houseofhackney_logo

Before the Thaw – Women Bursting Into Spring – House of Hackney

House of Hackney makes fashion look short-sighted; Why stop at your body, when you can just swathe your whole bedroom in unadulterated loveliness? Frieda Gormley and partner Javvy M Royle create the world I want to live in.

 

0 Comments


DR4for-web

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)

 

0 Comments


giftguide

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

0 Comments


Lutyens-and-Rubinstein

Print Turns to Pixels Series: She’s a Literary Agent and a Bookshop Owner

What Women Make Interviews London-based Literary Agent and Bookshop Owner Felicity Rubinstein.

Felicity Rubinstein and partner Sarah Lutyens were colleagues at two publishing houses and partners as literary agents for sixteen years before deciding to open a bookstore in the north end of Notting Hill, a shop which has several times been praised as one of the loveliest in London. Being both retailers and longtime literary agents makes them ideal interview subjects for women in all kinds of creative businesses; They are creative entrepreneurs in a tough economy and their business of choice is in an industry that is in peril but also one with fierce loyalists who want to retain this most sacred of cultural experiences. I asked Felicity to share her thoughts about agenting and owning an independent bookshop in an era of such tremendous change.

It turns out that their decision and the timing of the store was not a stance against digital books or chain stores like Waterstones (The U.K.’s Barnes & Nobles) or Borders or WH Smith (which she spoke highly of), nor did it have anything to do with the marketshare taken by Amazon. “We’d been talking about opening a bookshop for a long time. It just finally happened to come together in 2009.”

Between then and now, the popularity of digital books has moved so fast and still there’s no way to determine what will happen in either digital publishing or the bookseller landscape in the months and years to come. Still, like all good small business owners – and all writers actually who are endlessly told ‘write what you know’ – she expressed great passion for her neighborhood, an area she’s lived in her whole life, and one where she has an intimate knowledge of the market.

They saw a gap and filled it: “North Notting Hill is a highly literate area. We were sure the neighborhood would appreciate a place to buy books you wouldn’t find in a supermarket.” Felicity feels that everyone in the book business harbors a fantasy of owning a bookshop. “It’s a bit like all children wanting to own a sweet shop.” (a candy store in ‘American’.)

I personally don’t want to imagine a world without aisles of books – the smell of fresh paper, a quiet public space to browse and discover – and she doesn’t think it has to be one or the other. “The curated experience at the heart of forward-thinking retail and that’s what we offer. Change is in the air and people are frightened of change. New developments are happening very, very fast. We don’t sell digital books in our stores, clearly, but we do work on digital royalties as agents. These are exciting and scary times. One of the best things I’ve noticed is that kids are reading more than ever. If reading is on the rise in children, we feel very encouraged.”

It’s clear that their love of agenting hasn’t ebbed. In their mid-30s, both working in publishing they realized that there were very few agents their age. “Most agents at the time were half a generation older than us. We felt we’d gone as far as we could in publishing and wanted to do something new and there’s still nothing like taking on a new author and announcing that their life is going to change because their book has been accepted for publication.”

Each day, Felicity Rubinstein and Sarah Lutyens walk downstairs, slide open a wall of books in the back of the store, and enter their offices where they go to work for their writers. The day-to-day decisions in the bookshop are trusted to their full time staff. Sometimes at lunch and on weekends they’ll go behind the counter “because if you have a job that involves sitting on your bottom all day answering the phone, it’s nice to get up and talk to people in the shop,” she says laughing, but she’s adamant that their day jobs as agents are as busy as ever.

The two roles compliment one another. As agents, they have to take on authors they think they can sell but “as booksellers, we recommend books that we’d give to a friend or ask our mothers to read and we can sell books that were published any time in the last 200 years.’ The balance keeps them inspired and excited – and that’s what the energy of change is all about.

Q & A

What would you say to female writers looking to the future of the publishing industry?

Keep writing!

3-10 female living authors whose books you love

Jennifer Egan – A Visit From the Goon Squad
Cressida Connolly – My Former Heart
Melissa Bank – The Wonder Spot
Mary Lawson – The Other Side of the Bridge
Emma Forrest – Your Voice in My Head
Claire Messud – The Emperors Children
Gabrielle Hamilton – Blood, Bones & Butter

Visit:
Lutyens & Rubinstein Bookshop
21 Kensington Park Road
London, W11 2EU
Tube: Ladbroke Grove

(I thought this would be a great time to post this as I run out to go here Joan Didion speak at the Peter Jay Sharpe theater…)

0 Comments


Sunday Discovery: Central Saint Martins Textile Futures 10th Anniversary Video

Carole Collet created the textile futures course at the famed Central Saint Martins School. The course celebrated its 10th anniversary with two exhibits, one in London earlier this summer and another during Milan Design Week in April.

Highlights from the show as seen in this video include using air as a material, exploring the manipulation of DNA to produce products and how that will effect manufacturing in the future, digital skins (which needs more explanation) and a plea to come back to our physical senses, the importance of touch.

One student describes her work as a biological atelier – the mutual explorations of the scientist, the designer, and the craftsman a theme to which all projects seem tied. All of the work explores the tension between past and future, lo-tech and high-tech, explains Collet.

You will notice that the voices represent a breadth of nationalities. Beautiful provocative stuff.

video via Jotta

 

Central Saint Martins Textile Futures Students / Exhibitors

The Designers

 

1 Comment


Puala_Arntzen_lamp_SCP

Design Spotlight: Favorite Female Designer Pieces From SCP

*Paula Arntzen “Grand Trianon” large chandelier made out of post-consumer coated Tyvek

I just got word from one of my favorite stores, SCP, that they will be at the New York International Gift Fair. SCP is one of the best of British design companies and has featured designs from luminaries such as Tom Dixon, Established & Sons, Jasper Morrison and sculptress Rachel Whitread.

Here are some female-led designs of SCP that I particularly love:

Rose Trivet / hot pad by Anouk Jansen (withstands heat of up to 220 C / 428 F)

and her teapot. I love this use of color against gray. It feels like a Goddard movie.

Then there’s this “Fold Unfold” tablecloth made with color creases by Margrethe Odgaard

an Anna Castelli Ferrieri’s Componibili round (which we happen to have in our apartment full of pots and pans in our pretty but small apartment)

Componibili round
all photos via SCP

and last but not least, a creation from Spanish design pride Patricia Urquiola here with Eliana Gerotto, a Cabochhe suspension light. The clear version is available through SCP, this gold one is available through Foscarini (Not 100% sure of this. Please check with both stores for details.)

photo via StyleCrave

You can see their 2011 collection at

Booth 3858 in ‘Accent On Design’

From the press release: We have some new designs by Donna Wilson; Bora Da, a range of throws and cushions, the Eadie armchair and the lovely Frank, Ernest and Henry pouffes in a new colourway, Treecloud Blue. Also on show are Lee Kirkbride‘s Calvo side table in walnut and Pelutho low table, as well as Kay+Stemmer ‘s Otto side table and Maude low shelves. And last but by no means least, paper-cut artist Rob Ryan has designed a charming height ruler. It measures up to 7 foot so suitable for adults and children alike.

SCP was founded in 1985 by Sheridan Coakley as a manufacturer and retailer of modern furniture. Inspired by the designs of the Modern Movement, Coakley decided to start selling classic and hard to find pieces and also try his hand a producing new designs in the same spirit. Over two decades from its inception, SCP is firmly established as one of the UK’s most innovative and internationally respected manufacturers and suppliers of contemporary design. SCP is also an acclaimed and award winning retailer, regularly voted as one of London’s finest design shops.

0 Comments


Friday Diary: News from Across the Arts, Design, & Entrepreneurship – A WWM Roundup

*

It’s been a busy month and I haven’t been updating the site so here I’ve decided to wrap up the important news in creativity and leadership that may have been missed.

1) Fast Company named the 10 Most Creative Women in Business for 2010.  They include already very famous people like Stella McCartney and Nora Ephron and more obscure behind-the-scenes movers and shakers, the kind that are near and dear to WWM heart like game designer Jane McGonigal who said “My goal for the next 10 years is to make it as easy to save the world in real life as it is in online games.” Now that piques my interest. I’ll definitely buy her book when it comes out.  And with a name like Padmasree Warrior, how can you lose;  Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer is leading the way to getting business on board with her right on target message that says “video content and cloud computing (is a platform for collaboration” that needs to be addressed. And now. Bonnie Hammer‘s SyFy channel is firmly planted in the future as well and she’s been making all the right moves. Of course they’re all worth mentioning. I’ll add the very photogenic Neri Oxman “whose work attempts to establish new forms of experimental design and novel processes of material practice at the interface of design, computer science, material engineering and ecology.” I wrote about her before at some point. She was on last year’s list. She does seem a little bit unreal.  I wish I could see her exhibit in Boston before it disappears but I’m sure there will be more.

2) On the lighter side, from Australia I’m digging Anthea and Cass Somas’ online shop Collection of Cool. Do you know any other great online shops? Do the little ones ever press on through to greatness and profitability? Would love to hear your suggestions on this front.

3) Grain’s purses inspired by Guatemalan women weavers. Their site explains: “Founded in 2007 at the Rhode Island School of Design, Grain is a collaborative of design thinkers with the shared vision of a more sustainable future.” Just my kind of project. Lovely bags as well.

4) Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” art installation in Bryant Park. What a fresh everyday urban detail to art upon.  I’m always perplexed by the lack of urban intelligence in certain cities. I’ve observed a lot of getting out of other people’s way in London for example and in Paris, how rushing headlong into someone is completely normal, without a word of apology or even a look of defiance. Human barrier to my path? What human barrier? Boom.  In New York, you have to walk on the street with the cars down Canal street for example in order to get anywhere. And everywhere in the world, its the tourists that create frustration just standing in the middle of the sidewalk obliviously taking pictures and strolling in slow motion. This walking, stopping, dodging, pushing through, and holding back is part of the stress, pleasure and pulse of living in a city.  It’s worth this kind of look and then some.

5) This exhibit – Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain at the Textile Museum. “Three women designers were pivotal in this artistic revolution: Lucienne Day (1917- 2010), Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) and Marian Mahler (1911-1983).”

6) Women are Heroes, which I wrote about before What Women Make dot com started, debuted at Cannes last week. Juxtapoz reviews.

7) “Women without Men” by Shirin Neshat which explores gender in Islam opened in New York last week . I’ve also written about S.N. at some point on WWM. here is the review by the NYTimes.

And that it for now. Enjoy the week!

Chauncey

Image from article “Swedish/German designer Katrin Greiling plumbs Arab traditions in her furniture designs” via  Fast Company

0 Comments


When Women Make Fashion with a Future: An A/W 2010 Review

*lead picture, Lou Doillon in Anthony Vaccarello on StyleBubble

I haven’t been to fashion week since 2005. And that was after more than ten years of attending the New York shows. The biggest reason for stopping: I was bored. Mostly the fashion press is what really pushed me over the edge. But now I realize, fashion is a little bit like god and religion. I believe. But inundate me with too much proselytizing and I forget the main act.  In other words, whimsical and masterful fashion design is something truly beautiful and even more so when everyone sort of shuts up, folds their hands in their lap, and looks on in respectful silence at the mastery of the production.

Here are my picks:

1. The GreenShows in New York. Designers  Samantha Pleet, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart / Vaute Couture, Melissa Kirgan & Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard / Eko-Lab, JoAnn Berman, Lizz Wasserman / Popomomo.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQrkWsSmV4

Tesco (UK grocer) joins with Florence & Fred fashion label to launch line of recycled clothing - (read more on the Guardian)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZ-uhVDfIs

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhrkzl88ICk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvIzBTrrFvE

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liKu3G0kDHQ … noting Cassette Playa’s ‘enhanced reality’ specifically here and not so much the clothes themselves. push envelope push.

Louise Goldin’s A/W ’10 geometric shapes.

Dorothee Hagemann & Annalisa Dunn make up Cooperative Designs

<<Read more about Cooperative Designs on Grazia.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS93VRMPcpg

Ada Zanditon website

TreeHugger covers all the ecofashion from the week with a salute to designer Ada Zanditon.

and last but not least, the Times Online addressing the feminist issue in Fashion after Miuccia Prada calls herself a ‘former’ feminist.

To see some really funny cool fashion week coverage in London (lets face it, this is mostly London) check out Amelia’s magazine. Reminds me a little bit of vintage Girlonthestreet.

1 Comment


Page 1 of 212

Friends & Partners


Women's Views on News
 

Categories

FOLLOW CHAUNCEY ONLINE

Twitter

Follow me on Facebook

LinkedIn

RSS

RSS

Join our mailing list:
Follow me on: Facebppl      Follow me on Facebook      LinkedIn      RSS      RSS