Pantone Color of the Year for 2009

PANTONE® 14-0848 Mimosa

I thought this was interesting, especially since it is my favorite color...I was wondering why I've been so drawn to yellow this year.

Read why the Pantone Color Institute selected this color...here

Artisans @ The Architectural Digest Show, NYC

Artist Peter Pracilio

with  American Design Club

sculptural chair by Baltasar Portillo

 table by Studio Roeper

cocobolo design

lighting by Lindsey Adelman Studio

sculptures by  Pamela Sunday 

Post by Mimi Betancourt

I’m on my way to the Architectural Digest Show this morning, @ Pier 94 NYC.  I step out of the cab and I make sure I have my business cards in hand, along with a pen and notebook.  I’m so excited and hoping to find unique and inspired design.  I get my badge, I scan my floor plan and I’m ready to explore.  

I see all fabulous things from the Nakashima Retrospective exhibit, to my all time favorite, 1^st Dibs and their pristine, vintage finds.  I stop at the martini lounge and as tempted as I am, I only get water.  At the far  end of the exhibit, it's all about  Green Design and in between are all of the other important design elements such as rugs, lighting,  furniture and accessories.  

Throughout the exhibit, what catches my eye the most, are the amazing artisans that I believe make the heart of the show.  These artists are passionate people that truly inspire me and remind me of why I am a designer.  They put such love, craftsmanship and expression into their designs.  I hope that they get the attention and recognition they deserve.  Thank you.

Here are some more artisan links for you to enjoy.

Palo Samko 

Beth Weintraub

McNeill Art Group

William Couig

Boca Grande

Marc Newson's Qantas A380 Interiors Make Us Want to Fly to Australia

Fast Company

BY Cliff KuangMon Mar 16, 2009 

The Australian super designer Marc Newson has been busy working for clients at home: First, with a sumptuous first-class lounge for Qantas. Now, he's revealed the interior for the airline's new A380s, which are set to become the biggest, most advanced planes in the air. In an interview with Daily icon, he explains some of the project. Sadly, the interview is vapid (you can find a better interview, but with fewer photos, in theInternational Herald Tribune. Newson says he wanted to restore glamor to flying. Take a look at the photos and let us know if you think he's succeeded.

Read more...here

Marcel Wanders Designs Miami's Mondrian

Fast Company

By: Linda TischlerWed Sep 17, 2008

In early December, in that weird social vacuum between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there's no more glorious place to be than Miami. That's when the planet's art-loving high rollers, and the scenesters who follow in their rarefied wake, descend on the city for the annual festival-cum-bacchanal Art Basel Miami Beach.

Party central for these seasonal migrants -- many of whom couldn't tell a Francis Bacon from a Kevin Bacon -- is the hotel scene on South Beach, where late-night revelers repair to the pool bars at the Delano or the Raleigh to toss back mojitos in the name of art. But this year, the epicenter is likely to shift to the $200 million Mondrian in South Beach, which will have its grand opening during the fair. The fanciful, exuberantly patterned confection, a 335-room hotel-and-condo development overlooking Biscayne Bay, is the brainchild of Marcel Wanders, the 45-year-old Dutch designer. The place promises to be high on drama, with a swooping, laser-cut steel staircase; secret "kissing gardens"; and bathrooms with showerheads embedded in chandeliers.

Read more...here

In the Penthouse, a True Garden Apartment

The New York Times

By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

Published: September 24, 2008

NOT every Manhattan penthouse dweller has to worry about a bathroom sink filling up with leaves. But if you live in an aerie that’s part home and part testing ground for how architecture and nature can interact, you learn to take the bad with the good.

When Matthew Blesso, 35, a real estate developer, bought his 3,100-square-foot apartment in Lower Manhattan two years ago, he turned it over to two Yale professors, the architect Joel Sanders and the landscape designer Diana Balmori. Together, they teach a course called Interface, about integrating architecture and landscape design. And so, with Mr. Blesso’s blessing, they turned his $4 million apartment into an extended classroom.

Their goal was not only to create a stunning series of gardens on the penthouse roof, but also to bring nature into the apartment, intermingling lush foliage and drip irrigation systems with custom wood furnishings and floors.

Read more...here

Hilton Hotel Launches New Global Brand

BY LAUREL PETRIELLO -- INTERIOR DESIGN, 

3/10/2009

What recession? Sure, certain design markets are slowing these days, but hospitality is not one. Launching today in Berlin, Hilton Hotels Corporation welcomes a new brand to the Hilton Family of Brands called Denizen Hotels. The label, which is touted as a global lifestyle line, will appear in the world’s most prevalent urban environments and cater to globally-conscious modern travelers.

The new Denizen label proposes a pleasurable environment suitable for business travel or personal getaway. Each hotel will feature smart technology, relaxation and rejuvenation hubs, and restaurants geared toward communal interaction. Harnessing the best in contemporary design, Hilton has secured top designers like Hall of Famers David Rockwell and Clodagh to shape in the look and feel of the Denizen collection.

Read more...here

Inn Vogue

idFX Magazine

Monique Nelson

What are the key considerations influencing hotel design, and how are these factors likely to affect future trends?

According to award-winning designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, ‘the future of the hotel is space’. ‘The rooms of the future will be bigger,’ he explains. ‘The division of space used for working, dressing and the bathroom combined should take up half of the room: sleep uses only 2sq m.’ Experienced hotel architect Patrick Reardon agrees. ‘Wherever possible, guestrooms, especially at the luxury end, are becoming bigger and the footprint of the bathroom is becoming a larger percentage of the overall guestroom area,’ he says.

In the present climate where travellers are looking to get the most from their money, hotel designers and operators need to research the expectations of hotel clientele, and space is one of a number of considerations being taken into account in high-end hotel design.

Read more...here

Brazilian Orchids - New York Botanical Gardens

The New York Timesm

By ANNE RAVER

Published: February 25, 2009ond Jungles designed "The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern" at the New York Botanical Garden as

IF you expect the usual fantasy rain forest with orchids dripping from trees when “The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern” opens on Saturday at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, you are in for a surprise. trib

Read more...hereute to the work of Roberto Burle Marx, the late Brazilian artist, plant collector a

r

Show Dates:

The Orchid Show "Brazilian Modern"

February 28th - April 12thh2009

se bold sense of color and form and ebullient use of tropical fl

The New York Botanical Gardens  http://www.nybg.org/r 

have long inspired Mr. Jungles.aymond Jungles designed "The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern" at the New York Botanical Garden as a tribute to the work of Roberto Burle Marx, the late Brazilian artist, plant collector and landscape gardener whose bold sense of color and form and ebullient use of tropical flora have long inspired Mr. Jungles.

Indian Modern Redux

The New York Times

By AUDREY TEMPELSMAN   

Published: February 25, 2009

NAMITA LUTHRA has called many places home. She was born in Chandigarh, India, and immigrated to Nottingham, England, as a child, before moving to Weirton, W.Va.

But Ms. Luthra’s true roots are in modernism: her grandfather was an engineer who helped build Chandigarh, a planned city in northern India partially designed by

Le Corbusier in the 1950s.

So when Ms. Luthra, 39, a public interest lawyer, and her husband, Anil Shrivastava, 40, a partner at Vestar Capital Partners, a private equity firm, saw the raw, unfinished apartment in the East Village in 2006, they fell for the long, clean lines of the split-level space. They bought it for $2.35 million one year later, and spent $300,000 turning the empty shell into their version of a modernist temple.

Read more...here

D & D Building, NYC Events

These events are to the trade only and well worth the visit. 

Traditional Home presents the DESIGNER SEMINAR SERIES 

D&D Building 
Astra Café, 14th Floor 
979 Third Avenue, NYC 

Tuesday, March 24 at 9:30am

Traditional Home and the Luxury Home Alliance present: 
“Aiming at Affluence: Marketing in a Recession”
Breakfast reception to follow in the Zimmer Rohde Showroom #932

Tuesday, April 14 at 9:30am 

“Unleashing One’s Hidden Passion for Design” 
Presented by Eric Cohler 
Breakfast reception to follow in the Romo Showroom Suite 1703

Tuesday, April 28 at 9:30am

“What’s New, What’s Next” with the Keno Brothers 
Sponsored by Wells Fargo 
Breakfast reception to follow in the Lorin Marsh Showroom #720

Tuesday, May 12 at 9:30am 

“Ideas to Navigate Through Change and Challenge”
Crans Baldwin, President & CEO of Donghia Inc. and Bergamo Fabrics
Breakfast reception to follow in the Donghia Showroom #613

more info...here

Design Loves a Depression

I bookmarked this New York Times article a couple months back.   It's interesting to me because it shows how design has the power to impact our lives in even the worst of times. 

I hope you enjoy the read just as much as I did.  Change is good...

The New York Times 

Weekend Review: January 3, 2009

Few of the arts benefited from the late economic boom more than design. After all, when the wealth is flowing, people don’t covet the concerts you see or the books you read. They covet the couch you bought, and then they buy a cooler one. 

In the recent giddy years, signature architects and designers came to be known by their first names — Rem, Philippe, Zaha — and they were photographed as prolifically as Bono in new design hotbeds like Miami and Dubai. Brooklyn designers became the apotheosis of indie cool (thin portfolios notwithstanding), and the British collective Established & Sons and other skilled maneuverers learned to breed their self-conscious furniture selectively into limited editions that sold for the kind of prices more often found in the art world. All of which was chronicled in self-celebratory books like “S, M, L, XL” by Rem Koolhaas, a 1,300-page monograph as lush as glazed fruit and weighty as firewood.

Read More...here

Architectural Digest Home Show - NYC

From the Architectural Digest Home Show website:

Admission is complimentary for members of the design trade with proper credentials. Please bring Business License OR Professional Membership Card (IIDA, ASID, AIA) AND Personalized Imprinted Business Card (with company and employee name), along with Photo I.D.

Please note that design students are treated as trade and receive free admission with valid design school I.D.

Event Dates: March 26th - 29th

You can register online also at http://www.archdigesthomeshow.com/for-the-trade/register/

Highlights this year include:

Worldly Treasures
Discover an antiques and mid-century section with the largest offering yet of this category at the Show, including a special gallery of for-sale items, sponsored by 1stdibs.com, the most powerful online marketplace for vintage furnishings. (I have used many pieces from this fab vintage website in my school projects!)

George Nakashima Retrospective
Explore the works of George Nakashima with a career retrospective, curated by his daughter Mira. This exhibit, presented in part by Pratt Institute students, features several iconic pieces from his personal collection. (I have used many of his pieces in my student work over the year, so I am excited to see this exhibit.)

The Culinary Pavilion
Meet renowned chefs at cooking demos in this eco-friendly kitchen that blends classic style with a modern touch, by award-winning designer Robin Wilson.

and more

Kips Bay 2009 Decorator Showhouse - NYC

Hi Everyone,

For those of you have not been to a decorator showhouse, this is the hottest ticket. For those of you who have, you know what I'm talking about. The Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse is a great place to see what top designers are doing now and of course, a great place to network. 

It's $30 admission and well worth it.  Hope to see you there!

Kips Bay 2009 Decorator Showhouse April 17 - May 2009

C.P.H. Gilbert Mansion at 22 East 71st Street in Manhattan

Monday through Saturday: 11am - 5pm 
Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 8pm
Sunday: noon - 5pm 

Admission is $30, which includes the Journal and Source Book 
Group Admission is $25 per person for groups of 20 people or more
General admission tickets may be purchased at the door, upon arrival.
No entry 1/2 hour before closing. 
Children under 6 (including infants) and pets are not admitted.

A Place for us..

To my fellow talented, gifted, inquisitive and creative NJ artists; 

I have decided to create a support and networking group for interior designers, decorators, artists, product designers, showroom and store owners, design assistants and project managers, and home decor manufactures.  I have looked high and low for a place were I can find inspired design and a place were I can be involved in a local design community. No such luck, so this is where my dream of design begins. I would like this to be the social network for NJ designers. My hope is to offer a lifestyle of forward thinking design through news, events, education, interaction and opportunities.  Please feel free to comment.  I would love to hear about what interests you. 

Stay tuned and I look forward to building new relationships with you.

Best,

Mimi