Morning Coffee

Who? Gregory Han, managing editor, Apartment Therapy’s Unplggd.

Where? Los Angeles, CA.

How do you take your coffee? What brand is it? Black…Pantone 4C Black. I grind and brew Intelligenstia Black Cat Espresso almost exclusively, though I’ll occasionally switch over to Stumptown’s roasts to mix things up. I’ve also started to add one part roasted cacao beans for every 6 parts coffee beans before grinding, which I highly recommend for chocolate lovers.

Tell me about your coffee cup. My friends Angie and Ted of Poketo gave me this coffee cup as a gift, a mug I truly love and that reflects my affinity for that most simple of life’s pleasures, the donut.

What happens if you skip your morning coffee? I’m pretty immune to the effects of caffeine (I enjoy a cup after dinner), so the 1-2 cups I drink most days of the week are mostly for the pleasure of taste. I don’t suffer from any of the classic symptoms of coffee withdrawal, but I do get flummoxed if forced to drink tea in the morning instead of coffee when we run out (no offense to tea, but I prefer it in the afternoon). Bean > leaf!

Five Fabulous: Coffee Cups

Here is Amy’s latest fabulous round-up. This one comes with an announcement. After hiring Amy as a Lifework contributor via phone and email we finally met ‘for real’ in New York a few weeks ago during ICFF. Amy is based in Brooklyn, I’m in Los Angeles so the Herman Miller trip to New York was a great opportunity to meet up and brainstorm ways of improving Lifework. One of the things we came up with was a new column. We’re calling it Morning Coffee. Turns out I’m a hopeless caffeine addict while Amy has abstained for a while now and drinks tea instead. Each Monday we’ll run an interview with someone interesting about their morning libation (look out for interviews with our friends from Apartment Therapy, Design Milk, Swiss Miss and The Foodinista to name a few). The first one will run this coming Monday.

We’ll be asking the same three questions so feel free to jump in with your answers. You can email them to me at cerentha_harris@hermanmiller.com along with a pic of your coffee cup (or tea cup!) on your desk.

And now for a bit of inspiration here’s a roundup of coffee cups.

Cerentha

1. Tag Cup, $29 A bright silicone sleeve surrounds designer Kanae Tsukamoto’s porcelain cup to protect hands from steamin’-hot morning joe. Get it: Generate

2. Huellas by María Elena Martínez Fayó & Tomàs Ortiz Ferrer, 82,00€ Your cuppa never looked so chic. Get it: industreal.it

3. Memo Mug, $6.48 A tribute to the streamlined (and, perhaps, elegant) design of graph paper. Get it: Fishs Eddy

4. Helvetica Coffee Mug, $15.92 When you like your coffee like you like your typeface: classic, yet full of possibilities. Get it: Veer

5. Moments Latte Mug, $16 This sleek, handle-less mug is inspired by Maija Louekari’s Hetkiä illustrated textile design. Get it: Finn Style

High Five

Our week on the web:

1. Lena’s Creative Design Studio A fascinating look into the creative life of designer Lena Blonsky. Where to start: Her post on working with art.

2. Working Class Designer And while we’re visiting one designer why not drop in on another? This is the blog of graphic designer Jesse Denherder who happens to be a good writer as well as a great designer. Enjoy. Where to start: At the beginning and enjoy the stories.

3. Hello Deer! Can you tell I was looking for people to interview this week? Here’s another designer’s blog that was impressive in its breadth. It’s by Atlanta-based designer Susan Cowley (who has one of the cutest kids I’ve seen in a long time!) Where to start: Her home office round up is excellent.

4. I want – I got This is a Toronto-based fashion site but there are enough great interiors to keep us coming back for more (and sometimes it’s fun to take a break from work and look at those crazy shoes and note that 80′s style shoulder pads really are coming back). Where to start: Jean Paul Gaultier’s fabulous striped suite.

5. Wonder How To This is a really nicely designed news site that aggregates not just how-to type videos but also interesting quirky (and often cheeky) stories from all over the web. Where to start: Check out the video on organizing your home office in less than 2 hours.

Inspiration: Interior Designer Susan Stewart

Designer Susan Stewart takes us through the Los Angeles home office that she shares with her husband.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? I’ve worked from home since I left the fashion industry in 2001. We live in the Hollywood Hills near Laurel Canyon. My husband Jon works in the music industry doing A&R and as a marketing consultant and we share an office that had been converted from a 2 car garage and is attached to our mid-century post and beam home. I used to work in the house until I had Jonah, our almost 2 year old son. When it got too distracting to work with Jonah around, I re-did the converted office and moved in with Jon. His half of the space I painted black and hung his rock artwork and guitars on the walls. My half of the space is white. I haven’t gotten around to hanging anything up, but I kind of like it like that.

I run an interior design firm designing for both residential and commercial spaces, plus I publish a design blog called Design*ByProxy. Design*ByProxy was initially the name of a service I started through Susan Stewart Design. It gives clients an affordable option to get a room professionally designed by me. The client pays a flat rate per room and all the design is done thru the internet/email. They answer a questionnaire, measure their own space, send me digital pictures of their room and describe the design direction. I then provide a furniture floor plan, concept board that includes paint colors or wallpaper, furniture selection, window treatment idea and provide a shopping list with links of where the client can purchase the items.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I’m hired by clients to help them realize their own aesthetic and ideals ranging in styles from Classic to Modern, all with a West Coast vibe (easy not fussy). When you look at Design*ByProxy blog, you really get to see what my aesthetic is: design that innovates and inspires by embracing simplicity, luxury and humor. A signature look of mine utilizes a mix of vintage and modern pieces.

As an interior designer with multiple clients how do you keep your office organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. Are there any particular programs you find really useful? I have big white binders for each client that holds all the paperwork (quotes, floor plans, swatches, invoices) divided into the rooms I’m designing. I keep them in a cabinet. I also have a “My Clients” folder in My Documents with sub-folders for each one. I work on 2 computers, a Mac and PC because some of the programs I use are only available on one platform. I use AutoCAD for Plan Drawings and Studio Designer for ordering on my PC. Then I use ArchiCAD and Google Sketch Up, both for 3D rendering on my Mac. I use Illustrator and Photoshop on both.

When you are designing a home office what do you keep in mind? Feng Shui and storage. I’m not a Feng Shui expert by any means, but I think in the office it is important to incorporate it’s principles as much as you can while keeping a visually pleasing design. I can always feel a space immediately that has bad feng shui.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you love? Yes, my Eames Aluminum Group Management Chair. Years ago I had a flea market find that looked cool, but ended up staining the muscles in my neck and was told by the chiropractor I needed a better chair to sit at while working on the computer. I ended up splurging on my dream chair (I was a student at the time).

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? It’s not really a “desk accessory” but a “desktop” accessory. I use GoToMyPc.com and it’s really great. It’s a remote control software service that enables my assistant to access my computer from hers through the internet. She can log onto my computer remotely and do the proposals, orders and invoicing without having to be at my office.

What would you change about your own workspace? I love my husband, but it would be great to not have to share the space. I only say that because he talks A LOT….not to me, but on the phone to his clients. It can be a bit distracting.

What do you most love about your space? The view from my desk of our Japanese pine tree and pond in our courtyard and my husband’s company.

What inspires you? Nature, colors, art, architecture, people.

A Home Office Renovation

Designer Janell Beals lives in Portland, Oregon and with the arrival of her two children Isabella and Max, shifted her focus to the home and interior design. In 2006, she started her interior designer business with an emphasis on warm, eclectic interiors. I came across her blog yesterday and the home office she just finished renovating. She covers the redesign in fine detail here. What do you think of those black walls?

Unplggd: Speakers get Arty

“Last year, Joey Roth brought the world a set of speakers made of pure ceramic. It was a memorable, minimalistic set that everyone at Unplggd thoroughly enjoyed listening to and taking photos of. With its huge success, Joey decided to invite nine of his favorite artists to come over and modify his speakers as they see fit. The result? Some of the zaniest designs we’ve ever seen…You can check out the entire project over at Joey Roth’s site, Sounds Like, over here.

[Via MocoLoco]

Inspiration: Designer Ghislaine Vinas

Ghislaine Vinas, who recently won Benjamin Moore’s 2010 Hue Award, is based in New York and was one of our visitors at the Herman Miller stand during ICFF. Ghislaine’s interiors are a warm take on modernism that utilize a strong and saturated color palette. Here we talk to the designer about her work space at the country home she bought 6 years ago.

How long have you worked from home? This is my desk at our country home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We bought the house in 2004, spent a year renovating it and have been working on the interiors ever since. Being an interior designer, designing my own house is torturous and I don’t think I will ever be finished! If I need to get work done during the weekend and I’m not out on the deck with my laptop, you can find me here. I mostly use the time away from my New York City office to look for inspiration and to come up with new ideas.

And where is home? Home from Monday – Friday afternoon is downtown New York City. I’ve lived in the same loft for over 20 years right on the Hudson River. We work from the loft too. But life is crazy in the city and after my husband and I had our two little girls we decided to get a country house near my sister in Pennsylvania. So Friday evening to Sunday evening our home is in the country. It’s a little old farmhouse that my husband and I lovingly renovated with the help of my sister’s husband, Glenn who is a contractor.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I would say that my style is modern, fresh, clean happy and a wee bit quirky. I like things that can be cleaned off easily, I dont like too much clutter but I like that my home reflects who I am. I get enjoyment out of being surrounded by things I have found around the world or even in my back yard from local garage sales or flea markets.

As an interior designer with multiple clients how do you keep your office organized. The New York apartment pictured above seems typical of your work – strong bursts of color against a fairly minimal backdrop of white? We specialize in one style – we are not an office that does traditional through to contemporary – we stick to simple happy modern – this helps keep our samples to a minimum and has helped clean up things a lot in the NYC office. Over the years I have honed my style so I dont want fabrics or other samples lying around that I dont intend to use.   Two years ago we got rid of all our brochures and binders and it was such a relief to “clean house” Everything is online anyway so we are good at bookmarking our favorite sites and pieces.

We keep all our fabric samples in drawers – there are 16 big drawers all color coded. Our tiles and other materials we keep in drawers too for easy access. We have big boxes that we keep sample in on projects we are currently working on and its always great to see how all the materials start coming together. All other material is kept in giant client binders – these binders contain everything from plans and elevations to color inspiration and specific furniture pieces. The binders are evolving constantly as we work on the projects.

Are there any particular computer programs you find really useful? I used to have interns do weekly color copies of magazine inspirations and I kept them in a giant lateral file but now we use Evernote to organize all my inspirational images as well as furniture pieces that I really dont want to forget. So now when I am looking for something its such a breeze to find.

When you are designing a home office what do you keep in mind? I keep in mind that peoples lives are busy and we dont always have time to put things away – this means that a stack of bills on the desk top may be reality. So a nice paper tray could be a smart investment. I try and reduce clutter by having upper cabinets that are easy to reach from a seated position that can store unattractive real life things you need at your desk. Also essential is a good “box box file” drawer right next to the desk. Top drawer for essentials including check books, good hand cream and lip balm , second drawer for stationary and stamps and the bottom drawer for filing monthly bills. You also need good lateral files for all the other things that need filing like taxes and investment, school and other info.

An attractive trash can under the desk never hurts . Its always nice to have a beautiful cup holder for pens and stationary and a beautiful stapler, tape holder and paper clip holder. Recently I have started working with personal organizers so that my clients can have perfect tabs on all their files holders and just the right drawer dividers.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? I love the Airia desk (and seriously not because its for Herman Miller) and I adore the big e15 table especially in yellow (above). I dream of having a giant desk like it. I love my vintage saarinen chair that I have in my PA house. I had it reupholstered in a brilliant magenta – it makes the perfect desk chair.
What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? A cup of coffee in my right hand. I would really love to get a set of “Anything” desk accessories (below).

What would you change about your own workspace? Well, my little spot in PA is kinda perfect for me but my office in New York needs help. In New York we sit at long white counters and although I can look out the window at the river from where I sit, I would love to have a freestanding table to work from. I would love to get a giant table maybe vintage or Baroque looking and have it shop finished in a crazy color – like fluorescent red. Then everything around it would be white. A giant inspiration board is the second thing on my wish list. My little space in PA feels personal and has an aesthetic, my New York space is about function and lacks personal style.

What do you most love about your space? Well, my space in my PA house is very special to me – it’s full of fun little memories because all the pictures on the wall were given to me either by the artist themself or by friends. I love looking out the window and daydreaming. There are always bunnies out there in the spring and summer and it’s so ridiculously idyllic that it makes me smile. I love my comfy magenta chair and the pop of color the rolling file add. I love that I can go out and pick some flowers from the garden and put them on the desk. In the pictures are peonies from my front yard.

What inspires you? Anything bright and happy. I love seeing unexpected color combinations. I love seeing things that are out of scale – an image of something small that has been enlarged or visa versa. I love animal objects. The beach is my favorite place in the world and inspires me. I love my girl’s (Mia Soleil and Saskia Luna) art work. I love designing with my husband Jaime. I am inspired by very smart people who are also creative and who don’t take themselves too seriously. Collaborations with clients get my heart racing. Graffitti and urban wall art is beautiful and surprising.

Images: The PA office: Jaime Vinas, the New York apartment: Eric Laignel

The Playlist: Victoria Smith of SF Girl by Bay

This week’s post featuring blogger, photographer, and design junkie Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay makes the second mention in a row of KCRW—are we on to something here? Take a look at Victoria’s work playlist to see how the Santa Monica-based public radio station may or may not have influenced her musical taste.

What do you listen to while you work? I very often listen to KCRW—a public radio station broadcasting out of the basement of Santa Monica College. I love their “Eclectic 24″ station and I listen via iTunes. They play tons of great indie music that I tend to gravitate towards. They mix it as if I would have.

How do you listen? I listen on my iMac streaming from iTunes through a Harmon/Kardon speaker system.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? As I said, I really love KCRW, so they are my biggest provider, via iTunes. I always seem too busy to buy a lot of music lately—but I used to. I have Pandora, but the time never seems to be there to actually utilize it like I’d like to.

Does music influence your work? I think so, or rather sometimes I make it influence my work! Like, if I’m feeling a bit tired or uninspired, I’ll put on an old 80′s mix I’ve made (that once inspired a whole post about Madonna—read it here). Or if I need some energy, I’ll put on something really rockin’, like some Killers or Franz Ferdinand. Or, if I’m in a mellow mood, I’ll listen to some She & Him, or some Wilco, Yo Lo Tengo, My Morning Jacket. I have pretty eclectic taste and I like music from a lot of genres.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? I host these Sunday Night Suppers with a group of creative friends here in San Francisco. My friend, designer Tom Bonauro, is usually in charge of the music. He’ll burn a CD from his vast collection and we’ll play that all night. He has amazing taste and influences me a lot. After the dinners, I burn copies for all the guests and send them out. It’s a great thing to be able to share—a musical memory of the evening. And not to push KCRW (but I seriously swear by them, and am a supporting member), but they introduce to me some great artists all the time. Also, they have a celebrity guest DJ project, and I’ve discovered some great music there. Rosanna Arquette has amazing musical taste.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be? Oh wow—that’s a hard question! Maybe Elvis Costello—he is a pretty eclectic musician who’s made a lot of different genres of music. I can identify with not wanting to be pigeonholed into one particular style. And he’s quirky and his music has a sense of humor to it; Watching the Detectives is a good example of his dark humor. I like that.

Read on for Victoria’s playlist…

Read more

It’s Tops

If you haven’t already done it, now is the time to subscribe to Lifework (and any other Herman Miller topic you are interested in). By signing up now you’ll have your name entered to win a set of those lovely KleinReid wooden tops (valued at $200). We’ll be giving away eight sets, one each week through to July 18. So don’t wait. Sign up now and give us a whirl.

Smart Light

“There’s a battle going on, a never ending battle with cords. We’ve come close to declaring peace, but we’re still not quite there. We’ve come across many great quick fixes for cable management, and designers are still releasing products — when will it end?

T’Light is the newest product to join the fight against unruly cords. It’s an LED light, charging station and charging dock all in one. It certainly looks promising and we’re happy to see that it serves more than just one function.

T’Light has a 3 watt LED lamp on top that will provide about 50,000 hours of light. It’s really the base that is where it gets good and starts to sound a little promising. There’s a built in iPhone dock for charging — we appreciate this because we own an iPhone, but we’re not sure it was smart the T’Light to only offer one model. What about Android users?

Besides the iPhone dock, there’s a USB port and a jack for charging laptops — but no adapter for a Macbook which we think is odd. The T’Light isn’t cheap either, it’s selling for $90.

So, the search continues for an all around, universal cable management system that packs a few extra charging punches too.

[via Gizmodo]

By Kristen Lubbe”