From Olympic Games Emblem to Furniture Design

Irwin Weiner ASID - The following video caught my eye today, and I had to share it with you. A versatile wardrobe or multi-tasking bedroom armoire sporting a Charlie Chaplin sliding panel door opens and closes, revealing hidden storage secrets. I was fascinated by the design, entranced by the designer's interest in iconic entertainment figures. While this piece looks like it might be better suited for the decor in an Eastern bloc hotel room versus a bedroom in your home, I really liked the "foreignness" of the design, the retro-contemporary feel, and the utility of the piece. 

And much to my surprise, it turns out that the designer, Vladimir Arsentyev, earlier designed the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games emblem (see top). We're cut off in the West from many Russian and former Soviet bloc design; this video made me more sensitive to the fact that we're really in need of digging deeper into other cultures, designers, and aesthetics.

The rest of the world doesn't decorate from Crate & Barrel ... well, maybe from IKEA. But I'm all for having our homes becoming

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HGTV's Design Star Looking for NYC Talent

Irwin Weiner ASID - We just heard from a casting associate for Design Star, HGTV's top-rated reality competition series. They're currently casting for Season 7 (yikes!) and we're helping them spread the word that they're holding an open casting call in NYC on Monday, October 3. 

Are you or someone you know interested in becoming the next Design Star? Here's what they're looking for:

WHO: Passionate, charismatic individuals who are extremely creative and have major design abilities (interior designers, architects, contractors, artists, and other design experts)

WHEN: Monday, October 3 from 9am to 1pm

WHERE: Sutton Place - 1015 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10022

HOW: For more information, visit the Casting Page for Design Star.

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Biophilic Design Wraps Its Tendrils Around Furniture

Irwin Weiner ASID - Our recent Design2Share blog post on biophillic design caught the attention of a furniture maker and designer, Austin Heitzman, who's been influenced greatly by Eastern culture, most notably by the art of Suiseki. I'm going to use his words for the rest of the post - and thanks for reaching out to D2S, Austin, and sharing your work with us and our readers.

It seems that the Japanese, and the Chinese before them, have long been aware of the principles of biophilic design - the importance that nature plays in the health and well-being of human beings - and addressed this problem centuries ago by bringing natural debris into their home.

Suiseki is the art of displaying found rocks in such a manner that they're evocative of some greater natural occurrence, be it mountains, caves, animals, and so on. These small bits of debris focus the mind outside the home in a transcendental manner that would later become the hallmark of the Abstract Expressionist painters, except they would utilize scale to their advantage; suiseki is kept manageable.

I've tried to incorporate these principles of suiseki into my own design, creating furniture pieces that form

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Let's Tour the Romantic Vizcaya Estate

(Vizcaya - East Terrace)

Janet Ramin - If you ever fantasized about being transported to another world ... back in time to a period of glittering balls, palatial mansions, formal gardens, and old-world European charm, you may want to visit Vizcaya in Miami, Florida. Yes, Miami! The city of bikinis, nightclubs, and pink flamingoes may not be the first place you associate with old-world charm, but nestled south of its famous beaches is a local treasure, the Vizcaya estate. 

Vizcaya was home to James Deering, a wealthy executive at International Harvester. Deering envisioned Vizcaya as a winter retreat reminiscent of Italian palazzos. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many industrialists built mansions inspired by European palaces to announce to their peers that they have “arrived.” Deering hired designers F. Burral Hoffman, Paul Chalfin, and Diego Suarez to create the mansion, its interiors, and its romantic gardens.   

(Vizcaya - Front)

Vizcaya was completed in 1921, taking two years to finish and employing nearly ten percent of Miami’s population - about 10,000 at that time. In the photos above, you can see the East Terrace as well as the front entrance. Invited guests can arrive in two ways: by automobile or by yacht. Those driving would pass by a forest of rockland hammock trees, fountains, and a circular driveway to finally gaze upon an Italian Renaissance façade made from local limestone.

Those arriving by yacht encountered a Venetian stone barge, at once beautiful and highly functional. The barge provided a unique outdoor space for parties as well as acting as a breakwater against tidal surges. After docking, a guest would enter the mansion via the East Loggia (see photo below), a foyer decorated in classical columns and busts, vaulted ceilings, and marble floor. A model ship of San Cristobal, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon’s ship, hangs in the center.

(Vizcaya - Stone Barge)

(Vizcaya - East Loggia)

Despite the Italian Renaissance exterior, the interiors were decorated in a variety of styles – Italian Rococo, Baroque, and Chinoiserie (Chinese-influenced), as well as the neoclassical style. One of the most beautiful rooms is the Tea Room, decorated in both neoclassical as well as Baroque manner. The grandiose iron gates with gilded detail, bought from a Venetian palace, certainly reflected the more flamboyant Baroque style, as well as the floor torchieres that light the room. The walls itself are decorated with

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