WESTWEEK Buzz: How to Catch an Editor's Eye with Studio Baccarat

If you made it to this year's WESTWEEK, we hope you brought your portfolio along with you and stopped by The Editor at Large’s portfolio review in Studio Baccarat’s pop-up showroom. A stellar panel of top design editors consulted one-on-one with designers and offered advice and feedback on how to pitch their design projects.

The panel included Erika Heet, contributor to 1stdibs and Robb Report; Vanessa Kogevinas, contributor to California Homes; and Alexandra Mott Abrahmian, Editor-in-Chief of Angeleno Interiors.

“The Baccarat event series at WESTWEEK were fantastic," said Bruce Padilla, Director of Stores, Baccarat. "The pop-up showroom looked amazing and the new Baccarat lighting sparkled! The designers who visited the showroom were among the who's who of the L.A. design community.”

“Los Angeles is home to so much amazing design talent and we were absolutely thrilled to launch Studio Baccarat at WESTWEEK," said Fernanda Chandoha, National Manager, Lighting and A&D. "We wanted to reach out and create a relevant and enriching experience for the design community and are thrilled with the turn out, the new people we were able to meet and can’t wait for the next one!”

Stay tuned to GoDesignGo to hear the panel's thoughts on the top three projects that especially caught their eye.

Save the Date: Panoramic, Photographic Spaces

The Design Seminar Series is back in action with the first Spring seminar offering tips and staging trick to make your interiors camera-ready and help attract editorial attention.

The panel features internationally-renowned architectural and interior photographers Robin Hill and Troy Campbell; Editor-in-Chief of MIAMI magazine Luis Rigual; and moderated by Ashlee Harrison, Marketing Director of DCOTA.

Troy, Robin and Luis will share their take on what makes a space photogenic and picture perfect. Where many go wrong, you'll succeed with their simple do's and don'ts.

A lunch reception will immediately follow at SieMatic in Suite C-336.

The event takes place April 21, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. Space is limited. RSVP required to marketing@dcota.com.

Shop Talk: Duravit Shouts ‘WaterSense’ from the Rooftop

Duravit is known for its commitment to the environment and its long list of water-efficient products. So when students from the Spitzer School of Architecture and the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York took on the Department of Energy’s annual Energy Solar Decathlon, Duravit was a happy partner.

The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate challenge to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are energy- and cost-efficient. Recently, CCNY’s students formed Team New York and came up with a particularly innovative design: the Solar Roofpod. Designed for the most underutilized real estate in the city—the flat rooftops of existing mid-rise residential or commercial buildings—the Solar Roofpod was built as a smart structure that produces solar power and heat and retains and recycles storm water.

With such efficient systems outside, it is fitting that the interior would be outfitted with water-efficient technology. Donating an entire bathroom set, equipped with a Vero sink basin, a Starck shower tray, and the wall-mounted WaterSense-approved D Code toilet, Duravit helped Team New York put the finishing touch on their smart structure.

It comes as no surprise that the Solar Roofpod, with smart design inside and out, brought in more than 10,000 visitors in just ten days. Team New York also ranked fourth in Communications, an honor celebrating their deliverance of a clear and consistent message that represented their vision, process, and the importance of smart building.

To check out Duravit's WaterSense in person, visit EuroConcepts Bath at the PDC or Designer's Plumbing Studio at the DCOTA.

Specialists of Design: Alex Matamoros Takes Us to Art Wynwood (Part 3)

Alex Matamoros, Design Center of the Americas’ director of design services and design professionals, has just a few more exhibits to share with us from his recent experience at Art Wynwood, the International Contemporary Art Fair in Miami.

By Alex Matamoros

Before leaving, I fell in love with one last exhibit that I couldn't exclude. Lluis Barba's Lausberg Contemporary Gallery of Ontario was utterly moving. Lluis, an artist from Spain, incorporates images painted by the masters of art with today’s elements, artist, signs, and bar codes. This type of collage features so many images that every square inch has something interesting!

Luis has said of his work, "The incorporation of characters in the works of the past emerge while thinking about how our brain has the ability to receive external references. As the image we receive moves across the retina, it arrives with us as an absolute fragmentation at the hypothalamus, where it reconstructs a virtually reasonable image, depending on the evolutionary parameters of a sort."

Luis says he gets out-of-context elements from reality to displace them into another, alternate reality. He is known for using irony and implicit messages in his work, like the “global mestization” in society. "In my works tourists attend not only at museums, but they are also incorporated in works with the metaphoric involvement that this fact implies, establishing a dialogue more direct between those who observe and those who admire," he said.

If you missed Miami's recent International Contemporary Art Fair this year, make sure to be there next year. Art Wynwood is an amazing event that I will be attending for many years to come.

Tending Trends: Plethoras of Perforation Pock the DDB (Part 2)

Less is more for our newly spotted design trend at the DDB. With perforated products popping up in showrooms all over the building, we love seeing what creative ways designers are spinning perforations and cutouts throughout collections.

The new Donghia showroom boasts perforated patterns in fabrics such as Mirror, Mirror, which creates a sparkling statement by combining hand-woven silk with small pieces of mica embroidered into laser-cut spaces in the fabric, or Stella, part of the Sahco collection that features a dense white ground weave from which small pieces are cut out by laser. At the same time, the heat of the laser seals the edges of the polyester weave. The effect is lace-like, and the intricate floral design seems like a silhouette.

"Perforated fabrics and products add a new facet to design," said a designer who was shopping at Donghia. "By adding the texture with laser-cut designs, instead of with the more traditional uses of texture, the possibilities within a space widen even further and the whole design process really gets fun and creative. I personally love the way perforated curtains can look, because they affect a room so, so much in every single kind of light the day is giving you outside!"

If you're looking for more perforated perfection in the DDB, you can visit Création Baumann, Donghia, Romo, Jerry Pair, and more. Let us know what you find!

Tending Trends: Plethoras of Perforation Pock the DDB (Part 1 of 2)

It's a brand new year, and as we see new collections pop up all over the DDB, we're noticing a few trends.

Our first trend isn't so much about what is there, but rather what isn't there and all of the creative ways of designing fabrics and products by using perforation, cutouts, and “holes”!

Less is more when it comes to fabrics whose design is based on cutout pieces and intentionally designed absences in their making. The voids that we've been seeing create dramatic effects and, when used in fabric, use window light as an even larger part of a room's design. Création Baumann is a perfect example of perforated fabric that is both dramatic and fresh.

"Création Baumann offers an enormous library of laser-cut fabrics that have been wildly successful over the past several years," said a sales associate. "Cutting our fabrics by laser allows for exact dimensions wanted by the client and lets our designers use patterns ranging from strong, geometric designs to soft, flighty, and whimsical designs. They allow for such a wide spectrum of atmospheres and tastes."

Création Baumann's Curl pattern, part of the Création Baumann Line collection, is one of our favorite examples of geometric design. The Curl curtain fabric in established burn-out quality features transparent shapes emerging from dense, wave-like bases to generate an intriguing and puzzling interplay of shapes and shadows.

Sahco's Gala collection by Brentano balances sophistication and playfulness in the fabric Nightlife. Nightlife features geometric twisting and turning patterns inspired by stained glass windows and brought to life using an innovative laser cutting method.

Check back with GoDesignGo tomorrow for more on showrooms full of perforated product throughout the DDB.

Specialists of Design: Alex Matamoros Takes Us to Art Wynwood (Part 2 of 3)

Yesterday, Design Center of the Americas’ director of design services and design professionals, Alex Matamoros, shared his recent experience at Art Wynwood, Miami's recent International Contemporary Art Fair. Here's more from Alex about what he loved most during his day at the fair.

By Alex Matamoros

It's hard to pick favorites out of a sea of amazing art, but eventually it was clear that several certainly stood out from the crowd. Augusto Esquivel's Now Contemporary Art Gallery is the first on my list! This amazing artist was born in Argentina, and he arranges simple buttons and monofilaments into amazing sculptures.

Augusto has said, "I realize how insignificant and small a simple sewing button can be as it lays in my grandmother’s sewing box, but at the same time how unique and precious it can become as part of a work of art. Like an atom in a molecule, each button serves and shapes the whole. I hold the button to my ear and it whispers to me, ‘I want to be...'"

Michael Eastman's Barry Friedman Ltd. is another on my list. One of the collections on display from Michael was his series of pictures of Cuba. I love the look of the old mansions after 50-plus years of little to no maintenance. The rich and famous used to live in these homes, and now they are occupied by multiple families.

Michael is one of the world's leading contemporary photographic artists, and he happens to be a self-taught photographer who spent four decades documenting interiors and facades in cities as diverse as Havana, Paris, Rome, and New Orleans, producing large-scale photographs unified by their visual precision, monumentality, and painterly use of color. He is most recognized for his explorations of architectural form and the textures of decay, which create mysterious narratives about time and place—but I love him for all of it!

Specialists of Design: Alex Matamoros Takes Us to Art Wynwood (Part 1 of 3)

We recently introduced you to Alex Matamoros, DCOTA's director of design services and design professionals. Now that we have gotten to know him, he's telling us about Art Wynwood, Miami's recent International Contemporary Art Fair.

By Alex Matamoros

Recently, I had the wonderful chance to attend the Art Wynwood International Contemporary Art Fair in Miami. My friend Martha Enzler, a ceramic artist, was visiting from Minnesota, and upon learning about the art fair, she decided to come for a visit and join me in attending. I couldn't be gladder that we did!

Art Wynwood is a new fair whose timing could not be better. The international fair had one of the highest tourist and snowbird weekends of the year, along with the Miami International Boat show and the Coconut Grove’s Art Festival to help grab more interest.

There were 50 galleries participating, with art by 500 artists from 13 countries, including Argentina, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The fair featured photography, sculpture, art videos, conceptual art, urban street art, and more.

Miami has evolved culturally in the past few years. Besides Art Basel, the largest art show in the region, Florida has all types of design shows, installations, museums, gallery walks, and more throughout the year. I’m so excited about the direction the art scene is heading today!

Stay tuned tomorrow to hear the many favorites Alex picked throughout Art Wynwood to share.

Shop Talk: A Walking Tour of Paris' Design District

Join Jessica Romm for a walking tour of Paris' Design District with Crans Baldwin, president and CEO of Donghia, and Ludovic Darricau of Elitis.

The two textile titans, who together represent the best of American and Parisian design, take Jessica through their new 2012 collections amid a walking tour of the design district in the City of Light.

Crans takes us through Rubelli's Paris showroom and shows off a decadent Stella McCartney-esque fabric; meanwhile, Ludovic takes us to the depths of Donghia's Parisian locations to show off the history of the company and the way it has grown since its birth.

Shop Talk: Brooke Shields, Adam Levine & Other Celebrities Highlight Products We Know & Love (Part 2)

We're back with more from the March 2012 issue of Architectural Digest, featuring A-list celebrities in their homes. We've done our homework and are sharing a few of these celebs' personal picks of Cohen Design Center showrooms, which we frequent ourselves.

Lead singer and frontman of the band Maroon 5, Adam Levine has a Hollywood Hills home that combines the attitude of a bachelor and midcentury sophistication. Levine's living room of vintage instruments and comfy seating features a Dunbar sofa in Maharam moheir velvet and a Stilnovo floor lamp.

Beneath an Andy Warhol silkscreen of a revolver in Levine's dining room sits a French Art Deco cabinet from JF Chen. His sensational marble-clad master bath features an antique claw-foot tub from Architectural Detail and a Paul McCobb side table from JF Chen. A Phillippe Starck rifle-lamp can be found bedside in Levine's bedroom.

Julianne Moore's Manhattan-based sanctuary was designed in part by architect and interior designer Brian Sawyer. Her Greenwich Village home—with its enviously green garden and romantic horticulture conscience—proves that New York City isn't just a concrete jungle.

Antique Enlish stone troughs from Lauren Copen Antiques are filled with succulents and moss in Moore's outdoor patio, and an installation of branches against the rear wall perfectly pairs with the troughs and doubles as a functioning treehouse. The patio has climbing ivy and perfectly placed bubbling fountains—and we certainly wouldn't mind taking refuge here for a while just like Moore does.

Check back for more Shop Talk on GoDesignGo to learn more about celebrities who use our favorite Cohen Design Center showrooms to finely furnish their own abodes.

Shop Talk: Brooke Shields, Adam Levine & Other Celebrities Highlight Products We Know & Love (Part 1 of 2)

We have to admit, we love reading about our favorite celebrities using products from the showrooms that we frequent in the Cohen Design Centers. So when we read the March 2012 issue of Architectural Digest, featuring Brooke Shields in her Greenwich Village townhouse on the cover, we couldn’t resist learning what showrooms she has been to, along with a few other A-list celebrities featured in AD.

Shields’ family townhouse was renovated in collaboration with designer David Flint Wood and MADE architects, and highlights several DDB showrooms that we're proud to see decked out in her design.

The living room boasts a curule-form stool covered in a David Hicks fabric from Lee Jofa and pillows in a graphic John Robshaw linen accenting the room from John Rosselli & Associates. The dining room shows off an exquisite vintage Ralph Lauren Home marble-top pedestal table with mismatched chairs adorning it, and a John Rosselli & Associates tole chandelier hung above it.

Giorgio Armani's Swiss retreat was another celebrity-showcased home in the March issue of AD. Using deep colors and textures, Armani's chalet in the Swiss Alps goes for dark mahogany rather than golden pine and embraces couture alpine style.

Adorned in Armani/Casa from ceiling to floor, the living room of Armani's winter getaway near Saint Moritz, Switzerland, looks out over the snowy Alps. The sofa, cocktail table, and silk rug are by Armani/Casa and keep the cozy atmosphere chic. A leather cube chair by Armani/Casa sits beside a sofa upholstered in one of Armani/Casa's fabrics by Rubelli, with a matching carpet thrown in front for comfort.

Throughout the rest of the wintery getaway, Armani/Casa products can be found everywhere, making for a decadent, dim hideaway in a home ever-surrounded by snow. Rubelli makes a few more appearances, as seen in the fabric dressing Armani's bed with a bedspread and bolster.

Hear more on celebrity design from the March 2012 issue of Architectural Digest, and the Cohen Design Center showrooms chosen by the famous.

Event Spotlight: Innovations Showroom Celebrates Grand Opening

The Innovations showroom is celebrating the grand opening of its new showroom at the D&D Building in Suite 1717. Innovations will preview its 2012 collections upon appointment. Refreshments will be served.

The open house is taking place today and tomorrow, March 15-16 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the DDB in Suite 1717. For an appointment, contact showroom manager Rachel Smislogg by emailing rsmisloff@innovationsusa.com.

Product Spotlight: Michaelian & Kohlberg Takes Us to India

We know and love Michaelian & Kohlberg for its fine handmade decorative carpets woven in Nepal, India and China, and recently we fell in love all over again. Michaelian & Kohlberg Out of India collection has us trying to decide which to do first: find ourselves a new Michaelian & Kohlberg Indian rug or travel to India ourselves.

With rugs of original and sophisticated designs that range from traditional to ultra-contemporary, Michaelian & Kohlberg carpets create beautiful and luxurious foundations for some of today’s finest interiors—and the Out of India collection is no exception. Using all vegetable dyes and handspun wool yarn, the collection of hand-knotted rugs celebrates the rich tradition of India design and culture.

Stop by the Michaelian & Kohlberg showroom at the PDC in Suite B500/B502 and be whisked away to India.

In the News: Total Window Expands Showroom at DCOTA (Part 2)

We love learning about the expansion of showrooms at the Cohen Design Centers, so we're thrilled with Total Window Inc.’s recent announcement. After 23 years in the same showroom, Total Window has expanded the company with a move to a new and larger showroom in the Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA). The showroom features more product and a studio for designers and clients intended for home automation.

"I am thrilled about our new showroom space. The previous occupant sold fine paintings, and we intend to showcase our custom treatments in much the same way; featuring our window designs as art on the walls of a gallery," said Jesse Stolow, COO of Total Window. "At the same time we will be showcasing the myriad treatment options available to clients. This is a drastically different direction from the way many other companies showcase their products; but, then again, we are not like most companies."

The studio will be located in a furnished media room inside Total Window’s showroom, where home automation solutions can be seen in their fullness, controlling lighting, electronics, sound, and window shades. As Jesse commented, “Designers and clients will now be able to actually see for themselves how home automation allows them to have more control of their homes, even from a distance via their mobile devices. They will also learn the real importance of selecting the correct window treatments for their automated home space, from automated shades to automated draperies. For these new home spaces, designers can select a variety of custom window treatments for the popular media rooms and home theaters many consumers are now seeking to add to their homes today.”

Stop by Total Window's brand-new showroom at DCOTA, and let us know what you love!

Event Recap: Edward Ferrell Talks Fabric 101 at Student Design Day

Edward Ferrell knows fabric, so it was only appropriate that the DDB's Student Design Day schedule included a Fabric 101 lecture with Steven Mittman, owner of Edward Ferrell + Lewis Mittman (EFLM). With tens of thousands of different fabrics and a similar number of upholstery styles available, Steven discussed the infinite possibilities in the marriage of the two.

"With nearly unlimited options to work with in both fabric and upholstery, attention to detail for every single order of them is almost a guaranteed challenge for you," said Steven. "Because of the overwhelming number of options you will always have, a new challenge is perpetually posed to the workroom and you, the designer. How do we narrow things down?

"Important tips that will always help you with these choices are understanding your fabric-to-frame applications and knowing how the two interact and invigorate each other. When you're fully able to narrow your product down and freely explore the wishes of your clients, the only other necessity is to avoid the mistakes that can come with such design that prove to be quite costly."

Steven shared his tips on honing essential design skills and stressed that the most important thing a designer can do is to offer his or her client the best upholstery experience possible.

In the News: Total Window Expands Showroom at DCOTA (Part 1 of 2)

After 23 years in the same showroom, Total Window Inc. has announced an expansion of the company with a move to a new and larger showroom in the Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA). The showroom will feature exciting new custom window treatments and a Home Automation Studio to be added soon for designers and clients.

"We are very excited to grow our company within the Design Center of the Americas," said Jesse Stolow, COO of Total Window. "We know that DCOTA is a South Florida destination unlike any other, admitting designers and their clients from all over the world to experience the best of luxury living, so we're excited to expand within it. Through the years we have had much success in DCOTA and are poised to develop relationships with even more of the interior design elite."

The forthcoming Home Automation Studio will allow designers and clients to learn more about home automation technology and how it makes sophisticated home solutions practical. Designers will be able to use the Home Automation Studio to present to their clients these solutions and the benefits they provide. Additionally, the larger showroom space now allows Total Window to add many custom treatments that feature highly creative design, which designers and their clients will appreciate.

Check back with GoDesignGo tomorrow to hear more on Total Window's expansion, and if you're at DCOTA, stop by and check it out!

Andrew Martin Shares Favorites

After recently spending an afternoon with Andrew Martin company representatives, we learned about some of the product they especially love at Andrew Martin this year. Here's a look at some of the favorites among the staff of Andrew Martin Fabric, like Laundry, shown above. Click the links to read more on these fabulous fabrics.


Shown above, the fabric Botanist upholsters darling seat cushions and throw pillows in red colorways.


Shown above, Mendoza fabric is one of Andrew Martin's Inventor-themed Fall fabrics, shown in the Malbec colorway covering an armed desk chair.


Shown above, the Debussy fabric is another of Andrew Martin's newest Fall fabrics.
Stay tuned to GoDesignGo next week we share the highlights of Andrew Martin Wallpaper.

Andrew Martin Shares Favorites

Andrew Martin representatives recently spent an afternoon with us to share some of the product they especially love this year. Here's a look at some of the favorites among the staff of Andrew Martin Fabric, like Botanist, shown above. Click the links to read more on these fabulous fabrics.

Shown above, the fabric Creel covers darling matching armchairs.

Shown above, Rudder fabric is one of Andrew Martin's newest Fall fabrics.

Shown above, Library fabric is another of Andrew Martin's newest Fall fabrics.

Stay tuned to GoDesignGo next week as we share the highlights of Andrew Martin Wallpaper.

Shop Talk: Carrier and Company is in Knoll Luv

As one of the earliest supporters of the Knoll Luxe showroom, Carrier and Company Interiors Ltd principals Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller took some time out of their busy schedules to tell us what they love about Knoll Luxe and why this showroom is the one they keeping keep coming back to.


"We look to Knoll Luxe for textiles that are crafted, yet modern," said Mara. "Their partnerships with leading fashion designers has created a new direction and level of quality for home textiles that is truly game changing!"


The showroom is also a great stop for our better-than-basics shopping, Mara told us. "The DDB's Knoll Luxe showroom is a place we can get subtle weaves and exciting colors that elevate our often edited fabric schemes, where every fabric counts! The showroom packs a punch because in addition to Knoll Luxe, it is also a resource for the entire Knoll line of textiles! You can't beat that!"

Knoll Luxe's Nail Polish is Back with Flare

Knoll Luxe is at it again--they've made another fun and flashy nail polish. Celebrating the Cato Collection's 50th birthday, the newest polish is called Cato Hot Pink and it has just as much flare as the fabrics.

You may just be lucky enough to snag a bottle of Cato, so stop by the Knoll Luxe showroom in Suite 1702  at the DDB before they're all gone.