CHICAGO — NeoCon, the contract furniture trade show held at the Merchandise Mart here every year, is the place to go for businesslike items such as a conference-room table or motorized blinds. The show fills several floors of a gargantuan brick block of a building with products designed for commercial and institutional settings: schools, hotels, hospitals and especially offices.
Typically, the scene is a field of laminates and steel. The color palette tends toward oatmeal and gray, and there are countless wire-management systems on display.
But this year visitors to the show, which ended Wednesday, were greeted by the unexpected sight of a bright yellow quilted chair that would cheer any workplace — a color
so jaunty you might even want it at home.Hosu, as this happy chair is called, is intended for any easygoing workplace, home offices included. Designed by Patricia Urquiola for Coalesse, it evolved from research suggesting that wherever people commune with their hand-held digital devices, they like to lounge close to the floor and even sprawl a bit.
As a result, the chair, which starts at $2,000 and will be available in September though Coalesse's online store, has a grommet at the base that allows a power cord to be neatly drawn up around the seat, and a pocket at the back for storing a tablet computer. Users are encouraged to wedge a smartphone into the narrow slit that borders the seat cushion. And a convertible version of the chair unfolds so they can recline in a position one might ordinarily equate with sloth.
Urquiola described Hosu as "a little nest" and "a comfort zone," characterizations that challenge traditional ideas about work as a serious business that requires serious postures. And Hosu, it turned out, was not the only piece at NeoCon with a laid-back attitude.
As people tethered to their digital devices extend the workday into night and through weekends, the workplace has become a mutable
environment that can morph from a cubicle in a corporate tower to a living room. And work-related furniture has a greater duty to relieve the tedium of long, sedentary hours.At NeoCon this year, the word "ergonomic" seemed to have gone out of fashion, but several representatives of furniture companies echoed Urquiola's words about comfort, including Mark McKenna, design director at Humanscale.
"We like to say comfort is not a privilege, it's a universal requirement," said McKenna, whose company introduced the Diffrient Smart Chair, a no-fuss-to-adjust desk chair by the octogenarian industrial designer Niels Diffrient.
(The chair, which will be available in October, starting at $1,330, is the latest to feature Diffrient's
patented mechanism that automatically calibrates the angle of recline to the sitter's weight. Simply lean back, and whatever your size, the seat moves forward in a smooth, easy gesture.)Adaptability appeared to be a watchword as well. Herman Miller, a company that has long straddled the boundary between office and home with its handsome designs by midcentury modernists, showed AGL, Leon Ransmeier's group of streamlined aluminum worktables with compartments for charging electronic gadgets. Close the compartments and they visually melt away, leaving an uncluttered surface for dining.
In a statement, Ransmeier wrote that he saw the tables as a boon for "compact apartments where additional furniture is not feasible."
Other
pieces converted domestic settings into work spaces. LOFTwall, a company founded in 2009, showed partitions that can be used to carve out a home office from a larger room. The walls are made with panels in a variety of materials, from translucent plastic to adhesive squares on which users can stick almost any fabric.There was also a new iteration of IdeaPaint, a product that turns interior walls into erasable whiteboards: Create is a clear coating that can be slathered onto walls of any hue, so that users can maintain a consistent color scheme even if one of the walls in the room has become a giant memo board. (It is sold in kits that cost $225 and cover 50 square feet.)
Toboggan, by Antenna Design for Knoll, is a whimsical chair
with a curved backrest when you sit on it one way; turn around, and the backrest functions as a small desk that can support a tablet computer.It was shown in robin's egg blue and dark red, colors that are anything but institutional. The seat, which starts about $400 and will be available in the fall, reflects an effort to move away from monochromatic schemes, but in a way that would allow the pieces to blend with natural materials, said Masamichi Udagawa, Antenna's co-founder.
"We wanted a ground color, not a figure color," he said. "Nice, but quiet. And not in the baby-powder sense."
Sigi Moeslinger, Antenna's other founder, added: "It can also be a great coffee table."
Another piece of playfulseating could be seen in the showroom of the office furniture giant Haworth: Shetland, a rocking stool that the company first released in a limited number in 1997. Michael Welsh, who designed the revival, said the piece was "meant to be informal ... and iconic in its shape," plus you can stow a briefcase underneath it.
The stool, which comes in a stationary version as well, will be available in September in a painted finish or a walnut veneer, and will range from $700 for the stool alone to $2,000 with the optional companion covers in wool and leather that evoke horse blankets and saddles.
Office furniture, it seems, is not just adopting a more accessible, informal appearance — it actually is more accessible.
Source: www.denverpost.com
Special fabric, flowers and furniture plus a 200-strong entourage: Are these Madonna's diva tour demands? - Daily Mail
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She hit headlines after flashing her nipple and her bottom while performing on stage.
And if reports are to be believed Madonna's diva demands are more outrageous than her exhibitionism.
The 53-year-old singer's rider includes all sorts of extravagant conditions as she performs her MDNA tour, according to reports.
Treated like royalty: According to reports Madonna has some outrageous demands included on her tour rider including special flowers and furniture
According to In Touch magazine Madonna travels with a huge 200-person entourage and has very specific requirements to the way her dressing rooms are set up.
A source tells the magazine: 'She requires all furniture be removed from the rooms and replaced with her own pieces that she has shipped in.'
It is claimed the singer demands 20 international phone lines in the room as well as special white and pink roses that must have the stems cut to six inches.
As well as all this the singer is also said to demand special fabric for her room.
Peek-a-boo: Madonna was seen peering out from a balcony with her daughter Mercy in Florence, Italy yesterday
Making a stage booby: The 53-year old singer exposed herself while on stage in Istanbul
A source told the Daily Star: 'Madonna has probably the longest list of requirements of any of the world’s music stars. She expects things to be just right or it puts her off her stage show.'
Within the 200-strong team she is said to have 30 bodyguards, a yoga instructor as well as personal chefs and an acupuncturist.
Madonna is currently in Florence, Italy and she was seen on the balcony of her hotel with her boyfriend Brahim Zaibat and her daughter Mercy.
She needs her people, all 200 of them! Maddona is said to be touring with a huge entourage
The singer stunned fans when she flashed her breast while on stage in Istanbul earlier this month.
But despite critics slamming her for the attention-seeking move it seemed Madonna was not perturbed.
In fact, the singer pulled her pants down to reveal her thong, her fishnet tights and her bottom while on stage in Rome last week.
A spokesperson for the star was unavailable for comment earlier today.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Fire-hit furniture firm to re-open a year later - harboroughmail.co.uk
A LUTTERWORTH furniture business which was completely gutted by fire almost a year ago is set to re-open in just a few weeks’ time after an extensive restoration project.
Bespoke firm Sealey Furniture was destroyed by a fire which swept through the 35-year-old firm’s High Street workshop in the early hours of Friday, June 24, last year.
Owner Keith Sealey said the workshop is officially re-opening on Tuesday, July 3, and he is hosting a party for invited guests to mark the occasion.
Mr Sealey said: “During the last year, myself and my three employees have been very busy.
“We moved to temporary accommodation, in Kirby Muxloe, which enabled us to continue manufacturing bespoke items on a limited basis for our local and national clients.
“The clearing of debris from the site, the rebuild and the re-equipping of the workshop, in addition to maintaining the business, has presented huge challenges.”
Although the July 3 event is for invited guests only, Mr Sealey said the workshop will then remain open between Wednesday, July 4, until the following Saturday so people can visit and see photographs of the devastation and the rebuilding project.
Mr Sealey added: “It’s my way of saying thank-you to the local community, who were really supportive following the fire, the building owners, those who worked on the rebuild and my clients.
“Without their support I may well have been tempted to walk away from the burnt-out ruin of the workshop.”
Mr Sealey said he was told by fire investigators who examined the burnt-out workshop that the blaze had been caused by an electrical fridge.
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Print this pageSource: www.harboroughmail.co.uk
Awards for church chair designs - Christian Today
The Bishop of London this week presented awards to designers for their stylish and innovative church chair designs.
The winners of the Church of England's church chair design competition were announced by Dr Richard Chartres at a ceremony held at St John's Church in Hyde Park, London.
In addition to the bishop, the judging panel included one of the country's leading furniture designers and makers, John Makepeace, illustrator Matthew Rice, chair of the Church Buildings Council, Anne Sloman, and vicar of St John's, the Rev Stephen Mason.
The winners of the students and recent graduates categories were Nick Shurey and Sebastian Klawiter, who will take away £1,000.
They said: “It was a real honour to have been involved, and we’re ecstatic to have won – it was a real surprise.
"We spent much time on establishing our starting-point and then it was a last-minute dash to get our initial design submitted by the deadline.
"A lot of effort then went into working up the finished design."
They added: “We had never worked together before, and hope we’ll have another opportunity.”
The second category was for design professionals, with the award going to Tomoko Azumi at the TNA Design Studio.
She said: “It was a real privilege to have taken part in the competition, using my knowledge of chair design in the context of church buildings ancient and modern. I am really pleased to have had this opportunity to help enhance the community’s use of such buildings.”
The final category acknowledged the quality of design in seats already in production.
Nigel Shepherd, Luke Hughes & Company, picked up an award for their stacking bench, while the second award in the category went to Simon Pengelly, of Chorus, for his wooden stacking chair.
Mr Shepherd said: “I am thrilled to have this design recognised in such a way. It is brilliant the way this competition has drawn attention to the importance of good design for furniture in churches.”
Mr Pengelly commented: “I am honoured to have won in this category. Too much church furniture is poorly designed and made. This whole competition has been inspiring in what it is trying to achieve in opening up awareness of the importance of design excellence.”
Dr Chartres said the response to the competition had been extraordinary.
"There is a need to open up our churches more and more as community hubs for a great variety of purposes.
"We’re in this for permanency, for eternity, so our furnishings, while being flexible, have to signal something of that as well.
He continued: “Our aims were very simple. We wanted to engage designers with the potential that exists in a very flourishing church context; we wanted to help parishes consider very carefully how they replace pews when their removal has been agreed; we wanted to encourage the highest possible standards of design in our churches; and we wanted to widen the range of affordable as well as well-designed chairs.”
Designs were judged on their sympathy with historic church interiors, affordability, functionality, comfort and aesthetic merit.
The Church hopes that the best of the designs from the competition will go into manufacture.
Mr Makepeace said: "Furniture design is about linking people to the building they’re in. As society has become more sedentary, we have become dependent on seating that provides better support than a flat seat and back. Given the quality of our churches, we need chairs which are comfortable, classically simple and enduring.”
Source: www.christiantoday.com
Builder asks Oshiwara police to return painting - Times of India
The 80-year-old builder told the police that painting belongs to him and his Uttar Pradesh based relative had gifted it to him 30 years back.
The police said that they will not return the painting as the builder didn't have any legal documents to prove that he had purchased the painting. The painting is in police custody and they asked the builder to explain them the origin of the painting and produce documents to prove that he had purchased it legally.
The Archaeological Survey of India verified the painting and confirmed that its more than 100 year old copy of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya original painting.
Few months back, Oshiwara police had raided an estate agent, Sultan Khan's residence after they learnt that he was carrying illegal weapons. The police found that Khan had two licence weapons. But the police surprised to learnt that Khan had stored the painting in his chawl room. Khan failed to produced any document and the police arrested him for keeping antique painting at home without legal papers.
Khan told the police that his builder friend had gifted the painting to him to settle an Rs 40-lakh payment issue and he was looking for a customer to sell it for crores of rupees.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Gift of important Tuke painting to Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society - falmouthpacket.co.uk
Gift of important Tuke painting to Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society
12:10pm Saturday 16th June 2012 in Falmouth/Penryn
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society has been gifted an important painting by one of Falmouth’s most significant and best loved artists.
The portrait by Henry Scott Tuke RA RWS (1858-1929), depicts Anna Maria Fox (1816-1897) who, along with her siblings Caroline and Barclay, suggested the idea of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society to their father in 1833. The portrait will be unveiled at Falmouth Art Gallery on June 15, where it can be viewed until Monday, September 3.
Tuke stands amongst the international giants of late Victorian art. He was a founder member of the Newlyn School of Artists as well as the New English Art Club, From 1885-1929 he lived at Pennance Point Cottage, between Pennance Point and Swanpool Beach, and was a key figure in the artistic heritage of Falmouth.
The society’s collection, known throughout the world as the ‘Tuke Collection’, now numbers some 279 works in oil, watercolour, pastel, etching, charcoal and pen drawing.
It is thought to be the largest in public ownership and is added by gifts and bequests. This most recent gift was generously donated in accordance with the wishes of the late Janet Trench Fox of Penjerrick, Budock, Falmouth.
Anna Maria Fox was born in Falmouth on the February, 21, 1816 and was appointed vice patroness of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1897, the year of her death. Dr Anthony Phillips and John F Tonkin, Co Curators of the Tuke Collection said: “The Tuke Collection accepts with gratitude this important work which will add greatly to the collection.”
The portrait will be on display in the Permanent Gallery at Falmouth Art Gallery. Falmouth Art Gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10 am – 5 pm. Admission is free. For more details contact the gallery on 01326 313 863 or email info@falmouthartgallery.com.
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Source: www.falmouthpacket.co.uk
Leonardo Da Vinci art on display at Ulster Museum - Belfast Telegraph
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Ten of the Royal Collections finest drawings by the Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci will be shown at the Ulster Museum this summer
More pictures It's breathtaking and simplistic beauty belies both its age and its historical significance — and you can see it in Belfast.
It was a study for a painting, Leda And the Swan which was destroyed around 1700.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Head Of Leda is believed to have been bought by King Charles II for the Royal Collection in the 17th century.
It was a study for a painting, Leda And the Swan, which was destroyed around 1700.
If around today it would be one of the most famous paintings in the world, say experts.
It is one of 10 stunning pieces by Renaissance polymath da Vinci which have gone on display at the Ulster Museum.
Best known for priceless works of art such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci was also a gifted engineer, having drawn plans for several flying machines, including the first concept for a helicopter.
Anne Stewart, curator of fine art for National Museums Northern Ireland, said da Vinci’s works are “still as fresh and as exciting today as when they were made”.
“Leonardo is the artist that everyone knows, and for a very good reason,” she added.
“People know something about him, but they perhaps don’t know of the drawings. For us to have them is just a wonderful opportunity.”
She said the artist’s Study Of An Equestrian Movement was an early sketch for a never-constructed bronze statue.
The drawings date back to 1485 and include detailed anatomical studies.
Displayed in a dimly lit gallery the free exhibition allows visitors to examine the intricacies and detail of each of the works which have been carefully preserved for hundreds of years.
Martin Clayton of the Royal Collection at Windsor — the home of the artworks — said the drawings were “among the highlights of art in Western Europe”.
The free exhibition runs until August 27 at the Ulster Museum.
Source: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
@ Liz cork GOOD ONE thank"s for the laugh
- Proud Brit, Montreal Canada , 16/6/2012 20:56
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