I should be making the big dollars

I had to usurp my previously planned post when I stumbled across the latest Philippe Stark designed hotel and realized that I. Am. A. Creative Genius. Remember these chairs that Erin posted from our Round Top trip

Remember how I begged Erin to take the picture and I cried my eyes out the entire car ride home because I couldn't afford the $1,500 pair.  Remember how everyone else thought I was insane?

I guess Philippe will always understand me.  He heard my cries and said ever so softly and sweetly, it's OK, Karly, I'll put them in the Mama Shelter hotel in Paris where you will never be able to afford to see them in person but will sleep soundly knowing that, you too, are a design prodigy.

The one thing I still can't quite understand, however, is this: why was I mentally crafting this post whilst eating peanut butter straight from the jar in my (in dire need of renovation) kitchen rather than while racing through the streets of London with an entourage of interns frantically scribbling notes about every piece of furniture I point to on their overflowing clipboards.  Why?  Why?!  Your guess is as good as mine.  

More proof that I should be the head of a global designing empire (well, other than this steadfast blog, where I technically split the power):

Oh the shape is so good.  They didn't have this version in the cow field under the hot Texas sun.  Go figure.

And here's the best chair of all, I certainly would have found the $750 for this one:

All this crap is HAND BEADED, people.

My creative genius will certainly become more convincing once you realize that I, too, would insist on a mac computer and a wookie lamp in every room:

Did I tell you that I saw a concrete wall once?

Of course, this next picture shows the departure between myself and la amateur Stark:

What I forgot to mention in my Tag the other day is that I'm deathly afraid of elevators.  Las Vegas hotel employees LOVE me for requesting a room on the lowest possible floor.  A hotel of my design would never have elevators.  Well, unless, of course, they were the glass kind that really don't bother me at all.  Up.  Down.  All day long.  Look at me.  Oh, I also don't know about those aluminum foil explosion mold chairs.

Black Light, Schmack Light.  I really just wanted to show this picture in the hopes that Top-Design-Nathan would cruise on over and see that THIS is the proper way to display daily life artifacts from the past century.  Note the lack of fussy unfinished wood cubes?  Note the intentionally cluttered stacks.  Congratulations bar in the Stark hotel, you have the top design.  And the crowd goes wild:

I think this is a curtain.  I do not like barstools. I have nothing more to say about this picture.

Pros:  Magritte Bowler Hat Lamp; concrete walls.  Cons:  Overdone floor

More overdone floor.  Although I commend Stark for picking a carpet that will hide stains while being a little, um, are we supposed to call it edgy... this carpet just seems a couple of years out-dated.

So, to summarize, me = creative genius.  Mama Shelter = not so bad.  Philippe Stark = wouldn't hurt to listen to my advise.

PS.  More on this hotel here

 

Repurpose, Redesign

Despite an entire Monday spent extolling the many virtues of cardboard furniture (although dingy brownness was not one of them), I am still in a recycling state of mind, possibly because all the trash floating down our street is making me sick. No more Church's Chicken cups, beer cans and gross dirty band aids in my yard, please! While I haven't found a use for old band aids yet (and I'm sure I never will), I have found a veritable cornucopia of cool items designed from repurposed materials.

repurposed montage

Clockwise from top left: San Francisco Metro Map Bowl by Etsy seller picapicadesign, Recycled wool blanket purses by designer Tieneke Beunders at Ontwerpduo, Recycled aluminum pop top purse by Brazilian designers at Escama Studio, and Recycled packaging lights by Anke Weiss seen at Yanko Design.

I am obsessed with maps (look for a future post devoted solely to their geographical goodness), so I adore the bowls by Picapica, and all the purse are very cute, wearable, and environmentally friendly. Yay trashless yard! The lamp made from recycled packaging is also a nifty idea, and it just goes to show that with a simple light kit (sold at Hope Depot or Ikea), many objects can be reborn as lighted sculptures. Par example, regardez Francois Legault's amazing spoon chandeliers at Unik:

francois legault

I'm relieved that he used spoons instead of forks. I am not sure how I would feel about a million pointed tines aiming at my eyes as I gazed up at their splendor.

Meanwhile, Tineke Beunders over at at Ontwerpduo is busy building more pieces out of materials that make you wonder why anyone ever discarded them in the first place.

ontwerpduo

The chair (which, in real life, I am quite sure is NOT as large as the cupboard), is strung like Danish rope cord but with old telephone wires. Being one of the landlineless legions, I had forgotten telephone wire even existed, but then I remembered waaay back to my awesome clear Swatch phone and its colorful guts. It's a very surprising use of materials, I think. And the cupboard made of old metal file boxes really belongs in my house. I want it and its filthy industrial patina so, so badly.

If you're looking for something a little more classic, something that screams less "Hey, I am recycled!" and more "Hey, I cost a sh*tload of money!" then look no further than the Phillipe Starck designed Kong chair, modeled after the ubiquitous Ghost chair, but this time cast and welded with 88% recycled aluminum:

kong chair

I've got to say that those are some sexy chairs. Unlike the other pieces I featured today (all of which I am still in love with), the Starck chair bears no mark of its original incarnation as a thousand common cans. It must have cost a small fortune just to get the base materials into a finished state, so I'm sure the $2000 price tag is somewhat justified.

Maybe they'll get recycled one step further and show up on Craigslist. Knock a zero off and those babies are mine.