This week, Washington, D.C. architect and business owner Kathy Dixon welcomes us into her firm. Kathy provides architectural services, which includes base buildings, historic renovations, and additions for both commercial and residential clients. She’s lucky enough to enjoy two home workspaces: an interior space and a beguiling outdoor patio for those sunny afternoon work sessions. Check out her selection of classics in this week’s Playlist. Read more
It’s hard not to smile when you come across a space like this one in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Thoughtfully designed and packed with vibrant color, the small studio apartment — a cozy 335 square feet — includes a collection of vintage and modern lighting, artwork, Soviet-era pottery, and pieces by Charles and Ray Eames, old and new. Take a look to see how its owner, Rustam Babayev, creates harmony in one room that must be all things: workspace, living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Read more
Studio 7.5 believes the complexities of modern design are best managed with a team effort. And as we learn in week six of the Why Design series on Herman Miller, the design collaborative — whose work includes Mirra and Setu chairs — engages their collective problem-solving skills by joining together for lunch every day. In the spirit of their collaborative eating, check out these six ways to a working lunch. Read more
Take a look at what we’ve been bookmarking this week.
1. “Design Q&A with Charles Eames,” a short film from 1972, featured on Network Awesome.
2. A full tour of Jonathan Lo’s Solana Beach, CA, rental home at Old Brand New.
3. The Design and Architecture Crossword from the New York Times and Design Within Reach. (Here’s a hint for 95 Across.)
4. Speaking of married couples who design together (another hint for the crossword above), check out Design Is One, the documentary on Lella and Massimo Vignelli opening October 18 (via Very Short List).
5. The idea-filled chat about home offices with organizer Kacy Paide from the Washington Post.
6. Curbed’s look at the transformation of an NYC loft to accommodate a collection of Eames furniture.
7. 10 of Architizer’s favorite workspaces, including the Obscura Digital HQ in San Francisco, featuring our Setu Chairs (in the photo above).
8. This quick 1955 telegram from Alexander Girard to industrialist J. Irwin Miller at Documenting Modern Living.
9. Jaunted’s history lesson on Eames Tandem Sling Seating in airports.
10. The playfully inspiring design of this floating dreamscape made from hundreds of kites featured at Co.Design.
Photo: Obscura Digital / Architizer
To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the birth of Ray Eames, we’re offering a Select Edition of the Eames Wire Base Low Table for a limited time in colors Ray would have appreciated: cobalt blue, red-orange, and yellow-gold. A small, low table of elegant proportions, the classic design is endlessly adaptable — use it alone to support everything from plants to display pieces to laptops, stack a few bedside or next to a sofa as a side table, or group several together to form a coffee table or an even larger surface. Need some inspiration? Here’s a look at how homes and workspaces across the country incorporate the timeless and flexible Eames design. Read more
Before they were designers, and before they created their own design studio in 2006, John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong Ardt were doing other things. John, a Wisconsin native, was a potter, sculptor, and cabinet maker. Wonhee, originally from Seoul, Korea, was also a sculptor. Realizing they were designers as well, they founded StudioGorm in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and have since relocated to Eugene, Oregon. Crafting and constructing in their workshop, the duo produce smart, comfortable designs — the kinds of things you develop a familiarity and intimacy with. For us, they’ve crafted this week’s Playlist, giving us a chance to explore their work’s musical accompaniment. Take a listen.
Olga Massov, food writer, recipe developer, and co-author of the soon-to-be-released The Kimchi Cookbook, may have a cheerful compact nook neatly tucked into the corner of the Brooklyn apartment she shares with her husband, but her kitchen is just as much her office, too. Find out how she manages to balance it all in this tour and interview with the Russian expat (by way of New England). Read more
Industrial designer and architect Gianfranco Zaccai – focus of this week’s Why Design series on Herman Miller – prefers to draw his inspiration from real world interactions. From redefining simple tasks like cleaning floors to improving the quality of the patient care experience, Zaccai creates better living through design. This week’s roundup explores just of few of those creations.
Read up on some of our favorite posts from the last seven days.
1. Inspired by the pops of color — including one from a single green Magis Folding Air-Chair — in the Ty-Hedfan house in Wales at Contemporist.
2. Could you work from an Airstream office? (Via Businessweek).
3. “The Eames Chair and Charles’ Style” from WaxWane.
4. Co-Working and the Future of Office Design at Beyond Design.
5. These concrete, brass, and copper desktop accessories spotted by Ideas to Steal.
6. Business Insider’s 10 Tips for Working Effectively at Home.
7. Impressed by the H House, a modular modern farmhouse outside Budapest designed by Budapesti Műhely, featured on Design Milk.
8. “Inside the Latest Office-Design Craze: Hot Desking” from Inc.
9. This warm, club-like office, just nominated for a “Hot Office Award” in Sweden (via The Escapist).
10. A surprisingly inspiring dental office in Malaga, Spain, at Pursuitist.
Photo: Magis Chair First
San Antonio, Texas, is home to organizer Vanessa Hayes — as well as the newly-built backyard office shed she now shares with her husband Dan, a technology/marketing/media consultant. See the space they customized for their work lives and get some tips on how to make working from home with your spouse easier in this interview and tour of their office, which nicely features a pair of our SAYL chairs in black and white. Read more