Branding and Sustainability: todays sustainable stores examples, why have we taken so long?

For my final post I wanted to speak about green design and sustainability, it is embarrassing to say it, but back in my country things like recycling, or sustainable stores are just beginning, we don’t have things such as blue boxes, charges for plastic bags at supermarkets, different trash containers, or others. Maybe you could see a few recycling programs in the most accommodate neighborhoods in the capital of Chile , Santiago,  and a few malls that provide different trash containers for post recycling but that it´s pretty much everything.  For this reason it was a huge impact to know that recycling issues ,concerns, and their integration into design matters began around 1980, because for my experience in Chile this type of matters have only been an issue since maybe a decade ago.

We may not have all of this but something that it is present ,and more every day, is the sustainable branding , and by this I mean stores that reflect sustainable concerns, or products that involve recycling  and sustainable production in their line.

This lead me to a question because green design has been present in the first world countries since the 80’s but even though brands have been taking care of those issues, I feel that just now the involvement of green design is being taken in the big picture. Sustainable stores, 100% organic cotton clothes, even jeans produced from plastic and with less amount of water. I wanted to repeat what I called the “google experiment” making a strict search to prove that what I was thinking about , and by this I mean that interior design of stores based on green ideals, have had a huge growth in the last decade.

This is what I typed “opens new sustainable store”, I didn’t want to type a specific area such as clothing, furnishing,  electronics or other, and also I didn’t want to type a specific location.

The firs result I got was from  October of 2013, really recent,  the country : United kingdom, and the brand Sainsbury´s (to be honest I had to do a little research because I didn’t even knew what type of store was ) renowned supermarket store  one of the largest in the UK. In their design their proposal was to make a zero waste to landfill and  zero carbon emissions, also materials such as “hybrid glued laminated timber and steel structural frame” helped reducing the carbon print, …100 prismatic roof lights reducing the need of electrical light and  a biogas generator to provide both heat and electricity.”

The second result was from Puma , in august of 2012, in this case was the first  Puma worldwide   fully sustainable store , located in India, country we all know for being one of the biggest manufacturers for international brands.

“In keeping with our mission of becoming the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company PUMA is happy to take this pioneering step forward for the retail industry”said Franz Koch , CEO of PUMA. “ Establishing a sustainable PUMA store underlines our commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, energy, water and waste in PUMA offices, stores, warehouses and direct supplier factories by 2015”

The store features recycled steel from old DVD players, 90% of direct access for natural light, 100% solar powered , recycled wood  for furniture and low VOC (voltaic organic compound ) paint, occupancy sensors, and a green roof.

Finally the 3^rd result was from Levi´s from July of 2013 also, in this case  located in the U.S. specifically in San Francisco.  This store  used 79%  of the demolition materials  of the original construction and used them in the reconstruction, as well as only recycled wood . The store as also a LEED gold certificate and 90% of their equipment is energy efficient. Finally their concept for this store also reaches their product, selling jeans that are produced with the minimum amount of plastic bottles achieved  with only 8 of them on each jeans.

After reading about this 3 cases, indeed this last decade have showed huge advances in the design of sustainable stores, brands that are taking that extra step and reaching not only sustainable and green products , but also are introducing green design into their stores and company identity, the question about why this hasn’t been done previously has one clear answer, technological  development, technology that had allowed creating systems such as the  one in the Puma store that enable to have air conditioning from the earth itself, or as the photovoltaic roofs in Sainsbury´s  or the recycling of old construction materials for the rebuilt of new locations as the Levis case.

This has really made me want to research even more, technology only goes faster, and I personally think in not a faraway future , examples like this , hopefully, will become everyday components in architecture and design.

F!

Sources:

http://www.designweek.co.uk/news/sainsburys-trials-new-sustainable-store-concept/3037365.article

http://blacktansa.blogspot.ca/2011/12/is-sustainable-retail-design-missing.html

http://about.puma.com/puma-opens-first-sustainable-puma-store/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8NqHaMzO9QQ

http://greenlichen.com/2012/09/puma-sustainable-store-in-bangalore-is-cool-and-energy-efficient-video/

http://www.kering.com/sites/default/files/dd4-puma-store-bangalore-magasin-int.jpg

http://www.kering.com/en/sustainability/achievements/sustainable_puma_store

http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/Levi-s-sews-sustainability-into-brand-from-ground-4738823.php#photo-5018844

http://www.rawrdenim.com/2013/08/levis-san-francisco-flagship-location-launch/

No aesthetic goals, Postmodernism and Studio Alchimia

We are almost finishing the school year,  during one of our last classes we were learning about post modernism and the Italian avant garde, and a phrase catch my attention “ in a global, pluralist culture, there were no agreed aesthetic goals” . Postmodernism was all about the psychological relation of people with design and architecture, we saw a few examples of symbolism in architecture, and also the re integration of old movements to regain the connection lost with modernism , we started seeing a lot of mixtures of styles, almost like they had used everything they could and integrated it to design and architecture with the only purpose of remembering and regaining that connection and  although the intention in the representation of this was totally achieved , aesthetic standards where put aside.

Aesthetic, “good taste”, good design, standards, all where associated with modernism and when the movement died people see those terms with disgust, but why? I personally think that design must have certain parameters, if not designs becomes art, not that art is bad, but good design must appeal to people, must provoke people to “want it”, the desire, while art in my opinion has one and only finality :expression,  either  of opinions  feelings, and others. Both can be related but they do not have  the same goal.

Following this we came to the Italian avant garde, and what did they want ? : Exactly the opposite, they did not want to be related with aesthetics, standards, materials, or anything they wanted freedom to express and create. During finals of 1960 and the 1970’s different groups where formed, Archizoom, Superstudio , UFO, and finally the one that caught my eye Studio Alchimia.

There I was sitting on my desk watching the slides of the presentation, one after the other it just didn’t make sense. It  reached the point where I was so confused that I didn’t even know what was my opinion about it. Founded by the distinguished Italian designer and architect Alessandro Mendinni in 1976, colours, patterns, forms, and creativity where terms related to it, but something was mentioned about it during class, Studio Alchimia never reached commercial success.

Then I went back to the phrase in class “ In a global, pluralist culture, there were no agreed aesthetic goals” … So if supposedly  there were no aesthetic goals then why Studio Alchimia didn’t reached success? . I think there is a need for aesthetic goals, a guidance, to follow a line; for example in materials, they mixed a lot of inexpensive with expensive materials, which at the same time made their designs unreachable for most people. They clearly were following the principle   of no aesthetics but they didn’t reach success because it didn’t appeal to people, in the way of desire( the look of it) and closeness , instead it did made a huge impact on the world of design because of the power of representation and uniqueness of each piece, yet again it was so far from what people would want for their homes that passed exactly from being design to art pieces.

I found a few pictures online that represent this opinion

In both of this we see a cabinet and a book case respectively, but do they look like them? Which is the aesthetics of them?, why do they look like sculptures? Why is the bookcase without books or the cabinet without objects on its shelves?. The answer is that there is simply not an specific  aesthetic, no taste standard, just pure  design process and experimentation, creativity was there main goal and they achieved this with great success, design without judgments according to some, but I don’t think that actually exist, in fact this may be another of the factors related to their pour commercial success. Judgment is always present, present in this post, and present in the people that will read this and have their own opinion, like the one that I am expressing right now .the Alchimia group didn’t follow any standards, it was pure expression and for me that is more close to art than design. I wouldn’t use this pieces for what they were design for, I would not put books, or objects instead I would exhibit them. And that right there is a judgment already.

F!

Sources:

http://www.architonic.com/dcsht/factotum-bookcase-sotheby-s/4103811

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7945888

Deconstruction and Brutalism, versus or evolution in expression against modernism.

I am already in chapter 8 of my book, Interior design since 1900 by Anne Massey, and while I was reading about post modernism and movements that where developed during that time (around 1980´s) a picture of the Deconstruction Movement caught my eye

Post-modernist movements where all about being against modernism and their clean lines, really square in a way, all planned, and with no emotions (like critics to that movement described in that time). Seeing this image make me  think and realize that Deconstructivism was not following the path of recovering past styles, and mixing them all in one space, they didn’t want to represent this pluralism in styles; instead they wanted to show the chaos, a chaos produced by the lack of emotional link with spaces. In this picture I see reflected different paths and when you see the mix of the stairs, ramps and windows, I think that is exactly the feeling of the time, people simply didn’t know where to go from modernism, what where they supposed to do after experienced such a clean , simple and stiff (in a way) movement.  You can feel the sense of freedom ,of  letting go , because you still see clean lines, and reduced types of and materials  to keep the simplicity also in textures and colors , but it’s like an explosion if it, an explosion of modernism.

You can get an idea of concrete and metal in the image, and this materials made me remember Brutalism and as read in this book there was a rebirth of this movement (for a short time) during this period also.

 But what was Brutalism, Brutalism was also a reaction to Modernism( in my  opinion ) it used  a lot of concrete and really hard materials, the whole purpose of this was to create really “heavy” looking environments, some called it Modernism but for me it’s totally not, instead Brutalism was a reaction to modernism just like Deconstructivism. Instead of representing energy, freedom and chaos provoked by all this new paths that you could take, Brutalism represented the oppression felt during the modernist times, feeling of being trapped.

I know it sounds weird, being trapped in a clean line, spacious, minimal space. But in a way all that simplicity took away the connection with the person, and the feeling of protection provided by the home.

Obviously they both represented different feelings and reactions because Brutalism was mainly developed at the same time than modernism, while by the other hand Deconstructivism was a Post Modern movement. So for this I would link both of them as an evolution of the reaction provoked by the difference in the context in which each was developed.

At the same time if you made me choose I would definitely pick the Deconstruction movement. I really enjoy the fact that is a representation of the freedom felted, and if you watch different Deconstuctivist  interiors or constructions, you can find that link to Modernism to the simplicity of it, it doesn’t make you feel trapped, you still have the air, light and clean lines but in a more creative way, making it feel more human, because its expressing emotions, emotions that maybe in the Modernist movement where masked by the looks of a “perfect space”.

F!

Sources:

http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/USA-Boston/BO-011.htm

http://www.yatzer.com/CRYSTALS-by-Daniel-Libeskind-for-MGM-MIRAGE-City-Center

Advertisements and influence and power relation with the consumers.

For this post I decided to do a research on how advertisements started reflecting the power of the consumer,  starting right after  WWII with women  as main targets in advertisements and see the evolution until today.  The female population started working in factories having male roles like for example welders  in them during the war, this gave women the feeling that they could achieve something more than just be a housewife. When the war ended there was this need to return to the roots of the role of mothers and housekeepers, but with a different emphasis. The media granted power to them, and made them their main target. Housewife’s where the ones responsible for handling the budget of the entire family. The idea of the woman as servants to their husbands and families was gone, and replaced with advertisement of the new domestic gadgets, the latest electronic appliances designs and interior decoration .

The 1950´s changed the perception of design to last forever. The concept of obsolesce was introduced engaging it with the personalization of design. The importance of the housewife in those years lead to developments in design surrounding the kitchen area and electronic appliances.

In the beginning in the 1960’s the women had reveal themselves and made society respect them, this revolution lead at the same type other types of revolution. Young people started  stating their own independence, they wanted to express the un-need of heritage , the detachment to objects , and the world of design was invaded advertisements with influences of the pop movement like the advertisement of the Campbell soup bag that reflected the work of Andy Warhol, also the Hippie movement was part of advertisement with icons like the volkswagen van  stating  freedom, no frontiers, and the possibility to leave on the road without attachments, Honda also made some advertisements of motorcycles representing the psychedelic movement  , and also even carpet advertisements reflected the spirit of the target of the moment Young people, following what they wanted to communicate to society, independence and personal opinion, so they would feel identified by those brands.

After this the role of the consumer was more than established and the world of design had to care about consumer demands portability and communication was the topic of advertisement a few years after in the 1980´s  , the need of freedom was fully present by this time freedom to express yourself and bring your personal world everywhere taking their  design objects that where part of the costumers identity with them, so they could show it to the world .Bring your personal music was reflected  in objects such as Walkman’s  a huge icon of the 80s and later on iPod´s advertisements.

Later on the need to take everything with you because the track of time would becoming faster , needs like having a personal laptop to work and to have the ability of bringing it wherever you need would  come up along with cellphones.

As the years passed by , the need of forming a unique identity was created and this is the main purpose today : Personal identity, is no longer following the trends that where reflected in advertisements but to create a personal trend combining  elements from those advertisements. This is when brands  started taking care of designing their own identity so customers could relate and identify with them, this was achieved by companies creating their own targets and making them their costumers reflection. By doing this people instead of creating their own identity are actually trying to be those costumers and this is only achieved by  a great branding design that makes people want to be the people that they see in advertisements, and by this I mean the audience that was specifically design by the company , a target that they feel reflects who they want as targets.

A great example of this is what Tommy Hillfiger made for their latest campaign  The hillfigers In which they show their ideal costumers, reflecting a certain life style, look, even the interior design of their houses.

Even after knowing the brands are designing their targets, the customer choice is still there, there is the final choice of choosing which brand do you want to represent you, how you want to be seen by everyone. A power that was granted in the 1950s thanks to advertisement and that today is reflected by small phrases that represent their identity, phrases that catches possible costumers and that reflect the lifestyle and identity they have or want to reflect.

Great examples of this are adds made by Nike, Starbucks,  Apple, Roxy and others,  using small simple and direct phrases that motivates their costumers and makes them want to live their identity.

There are so much trends and movements experienced from where to  choose in matters of design, so many possibilities,  that each day we see less specific targets, and by these I mean people in advertisements for spaces or objects of design, is more a matter of which designer or brand represents you the most or which brand or designer represents who you want to be , although  there is never just one brand or designer, today is the mix of them that reflect personal taste.

 The design world needs to take care from environmental issues,  having a distinct identity, be functional and reflect the ideals of their public. The power of the consumers was started by women’s, but today even children’s have a decision in matters of what they want. We live in a society that demands for quality and ideals, yes the obsolesce is still there ,as mass production also, but slowly we as a society are starting to take care of the issues that this two topics do to our life and to our planet.

F!

Sources:

http://www.harplounge.com/2010/08/1950s-australian-vogue-magazine-interiors/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/494621971545888351/

http://www.businesspundit.com/10-most-sexist-print-ads-from-the-1950s/?img=21450

http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/advertising_from_the_1950s/

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTW1sepBdIPcZ4LB4TEMNAlZmH7AG88IYtw5og6dJNBlYIlYV1CAA

http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mpJFk4Ly5U8o5GkRV27K-TQ.jpg

 http://space-hopper.blogspot.ca/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSCNKAMPNIPlFjuYg1_RPbFleChyphenhyphenqBN6zN_sswUNoJp3x0C80wAW9zgqRd63NKUqEPIx7IHWkq19eX0ld3b5KCIRn6TmWPOuHf_fWW7x3ZHs6vQ3kCz6UTWSjD7hbA3KKLzA64n21nEhs/s1600/Volks+bus+ad.jpg

http://data2.whicdn.com/images/11890098/vw-hippie-van-114225-500-332_large.jpg

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/212/515229177_fb0e7e89bb_o.jpg

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQzRXZaYOvZ_SwQ2SxZtZO5q6NTumUVE5E1lr7moJpz8VgZ_imklQ

 http://www.squidoo.com/waterproof-cassette-players

http://www.lifelounge.com.au/resources/GALLIMAGE/1980s_advertising_Converse_all_Stars_ad.jpg

http://uconndigitalarts.com/the-walkman-cassette-player-nicole-horsman/

  usa.tommy.com

http://funofart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cool-informative-advertisements-381.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-sc4y9lhi9f0JHPTBNZyJb9oRORwvqHhKDk7dfPuXP-e4ZXdn

http://www.mobiletoones.com/downloads/wallpapers/free_mobile_logos/preview/52/33608-johnnie-walker.jpg

Knoll, Herman Miller and Cassina

For this week post I wanted to do a Little research on three huge names involved in the modern furniture design production Knoll, Herman and Miller, and Cassina.

Being in an after war context, I also decided to compare them , being from the US v/s Italy, and even U.S. v/s U.S., see the approaches they did in their times, and see where they stand  now. To be sincere I had only heard of Knoll, so  part of my decision for this post was to gain more information as an interior designer student. Finally to have a more specific vision of how they are as companies I decided to search information only from their webpages and see in which areas do they wanted the public to focus more.

I decided to start with the one I had heard the most , Knoll. As soon as I logged in into their website, it is obvious that they have only gotten bigger since their beginnings, the first thing I noticed trying to search for the “about” category  was that today they have  7 different branches from Knoll Office,Knoll Studio,Knoll extra, Knoll textile, Knoll Kids, Spinneybeck and Filzfelt*.

“We offer thoughtful, inventive products that respond to individual work styles and transcend multiple generations. Furniture, accessories, textiles, felts and leathers that stimulate the senses and allow you to express who you are and what you value. “

Hans Knoll born 1914 in Germany, part of and  furniture manufacturer family that started with the work of his grandfather  designing high quality furniture, only a few year after in 1917Florence Schust was born in Michigan , same place that in 1930’s was the place for the Cranbrook Academy of Arts, a new era of design was born, years after both would get married  after meeting in an interior design project in 1941. The united states of America was the place to design ,By 1938 The Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company is funded  by Hans  Knoll and establishes in  a  small space on East 72nd Street.

Their signature is “modern always”, they have been creating furniture for work and residential spaces , and its recognized worldwide. Even though they are from the Us, they state on their website that they follow Bauhaus and Cranbrook Academy of Art   following the ideals of Florence and Hans Knoll .They also highlight the importance that as a company they give to furniture as something that compliments architecture. They combine the craftsmanship with today’s technology to create new shapes and to reflect the company values. They also state that even though the beginnings of Knoll where based with modernists, today they are also opening their horizons to contemporary designers because they don’t want to be defined only by the past.  Their first works were for designing practical workspaces and workspaces is their speciality today also.

“We connect you to your work environment. While knowledge from the past can be used to serve our customers today, our spirit and methodology are, and have always been, forward-looking. We evaluate technologies. We assess new materials. We test new processes. “

Some of their most recognized pieces are the Barcelona Chair by Mies Van der Rohe (1948), the Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoias on 1952, The Hardoy chair in 1947 and the Pedestal Collection by by Eero Saarinen.

Herman Miller

It is also from the united states and was specialized in the same are office furniture but also for the federal government, Miller´s son in law D.J Pree bought the Michigan Star Furniture  company in 1923 and decided to recall it in honor of his father in law and renamed it after him because for him Herman Miller was a man of integrity and he wanted that to be a reflection in this new company. Herman Miller was also know just as Knoll as symbol of modern furniture , both of them where the biggest companies specialized in the design  of offices and works with bigger designers of the times, in the case e of Herman Miller those names where  Ray Eames, George Nelson and others. Today  they have decided to continue that line of collaboration with the “it” designers of our times working with names such as Alexander Girard , Don Chadwick,  Isamu Noguchi and many others.

As the same as Knoll, Herman miller had broaden its horizons to places like healthcare solutions, education solutions, home solutions and others but it hasn’t open to other areas of design besides furniture like Knoll did with Knoll textiles for example.

Comparing the information found in their website, I have the feeling that Herman miller is a more humble version of Knoll, they haven’t got as  big as knoll or at least that’s what you perceive reading their timelines. But at the same time having a smaller pictures had helped them to put more care into each one of their 5 areas (home, work, healthcare, education and government) making amazing designs, worldwide known, For my personal opinion you can even see in their website how they take care of each detail not only into the furniture design but also onto the

whole space, which had made them specialists. I always have thought a more focus work and a more specific target helps you get a deeper development and better results. They also establish much more evidently their concerns as a company for example with their environmental friendly facilities, and company standards and visions making the whole experience more personal.

 Having compared the two cases of the United States I now wanted to compare them with their equal in Italy: Cassina.

The first thing that caught my eye when I entered their website is that their whole homepage had pictures of their collection with various designers , from Luca Nichetto, Karl Lagerfeld, Le Corbusier, Phillip Stark and others, so clearly their reflection as a company and as Italian one is about the recognition, standards, and excellence in  design .

You can even emphasize this going to their identity statement in which at least 90% of it mentions Italian and international designers and architects. Searching through their history they have a timeline that meet more the standards of Knoll ,  the company was founded in 1927 by Cesare and Umberto Cassina, and it was the responsible of bringing industrial design to Italy. Let’s remember the lider of this where the United States, and the Europe scene was under the effect of having the interwar period right in their territory. The company then fulfilled the role of encouraging designers to go beyond of what they have been showed until then, they passed from handcraft man shift  to  mass production and as the same as Knoll and Herman Miller they started collaborating with designers. Something that they do mention also but their US pairs don’t is the collaborative work with architects also, not trying to say that Knoll or Herman Miller don’t have them but they don’t state it that clearly. Until beginnings of the 90’s their whole timeline shows mainly chairs with names such as Gaetano Pesce, frank Lloyd Wright and Toshiyuki  Kita, they also started a collection with pieces from Rietvield, Mackintosh, and others. They also bought the reproduction rights for Le Corbusier’s designs. Only after 2000 we start seeing a few tables and sofas , but chairs are their main feature in their timeline.

Going through their products do they have  as first categories sofas and armchairs, followed by outdoor, tables, beds, desks, office, cabinets, chairs and special editions , showing a similarity in products with its US companions but in a much little spectrum.

I already feel this post as gone away too long so I will leave my comparison trough until here, the main thing is that all 3 of them where created in the interwar period, a period that affected in a more close way to Europe, which I think allowed Knoll and Herman Miller to grow in a much faster way than Cassina. All of them are linked through industrial and modern design and also with office furniture design, let’s not forget only a few years later their foundations Offices where going to take the design world, meeting new offices with modular spaces and new needs for their workers. Finally all of them take great importance in the collaboration with designers, and all of them also have at least one big designer from the modern times in their timelines remembering the beginnings of them but also looking for new horizons with new collaborations.

F!

Sources:

http://www.knoll.com

http://www.hermanmiller.com/

http://www.cassina.com

http://www.miniaturechairman.com/uploads/2/7/1/9/2719619/158971_orig.jpg?0

http://www.knoll.com/media/465/366/knoll_bottom,0.jpg

http://www.mfa.fi/files/mfa/saarinen/20.jpg

http://vivesceramica.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/barcelona_chair_b270810.jpg

http://furnway.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/100119_Diamond-Chair-Black-Chorme.jpeg

http://www.design-museum.de/typo3temp/pics/BKFHardoyChair_Austral_01_66e105c0fa.jpg

http://www.mattblatt.com.au/files/product/images/1585/tulip_fibre5.jpg

http://www.wilsonartcontract.com/wp-content/themes/wilsonart/images/statementBlogImage/2012/02/permainc3.jpg

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6311085

http://www.climaoutdoor.com/wp-content/uploads/designer_donchadwick-300x277.jpg

http://static1.bonluxat.com/cmsense/data/uploads/orig/don-chadwick-and-bill-stumpf-aeron-chairs_mras.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5255/5403719056_8b2886ac70_z.jpg

http://dailyxy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/noguchi-table.jpg

Brian Gluckstein, Canadian Designer

This post is going to be a different one, it will be about a world known Canadian designer which I actually heard for the first time a few days ago in class. It got me thinking how many actual designers do I know, like the Bouroullec Brothers, Karim Rashid,  Zaha Hadid, and others. But what got me thinking was that in class we spend so many time learning about previous movements, and about history of art and design, but we don’t actually know that many names about today´s designers.

What happens with the now? That is the question I asked myself, and also what happens in Canada, which designers are renamed in here. So I decided to start a little research on Brian Gluckstein. He was named during my class of Contemporary Culture and Design, in an example of how he uses some elements of Art Deco in some of his designs like the skyscraper shape in his lamps, Egyptian figures like the statues in the pictures below and others .

And searching in the web I found some other real similarities with things we have been learning so far...

Just for a quick bio , he has been a designer for over 20 years, his signature are classical and sophisticated interiors that have give him a series of awards, member of ARIDO and ASID, was named one of the top 35 designers by Andrew Martin´s interior design Journal, he specializes in  residential and commercial spaces, a great example are the different designs for the Four Seasons Hotels, he also owns his own company of design  Gluckstein Design and his own brand for House furniture, bedding, bath, tablecloth and more called Gluckstein Home.

So I started looking into his portfolio and here is what I found:

The curtains style reminded me of Eleanor Brown, and her wall treatment of hanging curtains imitating the french empire style (please refer image below) the chairs also evoke a french style but in a more contemporary version.

The room divider evokes British scenery in scalloped blue painting just like British dinnerware.

On top we can see two Art Deco symbols: a sunburst small mirror and in the walls we can see the teeth pattern in the cornice.

When I saw this picture of the interior design of a Ski Chalet in aspen, automatically  I remember the Edwin Lutyens sitting room in Deanery Gardens, Sonning of 1901  (refer to images on top)

The flooring, style  of furniture and exposed beams, that in that time evoked the movement of the arts and crafts.

 Call me crazy but I instantly remember Mackintosh’s designs in this two pictures, the simplicity of the lines, and the Japanese inspiration like the flowers and style of furniture’s ( tables, little side table) in the picture (on top) of the  Mercedez Benz I think this evoked part of his construction with rectangular shapes, and the two paintings at the end made me remember Margaret  Macdonald´s painting that used to be part of Makintosh’s  furniture's or designs, just instead of women you got two long men shapes.

This are just some examples that demonstrate the great ability that Brian Gluckstein has as an interior designer,  he founds balance between the old and the new, and has clear image of what he wants in his designs.This was a really  entertaining research and i hope soon to know much more Canadian interior designers.

F!

Pictures and info From:

http://www.glucksteindesign.com/brian-gluckstein.html

http://www.glucksteindesign.com/residential-portfolio.html

http://www.glucksteindesign.com/contract-portfolio.html