Chinese Home Decor Expo 2011

Typically in the world of contemporary textiles, the United States designs it and China manufactures it. Recently China has taken the initiative to design and manufacture for its own people. My professors got a chance to go to China to the Home Decor Expo, and were kind enough to let me look through the catalogs upon their return. The following images are from those magazines, most are Chinese designed and manufactures, but a few are designed by foreigners. It's neat to see what's trending in another culture's home design. Here are some highlights.

Detail shot of pixelated wallpaper. Something I'm crushing on now.

This deer motif is larger than one would expect to find in American design. Notice most motifs are larger, bolder and brighter than seen in American Home Design.





See the fluorescent bulb in the room above? I've heard fluorescent lighting in the home is more accepted in Asia than it is in America, and it really alters the decor's color palette. The catalog was filled with acid greens and blood oranges and I wondered it if had to do with how it looked under fluorescent light.

Milwaukee Road trip

Street style

Julia Rothman

While exploring Design*Sponge I've come across some Julia Rothman designs. While she has a bit too much of the domino (as in the magazine) aesthetic, there are aspects of her work that like, such as her attempt to bring a children's book illustration look into current design, her simplified color palette and not-overly-obvious-but-not-overly-complex pattern repeats.

All images are from her website:

http://www.juliarothman.com/

If you want to learn more about her or her joint business visit:

her blog at http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/

and her business, Also http://www.also-online.com/

As breakfast's number one fan, she got me with this one. I like the children's book illustration quality of her drawing and color. I also like the unexpected items, champagne for breakfast. She uses a limited color palette to bring cohesion to the composition, like the pink of the ham is the pink on the jellied toast, and the tan of the toast is on the muffin and pancakes as well.

Limiting palette pinks and browns, I like the reference to women's magazines of yesteryear. I like the illustration actually provides clear instructions.

I can't look at this one without thinking of one of my favorite illustrated movies, Disney's 101 Dalmatians. Maybe its the black outline and line weight?

This was the first Julia Rothman illustration I saw. I was drawn to the pattern repeat and colors which strongly reference children's books. There is a specific book that it recalls, but I can't put my finger on it, so if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Computer's Startup disk has a lot on its mind

Here are images provided by Grand Perspective on what's keeping my computer so occupied.

A complex patterning of tile work.

Alien Planet

Being that I am stuck in suburbia for awhile I decided

as a mental exercise to look at my surroundings as if

they were an alien planet.

What would be my impression? Could this be seen as foreign terrain?

The units in the center of the photograph are three

stories. We can just see the top floor peeking over the road.

The dwellings look like they were plopped into the landscape.

Each dwelling is perfectly alike.

No favoritism here.

A utilitarian common space where refuse is deposited

and some kind of sorting takes place.

All surfaces are painted grey-green.

These instruments either bring something into or

take something out of each unit. Each has a

measuring device on its face.

There weren't any people out and I found it easy to look at

the complex as if it were alien. The architecture

appeared very utilitarian and the units were identical

to the point that all surfaces were painted the same color.

Maybe the culture is concerned with uniformity and efficiency?

While the architecture was bland and gave little

information about the people, the liter seemed to stand out

against this background. An empty potato chip bag under a bush,

a toddler's sock by the side of the road, animal droppings scattered

about in the lawn and on the edges of the road, a piece of holiday

paper that is labeled 'To Eric from John and Ian", and a small melted

piece of plastic, perhaps from an electronic device, on the road.

So yeah, I could see it as an alien planet,

but it doesn't make it any more compelling

to live in.

New Sights

The end of summer brought many new sights that I compiled to share with you. For example, Rock Hill's latest public work of art made in cooperation with Winthrop University's art students. The heads are supposed to look like they are talking to one another (according to the plaque). Thus continues the trend in creepy Rock Hill public art.

Below is the interior.

A scene from Charleston. The cow and milk rotate on a turntable. Seems so poignant through a rainy car window.

Enough with South Carolina.

And our latest endeavor, Project Gold Box , one of the many ways we distinguish ourselves from those 'other neighbors,' a room entirely gold with a large crystal protruding from the ceiling. I predict the room will function similarly to an orgone accumulator.