Color is a big part of our every day at Lifework. So when we saw designer and developer Sean Rioux’s article on how he uses it to streamline his time, we couldn’t help but share. Learn a few great tips from this recent post from Apartment Therapy Tech.
The brilliant sun of summertime means brilliant hues to warm up your work and play. Brighten your season with six ways to summer color.
Virtually unmatched in his use of pattern and color, Alexander Girard created some of the greatest textile designs of the modern age. Never limiting himself to a single medium, Girard brought his enlivening aesthetics to everything from furniture to branding to interior design. In celebration of the seminal designer’s birthday last week, we present an enticing array of paths to his inspirational work. Read more
1. C Shelves VoonWong&BensonSaw designed this series of C-shaped steel tables and shelves to be combined, stacked, or placed back to back. Get info: vwbs.co.uk
2. Aurora Display Case, $49.53 per unit 500 colored pencils (available by subscription) become a piece of artwork when you display them in this conversation-starting case. Get it: glb.felissimo.jp
3. BURO Desk Set, $150.00 Reminiscent of wooden building blocks, these desk accessories by London-based DesignWright come in green, purple, or gray. Get it: Lexon
4. Gear Tie, $4.49 and up Put a twist on wrapping up loose ends (like computer cords and ear buds) with these bright organizing solutions. Get it: Nite Ize
5. QABLE, $39.00 These unique cable extensions work especially well when you’re wall-mounting an item that requires a visible power line. Get it: Biegert & Funk
Spring is almost here (March 20 is the official date). And we thought you’d appreciate a little shot of color to brighten up these last days of winter.
1. M3 Seat/Storage, 165.00 EUR A piece by Mikko Kärkkäinen that works overtime: a bright storage box and a seat combined in one. Get it: finnishdesignshop.com
2. Nelson Swag Leg Desk, $1949.00 Surprising pops of color (orange! spa blue! chartreuse!)help make this desk legendary. Get it: HermanMiller.com
3. Great Balls of Wire, $20.00 Organize wires and cords (and add a little fun) with this award-winning design. Get it: sfmoma.stores.yahoo.net
4. Cammeo Jar One, $46.00 Store everyday supplies within this bone china jar–then secure it with one of six brightly hued rubber bands. Get it: gretelhome.com
5. Round Calendar, $176.00 Not totally practical, but practically a piece of art. Get it: yoox.com
Images linked to their sources within the numbered text
It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with paint. There were a million things on my to-do list this past weekend, but the moment our toddler went down for his daily nap, I jumped at the chance to spend an hour or two playing with paint instead. Currently our house and garage are painted with a depressingly dingy Navajo White and dark brown trim. I can’t wait to paint the exterior stucco of the garage and our house in a custom Benjamin Moore color called Meadowood Gray, and the trim in Meadowood Cream, based on the color scheme of Meadowood Napa Valley where my husband and I got married. The guys at Paint Works in St Helena shared the paint formulas. For the accent color, which will be featured on the garage door and the shutters on our house, I’m playing around with a few Farrow & Ball colors. The end result will be a surprise, but here is sneak peek at possible contenders…
After interviewing Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy’s co-founder, I’ve been thinking a lot about color. Maxwell said “cool is focusing and contracting – good for private rooms. Colors should support those activities – it’s hard in say a rental where the rooms are all white and there’s no change from space to space – that feels deadening. A home office for example should be a cool color.” I’ve collected some great cool-colored offices.
Click on the image to find out more about each office. We’d love to see your office. You can send photos to cerentha_harris@hermanmiller.com.
Photo: Jim Franco: www.jimfranco.com
Talking to Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder and New York editor of Apartment Therapy, is fascinating. You start to understand why this online community, with its 4 million monthly visitors, is so popular. During the course of the interview Maxwell manages to move seamlessly from a discussion about blogs versus newspapers and his time as a Waldorf teacher to European home offices and what color works best in a living room. Every topic, big or small, is given serious consideration. There is an underlying kindness to Maxwell that permeates the site. As he says “Apartment Therapy isn’t snarky, or edgy or even fast, it’s not the newest latest thing we are covering. The whole goal was to help people with their homes, to get them over the finishing line, most would love help from an interior designer or architect but don’t know where to start.” Apartment Therapy has become a very good place to start.
But, enough from me, here is Maxwell:
On blogs: “My wife is a real magazine reader and there’s so much discussion around the demise of magazines and whether blogs are undermining them. Blogs don’t compete with magazines – we compete with newspapers. You post on a blog and then move onto the next thing, it’s very forward looking, fast. And much closer then to a newspaper model than a magazine model.”
On his years as a Waldorf teacher: “[Those years] very much inform my work – now it’s just a much bigger classroom! After teaching for 5 years at a Waldorf school I could have gone on and taken a new class. But I wanted something else. I wanted to live on a larger plane, schools can be small parochial places. I wanted to be rid of the politics.”
“And I had studied design, my first job out of college was as a designer. And I was still very much interested in design. Waldorf is connected to design right down to the chairs and desk and furniture and the color of the walls through all the grades. Design is central and there is a strong belief that the right design can have a very positive effect.”
“I did home visits and the children who had ‘good’ homes – neat, clean and well organized, did better in my classroom. Not necessarily the smartest – it was the ones with a good home foundation. And I thought a lot about that. I was fascinated with that. Being a teacher you need to live the model life. You have to start where you are.”
On starting Apartment Therapy: “At this time I found myself reading the business section of the newspaper more than any other section. It was that time in America before Bush where there was a real optimism in this country around business – business was creative and practical and honest. I craved that opportunity.”
“So in 2001 I started what turned out to be an early version of Apartment Therapy in the summer and gave myself a year to try it out. If it didn’t work I would go back to teaching.”
Ines de la Fressange’s pink study. Via The Selby.
Ines de la Fressange is one of those women who are very stylish. She was a model and is now a designer and photographer. Her home, an apartment in Paris, is inspiring but what is really interesting is this strong hit of pink she’s chosen for her office.
Color can certainly transform a space but how many of us are brave enough to go pink? We’d love to see what colors you’ve chosen for your work space. Feel free to send us images and once we’ve collected enough we’ll turn them into a slideshow.
