Mad Modern

Mid-Century UFO lamp.

2010-09-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

In my humble, and no doubt wayward opinion.....I think the most exciting time for 'design' was the 50's. World War 2 ended, and the possibilities were seemingly endless.

Andy's Soup!

2010-09-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've been busy.....mainly with Flickr, in terms of non-work stuff.

I love these limited edition Warhol soup cans from the Warhol museum.

St. Ferdinand's (1956 midcentury church)

2009-10-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

I loved the rather 30's 'fascist' lines of this church, near Belmont on the northwest side of Chicago.

This gem is from 1956!

new '58 Mirro pieces

2009-08-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

When Ebay, Etsy, and estate sales converge.....wacky fun.

1958 MIRRO serving dish

2009-08-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

I love the atomic feel of the 1958-60 ' of this collection, of which there were tons of items. Intended as 'high end hostess gifts'.

Brushed aluminum and teak.

Wonderfully silly, and stylish at the same time.

Random 80's 'Smiths' album/single covers

2009-08-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Graphic design can be simple, direct, and beautiful.

Oscar Niemeyer

2009-08-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Great book, on a fantastic architect!

50's Chartreuse fiberglass lamp

2009-07-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

'Found Objects' bringing a little bit of joy in these tense times.

Starck building in Tokyo

2009-06-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

In Tokyo, last fall, I shot this Philippe Starck building. The locals refer it it as 'the Golden Poo building'. which is quite funny, actually the 'poo' is a flame, manufactured by a company in Japan that makes submarines.

Sputnik Table Lamp

2009-05-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've obviously got a soft spot for 'vintage nuclear' inspired design. On another note, North Korea's clumsy, child-like posturing seems just as over-the-top and silly as a 1950's lamp. But the net results are quite different.

The best design, at first glance, seems strange and dangerous. The same qualities in a 'failed state' inspire panic. Truth be told, the 'Eames Era' was just as terrifying as it is now, though it was more under the radar.

Classic Art Deco Space

2009-05-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

As I've said before, in my humble opinion, THE quintessential nadir of Art Deco, was the French liner Normandie. And the premier space on the ship was the 1st class dining room. Longer, and larger than the 'hall of mirrors' at Versailles, this room had more Lalique and Christophe than can be imagined.

I think the 'unsung' heroes of architecture, are Naval Architects. The Normandie, was the stylistic equivalent of the Chrysler building.....except that it was capable of traveling 35 miles an hour. Amazing

1958 Cadillac Brochure

2009-05-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've got this great '58 Cadillac brochure. Love the steely 'I've got money, get over it!' look of the

icey blond on the cover. The interior fabric options were crazy cool.

The future of our security?

2009-05-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, the U.S. military has purchased unmanned aircraft, over piloted planes.

With this technology, I wonder if we can avoid having toddler's shot and killed in their homes by wayward drug dealers.

"Ah.....Gee......thanks.."

2009-05-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

The master of irony, and his vapid, gorgeous icon of the '60's.

I can't think of anything that epitomizes 'cool' more than Andy and Edie.

More important than Picasso, or Marcel Duchamp? I think so. And more relevant and 'timeless'

Yep, another crazy Jetson's lamp

2009-05-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

I've found tons of 'eames era' lamps, but this one, is one of those design objects, that looks as if it landed on Earth from a distant planet. Streamlined / Atomic / somewhat silly.....all the ingredients that make for a good looking lamp.

A delicious, bleary-eyed utopia!

2009-04-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Oscar Niemeyer's Brasilia. As I've posted before, I love his architectural vision.

This creative confection of buildings can reside quite nicely along side 'Falling Water' or Gehry's Bilbao building

Tomorrow's Bathroom Today

2009-04-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Sculptural, without looking silly. I love these fixtures. Anytime a toilet looks like a piece of art, is a good thing. Studies show we spend 1/3 of our lives in bed....I wonder how much time we spend in the salle de bain?

Happy Easter Weekend!

2009-04-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Not to offend, but here's a painting from the 30's-40's obscure surrealist Clovis Trouille (see previous post) It's all about love, right??

Want to feel protected?

2009-04-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Maybe this J.P. Gaultier outfit would provide the much needed comfort, as you hit the insane and dangerous urban street?

YSL Auction / Ingo Maurer Floor lamp / Alexander McQueen

2009-04-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

.....took in nearly $300 Million. Nice Mondrian painting!

....gorgeous, sinister retro floor lamp by Maurer

....McQueen couture.....all of this quite random, all of this striking and nice in an odd paranoid way.

Don't mess with......

2009-04-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

...a 'gal' in vintage Thierry Mugler. Confidence + tailoring + Innovation + Art = Power.

Speaking of David Bowie.....

2009-03-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Bowie's neighbor in Switzerland, was the primo, surrealist/modernist artist Balthus.

His 30's painting 'The Street' (in the MoMA collection) visually outlines thbe perverse, dangerous, strange and 'odd' scenario of what we face everyday. I think I read a Bowie/Balthus interview a few years ago.

Time Warp

2009-03-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have fond memories, as a kid, watching David Bowie on the 'Midnight Special' show. And my mother saying "Oh my, he is gross!" Funny.

Zaha Hadid Paintings

2009-03-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

She creates images digitally, photographs the output, and paints the images in Acrylic and Chinese lacquer.

At Galerie Buchmann, Berlin.

Mark Tansey part 2

2009-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

'Doubting Thomas' painting. Inept, Insipid, 'simple' guy behavior?

Mark Tansey

2009-03-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

Art

2009-03-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

My favorite 'contemporary artist' is Mark Tansey. Sort of an updated 'thinking-man's' Magritte.

Depictions of the complete absurdity of 'modern life' always appeal.

Also, scan back 50 years. Somewhat oblique/obscure, Belgian Surrealist Clovis Trouille (aside from having a wonderful name) provoked many debates with his images.

Hellish Times

2009-03-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Times are tough, and some people/governments appear to be evil to the core. I always liked Dali's 'Soft construction with boiled beans/premonition of civil war' from 1936.

Dali always seems to hover between 'in and out of fashion', but I think he 'got' the pain and carnage we inflict upon ourselves on a daily basis, in this surrealist masterpiece.

Philippe Starck cabinet

2009-02-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

I'm lucky to have bought this iconic audio cabinet, years ago. It's wood, with a silver matte paint finish. To me, it reminds me of some crazy temple.....or some sci-fi-meets-Mussolini's-EUR structure.

Beautiful Living Room

2009-02-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

circa 1950. This room is nearly 60 years old, and looks really fresh today.

Perfection (again)

2009-02-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Gary Cooper's, lovingly restored LA place. WOW

Vintage sculptural lamp

2009-02-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

This lamp in my bedroom makes me smile.......and the picture of my late Dad in college, makes me cry.

What is she thinking?

2009-02-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

What is Sophia Loren thinking, gazing at Jayne Mansfield's over the top, and over the-edge-of-the-dress bust? Envy? Disgust? I don't think we'll ever know. But it's interesting to ponder 'what' we construct ourselves to be, on a daily basis to present ourselves to the outside world.

Squeaky Clean

2009-02-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

Nice Michael Schmidt, and Starck bath tubs.

Perfect bathrooms with white marble, or better yet, terrazzo floors.

Flying Cloud Airship

2009-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

Jean-Marie Massaud's proposed airship, with 40 passenger suites.

Plastic 'Akuma Bomb'

2009-02-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

She likes to be on the Warhol Giant book.....

Kitchen Faucet

2009-02-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Alarmingly beautiful, and alarmingly expensive, the new Zaha Hadid faucet (in both bath and kitchen sizes) is a work of art.

Design Landscape (fun with Photoshop)

2009-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Weapon?

2009-02-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

Starck's iconic barstool......can be yours for roughly 5k.

It's a beautiful object that easily can be confused with some clandestine weapon. Turn it on it's side, and add a ramjet engine, and one could imagine it hovering over the mountains of Pakistan.

Form overtakes 'function' in a beautiful way. No wonder Philip Johnson loved Starck so much.

"Do you believe they don't have an atomic bbq yet!"

2009-02-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

How cute.....this is how we're supposed to be living, according to one 55 year old survey of the 'future'

Living room mural

2009-02-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

Arresting London living room mural!

2009-02-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Vintage travel posters can be beautiful, with simple, colorful idealistic images. I like this Air France poster from the 1950's advertising Lourdes.

It almost looks like the V.M. herself narrowly avoided getting clipped by the airplane overhead.

I wondered what an updated image might look like. With Bewitched's Endora making an appearance.

Sconce Light

2009-02-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

A Gino Sarfatti 43" wall sconce from the early '50's

Design with an iron fist

2009-02-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

Mussolini's EUR, the fascist city outside of Rome, was built in the 30's (and rudely interrupted by World War 2). 'Fascist Modern' at it's best. Esteemed Time Magazine art critic Robert Hughes, once called the 'square coluseum' the most frightening building on earth. I'm not sure about that, but having seen it 3 years ago, I know it succeeds in it's intent. Frightening intimidation. Reducing the spectator to a tiny participant.

I thought the whole EUR 'campus', looked like an incredible, beautiful, cemetery come-to-life.

Fashion As Stealth Technology

2009-01-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Though separated by 20 years, English designer Gareth Pugh, and French designer Claude Montana, offered up outfits that provided provocative protection for the forward thinking 'gal'

London Power

2009-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

I took this shot of the Battersea Power Plant in London a couple of years ago. (Immortalized on a 1977 Pink Floyd album cover).

The entire interior of this 30's building, which is huge, is an empty shell without a roof.

It really needs to be saved/renovated, much like the current Tate Modern museum, down the river Thames a bit.

Amazing Suspension Lamps

2009-01-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

By British designer Ross Lovegrove. And one by Zaha Hadid.

Spectacular collisions of form and function.

F U T U R E P E R F E C T

2009-01-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

Imagine the quantities of fossil fuel needed to maintain this 50's glimpse of the future.

Such optimism and pure exuberance.

Sinister Beauty?

2009-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

I think some of today's (or the past's) most beautiful objects, have a sinister element about them.

Take the SR-71 spyplane, from the early '60's. It is an engineering marvel, in that it flew at over 2,2oo mph.......and still managed to look good. Like Starck's iconic lemon juicer, it has an odd duality about it. 'Pretty and Deadly'

I love this woman......

2009-01-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

Parisian designer Andree Putman, who did the original Morgans Hotel in NY (and the redesign), is champion of early Eileen Gray designs from the '20s.

F R E S H !

2009-01-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

File this under, 'silly and mundane', but my fave scent (which is 'unisex') is Mugler's Cologne.

Like a soapy, fresh and clean 'just from the shower' scent.

Zaha Hadid

2009-01-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

New (at Milan show) Zaha Hadid 'moveable' table centerpiece. Interchangeable pieces, that can be moved in different positions. She is incredibly talented, and I would love to have this piece.

(price to be determined)

Chicago Spire

2009-01-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

While not new news, construction (at least foundation) is underway for the talented Santiago Calatrava's Chicago Spire, which will be the country's tallest residential building. I've lived in high rises, and low level condos alike. I must admit I prefer the freedom to pop outside quickly, but views from such buildings are a surreal thrill.

Another Perfect House

2009-01-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

Palm Springs Modern. It doesn't get much better than this. Dinah, Lucy, and Desi with cocktail shakers by the pool in the clear desert air.

There are so many residential developments these days with acceptable, or forward thinking facades, that are cursed with BAD Home Depot neo-colonial front doors with 'stained glass' accents. Not sure why a lot of today's developers falter, at the front door.

How quaint

2009-01-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

A never realized nuclear powered Ford from the early 50's. Unimaginable in today's clearer thinking (and totally savage) times. Still would have been fun to see Lucy and Ethel take a ride to the A&P for a dozen eggs and some uranium.

Dali Phone

2009-01-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Iconic 1936 lobster phone by Dali.

V I N T A G E F L O O R L A M P

2009-01-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

Just about the most perfect, French floor lamp from the 50's.

Rare indeed, and sells for roughly $9k.

T O K Y O

2009-01-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

I took snaps of these buildings, on an October trip to Tokyo.

The cleanest, most civilized city I've ever seen.

The official Mascot of the Tokyo Tower (which is a goofy, slipshod replica of the Eiffel Tower) is a cross between a soft-serve cone and a penis.

What's not to like?

Lighten Up

2009-01-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

Why settle for a cheap mass-market store lamp, when with a little more searching (and a few more bucks) you can find a lamp that lights a room, AND makes you smile.

LP covers as art..

2009-01-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

While nothing new, it can be 'fun' to arrange prized record covers. (in this case, The Smiths)

Especially if the covers have a great, graphic Warhol quality about them.

Size Matters

2009-01-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

These are tiny, metal, German made 1:200 scale models of the Titanic, and the recent Queen Mary 2 (nearly 3 times the size of the Titanic)

One of the earliest albeit ill-fated liners, and (as of 2009) the LAST ocean liner.

Architecture with a Pulse

2009-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

Forget about those gold tinted window Trump confections, or those 'neo-Versailles' type high rise condo buildings with a sensibility stuck in some safe, myopic past.

Give me a Sir Norman Foster, any day. (and throw in a little Hadid traveling Chanel Pavillion)

Seriously, now that the hideous year of 2008 is over, I like to focus on objects of beauty and wonder. I know Design, like everything else, is very subjective.

But we all can learn to look at things, and appreciate differences in a new way.

Lunch with the Pope

2009-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

If my sister and I were to have lunch with the Pope, I'd ask her to wear this Mugler outfit.

By the way, does anyone else find it creepy seeing 6 out of 10 people on the street with North Face coats? Is this now the unofficial uniform of the Uninspired?

Random Thought

2009-01-04T17:56:00.001-08:00

I kind of like the idea of projecting arresting images on buildings.

An old Bowie LP on the Guggenheim comes to mind as one fun idea.

Oscar Niemeyer House & 1st Class Dining Room of the SS Normandie

2009-01-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

Dream spaces. One tranquil, and one uptight with pure Art Deco embellishment. The Sistine Chapel of Deco ocean liner spaces.

I love them both.

Mad Lamps

2009-01-04T16:45:00.001-08:00

Goofy & Fun Coffee Set

2009-01-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

Vertical Garden Wall in London

2009-01-04T16:19:00.001-08:00

Crazy For Lamps

2009-01-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

It obviously needs to work.....but it's a plus when it works as sculpture, when off.

2009-01-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

Sinister Modern

2009-01-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

Most of the 'design' I gravitate towards, whether it be a lamp, a jacket, a building, or even an ocean liner tend to have some sort of mildly sinister element to it. Expressed either by startlingly unique form, or some challenging component that raises the question as to the exact function of the piece.