CHAIRS!

I love chairs.

Anybody that's been to our apartment knows this. Somehow I've managed to (cohesively?) incorporate about seven different styles of chairs into 700 square feet. I see it as a fairly easy way to indulge in high design without committing to a giant armoire or something like that.

Here are some of my favorites.

Most of them are still on my wishlist...

BALANCING BLOCKS

I bought the first set of Fort Standard's balancing blocks for my nephew's first birthday present. Less than a week later I had my own.

It's on display in a very prominent spot in the apartment and has become somewhat of a conversation piece. It's funny how competitive our household has gotten over who can build the tallest/prettiest/best (yep, best)structure.

Check out their website for other beautiful pieces. I'm coveting the "terra" at the moment...

THE LABEL

London-based label YMC (You Must Create) has become an absolute favorite. Their statement is perfect:

"YMC are not led or influenced by seasonal trends but try to provide the solution for intelligent clothing that is both wearable and distinctive. Collections gradually develop from season to season whilst a modernist approach ensures good ideas maintain longevity".

SHEILA HICKS

For 50+ years Ms. Hicks has taken a small wooden frame around the globe to create notebook size weavings of the intimate kind. By her own estimate she has made more than 1000 of them.

Check out her website for more amazing weavings!

PLACES VIII

A Victorian Zambian mansion.

TUNE IN

Melaena Cadiz working out a new song.

Video courtesy of Mikael Kennedy .

MARGARET HOWELL LOVE

...Have you seen Ms. Howell's house on the Suffolk Coast? Her 1960's country retreat is so beautiful in its simplicity, just as you would expect from the queen of clean lines, high quality, and casual elegance.

POTHOLES

Parisian potholes by artist Juliana Santacruz Herrera

MOVIE

Bill Cunningham New York. If you haven't seen in, see it.

A lovely documentary chronicling the 80+ year old New Yorker's obsessive interest in fashion trends and high society charity soirees for the NYTimes Style section in his columns On the Street and Evening Hours. Documenting Uptown fixtures, downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's overflowing collection of photos is such an accurate documentation of fashion trends through the years- more reliable than any glossy magazine or catwalk could hope to be.

THE SHOW

After the Armory Show earlier this month, the one artist I can't seem to get my mind off of is Brion Nuda Rosch. Quietly hanging on DCKT Contemporary's patch of white wall, Brion's collages stood out in all of the gimmicky conceptual pieces, recklessly bold video loops, extra large canvases, and neon phrases.

His colors are wonderful.

TUNE IN

Wednesday nights at the Jalopy Theatre, Feral Foster hosts and headlines a night of folk music called 'Roots n Ruckus'.

We love it.

PLACES VII

It's hard to go wrong with simple materials and simple lines.

The concrete, two gabled houses connected by a closed central courtyard was designed by Kazunori Fujimoto Architects as a weekend getaway in the Tochigi Prefecture of Japan.

THE TAKE OVER

Will the Mulleavy sisters be the next designers for fashion house giant, Dior?

....that's what we hear!

Hope Kate and Laura are ready for Paris

THE KEDS

Grandma Gatewood (1888 - 1973) was the first woman to hike the 2,168 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  She did it at the age of 67 in 1955 wearing Keds sneakers and carrying only an army blanket, raincoat, and one change of clothes--all in a handmade over-the-shoulder sack.  A model for packing light.   She decided to hike the trail after reading an article in National Geographic, thinking "it would be a nice lark." 

What a sport.  Also, quite a testament to the comfort and durability of Keds.   My pair of red Keds are going on their sixth summer of hot asphalt, creek algae, saltwater and sand.  An upstanding sneaker, really.

THE BOOK

Reading Just Kids, Patti Smith's recount of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith tells it like it was- brutally honest in the good times and the bad. We both highly recommend this one!