NYC Hotel Puts Art Installations in the Spotlight

(47th Street View of "Billowing Beauty" Photo: Nova Colette Bronstein) 

Nova Bronstein - The Lab Gallery of The Roger Smith Hotel, located in the center of the hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan, is a rotating candy store for the eyes.

(Photo: Nova Colette Bronstein)

(Photo: Nova Colette Bronsein)Standing on the corner of 47th and Lexington and peering through the windows at this brightly colored and compelling beauty, I was confronted with a locked door. I felt like a small child eagerly looking up at a glass jar of cookies high on a shelf, visible, but clearly not within reach.  It's almost painful to ONLY watch the mixed concoction of Dr. Seuss meets Parisian whimsy in this aerated dreamscape - the pieces lift and fall, swell and sway, beckoning you to touch. 

These playful animated works are the creation of French artist Anne Ferrer. The self-proclaimed, "frustrated sculptress" finds solace only once having completed her sensuous forms. These earthy, root-like behemoths are hand-stitched out of fabric and breathed into life with pumps of air.  

What is her goal? To instill in all of us the feeling of "ravishment!" And she does. Oh, she does! 

For those of you who are like me - jewelry inclined -imagine those luscious forms broken down to outlines, silhouettes, or combinations of color. Anything you're drawn to can serve as inspiration for the next creation. Let the "ravishment" prevail! 

The Lab hosts 20 or more installations per year, which equates to something new on view about every three weeks. Swing by the gallery to witness an ever-rotating mix of creativity on display - and enjoy the following video portrait of Ferrer's installation.   

Article reprinted with permission of the Sheffield School in New York. Design2Share encourages you to explore your creative side; check out the newly-launched Jewelry Design Course offered at the Sheffield School. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any other school in the world.

• Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing their distance education courses.
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Update on June 24, 2011 by Design2Share

Super King Size Leather Beds: We just found a great collection of sleek leather bed designs. They add sophistication, whether your bedroom decor is traditional or modern. 

Featured Project: DIY Painted Headboard 

Now is the perfect time to think about freshening up your interior space. With a splash of color here and a new piece of furniture there, it's easy to redecorate. Here's a quick, budget-conscious DIY design idea to help get you started.

Paint Your Own Headboard

Chances are if you if you purchased your bed frame as part of a bedroom set, the headboard is already included. If you don't want to put forth the extra cash, especially after paying for a pricey mattress, no problem! Painted headboards are a great way to add a pop of color to your bedroom.

Step 1: Measure the width of the head of your bed and mark it with blue painter's tape from floor to ceiling. Now, choose your color based on your desired color scheme. You obviously don't want it to be the same shade as your walls, but it should complement that color.

Step 2: Once you have your color, paint the wall, staying within the blue painters tape. Once the paint dries, if you choose to do so, you can detail with paint or with some removable wall decals from a company like Blik. For as little as $40, Blik makes easily removable wall decals in fun shapes like bookshelves, chandeliers, birds, etc. If this sounds like too much work, don't worry and leave your wall a solid color.

Step 3: Simply position your bed up against the painted wall, prop up some decorative Euro pillows in coordinating colors and patterns, and you have yourself a headboard. You might want to take this opportunity to invest in a new comforter or duvet in fun, light, spring colors. You'd be surprised at what a little bit of paint and some new bedding can do for your space!

Contemporary vanities and more at Decor Planet for your bathroom needs.

Accent Walls - Home Decorating Thumbs Up or Down?

Irwin Weiner ASID - Whenever you get six interior designers in the same room, you're going to come up with six different approaches to decorating solutions - and widely varying opinions regarding what they consider good or bad. Accent walls - the painting or treatment of a single wall in a startlingly different treatment from the other walls and the ceiling - are controversial. Many respected designers shun the single-wall treatment as being an amateurish decorating shortcut. Click on this link for a House Beautiful article and slideshow on Colors Perfect for One Wall, and you'll read quotes from great designers who can't stand the technique, while at the same time showcasing others who like specific colors to pop a wall. You might also take a look at Maria Killam's lovely Colour Me Happy blog and her Do You Need an Accent Wall? Take This Test article.

Where do I fall? I find accent walls to be a page out of reality TV decorating shows. They're done to death, and oftentimes with disastrous results. Use a strong accent color on the wall behind a solid wall of built-in bookshelves; the shelving materials and accent pieces on the shelves (or books, for that matter!) tone down the "look at me, I'm an accent wall" effect. Apartment Therapy has a good idea with an article and photo illustration of Matching An Accent Wall with One Piece of Furniture, using the color to tie better into the design scheme of the room with the colors of upholstery and accessories. In the photo below, note how the lilac of the accent wall color is the base color for the rest of the walls and ceiling (just a paler version of the accent), unifying a small and symmetrical room. The heavy moldings around the accent wall and the focal-point fireplace also make the accent wall color a more obvious solution.

Elle Decor

Or treat an accent wall as art, as in the case of Spanish muralist Aurelio Cachafeiro (see top photo), and put up a professionally painted mural or unusual stone or wood treatment instead of choosing an oddball accent color and having one wall stick out for no reason. Today's featured video shows Cachafeiro and his work team in thrilling time-lapse photography installing an accent wall mural over a three-day period. Notice that the mural is on a curved look-at-me-I'm-different wall, which practically begs for special treatment.

Click to read more ...

The Kitchen as Installation Art

Irwin Weiner ASID - Just when you think you've seen everything, along comes the 2009 Rotating Kitchen installation art project from German artist Zeger Reyers. The following "working copy" video is something fun to watch - but click on and slide the view bar at the bottom of the video to quickly advance the video so you can see a faster progression of time as food is prepared and served from this working kitchen, followed by mayhem and destruction as the kitchen slowly rotates 360 degrees. Why? Because it can be done . . . and it's a wonderful statement about how natural forces can impact our ordered domestic lives. Needless to say, don't try this at home.

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Antique Style Bathroom Mural in Dutch Villa

 

Irwin Weiner ASID - I admire interiors that boast hand-made features. Crafts, carvings, artwork, sculpture, hand-woven rugs, hand-forged decorative hardware, and murals add the human element to machine-made furnishings and fixtures, and give a room charm and provenance. In this video, Dutch muralist and artist Daan van Loenhout shows off his work in an 18th century Netherlands villa.

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