Dwell Studio does it again for Robert Allen

On September 5, Robert Allen hosted bloggers at its design studio on 42nd Street for a preview and luncheon to celebrate their third collection with Dwell Studio. Christiane Lemieux, the founder and creative director of Dwell Studio was on hand to walk us through the collection.
Lemieux has a degree in art history and says she drew inspiration for the saturated hues in this collection from painter Fernand Leger. Case in point, Landsmeer, pictured here:


"We have a signature animal every season. This time it's the gazelle. Any time we put a creature in a design, it sells really well. People love their animals." An earlier collection she tells us had a snake design that formed a trellis-like pattern. Apparently the Robert Allen folks were on the fence, and now of course they spot the snake pattern everywhere -- in magazines on HGTV. Lemieux jokes "Snake is code for 'trust us'."


The line features graphic florals, classic Dwell geometrics, and references from nature, like Malakos, which is pictured above. There are a variety of scales ranging from small to large. Lemieux says this helps the underlying principle behind Dwell Studio: the deftness with which the patterns can be mixed and matched. And even a geometric like Zebra Geo has movement:


Primary colors like blues and greens evocative of Leger's paintings are tempered by neutrals with an unexpected pop of cinnamon.

Kings Walk (below), a woven with lions was inspired by Scandinavian designs.



Throughout the line, Lemieux says,"We wanted the charm of handmade things without being hokey. There are no strong vectors in the geometric patterns, the result of original artwork that was hand drawn in the Dwell studio."

Witness Coco:


We love this linen with an overprint, which achieves the same look of a glazed linen at a fraction of the price.



Christiane's putting the finishing touches on her second book, and staying busy with the retail store that opened in SoHo this spring. She never stops designing, and she's already working on the next collection. We're sure there will be at least one creature in store, which gives a whole new meaning to creature comfort. This rich red color story is tempered by grey, for something fresh:



The collection will be in the showrooms by next week, so stop by the PDC (Suite B499), DCH (Suite 141), DDB (Suite 301) and check it out!

Event Recap: Dwell Studio Launch Party Celebrates Highly Recommended 'Undecorate'

Julieta Alvarez, Pierre Frey sales and marketing assistant, shares her experience attending Dwell Studio's launch party held in New York City last week.

By Julieta Alvarez

Having seen a ton of growth and success for Dwell Studio in the past several years that I've lived in New York City, my friend Peti and I couldn't pass up the chance to attend its recent launch party.

It was a great pleasure to see that they were also promoting Dwell Studio's new book Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux, which I absolutely love and highly recommend if you don't already have it! Undecorate celebrates the love for imperfection, which is what I am ALL ABOUT!

Does the book advise to go minimally strict and get rid of all the rules of interior design that we, as interior designers, learned and live by? Not at all! This book shows us the way to make our homes comfy and full of personality by mixing styles up and breaking some rules here and there. For clients with children or difficult amount of spaces who also juggle owning a lot of meaningful things, Undecorate helps us designers and our clients understand the necessity for homes to feel a part of them.

We also saw  Libby Langdon, who is always a pleasure to talk to. Libby gave us plenty of tips on how to promote yourself and be your own PR person in the design world, which you can find by watching HGTV's 'Small Space, Big Style.'

Stay tuned to GoDesignGo for more from Julieta and in the meantime, visit her fabulous design blog.