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Posts Tagged ‘Pacific Design Center’

Juan Montoya and His Second Hand Furnishings

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a designer series lecture at the Pacific Design Center. AD 100 and Interior Design Hall of Famer Juan Montoya spent an hour dazzling us with images of his work and insider info on how he does what he does so well.

Anytime I have the opportunity to listen to a person who is this successful, I take it. Mr. Montoya is in his 70s and is going strong after decades due to his common sense approach and passion for interior design and architecture.

One of the things I love so much about being an interior designer, is that if you’re good, you get better with age- like a fine wine. It was reassuring to hear someone I hold in such high esteem, espouse the same principle that I hold dear- a green approach to design. No he didn’t use the words “sustainable” or “eco-friendly” or “green” but he practices these things none the less. In most of his designs he uses furniture, art and accessories from the 20s, 30s and 40s, some of my favorites being Jean Michele Frank and Jacques Rhulmann.

(This one is actually one of my projects, but it’s a Rhulmann table and chairs in the Frederick Lowe Estate.)

He rarely uses carpets and instead creates design in a hard (more easily cleaned and longer lasting) surfaces. He is well known for his liberal use of exquiste veneer on columns, walls, ceilings- but always prefers to restore what is there vs. ripping it out and installing new. And the greenest of all is his attitude, his very best advice being to smile a lot.

Tags: AD 100, Frederick Lowe, Interior Design Hall of Fame, Jean Michele Frank, Juan Montoya, Pacific Design Center, Ruhlmann
Posted in Furniture, Green Living, Lectures, Public Speaking | No Comments »

Fall Market at the Pacific Design Center

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Badly needing a break from the book writing, I headed over to the festivities at the PDC for some inspiration. I’m currently on the “Living Rooms” Chapter which focuses on maximizing use of space, especially precious outdoor square footage. Luxe Magazine’s gorgeous, garden party in the lower level lobby featuring stunning vignettes from all our favorite outdoor vendors couldn’t have come at a better time. The wine was delicious and the steel drum band was a breath of fresh air conditioned air from the 102 degree fall weather outside. Michael Wollaeger, the new Luxe Editor at Large, never disappoints.

Christian Liaigre at Holly Hunt

Richard Frinier at Century

Corbin Bronze at Sutherland

Janus Et Cie

Chinoserie at Robert Allen

Janus Et Cie

Richard Schultz at Summit

In a town where we are literally running out of water, it was great to see Synlawnand Astro Chic make a green statement. I’ve noticed about five of these synthetic lawns on my nightly strolls, along with a lot of gravel and succulents. I’d like to say it’s concern for the environment, but it looks like the water bills finally converted a few folks to the sustainable side.

Synlawn at Fall Market

Astro Chic Pillows, Ottoman and Lawn

The first floor gave us a sneak peak of what was to come on the second floor open house. I especially loved these three sculptures made of everything green including cleaners of the kitchen sink.

Cleaning Up at Fall Market

Worm Hole by Lynn Aldrich

A More Combustible Smoke by Greg MacLaughlin

Broken Sofa by Jeremy Everett

DJs were spinning and one piece was more interesting than the next throughout the second floor galleries.

Green Wall at Pucci

Love this Chandelier

How much is that Horsey in the window?-Twentieth

So sad……. mine is even better.

Art by a USC Graduate?

By this time the world’s most stylish builder, Mr. So Cal Contractor, and Junior Designer Elle started getting a little sleepy……

but woke up for a bit more fun in the best installation of the night. Little Miss Elle obviously shares her Designer Mommy’s love for graffiti art!

Bravo to the PDC for another Fall Market success. Take that recession!

Tags: Art Exhibit, Astro Chic, Century Furniture, Christian Liaigre, Dennis Design Group, eco-friendly, Green Decoration, Green Events, green materials, Green Retailers, Holly Hunt, interior design, Janus Et Cie, Luxe Magazine, Pacific Design Center, Robert Allen, So Cal Contractor, Synlawn
Posted in Events, Furniture, Materials, Parties | No Comments »

The Greening of Westweek

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Every year the PDC opens their doors for a fabulous three day party called Westweek. Showrooms host glamourous parties with entertaining lectures and tasty treats. This year I was delighted to see so much attention being to sustainable products and practices. The libation station hosted by Liebherr served up a refreshing organic fruit drink. When they handed me the styrofoam cup and offered me a plastic cap and straw, I proudly declined and said, “caps and straws are not great for the environment”. I was so happy to hear the reply, “but these are 100% percent biodegradable and made of corn, even the cup breaks down”. I had just been rereading Cradle to Cradle the day before and this was one of the solutions they offered. Talk about syncronicity. The PDC was the last place I expected to practice cradle to cradle theory. Go Liebherr.

As I was sipping my delicious libation, I headed through the Green Building lobby and saw fashion and furniture collide in the Barbie/Student Designer exhibit. Cisco, one of my favorite sustainable vendors, provided this adorable campaign inspired seat. Barbie can fold it up into a suitcase and hit the road in her hybrid.

My daughter Elle and niece, now 2 1/2 and three months old, made their first appearances at Westweek this year. Elle was much more impressed by the bagpipes at Edelman Leather than the Barbie exhibit. I always imagined she’d be a singer, so this was encouraging. Her smoking hot daddy carried her around in the Baby Bjorn. You can imagine all the attention he got!

Stylemaker Thomas Lavin embraced green design with open arms. He’s included an entire line of sustainable fabrics, Creation Bauman and featured Chista’s gorgeous tables at Westweek this year.

And as always, Thomas had the hippest flowers arrangements. They reminded me of something I’d see in the Jetson’s living room. Brook Casey really loved them because they actually looked like his work.

The show stopper was at Moura Starr, a wholly sustainable showroom which just relocated to the PDC after 14 years on Melrose. I can only imagine how they got this table into the showroom, it’s enormous. The table is made from a fallen tree which was nearly impossible to win at auction and fabricate. You only have to look at it to know it was well worth the effort. I had admired Moura Starr’s furniture for years without knowing about their committment to sustainability. Westweek was a hit and I now have another green showroom in my arsenal!

Tags: Pacific Design Center
Posted in Events, Materials, Parties, Retailers | No Comments »

[LORI DENNIS INTERIOR DESIGN]

Lori Dennis formed Dennis Design Group, specializing in green interior design, in 1998. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, Woman's Day, Los Angeles Times, Apartment Therapy and countless other magazines, books and websites throughout the world. [more..]

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