The Serif TV by the Bouroullec Brothers for Samsung

I previously wrote about Yve Behar's marvelous The Frame television, and now Samsung has introduced another television that is just as interesting.

While Behar's approach was to make the television disappear (an approach I utilize in my own designs), the award-winning Paris-based Bouroullec Brothers who designed the Serif TV envisioned it to be an object that fits into everyday life—a hybrid of furniture design and technology. It is an appealing prospect to incorporate the technology into an object that will join furniture and furnishings seamlessly.

A distinct stand design, featuring attachable legs that easily screw into the bottom four corners, works in unison with the Serif TV's design and evokes a Mid-Century aestehetic. The custom legs, included with the TV, allow it to sit comfortably and blend more naturally into the home.

The user interface includes a transition between standby and normal viewing options called "curtain mode". This feature allows users to apply a filter over the content, creating a "curtain" effect in which viewers can access services such as a clock, Bluetooth speakers, apps and their photo gallery.

A woven fabric cover magnetically attaches to the back panel of the television to conceal component connections, ensuring it looks great from all angles.

I love the idea of taking this piece of technology that has become shunned and despised from a design perspective and returning it to the days when televisions were housed in casework. The Seif TV feels modern but also a bit retro!

And best of all, the television is fairly affordable at $1,499. It is available at Samsung On-Line.

Happy designing!

Legends of Design: Gio Ponti

In every industry, in every arena, there are legends who have come before and if one wishes to know as much as one can about a chosen subject, it is good to take a look at those legends and see what they contributed to where we are now.

One of those giants of design is Italian designer Gio Ponti who created a slew of Modernist masterpieces. While primarily an architect (in 1950 he designed the infulential The Pirelli Tower in Milan, and the northern extension of the Denver Art Museum in 1971), he also worked in ceramic and glass and designed flatware, furniture, lighting, and decorative objects over a long and spectacularly prolific career which included founding and editing the famous interior design magazines Domus (from its inception in 1928 to 1941 and then from 1948 to his death in 1979), and Stile from 1942 to 1947.

A magnanimous, larger-than-life personality who was a great lover of art, Ponti believed in the marriage of the practical and the beautiful. Arguably, his most famous creation is the Superleggera or Super Light Chair. In 1957, he created a chair out of lightweight materials and the advertisements of the day showed a young boy lifting it with a single finger. The chair has been re-issued by Cassina and is available for purchase now.

He also designed the Distex chair and its descendant, a lounge chair with open sides and stiletto legs for Molteni.

And it is easy to see why this Ponti chair was christened the 969 Chair when you see the undulating back rest.

Ponti worked with glass blowers in Venice to create the iconic and often-imitated Modernist Murano chandelier.

Other lighting designs include the Bilia light, a cone with a lighted ball perched on top, the very Modernist 0024XXL hanging lamp featuring stacks of glass discs, and the Fato lamp which can be used as a table lamp or as a wall sconce!

Here is a sideboard and cocktail table for Molteni...

...and this stunning tripod, oval cocktail table with a cut-out hole.

And finally, take a look at some of his decorative objects:

But in Italy, he will forever be known for his redesign of a staple of daily Italian life, the espresso machine. Ponti designed La Cornuta for Pavoni in 1948.

Happy Modernist designing!

Delightful Commercial Design: Bar Luce in Milan by Wes Anderson

One of the things I love most about design is where inspiration comes from and how that inspiration can be translated into an interior through the choices of color, material, texture, and shape. While "theme rooms" can be a bit overwhelming, every space needs some kind of theme for direction. And the following newly opened café is a lovely example of this idea in a commercial design setting.

The Fondazione Prada, an offshoot of the Italian luxury brand, just opened a new "cultural complex" in Milan. The Foundation's Mission Statement:
"For the last two decades, the Fondazione Prada’s activities have analyzed intentions and relevance through an evolution of projects. These have included ‘Utopian’ monographic artist commissions, contemporary philosophy conferences, research exhibitions and initiatives related to the field of cinema. With the opening of a permanent cultural complex in Milano, the Fondazione offers new opportunities to enlarge and enrich our processes of learning."

Adjacent to the Foundation's new space is Bar Luce, a café/restaurant whose interior was commissioned from acclaimed filmmaker Wes Anderson. As expected, Bar Luce reflects the director's sensibilities with retro grey Formica countertops, sea foam green booths with padding in colors of pink icing and pistachio green, and a 1950s style terrazzo floor. And I LOVE that there is a "Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" pinball machine!

The Bar Luce website describes it best:
"Designed by film director Wes Anderson, Bar Luce recreates the atmosphere of a typical Milanese cafè. Although his movies often favor symmetrical tableaux, Anderson feels that ‘there is no ideal angle for this space. It is for real life, and ought to have numerous good spots for eating, drinking, talking, reading, etc. While I do think it would make a pretty good movie set, I think it would be an even better place to write a movie. I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in.’

Some architectural and decorative details from the original structure have been preserved, such as the arched ceiling, which recreates a ‘miniature’ version of the vaulted glass roof of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, one of Milan’s symbolic buildings. Other key elements of the Galleria are replicated inside, creating a sort of patterned decoration for the top half of the bar.
In keeping with the interior design, the seats, formica furniture, floor, veneered wood wall panels and the range of colors employed are reminiscent of Italian popular culture and aesthetics from the 1950s and 1960s, echoing artistic decisions Anderson made years earlier for his short film ‘Castello Cavalcanti’. Other iconographic sources have been equally inspirational, notably two masterpieces of Italian Neorealism, both set in Milan: ‘Miracolo a Milano’ (Miracle in Milan, 1951, Vittorio De Sica) and ‘Rocco e i suoi fratelli’ (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960, Luchino Visconti).

The bar can be accessed directly from Via Orobia, and is meant to be a hotspot for the general public, as well as a regular neighborhood hangout.

Bar Luce is open daily, from 9AM to 10PM."

It looks like a charming place that is truly infused with the look and feel of Anderson's particular visions manifested in his films (if you are unfamiliar with his work, do yourself a favor and watch "The Royal Tennebaums" or "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" or his most recent masterpiece "The Grand Budapest Hotel!"). And if you find yourself in Milan, drop in to Bar Luce and tell us about it!

http://www.fondazioneprada.org/barluce-en/?lang=en

Happy designing!

Hotel du Pantheon

The Hôtel du Panthéon in Paris last year completed a total renovation with rooms designed by interior designer Valérie Manoïl.

According to the Hôtel du Panthéon's website, each one of the newly renovated guest rooms "celebrate the great women of France, the ones who dared, the ones who loved, those with passion, those that decided their destiny - free, independent women. Valérie Manoïl’s project was not to imagine a literal retelling of their life stories, but to use them as the inspiration for sumptuous interiors that would evoke the past. Through a subtle mix of contemporary creations and original period furniture, the 35 rooms on 6 floors all have feminine influences, some obvious, some subtle…

Les Cocottes
The flamboyant ‘cocottes’, the high-class escorts of the 19th century, including Valtesse de la Bigne

Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan
The love affair of Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan in the 1950s, with its very particular design

George Sand and Alfred de Musset
The house of George Sand, of a more classic style, and the passage from the 18th to 19th century

Juliette Gréco and Miles Davis
Juliette Gréco, as the starting point for a choice of graphic fabrics that evoke the jazz of Saint-Germain in the 1940s

The Signares
The ‘Signares’, French-African women from French Senegal in the 18th and 19th centuries, referenced in a joyous melting pot of contemporary and traditional African influences

Marguerite Duras and l'Amant
Marguerite Duras’ emblematic novel 'l'Amant,' giving rise to silky, colourful, refined interiors"

Indeed, the furnishings and especially the wallpaper and fabrics specified by Manoïl are eye-popping. I can't decide if I want to stay in a Piaf/ Cerdan room or one of the Signares rooms...

Marguerite Duras and l'Amant

Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan

George Sand and Alfred de Musset

Juliette Gréco and Miles Davis

Signares

Signares

Marguerite Duras and l'Amant

Signares

Les Cocottes

There is a marvelous Tumblr page dedicated to the women themselves, with historical photos and informative but brief text. Visit it to see Valérie Manoïl's mood-board inspiration!
http://newpantheon.tumblr.com/

And if you are going to be in Paris, visit their website for reservations.
http://www.hoteldupantheon.com/en/

Happy designing!