All Photos By Gail
This black, heavily embellished dress from House of Balmain, designed by Olivier Rousteing for the Fall/Winter 2012–13 collection, feels less like a garment and more like a moment preserved in time. An unapologetic show-stopper, it reads as both armor and ornament —structured, deliberate, and unapologetically intricate. Continue reading Eye On Design: Balmain’s Beaded Time Capsule
I’m always drawn to chairs that feel like they’re doing more than just sitting there — and the Tucroma dining chairs by Guido Faleschini are exactly that kind of piece. This set of six installed around a rectangular glass dining table is one of those perfect 1970’s design moments where everything clicks: material, form, color, and space all working together without trying too hard.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Guido Faleschini’s Tucroma Dining Chairs for i4 Mariani
Photos By Gail
Some pieces don’t just hang from the ceiling — they descend, like a moment caught mid-fall. This circa 1902 chandelier, created through the collaboration of Johann Loetz Witwe and E. Bakalowits Söhne, is less about rigid structure and more about movement, rhythm, and glow.
What immediately stands out is its verticality. Rather than a traditional branching chandelier, this one is composed of a series of long, delicate drops — textile-wrapped cords punctuated with rich amber glass beads. These beads don’t just decorate; they create a visual cadence, like a string of glowing notes suspended in air. The hammered brass ceiling plate above quietly anchors the piece, allowing everything else to flow downward in a loose, cascading arrangement.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Austrian Chandelier with Loetz Lampshades Circa 1902
All Photos By Gail
Elizabeth Garouste’s Noa Noa Coffee Table is like a conversation in progress. Composed of two interlocking forms — one saturated orange, the other deep black — the table reads as both a single sculptural gesture and a pair of independent objects. The pieces fit together in soft, amorphous curves, like puzzle parts that have chosen each other rather than been engineered to comply. Continue reading Eye On Design: Noa Noa Coffee Table By Elizabeth Garouste
All Photos By Gail
I Could Have Been a Dolphin is a modern sculpture designed and realized by Arlo Walker in 2022. Consisting of a 65 -gallon, industrial-size trash bin completely covered with tiny reflecting crystals, this work was part of a larger exhibit of design student projects entitled Utopia, which was on display at the 2022 edition of Wanted Design at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). What follows is the manifesto presented with the exhibit to which this eye-catching sculpture belongs.
The title of this exhibition, Utopia, is an irony; each piece confronts, the realization that our civilization is anything but utopian. Indeed, the sociopolitical infrastructure of our world spells dystopia –- a place where the values of fulfillment, health, and wealth appear all but unattainable. The pieces in this exhibition reflect a disillusionment with the very concept of utopia; the past, present, and future equal equally convey an image of injustice and hardship.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Bling Industrial Garbage Bin By Arlo Walker