All posts filed under: Things for Decorating

Studio Visit: Black + Blum

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It was a bit ironic that my first visit to the London studio of Black + Blum was during the summer edition of the New York International Gift Fair. It was during that show several years ago where I first encountered the company’s quirky, functional gadgets. During a trip to London in August, I sat down with Martin Blum at the Black + Blum studio/shop located in the OXO Tower on the south bank of the Thames. Blum was holding down the fort at home while his business partner Dan Black introduced new products at the Javits Center in New York. Blum and Black first met when they were design students at Newcastle University. After working well together on a few group projects, “we realized that we had something going,” says Blum. “It’s quite rare to find someone you can work well with.”  A few years after school the two got together and started a firm in 1998. After operating as a design consultancy for two years, they had a literal “lightbulb” moment after designing …

Andrew Myers: Screw Artist

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By combining ordinary screws and oil paint, Andrew Myers creates stunning portraits and graphic art pieces. To create the work, Myers will first draw the image on a board that he will then precisely pre-drill with holes. He then carefully drills each screw to the right height in order to get the desired 3D effect. Finally, he finishes the background (using materials like vintage newspaper or phone book listings, for instance) and paints each screw using a pointillist technique. Each piece contains thousands of screws, making the work both time-consuming and physically demanding (the pieces range from $10,000 to $50,000). Myers, who draws inspiration from his everyday life for his art, says that he’s used over 200,000 screws to date, with more commissions coming. Why screws? “I am always thinking of new mediums to use, but haven’t gotten the same effect as with the screws,” he says. “I believe there is a lot more that can be done with screws and I am still learning.” http://andrewmyersart.com/

Kohler Original Recipe Chocolate Eggs

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One of the best kept secrets about plumbing giant Kohler Co. is that in addition to making toilets, showers, and tubs out of Kohler, Wisconsin, the company also makes incredible handmade chocolates. Available for a limited time, these speckled eggs come in milk and dark chocolate with ganache centers infused with flavors like cognac, strawberries and cream, and peanut butter. If you aren’t near Kohler’s Craverie Chocolatier Cafe don’t worry,  you can also order the eggs online. $29.95 for a 9 piece set; $15.95 for a four piece set.

Charley Harper by Motawi

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If you are desperate for signs of Spring, then take a look at this new line of hand-crafted glazed art tile from Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Based on the work of wildlife artist Charley Harper (1922-2007), the line includes 11 designs including ladybugs, cardinals, rabbits, and other creatures that inspired Harper, who was an American minimal realist artist whose vibrant depictions of the natural world have illustrated books, posters, and magazines. The tiles range from $32 to $86 each and come in 4” x 4”, 4” x 8”,  6” x 8”, and 6” x 6” sizes.

“Colored-Pencil Table” Installation by Nendo

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At a quick glance, Nendo’s new installation for the upcoming Saint-Etienne International Design Biennial in France looks like a simple grouping of colorful plastic tables, but what’s going under the surface is more complex. To create the unusual pastel finish, Japanese design firm used a technique called udukuri to carve away the soft parts of cypress wood boards so that the harder curves and lines of the wood grain stand out.  Then, they covered the boards with paper and traced the relief in colored pencils to transfer the wood grain onto the paper. The strokes of the pencils and the wood grain pattern combine to create subtle shades and a unexpected sheen on the table surface. The installation will be on view at the biennial from March 14 through March 31st. All photos by Hiroshi Iwaski

KINTO Tableware

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One of the best things about going to the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF) each season is discovering manufacturers that I never heard of and becoming a fan before I’ve left the booth. At this winter’s show, that company was KINTO Co. Founded in 1972 as a wholesaler of porcelain and ceramic tableware in Japan’s Shiga prefecture, the company began to develop their own designs in glass, wood, ceramic, and other materials, for the Japanese lifestyle in the 1990s, and started a full-scale export business in 2009. Based on the simple premise of creating products “to make our lives comfortable”, their line includes a range of coffee and tea related pieces as well as other designs. New this year is the Couleur teapot set, which combines a modern design form with the classic Japanese teapot. The microwave- and dishwasher-safe set includes a pot, cup, and saucer. Inside the pot, the spout is covered by a delicate porcelain strainer that is an example of the company’s craftsmanship. KINTO also launched an elegantly glazed new tableware …