Summer is on its way - are you ready?

Here's a clever way to add flexibility to your outdoor seating scheme. Hampton Bay’s new Westbury set ($699 from Home Depot - shown below) has adjustable arms, so it can be configured as a love seat or couch. For even more flexibility, Westbury’s adjustable table ($249) has four moving panels that transform it from a basic coffee/conversation table into a low-profile dining table. There’s also a  holder in the centre that can serve as an ice bucket, making it perfect for sipping summer wine while nibbling snacks and chatting.

If space for a table is teeny tiny, or if you want to add affordable extra seating to create conversational settings in the backyard, choose a colourful three-piece bistro set, also from HD ($80).This one's also perfect for a postage-sized balcony. Are you listening, condo-dwellers?

When the sun goes down, count on  solar lights to cast a soft, eco-friendly glow.

Keep watching this space over the next few weeks for more decor/entertaining and recipe ideas. Because summer will come - I promise - and you do want to be ready, don't you?

 

 

 

Linen Chest - the new kid in town

This week's Hot Home Products column in the Toronto Star features the Linen Chest, a Canadian success story that began when Sylvia Leibner opened a small store in Montreal in 1961. Today, a second generation of Leibners oversee a network of over 20 stores. The chain has expanded throughout Quebec and into New Brunswick and, last year, opened Leaside and Vaughan locations. Two new stores, one in the Stockyards and one at Richmond and John Streets, will open within the next few months. They also offer online shopping. Check out the pics below for an idea of what's on offer. I have a feeling readers will be hearing more about these folks in the future. Stay tuned.

Busy design weekend - the IDS and beyond

The big news this weekend in design/décor is the Interior Design Show. Worth noting too, though, is the Toronto Offsite Design Festival, also happening this weekend. Actually, it’s been happening since Jan. 19, when it kicked off in The Junction a week of some 40 exhibitions and events across Toronto. Reinvented for the third year in a row, it remains — as far as I can tell —  a way to take advantage of the buzz created by the IDS, and to publicize a souped-up "what’s on in the arts in TO” guide. I say that in a  good way; there are lots of great things to see in the city right now and if more people thought about design more often, we might just have a more civilized, more livable city. Others may feel differently, of course.

Under the offsite festival umbrella are such exhibits as The Happy Show, created by Stefan Sagmeister (until March 3 at the Design Exchange). It’s supposed to reflect the designer’s attempt to increase his happiness using meditation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals. (Please resist here your natural impulse here to add wisecracking editorial – Editor.)  

Jeff Goodman's lovely, lovely glass

The website also notes that you can see Jeff Goodman’s supremely beautiful glass until Feb. 27 at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery.That will be worth catching, imho. If I wasn’t broke, I’d buy a few pieces of this lovely glass, made by a lovely man, who once graciously invited me into his studio, where I  made a glass paperweight. So very sad when he died last year.

 

 

 

  

I also like the sound of Snip, mostly because I’ve always admired Miriam Grenville’s kooky-pretty-clever work with paper. This time, see a series of patterns at the Hair Lounge until Feb. 18.

See the full list of events on the festival’s site 

My date book is jammy-packed for the next few days, but I will try to get down to the IDS trade-day to get a glimpse of Philippe Malouin.

Speaking of dishy, Philippe Malouin designed the lovely waxed concrete bowls below

 

 

His impressive CV includes a stint with designer Tom Dixon and a recent nod from Wallpaper magazine for a carpet hand- made from looped galvanized steel wire into an arresting geometric shape. The geometric motif shows up again in his "windows" - light fixtures designed like shutters and which mimic natural light, for which W Hotel lauded the Canadian-born designer.

BTW, For the full list of Wallpaper awards, click here 

 If you go, keep in mind that the OneXOne’s children’s charity is auctioning chairs customized by such designers as moimoidesign, WeKillYou, Monnet Design, Oeuffice, Doublenaut, Burton Kramer, and Marian Bantjes. Take a peak, and make an offer if you can. 

 

Sculpting with light, or overdoing the Yuletide cheer. You decide.

Over the holidays, I unleashed my inner hippie (never far from the surface, I might add) to create a mood light with an umbra Fotofall  stand and  Sylvania’s  new Mosiac strips on which I clipped the strip.

Up to ten strips can be joined to create up to 20 feet and special connectors can be used to negotiate corners. Strips can also be cut with scissors at pre-marked spots. A remote lets the user choose from 15 colours, including white.Personally, I don't go much for flashing, blinking lights. If I want that, I'll go to Vegas.But I do like being able to change the colour to suit moods and decor.

A kit, which comes with four two-foot strips, sells for about $50 at Home Depot. Well, what do you think?  Pure genius? Or probably drunk?

 

 

 

I want flowers for Christmas

A few quick floral tips from the lovely and talented Bruno Duarte of Fresh Floral Creations. 

If you haven’t visited his little jewel box shop on Danforth, you should. It may just be the Platonic Ideal or a floral shop.

If you can't get down there, you can at least drink a few drops from the font of his floral wisdom. Here it is:

Line vases with a leaf to cover stems; Duarte likes dark brown Thai leaves.

Keep topping up water, but don’t add powders — they’re mostly sugar and can cause bacteria that contributes to rot.

Work with a maximum of three colours.

Stay away from too much glitter (however tempting it may be).

On a dinner table, the height of an arrangement should never be taller than the length of your elbow to your hand.  If you’re table is long, consider three several smaller arrangements.

For something different and striking, cut Amaryllis, and hang them upside down. Gather the stems loosely but firmly with a floral wire and fill the stems, which are hollow, with water. Suspend from a hanging light fixture. (And if you can’t figure out how to do that, call Duarte – Editor)

Want to switch it up for New Year’s Eve? Go with white, says Duarte. “You will have been bombarded with red and other colours. White will be fresh and clean, just like the new year.”

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Lovely Lisi.....

Art for Craft’s Sake

Quick - if navy is the new midnight blue, what does artisanal mean? That’s a trick question — artisanal can mean whatever. Heck, I’ve squirted Srirachi hot-sauce into ketchup and called it “an artisanal blend of tomato and pepper”.

So I know, folks, that the term can tart everything from stationery with pictures of birds on it to the “limited edition” of a new line from a hip retailer, “richly inspired” by raw talent in a far-flung, picturesque spot, but mass made in China.

If you want the real thing, from Africa, for example, you have to go to Snob, a jewel box of a store tucked away in a tiny corner at 388 Carlaw, between Dundas and Gerrard. 

It's tempting to take one of everything at Snob

Right now, there are amazing textiles (ethereal threads of wool and silk washed into felt, heavy cotton fabrics with detailed stitching – both geometric and organic in design — in earthy browns, yellow and pumpkin tones - I’d use it on bedding, lampshades, headboards, soft ottomans.

 

 Also, elaborately carved poles on stands; in another life, they held up tents in a desert. Highly beaded and elongated wooden figures. And a curiosity cabinet, with artifacts such as hair picks made from ancient destructible woods. In fact, this store is a bit like the museum. Plan to stay a while.

Of all of the gorgeousness, the most beautiful thing there for me are the handmade Egyptian pendant Zenza lamps, with hammered patterns that create shadow webs on the nearest wall — to very, very pretty effect.

I know because I have one hanging in a hallway at home. Every time I look at it, I stop and marvel at the craft-work and the effect it has on light.

Recently at Snob, I saw for the first time the slim cylindrical pieces from Zenza. If I had a high ceiling and a lot of money, I’d buy 20 of them. The choice of models will only expand, given that Snob owner Denise Zidel (or, as her intimate friends like to call her, La Snob Dynamo) is now the national distributor for these pieces. Go and visit the store. In the meantime, check out the pics below.

Love the new textiles at Snob

 

The Zenza lamps I love, love love.

 

BTW,  a little birdie told me to look out for news from Snob early in the new year.

Around town, the shortest route to local talent is probably through the One of a Kind Show, which is the Platonic Ideal of Artisanal. One of the few home shows that’s worth the price of admission.Check out my Pinterest board for a sneak peak.

This holiday season, World Vision is selling scarves and jewelry to support their education and development projects. The Haitian hand-beaded necklace is attractive, with thin bands of strong colour.You need to order by Dec. 10th to get them for Christmas.

Jo Alcorn loves the high and lows

Photos by Robin Stubbert

Jo Alcorn is a veteran of home improvement tv, sells her own line of furniture and interior lighting. She also tosses off a couple of stagings for high-end homes for resale. There’s more about Jo in my Hot Home column in the Saturday Star, but here are a few pics  of her spaces that likely did not make it through to the print edition. Alas.

Because we like to give credit where credit is due, here's some info on the spaces:

Bedroom: Design Republic, TEB interiors mixed with Bouclair
Living Room: Zsemba Furniture, Jeff Turner Coffee table mix with Bouclair
Office: Chair Table Lamp, James Connelly Art mixed with Bouclair

Alcorn’s website has links to a previous showcase and videos with tips for mixing high and low pieces.  In one she advocates for DIY art. The most recent example of that for me was that my sister Cathy picked up three brilliant colour postcard photographs of Frida Kahlo. (See images below. All are from Nickolas Muray © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives)  We saw the show on the weekend. Sad. Operatic.Fascinating.  We’ll house these in cheap Ikea frames and they’ll brighten yet another corner of my house. Thank you, Frida — and Cathy.

If we’d been museum hopping, we might have also made it down to the Textile Museum of Canada gift shop, where we might have found lovely tea towels by Raingoose.  About $15. Definitely frame-worthy.  But I'd also buy them because they'd help with the everyday art of drying dishes and the such. And because they'd be awfully pretty fluttering on the laundry line.

Kaffe Fassett - a colourful life

What a pleasure to talk to Kaffe Fassett last week. Here are lots of pics of his work, and a few thoughts from Fassett, one of the most important textile designers of his time, that did not make it into the paper.

On textile being a medium that gives the artist great colour control:

When I first started knitting lots of people were into Fair Isle -  that scattered colour into little tiny facets. I was so thrilled by all the colours sitting in the  basket, and saw them as units, and I began to build those geometric patterns into bigger patches of colour. I like pools of colour.

On everyday beautiful:

I remember knitting a hat for a little child. The father came to me three or four times and said, "you have no idea the amount of beautiful aesthetic information you put into that hat". He was living with it and realizing how special it was.

On colour and contrast:

The other day there was amazing mist when I was in Mt Pleasant -  a thick mist on the just-turning autumn leaves. We were just tripping on it. I think my appreciation for that kind of palette comes from antique textiles — old faded, dirty patchwork – in which the colours have gradually become more harmonious and muted and less sharp. Beautiful.

 

A young and handsome Kaffe Fassett with the (under-appreciated?) 60s fashion designer Bill Gibb

 

Chenille, lurex and pearls for Bill Gibb

 

 

Incredibly, Fassett had two clients paint over wall murals he'd been comissioned to do. "Never again," he vowed, after I invited him to come to my house and do one, with the promise it would stay forever. "I poured myself into those and to see someone come and just make it disappear..."

 

 

Sumptuous, subtle colours. Fassett points out that his colour pairing for quilts are always low contrast.

If this has you dying to learn more about his work, you'll want to know that Fassett tells his fascinating life story in a beautifully written and illustrated autobiography, Dreaming in Colour (www.melaniefalickbooks.com. About $30 on Indigo.ca and Amazon.ca.)

 

 

 

 

Terrific toiles, tickings and other textiles

Fans of lovely textiles, rejoice. Annie Sloan’s new line, which includes toiles and tickings made in Belgium and France, should start showing up soon in a few select Canadian retailers.  Here’s a sneak peak.

Let’s start with the toiles — a perennial favourite. Although the inspiration for toile fabrics originated in India, it was in 18th century France that they became popular. Typically, they featured a bucolic theme repeated across a pale background. But you also see the designs against stonger backdrops - sometimes mustard yellow, deep pink or event black. Originally, these prints were often designed as a graphic interpretation of news or important local events.  BTW, check out the very modern Marimekko design below. Doesn't it remind you a bit of toile? It does me.

Ticking is a tightly woven, highly serviceable striped cotton fabric, originally used for mattress covers. The black and taupe Paris Noir ticking from Sloan is a smart and chic, while a horizontal stripe in off white and tomato red in different intensities (Panama Rouge) is softer. French Hens is retro rural; chickens, roosters, eggs and feathers on a linen-look background.  It would work well on draperies in the kitchen or garden room, or on as pillows. Faded Roses is strewn with delicate, dainty roses in faded pinks and greens. Prertt, pretty, pretty.

To see all the new fabrics, check out my Pinterest board 

Colour me Canadian

It’s appropriate that Beauti-Tone, the paint line from Canadian owned and operated Home Hardware,  has launched a colour tribute to the nation it calls home. The Simon Chang Oh Canada! collection has 42 colours  in six palettes, each one inspired by a region of Canada. They include Savoir Flair, which celebrates French-Canadian heritage (see top pic);  Arctic inspired  Northern Reflection (second pic); Beauti and the East, which reflects the charm of Atlantic villages; Culture Club, a hip, urban palette; Wheat till you try it, echoing the big sky colours of the Prairies and Pacific Overture, which captures the beauty of the Pacific seaboard. See the 2013 trend card  below.