Plein and simple? Not quite…

Posted on January 18, 2012 by meredith

International design hottie, Philipp Plein, had a gorgeous showroom at MAISON et OBJET this year—no surprise as the man is the guru for sleek-rock-n’-roll-bachelor. Hovering above a glamorous bedroom scape, was the most magnificent chandelier I have ever seen and I had one of those “damn, I wish I’d thought of that!” moments, followed by a “why hasn’t that been done before—it’s perfection” moments. Peppered into a seemingly classic, though giant, all-white Murano glass chandelier are little Murano skulls (see below). AMAZING!

At the time I didn’t realize I was speaking with Plein himself nor was I (yet) aware of his affinity for the skull (as a shape and graphic), but—I know now—from his sheer use of the skull throughout his brand that he practically owns the rights to it—the way Missoni owns flame stitch—or at least he hopes to soon.

After walking away from the elegant man-space, I was like why don’t I know anything about this Philipp Plein? Turns out his current celebrity muse is Lindsay Lohan, which is exactly why I don’t know anything about him. Regardless, the fine German fellow is only 32 years old and has a huge fashion and decor empire based out of Amriswil, Switzerland. He’s got glossy, white shops in several major cities around the world (including Saint Tropez, Moscow, and one coming soon to New York and Hong Kong), where he carries some of his eleven different lifestyle categories: fashion for men, women & children, luggage, accessories; a home collection with indoor & outdoor furniture, decor accessories, dog accessories, lightning, and even a riding saddle.

For a quick run-through of how cool this man is: at his very recent store opening in Duesseldorf, Germany (store photos above, note the giant Swarovski crystal skull), he was hanging out with the likes of Adrien Brody, there are rumors of him owning the 60-year-old and famous Munich night club, P1 (located inside the Haus der Kunst museum), and one of his newest stores (in Versilia, Italy) he designed in collaboration with very cool Milan-based architectural and design studio, AquiliAlberg.

All in all, the man is pretty fabulous—I’m jealous—but I’m still most impressed with the oversize white Murano skull chandelier I saw first hand in Paris.

I’d kill for a set of Morrels…

Posted on January 9, 2012 by meredith

At Maison et Objet in Paris—the mind-bogglingly huge, biannual world decor show— this year I was enamored with the work of Frédérique Morrel, the co-partnership of married couple Frédérique Morrel & Aaron Levin (shown below in full regalia).

Based out of Paris—where Frédérique was born (Aaron, originally of Topeka, Kansas)—they create these elaborate, whimsical pieces made of any combination of foam, fur, tapestry and horn. They “like [to use] materials that tell stories of simple, ideal happiness, and that have been caressed by many hands” and are inspired by “Adam & Eve, The Graden of Eden, Temptation, Original Sin, The Fall of Man, Paradise Lost, Deluge, Apocalypse, Noah’s Ark, Redemption, Re-birth, Vanities, and Veneration.” My kind of people!

Bergdorf Goodman featured several of their pieces in their holiday windows this year (shown far below in my previous post about NYC holiday window décor) with MIU-MIU and Oscar de la Renta.

The creative duo, Frédérique Morrel, has solo shows coming up this year in the Galerie Art to Design in Bologna and at the Galerie Libertine in Brussels.

NYC Holiday Window Recap

Posted on January 3, 2012 by meredith

The always stylish, hilarious, and painfully honest, Ted Kruckel, recently reviewed NYC’s luxury brands’ holiday propaganda for his column in BizBash. Ted: “A while back, my editors asked me to take a look at this year’s holiday windows in Manhattan, a plum assignment, but still I procrastinated like crazy. So here, finally, stripped down to the core,” are a sampling of his findings from Scanning New York’s Holiday Windows: Notes on Tiffany, Saks, Lady Gaga, Tasteful Scaffolding, and More

Bergdorf Goodman “I love the crazy luxe of the BG windows, overseen forever by fashion director Linda Fargo and her team. They are like beautiful fantasies you want to crawl into and live in forever. They are all so brilliant and zanily detailed, I could spend hours just on them. But I’m sticking to highlights. One small window in the front has a sequined Oscar de la Renta dress that must cost a zillion dollars. (My editor told me there was no time for fact-checking, sorry!) The sequins follow an absurdly ornate print in dark reds, exotic purples and blues, really every color under the sun, and the whole window is dark and moody and vaguely Oriental, and I know it is not cool to say Oriental, but that is the word that comes to mind.” –Ted

“Across the street at the men’s store is a gentleman’s club meets taxidermist, with different animal heads topping the various suited mannequins. It isn’t outrageous, just clubby and cool.” –Ted

Bottega Venetta “Up until now, I have been convinced that Bottega Venetta can do no wrong. Beautiful products, tasteful branding and advertising. Its windows are color-driven by pink and orange ready-to-wear and accessories. It is pretty enough. But there are these weird white things on the floors of all the windows. Is it snow? On closer inspection, I see that these are replicas of their bags and totes carved out of what looks like soap. Finally, I see one has a little white thing sticking out of the top. Oh, they’re candles. So I go in and ask where the candles are. They are display only, not for sale, which makes me want one even more. So I ask, what time do you light them each night? Oh, we don’t light them. So then what is the point? I leave kind of relieved that they have such a small and fruitless concept.” –Ted

St. John “Here’s the winner, hands down, for the ugliest windows. There are others that are tackier, or more vulgar, but none come close to the mud-gray velour curtains that reveal some yellow-and-black brocade eveningwear. I wonder, “Is it winter or resort?” I decide that no season is the right one to wear any of these hideous fabrics.” –Ted

If you want to keep the laughter going click here for the full article with all twenty critical recaps of designer holiday disasters and masterpieces.
And click here to check out more of Ted’s always-funny endeavors at BizBash.
Above photos by Jika González for BizBash.

Knot your everyday craft…

Posted on January 3, 2012 by meredith

I just returned from Belize abuzz with new ideas and envious of all the Belizians I met— expats and central-Americans living off the land, long-haired hammock-set retirees, and free spirits sailing the turquoise waters with but a solar panel and a fly rod.
A quote I will carry away from this trip—seen spray painted on crumbling concrete breakwater—“not all those who wander are lost,” is befittingly a J. R. R. Tolkien sentiment, penned for The Lord of the Rings. Two such wanderers I encountered were stationed in Caye Caulker—for a hot minute—selling handsome handmade macramé jewelry and enjoying the current surroundings of what Belizians call the “island of hippies” (detail shot above). Originally from Spain, Alejandro travels endlessly, hawking his unique wares wherever the wind takes him.
His work made me think of these outrageous necklaces (below) that I saw in a little shop in Sayulita, Mexico 2 years ago (pre-blog). Despite my match-making hopes, they were not Alejandro’s pieces. He has not yet traveled through Sayulita—but hopes to, as many people (not just I) have recommended it to him—also a haute hippie hotbed wrought with west coast (US & Canada) expats.
On the macramé note… Eleanor Amoroso, a young London-based designer is doing some crazy shit with macramé and knotting. J’adore her work. Here are a few of her pieces from Spring/Summer 2012 (top) and one (literally) from her graduate collection in 2011 (bottom) that she launched her brand with. Check out more of her 2012 collection in British Vogue.