Upcoming Exhibition 
Harry Bertoia Sculpture 15 Years at Wright





Harry Bertoia Sculpture 15 Years at Wright 

"Wright has celebrated the artworks of Harry Bertoia since our earliest auctions, therefore it is fitting that Wright presents Harry Bertoia Sculpture: 15 Years at Wright in our New York gallery. This notable exhibition will showcase select works from our history of selling Bertoia at auction alongside works never before offered on the market. From Bush Forms, Welded Forms and Sonambients to experimental works, this comprehensive exhibition will highlight exceptional works from Bertoia’s extensive oeuvre" 






go here for more information



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because there's 40 different shades of black
so many fortresses and ways to attack
so why you complaining?
Ta!


  - elevate me later, Pavement












Fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly 
Don't try, try, try, try, try 
It's a brand new era, it feels great 
It's a brand new era but it came too late - Pavement

1. Ester Partegas, Christopher Grimes Gallery. go here.. 
2. Eric Dever, paintings. go here
3. Codor design 


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It's goin' all right, soak it in 
I mean this sponge site is coated in the warmth of your tides 
They're breakin' it in, all across my coastline, 
now it's what I'm wakin' in  (King Krule's "Ocean Bed")






I've spent this week working on a side project, shooting in 3 different homes that are near the California coastline.  Homes perched in canyons, windows open, as the Los Angeles winter feels more like summer.  These are a few snaps from my camera, my only wish is that I could have stayed for another afternoon... More to come....  - David John





  Saturday morning trip to the dowtown flower market.  
Bucket full on kumquat branches in on arm.




Malibu, 3 p.m. kitchen window





a view into the Palos Verdes' canyons as the sun begins to set


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"Let's take the train 
To a quiet place I know where we can be alone 
Where the shore meets the sea meets the sun 
And although we should be tired 
The day has just begun" - Zachary Cale





I took the photo above last week as we walked around one of our projects that is being built in Manhattan Beach, California. This is the view from the master bathroom, leading into the master bedroom that has a large balcony that we will turn into an outdoor living space on the second floor.  For this project, we are working with Sunset Magazine, and designing the complete interiors for this 4,500 sq.ft. home in Manhattan Beach. "Sunset began in 1898 as a promotional magazine for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, designed to combat the negative "Wild West" stereotypes about California."  The history of this magazine is incredible, and next month we are off to the Sunset headquarters in Northern CA to soak in all things "WEST." This journey has been incredible so far, and it is a project we are truly excited to be working on.

Our Sunset Idea Home will be open to the public for 6 week in August.  We'll be working with local vendors, furniture companies, lighting designers, artists, and good friends to make this home come to life.  More to come, and I hope you'll join us when it opens this summer... - David John




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Urban Electric 
"the Lucien" by Michael Amato



We had a visit from Urban Electric this afternoon at our DISC Interiors studio.  The presentation included some recently released works designed by Michael Amato, creative director of Urban Electric. Hopefully in the future, we'll have some time to travel to Charleston,South Carolina to visit their factory and headquarters. Amazing to see such high quality lighting being created by hand here in the States.  More to come. -David John

"From its roots as a small lantern studio, The Urban Electric Co. has grown over the past decade into a global presence in the shelter industry, celebrating a rich heritage of distinctive bench-made lighting fixtures. The company exudes the very best of past and future, and is passionate about protecting both the tradition and sustainability of artisanal craft.  Since its founding in 2003, the company has become one of the most highly recognized lighting companies in the industry as well as an important contributor to the successful return of American manufacturing and a key player in the global design community.

From its headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina, the company services an international client base of top interior designers and architects in the residential, hospitality and contract segments. The company’s designs regularly find placement in high-profile homes, restaurants and historic restorations from Beverly Hills to the Seychelles and consistently garner acclaim from top design publications such as Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Interior Design and World of Interiors.  Each of the company’s products is bench-made and hand-finished at its 65,000 sq. ft. headquarters, which houses its talented teams of engineers, sales and marketing professionals, designers, craftsmen and artisans. The company prides itself on manufacturing processes that secure the growth and sustainability of artisanal craft for the future by using modern techniques that enhance and refine the hand-build approach as opposed to replacing it."





Thaddeus, designed by Michael Amato





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FOG Design+Art 
January 17–19, 201, San Francisco 

"This new fair will feature important 20th-century and contemporary design dealers from across the country and beyond as well as a selection of leading modern and contemporary art galleries."




copper detailing in Taidgh O Neill arm chair 


Last week, I met with Taidgh O'Neill at his 2nd floor studio in an industrial section of downtown Los Angeles. Taidgh invited me over to preview a few of the works before they were shipped to San Francisco for a new fair FOG Design + Art.  L.A. dealer and gallerist, Edward Cella will be representing his designs at a fair focusing on avant-garde design, craft, as well as vintage furniture. Taidgh's own works have a silent narrative driving their utility and aesthetic concerns, a subtle reference to Charles Bukowski's "Broken Landscape." He has recently started to design rugs, and will be showing these next to his furniture collection at FOG.  Other favorite dealers/friends that will be showing work in San Francisco are Gerard o'Brien from Reform Gallery, Charles de Lisle, Hedge, March, Cristina Grajales Gallery, Jessica Silverman Gallery, The NWBLK (showing works by Christopher Boots). Go see this show!- David John

Browse Exhibitors at FOG Design+Art on Artsy... more here.







         Taidgh O Neill 
Figueroa arm chair, 2013 Ash, copper, leather




FOG Design+Art, San Francisco's premier modernism fair. Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this new fair will feature important 20th-century and contemporary design dealers from across the country and beyond as well as a selection of leading modern and contemporary art galleries. Furniture, fine art, and design objects representing design movements from the last century to today will be presented in a dynamic layout designed to complement the exhibitor offerings.




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 Bernard Frize "Hello, My Name is Bernard Frize"

“My work is not the result of some kind of recipe, but an exploration about my identity in the world. How do I use my experience, experience that I can name mine in the mass of the information of the day? The world presents itself as an obstinate and invading whole and I always have to measure and figure out the thread of skepticism..” 

"The paintings are disturbance. Bernard Frize establishes a field, a surface; then establishes a starting point; then creates a disturbance."   





Bernard Frize "Hello, My Name is Bernard Frize" 
January 18 to March 1st, 2014 @Galerie Perrotin, Paris  

"As a new introduction to Bernard Frize, the exhibition reveals key facts about his work:  

a. Bernard Frize’s paintings feature a spectrum of colors, selected not for their specific qualities but selected because they are distinct from one another; selected simply to be a color, not to evoke a mood or make a statement in and of themselves. 

b. Bernard Frize follows systematic procedures in executing his paintings, based on a pre-determined script he chooses which can do nothing once put in motion but veer pointedly towards disruption. 

c. Bernard Frize provides a stage for chance and the nature of the materials to make their way, to have their influence. Paint, resin, color, weight of the brush, imprint of the paint, the choice to allow a freeness to the touch.  In “Diola” gesture is evident. There is a saturation of color at the top and bottom of the canvas, at the edges of the brushstrokes. Throughout the main field of the painting, color is also saturated at the edges of the brushstrokes, where the paint became ever so slightly heavier from the friction between the brush and the canvas. The material (paint) is doing what it does. Water, pigment, gravity, the effects of drying all have their influence and all play a part in what the painting becomes. It’s an organic process.

more here. all text taken from here.



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the past used to feel far behind.
the future often feels like the past.

1905 vs 1950







2 lamps. the future of the past.

1. Tapio Wirkkala, Brass and Enameled Metal Table Lamp for Idman Oy, c 1950.
2. Jan Eisenlöffel. Large ceiling light, c. 1905. H.






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"Through his creations, Nicolas Aubagnac develops a personal conviction: to create exceptional pieces, noble materials must be selected with specific care and assembled according to precise and rigorous techniques." 




Nicolas Aubagnac uses timeless and fundamental geometrical shapes (circle, square, triangle) and give his creations clean lines with beautiful proportions.  The materials he prefers are “noble” and rare : solid steel, chiselled bronze, gold leaf, precious wood, straw marquetry, lacquer, leather, parchment, shagreen. These sophisticated materials are assembled with perfection and a certain taste for luxury details.  Every creation is signed by a stamp.  Nicolas Aubagnac’s creations are timeless and can easily be mixed with antics or with modern art. Manufacture and perenity  Through his creations, Nicolas Aubagnac develops a personal conviction: to create exceptional pieces, noble materials must be selected with specific care and assembled according to precise and rigorous techniques.  

Indeed, Nicolas Aubagnac confides the manufacture of his designs to talented craftsmen who perpetuate the tradition of the Decorative Arts.  In our workshops, woods are selected and dried with special care, leathers are prepared and hand-dyed and the veneers are made on specially made lathing.  Traditional techniques (French varnish, lacquer, forged iron, marquetry or chisel) can be enriched with modern techniques (vacuum gluing-press, cutting out with numeric laser, varnish made in a specific studio).  As a result, we offer the best quality that ensure our pieces to last and will allow their restoration and their transmission from a generation to another. (text taken from site)

visit Nicolas' site here.






I want to live, I want to give I've been a miner for a heart of gold. 
It's these expressions I never give 
That keep me searching for a heart of gold 
And I'm getting old. Keeps me searching for a heart of gold 
And I'm getting old.  - Neil Young




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