[notes from an indoor grove]

This winter I deconstructed a fir tree and suspended the branches over my family's table for Christmas eve dinner. I've always wanted to sit under the canopy of a large tree, inside. This year I made it happen. Sound was dampened; the guests' attention turned inward toward each other and the meal; we were cozy. Lit only from candles below, the side of a branch that is normally never illuminated was exposed. Next I want to make this at a much larger scale in a different context.

Conceptual drawing by the author

[notes on eileen gray, modern intuitive designer]

I'm embarrassed and shocked. That in my 31 years--surrounded by artists and designers, engrossed in art + architectural history classes at expensive art schools that I've never heard of Eileen Gray until this fall. Alas she was born into a man's era in 1878. She designed for 7 of the nearly 10 centuries that she lived. Imagine, such talent and diverse skill practiced for 70 years, pioneering the modern art movement yet without the education, mentoring, or recognition received by her peers: all because was a woman. 

Eileen Gray flanked by Le Corbusier and Jean Badovici

Eileen Gray's Rue de Bonaparte apartment, Paris

She was a gifted painter, lacquer artist, furniture designer, and architect (E-1027 in Roquebrune Cap Martin) whose influence was vast on the modern + art déco movements. I love that many of her designs are whimsical, sexy, funny, and simply beautiful. She had an unusual sense of atmosphere in her designs; an innate sense of negative space where a bowl or a chair or a room is inhabited by something or someone. 
That her publicly-known history is half gossip, and that she went largely unrecognized and unknown until recently is not surprising and unacceptable. The story goes like this: she was a contemporary and supposedly longtime unrequited love interest of architect Le Corbusier (who drowned while oddly swimming off the cliffs of her house in the French Mediterranean). He was and perhaps continues to be credited with many of her designs. 


The Dragon Chair was recently sold as part of Yves St. Laurent's collection for $28.3 million:

Dragon Chair Photos courtesy of Christie's

Nonconformist Chair

Transnat Chair

Transnat Chairs, Pair

She's perhaps most commonly known for her very modernist Bibendum Chair: 

Much of her work doesn't conform to the restrained army chant of modernists: "form follows function" (because sometimes design moves must be purely intuitive) like this lotus lacquered + tasseled table, benches, screens, and chaise longue below:

Rue de Lota apartment with her Pirogue chaise longue (also pictured below with lacquered screen)

Lacquered screen 

Wall painting at the house she designed, E1027 in 1926 for Jean Badovici

Dressing table

DWR should be ashamed that they only carry one mediocre modernist piece, a side table. 
Thanks to RISD professor, designer, chef Peter Tagiuri for introducing me to the intuition-driven work of this talented woman.
If you're interested in hearing my take on why it was she designed spaces so well, I'd be happy to elaborate. Thoughts? 

[notes from bebek, istanbul]

It was unusually cold and damp that fall morning in Bebek. Either the drizzle or Saturday morning hangovers emptied the streets in this seaside village adjacent to Istanbul. The Bosphorus had become sublime overnight: its history of eternal conquests were somehow exposed, naked under this blanket of fog. Bundled in oiled canvas anoraks; seeking coffee, food, and color; we came to this bustling outdoor restaurant and found them all. A bright yellow canopy illuminated the dreary scene. We were all actors of ourselves that morning, transported to a secret set in an imaginary world, separate from the mundane grey scene around us.

[design tips]

Most architects and designers aren't taught color theory. No longer educated in principles of color, light, and texture as our Renaissance and Beaux Arts predecessors were, most architects shy away from color. Even at RISD--one of the best art + design schools in the country--my education in it has been limited to the painting department. Some of our greatest tools, color and light have the power to transform space. 

Gareth Doherty, a professor in landscape architecture at Harvard, wrote of a color phenomenon that took hold recently in his home village in Ireland. He tells of his grandfather bucking grey and white house paint convention because of an incredible steal on hot pink paint at the hardware store. What started as a move in frugality and uncaring colorblindness turned into an complete change in the character and identity of a place.

Urbanisms of Color by Gareth Doherty

[notes from a roman palace]

It's easy to miss--this tiny, bark-covered woodland cottage in the heart of one of Rome's palaces. I walked right by it, looking instead for parterre gardens at the Palazzo Barberini: those ubiquitous geometric carpet-like gardens at European estates. Imagine: I walked right past the dwelling of bygone royal wood nymphs! Walls are covered, both inside and out with thick, spongy bark and intricate detailing of slender branches. Light filtered through foggy windows, and the world became still for a few moments. A good reminder to look between the mundane cracks of life for beautiful places + things.

Aforementioned parterre gardens...rather overgrown

Barberini Palace, Image courtesy of Galleria Barberini

[history of bark houses]

We all know the word wigwam but who knew what one looked like? 8'-10' wood-framed dwellings covered in birch bark, of varying lengths and shapes. Supposedly belonging to agricultural (vs. nomadic) Algonquian, Ojibway, and other tribes around the wooded Great Lakes region, these were some of the first recorded bark houses on the continent.

Chippewa Indian wigwam camp from MInnesota Historical Society 1915

http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101fa10/hillaryw/Woodland.html 

Tom Smith poses at a Birch bark Wigwam, Minnesota Historical Society 1920

Pukaskwa National Park by Ojibway people, Walter Muma photo

Pukaskwa National Park by Ojibway people, Walter Muma photo

[design tips]

While building your own bark dwelling might not be possible, planting a grove of birch trees is within reach. At least that way you'll have free material when you are ready to start siding... Betula papyrifera or Paper or Canoe Birch is an excellent grove tree and one of my favorites in naturalized landscapes and urban wilds.

If you are inspired to side your urban garage or your wood nymph dwelling, I've discovered that bark shingle manufactures do exist. The typical overlapping shingle technique doesn't do the Barberini cottage justice, but it could be cobbled together without overlap with the same twig detail technique could be used to conceal seams. In terms of sustainability, it's often harvested today from Poplar and Chestnut trees and is incredibly durable, lasting for well over 50 years. See these two manufacturers:

Barkhouse

Parton Bark Siding 

Before signing off, a little eye candy of a third type of wood structures by one of my favorite artists, Patrick Dougherty, for a final moment of day-dreaming:

Brahan Estate Scottish Highlands_2006_Fin Macrae Photo

patrick dougherty la county arboretum

Desert Botanical Garden PhoenixArizona_2007_Adam Rodriguez Photo

Morris Arboretum Philadelphia PA_2009_Rob Cardillo Photo

[notes from a stag and a doe]

I love this damn photo. The idyllic images it stirs in memory.German gardens of the Romantic period of the early 1800s: stag awaits in framed pasture. (Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler and his gardens.) 

Ironically this is in a dodgy post-industrial neighborhood in Livingston, Montana. Taken before an afternoon of painting session of a gorgeous model in my friend's awesome studio loft. While I take credit for designing the house, he single-handily designed and planted the garden (Big Sky Journal article). We are two painters, dreamers, lovers-turned-friends; we often mutter about turning the design world upside-down as a duo. Word out to Hugh Wilson who's on some Pacific island at this moment, likely dancing under thick tropical air after a day of long, hard painting. The deer and his lover, however, are feasting on the perennials as I write. 

(Above) My painting that came out of that afternoon. "Daniella" oil on canvas.

(Below) The studio space, not dolled up as it was for the published shoot. Renovated garage.

Above photo: Audrey Hall