ATELIER, new work:
"station lamp"








Atelier: for all those headed down to Dwell on Design this weekend, don't miss ATELIER's latest lamp, the "Station Lamp". I've been huge fans of the Atelier Journal and the work of Los Angeles ATELIER, for years now, so it's a pleasure to finally meet face to face, and see his latest brass lamp in all of its glory!











-----------------------------

a slow conversation with Rolu

"my belief that if you send a signal out into the world everyday
something will come back to Y O U."

-Matt Olson, ROLU

Primarily/Primary (After Carol Bove, Scott Burton and Sol Le Witt)
- ROLU with Ashley Helvey

ROLU will show new works as part of Noho Next 2011
at the ICFF (Intl Contemporary Furniture Fair) May 14-17.


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Matt Olson and I crossed paths a few years ago now. I guess you could say ROLU was one of my gateway drugs into the blog world. It was late one night, when I discovered the ROLU portal: a divine place where art + design all come together so easily & perfectly. It was sites like ROLU, that pushed me harder: to dig, to research, and most of all, to reach out to the people at the other end of the computer.

It was probably over a year ago that Matt Olson and I began this conversation. This interview is beyond overdue! But honestly, it could not have happened at a better time since ROLU's calender is full of collaborations and events happening this weekend.

I'm psyched to finally post this slow conversation with Matt Olson, of ROLU. If you are in New York this week, please go check out their work at NOHO NEXT. It's gonna rock.

- David John, YHBHS

A SLOW CONVERSATION: ROLU and YHBHS


You were one of the first people that linked my blog onto your site. Your site was one of the early portals I had into these very specific design blogs. Can you talk about the why you started ROLU design blog, & the role that keeping on online blog has had in your design practice?


Matt: That's super cool to know! I was immediately taken by YHBHS's diversity and the connections you were drawing between theoretically different, but in my mind inherently related works. That was three years ago maybe? Still always awed by it.

I started a blog based on a simple premise: my belief that if you send a signal out into the world everyday something will come back to you. I wake up in the morning, I have a cup of coffee and I figure out something to post. It's almost ritual now. At its most basic level it's had a huge educational effect on me personally. The amount of learning has been immeasurable. In the abstract, it's woven its way into my/our work in mysterious and intangible ways too. There are times where it feels like some stream of conscious visual poem that's happening and it occasionally clicks and reveals its meaning. In one literal way, our furniture is in part a response to this visual river we are paying attention to and participating in... we're trying to reach into it and respond with something physical.




So you mentioned collaborations, is there new work coming out soon?

Yes, we just finished some new pieces. One is a night stand that was commissioned by PIN-UP Magazine, literally our favorite architecture magazine, it will be on view at Phillips de Pury in New York during the ICFF (Intnl Contemporary Furniture Fair) in New York. Some amazing other folks involved too... Jim Drain, Aranda/Lasch, Rafael de Cárdenas, ARCHITECTURE AT LARGE, Rich Brilliant Willing, Situ Studio... wow.

We are so honored to be in such great company! It will be available in an edition of four through the gallery. We also have new work at Noho Next an exhibit organized By Monica and Jill who do the great Sight Unseen. It's two chairs and a table called Primarily/Primary (after Carol Bove, Scott Burton and Sol Le Witt) it features two wool felt pieces by textile artist Ashley Helvey. She's amazing. These pieces continue to explore some of the same ideas we've been interested in regarding very fluid and quick reactions to work were influenced by. And this idea of high art concepts expressed through simple raw materials.




The furniture / blog is only a small part of your daily activities. You also maintain a landscape architecture studio, that was featured in DWELL Magazine. Do you ever sleep?


I truly do work a lot. You've heard that saying “Love what you do, never work a day in your life”? A lot of the time it feels that way to me. Sometimes not. The studio takes on and initiates lots of projects. We started eight years ago as a residential landscape design and construction company but from the start had plans to wander. We still do a ton of landscape related work and love it. Both in Minneapolis and increasingly with clients nationally.

We have worked on everything from designing a “social media driven post-internet” ice cream store at an amusement park with an architecture studio we frequently collaborate with to a performance based participatory art project coming up at the Soap Factory a gallery here in Minneapolis that was commissioned by Northern Lights MN. Really broad range.

We really believe in collaboration as a core value of the studio. We have active projects in the works with Ashley Helvey a textile artist we love, Peter Nencini whose work is mind blowing, Laurel Broughton of WELCOME Los Angeles, Eric Timothy Carlson a member of the Hardland/Heartland collective just to name a few.

2010 flyer for the ROLU + Mondo Cane show...

Your show last year at MONDO CANE in New York. I'm sad I wasn't in New York, but will you talk about that show, and the works that were shown? Did you fabricate the works while in New York? Plywood?

The show at MONDO CANE was an amazing thing for us. We'd been discussing and designing furniture pieces for a couple years but never had the time or impetus to develop it. We started making a couple prototypes and they lived in our studio. Our friend Mylinh Trieu Nguyen saw a photo of one on our blog and she liked it. It led to us designing the furniture and basic environment for the exhibition of her project General Public Library at Art In General in New York. This was really fun for us and we finally had a reason to get serious about exploring our ideas.

While we were developing the work for that exhibit, we made a group of theoretically related pieces in fits and starts over a few weeks, rapidly building and changing as we went. Our initial idea was an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Enzo Mari and his Autoprogettazione project. We were talking with a few of our favorite graphic designers about doing a print on demand book that kept growing and evolving as new ideas were created, by both us and the people in our internet community we were hoping might participate.

We were trying to think of it as an “open source” furniture project. This is important in part because it's where we collided with and fell in love with the simple hardware store materials. I also think it's interesting that our initial experiments are really related to ideas and images I was finding through blogging. Our connection to Patrick Parrish from MONDO CANE who does Mondo Blogo is also related to blogs... and bizarro-world kismet. I wrote an email to Patrick saying how much I like his blog and oddly, at almost the same precise moment, he had added ROLU blog to his links and was writing to me. In literally the next email, he asked me to do a show of our furniture.

We built all the pieces in NYC in about ten days before the show. And while we were there, we also built pieces for IFS Ltd-- a project for the NY Art Book Fair at PS1 MoMA. Needless to say, my partner in ROLU, Mike Brady, and one of our employees, Joe Mollen, worked almost around the clock to pull it off. Our opening at MONDO CANE was such a great night.

I wish you'd have been there too! So many great people from our circle of blogs came, Andy Beach (Reference Library), Mary Manning (Unchanging Window), Lee Cerre (2 or 3 Things), Matt and Mary (Matt & Mary :-), Doug Johnston (Hawktrainer) Felix from PIN-UP Magazine, David Horvitz... and many more. I know you'd appreciate lots of blog/internet people.



Donald Judd and Scott Burton. Two artist that I know that resonate on a deep level with you. What is it in their works that motivates you to carry on their traditions?

It feels fluid and like it's always changing so it's hard to say with any long term clarity. I've been into Judd for twenty years or something. I always liked his work but was initially obsessed with Heiner Freidrich who, along with his wife Phillipa De Menil, founded Dia. I am interested in all the Dia artists and projects on some level. Scott Burton was just a blip on my radar via a work in the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden. Then you posted an image of Chair 1 and Chair 2... the brownstone pieces. There was flurry of Google searches and then, without any context relating to scale or materials in any real sense, we built our Box Chair Square as an exploratory exercise. We felt like the outcome was so viscerally different from his, we wanted to push it into the world. We did a few more pieces based on images of his work. At the same time I was learning about and deeply connecting with Scott Burton's beliefs about breaking down the walls between sculpture and furniture and ultimately, art and design.

This also connected with the themes of Autoprogettazione, bringing art into the everyday, Allen Kaprow's essay Art Which Can't Be Art which really effected me and on and on. Of course, Judd in some ways was the opposite. Extremely careful and precise about the separation of his furniture work and his art. I love his work and on some level am attracted to his seemingly severe sense of certainty and clarity. I'm awed by people who are exacting and disciplined for its implied connection to clarity, and that's why I think I love his work. But in the big picture, I don't really trust certainty and rarely seem to have much clarity... just glimpses.

And speaking of Judd you have to read that Rupert Deese piece in the publication Contra Mundum I-VII The Oslo Editions. Amazing. And on Judd and Burton, my friend Sam Gould turned me on to the catalog from Design ≠ Art. A really nice book.


Three words that describe ROLU.

Enthusiastic, open, and sincere.



MINNEAPOLIS, other than the Walker, which rocks, I am unaware of the design community in Minneapolis. Fill me in on your city, and when I come where are you taking me ? (smile)

I am taking you to the Walker, of course. I can't overstate how amazing it is to have that a bike ride away. It consistently blows my mind as an institution and the curators who've come through there. Phillipe Vergne who is now at Dia: Beacon, Peter Eleey who's now at PS1, Yasmil Raymond who's also at Dia, Andrea Hickey who's at Art In General now... Andrew Blauvelt the Design Director is huge. Incidentally, it was his house in Dwell that you mentioned earlier, we did the landscape design and construction for it.

After the Walker we'll go to Midway Contemporary Art -- a gallery that has, in my mind, a perfect track record of showing amazing important artists right before they start turning up everywhere... Omer Fast, Gedi Sibony, etc. When I was at Art Basel Miami Beach in December practically everyone I met said “oh, Minneapolis, the Walker and Midway!” Franklin Art Works is another consistently strong gallery here. They're showing work right now by Lisha Bai, an artist I included in a small piece I curated. Then we could maybe do a visit to Chris Larson's studio. He's an artist based here that I'm increasingly obsessed with.

ROLU with ERIC TIMOTHY CARLSON

-----------------------------





ROLU, rosenlof/lucas, ro/lu is a design studio located in Minneapolis, Minnesota that's focus is on modern residential landscape design and installation. It's practice also extends to exterior design and collaborative architectural projects as well as urban planning work and public art. The studio was founded in 2003 by Matt Olson and Mike Brady and currently has four members and a summer intern from the environmental design program at the university of Minnesota.

rolu blog is about all the things that inspire us architecture / art / music / thoughts we encourage you to participate and we hope you enjoy it......




---------------


in New York this weekend, check out:

NOHO NEXT..... The Noho Design District presents its second annual emerging talent showcase: Noho Next, featuring the work of nine up-and-coming designers and studios. Fort Standard, Brendan Ravenhill, RO/LU, Iacoli & McAllister, Lukas Peet, and four RISD students are presenting new and recent furniture, lighting, and objects.

The American Design Building at Great Jones Lumber, 45 Great Jones Street
Friday May 13 – Monday May 16, 12PM to 7PM

------------------------------

Racing News .

Y O U H A V E B E E N H E R E S OM E T I M E

is now on the Remodelista Design Newsstand!

-------------------

YHBHS could not be more excited to be part of REMODELISTA's Design Newstand. For daily interior design updates, Remodelista has always been the standard. With their latest venture, Remodelista has gathered 100+ design sites that will now be updated on their design newstand. Pretty cool, eh? I've added the icon on the right for easy browsing.

The above image was taken by QsySue ( image via here.. ). It's a newsstand that is in the heart of Old Hollywood on Cahuenga Boulevard.

WHO TO WATCH, WHAT TO READ, WHERE TO CLICK
Remodelista's 100+ must-read design blogs—offering style perspectives from Australia to Zandhoven, plus remodeling advice from DIYers, remodelers, and architectural enthusiasts—everything you need to raise your design IQ. To get started, click on any blog and page through the entire Design Newsstand catalog in the viewer. "













-------------------------

the best
time of the day.
(here)

the best time of the day.
superb curation on so many levels.
it's rare that you feel like you know someone from their postings,
but this is surely the case with her site.

thanks best time of the day!

image via sarah strassmann
from the void series.











-----------------------

L & Q #8

We are Linger&Quiet.
We live in Portland Oregon.
We love music.
And we made this for you.










thanks g and m for another beautiful podcast.
download number 8 here...
now, if we can only get them to come to los angeles!

Curtiss Maldoon- Sephryn (Linger and Quiet Space Edit) (Purple Records)
Antena - Achillies (Numero Group)
NRBQ- Only You (Rounder)
Roy Harper- Goldfish (Big Ben)
Slowdive- In Mind (Creation Records)
Roger Sherman- Say You Love Me (Self Released)
Grateful Dead- Unbroken Chain (MQuiet No Noodles Edit) (Grateful Dead Records)
Psychic TV- The Orchids (CBS)
Moon Duo- A Little Way (Woodsist)
Subway- Crystalline (Lo Recordings)
Paul McCartney- One Of These Days (Columbia)
Seahawks- Omega Beach (Captain’s Log)
Incredible String Band- Air (Elektra)

Linger & Quiet:
Linger & Quiet are Matthew Kwiatkowski and Genevieve Dellinger. Happily partnered in Portland Oregon, they stay busy making music mixes in their 1927 bungalow on Brooklyn Street. When they aren’t playing with music at home, they can usually be found at their monthly party NIGHTCLUBBING at Holocene, or playing records at favored haunt Valentine’s. If they aren’t any of those places, check the park. They are probably there, drinking coffee and playing with their dog and riding bikes around their awesome town.

----

--------------------------------------------

paths.
&
small
worlds.

It is a small world! Recently my path crossed with a few new friends. A small world, made smaller by the internet. Read below: written by Cosmic Dust Co. (go to her tumbler here..)

"on my recent trip home to LA, a good friend of mine just moved into an amazing duplex in echo park/downtown. i had to opportunity to meet her wonderful neighbor david, who coincidentally runs the blog you have been here sometime. we got to talking and when he found out that me and my friend who were visiting, were living in new mexico, he just had a feeling that i was behind cosmic dust and nomadic way, and my friend was behind inside inside, et al. intuitive to say the least. check out his recent post about earthships and the documentary garbage warriors. "

Happy to have Inside next door to me for a few weeks. And was delightful to meet Comsic Dust / Nomadic Sun and share some conversation on the back porch. Thanks for introducing me to the idea of Earthships you guys. Hoping to plan a journey to New Mexico at some point, then onto Marfa, the Lighting Fields, and ending in Austin, Texas.

Lots to see and understand...

----------------------------

good company!

----------------------

I was beyond flattered to receive an email this week from Remodelista, one of the best interior design blogs & directory on the web today. They asked permission to add YHBHS, You Have Been Here Sometime, onto their daily reads, and into the directory of Interior Design Blogs.

I've been reading Remodelista pretty much from the beginning, and I have seen it continue to grow into what it is today. I admire their motivation, daily dedication, and creative outlook on the world of interiors and designers. Their site was a direct motivation for me to begin blogging.

If you haven't check out their new directory of Interior Design and Architecture Firms, you should. It's another great resource from the folks at Remodelista....



Thanks Remodelista!
David John, YHBHS










image via wright auctions
Guldsmeds Aktiebolaget
Denmark, c. 1940





-------------------------------------------

Interior Decorator

good
homes
start
with
good
ideas!

the fireplace, the oven, and the sink.
all essentials for the modern kitchen.

(via the ARM, blog here...!)

"Drawing found whilst cleaning the wind blown accumulated city garbage
in the front hallway leading to HQ. It appears we have a budding interior designer
in the neighborhood. Nice fire place. "




I love the idea of this found drawing being passed
on and on... Good save Ian.




----------------------------

let people imagine
let people forget

Build a house on snow with a glassbox base
which works as a snowsled
for winds to pull and slide (a)

1965 Spring























Build a dotted line house
Let people imagine the missing parts (a)
Let people forget about the missing parts (b)


1965 Spring

image via enon valley.
text by yoko ono.

F*ck Yeah!

needing
more
eames
on
a
daily
basis?

then head to:

f*ck yeah
charles
eames
tumbler here.

h*ll yes!






---

Valery Lorenzo

greetings
from
Port Lligat,
Spain,
he
writes.

thank you....
see more here,
via Ivan's blog too!





After having a hard day yesterday, I sorted through the day's mail, (not email!) to find a hand painted envelope from Spain, from Valery Lorenzo. It made me remember how much I love sending out letters, and unannounced packages to friends.

Perhaps, I should spend less time blogging, and more time writing postcards and making packages! Maybe this summer, I'll get a chance to meet some of you in France in person!
Till, then, postcards and packages it is.
















with some research, I find out....

"Portlligat is a small village located in a small bay on Cap de Creus peninsula, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean Sea, near the city of Cadaqués in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Girona province, Catalonia, Spain. The Island of Port Lligat is located at the entrance of the bay, separated from the mainland by a narrow 30-meter-wide canal. Salvador Dalí lived in the village and his house has been converted into the Casa-Museo Salvador Dalí. Both the bay and the island have been represented in several of Dalí's paintings, such as The Madonna of Port Lligat, Crucifixion, and The Sacrament of the Last Supper...."

Valery Lorenzo...
more images here..
currently looking at his enitre portfolio, and
enjoying his work tremendously...
Thank you!




--------









-----

Q U A L I T Y

Everytown
needs
some
old
faithful(s)

Old Faithful,
Vancouver, Canada
Looks like the paper might
be coming down soon on this Vancouver shop!



congrats!
psyched to see interiors.
(via old chum)


----


--------

go
to
the
light,
brave
children!

































go
to
the
light,
brave
children!




1. Melanie Schiff.
2. Ensuite Blog, go here! : If i could travel to Paris on a weekly basis, I would have no need for Ensuite, but until then, I read her blog obsessively...... Thank you Clarisse Demory !




....






---

Peter Nencini,
more here and here,
was so generous to give
YHBHS some style, and funk,
and a new twist!


Peter, quite simply, you rock!
Just beginning to size, reconfigure
some adjustments to my header,
but wanted to give everyone a peak,
as I begin to play...

---------

-------

Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you, Peter!



(I've met the most amazing, inspiring people from YHBHS, and feel really honored to have crossed paths with all of you.)

Peter
Nencini
interview.
here!
via here..

"to define a practice around idea and method."

the 'Haiti' plate

"It’s really important for me to define a practice around idea and method, rather than Specialism. Specialism, in the sense of an intimacy with and experience of process, is valuable but in another sense it can be inhibiting, hierarchical and ultimately set an obstacle to natural correspondence between like minds.

(blog) Posting allows ideas to self-aggregate, in rhythm with studio work. This is much more satisfactory that attempting a definitive ‘artist’s statement’ or some such platform.

Doubt is such an essential in day-to-day work, so terms of expression need to match."



Q and A with Peter Nencini....here.
---------------------------
---------------------
----------------

Peter's work and blog is a
constant source of inspiration!
Fantastic interview via the
Walker Art Blog.

good company!

a weekend
of
lingering
and
quiet.

thanks genevieve and matt from portland for coming down!
(via linger and quiet here)

spicy pho, good beats, and rainy day art.
good being neighbors, and relaxing with you for this weekend!
(listen here.)












.