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

Syrie Maugham, an interior designer before her time

This week chapter was about the interior design as a profession, and how the women were involved in the success of it. A lot of names where pronounced during the lecture but one of them caught my eye, it was Syrie Maugham born in London in 1879.

Searching a little more information about her I found out she began her career with her own store in Baker street, she dedicate her time to buy furniture, and used the technique of pickling, by these I refer to stripping the dark polish from tables and chairs, and finishing them with light point wax, a technique that it is still used now days.

The trips she had brought her to Elsie de Wolfe , another well know designer of the same time, and that possessed a similar taste in design, there is even said that Maugham hided her designs from her store , so De Wolfe couldn’t saw them because she was afraid of being copied.

In time she was also known for her White room, which was actually her drawing room in which she used bleach, white satin, wool and silk, white velvet lampshades and even flowers in the same colour accented with mirrors and glass.

Even though she was recognized for white rooms, her drawing room was the only  full white room she did, all of her other rooms designs had  bold colours incorporated. From these rooms she also got another signature mark that where mirrored breakfronts.

Adding all of this elements and seeing pictures of her designs, I saw clear points that evoked the “Hollywood Regency “ style, and researching a little more the information founded supported my suspicions. 

Maugham is actually recognized as one of the inspirations for the developments in the Hollywood sets that lead to the Hollywood regency concept, born around the 1930’s and was created with lacquer furniture, bright colours contrasted with black and white, classical furniture, and luminaries that evoke glitz and glamour.

Either way you take  the overall image of signatures in her design apart or together you can still see all of her designs inspirations in  stores today, maybe not product of her own work but mirrored breakfronts, lacquer and Pickling techniques in furniture, and even rooms with bright colours contrasted with black or white,   are part of today’s trends in interior design, this statement was the one that brought me to my initial idea when I started writing this post Syrie Maugham was a designer before time, just like Joseph Paxton with his Crystal Palace, and by this I mean before the society was able to achieve the recognition of her work and integrate that into their interiors, not only the higher class society which was actually the world in which she worked, and the one that provide her with the fame and recognition as an interior designer, but all of it.

F!

Sources:

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architecture/archive/maugham_article_012000

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/t-magazine/02talk-maugham-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/hollywood-regency-style-get-the-look/index.html

Scandinavian v/s German Why is finish design ,to my opinion being both from the modern movement ,looks more approachable for society?

This week chapter was about the modern movement which is by far my favourite one, the pieces that we can see from that era that started around 1920  reflected a whole new way of design compared to previous movements. Modernism was all about clean lines, mass production and what is the most important thing: functionalism. Great exponents from this movement where 2 of my top list designers the first one was  Mies Van Der Rohe from Germany and the second one is Alvar Aalto from Finland.

Reading this chapter made me realize something that haven’t caught my eye before, I don’t know why, but until a few days ago I associated Mies van Der Rohe with modern design, but Alvar Aalto for me was in the category of Scandinavian design (a hole bubble apart for me) which is correct but at the same time Aalto was a huge exponent of modernism also. This last part was the one I’ve never made the connection. I used to look modern design as elegant, luxurious, and like a piece of art and Finnish design as contemporary design, youthful, simple , and with a less expensive look. But why? Why did I used to do that? If both of them are part of the same movement, why couldn't I make the connection? What was the difference between them…

So then I got my question how both of them being part of the modern movement can have such a different way to get to people, to connect? Why does Scandinavian design looks so approachable compared with German design if both of them reflect the same principles?

Finnish design (Sweden + Finland) is really a boom right now, especially in single person houses, you can see from lighting fixtures, tables, chairs, posters,and so on . After my reading I learned that  back in the times the designs of Aalto  and the Scandinavian design (Finland ,Sweden and Norway) made a breaking point because it was a representation of the modern movement in a less industrial way.

Aalto designs made a huge impact along with the Scandinavian design because they respond to the same principles  ,but what was different was the main material that they used for making their pieces. Scandinavian didn't use steel like the traditional German modern movement, they used wood. They were able to recreate softly curvy lines but with the use of wood , specially plywood, as main material, that added warm to their designs.

There is where I got my answer Scandinavian design is modern design, has clean lines, is simple, functional and its mass produce but it looks approachable thanks to the wood! , by the other hand German modern designs like the ones Mies van der Rohe use to make, where all about steel, and more expensive materials like leather, with looks more elegant, made for a higher class.

His designs have the personality of someone  that evaluates you according to your class level, knowledge of design, and style, they want to talk with you about design, discuss about it, but hearing your points of view, while the personality of Aalto´s designs do not judge anyone, they make me feel like they are welcoming you to try them , to experiment, they want to teach you about design not to discuss with you about it. In other words, Mies van der Rohes designs are proud, and the ones from Alvar Aalto are humble.

Here is an example: if you compare the Alvar Aalto Paimio Armchair and you put it right beside Barcelona chair from Mies V der Rohe chair you can perceive first that they have much thing in common like the shape, the simplicity of both of them, but then you get the materials and can actually see what they evoke . The Paimio armchair is made with bended plywood, by the other side we get stainless steel and leather in the Barcelona chair. Although both chair are around the $4.000 USD , Aalto designs seem much more friendly and can make a closer connection with people.

Personally I think that the use of wood made the design look approachable for the medium class, but also it is about how it looks, pretty much everyone may desire a piece of Scandinavian design because it can reach different styles of persons, by the other hand German modern design is more focused in the “high class” look, so it has a more specific target.  Don’t get me wrong im not trying to paint a bad picture on German design and a saint on Scandinavian, I just wanted to find out why they evoke such different concepts, and find out the reason of why until know I had put Scandinavian design in a total different bubble. The good thing about any of them is that no matter from where it is , modern design is timeless.

F!

Sources:

http://hivemodern.com/pages/product478/knoll-mies-van-der-rohe-barcelona-chair

http://hivemodern.com/pages/product3313/artek-alvar-aalto-armchair-41

Art nouveau today

This week chapter was about art nouveau, I know that some people think is over the top and really exaggerated, but I like it, the sinuosity and flow that design from this time can reflect I think is amazing.

Art nouveau was a movement that didn’t last too long, from t 1890 to almost 1910 , like I said before it was really meticulous and take care from the shell of the buildings until such smaller things as door handles. They also took inspiration from art movements such as  post impressionism and symbolism, but his main characteristic was that took form from organic shapes, it wanted to reflect that design was born from nature using iron and wood as main materials. Victor Horta was one of the principal exponents of this movement, along with Hector Guimard,  Henry Van de Velde and Emille Gallé.

So for this week I wanted to find and see what can we see in contemporary design that reflects this era, I wanted to search how it evolved and see in what objects this movement is present and if it reflects, I personally didn’t knew what was waiting for me, would it be the same materials, which kind of designed objects was I going to find, and the results where infinite, so here I  will show you the most interesting discovering’s of my search.

I launched myself to our precious and most used search tool of this days , our dear Google,  and I typed “art nouveau inspired design”.The first picture that caught my eye, and also one of the first results, was this

It’s a contemporary living space in which we can clearly see the art nouveau inspiration in the chandelier and in the staircase mainly, we can also see that the furniture has sinuous lines  that may evoke this movement, sadly the website didn’t say anything about the designer or the materials, but as soon as I saw this I thought this is how art nouveau would look like if it was a movement in our time, although I think this space could be even more risky and get even closer to the movement

Then how could I not put this…

Of course, one of the most sold phones in these days, is the iPhone, and cases designs are pretty much unlimited , so it didn’t surprise me when i found this, and iPhone 5 case inspired in an art nouveau wallpaper design, what it did surprise me was that this pattern was actually from a french designer called Maurice Pillard french decorative artist that covered furniture, wallpapers, tiles, posters, ceramic, fabrics and more during her career and that this design was from a wallpaper called “Art Nouveau Buttercup” from 1896.

I continued scrolling down my page of results and the I found something that would have never crossed my mind, postal stamps, but you may think what it´s weird about found an art nouveau postal stamp, well it wouldn’t we so unique if it was because this postal stamps wich where inspired in art nouveau, where from Lana del Rey, yes the popular indie singer who is breaking the charts of music right now, and apart from that they look really good, the credits for this great work are for the graphic design student Jump Jirakaweekul from Savannah, GA, USA (www.jumpjirakaweekul.com) .

They are sold at http://society6.com/fiftyrantsperday  at 18 USD

 For my last findings , I wanted to be something related to my career of interior design but not something so obvious and traditional for this movement, as the first picture, so I selected too things that caught my eye

The first one is a luxury lounge chair , by the designer Kate McCreary with a handmade steal frame and the bolsters are made from density foam and gray wool.

I think that this looks like a well thought design about ergonomics, and I think is a good modern solution to evoke sinuosity and organic shapes to our homes, it’s something that evokes art nouveau but that doesn’t close the object to that period.

 And for my last founding I wanted to show you this case is also a furniture, a chair in this case by the designer  Daniel Widrig from London, I choose this one because this is actually something that its starting to be  pretty much in every design/furniture store, is the trend of now days, and its clearly based in an organic shape, this design is called “Brazil” and is made with plywood if you go to his webpage http://www.danielwidrig.com/index.php?back and see his works you will notice that most of them are from organic inspirational shapes.

Sadly I did see much things more but I couldn’t write them all, art nouveau is clearly still a used movement for design, you can find it in cases, stamps, light fixtures, even clothing, and it’s really taking new shapes like the last examples with the furniture design. Now we are seeing an even more close organic shape that has the sinuosity from the old times but it flows in a much better way taken in the ergonomic matter also.

F!

Sources:
  https://www.google.ca/search?q=art+nouveau&rls=com.microsoft:es-CL:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=rUs_UrXSK4WNqQHflYHoCw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1067&bih=519&dpr=1#q=art+nouveau+&rls=com.microsoft:es-CL%3AIE-Address&tbm=isch&imgdii=_ 
http://www.interiordesignpro.org/blog/art-nouveau-interior-design
http://www.zazzle.ca/vintage_art_nouveau_buttercup_m_p_verneuil_case-179288646428369124
http://www.behance.net/jumpjirakaweekul
 http://www.marvelbuilding.com/futuristic-modern-lounge-chair-inspired-art-nouveau.html
 http://www.danielwidrig.com/index.php?page=Work&id=Brazil_No2

My first alien, Exhibitions of furniture and design in the XIX century?!

Well, I started  Reading my required book for my class of Contemporary Culture and Design, it´s called Interior Design Since 1900 by Anne Massey, it was hard to deal with all these new names and dates, and seeing that there where so much history that I didn't knew.  I was really excited reading it and learning all this new facts  and almost finishing the first chapter , when suddenly I saw one of the illustrations and I was really astonished.

The illustration showed the Century Gold stand  at the Liverpool International exhibition in 1886 by Mackmurdo of slender forms and Japanese inspiration ,suddenly I was in shock 1886! wow... first of all I never would have imagined a design fair by 1886 and less an international one. I have lived in Chile all my life, and at least in there design is recently taking power , please don´t misunderstand me I don't mean that design has never been a part of Chile , bassicaly all furniture, work of art, wallpaper must have come from abroad, but design fairs with actual stands, showing the trends and styles of the time ,those at least by personal knowledge  in my country started only about 3 or 4 , decades at most!

I have seen Chilean design got stands for showing their designs in world fairs from chairs, tables, lamps, clothing, but this had made me realize how much have we grown in the design areas in such little time, I mean if you compare 1886 to 1988 that´s 100 years difference, interior design wasn´t something that was a topic in my country only until a few years ago, in 2000 I started to see the firs fairs of interior design one of the is called 100 showrooms, which shows international and national Brand products from lighting , to flooring, and more .Even my institution Duoc UC, which was actually the first institution to dictate this career ,only started in 1988.Another fact is that one of the biggest associations of  Chilean design called "Chile Diseño" was founded in 1994 and that we only have had a design biennial for only 5 years.

I guess we, and by we I mean Chilean designers, have a long way to go, we have to keep going at the same rhythm as we are now,   so we can reach international standards, as we are doing today. And that way maybe we will have more knowledge about design and its history and things like fairs from the 1800's doesn't seem like aliens for future designers.

F!

Sources:

institution website http://www.duoc.cl/edd/?page_id=4 

 http://www.chilediseno.org/