Kelsey Keith
Senior Editor at Dwell
Kelsey Keith is Dwell's Senior Editor, based in New York. She's written about design, art, and architecture online and off and is obsessed with textile design, modern gables, and architectural follies.
Hideaway Cachet
A quirky mountain refuge by French designer Charlotte Perriand is an ingenious take on small-space living.
Moss Auction at Phillips de Pury
In our September entertaining issue, we profiled the one and only Murray Moss, New York design impresario and "ringmaster" of the over-the-top, irreverent design objects with high price tags. At the time, we couldn't mention that Moss's imminent auction of design-art pairings would be held at the venerable Phillips de Pury. Now that all is said and done with the auction, which raked in over $5.5 million, we know exactly what Moss was thinking by pairing the likes of a Campana brothers' stuffed-animal armchair with Christopher Winter painting of Alpine children. We also know that rare Hella Jongerius pottery is more lucrative than a chair, or even a custom Polder sofa. More details in our slideshow.
Women in Design at City Modern
This Wednesday evening, as part of Dwell and New York magazine's full plate of design programming for City Modern, design critic Alexandra Lange led a discussion on gender and architecture with three leading New York architects at Vitra's Meatpacking District showroom. Continuing a few of the themes explored in her essay on Architect Barbie from the July/August issue of Dwell, Lange spoke with Galia Solomonoff of Solomonoff Architecture Studio, Marion Weiss of Weiss/Manfredi, and Claire Weisz of WXY Studio, three firm principals who also teach architecture at Ivy League programs (Columbia, Penn, and Yale, respectively).
Little Cabins on the Prairie
With these modern-day lodges for Kansas City campers heading to the country, a Missouri architecture firm puts a fresh face on a 100-year-old Girl Scout tradition.
Design Museum London's Time Capsule
This morning—smack dab in the middle of the London Design Festival—Design Museum London broke ground on its new building designed by Dutch firm OMA with interiors by architect John Pawson. Britain's stronghold of contemporary international design is moving quarters from its perch on the South Bank of the Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, a 1960s-era concrete shell. There isn't usually much to see at a groundbreaking besides, well, a patch of ground, but Design Museum went beyond, burying a time capsule to be opened in 2112. They invited the likes of Sir Terence Conran (the museum's founder), Zaha Hadid, and Norman Foster to submit items they deem of utmost importance to our time.*
Family Matters
Charles Gwathmey’s residential masterpiece, a modest but pioneering home for his parents in the Hamptons, looks as fresh today as it did in 1965.
Tiny Studio Cabin by Hinterland Design
It doesn't get much more idyllic than this: An illustrator of children's books who lives on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia needed a quiet workspace that was nearby, but separate from, her family's bustling household. She contacted local designer, artist, and builder Riley McFerrin of Hinterland Design to replace an existing shed on her property, perched on top of a steep hill, by maintaining the old outbuilding's small footprint. The design brief? "Small but airy, bright but cozy, and most importantly modern, yet in keeping with the rustic charm of the country."
Contempo Luggage by Biaggi
The more you travel, the more you notice a bag that tips over when you lug it onto the curb, won't fit in an overhead bin, adds unneccessary weight, and slowly but surely contributes to jetset-induced fatigue. Now consider this addition to the luggage department: the soft-sided Contempo roller bag collection from Biaggi.
Modern Cookware, Old and New
One of the best parts of working at Dwell is the neverending onslaught of modern home goods we get to see, from dishtowels to doorknobs to desktop speakers. And after wrapping up September's entertaining issue, we've had kitchens on the brain. Two recent cookware introductions have especially piqued my interest: one, a Danish modern classic re-introduced to the mass market courtesy of Crate & Barrel; the other, a brand-new collection of "serving" cookware from Alessi.
Future Classics, Circa 2050?
It's something every designer, design writer, and design collector wonders constantly: Will this piece of furniture I made/ hailed in print/ bought still be in vogue in ten (or fifty) years' time? Julie Lasky addresses the issue in this week's New York Times, asking curators and design-world luminaries to select what pieces they think are destined to become future classics. (We've done the same, as evidenced in our July/August issue.) And while what was namechecked in the Times article is mostly worthy—notably Konstanin Grcic's One chair for Magis, nominated by four the dozen people Lasky polled, we want to open the floor to other ideas. What do you think will represent our present era of design in 2050? A few experts weigh in.
