Jaime Gillin is Deputy Editor at Dwell, where she writes and edits the magazine's Profile, My House, and feature stories and contributes regularly to Dwell.com. When not writing, editing, or combing design magazines and blogs for inspiration, she's experimenting with new recipes, traveling as much as possible, and tackling minor home-improvement projects that inevitably turn out to be more complex than anticipated.
A major perk of reporting the story "John Lautner's Desert Rose" for our June 2012 issue? Actually spending a night at the Hotel Lautner in Desert Hot Springs, California, which has been resurrected and reimagined by the uber-talented designers Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge. I brought along a camera and snapped some photos while the duo toured me around the four-room inn, which the legendary architect John Lautner designed in 1947 as a model for a master-planned desert community that never came to be. Click through the slideshow to see highlights of a little-known mid-century icon that has been lovingly brought back to life. And if you like what you see and want to hear more about the renovation process, come see Beckmann and Trowbridge talk at Dwell on Design on Sunday, June 24.
Whether our recent essay "The Real Cost of Rip-Offs" got you thinking about the dark side of the knockoff industry—or left you unfazed and unconvinced—we'd like to continue the conversation here on Dwell.com. You can find some incendiary and thought-provoking quotes from some of the people I interviewed for the piece, but didn't have space to include in the magazine story, online here. We'll round out the coverage with a handful of Q&As and other posts over the next few weeks. I received one of the most passionate and in-depth responses to my questions from Marg Mojzak, Director of Retail for Herman Miller, who fired off a dissertation on the subject of authentic design. Here, she discusses her company's investments in both classic and new design, dispels what she sees as knockoff myths, and makes a case for the value of "authenticity."
Two Los Angeles designers resuscitate a down-at-the-heel John Lautner building—and give architecture fans a chance to spend the night in a mid-century gem.
In researching the much-discussed essay "The Real Cost of Rip-Offs" for Dwell's June 2012 issue (on newsstands now), many design luminaries shared their perspectives on the subject of knockoffs and authentic design.
Today and in coming weeks, Dwell will share some of these engaging exchanges with design insiders. These are some of the most provocative quotes from those interviewed, which, due to space constraints, were not all included in the original essay. From the evils of Zara to America's disposable culture to the real value of a $1,000 chair, here are ten designers, manufacturers, and design observers sounding off on knockoffs and authentic design.
Although the topic is a gray area for many consumers—some of whom see knockoffs as an acceptable substitute for designs they can't afford in their original, more expensive, and usually higher-quality form—for designers and manufacturers, the subject is typically far more black and white. In their eyes, knockoffs are simply and indisputably bad for the industry, for consumers, and for the future of design.
Knockoff furnishings may be cheap, but for the design industry, they come with a heavy price.
Continuing our in-depth look at some of our favorite emerging designers around the world—read more about them in our May 2012 roundup here!—here are some additional products that illustrate their talents. Part One showcased designers from the U.K. to Germany to Tokyo to Sydney to Buenos Aires. This time we look at design duos from America and Bangkok, a handful of Scandinavians, and a talented young woman from South Africa who's making her mark on everything from wallpaper to wooden toys. Click through for more!
Last week, the MoMA Design Store in New York launched the latest installment in its Destination: Design series. Available only through June, Destination: Mexico is a limited-availability product collection featuring approximately 150 products by emerging Mexican designers, including home accessories, furniture, paper goods, and jewelry. Many of the products reimagine typical Mexican materials and techniques—such as a pre-Columbian-style pitcher rendered in polyester resin and a chair woven with ancient Mayan techniques that utilizes zinc-galvanized PVC string. The product collection focuses on designers who source local, recycled, and organic materials, and use production techniques that minimize waste. Many items are also produced with collectives who aim to create an opportunity for employment in small, rural villages and support the teaching of traditional crafts to a new generation. Here, a peek at some of our favorite finds from the collection, which is currently available for purchase on MoMAstore.org and in the MoMA Design stores in New York, Japan, and Korea.
A year and a half ago, while on sabbatical from Olson Kundig Architects, Kevin Scott conceived of Röllerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co. A mix of design firm, artist/designer collective, and advanced illustration company, Rollerhaüs is trying to blaze a new trail for what a design firm can be. "The practice type I’m trying to create doesn’t exist so I don’t have any sort of model I can work from," says Scott. "What I’m trying to do is blend a kind of idea-based practice, as embodied by an IDEO, with the artistry and communication of a visual effects firm (like Industrial Light & Magic) that operates primarily in architecture and urbanism." Curious to learn more about Scott's work and vision, I asked him a handful of questions—about his eclectic background, his favorite rendering tools, and Seattle's design scene.
If you liked what you saw in our Young Designers roundup in our May 2012 issue—where we spotlighted 28 up-and-coming design talents from around the globe—then don't miss this extended look at more work by those designers. Here you'll see Elisa Strozyk's additional innovative experiments with wood veneer, Pia Wüstenberg's lathed scrap paper pendant lamps, Fredrik Färg's recycled chairs made new with intricately folded and stritched felt backs, and much, much more. Click through the slideshow!
I was so pleased to come across this video recently on the website Grist—a nearly ten-minute film about creating healthy neighborhoods, narrated by the late, great urban writer and activist Jane Jacobs and produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I've read Jacobs before (she is best known for her classic tome The Death and Life of Great American Cities) but I've never heard her speak. Here, in her later years, she endearingly discusses the impact on automobiles on neighborhoods and our health; how to create dignified places where people will be proud to live (and how to do it affordably); and why cities should provide places for skateboarders "to do their weird skateboarding thing."
Los Angeles as it might have been, if only these wild #design ideas had gotten off the ground: http://t.co/v4jQdSwGWu via @dwell
"Don’t forget about the 5th wall" & other tips on picking the right paint colors, from @devinecolor & @dwellondesign http://t.co/r7VrxCxEHb
Recap of this week's best posts online @dwell, from a luxe gallery-home in Brussels to a mod house in Rhode Island http://t.co/pAYXk1iVQt
For insight into photographers who shoot for @dwell, & their approach to work, ck out @JuliaSabot's great Q&A series http://t.co/i3BkO5A5GQ
How best to incorporate bold color into your home? 3 #design experts will share pointed advice onstage @dwellondesign http://t.co/Cp9YP2pEJa
