Art Rhymes With..... Smart?

 
There is nothing I love more than scattering random pieces of artwork throughout my apartment. I love the overall eclecticism of acquired pieces that were not made together, for each other, or even have the same colors. My design aesthetic is like that of a quilt. It is bright, random, patterned, and a patchwork of everything I love and all that is comfort. If I can't find a piece of art that I am sure has to exist somewhere other than my brain, what do I do? I make it myself. Though I do not fashion myself as a painter at all, painting is a hobby of mine that allows my brain to relax and take a backseat while my creativity takes the wheel. This painting shown above is a mixed media piece that I created that has a background of watercolor stained newspaper squares with an acrylic overlay of a painting. The Atlanta skyline is framed out by the ever-present power/telephone lines that decorate our sidewalks wherever we go. This painting is a reflection of my current environment and will always serve as a reminder of this time, no matter where life takes me.

In keeping with the use of newspaper, another favorite of mine is this mirror I found that is made from recycled Japanese magazine clippings. This piece incorporates the use of color, geometry, and the randomness of the magazine clippings to add a pop of color and reflection in my apartment. Sure I could look into the deeper meaning of the Japanese beauty magazine clippings that are subliminally telling me how to look while framing out the mirror, or I can be honest an admit... it is just really nice to have a mirror to glance into right before you walk out the front door.

Another interesting use of artwork in my apartment is in my bedroom. Instead of painting something to match my custom headboard, or spending hours to find the right color scheme, I found my inspiration in these Not For Tourist maps. My mom and I made a headboard from fabric from the fabric store that I work at a few years back. The center of the headboard is a printed orange silk with turquoise cotton twill side panels. So turquoise and orange are not the easiest colors to come by together, but the create a beautiful color palette. Inspired by my boyfriend's love of finding every bike path Atlanta has to offer, I found these interesting Not For Tourist Maps. Two of the maps showcase neighborhoods in Atlanta that I love, one is Candler Park, the other Virginia Highlands. These are the two outside pieces. The center piece is a map of the lovely Boston Harbor... a place I dream of being whenever I am dying to get out of this city. By tying the maps together with the simple orange frames, this triptych of my favorite places has a good aesthetic in the room, but a deeper, happier meaning to me.

 
Lastly, my favorite piece of art in my apartment. For years I have collected items from the Finnish textile design company, Marimekko. My mother always collected their things and she passed it on down to me. Their cutting edge design and bold graphics catch my eye and my heart every time I see them. A couple of years ago for my birthday, my sister gave me this piece of gorgeous Marimekko fabric. It was love at first sight! Being that my mom is a framer, I am always looking into new and interesting frames that she has at her work. I always had my eye on this bold, yellow, wood frame, but I had not use for it. As soon as I was given this fabric, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. Rather than try to make something out of the fabric by cutting or sewing it, I had the piece dry mounted and framed. This is a large piece, it is about 5' high by 3.5' wide. This definitely is the focal point in my crazy quilt of an apartment. This is a piece that I will always treasure and I will always have it in my home.

Art reflects you and your personality... so who cares if it doesn't match? It is your home, fill it with things that make you happy and not what you see in a magazine. If you can't be yourself in your own home, where can you actually be?

Bottle of Sunshine... or Artficial Light.

Sofia Montero is a Chilean product designer that is making her stamp on the sustainable world of design. She makes the most wonderful pieces, whether they are lamps or furniture, from re-purposed PET plastic bottles. Not only are these products shaped into such a pleasant form, but they also embrace the whimsy of having a light fixture made from everyday plastic bottles. Since these bottles are not recyclable, re-purposing them has truly become its own work of art. Artists and designers everywhere have begun to use PET plastic bottles as a new medium. There have been things designed from houses to cars to purses to chairs and even to clothing. Regardless of the application, the re-purposing of the PET plastic has helped cut down on the amount of contamination of plastic into our environment.

Stemming from an intense study of the harmful elements of certain plastics during her Masters thesis, Montero was determined to change the way of plastic. Through her design she hopes to show the beauty of the re-purposement  of the plastic as well as the resiliency of the material. This design urges one not to use just plastic as an aesthetic, but en-recyclable and non-biodegradable PET plastic that is harmful to the environment and using in a completely new way. Lets face it, this stuff is not going anywhere so we better put it to good use! Whether it be a strong support for a coffee table or an interesting light fixture, Montero has truly created beautiful products out of an environmental foe. PET plastics are one of the most harmful of all plastics created for the environment. Due to the state that the world is currently in, it is refreshing to see someone embrace the fact that this material is not going away and start putting it to GOOD use instead of wasteful use. Next time you finish a 2 liter of soda, I challenge you to keep that bottle and create something out of it. Cut off the top and you have a re-purposed planter.... use the top in another sustainable project. Be creative, but most of all, save the world.

Okay, Probably a Bad Transition, But.....

 
Speaking of old people.... there, I said it. Green hospital design! Just like the neglect of the eldery, health care designed is extremely underrated by the general public. Sure hospitals can be depressing, but designers everywhere are slowly curing the plague in people's minds that hospitals have to be depressing and boring. Think again my friends. New studies have shown the importance of green design and the incorporation of nature in health care facilities. A recent poll show that patients suffering from depression spent an average 4 days less in the hospital when they were in a hospital room that was east-facing with lots of sun exposure compared to those who were not. In fact, some doctors prescribe visits to the tanning salon for patients suffering from depression in the long Winter months. The reason is simple, sunlight = happiness! The UV Rays from the sun penetrate the skin and get the endorphins flowing. This natural process creates a natural happy feeling in one's brain. Without the sun, the world would be a terrifying place. It is funny the simple things that we take for granted, like every sunrise and sunset. The sun is the essence of life. Not only does it help plants grow and spread, or helps create natural energy, but it also allows people to function at normal or some-what normal levels. Due to these studies, hospitals everywhere are incorporating gardens and green spaces into there design, as well as plenty of sun exposure. From Zen gardens to central atriums to larger, clearer windows, the health care world relies heavily on the natural healing powers of nature and the sun.

Let's Take Care of Our Elderly!

Sure, there are foundations all across the world promoting to "save the children" and to protect "today's youth", but what about Grandma? Do we just continue to toss our elders into nursing homes and assisted living where we only visit them when it is convenient for us? Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh... but the elders of today are seriously mistreated. Fed up with this ever-growing epidemic of "ageism", artist Paul Chamberlain decided to use art as his reaction. In his new gallery show, Stigmas, Chamberlain displays sustainable wood chairs that address the issues of the deprived elderly of today. 

Each chair has an overall theme, each one is directly drawn from society's stereotypes of old people. Such as all old people walk with canes, have horrible eyesight, can't drive, and they shrink. Sure, these things happen to an extent, but not in the extreme fashion that has been painted all over the media. News flash: old people are still people. I love old people.... from a very young age my mom had me deliver Meals on Wheels with her every week to older folk and I always loved hearing their crazy stories from their youth. I realized at about age 8 that old people were merely just an older version of myself and nothing to be afraid of like most children are. Old people are awesome, they have been through everything and they have shaped the society that we live in today. Sure the youth is always changing things around, but if you think about it, the elderly provided us the society that we were born into. Chamberlain wanted to push exactly this point across to the people. Old people are still people and sure we can design these great, ground breaking items and gadgets for us, but somebody has to be looking out for them. Lets face it, we will all be old people one day. Lets embrace our past and those who have survived a life through some of the most transitional times our country has seen. Old people matter... lets let them live out their last years seeing the change that their predecessors are making for the BETTER.

Another LEEDer in Design...

Westin hotels have just opened up a ground-breaking, LEED Gold Certified hotel in Times Square in New York City. LEED Gold certification means that this hotel was not just "green" enough, or sustainable enough to be LEED certified, but it was awarded the second highest LEED certification. For those of you who don't know, LEED stands for Leaders in Energy Efficient Design. LEED certification is awarded to spaces that truly make sustainable choices by using certain materials and systems inside the space to ensure that the building creates only a small amount of waste. 

The Element Hotel by the Westin not only uses green materials, but it also uses sustainable practices such as daylighting. Daylighting is the process of using the natural sunlight to light a space compared to relying on the use of artificial lighting. There are two types of daylighting, passive and active. The Element uses both types in the space. There is a large sunroom like structure off of the building that uses the natural sunlight throughout the space in a passive manner. Also, installed on the roof of the building are some parabolic sensors that track the sunlight and harvest its energy in order to act as the electricity of the space. In addition to the public spaces, the guest rooms, which each have their own kitchenettes, have energy efficient appliances as well as plumbing fixtures. This hotel truly gives the user a luxurious, sustainable experience. Starting at around $265/night, if you are into staying at posh hotels in New York City, do not hesitate to check this one out. I will be sure to book my room for when I get back from my vacation in my ecopod in the Swiss Alps. :)

THE MOST AMAZING LIGHT BULBS....EVER!

 
Sick and tired of that ugly compact fluorescent bulb in your floor lamp? Completely depressed about the death and banishment of the incandescent light bulb? Well dry those tears and take a look at these beauties. They don't even need a lampshade! Why would you cover these works of art up? Are you crazy? These light bulbs designed by Plumen took home the top prize of "design of the Year Award" at the recent Brit Insurance Design Awards. Not only are these beautifully sculpted light bulbs changing what we see as a necessity to an unspeakable elegance, but these light bulbs, or technically "lamps", are compact fluorescent lamps. That means that yes, these are the same type of lamp that you see in the store with the ice cream swirl top and giant ballast base. Who would have thought that they could be so pretty!

A new, hip restaurant in Brooklyn, New York has these Plumen lamps scattered throughout their space acting as pendant lamps over there salvaged wood dining tables. These unique lamps are the perfect addition to your trendy green space. Even if you're space isn't completely green, these lamps create an interesting focal point in a space while being stylish and saving the earth. That's what I strive to be.... Livia the stylish, elegant, earth-saving designer. Okay, new life goal... be more like the Plumen CFL's. Inspiration from a light bulb, don't judge me. Regardless of your views on the world and whether or not you feel that global warming and the ever-growing oil and energy crisis is just a ploy by the media, there is no denying the sculptural beauty of this product. This lamp is truly an art form and most definitely deserved the "Design of the Year" award. Keep up the good work Plumen!

Biodegradable Furniture? Could it be?

Don't worry, this chair won't slowly dissolve away as you are sitting on it. That's not how these things work. The young, talented, and wonderful French furniture designer, Elise Gabriel, has created a new line of furniture that is 100% biodegradable to add to her ever-growing "green" furniture collection. These pieces of furniture are made from 100% from a new, patented material called Zelfo. Zelfo is a ground-breaking material in the green world that is made from 100% cellulose fibers that are extracted from rapidly renewable plants. These plants include, hemp, miscanthus, and bamboo. Cellulose can also be extracted from cellulose rich waste..... or elephant/giraffe poop. Yes, I said poop. It's natural!

Ew, and you actually were thinking about eating on that table??? Just kidding. The cellulose is extracted from the waste and then thoroughly cleaned before being combined with the other cellulose fiber. Once the fibers are obtained, they are stretched and then pressed together to create a very tough, yet paper-like material. And there you have Zelfo. But is this patent-protected material really the way to go? Sure, the thought of having a strong, yet 100% biodegradable material is provoking, but will the company that created Zelfo soon have a green-material monopoly? I all likeliness, probably not. We must keep our thoughts positive and hopefully the prices for Zelfo won't shoot through the roof due to its exclusivity. Regardless of the price, however, these pieces of furniture have a rustic, yet modern feel to them. Let's support the "green" designers of the world and spread the word about this new, ground-breaking movement! Lets just hope that there are people out their with lots of money that are looking for sustainable products.... because I sure can't afford it!