Beautiful conversations, people, places, design+photography
The one place on my bucket list lately is Cuba. The fact that it’s been forbidden for the last 60 years makes it even more alluring. For those looking to visit you can book a tour through Coast to Costa out of LA. Alas you can peek behind the curtain and experience the magic of Cuba. More about the tour company here. For those who have visited feel free to any “not to be missed” sites.
Photo credits Alessandro Giraldi,
Erich Mcvey, Tom Blachfor for
My Modern Met.
Design bloggers Brooke and Steve Gianetti, (Velvet & Linen) have written a beautiful book about the process of building their marvelous home in Ojai, California called Patina Farm. And now it’s in a book with beautiful photos of a place I would call utopia living. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of, of a beautiful alternate life adorned with vintage French wood doors, charming chicken coops, dreamy landscapes, glass walled showers and baby goats. I would love to visit this place.
3,900 Pages of Paul Klee’s personal notebooks (1921-1931) are online. I love his art and thoughts on color and really enjoy his works. Klee taught at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1921 to 1926 and in Dessau from 1926 to 1931. During his tenure, he was in close contact with other Bauhaus masters such as Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger.
I could totally live in this house, no problem going to work everyday.
Check out Buckminster Fuller on The Geodesic Life | The Experimenters | Blank on Blank on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/122335390 #Vimeo
Most people attribute Germany’s Bauhaus
school, founded by Walter Gropius,with being
all about minimalist design, paring down
architecture to its most non-essential elements
whilst being beautiful at the same time.
What is overlooked is the fantastical costume
parties of the 1920s. Not only were they good
at designing furniture and everything else in
between, their costumes were just as sculptural
and flamboyant. The Bauhaus shindigs were
outright competitive. Imagine dancing around
in one of these with Wassily Kandinsky,
Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy,
Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer.
The parties began as improvisational events,
but later grew into large-scale productions
with costumes and sets made by the school’s
stage workshop. There was often a theme to
the evenings. One party was called Beard, Nose,
and Heart, and attendees were instructed t
show up in clothing that was two-thirds white,
and one-third spotted, checked or striped.
However, it’s generally agreed that the
apotheosis of the Bauhaus’ costumed revelry
was the Metal Party of 1929, where guests
donned costumes made from tin foil, frying
pans, and spoons. Attendees entered that
party by sliding down a chute into one of
several rooms filled with silver balls.
Javier Gomez’s bold, abstract photographs are
ephemeral and otherwordly. I’m particularly drawn
to his abstract architectural images. Beautiful.
If I could choose my dream home it would be
a treehouse and any one of these would suit me
just fine. Love the childlike appeal.
Bower House Construction takes a sophisticated,
nature first approach to his custom treehouses.
Founded by Simon Parfett, a former climate scientist
who wanted to do more work with his hands,
Bower House Construction designs and builds
custom treehouses in Bruton, a rural town
near Somerset, England. Parfett’s bespoke
structures speak to a love of craft and nature.
I would love to visit China one day just to
experience the amazing architecture much
of which is being designed by Zaha Hadid.
Zaha Hadid’s latest endeavor is the Wangjing
Soho building, a beacon along the journey of
transition to and from the city. The project
acts as a welcoming entry to the city and a
gesture of farewell when departing Beijing.
The buildings are designed to read differently when
transitioning in either direction, leaving distinctly
different impressions on those who pass by. Like
Chinese Fans, the volumes appear to move around
each other in an intricate dance, each embracing
the other from a continuously changing angle.
Santiago Calatrava’s innovation, science and technology
building for Florida Polytechnic University makes me
want to study there just to be able to experience this
building. The design is characterized by a skeletal
form with a latticed envelope across a series of arched
ribs. The crowning feature is its rising operable roof
that can regulate the desired amount of direct light.
Simply beautiful.
Meandering around Pioneer Square
one of my favorite neighborhoods
in Seattle.
Historic Lucknow building. The building mixes
moderate-income residential apartments with
retail space on the ground floor, adjacent to
Waterfall Garden. It was the first housing
demonstration project in the Pioneer Square
Preservation District.
Historic Smith Tower
Beautiful Musings 