Stacie Go Eun Baek: Knitting Her Heart Out
From her artist statement: “Using the labor intensive technique of double-cloth weaving.. (Stacie) commemorates (her) disappearing (‘hastily typed’) thoughts and feelings” of the digital age.
Warning: The words in these pieces pack a wallop. Her pain is palpable but so is her discipline, artistry, skill, and most of all, courage.
This is an exhibit I attended back in January but it sat in my iphoto until I finally dredged it out to post this.
“Going to therapy in New York is about as expensive as dinner at Cipriani. I think I’ll start wearing a cocktail dress to my sessions.”
“Time went on I started noticing the weight loss then I had to ask him was he riding th white horse at first he said no then he said yes.”
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Prescription: Design Therapy
Apartment Therapy Design Evenings at ABC Carpet are a bright spot in the design scene here – the incandescent lighting flowing through the oversized glasses of wine, the luxurious mishmash of couches and chairs, and a packed room of enthusiastic design and decor citizens smiling in their camaraderie.
It couldn’t be more fun, more lively. But as I looked around, I wondered, what exactly is this scene?
Coming from Europe where there’s a massive design presence to here where there are so many lovers of beauty and talented creative minds of every ilk, I’ve starting to see a distinction between Europe and Asia’s definition of design – the beautiful and functional and functionally beautiful object - and what design is in the U.S.
First, just to get it out of the way, yes there is the design awareness made possible by Steve Jobs and Apple Computers. There’s Fast Company’s championing of design thinking and design in business. But for the lovers of design festivals and design schools, furniture design, and manufacturing, the individual maker and craftsman, there is a big empty silence filled only by ICFF and it’s satellite shows.
New York is largely about Decor and Shelter. It’s Design Sponge and Etsy. Pinterest mood boards and Decor 8. It’s decorating tips and DIY. It’s interior design and real estate lust.
I love decor. I do. I mean where else are you going to put your design but within some sort of decor? Decor can be very practical and personal at the same time. Hey, even I found myself doing a DIY project for the first time and I’m pretty proud of it.
See? Here it is.
From this
To This
I found an old ugly beat up nightstand on the street and went out and bought some white high gloss paint, a bottle of Mod Podge, some paper from Paper Presentation and found endless how-to sites to make sure I didn’t screw the whole thing up.
Pretty cool, right?
But I’m not a designer. I would never call myself that. So there you go. You’ve got design and you have decor. America is about decor.
I really enjoyed what Maxwell, the founder of Apartment Therapy had to say when I asked about the state of American design (which meant where the hell is American design?) because it was clear that he cares about design as much as I do. He told me that it’s hard to nurture design here because manufacturing has left America. I told him about my experience in Europe and he said “yeah, Europe’s ahead of us.” So in our haste to automate and simplify everything, to sell everything and consume everything, to consolidate everything and to watch the bottom line on everything, we forgot about design. Not good. And honestly, not very modern. I think all of this DIY activity is just another sign of how desperately we need design leadership. It’s not just about dressing things up but making things that are truly beautiful, thoughtful and reflective. Right now, the design landscape is practical and commercial, not gutsy. It doesn’t marry inventiveness and innovation with reality. Design can be the perfect summation of right and left brain and, at the risk of sounding lofty, hope for the future. It’s a visual manifestation of spirit, intelligence, and hope. In other words, design is more than a gorgeous bedspread with eclectic throw pillows.
The last Apartment Therapy talk I attended was a few weeks back. It was with the very popular and very personable Deborah Needleman, the founding editor of Domino magazine who has gone on to start a beautiful style magazine at the Wall Street Journal. I was a subscriber of Domino. In fact, it was the very last magazine I subscribed to before moving to Paris at the end of 2006. Domino was so pretty and useful and collectible where nothing else really was. I was tired of the stuffy celebraphotog-generated nonsense, the Vogues and Visionnaires. I was tired of being talked down to and dictated to. Domino was different. It wasn’t ‘design’ but it was great. She herself admitted that while she loves the practical application of decor – she’s coming out with a book about making your home ‘cozy’ – she ‘doesn’t know anything about design’. It’s hard to wrap my head around but I think ultimately I know what she means. I just hope the dialogue will open up and decor-lovers will also start to see just what design is and how much value it has.
Just imagine, a New York with a design scene as robust as London.. Heaven!
(It looks like our company Show Love may be doing some yet-to-be-announced work with the American Design Club led by the effervescent designer and design advocate Kiel Mead so more excitement to come!)
-Chauncey Zalkin
links:
Apartment Therapy
Decor 8
Etsy
Design Sponge
Pinterest
Before the Thaw – Women Bursting Into Spring 1
What do these incredible critically acclaimed major visual artists or our time have in common? It’s (in order of appearance followed by image of their work) Phyllida Barlow, Nathalie Djurberg, Tacita Dean, Klara Lidén, and they make up the spring line-up at New York’s New Museum, an all-female line-up. Most importantly, it has not been overtly publicized as such.
- Tipped off by Art Info and my friend Amy Mendizabal.
Links – New Museum Upcoming Exhibits (New York)
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Before the Thaw – Women Bursting Into Spring – Maison Objet
The new Donna Wilson “Bertha” chair which debuted at Maison Objet last week from SCP. You can see a lot of Donna Wilson’s work at Future Perfect in the Noho store (NYC).
The maker of the drink-klip, a metal clip that attaches to a surface to hold a drink which I first discovered when I met her at LDF 09, debuted a new series of wallpaper, a commanding (if not entirely comfortable looking ) chair and tableware made from Hanji (traditional Korean handmade paper) at Maison Objet this past week as well. Her name is Been Kim and she was selected as a Next Generation Design Leader of the year by the Korea Industrial Design Promotion in 2006 and in 2009. The collection is called Meeet.
And according to Maison Objet, one of the biggest best design shows on the calendar, and definitively Parisian for better or worse, this is the season of the Sweet Freak. Out with the serious and stressed vibe of the past, in with the nutso crazy. (When did the nutso crazy ever leave France?)
In other news, Moss, that old institution of design retail in New York, is closing. It may be the end of an era in design in New York but hopefully it’s a chance to usher in something new – a city where design environments with a sense of whimsy and warmth can thrive. Moss was a bit too musn’t-touch-it for the immersive hybrid retail of the future.
& let me leave you with Clouds rug by Elise Fouin of Chevelier Edition
Links:
Chevalier Edition (Paris)
Designers Block (London)
Future Perfect (New York)
SCP (London)
Beeen (Korea)
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What Women Make Sustainable Gift Guide 2011
For all price ranges and passions (the full post on Tythe.com)
1. COOKING
Epicurean Designer Cutting Boards Though this Duluth, Minnesota run company …
2. HELPING
Nomi Bags Nomi network produces recycled bags that fight human trafficking.
3. INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS
I’ve always loved the spunk of Junk Prints owner / designer Chanel Kennebrew.
4. GLOBAL DESIGN CULTURE
Yoshii Shirt Stripe Towels – Towels have a strong significance in Japan.
5. CRAFTSMANSHIP
Stacking Vessels by Pia Wustenberg – As I see it, design is art and worth the price to celebrate the human ability to transform materials for use in our everyday lives.
-Chauncey Zalkin
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New York Now: From Didion to Start Up Successes
What Women Make went from being European-based to New York-based in October. Since then, the posts are slow coming as we develop our first core business, Show Love, and develop ways to bring WWM to life on my home turf. In this discovery phase, I’ve met tons of likeminded energized women playing vital parts in the social and business paradigm shifts taking place.
Here are 4 women in 4 key arenas:
Design
Annie Coggan – In a city lacking in design activity, Annie’s a breath of fresh air. Outside the world of decor and decoration, there doesn’t seem to be much of the rich critical design discussion you get in other world class cities save for This Is Product Placement co-run by Julie Taraska who I have met but that was in Italy so she doesn’t count for this post. Annie runs a design blog called Chairs and Buildings, is an architect, is a teacher, and is a resident at the women-run Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn working on a very innovative upholstery project. She’s been in the decoration blogs like Design Sponge and design blogs like Yatzer. She’s on this list for being a woman who keeps evolving and is a true artist. She also happens to have gone to Bennington College, where I went as well, and during one of the best times in its history. More on her later. More on the women at the Textile Arts Center later too – they are also entrepreneurs and supporters of community arts definitely fitting the bill as paradigm shifters. You can follow them at @textileartscent
Tech Start Ups
Kathryn Minshew – at 25, she’s the co-founder of the online magazine start-up The Daily Muse; has been awarded with Y Combinator financing and counsel; led a strategy to provide HPV vaccines in Rwanda with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in her even earlier career; she’s also incredibly unpretentious and nice, and though it shouldn’t matter she’s super pretty which doesn’t hurt in this world. (Of course if she wasn’t beautiful inside it really wouldn’t mean diddly.) She’s been supportive and warm and receptive to me and about What Women Make and she’s just the kind of person that WWM is always seeking to show to the world.
Co-working Spaces
Adelaide Lancaster – As soon as she sat down with my partner and I at the end of a long day for all three of us, she exuded an incredible sense of calm and wisdom that was truly infectious. It was a bit like having a cup of tea – if tea had any practical takeaway to offer. She gave us great advice and encouragement about our business Show Love and put us in touch with resources and lovable companies she thought would appreciate our approach to social content via storytelling. I’ll be teaching one of their workshops in the Spring. More on that later too. She and her partner Amy Abrams have a shared work space called In Good Company whose name could not be more appropriate. They also just published a book called the Big Enough Company.
One of my Heroes
Joan Didion – Okay, ‘meeting her’ is a bit of a stretch. She signed my book and spelled my name correctly after I saw her on stage discussing her magnificent career with her nephew the actor Griffin Dunne. She also said ‘thank you for coming’ and looked me in the eye. Though I wouldn’t be able to exactly call her my best friend, I felt a little bit of Didion magic dust rub off on me as I left Symphony Space and had a slice at the Upper West Side Two Boots before heading back to Brooklyn.
Stay tuned next week for my Christmas post on the Tythe Design blog.
-Chauncey Zalkin
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Friday Diary: SheMakes Holiday Festival
This Saturday, Dec 3 come to the SheMakes Holiday Festival
NYC
Support female entrepreneurs and eat delicious food while checking off your Christmas shopping list. There will be over 30 vendors there, all smart women like you.
I’ll be there doing a limited run of personalized hoodie sweatshirts for dogs, a business I had back in 2002, all manufactured right here in the garment district with my dog as my fit model. They ended up on J-lo and P Diddy’s Chihuahua and Sharpei respectively – and they raised money for the rescue dogs of 9/11 at several charity events. Was a good time. I have a big batch of red hoodies that I’ve been carting all over Europe and back and I’ll be personalizing them with your dogs name and selling them at the event. I’m very excited to revisit this fun project but the hoodies will not last. They are already selling out.
Hope to see you there:
December 3rd, from 12pm – 5pm
Saatchi & Saatchi
375 Hudson Street at Houston
(street level entrance on King St)
You can find more details here and add it to your calendars here
What Women Make supports hosts the Daily Muse, a group of young smart female entrepreneurs who’ve launched an online magazine to offer an alternative to the fluffy stuff already out there, one that speaks to the needs of young professional women. Their combined histories are impressive – from top schools to time spent doing relief work in Rwanda, directing a series of international affairs university publications, and working at top management consulting firms. Oh, and they’re also really nice people!
Follow them to stay updated on career tips, advice, and articles: @dailym_use
Also brought to you by 85 Broads and Saatchi & Saatchi
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My First Creative Morning: Rainbow Parade
This was my first time at Creative Mornings, the monthly talks started by Swiss Miss design blogger Tina Roth Eisenberg. I’ve been following Swiss Miss for a few years now and her blog always has useful tips for design lovers who love technology like you and me. The talk was by graphic designer and “lucky-so-and-so” blogger Jessi Arrington.
I felt like a “lucky-so-and-so” myself because the talk was all about bright color. The talk itself was short and sweet but the rainbow parade around DUMBO that ensued was the best Friday eye-opener you could imagine. When I got home, my husband asked me if I was drunk. THAT’S how energizing it was.
Takeaways from the talk were as follows:
- Think “Why Not?” instead of “Why?
This helped confirm my decision to take that color theory class at SVA that I’ve been wanting to take (coincidence) even though I think I should be taking more businessy classes; I REALLY WANT TO TAKE THIS CLASS so f*** it, I’m gonna. She referenced Steve Jobs homecoming speech and his calligraphy classes as a ‘you never know where this can lead’ example.
- Don’t be glib and standoffish, be empathetic and participate.
She said this in her own way but the basic message is ‘get the chip of your shoulder and connect with people.’ Participate for crissakes. Don’t put baby (meaning you) in the corner.
and last,
- Do the thing that makes you tick. Don’t do what you think others expect of you as a substitute for the real thing. It’s okay to be yourself. Really. It is.
Cindy Gallop said something along these lines at Web 2.0 in September and my old myspace page has a list of convictions that expand on the theme. Back story: I was in a hotel room int he 9th arrondisement in Paris in October 2006 when it hit me that I just had to listen to myself (I can’t believe I’m linking to this but here goes). I decided then and there that I needed to hightail it out of New York and move to Paris to write a novel, which is exactly what I did 3 months later. (Now, 5 years later, I’m married with a finished novel that I love more than anything I’ve ever done – and back in NYC ready to push it into an agents arms!)
Here are some photos of this morning and then, since we’re always work-first at What Women Make, my favorite pick from Jessi’s graphic design work.
First, the parade:
Then my favorite graphic design work of Jessi’s I would have to say are her invitations:
Some of the really handy Swiss Miss stuff is here (but it’s all great).
Jessi Arrington’s blog: Lucky-so-and-so.
If you’re a creative in New York, check out the schedule for Creative Mornings.
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