Gut renovations -- aptly named to describe the stripping down of a space to its bare bones and starting fresh, the visceral fortitude forged with each decision leading up to the finish line -- are exhausting. But the payoff is the drama of the before and after. Particularly when the "before" describes a dilapidated warren of rooms that are nearly impossible to recognize as a home, the "after" feels like a hard-won victory.
Read MoreITERATION 2014.01.09. - half scale
Scale models are instrumental in how I see designs come to life. These images are of a quick study, made from cardboard and spray-painted gold so I really see how the light hits the angles. Seeing the cushion mocked up in newspaper is helpful too. Not quite there, but definitely closer.
MARIA PERGAY : STEEL ON MY WISH LIST
For years a piece of furniture by Maria Pergay -- any piece by Maria Pergay -- has been high up on my list of coveted items.
Today, Christie's is having its auction Arts Decoratifs du XXe Siecle, and Lot 63 (below) represents a unique result of a collaboration with Maison Jansen: a table with two layers of glass enclosing decoration in stainless steel.
Christie's estimates the gavel will come down somewhere between $54K - $81K USD.
I first encountered her pieces when I was working at Studio Sofield and shopping for entry chair options for the NY flagship of Tom Ford. We presented the Ring Chair, pictured at left (which was ultimately passed over in favor of the Lalanne that sits there now); the curves of the stainless steel were mesmerizing...
Maria Pergay is known best for unleashing stainless steel's softer, more sensuous qualities that often take the back seat to its more industrial connotations. Her pieces merge fantasy and modernity, bringing warmth and softness to the cold material.
Something other-worldly surrounds Pergay's work, which is furniture, and some.... Each work, to Pergay, is "An expression of — what can I say, maybe like it came from Mars or the moon?" Brigitte Bardot's alien beauty sits well with the lines of the lit tapis volant!
Pergay, born in 1930, began her career designing store window displays before releasing a collection in 1968 that was snapped up in its entirety by Pierre Cardin. She is alive and well, still actively producing new work and enjoying revived interest in her oeuvre, including recent exhibitions at Demisch Danant in New York, Place des Vosges in Paris, and Design Miami.
Meanwhile, back on planet earth, the department stores in NYC have unveiled their holiday window displays, reminding us that it is gift-giving season...
I'm not holding my breath that whoever secures the bid on the glass and steel dining table on auction at Christie's will just feel like giving it to me --
but I'd be happy with just about anything attached to a pouf rouban (image below) ! I'd be fine with the green one too.
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