BUNK MATE: Ace hotel bunks
LOOK NO FURTHER for inspiration for your pre-teen or teenage son’s room than the recently opened Ace Hotel in New York. One of our (male) colleagues spent a couple of days there recently and is still extolling the virtues of the large canvas laundry bags with Navy-style typography, the masculine-chic toiletries from Rudy’s barbershop, the blankets embroidered with the Ace logo, and the mix of vintage and new interiors, devised by NYC design firm, Roman & Williams.
Our favourite part, however, confirms the return of the bunkbed: the ensuite bunk rooms in the NYC hotel are a perfect stopover for singles, guys on their stag weekends, grown-ups reliving their childhoods, or teens who you’d prefer to have their own room. We can’t help falling in love with the almost military issue, sleek, fuss-free, heavy-duty, powder-coated bunks sourced from American Bedding that would clearly last a lifetime and beyond. Can we have, please?
*Bunk rooms in March 2010 are approximately £150 per night. www.acehotel.com. Ace Hotel New York City, 20W 29th Street, New York City, NY 10001; tel: + 212 679 2222.
Real Life Mural: NYC
Photography by Akira Yamada
MURAL ARTIST AMI SUMA had an audience when she was painting Natsume’s bedroom walls in her parents’ NYC apartment. Natsume herself. “She LOVED it from the beginning. She would bring her little chair by and stare at me painting for hours - I really mean for hours! She never got bored. I was totally amazed by her. Her mom tells me she still talks about me a year later.”
But then, it would be difficult not to be intrigued by Suma’s delicate modern take on pink and brown, that was influenced by Natsume’s favourite animals - birds and bears - but also by her parents’ taste. “They left the design completely up to me but just asked me to keep the colour fairly quiet as they had to share the space with Natsume. I didn’t want it to be too childish, so I kept in mind the ‘French shabby-chic / antique’ feeling of the rest of the home, and I tried to keep the silhouettes vintage looking, and the colour minimal and chic.”
Suma pulls it off by pairing soft pinks with beiges and browns “keeping the tones of the colours similar by using soft, antique shades, to calm the pink down a bit.”
Posted 19 October 2009 in Real Life Interiors
TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: Alexander Taylor
By Christine Samuelian
At 33 Alexander Taylor is one of the youngest product designers to have made it big in the international design world with iconic shapes like the powder-coated steel Antlers coathanger, the solid oak and rubber Kids Rock rocking chair, and the Fold lamp, a version of which is manufactured by Established & Sons. Alex lives in the seaside town of Deal, Kent, with his wife and two kids, Wilf, 4, and Clara, 18 months.
LittleBig: What inspired your now famous Kids Rock rocking chair [pictured bottom]?
AT: I saw an old children’s rocking chair at a friend’s house. At the time we didn’t have kids but I was instantly struck with this image of children kicking back in front of the fire, relaxing after a tough day - I just thought it was a funny concept. It also gave me an opportunity to design a very pure piece without having to worry too much about ergonomic and comfort complaints. I wanted to design something that would survive long after the children have grown up and left home. It was never my intention to do a version for the grown-ups - I like the idea of the children having their own individuality and furniture.
LB: Any other kid-related products?
AT: The Antlers coat hook [£59, pictured right]. It’s a highly graphic and functional piece that lends itself perfectly to a child’s bedroom wall. [And we also love Alex's flat Fold lamp with coloured flex, pictured below, great for older kids' bedside tables].
LB: Any more child-related ideas in the pipeline?
AT: I’ve had a few thoughts that may develop into both playful objects and serious children’s furniture. I’d love to design a good high chair - there are already a couple of good ones on the market but I think it would be a challenge. It’s such a fundamental part of the kitchen and you have to live with it and use it three or more times every day. I’d also like to design a bed that helps children sleep all night and at least until 7.30am during the week and 11am at the weekends - I’d make a fortune! Read the rest of this article
Posted 5 September 2009 in Designer Profiles
COLOUR: The new pink rules
PINK. YOU EITHER LOVE IT OR HATE IT. Either way if you have a little girl in your life, you can’t avoid it. But Gail Taylor of London-based interior design house Taylor Howes has found a way of doing pink tastefully: “It is a tricky colour to use as it’s so feminine,” she says. “But if you use different shades of pink rather than your typical baby pink and combine it with fresh colours such as citrus green or turquoise, it can be really fun and interesting.”
In this UK space for a five-year-old girl, Gail fulfilled the brief of “a multi-functional space that offered work, play and room for sleepovers, and there had to be a piano too,” with an amazing citrus and pink wallpaper, Anichov Leaf, from Designers Guild, and classic Vitra Panton chairs and mini Vitra table. So that the scheme doesn’t look “too themed, meaning less typically girlie.”
Our favourite bits? The built-in beds that make the most of the space, separated by a privacy wall, and the slide. What a way to start the day… Click on the below gallery pictures for a closer look.
*Taylor Howes Design, www.thdesigns.co.uk; + 44 (0)207 349 9017 Read the rest of this article
Posted 7 August 2009 in Real Life Interiors
TOP SHOP: Present & Correct
SURELY WE CAN’T be the only ones obsessed with retro stationery, desk tidies and midcentury graphic children’s books. Which is why we are frequently found window shopping at our current favourite original stationery and graphic goods’ shop Present & Correct.
In a bid to find out more and fuel the stationery obsession fire, we spoke to owner Neal Whittington, 29, (pictured above), a designer and illustrator, who is also a fan of “a good rummage, fun knitted jumpers, making cakes and cutting up paper” about this love of all things papery.
LittleBig: Did you just get bored one day and decide to open a shop?
P&C: Since I left college I made things and sold them in other people’s shops, but in the back of my mind I guess I was working towards having one - in some shape or form - of my own. A real life bricks and mortar store would be a dream come true, something I have always wanted to do and one day hope to have. The online store was the next best thing, and to be honest it reaches a far wider audience than a London based shop would, and of course the overheads are a lot smaller!
LB: Why are there so many (retro) stationery (and the like) obsessives out there?
P&C: It’s amazing isn’t it! I think one of the big reasons is that it is reminiscent of school and college (not always a good thing!), but also because on the high street, in the UK especially, it is quite hard to find cool, original stationery and so people put more effort into seeking out the old and unwanted. The design and feel of the older things is so nice, and hard to emulate. I think most designers love stationery of all shapes and sizes - we were the ones at school with the pristine exercise books and a different pencil case for every term and season. Stationery, to me, makes me think of birthday gift vouchers from WHSmiths - this was a time when a £5 voucher would go a long way. You could get some nice rubbers in cases, a notebook or two, some stickers AND have enough for a copy of Smash Hits! Read the rest of this article
Posted 14 July 2009 in Shop Watch
Loading... 
