Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett née Schust was born May 24, 1917 in Saginaw, Michigan. Florence studied Architecture under Eliel Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1934. In 1936, she started to explore furniture making with Eliel’s son Eero and the now legendary Charles Eames.
Florence discussing the now infamous Tulip base with Eero Saarinen
David Hockney: A Bigger Book. Available exclusively at Inform, $3,375
Still have someone left on your list and not sure what to get them? How about the gift of knowledge and inspiration? Here are a few of our favourites currently in the bookstore.
You know them, they have everything they want already and they really don’t want much. You stroll around malls and boutiques hoping that some unique random object will jump out at you and say “This is what they need!”… trust us, it won’t.
Here we’ve compiled a few items that would suit and delight pretty much anyone and chances are they wouldn’t have thought to have bought it for themselves already.
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Continue reading “Gift Ideas: For the “impossible to buy for friend””
Time to get all snuggly and warm. Here are a few pieces to help make it all that much nicer.
This one is for the little Charleses and Rays in your life. Though the high quality of craftsmanship may be lost on them, the long-lasting fun will not.
Some designers are tame in practice and personality. Others have edge, strive to be unique and make impressions on whomever they meet. You’ll find Tom Dixon somewhere in-between, comfortably poised in no-man’s land. When you find him there, he’ll make you second guess the preconceptions. He is humble while proud, boisterous but timid, chaotic yet well defined – somehow there isn’t any contradiction. To say that Tom Dixon is a paradox is probably the most accurate description that one could give to him though it’s still far from actuality. He occupies a finite space where intellect and passion are paramount and few external factors hold any creative weight. You have to meet him… did you? He was just here.
Tom flew in on the Thursday before last and went straight to work, not stopping until he flew to LA and did it all over again, two days later. Most highly sought-after personalities might head to their hotel to wash, rest, and go out for an overpriced meal with those that they deemed fit. Not Tom. Tom wanted to go to the scrap-yard and dig through objects long forgotten and like the mad scientist that he is, bring the dead back to life, striving to leave Vancouver a little better than how he found it. This is after all what he attributes as the cause of his rise to fame. __
Equestrian statue of Ranuccio Farnese by Francesco Mochi, in Piazza Cavalli, Piacenza
In Italy, art is definitely not confined to the museums and the churches. It is everywhere. A house opposite the church od Sant’Eustachio in Rome, more or less round the corner from the Pantheon, in the very heart of the city, still retains quite substantial elements of the frescos applied to its façade by Taddeo Zuccaro in the second half of the sixteenth century.
Most of the al fresco art that surrounds one is sculpture. In our health and safety/conservation-fixated age, the idea of masterpiece taking their chance in the open may indeed seem foolhardy, but the fact is that they have survived remarkably well over the centuries. It is true that three pieces were broken off the left arm of Michelangelo’s David during an anti-Medicean rebellion in Florence in 1527, and rescued by two young artists, Giorgio Vasari – of Lives of the Artists fame – and his friend Francesco Salviati. More generally, however, the sheer weight of large-scale marbles and bronzes means they are hardly likely to be pinched by even the most determined thieves. On the contrary, the most common reason for any such disappearances is a forgivable desire to protect such works from the elements.
Enough with the ties and socks already! That lawnmower still works just fine, he said so himself. Your Dad is cooler than you think, get him something that he not only deserves but that he’ll actually want. Even though he may not know who Henning Koppel or Isaac Reina is, he recognizes master craftsmanship, he know what top grade leather feels like, and you better believe that he knows how to perfectly sear a rib-eye on a top-of-the-line grill.
Here are a few gift ideas that he’s sure to love.
Cufflinks from Skultuna
$95
For over 400 years Skultuna has produced fine metal objects of the highest quality for both everyday use and for special occasions. Always with that same sense of quality, function and design Skultuna today creates tomorrow’s antiques. They have a vast range of cufflinks that any dress shirt wearing guy would love. From bicycles to Jolly Rodgers, royal and presidential emblems to simplistic minimalist shapes. There’s bound to be one to suit your dad.
Wolf BBQ
From $6,350
With Wolf BBQ grills, as with every Wolf product, you can count on quality construction and exceptional performance through years of outdoor cooking. Wolf BBQ grills are sculpted in double-wall stainless steel, precision-welded so they will not rust or hold water. Each of the four gas grill models comes in natural gas or LP, and can be built in to your outdoor space. Optional carts are available for the 30″, 36″ and 42″ models.
Eat Like a Man: Guide to Feeding a Crowd
$41
Ok, so the Wolf BBQ isn’t in the budget. This cookbook is the ultimate resource for guys who want to host big crowds and need the scaled-up recipes, logistical advice, and mojo to pull it off whether they’re cooking breakfast for a houseful of weekend guests, producing an epic spread for the playoffs, or planning the backyard BBQ that trumps all.
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Arne and Carissa, Inform’s Kitchen & Bath designers, are back again to share another simple yet delicious recipe. This Burrata & Olive Tapenade Crostini is sure to be a hit at any small gathering. If you missed their previous post on how to make fresh pasta from scratch, you can check it out here.
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Multidish by Maxime Ansiau for Seletti
This dish is perfect for sharing with friends and family. The homemade Crostini is a terrific base for the lush, bold flavours of the Olive Tapenade & it’s all balanced by the delicate creaminess of the Burrata Cheese melted overtop. You can even impress your guests with these fun facts…
Tapenade is a very old recipe. Then named Olivarum conditurae, it appears in Columella’s De re Rustica, written in the first century. Cato the Elder ( 234-149 B.C.) includes a recipe for Epityrum, an olive spread very like a tapenade, in chapter 119 of his “On Agriculture.”_
The word burrata means “buttered” in Italian. Burrata is now considered an artisanal cheese and maintains a premium product status even after it became more widely produced and available in the ’50s. This wasn’t always the case; it was once considered a by-product, a useful way to use up the ritagli (“scraps” or “rags”) of mozzarella in cheese factories throughout Italy.
Our January Sale is in full effect, many of our display models are significantly marked down, up to 70% off. Here are a few of our favourites but there are so many more – send us an email for a list of the included pieces or for more details on any of the pieces below.
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The Dragonfly brings simplicity and comfortability together making an harmonious seating solution for any home.
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Marble top and low-profile steel legs. Simple, beautiful, functional and built to last a lifetime.
Continue reading “2016 January Sale | Staff Picks”
