Stone Garden as Photographed in 2020 By Iwan Baan (This Photo and All Others By Gail)
Stone Garden (2020) is a 13-story residential tower imbued with hopeful futures for inhabitants of a postwar city. Conceived by Beirut-born architect Lina Ghotmeh as an inhabited sculpture, it transforms tumultuous events into creative potential. Continue reading Eye On Design: Stone Garden Apartment Building, Beirut
All Photos By Gail
While the streamlined curves of Gloria Cortina’s Black Hawk Console (2016) reference the design aesthetic of modern French opulence and glamour popular in the 20th century, Black Hawk serves as an homage to the perception of luxury in the Aztec empire.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Black Hawk Console By Gloria Cortina
Photos By Gail
The original International Symbol of Access (image below) was designed in 1969 by Susanne Koefoed. Enlarged above is the Accessible Icon, a recent redesign that portrays a person in forward motion, propelling through space. Surrounded by small images that depict various iterations, the new symbol represents people in wheelchairs as dynamic, rather than static bodies. The Accessible Icon Project began as a social intervention with the goal of making cities more inclusive. Its symbol is open source and available in a multitude of formats and sizes. This image was designed by Tim Ferguson Sauder, Brian Glenney and Sara Hendren between 2009 and 2011.
Photographed in the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in Manhattan.
All Photos By Gail
Designs inspired by nature form the largest group of more than 10,000 wallpapers in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. Often, a wallpaper theme would tie-in with the room’s use: designs of food were popular for dining rooms and water motifs dominated in bathrooms. The modern bathroom. with a designated space indoors, running water and flush toilets, had been developed by the late nineteenth century. Given the concerns for hygiene and running water, ceramic tiles were the preferred wall-covering because of their durability and sanitary nature. For those on a budget, early wallpapers imitated this look with varnished tile patterns.
Around 1910, bathrooms shifted away from this sterile, hygienic look to become a more pleasant, decorative room that was harmonious with the home’s decor. Some moisture-resistant coverings were introduced in the early 1900‘s, but general-use wallpapers at this time were printed with water-soluble pigments and thus were unsuitable for use in bathrooms.
By 1934, the development of washable wallpapers coincided with a new array of decorative papers that had no hint of their sanitary past; rather, scenic designs featuring more panoramic views, as seen here, became popular, appealing to decorators and homeowners who wanted to bring the outdoors inside.
Sea Beauties Scenic Wallpaper (1920 – 35, Ideal Wall Decoration) seen here in this three-panel set, contains a lively underwater view of fish, shells, coral and plant life in their natural habitat. Multiple sets could be used to wrap around the bathroom, creating an immersive environment.
This early water-resistant design is printed in oil colors, so it could withstand the moisture and occasional splash from the tub, giving the wallpaper both a practical and decorative purpose.
Photographed in the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in Upper Manhattan.
All Photos By Gail
Trained as a cabinet maker, Wenzel Friedrich immigrated to the US in 1853, settling in San Antonio, Texas. In 1880, he realized the potential of the Texas stockyards’ plentiful supply of steer horns for use in the making of furniture. It is likely that Friedrich was inspired by furniture he had seen in Europe, where antlers and other emblems of the hunt were used as décor as early as the 15th century. Friedrich’s horned furniture fulfilled the Victorian fancy for the unusual, as well as symbolizing the Wild West. Heating the horn made the material pliable, allowing Friedrich to create exaggerated curves for his pieces. If you happen to live in San Antonio, you can see examples of his work in the historic Oge House, which is now a Bed & Breakfast.
You can read more about Friedrich Wenzel’s horn furniture designs at This Link.
Photographed in the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in Manhattan.