I was just getting my daily Oh Joy! fix when oops I clicked on a link and landed on her business website spotting this beautiful image below. As I clicked around some more, I discovered that we have a star on the rise – Joy recently designed a few rug patterns for Urban Outfitters (here and here). This is quite exciting, congrats Joy!
(image from oh joy! studio)
Yowsah! Have you heard of German designer Lars Contzen? He believes that, ?Decor expresses a feeling for life” and with an extensive client list and a whole slew of eye-popping products ranging from furniture to rugs, tableware, and wallpaper, I think you’ll clearly see the feeling he’s trying to express. Joy. Happiness. Fresh and full of life. With bold geometrics in groovy kaleidoscopic colors, his surface designs are futuristic and a far cry from shy.
His fab faux bois bench in hot pink has my attention, especially against hardwood flooring, I’d love to see one in a hallway with colorful rubber boots beneath it and a huge frameless mirror directly above with a white shelf floating directly below the mirror. I see the wall in a happy yellow – we could call the hallway Pink Lemonade inspired by these ladies, what do you think? And for the ultimate statement, a medium sized disco ball pendant light so I can crank a little Walk It Out Fosse, of course. Or Abba.
Which leads me to ask lighting designers around the world – why aren’t you designing a pendant light that looks like a disco ball? I don’t get it. I can even design it for you, I have so many ideas but imagine a disco ball with the bottom 1/4 chopped off, hollow inside, with a light bulb for illuminating through the clear (or iridescent) glass mosaic tiles on the exterior. I mean, hello designers we could totally do this. The world needs these things. Maybe it could have an extra mechanism where you could flick a switch and it would throw out a little strobe light action for when you entertain friends. Okay tacky. But fun. Otherwise, it’s basically a light fixture every other time. I’m totally disappointed that someone isn’t out there with one already. I’d totally buy it if it were done right (not kitschy and cheap). But I digress, back to Lars Contzen and his fabulousness. Here’s some more eye candy from his kick butt portfolio.
If you’d like to learn more about Lars Contzen and Contzentrade, you can visit his website or view his work in person at the Contzentrade showroom in Germany located near Frankfurt Main.
(images from lars contzen)
Judit Gueth is a Canadian graphic designer that I discovered while browsing Walnut Wallpaper. Her peacock and koi patterns are strong and depending on the colorway that you select, you can turn them up or down a notch (i.e. the silver koi is more understated than the green). But this talented lady doesn’t stop at wallpaper, she has an entire collection of hand-tufted rugs and she’ll soon roll out decorative pillows to coordinate with her current collections. A girl on the go!
This must be every graphic designers dream, to see their work on walls and floors, to walk into a home and boom! there’s the pattern that took months to develop. What a feeling.
Silver Koi wallpaper.And for the rest of us, these patterns are exciting because they are labor of love created by a person with passion for what they do. I’m thrilled that the world of design has evolved, expanding from buying paper at the local hardware/paint store to the internet. I remember my mother taking me along on her decorating adventures, especially when I was a little girl in the late 70′s. All those trips to hole-in-the-wall shops with those buzzing fluorescent lights overhead and the friendly handyman that knew every tool in the house, but didn’t know much about wallpaper outside of the application process. He thought wallpaper was mostly about covering uneven surfaces so those 20 patterns with mostly raised designs was, what he thought, the best selection in the state. If you wanted more than those bumpy lumpy or extremely shiny papers (he said to steer clear of the the shiny ones though, they show everything), you’d either hire a designer or go to the big city. This is why, after about 200 visits to every store in the state, my mother hired a designer and together, they papered our home into something that looked like Hollywood Regency hooked up with the Solid Gold dancers.
Today, we tap a few keys and order gorgeous paper on the web for our homes, like these papers from Judit Gueth via Walnut Wallpaper. The silver Koi is my favorite print.
Psst: She’s a blogger, too.
(images via judit gueth)
Get ready to ooh and aaah thanks to Another Shade of Grey and her post on Emma Gardner Design.
This hand tufted wool rug called Chinese River really works well with the trend we’re seeing for all things Asian, a trend that seems to be hot from season to season lately – have you noticed? In the summer, you viewed more pinks and blues and for the autumn, Asian prints are leaning into the color palette of the season in orange, red, and plum. It’s exciting to view the various modern interpretations of traditional patterns by some of today’s top designers, it’s quite inspiring to be surrounded by so much beauty.
Thanks Another Shade of Grey for always keeping us well informed!
(images from emma gardner design)
Shagadelic, baby! Reader Kate just wrote in looking for a shag rug for her modern living room so of course I directed her over to Design Public to check out the Angela Adams spike citron rug because it’s one of the best shags out there (I can see my UK pals laughing at that one).
Did you see her new birch rugs? And all the others? Swoon! I completely missed them when I visited her Portland store over the winter, so I’m thinking they are new. I think her ocean seaglass rug, it’s one of faves right now, takes me back to growing up on the South Carolina coast. Fantastic!
And I know these aren’t shag rugs, but can you resist the rooms? For me, seeing products IN actual spaces makes me crave them even more, I’ll even drop money a lot faster if I like the space it’s shown in because it gives me a sense of how it may look in my own home. Even designers and decorators need inspiration you know. The first two spaces are amazing, I was excited to see these because my living room and kitchen are the same colors and I’m thinking now of ordering one of these rugs for my dining area to pull everything together. I love this space, it’s a fusion of all the things I love – art, color, space, personality. Nothing about this spaces says “Overly Designed” as much as it says “Welcome”. It looks like everything was purchased over time, something I absolutely love as design-in-a-box isn’t for me.
See the little fawn in the plant pot above?I love these little details in a home.
Does anyone know of any great shag rugs out there that are in the Angela Adams price/quality range for reader Kate from Florida?
Okay, I’m heading back to the Holly test kitchen to finish the quiche for tonight. I say test because everything I prepare is freestyle and quite an experiment lately. No rules, I like that feeling in some areas of my life. Tonight there’s a party I’m attending with my husband and I’m bringing along a few quiche, so I’m signing off soon. Have a great weekend everyone!
(images from design public)
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