Watch Your Step.

This is a pretty cool. UK designer Stuart Haygarth was commissioned to create an installation within the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London for design week utilizing materials from the art framers John Jones. We love the concept and the colors. What do you think?

Field Trip.

If you live in New York or plan on visiting soon, you should definitely check out the Yoshitomo Nara exhibition at the Asia Society. Lauded by art critics and hipsters alike, his bizarrely intriguing works have gained him a cult following around the world. Nara has been featured in numerous other group and solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and the United States, but Nobody’s Fool is the first major New York exhibition of the Japanese artist. The show features more than one hundred works ranging from his early career in the 1980s to his most recent paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, and large-scale installations. As one of the leading artists of Japan’s influential Neo Pop art since the 1990s, Nara is well known for his depictions of children and animals. His popular appeal masks the serious social and personal dimensions of his work—feelings of helplessness and rage, and a sense of isolation in a hyper-networked society. The exhibition continues until January 2nd, 2011, so you still have plenty of time to get to this fun and equally fascinating show.

Question...

We were recently asked by Abby Tabak from House Beautiful what we would do with the Parsons Desk from West Elm. We thought long and hard about the best chair and lamp for this classic piece of furniture and finally decided on Hans Wegner's swivel chair paired with the new Grace Lamp from Environment Furniture.

Our exact answer in fact is we've "...always loved the elegance of Hans Wegner's 1955 swivel chair and its mix of wood, leather, and chrome. The more organic forms of the chair and the lamp-made of a lightweight plastic that resembles paper-soften the geometry of the desk. Separately, all three pieces have a simple beauty. Together, they make a rather bold statement, even if the understated spirit remains." So now we're curious...given the same question-what would you do? (click on the images to enlarge)

Some Exciting News!

We'd like to thank American Express and Departures Magazine for recognizing our firm Brad Ford ID as part of their "Generation Next" designers in the September Style Issue (that's yours truly sitting in the orange chair....). We certainly appreciate the honor and have always had a great appreciation for the other designers and architects in this group. We look forward to seeing more of their inspiring work in the years to come. (click on the images to enlarge; photograph by Julian Dufort).

Dream Vacation.

Will someone please pinch us and tell us this is all a bad dream? Is summer really over? Do we honestly have to face this ugly reality head on? The past few months have been phenomenal - full of adventure, opportunity and a lot of laughs. But indeed the time has come to get focused and serious.

We started the week full of determination, but kept finding ourselves reminiscing about the summer and wondering when and where our next vacation might be. If you find yourself in a similar situation over the next few days, then you'll probably enjoy the following website as much as we did. It's called Boutique Homes and it showcases a handpicked collection of stylish homes, in a variety of desirable locations such as Paris and Marrakech. But what's truly exciting is that these homes are also vacation rentals spread all across the continents. From beach houses, to city apartments, to a cabin in the woods and even a historical bank building in Tomales, California, there's no shortage of spectacular dwellings.

This online resource inspires you to pick your travel experience from a creative and visually artistic point of view. Exploring their collection is like traveling in itself. Each Boutique Home listing features the unique details of it’s exterior and interior design, and the appeal of it's surrounding location. This is one website definitely worth perusing while still pining for your last vacation and starting to plan for your next one!