Today we ran out of dish soap.  When I unscrewed the bottle to add some water to the little bit that remained, a million teeny tiny bubbles dashed into the air around me.

 

 Magic. 

 

 When the world throws magic at you during the most mundane tasks in life, this is truly a gift.  In other less lustrous times, we have to create our own magic amongst the dishes or surround ourselves with shiny distractions.  A few magical kitchen tools worth mentioning include…

Magic Bunny Toothpick Holder by Stefano Giovannoni for Alessi: 

(worth noting: this made a fine gift for my après dinner-gum conscious grandmother this Christmas)

Pino Funnel by Stefano Giovannoni & Miriam Mirri for Alessi:

Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer by Philippe Starck for Alessi:

Big Love Ice Cream Spoon by Miriam Mirri for Alessi:

Bunny and Carrot Paper Towel Holder by Stefano Giovannoni for Alessi:

Alvar Aalto Cookie Mold by Iittala:

Verner Panton went into production on his first Panton chair in 1967.  That was the Panton Classic, a uniquely styled chair made of a rigid expanded plastic, and using cantilever technology.  This chair is distinguishable by its shiny appearance due to the lacquered surface.  Also, it is only available in Red, Black or White.  The Panton Classic was the starting point for a long and successful line of Panton chairs, that now come in Junior (Child’s sized version), a set of Miniatures, and a more affordable version of the Classic known just as the Panton Chair which came in to production in 1990.

Red Classic Pantons being put to use

The advantages of the newer Panton Chair, other than it is about 1/5th of the price of the Classic, is that technological progress has allowed it to be made out of Polypropylene, and it is available in a wide range of colours.  You can now get it in White, Grey, Orange, Red or Chartreuse.  This chair has a matte finish, and is incredibly versatile.  I find the chair surprisingly comfortable;  I had assumed it would be cold, hard, uncomfortable and, well…plastic!  But I have to say it is now one of my favourites, and none of my qualms rang true.

White Panton Chairs

The Junior Panton is exactly the same as the newer Panton Chair, just about %25 smaller.  Perfect for children, and comes in lots more fun colours: White, Red, Orange, Light Pink, Light Blue and Lime (I wish they would produce these colours for us big kids!).

Junior Panton Chairs

A great gift option for a Verner Panton fan would be the set of Panton Classic Miniatures.  They are a 1:6 scale, and come in a  set of 5.  They are produced exactly as the originals were (materials, construction, etc.).  According to Vitra, on average it takes 5 hours of manual labour to create these little gems!

As a final note, I came across the picture below while surfing the net.  It amazed me the uses that Panton Chairs have been put to.   As you can see, these chairs have been customized, but what an interesting concept!  Enjoy!

Panton Chairs, St. Bartholomew’s Church, Chodovice.

A neighbour in my apartment building has two fake stuffed crows in his window that curiously peer out at me while I fill up my watering can.  At first glance, they were a bit scary … but after meeting their gaze a few times, I’ve grown to like them … a lot.  Crows get a bit of a bad wrap in our culture – like when you refer to a group of several crows, it’s called MURDER. 

That’s harsh. 

MURDER

Also, they eat garbage and that’s no good for their rep.  The other day outside of Zellers I noticed a MURDER of crows trying to bust into an entire bag of bagels with a series of teeny tiny punctures inflicted by their pointy beaks.  It seemed as though they had been working tirelessly at this for hours, so naturally I sympathized.  I bravely approached the MURDER to rip open the bag and free the yummy circles of doughy goodness and all traces of bagel disappeared within seconds. 

It was amazing.

 

Anyhoo… Apparently Charles and Ray Eames also had an affinity for the black bird (maybe not crow specific).  On one of their many travels they picked up an American folk art object … a black wooden bird and brought it home to live in the centre of their living room. 

Vitra has re-produced the Eames’ beloved pet as a beautiful smooth black bird with the very same skinny stick legs and round eye balls.  It’s elegant and endearing and makes a nice alternative to a feathered friend of the live variety.  Against a back-drop it becomes a graphic image and on the carpet in the middle of room it’s just sweet and loveable.

 

Eames house bird

MURDER of house birds

Tizio LED

The Tizio lamp was originally designed in 1972.  Now redesigned in 2009 by Richard Sapper as a LED Tizio Version.  5 led bulbs using only 8 watts of power.  Equivalent to 55 watt halogen bulb.

Do you have a tiny dining area. Increase the visual space using stools rather than dining chairs.

Open the view up

Some low stools can be used either as dining chairs or bar height stools.

Two for the price of One

As a conversation piece, one could use a different stool for each setting or custom make a stool to suit you needs.

To go all out in your dining room, use four Gehry wiggle stools flanked by the wiggle chair at each end

Frank Gehry Wiggle Stool

Frank Ghery Wiggle Chair

The added bonus is that it is also good for your back to sit on a stool

View Gabriel Ross counter height stools, bar height stools, and low stools

Well, if so, here are a few things that you may want to consider:

1 – Does the designer have a portfolio of previous projects to show you ? This is a great starting place to see if you feel this person has the ability to work with you. I would suggest that you look for a range of projects that may or may not fit your personal aesthetic. Someone that is diversified and able to meet the needs of a range of clients, is more likely to meet with you and strive towards something that is personal to you. If I am looking through a portfolio and everything looks the same, then I am inclined to think that I am going to end up with the designers aesthetic, not my own.

2 – I would want at least two references from recent clients who’s projects are complete.
A quick call to see if they are happy with the result. Did the designer listen to their wants and needs and did they find solutions that suited them. Did they find the designer to be knowledgeable in his/her chosen field. Did they prevent mistakes from happening, before they happened. Do they feel that they received good value for their money? Would they hire that person again and would they recommend that person to a friend, family or colleague ? If you can only ask one question, maybe this would be the most telling.

3 – How does the fee structure work? Of all of the clients that I have talked to over the years, this is the one issue that leaves most clients upset at the end of a project. The potential for unknown/hidden fees that often come with this sort of arrangement can leave clients feeling like something is awry . Generally, you should expect to pay an hourly rate as well as “actual cost” plus a percentage on purchases. This is the fairest way to both the client and the designer and it insures that the designer is making decisions for you based on what is in your best interest, as opposed to their best interest. Very often there are back room deals going on whereby a designer may receive a “kickback” from a vendor for bringing their clients to said vendor. If you are paying an hourly fee for advice and that advice is possibly being swayed by the amount of a kickback from one vendor versus another, well, that is unethical and you are bound to end up with some bad advice. If you are made aware that this is the arrangement, then that is a different story.
The advantage to the hourly rate and cost plus method is that the client may get to take advantage of pre-negotiated discounts, which can help to off-set the cost of a designer and this also means that you don’t have to go in and bargain for deals.

Happy hunting !!

1. Hideaway – use unique storage to get organized
2. Cubic versus square – don’t focus on floor space, even the smaller spaces offer plenty of wall space
3. Smaller scale furniture – try chairs instead of a sectional and round tables instead of square
4. Mirror and glass – mirrors trick the eye into seeing into another room, whereas glass allows the eye to see through
5. Nesting and multipurpose pieces – nesting tables offer flexibility and a small footprint
6. Functional zones - split your space with different paint colours so if the dining room and living room have no wall separation, use different tones of paints in order to show functional difference between spaces
7. Accessorize – small spaces develop their style through the accessories

Modern Nesting Tables by Vitra

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Google announced that Street View has been extended to our Victoria, the location of our showroom, Nanaimo, B.C., Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ont., London, Ont., Sherbrooke, Que., and St. John’s, N.L. We join larger cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.