AN′s Twelfth-Hour Gift Grab 2010
AN Twelfth-Hour Gift Grab (Painting, Manhattan Skyline by John Cunning, courtesy Smithsonian)
Have you got the Billings Index Blues? Are code approvals sucking the air out of your Christmas spirit and punch lists preempting your shopping list? Take cheer! The Architect’s Newspaper has located all the architect-worthy toys and treasures to meet your most pressing deadline of the year: Gifts for your Loved Ones (and a few clients, too).
Happy Holidays from all of us at The Architect’s Newspaper.
Artek Acquires Aero Design Furniture
Artek's new acquisition (ADF)
At Artek’s 75th anniversary dinner last week, we heard the news that the Finnish furniture company had acquired the entire share capital of compatriot company Aero Design Furniture (ADF) from owner Juhani Lemmetti, allowing Artek to begin selling the full Ilmari Tapiovaara family of furniture owned by ADF. An admirer of Artek founder Alvar Aalto, Tapiovaara also used architecture as the foundation for his work and his pieces will be a great complement to Artek’s line. With the launch of Artek USA earlier this year and expansion in Europe and Japan, the company is poised to help the Tapiovaara collection find new admirers as well. Read More
The Taxman Cometh for Moss – UPDATED
Moss on the rocks? (Alan G. Brake)
UPDATE — November 10, 2010 — The good news is Moss reopened today after resolving a reported tax bill of around $150,000. It seems that for now the store is safe. The bad news is your credit card may not be.
“Design Hates a Depression“—that was the verdict delivered by Murray Moss, owner of the eponymous store and gallery space in Soho, at the beginning of last year. It seems that he was right. As of Friday morning, the store had been seized for nonpayment of taxes. For now, the arbiter of design retail in NYC and beyond is the property of the State of New York.
Karl Lagerfeld Picks Chilewich for Chanel Show
Chanel meets Chilewich (Chilewich)
Vinyl fabric manufacturer Chilewich has gone from table runners to the runway. Karl Lagerfeld, creative director for Chanel, chose the company’s stencil-like Cubic lace design for the Spring/Summer 2011 ready-to-wear show at Paris Fashion Week last month. The design, currently part of Chilewich’s tabletop collection, was reproduced into a sheer cocktail dress with feather trim and was one of the last numbers to float down the Chanel runway. (A note on the architecture: The Grand Palais was dramatically transformed into a seemingly post-apocalyptic formal garden with charred black hedges and white gravel.)
Scavolini Comes to Soho
A racy new installment. (Scavolini)
If sleek Italian kitchens send your heart racing more than a Maserati ever could, stop by Scavolini’s new Soho location at 429 West Broadway for a test drive. Read More
Bunshaft Goes Big-Box While Bertoia Goes Missing?
Forever (Landmarked) 21? (Neoscape)
The rumors about Gordon Bunshaft’s landmarked Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust Bank building being transformed into a big-box retail store have been flying around for a while now. In March, Vornado Realty Trust reportedly entered talks to buy the five-story building at 510 Fifth Avenue. Now, we’ve turned up a rendering by 3-D illustration firm Neoscape showing the building as the type of landmark only your high school daughter could love: a Forever 21.
But wait, it gets worse. Until this month the building has been occupied by Chase Bank, and while the changes made to the building for security reasons were lamentable, at least we could rest easy knowing that its site-specific Harry Bertoia sculpture—a 70-foot screen composed of 800 bronze plates—was safe. But not anymore. An AN tipster clued us in today: “Half of it is laying on the otherwise vacant 2nd floor. So far, all I’ve got from Chase is an assurance ‘it’s not going in the dumpster.’”
We confirmed the awful truth:
Under the High Line, Pop-Up Cave-itecture
Richard Chai + Snarkitecture's ice-cave under the High Line. (Photo: David Smith)
Lurking under the High Line has been a bit more fun since Building Fashion began its series of architecture-and-fashion installations in September, erecting a new collaboration every two weeks as a means of reusing the former onsite Sales Tin of Neil Denari’s HL23 condos. On Thursday, Brooklyn firm Snarkitecture and fashion designer Richard Chai will unveil the fourth project in the series, a cave carved by hand from architectural foam. Designed to give shoppers the feel of a glacial cavern, the pop-up shop will feature men’s and women’s fashions displayed on shelves, niches, and hang bars embedded in the foam. Read More
Americans at the Door
The Dror door: Davina (All photos courtesy Lualdi)
Last night at Material ConneXion Italian door manufacturer Lualdi unveiled its first collection of doors designed by U.S.-based architects. Dror Benshetrit’s lacquered red Davina door stole the show with a diagonally folded design that makes the door appear slightly ajar when closed. Read More
New at NeoCon
We’ll see you in Chicago at the show—while you’re there, remember to pick up a copy of our latest Midwest edition, hot off the press! Until then, we offer you a sneak peek of our favorite finds from this year’s contract furnishings market:
Bram Boo Bench, VanerumStelter
Belgian designer Bram Boo’s bench fosters socialization, rest, and work all in one piece of furniture. Four seats arranged in a square create four desktops and multiple ways to face others. The bench is available in red and black.
Mind Your Manors
Winterthur Museum: Coming to a home near you.
In these days of shrinking endowments, museums have to do what they can to make a buck. In the case of Delaware’s Winterthur Museum, that means endorsing a new line of pre-engineered houses from Vermont company Connor Homes.
Earning Their Stripes
Slade Architecture's rags-to-riches table for DIFFA's Dining By Design. (Slade Architecture)
How quickly they grow up. No sooner had James and Hayes Slade sprung from the chrysalis of their Emerging Voices lecture than they spread their wings at one of the city’s toniest design-and-dining events. Joining the likes of David Rockwell and Vicente Wolf, not to mention Cindy Crawford and Ralph Lauren, Slade Architecture debuted their variegated talent with a tape-covered dining room at DIFFA’s Dining By Design gala. Read More
Ferry Funds Dry Up
All aboard the A train. (Courtesy NY Water Taxi)
Commuters who have come to rely on the ferry that connects the Rockaways and Wall Street will have to find another way to get to work starting March 19. The city has subsidized the route since it launched plans for new and expanded ferry service in 2008, but last year’s average ridership was a little more than half of the 300-passenger daily quota required to continue funding. Read More
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