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Domestic Goddess By Rebecca Teagarden
Domestic Goddess
Now, where were we? Oh yes, I was saying how design guru Dorothy Kalins has this desire-to-design thing we're all so big on boiled down to a science. The science of us. And you were taking your morning hot beverage, drinking this all in and nodding wisely at the sage reportage. Something like that. Annnywho, Kalins was saying that Metropolitan Home magazine's outrageously successful entrée into the shelter-mag market was based on another behavioral pattern of ours: the home as crafts project. "If it wasn't broke, we'd break it to remake it in our own image." She has a point there. Let's take a quick trip through interior design in the 1970s (ball-and-clawfoot dining-room tables; plastic becomes a legitimate player) when Terence Conran's still-useful "The House Book" carted us out of the 1960s and into the world of functional beauty. We shall breeze right past lofts and great rooms and pause briefly at the new dawn with Frank Gehry's Santa Monica house, a collision of parts with its corrugated-metal, stripped-down approach. And here we are at "conspicuous austerity," where clutter, sloppiness and human frailty are kept out of sight. Stepping on the stones of Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" we have, in the 1980s, boomers making real money. Life was upholstered. One just could not be too rich. Silks, important art. Kalins thwaps us on the knuckles here with "All that rejection of style doomed us to repeat it." Michael Graves, Michael Venturi, with his references to our classical roots, or as Kalins puts it, "Columns holding up nothing appeared in our living rooms." In the 1990s good design began to be widely available, being different wasn't such a big deal, and we "not so much aged as marinated," Kalins says. (The Goddess does much prefer to think of herself as finely marinated, as opposed to darned-near eligible for the Denny's senior discount.) Now? Homes can have multiple personalities, says the woman whose job at Newsweek includes ferreting out trends. The future? Gotta tell you, Kalins is blown away by the Rem Koolhaas Central Library in Seattle and the emerging high-quality flat-pack furniture. Beyond? Go virtual, dear reader. The www.universe is yours to discover. To get you into orbit start with www.designaddict.com and www.thoughtlessacts.com. Remember, your home is what you make it.
The no-slouch couch Here it is, the James Brown of living-room furniture: The Loft Sofa. It's the hardest-working piece of furniture in the room. This Thomas O'Brien design for Hickory Chair might be all you need for a compact living room. The tuxedo-style sofa has a flip-down wooden ledge in the back, which serves as a low console. It also has a two-shelf, 8-inch-deep bookcase inset on each side. The down-cushioned couch comes in any finish and upholstery offered by Hickory Chair. Prices start at $4,970. See Hickory Chair at Schoener's Interiors and Miller-Pollard. Designers can find the line at L. Greenberg & Associates at the Seattle Design Center. Also, check it out at www.hickorychair.com. A pie-cut above Furniture designer Joe Ruggiero solved a personal problem, and in so doing has helped make life better for us all. End tables often seemed too far behind him to be of much use for depositing magazines, the TV remote and such, and cocktail tables too far in front. Here's his take on it: "I like to use small side tables in my room designs because they make the room more comfortable and more flexible. I find that they fit into nearly any space, and that they provide a handy spot for resting a book, a cup or a glass." So Ruggiero came up with the Pie-cut Side Table. It sits to the side-front juusssttt right. The little table allows the front corner of the sofa or chair arm to tuck right into the table. The tripod base keeps the table's footprint compact. In case you don't need it to hug your couch, it is also available without the cutout. The Pie-cut Side Table costs $300. To see it and find local retailers check out www.capertonfurnitureworks.com, or call 304-258-2343. The flatter the better Do-it-yourself is no longer the purview of just Ikea. Flat-pack furniture is coming up in the scaling-down world. Chmoebel represents a whole new kind of modern and sturdy furniture. All the pieces, designed by the Swiss architect Christian Frey and made in Switzerland, can be assembled without nails, screws, glue or other fasteners. They can also be disassembled and packed up for transport and storage. The S21 dining chair's design, of eco-friendly plywood, is reminiscent of the art-deco style with its use of clear lines and graphic elements. Attention had been paid (by the very accurate Swiss workers there) to comfortable seating with ideal angles, seat height and an integrated footrest. See the whole flat line at www.chmoebel.com. The modern world is flat indeed But wait, there's more! In the high-end, no-hardware, u-build world of furniture. Steven Tomlinson and Jeannie Choe, both recent Pratt Institute grads, have founded the Design Can, a firm that celebrates a lighter, but still beautiful, side of design. Their goal? To instill a feeling of joy/humor/curiosity in their users. All three elements are found in only three pounds with the Parcel Table. The box it comes in is a mere 1 ½ inches thick. The table is surprisingly sturdy and can be stacked. It can be disassembled into four identical parts and one square surface, which means it stores and ships easier than that giant block of a coffee table now taking center stage in your home. The acrylic-top version is $184; the wood-top version is $162. See it at www.followfunction.com or call 888-535-5179. Check out the Design Can at www.thedesigncan.com. Now you see it . . . now, not so much In the new, scaled-down world, the television may no longer have a big fancy room of its own. And, so, one might turn to VisionArt to craft a lovely museum-quality fine-art print (either paintings, color or black-and-white photographs) that works as TV camouflage. The print rolls up when the television is turned on and back down when it is off. One can choose images from the company's galleries or one can supply one's own art (or a family portrait). And they can be built to any dimension. Each piece from the Premiere Gallerie, for example, is signed and numbered by the artist. The prints are digitally produced using giclée printing technology. Prices for framed Décor Gallery pieces start at $3,500. Find VisionArt locally at Lawrence & Scott, 206-767-7899. It is shown to the trade at Terris Draheim at the Seattle Design Center. Check it out at www.visionartgalleries.com Flirtstones, it's the Flirtstones . . . I am reminded either of smooth and soothing river rocks or the décor in Judy Jetson's bedroom. I can't decide. But Barbara Goltermann has designed for Italian manufacturer SpHaus a thoroughly modern seating system that will go with the flow of any size living space. These pieces are made of polyurethane foam with tubular metal frames and come in a variety of fabrics. Each of the four components — sofa, armchair and two poufs — can be used alone or together for one larger seating/lounging area. They make it easy to rearrange the living room, and their low profile and clean, curved lines provide spare living with contemporary flair. The whole system costs $11,000. Retailers in the United States are Functions in Santa Monica (www.functionsonline.com or 800-388-6648), and Property (www.propertyfurniture.com or 917-237-0123), in New York City. See the furniture at www.sphaus.com. The Domestic Goddess can be reached at pacificnw@seattletimes.com.
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