Eames + Star Wars: a good combine

Hugh Doan, a San Francisco Bay Area tech professional in marketing and advertising, is a lover of authentic Eames designs and Star Wars. His collection of all two is quite impressive. Many of his photos on Instagram not only highlight scale, but also combine his interest in Eames designs with his passion for Star Wars. When asked what sparked this series of images he answered, “I have a son, and it is like reliving a second childhood.”

Courtesy Hugh Doan via eamesoffice.com

News: The Kinfolk Home - Interiors for Slow Living

Following the success of "The Kinfolk Table: Recipes for Small Gatherings", the Kinfolk team has released a second book, "The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for Slow Living". In "The Kinfolk Home", author and Kinfolk founder, Nathan Williams takes readers inside 35 homes around the globe, with several eamesian pieces. Each home reflects the values of ‘slow living’: simplifying our lives, slowing down and cultivating community. In addition to over 200 stunning interiors photographs, "The Kinfolk Home" shares the residents’ stories through insightful interviews and essays. While each home is unique – some modern and urban, others of heritage and legacy – all are connected by the ‘slow’ approach, put together carefully, thoughtfully, and with great intention.

Via www.kinfolk.com

Enjoy the Ant-Man titles !

Enjoy the "Ant-Man" movie titles by Sarofsky: they are an intentional homage to the iconic "Powers of Ten", the famous short film directed by Charles and Ray in 1977.

Christmas gift idea (3): "Charles & Ray Eames", by Maryse Quinton

In this book, the contemporary designers questioned in the insets all place them in their personal pantheon. Giulio Cappellini, for example, believes they are the greatest designers of all times. 
Maryse Quinton (with Eames Demetrios and Alexandra Forterre) reviews four decades of creation, enhancing certain key moments, such as the construction of their home on the heights of Pacific Palisades, and offers a complete panorama. It talks of their relations with big industry (Alcoa) or the intelligentsia (Billy Wilder) but lacks two must-have elements: a real chronology and an index.

Maryse Quinton, Eames Demetrios, Alexandra Forterre, "Charles & Ray Eames", Éditions de La Martinière, Paris, 2015.
Available at nb:notabene Torino, via Bellezia 12 - via Giolitti 26 a.

Off the grid: Charles and Ray Eames' Wire Chair, revisited

Fifty-one Charles and Ray Eames Wire Chairs reinterpreted by artists will be auctioned in Paris today (14 December) to raise money for La Source, a charitable association created by French artist Gérard Garouste to help children express themselves through art in four French centres.
The chairs were donated by Vitra and reinterpreted by leading artists, interior designers, fashion designers and architects, many of whom also participate in La Source workshops each year. Famous names on this year's list include Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec, Philippe Starck, Matali Crasset, Antoine + Manuel, Odile Decq, Christian Louboutin, India Mahdavi, and, of course, Garouste himself.
The designer one-offs come under the hammer of Simon de Pury, chairman of the Philips art auction house. Maître de Pury explains that the charity auction is exceptional in his experience, as artists surpass themselves to transform the object for auction into something unique.
'The Wire Chair's grid seems to have particularly inspired the artists, we're seeing a great deal of invention and a lot of humour,' he says.
5.5 designstudio reinterpreted the chair as a barbeque, Christian Louboutin added a backrest in the form of his signature red leather sole, while Philippe Starck added padlocks in a tribute to the Pont des Art bridge. Most poignantly, Sarah Lavoine and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac created a tribute to Paris following the recent tragic events.
The chairs will be exhibited in the Hôtel de l’Industrie in Paris until today; the auction begins at 8pm French time this evening.

Via wallpaper.com
Read more at http://www.wallpaper.com/design/charles-and-ray-eames-wire-chair-revisited#bCoGDGL04ZlLimqT.99

Christmas gift idea (2): "Mid-Century Modern Complete" by Dominic Bradbury

"Mid-Century Modern" offers a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the subject – furniture, lighting, glass, ceramics, textiles, product design, industrial design, graphics and posters, as well as architecture and interior design, use of innovative and affordable materials and forms of mass manufacture, and newly developed precepts of ‘good design’.
Nearly 100 major and influential creators of the mid-century period are highlighted from Scandinavia, Western Europe, America, Japan, Brazil and Australia. They include icons such as Saul Bass, Robin Day, Charles and Ray Eames, Marimekko, Isamu Noguchi, Dieter Rams, Lucie Rie and Paolo Venini, as well as architects Alvar Aalto, Philip Johnson, Richard Neutra and Oscar Niemeyer.
An additional illustrated dictionary features hundreds more key mid-century designers and manufacturers as well as important organizations, schools and movements.
The book showcases classic designs as well as little-seen rarities, and unusual objets d’art as well as mass-produced items and includes thirteen specially commissioned essays by renowned experts.

Dominic Bradbury, Mid-Century Modern Complete, Thames and Hudson, London, 2014.

Available at nb:notabene Torino, via Bellezia 12 - via Giolitti 26 a

Christmas gift idea (1): "Alexander Girard" by Todd Oldham & Kiera Coffee

Renowned designer Todd Oldham and writer Kiera Coffee have created this massive monograph on seminal designer Alexander Girard as the ultimate tribute to this design icon.
This 672-page book covers virtually every aspect of Girard’s distinctive career. As one of the most prolific and versatile mid-20th century designers, Girard’s work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration, furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. Exhaustively researched and lovingly assembled by designer Todd Oldham, this tome is the definitive must-have book on Girard’s oeuvre.
Girard’s repertoire includes an incredible list of projects, including his bold, colorful, and iconic textile designs for Herman Miller (1952-1975), his typographic designs for La Fonda del Sol restaurant (1960), his celebrated retail store Textiles and Objects (1961), his own Girard Foundation (1962) that houses his extensive, personal collection of folk art from around the world, and his complete branding and environmental design for Braniff International Airways (1965).
Girard’s work continues to inspire new generations of designers and admirers, and this beautiful book is the ultimate tribute to his legacy.


Todd Oldham, Kiera Coffee, "Alexander Girard", Ammo Books, Los Angeles (Cal.), 2011.
Available at nb:notabene Torino, via Bellezia 12 - via Giolitti 26 a

Charles and Ray Eames's Kids Toys: As Wonderful as You'd Expect

In a new article posted by Herman Miller, Alexandra Lange, Curbed's architecture critic, examines the Eameses legacy of design intended for children, including playful prefab structures and boxes meant for building. It's clear from the analysis, accompanying archival images, and cool interactive toy that the duo valued playful design, and a gift for inspiring that same appreciation in others.

A central tenant of the design philosophy of Ray and Charles Eames was an embrace of play as an end in itself, the idea that creativity should be unconstrained and unburdened. While the couple will always be remembered for their contributions to furniture, design and cinema, it was their approach to experimentation, and their interest in seemingly tangential topics such as clowns, that inspired their seemingly endless sense of wonder and a constant drive towards exploration and improvement. As champions of those beliefs, it only goes to follow that they'd also be some of the world's foremost toy designers.

Ph. courtesy Herman Miller Archive

TIME's memory: Bobby Fischer dragged one of the building’s Eames chairs to Iceland!

This week, TIME is moving to new headquarters—so here's a look back at the old…

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Bobby Fischer dragged one of the building’s Eames chairs to Iceland!

What happened was that the company commissioned Charles and Ray Eames to design the reception rooms for TIME in the new building, and their work included a Charles Eames chair. When editors moved into the space, the lore goes that they decided the chairs were so nice that they wanted to keep the chairs themselves rather than let random people sit in them. Some top staffers were notorious for hoarding them and moving them whenever they switched offices. But it wasn’t just the staff. Bobby Fischer somehow took a liking to the seat, deciding it was perfect for chess-playing. When he took on Boris Spassky in Iceland in 1972, it was while sitting on an Eames TIME-LIFE chair that he’d had brought over for the occasion.

Bobby Fischer of the U.S. right, and Boris Spassky of Russia, play their last game together in Reykjavik, Iceland, in this Aug. 31, 1972 
Courtesy: AP Photo/J. Walter Green

The villa of James Bond’s nemesis in Spectre remembers the iconic modernist home of Charles & Ray

This moroccan villa is the home of James Bond’s nemesis in Spectre. The glass, metal and concrete structure appears in the latest Bond film as tensions comes to a head and James Bond arrives at the desert lair of villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld​. 

The house as it appears in the listing – surrounded by lush greenery – is almost unrecognisable from how it looks in the film, thanks to the special effects that transplanted it to a starker, dustier desert location.

In fact, the home is only eight kilometres from the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, not a long, desolate train ride through the Sahara Desert, as the film would suggest.
The contemporary-style villa was built in 2006 and designed by Algerian-trained architect Imaad Rahmouni​.
The two-level house has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and two reception areas. The expansive open-plan living area is flanked by a thin pond and is only three stepping stones away from the lawn.
The large glass windows with black framing – reminiscent of the iconic modernist home of Charles & Ray Eames – affords uninterrupted views of the lush garden, which is dotted with palm trees.
The centrepiece is the striking pool which runs perpendicular to the house.
Accompanying the main residence is a separate guest house with three more bedrooms and its own swimming pool.

Courtesy Domain.com