Wish List

If anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas, you can start with these shoes from United Nude by architect Rem Koolhaas.

Peel, like an apple.

Eamz, inspired by an Eames chair.

Mobius, after the strip, and connecting the curves of a Barcelona chair.

Light

When I moved this summer I left most of my old furniture behind. I only brought the basics - a bed, a dining table, and drafting table. I'm content to get by in a bare condo until I can afford to buy pieces I truly love. My new philosophy is that if it's not good enough for my future kids to fight over it when I die, I don't want it. That meant a few months of living on folding chairs, but my resolutions held firm.

Fortunaetly it didn't take long for me to fall in love. First I found an Artimide Mega Tolomeo floor lamp for a steal. The tag said there was a scratch on the shade, but there isn't. Even the salesperson couldn't find the defect and she gave it to me for the clearance price anyway. I took it right home and set it up in my living room.



It makes me happy, even with a folding chair.

I was even happier to find the perfect sofa at the same store. It took weeks for my order to arrive, but it was worth the wait.



The beige walls and vertical blinds will be going away soon, but until I find the perfect wall and window treatments, I'm content.

Love and Hate

Sometimes you learn more by discovering what you don’t like than what you do. It helps you to narrow your focus and keeps you from getting overwhelmed by details. Today I found out what I like, and what I don’t like in retail design.



Our first stop was the Chelsea Harbour Design Center. I like skylights and spaces that are easy to find your way through. I like being able to see the showrooms from a central location, and I like good signage. I like being able to see furniture and large pieces of fabric and be able to browse through them quickly. I like having the prices displayed. We all have budgets, and no matter how deeply I fall in love with a fabric I will not be able to use it if it’s too expensive. Tell me how much up front so I don’t waste my time. I like free pencils. However, I don’t like shopping and running out to showrooms every time I need a piece of trim. I love reps who come to you, especially when they bring treats, and I love generous samples. Commercial design is more my style.


I like sleek furniture with clean lines.


I like pillows with feather fringe.






I love hand blown custom Italian lighting.


I like orange. (Sorry mom.)

Next we were off to observe retail design and identity at the fashionable shops on Oxford and Regent Streets. I hate crowds. I hate fighting my way into spaces. I hate loud music over a loud crowd. This was everything I hate about shopping. It was interesting, however, because all of this combined to make me more aware of my surroundings and what I felt comfortable with.

We stopped at Hamley’s, a toy store. This place is loud and obnoxious. It is sensory overload, and I imagine it is wonderful for business. It felt like a Las Vegas for kids and had all the charm of a casino. The kids were going wild in the themed areas with employees demonstrating toys at every turn. I’ve been to FAO Schwartz in Caesar’s Palace and it, in the middle of a casino, had a calmer atmosphere than Hamley’s. I don’t know how you could ever tell your kids no in a place like this. With the flashing signs and loud 80s music they could never hear you!





We passed this bakery on the street. The cakes made a stunning display.







Next we looked through Habitat, a home furnishings store. The interiors are sleek and tight, all in black and white. It’s a wonderful backdrop for their merchandise, which is high style at affordable prices. They’re going after the Ikea crowd. They even have a furniture line called “Utah Mod”.







This is a much more comfortable space to be in. The space was split into levels with stairs which gave you the opportunity to explore, and the higher you went the cheaper the prices got. Clearance items were up top, and on the highest level was a little coffee shop. You were rewarded for your climb.

We looked through Apple, which is cool no matter where you are. No other company has as cohesive a message and image than Apple, and no one is pushing modern design in the US with the same zeal. After all the years of Apple sales being hurt by the tight control they’ve always kept over their products is paying off.

Many of the stores we were supposed to observe we couldn’t find in the crowds. I’ve never seen so many people in one place in London. The Tube felt like an oasis after this. I hate crowds, I hate the heat, I hate being pushed, and I hate traffic. I also hate pickpockets. It was somewhere in this mess that my watch was stolen.

Our last stop, out of desperation, was Coffee Nation for a Summer Berry Twister. Coffee Nation was loud and busy, but it was air conditioned and had soft sofas to lounge on. I love that you can sit around and read a book or surf the internet without feeling rushed.

Today I definitely learned what I love, and hate about retail design and the shopping experience.

Anything and Everything

"Portebello road, Portebello road
Street where the riches of ages are stowed.
Anything and everything a chap can unload
Is sold off the barrow in Portebello road.
You’ll find what you want in the Portebello road."

The past week has been so exhausting that I took a much needed break today and slept in. A morning off felt so good! In the afternoon a group of us went to Portobello Road. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the street market was an adventure. The prices here are much cheaper than anywhere else I’ve been and there is a little bit of everything here. You can do all your grocery shopping, buy a new wardrobe, and shop for antiques here.









Click to see a larger view of this photo. Harry Potter, Michael Cain, Einstein and Stevie Wonder are their examples of eye wear fashion.

I picked up a few gifts and bunch of incredible vine ripened tomatoes. I still have the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks stuck in my head.

Getting to and from Portobello requires a transfer at Paddington Station. I looked, but could find no bears.





Jane Austen was my date for the rest of the night. The thought of reaching a point where I will never be able to read a Jane Austen novel for the first time makes me so sad that I ration her books carefully. If there was ever an appropriate place to read one of her novels, London is it, so I broke down and brought along a copy of Mansfield Park. I took some time this evening to sit next to an open window overlooking a row of townhouses and read.

Hot

The Cult of Macintosh can get a little nuts, but no company in the US has pushed modern design as diligently as Apple. Check out how incredible the new Apple store on 5th Avenue in NY is. This is the type of design I want to do.