This year’s winners of the 10th Annual National Design Awards were announced yesterday at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Among the top designers are Tsao & McKown Architects for interior design, SHoP Architects for architecture, and Boym Partners for product designer.

Other disciplines to be honored include: fashion, landscape, corporate, communication, and a new interaction design category, recognizing work using digital technology. Winners will be feted at a gala dinner on October 22 at Cipriani in New York.
Read on for a list of honorees.

The 2009 National Design Award recipients are:

Interior Design: Tsao & McKown Architects
The Interior Design Award is awarded to Tsao & McKown Architects. Partners Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown have demonstrated that the design of environments can best be served when building design and interior design are conceived as a whole, as evidenced by the unique sense of seamlessness between outside and inside exhibited in their many celebrated projects.

Architecture Design: SHoP Architects
The Architecture Design Award, which recognizes work in commercial, public or residential architecture, is given to SHoP Architects. The 60-person practice, founded by its five principals in 1996, has been a leader in the transformation of intricate theoretical design into easily understood construction models by rethinking architectural practice.

Fashion Design: Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection
Recognizing work in clothing, accessory or footwear design, the Fashion Design Award is presented to Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection. Costa has worked since 2002 as the women’s creative director of Calvin Klein Collection.

Landscape Design: Hood Design
The recipient of the Landscape Design Award, which is presented for work in urban planning or park and garden design, is Hood Design. Hood Design was established by Walter Hood in 1992, in Oakland, Calif. The firm is committed to issues that address the re-construction of urban landscapes within towns and cities.

Interaction Design: Perceptive Pixel Inc.
The Interaction Design Award, given for exceptional work using digital technology, is awarded to Perceptive Pixel Inc. Perceptive Pixel is dedicated to the research, development and deployment of multitouch interfaces for the knowledge worker.

Communication Design: The New York Times Graphics Department
The Communication Design Award, which honors work in graphic or multimedia design, is presented to The New York Times Graphics Department. The New York Times has a long history of groundbreaking information graphics. From Sept. 11, 2001, when the department produced scores of maps and diagrams explaining the attacks and their aftermath, to the 2008 presidential election when the desk built the interactive maps on nytimes.com, the Times Graphics Department provides readers with a visual way to understand the news.

Corporate Achievement: Walker Art Center
The Corporate Achievement Award recognizes a corporation or institution that uses design as a strategic tool of its mission and helps to advance the relationship between design and quality of life. The 2009 Award is presented, for the first time, to a not-for-profit cultural institution, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Through hundreds of groundbreaking exhibitions, publications and presentations by designers worldwide, the Walker presents the value of design to the general public.

Lifetime Achievement: Bill Moggridge
The Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing the work of an individual who has made a long-term contribution to the practice of design, is presented to Bill Moggridge. Moggridge is a co-founder of IDEO, a global design consultancy, which works to create impact through design.

Design Mind: Amory B. Lovins
The Design Mind Award recognizes visionary individuals or firms that have affected a shift in design thinking or practice through writing, research and scholarship. The 2009 recipient is Amory B. Lovins. An American physicist and 1993 MacArthur Fellow, Lovins has been active at the nexus of energy, resources, environment, development and security in more than 50 countries for 40 years, including 14 years based in England.

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Below are a few kitchen accessories to put a stylish spin on dining at home.

Kitchen mitts & tea towel, Wrapables.com

Can opener, Norman Copenhagen

Silicone cutting boards, Wrapables.com

Bird and cloud salt & pepper shaker, MOMA Store

Crustacean platter, Violet.com

Pandora Design flatware, Barneys.com

Linen napkins, Anichini

Glassware, MOMA store

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Banish your blank walls, the Affordable Art Fair is coming to town May 7-10. According to the website: “AAF NYC is the place for new and established collectors to discover and buy paintings, drawings, sculptures, video, photography and limited edition prints from distinguished galleries, all priced from $100 – $10,000.”

This year, the Fair will host more than 60 galleries from the US, Europe, Asia, Canada and South America at its new home at 7 West 34th Street.

Admission:
$20 – General Admission
$15 – Student/Senior (Valid ID required)
$10 – Group Rate (Group of 10 or more)

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I wanted to share this really wonderful resource with all of you, MetroSofa.The whole idea is that the company will help you personalize or update a piece of furniture with its huge selection of styles and fabrics. 

I think the company’s marketing litany sums it up best:

“MetroSofa has many chairs, armchair, dining chair, parlor chair, barrel back chair, wing back chair, high back chair, lounge chair, occasional chair, rocking chair, rocker, recliner, upholstered, metal, wood, steel, maple, mahogany, walnut, oak, chaise lounger, camel back, fainting couch, seats, sofa, couch, setee, loveseats IN STOCK in many finishes and styles, antique, contemporary, Victorian, French Louis, empire, Spanish, English, regal, retro, vintage, danish modern, mid century, turn of the century, pre-war, post-war FOR ALL KINDS OF INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECTS.

“Chairs and Sofas from the 1700’s, 1800’s, 1900’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s – from old antique to modern recycled. MetroSofa also has a variety of fabrics IN STOCK in many colors – white, black, gray, silver, gray, grey, red, yellow, orange, purple, pink, green, forest green, lime green, teal, gold, tan, beige, brown, off white, charcoal in ALL KINDS OF PATTERNS – printed fabric, custom fabric, vinyl, duck cloth, commercial grade fabric, cotton, leather, hides, polka dots, lines, geometric fabric, squares, circles, floral, vintage fabric and colorful stripes.”

I don’t think I could have put that better myself. Enjoy!

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Bali, Indonesia is often called “the island paradise” and once you are there
it is easy to see why.  The kind people, the spicy cuisine, the natural
beauty, the beaches, the lush green, terraced rice patties, the exotic music
and dance, the multi-faceted and rich Hindi culture.  It’s a truly magical
experience.

For most visitors, surfing, fishing, and sun bathing are the most common activities.
But I found the shopping out of this world and spent lots of time exploring
the villages and outer towns.  There are so many incredible and creative
furniture manufacturers that it would be impossible to name them all.  There
is an amazing array of unique accessories and huge amounts of hand-made
textiles and fabrics.  All you need to do is walk out into any street or
market to discover something special.

Fantastic accommodations also abound on the island of Bali.  My choice was the
super lux Amankila Resort, which offers airport pick up via helicopter!    The
resort was set on a cliff side overlooking the ocean and consisted of 34
freestanding bungalow suites, each with private pools overlooking the
sea, outdoor showers and butlers.  The rooms were extremely well designed
using local materials such as coconut shell for the canopy beds, hand-made
wicker for the lounge chairs, and bamboo for the floor rugs.

Bali truly is the ultimate tropical escape!

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Brickchair takes childhood building blocks and actually makes something from them that won’t be plowed into with a race car and recreated again and again. Created by Pepe Heykoop it is in fact made from children’s blocks. Luckily there is a piece of foam on the seat to provide a less bumpy surface. 

Heykoop also created an accompanying chandelier made with over a 1,000 bricks. I bet my mom, the kindergarden teacher, would dig these.

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For those of you who think hip home design from the ‘70s deserves your emulation, think again with a look at James Lileks’ Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible ‘70s. According to the editorial review on amazon.com, the author James Lileks “proves without a shadow of a doubt that the ‘70s were a hideously grim period. This is what happens when Dad drinks, Mom floats in a Valium haze, the kids slump down in the den with a bong, and the decorator is left to run amok.” Available on Amazon, new or used.

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If your eyes glaze over and you start to nod off at the mere mention of “a meeting in the conference room,” ditch your NoDoz and lead your colleagues over to the uber-chic hospitality space Meet at the Apartment. Marc and Sara Schiller (of the brand marketing firm Electric Artists and ephemeral art showcase, Wooster Collective) have banished the bland and boring for a stylish one-stop meeting place, housed in a two-story loft on Crosby Street in SoHo. Stefan Boublil of the design firm The Apartment brings an eclectic mix of romantic minimalism and chic modernism to the 2,500-square-foot space, with an eye on minimizing distractions and keeping the creative juices flowing.

Meet at the Apartment is located at 101 Crosby Street.

Whether you have to brainstorm, pitch a client, launch a product, or plan any other important business event, Meet at the Apartment provides the location, location, location. Upstairs, the black-on-black decor doesn’t just look sleek, but is intended to minimize distraction and help business minds focus. Paper Voyeur wallpapers with their stencil designs, envelop rooms with creativity. And who wouldn’t feel inspired by the custom furniture designed by the cutting-edge likes of Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders and Tobias Wong?

And then there are the plentiful creature comforts to keep you working at full throttle from unlimited snacks (can you say fresh-baked cookies?) and beverages (including fresh fruit smoothie shots) to a library stocked with more than 100 art, design and photography reference books. Plus the space has the latest A/V hook-ups, including 65″ presentation screens with PC and MAC-based workstations. Makes you feel like going to Crosby Street and getting to work…

The White Room downstairs conference space was recently outfitted with a 20-foot, custom-made Vitra conference table wired with electrical outlets and Ethernet ports. Ergonomic Vitra WorkNest chairs surround the table. 

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It’s that time of again for the 37th annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House. This year’s show house, which will honor legendary designer Albert Hadley, will take place at 22 East 71st Street from April 17-May 17. And this year’s designers, who will work their magic to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, are: Bunny Williams, Charles Pavarini III, Charlotte Moss, Christopher Coleman, Christopher Corcoran, Christopher Maya, Jamie Drake, Eileen Kathryn Boyd, Garrow Kedigian, Gloria Vanderbilt, Ike Kligerman Barkley Architects, Joe Nye, Juan Montoya, Kathy Abbot, Lichten Graig Architects, McMillen, Inc., St. Charles of New York, Schermerhorn Interior Design, Shields & Company Interiors, Theo Kalamirakis, William T. Georgis, and Zoya Bograd.

In addition to the seeing the work of these top designers, you will also be able to browse the Show House Shop, which makes its return this year, stocked with everything from antiques to porcelain and crystal to one-of-a-kind furnishings. If you would like to make a donation to the 2009 shop, contact Yvette St. Just at 718.893.8600, ext. 245.

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Drawing inspiration from his own pooch Scooter, Aaron Stewart along with Hornet Toys created Pillow Pillow Pillow, a line of dog and cat shaped pillows. The cartoony looking pillows are very fun without looking overly cutesy. With names like Ruby, Marty, Zilla, Blue, Moe, Amy, and Elliot, these decorative accents take on a life of their own. 

Buy one for yourself or your favorite pet owner. Snag a tote bag or wall graphic. More breeds to come soon. Now that’s something to bark about! 

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I guess you can call it a store conventionally speaking, but nothing by Droog is really conventional. And so with their new SoHo opening (at 76 Greene St between Spring and Broome) comes Bohemian ideas as well: everything in the sore can be purchased, not just product on display but the displays themselves like the staircase, which is constructed out of tables(!) and can be bought in pieces. This is a really interesting concept. I am sure that like myself, many of you have come across something in a store that you wanted to buy, but couldn’t because it was a part of the store, not for sale. But it doesn’t have to be that way and Droog illustrates this concept beautifully.

The space has been designed by Dutch designer Jergen Bey, and it is a cross between an exhibition, a retail environment and an art shop in a sense. The two-story shop features products and furniture Droog is well-known for as well as new collections. Bey and his studio being known as the “House of Blue” have designed a sectional blue house which can be bought in pieces like everything else in store. Jergen hopes that it will be dismantled, bought and spread all over NYC. Once every piece in the store is sold, the interior will be redesigned anew! 

Droog is constructed, like Moooi (previously blogged about) of cutting edge designers but this time all from Amsterdam. They really bring a different way of thinking to everything they do. Check out the photos, or better yet, check out the store, and you’ll see what I mean!

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Set against the backdrop of Tel Aviv’s historic neighborhood, Neve Tzedek, is a glorious new boutique hotel called Neve Tzedek Hotel. Aside from a few finishing touches, construction and design is now complete. The hotel is set in the context of the very charming Neve Tzedek street, in a neighborhood radiating with beauty, history and diversity, where many artists live and small luxury boutiques and shops thrive, and in walking distance from the ocean boardwalk.

Architecturally speaking, the building facade is contemporary looking – an update of classical architecture. The contrast of building materials is really beautiful, featuring stucco in two contrasting colors with wrought iron fences encasing outdoor terraces. 

One of the strongest design features in this building is contrast, seen in the color palette and building materials, as well as indoor and outdoor elements, modern and traditional, and old and new elements.

The newly renovated building interior features very clean lines with a lot of white walls and sheer white flowy window treatments, high ceilings and a very light grey stained concrete floor, all which give a very fresh open and airy feel.

Aside from contrast, another recurring theme is bridging the outdoors with the indoors. A good example are the exposed wooden beams which set off the clean interior architecture and fill the space with character. Other interesting features include the bathroom sinks, which are made out of what looks like old wooden wine barrels cut in half and then layed on their side to serve their function. There are several outdoor decks which are not quite outdoor, but not quite indoor either. Out and in are bridged together which really makes you feel connected to both. In terms of decor, the mainly white monochromatic palette is offset by a few deliberate focal points featuring bright colors, such as an orange sofa or a very traditional opulent looking upholstered chair.

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I recently read the Tom Dixon Review 2008, which I picked up at ABC Carpet & Home, where they have a beautiful Tom Dixon vignette. The paper was titled “The Rough Issue” and discussed how Dixon finds inspiration in a British way of thinking that is straightforward and uncomplicated. “A Bit of Rough” is actually a term of endearment, and is based on an attitude that is direct and frank without pretension. 

The review says that these are qualities which have come to define British industry, from the ingenuity of Medieval methods of manufacture to the virility of Victorian engineering. When this is applied to design, it translates into products with features of honesty and longevity, manufactured in a vigorous and uncomplicated manner. There is a no-nonsense approach to the honesty of surfaces and materials, demonstrating innovation and a robustness beyond short-term fashionability. What you get is honest aesthetics through industrial manufacture that is tough and true.

This is what defines Tom Dixon’s collection. It features visible working materials and imprints of the industrial techniques that have shaped them. The belief that simple methods of production produce the most durable products is expressed through the durability of the product itself. His love of metal is expressed in a “Heavy Metal Revival.” The new collection has a “longevity and an honesty that speaks for itself,” says Dixon.

I find this to be accurately represented in Dixon’s collection, and in some cases very literally- as can be seen in the screw table, for example. Take a look at the photos and decide for yourself!

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With a story as varied and colorful as the apartment described, The New York Times delves into Lucy Waring’s eclectic West 67th Street home. Designed by Sulan Kolatan and William Mac Donald in 1997, it was previously featured in the Times when it was completed.

Since she moved in two years ago, Waring has revitalized the apartment and herself. Read the full story here. See more pictures below…

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From this week’s New York Times, we read about Steven Kurutz’s experiences with negotiating for lower prices at New York City furniture retailers. He has mixed success at stores such as Cite, BoConcept, The Conran Shop and ABC Carpet & Home amongst others. 

Read the full story complete with $5,499 to $1,199 discounted rugs here. 

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Couch Karma is excited to share our eBay obsession with you in a new feature called Found on eBay! Every time we find an object of our affection, curiosity or total bewilderment, we’ll bring it to your attention like this Aquarium Coffee Table. If something seems fishy, it is: the 24-inch round, glass-topped coffee table holds 5 gallon of water for your own little Nemo’s. All necessary accessories are included, i.e., pump, filter, heater, etc. The starting bid is $189.99 and the auction ends on February 18. Fish lovers, start your bidding…

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How awesome is that word? Translated from Dutch, mooi means beautiful – here, with an added o for extra beauty. It is always satisfying when a company can deliver a complete and thorough package: great advertising and marketing, strong branding, cutting edge photography (Catalogue photos by Erwin Olaf!) and graphic design- everything down to the last chosen font style. Of course all of those fun details would not make any sense if it wasn’t also for great product and Moooi specializes in high end home furnishings. The company is composed of today’s premier designers, a truly international collaboration, all designing under one roof.

Creative director Marcel Wanders (also one of today’s leading designers), among his many other ventures, is responsible for the interior design of the ground floor at THOR, otherwise known as The Hotel on Rivington on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, as well as the recently completed Mondrian South Beach Hotel in Miami.

Amsterdam could definitely serve as the creative capital in the Netherlands, always producing new designs and ideas on all design fronts. Sometimes they seem a little foreign to me but I think this is a great way to broaden one’s horizons and design sensibility. There are many products that I drool over of course, but at the same time, I find some of Moooi’s products a little too out there for my taste, maybe too modern or too simplistic in some cases, or perhaps just too conceptual.

You should definitely check out their fun site (there is a new and fun intro every time you visit), and make sure you check out their online catalogue- the Erwin Olaf photography is exquisite. It was so hard to get a copy of Moooi’s catalogue from Manhattan retailers that I actually had it sent to me by a very friendly salesperson out in Seattle’s InForm Interiors. And yes, I wanted an actual hard copy of their catalogue so badly that I kept trying relentlessly and finally had one sent from across the country!

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A longtime fan of Shirin Neshat, I was excited to read about her apartment renovation in The New York Times this week. Her friend, designer Azin Valy gutted the apartment—a former warehouse built in 1902—that Neshat has been living in since 2000. Opening up the space in the loft and allowing more light to radiate in were two keys to the redesign.

Read all about the transformed space here. See more pictures below…

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Les Fauves were a small group of artists during this period whose work can be characterized by wild brush strokes and strong use of color as well as a simplification and abstraction of the subject matter. Their work can be seen as an extreme development of the Post-Impressionistic style of Van Gogh.   

What made Kees Van Dongen unique among the Fauves is that he was the only portraitist in the group. His unique and versatile style is evidently influenced by Van Gogh and Rembrandt, and later modern artists like Matisse and Picasso. There is much contrast in his work regarding subject matter and it is all filtered through his Fauvist style. This melting pot of movements, ideas and artists is what gives Van Dongen his unique flair. You can look at a grouping of different paintings and each would look as though created by a different artist.

Van Dongen can be seen an observer of society, from the bohemian world through to the “cocktail age,” his work is influenced by the scandalous and urban world of cabaret, the circus and women, very different from the landscape Fauvism (often associated with this movement) and later ventures into the Parisian high society and his representation of the Roaring Twenties.  For more information in this exhibit, please visit The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

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In honor of our new president Barack Obama, who lived abroad for a brief time, I’m sharing memories from my trip to Indonesia. Most people do not think of the main Indonesia island of Java as a holiday location. It is a large, overpopulated, semi-tense Muslim island and home to the crowded capital city of Jakarta. But it is worth a visit, even if it’s only to go to the southern part of the island to see the magnificent and amazing 8th-century Buddhist temple known as Borobudur.

So much has been written about Borobudur, but nothing compares to the actual experience of being deep out in the forest fields and seeing the sun rise over the stupas and statues of the temple.  Every morning the sky awakens and brilliant colors lift the fog to reveal thousands of carved panel walls along and around the temple. No one knows why such a huge Buddist structure was built in this part of the world since there is no record of Buddism in the area. But either way it leaves you with a feeling of peace and grandeur and hope in the achievements of humanity.

A fantastic and super luxe hotel is very close by. The Amanjiwo Resort makes the experience even more dynamic by offering incredible free-standing villa suites that have a clear view of working fields and the Borobudur temple. Without a doubt, one of the more magical settings in the world.

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