting desk and lockers are much better than anything I had back in the day and it was fun to watch how involved the kids were.

Here a proud student shows off a locker to a booth visitor.

Council showed their amazing new Periodic side tables. These large chunks of silver plated wood are incredible and now available at DWR.

Jason Miller and Patrick Richardson at the Roll & Hill booth. I love Jason's new tubular lighting system, Endless. I'd love to see an installation with my Pipeline seating system for Dune.

All in all I thought the energy was back in the show and it seemed very positive. Yes it is small, but it is all we have, and I would recommend that everyone take a look.

Brazilian Bash

I have lots to report from my ICFF excursions, but I just got these pics from our event on Friday. If you have even glanced at the blog in the last few days you are sure to know that we featured work that I designed for two Brazilian manufacturers, NDT Brazil and Vialight. I also invited a young designer Brunno Jahara to show work he had done for the same two companies.

The installation was looking great before the guests arrived. My new Surrogate lamp, a studio project made from a resin infused Brazil T-shirt, made for a nice introduction to the show. It hung above Brunno Jahara's Batucada Vases and Neorustica table.

Inside my new lamps for Vialight displayed well. We put all of the most colorful lamps together in a very colorful room.

At the back we featured a more neutral palette. My new LOT collection for NDT Brazil is full of curves - unusual for wooden furniture.

The party started at 7. The hoards included Caroline Baumann of the Cooper Hewitt Museum (lower R, smiling)...

Ronnie Sergio (L), owner of Vialight, Ricardo Augusto (M) and Farid Buissa of NDT Brazil...

My partner John, Herman Miller's Ben Watson, myself, journalist Melissa Feldman, and Ben, our Basset Hound...

Design retailer Ana Azevedo (R), who to my surprise is Brazilian!

Josh Owen (M), a talented designer and educator...

Roberto Cocenza (R), who invited me to Brazil last year and introduced me to NDT Brazil and Vialight...

Eric Hoffman (M) and Michael Reynolds (R), good friends and tastemakers. Michael styles and produces stories for Architectural Digest and Wallpaper, among others. Eric is an art director and graphic design consultant with his own firm Hoffman Creative.

and many more. Thanks to all for their support!