Here's a detail shot of the stool. The leather comes in four options—black, chocolate, tobacco, and saddle—and the brightly hued backing fabric comes in ten—sky, radish, egg yolk, cream, camel, charchol, sand, mocha, chocolate, and black.

“A building can have far greater impact than the space it stands in.”—William Carpenter, architect and resident

New zoning allowed for a zero-lot-line structure, but required a public storefront, which Carpenter uses as an art gallery.

Architect Ulrich Hamann's rendering of the new addition to the Lenbachhaus Museum and Gallery; the Stadtische Galerie Im Lenbachhaus. Image courtesy of Lenbachhaus Gallery and Museum.

Inspirational spaces

Because their loft is a rental, David and Im Schafer built everything to be removable.

Perched just above the edge of the Narrows, the house is an ideal place to live surrounded by the wild beauty of Ketchikan.

Nothing but WOW ❤️❤️❤️

British artist Hannah Sawtell and technologist Avi Flombaum created sawbaum.com, where users can create visual collages using multiple vine streams. "We wanted it to look like a visual comic book, with overlapping panels," said Flombaum. "And we wanted it to be fun!" Photo courtesy Rhizome.

I.M. Pei, Luce Memorial Chapel (1963) When architect I.M. Pei designed this chapel for Tunghai University in Taiwan, he had to take local conditions, like typhoons and earthquakes, into account. His plan, which, included a curved roof of glazed, diamond-shaped tiles and interior ribs of reinforced concrete that run like ribbons towards the cross mounted on the roof, was an elegant solution to the challenges of the local environment. Photo courtesy Valter Wei, Creative Commons

Broken, 2014. I.M. Pei's Fountain Place in Dallas, Texas, built in 1986. “He used angles, triangles, planes and prisms to create a seemingly impossible visual space with this building,” says Olic. “The view from the east makes the structure seem broken and folded down the middle.”

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

In the bathroom, they did "basically surface things," says Im.

Luce Memorial Chapel in Tunghai, Taiwan, 1963, by I.M. Pei.

The Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater featuring seating collection designed by Token. Photo by Frank Oudeman.

Designer François Chambard created a series of three lamps and three vessels for Reclaim NYC. Each piece in the Après Collection includes salvaged materials found near and within the nearly destroyed Red Hook studio of fellow designers and friends Token. The Après Lamp 1, pictured here, will be part of a cash raffle, the proceeds of which will go directly towards recovery efforts for Token's studio. Photography by Francis Dzikowski/Esto.

Here's IM Pei's Meyerson Symphony Center done up for the holidays.

The Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater featuring seating collections designed by Token (foreground), Egg Collective (middle), and Asher Israelow (background). Photo by Frank Oudeman

This project seemed to inject the "Mid Century Modern" into what was a "Mid Century Bungalow" ... and which "Mid Century Modern" doesn't have the token Eames Chairs?

Janie Taylor and Ask la Cour in George Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Designers Will Kavesh and Emrys Berkower of Token mimicked dancers' legs for the steel legs of their tables. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

The two tiny homes were designed by CAST Architecture.

Illustration via drawastickman.com.

“I’m a huge fan of yellow,

X marks the spot with House Industries’ X Ornament. An expressive font, the X has an ornate quality that dresses up the design. In addition to capturing the letter itself, the X also represents a kiss, making this a sweet token for a loved one.

Piet Hein Eek's wooden chairs add a touch of color to the monochromatic apartment. "I'm a fan of simple modern furniture, with a twist," says Carr. "I wanted to buy everything from Piet Hein Eek."

Bow-wow-wow-haus. 〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰 #MansardMonday ✔️ #DumberWindows ✔️ #Cupola ✔️ #TacoBellArches ✔️ #HalfRoundWindow ✔️ #ChimneyTumor ✔️ All you could ever ask for.

Photo from blackandwtf.tumblr.com

One of the witticisms found on livethesheendream.com.

Irmeli Kukkapuro, whose own graphic art studio is right next to Yrjö's space in their live/work home, keeps shelves full of travel knick-knacks, tokens, and family pictures, like these two showing her husband as a young man and her daughter Isa as a toddler.

Local sailboat shops wanted thousands to make the 13-by-13-foot curtain that hides the Wall of Storage. "We we called my parents in Bangkok, gave them the dimensions, and they got it made for 150 bucks." says Im.

The Jorgensen's Menlo Park home is a model of green design with features that are smart for everyone to consider. "Every project is different, but there are some universal things that will apply from project to project," says Feldman about designing a green home. "The first—and most obvious thing—is to always try to build less, to have a smaller house and be smart about how the rooms are designed and oriented so that you can get by with less space. Smart design will lead to a smaller building, but it won't feel smaller."

The Schaffer's furniture includes an Eames Aluminum Group lounge chair ("and ottoman!" adds Im.) A coffee table made of glued, corrugated cardboard was the couple's first project together, when they met in college eight years ago.

As Didier reiterated to me over the course of our conversation, jewelry is really an intimate expression of affection–literal tokens created by artists as one-offs, a gift for a lover that is far more personal than a painting ever could be. This gold vermeil cast is of the model Veruschka’s mouth, created artist Claude Lalanne, and originally made along with a cast of the model’s midriff and breasts for Yves St. Laurent and made famous by a 1969 Vogue spread shot by Irving Penn.

“I don’t paint landscapes when I’m here because I can’t compete with the natural beauty,” says Yael.