Leo Dowell Chateau

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Irwin Weiner ASID - It's wonderful when an interior designer has a special niche and becomes known for a particular look or home style. My IWI interiors tend to be classic, tailored, fresh, architecture-respecting flights of whimsy - all with good value and my clients' personalities woven in. Charlotte, NC designer Leo Dowell has a distinctive niche that he fills - French Country and European Country style, heavy on the "chateau" and imaginative use of Old World materials. Let's join Leo as he takes us on a tour of one of his new homes, a 15,000 square foot new construction residence.

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DK Home

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Irwin Weiner ASID - I like the raw, sometimes crude, handmade feel of many decorative accessories, furnishing, and lighting from DK Home, a Dutch home design firm that's making its mark with a 600-piece collection. Look at their recent home show video and you'll find a sophisticated line based on natural materials like stone and mother of pearl. Hampton's accessorizing, anyone? 

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Is Furniture Art?

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Irwin Weiner ASID - Plato talked about the ideal "form" behind the reality of things - and without wigging out on philosophical theory, he talked about how no two tables are alike, but that they each shared a quality which he called "tableness." This Plum TV video goes to the DesignMiami show and asked artists and furniture designers if furniture is art or not. This is the same argument that Plato made. If you have a sofa, but it looks cutting edge and "artistic," is it art or is it furniture? The video says there's a degree of "artness" about some furniture as well as a degree of "sofaness" or utility as a piece of furniture. Dali once made a polished brass chair (see photo above of his Leda Chair). Is it art or furniture? You can definitely sit in it, but an artist made it - so there's a conundrum to mull over!

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Tom Dixon

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Irwin Weiner ASID - It's fine to be an adult and yet want to be like someone else "when I grow up." True confession: It would be fun to come back in my next life as someone like British designer Tom Dixon. My interior design business keeps me round-the-clock manic, and the work of running a service-oriented business focuses each waking hour on channeling creativity to my clients' projects. (And so there's no misunderstanding, I love what I do and my clients are tops.) But IF I had some spare time, I would love to design furniture. I would blend new materials and old ideas into fresh twists that bring life to an interior. I appreciate Tom's work, take my hat off to him, envy him a lot, and hope to win the Lottery someday. If I did hit the jackpot, I'd take a little time off and be like Tom - not that he's got anything to worry about. His niche is very secure.

Some Tom Dixon favorites of mine (click on the photo for more information):

 

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