Studi Notarili in Milano 
Alessia Garibaldi, Giorgio Piliego









more information here.





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DISC Interiors featured in
March 2014 Condé Nast House & Garden

"Nine Cool Kitchens"





Excited to have a kitchen we designed in Los Angeles featured in the latest issue of House and Garden!  For this kitchen we tiled from floor to ceiling in a vibrant green tile we sourced from Waterworks.  - David John


"Condé Nast House & Garden launched in 1998 and is South Africa's premier luxury décor brand.  The magazine is published both in English and Afrikaans each month, reaching a high-spending and aspirational consumer interested in the finer things in life: interior decoration, food, wine, travel and shopping."




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His crooked mouth is full of dead leaves. 
Full of dead leaves, bits of twisted branches and frozen garden, 
crushed and stolen grasses from slumbering lawn. 
He is dissolving, dissolving before me and dawn will come soon. (Kate Bush)









images:

1. Anna Betbeze, Slag, 2013 Acid dyes, watercolor on wool 120 inches diameter Installation view, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY, 2013

2. BC Workshop and Parabellum Bison Leather Medicine Ball  Bison leather 21"H x 32" Dia





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 Ruth Asawa @ LAMA

"Now after 57 years, the sculpture will save them.  Proceeds from the sale of the sculpture will go to rebuilding the property and studio, continuing June’s legacy of teaching arts to children through dance, movement, and music."

 Untitled S.437 (Hanging, Seven-Lobed, Two-Part Continuous Form within a Form 
with Two Small Spheres)
 
 

"The February 23, 2014 Modern Art & Design Auction features one of the most impressive sculptures to ever come through the LAMA showroom. Ruth Asawa’s seven-lobed hanging sculpture, Untitled S.437 (1956) (Lot 236), is a beautiful example of the artist’s dedication to her craft and pioneering experiments in wire sculpture." - go to LAMA here.


"In the early 1950s, Asawa found time to work on her wire sculptures amidst significant life events, including her marriage to architect Albert Lanier and the birth of her children. She submitted a sculpture to the San Francisco Art Association Annual at the San Francisco Museum of Art (now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), her first show outside of Black Mountain. Throughout the next five years, Asawa showed more regularly at local and national galleries and museums, culminating in a piece at the Bienal de São Paolo in Brazil. It was around this time in 1953-54 that June Lane Christensen commissioned Untitled S.437 (Hanging, Seven-Lobed, Two-Part Continuous Form within a Form with Two Small Spheres) for her dance studio in Santa Barbara. In early 1956, Ruth Asawa completed the hanging sculpture and personally installed the work in June’s studio, where June and her husband taught dance, music, and the arts to children. June studied dance in the late 40s and early 50s at Black Mountain College where she came to know Ruth Asawa. June then moved to New York to study with Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Martha Graham, ultimately bringing modern dance into the awareness of the Santa Barbara dance community. The sculpture hung in the dance studio for nearly 20 years and has continued to serve as an inspiration and muse to June and her work since retiring three years ago at the age of 85.

On November 13, 2008 the Montecito Tea Fire erupted, destroying homes and buildings in the foothills of Santa Barbara. June’s dance studio was one of those buildings burned by the fire. While the property was burning, and her current residence evacuated, the family had very little time to gather their belongings, but they made sure to save the Asawa sculpture. Now after 57 years, the sculpture will save them. Proceeds from the sale of the sculpture will go to rebuilding the property and studio, continuing June’s legacy of teaching arts to children through dance, movement, and music."

text and images taken from here.







Detail of Untitled S.437 (1956), Ruth Asawa


"(Ruth Asawa's) diligence to her craft, her pioneering experiments in wire sculpture, and her comprehensive output in other mediums including public sculpture, painting, and printmaking have established Asawa as one of the most influential modernists of the 20th century."


  
The February 23, 2014 Modern Art & Design Auction will feature a rare and important Vija Celmins painting from 1964, Untitled (Ham Hock), being sold by the original owner, an impressive and early collection of custom George Nakashima designs from the collection of Edmund J. Bennett, and a large, complex hanging sculpture by Ruth Asawa.     

Fine Art highlights include an outstanding selection of Hard Edge paintings by John McLaughlin, Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, and Frederick Hammersley, in addition to works on paper by Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell, and Nancy Rubins; multiples by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Ed Ruscha, Joe Goode, and Frank Stella; and sculptures by De Wain Valentine and Charles Arnoldi.    

 Design highlights include a dining suite and rosewood rocking chair by Sam Maloof, furniture by Gio Ponti, a dining suite by Afra & Tobia Scarpa, a selection of designs by Hans J. Wegner, as well as an assortment of Walter Lamb furniture, Charles and Ray Eames panels custom designed for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and a large selection of Scandinavian designs and ceramics.




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“It is not a must but a may. It is not either…or but as well as.” 

“An open attempt” - Karl Heinrich Müller
 


 Museum Insel Hombroich, Neuss

"Karl Heinrich Müller calls his Stiftung Insel Hombroich “an open attempt” and adds, “It is not a must but a may. It is not either…or but as well as.” The Düsseldorf art collector and patron purchased the island on the river Erft including park and nineteenth-century manor house together with the surrounding wasteland in 1982. On this remote piece of land, surrounded by cabbage fields in the Lower Rhine region north of Neuss, Museum Insel Hombroich was established in 1987. Müller and his artist friends imagined a place of poetical interaction between plastic arts, architecture, and nature. 

Ten buildings designed by the architect Erwin Heerich are integrated in the 24-hectare landscape of parks and riverside meadows. They can be seen as accessible sculptures but at the same time they provide exhibition space for the foundation’s art collection. This collection ranges from treasures of antiquity to modern and contemporary art. Over the years, Hombroich has been expanded continuously. The Danish artist Per Kirkeby designed some studio buildings and the former military area Raketenstation has been converted for civil and artistic purposes: Artists, musicians, writers, and scientists from different nations live and work here. In addition, an exhibition hall was built for the Langen Foundation. Its Zen-like architecture, designed by the Japanese Tadao Ando, once again combines art and nature."


 text via here. 
more images here. 



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Mud and Water @ Rokeby 

"the exhibition investigates a current interest 
in process, materiality and truthfulness to medium."



Svend Baye, 
large wood fired stoneware vessel


Rokeby's inaugural exhibition in its new gallery space looks to the history of British studio ceramics and the Modernist rhetoric used by figures associated with the movement. Including work by a selection of British Studio Potters alongside contemporary artists working across media, the exhibition investigates a current interest in process, materiality and truthfulness to medium.

Will history please let me go? Let me be, leave me alone  
There's a light, now there's a light, Coming down that mountainside 
Oh my, my, you lonely souls, I can feel it in my bones  - Jay Malinowski "There's a Light"






The Granchester Pottery, Large Bottle Vase 


"Established in early 2011, The Grantchester Pottery is a decorative arts company set up by artists Phil Root & Giles Round. Drawing historical precedent from Roger Fry’s Omega Workshops as well as other artists’ decorative arts studios like the Rebel Arts Centre, Hammer Prints & Atelier Martine, The Grantchester Pottery seeks to produce a series of utilitarian ceramics together with other decorative household items such as printed & woven textiles, wallpaper, painted furniture and hand painted murals. The Grantchester Pottery aims to substitute, wherever possible the directly expressive quality of the artist’s handling for the deadness of mechanical reproduction."  more here

 





Nicola Tassie, Set of Three Porcelain with Black Iron Inlay Jugs, 2013



Rokeby is an independent commercial gallery for 
contemporary art, exhibiting work by UK based and international artists. 



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Traveller, there are no paths, paths are made by walking .  -Antonio Machado

"It is good good to be back home, how I missed this time zone, strangers are exciting their mystery never ends, but there's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends..." (here)



 Beth Nelson's "Voyages" line launched
 the first ever edition of  Chronicle Books Giftworks.



rem·i·nisce ˌreməˈnis/ 
verb gerund or present participle: reminiscing      
1. indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events.

Beth Nelson is a friend that I met many moons ago on this journey that I've called "You Have Been Here Sometime."  She's become a dear friend through correspondence, an old-fashioned pen pal of sorts, a connection in the vast sea, a light in the distance.

Her online journal  "by land by air by sea" has been a source of continual inspiration, her work is simply visual poetry, reflecting on voyages, the sea, photography, art, and her life with her family. Beth Nelson is an an art director, stylist, print maker, product developer, to name a few. Take a moment to look at her work over the past 20 years, it is simply remarkable. 

Beth, looking forward to your next project, and your next voyage.  X David John

Beth Nelson's portfolio here.


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the work of Piet Boon 

"A seamless marriage of functionality with timeless design, natural materials, distinguishing signature details and a keen eye for aesthetics defines the work of fêted Dutch designer Piet Boon (1958)." 

"white, the most beautiful color there is."





Piet Boon is a Dutch designer that started over 25 years ago as a building contractor working with other architects and designers. Over the span of his career, Piet Boon and his team which include Karin Meyn, business partner and creative director, have designed private residences and villas, as well as corporate projects throughout the world, both large and small that emphasize function as well as craft and beauty.  Piet Boon most recently completed a 58 unit loft condominium project in New York City at 404 Park Avenue South, called Huys, that offer views over Park Avenue South and lower-Midtown Manhattan. His past projects have ranged from Las Vegas, Spain, Portugal, Paris, New York City, Korea, and South Africa to name a few, each creating a different design for clients seeking his team, as well as a furniture line sold in 46 countries.  I recently received a copy of Piet Boon Book 3, and it is nothing short of remarkable.  Piet Boon's work is characterized by vaulted spaces, a sense of openness in color and form, a modernist and calming sensibility that grounds his projects. - David John















The third book by renowned designer Piet Boon, featuring the latest interior design projects from Portugal, USA, the Netherlands, South Africa, Bonaire, Denmark, South Korea and France The designs of the successful Piet Boon are well-known worldwide. Throughout the world over 80,000 copies of his books Piet Boon and Piet Boon 2 have been sold. Piet Boon III, containing more pages than the first two books, shows recent design projects of Piet Boon, both in the Netherlands and abroad: Portugal, USA, South Africa, Bonaire, Denmark, South Korea and France. The text can be found in seven languages at the back: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. This spectacular collection of Piet Boon's latest projects together make up for an impressive, inspiring book. 

Piet Boon is one of the most celebrated designers in the Netherlands and abroad.  He is especially famous for his furniture designs and for his all encompassing designs for homes and city districts. 'Piet Boon' has become a worldwide brand name signifying a luxurious lifestyle that serves clients worldwide. Joyce Huisman has published numerous titles, both culinary and interior design books.












all photography by Richard Powers

go to Piet Boon here.




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What would you do , If it all came back to you 
Each crest of each wave , Bright as lightning 
What would you say , If you had to leave today 
Leave everything behind , Even though for once you're shining (Junip)





Matthew Fairbank is making some incredible new lighting works, and recently uploaded some new images on his website.  I happened to have met him a few years ago at the AD Home Show in New York, showcasing at the time his floor lamp. The two new chandeliers are "bright as lightning" as they might say in the folk clubs, casting shadows on the lookers in the backseats, mouthing the words, quietly singing the tunes late into the evening.  - David John

Matthew Fairbank Design is an American furniture and lighting fabrication company dedicated to the creation of well-crafted, timeless designs. Matthew Fairbank is head designer and craftsman of heirloom quality wood furniture and hand-built lighting. Matthew’s tables, seating, lamps, and cabinets are made from lasting techniques and the most exquisite materials. The forms draw influence from history while maintaining a modern attitude. Each piece of furniture is made to order to the client’s exact needs. Works from the collection can be adapted or work can be fabricated from a designer’s specifications.  

In addition to limited edition pieces in the portfolio, clients may custom order furniture in virtually any size or design. Each year, Matthew Fairbank Design produces dozens of custom furniture pieces for residential and commercial applications. Our manufacturing capabilities can meet the needs of both one-off pieces and high volume production for hospitality, corporate, and residential interiors. We look forward to collaborative projects and offer our refined design aesthetic and expertise in materials and fabrication knowledge.



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