Urban Chic by Christina Hilborne

Our latest showroom addition/LOVE is local designer Christina Hilborne’s AH-mazing coffee table – part of her “Urban Chic” collection. We love this table as much for its beauty as we do for its environmentally friendly composition and design. Kirei board (pronounced KEEray), the collection’s base material, is a by-product of Japan’s sorghum crops (grain crop). Prior to Kirei manufacturing, the after process straw like material was pitched into landfills or burned. With Kirei, it is compressed and sealed with a non-toxic water based adhesive, making it reusable for multiple purposes.

Kirei board detail - Urban Chic by Christina Hilborne

This piece has something for everyone. A substantial stripe of stainless steel inset in the top surface of this piece gives it an industrial flair – a cool and sexy juxtaposition against the warm and earthy Kirei grain.

Top surface detail - Urban Chic by Christina Hilborne

Afraid to hide the top of this beauty with magazines, glasses, and remote controls? Fear not – this design is made for the clutter bug. The hallow interior of the table body is not only functional – providing ample space for storage… it also serves to allow light and air to flow through this sculptural design. It is heavy and substantial in its square and sturdy composition, but also delicate with its open centre and beautifully considered angled feet.

Urban Chic Table Interior by Christina Hilborne

Urban Chic by Christina Hilborne

It appears our green Project sofa (local design and build by our own workshop) has found its perfect mate – both in aesthetics and environmental agenda. Both pieces were featured together on stage at the recent TEDx Victoria event.

Project Sofa and Urban Chic table at TEDx Victoria

To learn and see more of the incredibly talented Christina Hilborne, visit her website, here.
To inquire about the “Urban Chic” or “Project” collections, call our showroom at 250.384.2554 or toll free: 1-866-207-1111.

That time is coming up again and we’re stocking the shelves in preparation of this June’s Herman Miller authorized 15% off sale. Herman Miller is the design house behind the infamous Aeron task chair and boasts the reproduction licenses to an impressive collection of mid century modern classics such as the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Noguchi coffee table, and George Nelson’s Marshmallow Sofa.

Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller

Noguchi Table by Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller

Marshmallow Sofa by George Nelson for Herman Miller

The sale runs from June 3 – 13 and includes the classics, ergonomic office furniture, and accessories. Also included in the sale is the new “Envelop” desk: an ergo-desk that adjusts to its user’s sitting position (read our previous blog post on “Envelop”, including a neat-o video, here).

Envelop Desk by Bill Sumpf and Jeff Weber for Herman Miller - photo: hermanmiller.com

If you have been considering a Herman Miller purchase, now is the time to buy. Considering the current strength of our Canadian dollar (woot!), plus the 15% discount, you really can’t go wrong. Plus, an investment in Herman Miller is an investment in authentic design reproduction with integrity that lasts a lifetime (and then some!). For more information on design authenticity, check out Herman Miller’s website, here.

Check out our website for all of Herman Miller’s amazing product line, here.
Questions? Contact us, here, leave us a comment on our blog, follow us on Twitter @GabrielRossShop, or visit our Facebook Fan Page, here.

Our annual Knoll Classics Sale is underway, and we are off to a roaring start. Turns out people really like Knoll products … and they like them even more so when they’re 15% off. All the classics are on sale February 28th to March 6th including the work by designers: Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Marcel Breuer, Florence Knoll, Warren Platner, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Jens Risom.

Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll

Bird Chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll

Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer for Knoll

Settee by Florence Knoll for Knoll

Lounge chair by Warren Platner for Knoll

Barcelona Chair by Mies Van Der Rohe for Knoll

Armless Lounge Chair by Jens Risom for Knoll

Happy SALE shopping!

Visit our website here to see all the Knoll products that are on sale.

George Nelson ca.1965, photo: okcmoa.com

The Oklahamo Museum of Art with Vitra Design Museum is featuring “George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher” February 3rd – May 8th. The first complete retrospective of Nelson’s work will include over 120 objects including chairs, clocks, lamps, benches, etc., and also over 50 documents that include drawings, photos, and films.

photo: www.modernica.net

Nelson was one of the most prominent American designers of the 20th century in various areas spanning architecture,  industrial design, and photography. He was also an influential lecturer, curator, writer and publicist. For over two decades Nelson was the design director for Herman Miller, allowing him the opportunity to work closely with other canons of mid century modern design such as Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and Isamu Noguchi.

Nelson Bench by George Nelson for Herman Miller

Marshmallow Sofa by George Nelson for Herman Miller

Swag Leg Desk by George Nelson for Herman Miller

Coconut Chair and Ottoman by George Nelson - photo: Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archive

Herman Miller just recently re-introduced the  Nelson Basic Cabinetry series – an excellent collection of cabinet coordinates that can be put together to create a built-in look or used individually as nightstands or side tables. The introduction included Nelson’s bench with a new metal base option. View these products on our website, here.

Nelson Bench with Bookcase Cabinet for Herman Miller

As if you need another excuse to visit Oklahoma… but in case you did, this retrospective show is it.  There may be opportunities to see George Nelson’s original product designs in retail stores (although, even these are few and far between), but this is a rare chance to get a glimpse of the artist’s personal world and thoughts through his drawings and writings and connect it all together in one space.

Read more on this exhibition on the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s website, here.
View and purchase George Nelson products on our website, here.

Gabriel Ross is a proud sponsor of an interior design lecture series hosted by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria this week.  The two day event features local industry professionals: Lana Lounsbury of Lana Lounsbury Interiors, Leah Rourke of Rourke Group Design Inc., Katarina Litva of K3 Design Studio Inc., and JC Scott and Anne Squires Ferguson of JC Scott Design Associates.

Whether you are brand new to the realm of home decor or just need some polish on an existing interior, this series looks like it has something for everyone.  Leah Rourke will discuss the importance of good design in all facets of life, titling her lecture “Life is Too Short for Ugly…” while Katarina Litva will engage her audience with the process of turning a dream/idea into reality.  Defining “Modern Rustic” is the subject of Lana Lounsbury’s lecture and JC Scott and Anne Squires Ferguson will speak about creating a local, eco-friendly home with “100 mile design”.  The gallery describes the talks as “interactive”, so bring your questions and comments.

The lectures take place on September 29th and 30th at the gallery and tickets are $20 - see their website for more details.

Flensted Mobiles are beautiful, humorous and reflect a more modern approach to accessories.

Originally Flensted Mobiles were sold in bookshops and craft centres. Today, they are sold predominantly through museum and gallery gift outlets, contemporary furniture and design stores and children’s shops, and enjoy an international success.

All Flensted Mobiles are hand-made in Denmark, and offer high quality at a moderate price. Elements are assembled and packed by about 50 skilled home-workers and their families. Many of the original Flensted Mobiles are still in production, but the contemporary designs are now the bestsellers. Ole Flensted is the chief designer, but for introducing new ideas often works in conjunction with artists.

Flensted Mobiles are modern yet timeless, often abstract, brightly coloured and unaffected by fashion, qualities which enable them to hang and give inspiration for many years.

In the coming months, our blog will be featuring products from Alessi’s list of their 100 best products. Stay tuned!

A couple prefix notes.  One from Alberto Alessi – “Decipher your own Modernity”:

Alberto Alessi - Alessi CEO

Since time immemorial, my family has been firmly established on Lake Orta.  In this poor, narrow valley in the Italian Alps, close to Switzerland, a long-standing tradition in wood and metal handicraft has survived up to this day.

Within the Alessi Company, design in the current sense of the term began to gain a foothold under my father Carlo, who drew on his training aas an industrial designer in order to develop virtually all of the products which appeared in our catalogues bewteen 1935 and 1945.  In the 1950s, my father replaced my grandfather (who fonded the factory in 1921) as corporate general manager, giving up altogether his activity as a designer and increasingly relying on the contributions of freelance designers, in accordance with the practice which was to become typical of all “Ittalian Design Factories”.  To this day, Alessi products are still considered as being handicraft items made with the aid of machines: by this I mean that, even though we rely on contemporary, industurial, technology and processing equipment, at depth of price – the one I beleive we ought to stick to – our inherent attitude is still rooted in handicraft culture.

When speaking about the “Italian Design Factories” I am referring to a historical group of companies for whom design is a mission, an activity which has become a sort of overall philosophy, a “Weltanschauung”, undelying all of these companies’ operational steps: we believe that our true nature comes closser to a “Research Lab in the Applied Arts” than to an industry in the traditional sense of the term: A Research Lab in the Applied Arts, the role of which is to mediate contrinually between the most advanced and stimulating expresions of international creative culture on the one hand, and the public’s requirements and dreams on the other.  A lab that should be as open and dedicated to the world of creation as possible.

The right type of contribution that an industry such as Alessi can make to the cilised devlopment of the consumer society is to be an artistic mediator, attemping to create new ojects, introducing a touch of transcendency, helping us decipher our own modernity.

Alberto Alessi

And one from Francesca Oldrini – “Design Classics”:

Some people have them in their homes and don’t even see them.  Some people find them in the attic, amongst old junk, and out of nostalgia, inpired by fond membories, clean them up and put them in the living room.  We are talking about household goods or to be precise tableware: objects which form an essential part of our daily lives…

Humble, unpretentious, so familiar they have become prosaic.  Yet the Alessi family, who have been producing them since 1921, have managed to transform these jugs and trays into design classics, and some are even beginning to hail them as works of art…

Francesca Oldrini

All content is copyright Alessi and contributing writers.

I walked around the showroom for months not noticing this lamp, and then one day I saw it, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.  It’s quiet and understated, but in a powerful and poetic way ( like a haiku).  I love all the different forms it can morph into and it slightly reminds me of an old school Star Trek model (just for the record, I am not a Treki, not that I have anything against Trekies.  Naoto Fukasawa (say it out loud, it feels beautiful in your mouth) distilled something magnificent here.

mymodernistlife

I love the new children’s size ‘modern’, mid-century design furniture pieces that are being manufactured! The Junior Panton’s originally designed by Verner Panton in 1999 and manufactured by Vitra are kid friendly with soft edges, durable material and seven fun colours! Kartell manufactures the Lou Lou Ghost chairs which are so, so adorable in transparent colours or solids. Philippe Starck designed the Louis Ghost chair in 2002 and was an instant furniture fashion hit! Kids and parents will be excited to decorate their homes with these additions!

Junior Panton

I just received my monthly copy of the Fritz Hansen E-News and thought I’d pass this along. As a subscriber, you will not only receive the latest updates from Fritz Hansen, but you will also be automatically enrolled for a chance to win free merchandise from them. They will be drawing four times a year. The current draw will be April 10, 2007 and the prize is 4 VicoDuo chairs by designer Vico Magistretti.

How cool is that. Of course if you win and you don’t have room for them, let me know and I’ll see if I can free up some space.