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It's that time of year again .... our absolute favorite party of the year is next week and we're counting down the days! The New York Design Center and The Alpha Workshops are hosting the 4th Annual Masquerade Ball. This year’s event promises to be even bigger and better, and will unite the entire design community for some Halloween revelry while raising money for a great organization. The theme this year, "C'mon, Get Happy," will evoke 1930's tinsel town and movie musicals providing endless costume possibilities being that you can dress as whatever, makes you happy.
VIP tickets are $250 and your much appreciated extra contribution goes directly to benefit The Alpha Workshops. Individual tickets are $125 in advance and $150 at the door (all tickets will be held at the door). Ticket sales benefit The Alpha Workshops and are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
To purchase tickets or for more information please contact either us at Designtherapy1@gmail.com or Barbara Thomson at Barbara@alphaworkshops.org. This really our favorite event of the season and we hope to see you there!
Above skull by artist Damien Hirst. To learn more click here!
Last week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Ronda Carman from All The Best to do a podcast on Social Networking and it's ability to create more exposure for your business. We had a great discussion on how blogs and websites, such as facebook and twitter, can reinforce your point-of-view as well as drive traffic back to your company's website. We're big believers in taking advantage of this new era, and during our visit we spoke about how we got our start with DesignTherapy. There's still much to learn about social networking and brand building, but we find it extremely exciting and have found our efforts so far to be quite productive. When you have a chance be sure and check out Ronda's inspiring and informative blog here, and then take a listen to our interview here. We had a lot of fun putting this together and we'd like to sincerely thank Ronda for asking us to be a part of All The Best!
Last weekend we had the opportunity to fulfill one of our life long missions, to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. It's hard to put into words just how spectacular the entire experience was mainly because every single aspect of it was so incredible, from the architecture to the landscape, to the sound of rushing water. Yes, our first impression was how unexpectedly loud the water was coming off of the waterfall right below the main cantilevered terrace. It also took just a moment to take it all in because of the sheer genius Wright used in situating the house within the landscape. Every step and every turn presented a vista more beautiful than the last, and once we thought we had finally been able to process it all, we kept asking ourselves "....how the hell did he do it!" Especially considering that it was built in 1936! We were fortunate to have great weather and the colorful fall leaves provided the most intense backdrop for this modern masterpiece. There have been hundreds of books written about Fallingwater and thousands of photos taken of the house, so we're certainly not going to try and give a thorough background on it's history, but we would like to offer up a few facts we found fascinating:
-The house was commissioned by prominent businessman and philanthropist Edgar S. Kaufmann Sr. back in 1935, and Wright was given a budget of $30,000. It ended up costing $155,000, which included an $8,000 architect's fee and $4,500 worth of walnut built-in furnishings.
-Cantilevered over a waterfall in the Pennsylvania mountains, the main house was constructed from 1936-38, followed by the guest house in 1939.
-Inspired by natural sandstone ledges at the waterfall, Wright designed the home as a series of trays set on native sandstone columns and walls to rise more than 30 feet above a nature reserve known as Bear Run.
-It is a supreme example of Wright's concept of organic architecture which promotes harmony between man and nature through design, integrating a building with it's natural surrounding.
-The main house is a generous 5,330 sq. ft. (2,885 sq. ft interior and 2,445 sq. ft terraces).
-Wright used only two paint colors throughout the entire house: a light ochre for the concrete and his signature Cherokee red for the steel. The ochre color was inspired by the back of a dried rhododendron leaf (these plants run rampant throughout the property).
-At one point Wright suggested that the house's concrete surfaces be coated in gold leaf.
-In 1938, Time magazine had Fallingwater on it's cover hailing it as Wright's "most beautiful job."
-The home inspired Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead.
-Fallingwater is the only major Wright-designed house open to the public with its furnishings, artwork and setting intact.
-4 million people have visited the home since opening to the public in 1964.
-There were many famous overnight guests at Fallingwater including Albert Einstein and now you can stay overnight as well. Click here for more details (this is our next goal!)
To learn even more about this architectural gem click here!
This is one of our favorite images from the late Irving Penn. It also happens to be the photograph used for the cover of a book published in 1991 showcasing his work entitled Passage. To learn more about one of the most influential and inspirational figures of our time click here.
We've been slightly obsessed with the latest project from Kelly Wearstler featured in this month's Metropolitan Home and wanted to share it, especially with those of you who still may not have seen it. Honestly, for us, this project exemplifies perfection. Wearstler's beach house in Malibu should be a study in scale, restraint and how to seamlessly blend styles and materials. Bold but not offensive, neutral yet full of expression, this house in our minds is a true work of art and we'd like to thank Wearstler for not only inspiring us but for also making us want to work harder when it comes to Interior Design. You can read the full article here, and then scroll down for a few photos that were not in Met Home, but were photographed for this month's Spanish Architectural Digest. All photos were taken by the talented photographer François Halard. Enjoy!
