Interior Design Sense

Cubist Woman
Judith Deim

I love sharing my modern + antique finds with my clients, MG followers and shelter mag readers.  Now, I am so thrilled to say that I will be sharing my favorite pieces from Buckingham Interiors + Design with 1stdibs members too!  I loved being a part of the One Kings Lane Design Blogger Tastemaker Tag sale, and now I have been asked to be a dealer on one of my other favorite sites.  I will have my collection up and ready for viewing tomorrow at 12pm CST!

I have long been virtually obsessed with 1stdibs, aka “The Most Beautiful Things on Earth” (love their tag line).  As a site dedicated to the highest quality of all things furniture, fashion, art…you name it, I feel strongly that 1stdibs has maintained the integrity of high end products while still making it all accessible to an internet audience.

Here are some of my current favorites on 1stdibs now-  from the only place where one can view “Storefronts” of 1200 of the most respected antiques dealers in the world!

Lip Streaks (Donna Mitchell), New York, 1967
Melvin Sokolsky
1967

Pair Of Hans Wegner ‘Halyard’ Chairs , Denmark 1957

I have one last project to share with you by architect Alia Bengana. This one is a 150 square metre apartment in Paris with a very cool layout. The place was originally a classic apartment in a building of the 20s. The clients wanted a contemporary space without completely losing the atmosphere of the place.  Attention has been focused on the central living space which distributes all the rooms of the apartment. Five doors open on this place, they have been refined and lengthened, custom designed and opening around the pivots for enabling the discovery of the spaces hidden behind, each of different colors. The doors have also been put into perspective in order to always see one in the axis or diagonally from the surrounding rooms, thus creating a space that is both calm and dynamic at the same time. I love how Alia made features out of the large amount of doors leading out of the main living space. And I must mention that my dream bathroom is after the jump.

I stumbled upon the website of Jason Madara, a talented photographer whom Jo featured back in ’09, and thought I’d share some more of his work with you all. Many photographers take advantage of bright light in their photos but in the majority of cases Jason has a knack for doing the opposite and playing with low light and shadows. Love the drama it creates. 

I’m with the party of four. The first place is good, the second rather lamentable. The narrow counter in the kitchen — with the single burner across accomodation of the stove? Wow. Modern kitchens don’t need the traditional deep cupboards — and the resultant countertops. This is what modern kitchens should be going for.

Do you know the brand of the stove?

This next project by architect Alia Bengana is quite different from the previous one. It’s a 450 square metre home in Algiers, designed to preserve the existing greenery as much as possible: thus the main entrance located along a stone wall which penetrates inside a double-height space, is carried out by climbing stairs directly in line with a palm tree which is viewed in its entirety through a glass wall. All the entrances of the houses have been designed as paintings open to the surrounding nature, framed by palm trees, orange trees or yuccas. I love it when architects pay this much attention to the beauty of the surroundings and frame the views within the structure. Brilliant.

Alia Bengana is a French architect from Algiers currently based in Paris who kindly sent us photos of a few of her unpublished projects to share with our readers. This first project is the complete refurbishment and division of a 195 square metre Parisian apartment into 2 separate apartments. This is great – I dig the mid-century/modern/vintage feel, that marble bathroom is heavenly and helloooooooo herringbone floor!

I really don’t see the point in an electric citrus fruit squeezer. I own one and end up putting in manual labor to hold the orange in place with firm grip. I may as well invest in a classy juicer like the Edwin; it is sustainable and made from smooth ceramic and wood. Squeezing the fruit will give my fingers good exercise and no more worrying about repairs! Unless I get clumsy and break the ceramic component, I guess I’m all set.

Designer: Natalia Coll

I’m not usually into super-compact cars but there’s no denying the draw to this unique beauty. The EXO concept is the result of a challenge to designers Mark Beccaloni & Mauro Fragiotta to create a minimal and compact yet realistically usable urban vehicle. Designed from the outside in, the external geodesic shape is not only aesthetically captivating, but provides serious strength to the structure.

Designers: Mark Beccaloni & Mauro Fragiotta

Amazing advancements have been made in 3D-printing technology, but designer Sebastian Bertram has taken it a step further, expanding the capabilities of 3D printing to large-scale 3D building. The Contour aims to keep up with demand for housing in urban areas with aconstruction method that combines industrial production and the technique of rapid prototyping. The robot “prints” contours of a building shell layer by layer using fast-drying concrete. Within just a couple of weeks, an entire estate could be produced.

Designer: Sebastian Bertram

I’ll do my best to not sound pornographic when describing this design, but the truth is that this is one sexy piece. The JOKI bench’s curves have a sensual aesthetic that is also functional as it contours the human body perfectly. The fluid shape was carefully planned so the modular pieces can be  recombined to align perfectly no matter which ends you combine. 

Designer: Kayiwa