would you
hire or
fire a design team who pitched a giant 5 foot foam rubber foot to you during a presentation? we'll find out, as that's exactly what maison21, and his design collaborator for the project, rudy calvero, did yesterday at a client meeting...
the foot in questionfaced with a odd, large space between a kitchen/dining room and an outdoor terrace, m21 & rudy decided to turn the underused area into sort of a lounge, with the 5 foot sculpture/seat/table/foot as its centerpiece (along with a custom lucite console to serve as a bar for both humans and pets- the bottom shelf has built in dog bowls!). the style of the architecture of the home is sleek and modern, so a funky, and highly architectural, iconic piece from the italian new wave of design of the late 1960's/early 70's, isn't entirely out of context; but it
is unexpected, and admittedly, not for everyone.
the m21 design team's presentation- lots of textural materials like fur (real and faux), velvets, and felts, plus shine in the form of lots of brass, chrome, lucite and black mirror; as well as some truly amazing graphic wall coverings, and a box *full* of floorplans, elevations, sketches, and tear sheets of suggested ideas for modern furniture, lighting, and accessories- some of which might even make the foot look, well... *pedestrian*.will m21's clients be head over heels for bigfoot? or will we get kicked to the curb for not toeing the line? only time will tell, so stay tuned...
up3, polyurethane and plastic foot, designed by gaetano pesce in 1969, and available through b & b italia
maison21 may not understand all of baldessari's work, but he knows what he likes- and we like it, very much.
bonus- we discovered the museum is free to LA county residents after 5 on weekdays! great art for free? awesomeness.
m21 is glad he made it under the wire- the museum is only blocks from the atelier, yet it took us two months to get to the exhibit. great things are happening at LACMA, so we need to make it a priority to get there more often!
the message of this piece, maison21 understands (he thinks it applies to decorating as well). he had never before seen the video from which the above famous still was taken, though, so it was nice to see it as originally conceived: ironic, and almost laugh out loud funny (what could be more boring then watching an artist write out "i will not make any more boring art" 50 times?)
this art, maison21 isn't sure if he understands- sex & violence? but whatevs... it sure is cool.
afterwards, we were lucky enough to have the bottom floor of the broad museum all to our lonesome, and spent a half hour or so in awe of the pair of monolithic richard serra sculptures exhibited there. primal, breathtaking, and not a little bit spooky, walking inside a serra piece all alone was an unexpected treat.
maison21 says go!
the foot in question
the m21 design team's presentation- lots of textural materials like fur (real and faux), velvets, and felts, plus shine in the form of lots of brass, chrome, lucite and black mirror; as well as some truly amazing graphic wall coverings, and a box *full* of floorplans, elevations, sketches, and tear sheets of suggested ideas for modern furniture, lighting, and accessories- some of which might even make the foot look, well... *pedestrian*.
up3, polyurethane and plastic foot, designed by gaetano pesce in 1969, and available through b & b italia
"look how cute and playful i am, ted. i wouldn't hurt a fly- swear!"
"fooled you- i'm actually a ferocious killah"
"play with me or else, dog!"
the view from a jobsite above the sunset strip, looking towards downtown los angeles. if the coastal fog wasn't hanging over the ocean, you could see the pacific and catalina island too. not a bad thing to stare at as i waited to meet a painter and my wallpaper guy.
