For those of you who are unaware, I’m spending this week in Paris doing pattern and trend scouting. Home Autour du Monde is always on my itinerary as the Bensimon home collection is magical and curated to perfection. You can imagine my delight when I happened upon this window. The furniture is covered in cable knit with amazing wintery pom poms. So exciting to see the home version of this trend translated so seamlessly.

Most of us are too impatient to let ideas evolve overtime without overwatering them.  Christie Wright of Brooklyn, NY, embraces the idea of storytelling as a strategy for designing. “Building by Leaving,” one of her latest creative endeavours, embraces the idea of growth through location and experience.  Sewing rungs together from various fabric swatches, her ladder grows over time, accumulating new colors, shapes, and patterns.  In an effort to understand growth, escapism and personal history, Wright’s creation is reminicient of a modern day Rapunzel.

When buying or revamping expensive furniture, it’s quite difficult to suppress your inhibitions and trust your creative gut.  Back in July, The New York Times highlighted Pamela Bell, one of four original founders of the Kate Spade brand.  Bell took it upon herself to reinvent the concept of doodling and let her children go wild on two pieces of antique furniture.  The results, though alarming to some, were well received my most.  Fast forward a few months, and it’s time to inspect how this idea of laissez faire fabric graffiti seeped into the marketplace.  On display at Elizabeth Bauer, a store for modern traditionalists, sits a wonderfully adapted high-end interpretation of this style. French handwriting covers all visible fabric, representing a playful pattern on pattern effect.  This chair is as flamboyant as it is elegant.

Bold & [...]

Delicate sophistication is synonymous with origami.  Though simplistic, there’s a beautiful complexity to every folded 3D figurine.  As of late, creative pop culture has embraced this ancient art with a modern tune.  Using color, form, figurative interpretation, and various materials, designers throughout the fashion, media, and home industries have embraced this budding trend, making unique, yet paralleling commercial interpretations.

See above for various examples: The Unrising Intl’s Keane poster with graphic animal forms, A futuristic dress, worn by pop vocalist Lady Gaga, homeware ceramic plates, sold at Lancelotti’s in the East Village of Manhattan and delicate metallic pendents by Origami Bijiou.

A more functional and figurative take can be found by the Italian design team at Lago Casa with these tanagram bookshelfs.   Movement is balanced by stillness in this beautifully playful [...]