DEDON has won one of the most competitive international design competitions – the red dot design award. The international jury presented the ‘red dot: best of the best’ award for superior design quality to YIN YANG designed by Thomkins. This year there were 2,548 entries for the red dot award from 43 countries – proof of just how coveted the 52 year-old award has become. Congratulations to Yin and Yang. It’s a big deal to win this.

Matching sculptural chairs, Yin Yang lives outdoors. They nest together to create a single circular design. When combined the two lounge chairs face each other. The chairs come in a light platinum and a dark bronze. Now, if I could only remember my Mantra.

Custom design

What is it with me and wall decals? I’m drawn to them in the some way. I’ve never actually used them for a project, but I plan to any day now. I love them! Check out the selection from OneUpDesign. If you don’t see what you like, contact the designer to create the wall mural of your dreams!

I took the day off yesterday and went shopping. Sometimes a wardrobe needs a make-over, right? So while I was working on finding new duds I stopped by the Trish McEvoy counter for a make-over on the ‘ole face. It was my lucky day because Brian Mainzinger was ready with the Spackle and brushes. He works for Trish in the Midwestern region and has real talent. He’s a lot of fun, too. We got to work on my new “American” look.

So what does this have to do with interior design? Not much, but read on anyway. Brian used a lavender/blue shadow on my eyelids paired with a dark plum/brown blended expertly in the crease and also as a liner. I loved the combination. I started thinking about how hot blue and brown are right now for interiors and fashion.

Color trends have been shared in fashion and interiors for a long time, but make-up? Is this something new or is it mere coincidence? Wasn’t the monochromatic, matte look big in both make-up and interiors in the 1990’s? Did we wear mauve and grey shadows in the 1980’s. I think so! Isn’t that kind of weird? “My face matches my living room!“

Brazilian designer, Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s classic chair, Paulistano has been reissued by French company Objekto. The Brazilian architect won the Pritzker Architecture Prize last year. His classic chair was designed in 1957. Paulistano is made from one piece of bent steel bar and covered with leather or canvas. It’s also the only piece of furniture ever designed by Mendes da Rocha. Originally released as a limited edition and was available only to avid furniture collectors. I’m glad the Objekto is now making this masterpiece available to the rest of us. Bravo! You can buy Paulistano for $1,500 (retail) online at Design Within Reach.

Today’s selection for Chair of the Day is a winner. I like it because it comes in Red, my favorite color, and I like the name: Knock Down Drag Out. Sometimes it’s just that simple. Oh, it looks cool, too. The chair was designed by Christopher Douglas for Material Furniture. He’s both the designer and the owner. He was recently chosen to display his work at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum based on his Knock Down Drag Out Line. You can visit his site here, and buy the chair here.

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Here’s a nice design for a space-saving outdoor table and chairs. It’s called Sushi and is from Gloster Furniture. The find retailers in your area go to their site and type in your area code. They also make nice sofas and tables, etc. All for outdoors.

Get me to a pool! Forget how I really look in a swimsuit; I’ll look way better if I’m posing on Wave. Designed by Francesco Rota for Paulo Lenti, it’s part of the Aqua Collection.

The chaise longue is built for the outdoors with three adjustable positions. Everyone likes to change position now and then, so that’s important. Wave’s upholstery is created by hand weaving speckled rope directly onto the frame of the piece. It comes in 9 fabulous colors and is available at Livingspace. Catch one!

I’ve got to put a good word in for fellow blogger Rachel Perls. Her blog is called HUE and she writes about color (obviously) but in a unique way. She has a great point of view with lots of useful information. She’s a good writer, too. So, it’s a fun blog to read. Check her blog out (right now!) by clicking here.

Now that a lot of us have turned on the air conditioners, it’s a good time to start thinking about how to save on our energy bills. I know I wrote about this earlier, but I thought it was worth touching on the subject again. I’m talking about changing out our incandescent bulbs with fluorescent. Fluorescent have changed a lot through the years, so you don’t have to be afraid that they’ll blink, buzz, or make you look green. But why is this a good idea?

Fluorescent require far less energy to burn, so you’ll save a lot on the cost of lighting your home. For example, one 60 watt incandescent bulb, burning for 5 hours a day will cost you $34.14 per year. A similar fluorescent, burning for those same 5 hours will cost only $7.14 per year. Multiply this by all the light you use and you can see how the savings quickly add up. In fact, just go here to find a nifty calculator that will figure it all out for you. It will also tell you what wattage you need to switch the incandescent to fluorescent.

Another reason to switch is that the bulbs last many times longer than incandescent. So you don’t need to replace them as often. Think about lamps that are a pain to deal with and high ceilings that are hard to reach. Fluorescent save on time, too.

There are some issues. First, fluorescent bulbs cost a lot more than incandescents. But you’ll save so much in energy that in the long run that they wind up paying for themselves many times over. Another issue is the mercury content. Mercury is used in all fluorescent, so it’s a good idea to recycle them instead of tossing them into the waste bin. Many home stores, like Home Depot now offer recycling. So again, it’s a problem that’s already solved.

The only other thing to know is that the hotter the bulb burns, the bluer the light will be. The new fluorescent easily mimic the soft, warm light of incandescents. For an incandescent glow, choose a fluorescent with “2,700K” (or sometimes 27K) on the label. For the look of a halogen, choose 3,000K (or 30K). Many manufacturers now have an energy star label on them. This lets you know that they’re good for home use.

So now you know! If you’ve got an IKEA near you, they sell fluorescent at a great price.

And now for a bit of lighting trivia. Did you know that the real term for a light bulb is a lamp? The problem is that no one outside the lighting world actually uses this term. But now you know something the rest of the world doesn’t. So with this fun fact, you’ll be the shining light at your Memorial Day party this weekend!

Sometimes a store that seems completely hopeless gets something right. This chair is called The Egg. It’s made of hardwoods and sells for $34.72. You can buy it online at Walmart. I guess they don’t have it in their stores lest it go and ruin their low-rent image. It makes me cry a little that the rest of the stuff they (or virtually every mass-market furniture retailer) sell can’t be just as tasteful. It doesn’t have to be modern. But does a sofa, for example, have to have puckered, marbleized “microfiber” fabric and a giant pad on the arm? Anyone who can explain this to me gets a special prize.

I think this is a really cool idea. The chair is Hob, designed by Studio Vertijet for COR. The description of Hob on their site says it best:

Where is the upholstery? An understandable question when one looks at HOB. The answer is that less is sometimes more. A flexible bentwood shell in the seat and back replaces the upholstery and provides the necessary comfort. As if made in a single casting and covered with high quality felt or robust leather, HOB seems to float gently above the ground. Contributing to this appearance is the delicate, rotating aluminium frame, available in polished version or in various lacquers.

I love the idea of covering just the bent ply. “Look ma, no springs!” Really nifty. And it would look fantastic in a room with the flocked fabric on the windows (see below). Someone call me! I’ve got a creative need that must be serviced! You can purchase Hob, and anything else from COR at Linear Contemporary Furniture.

Nobilis “New Look”

I’ve been having a lot of fun looking at all the new wallcovering that’s back in again. We all got sick of the faux thing. Not only is wallcovering in again, but flocked wallcovering is back, too. I’m seeing flocked fabrics, too. Here are three examples of this from French textile company Nobilis (I drooled at their store in Paris last winter). It’s not wallcovering - it’s fabric. But the idea is the same. I drool to think about this fabric on a wall and a chair, or a drape. So sensual.

Nobilis “New Look”

century. Wallpapers were available by the late 17What is flocking you say? It has an interesting history. Most people remember it as a super tacky thing you’d find somewhere like a greasy restaurant with major delusions of grandeur. It was good for a laugh and that was about it. But flocking has been around for centuries. Flock paper was originally invented to imitate cut-velvet hangings. Flock is a powdered wool, a waste product of the woollen cloth industry which had been applied to cloth in the early 17th century.

Nobilis “New Look”

The imitations of damask and velvet that we usually associate with flocking began to appear around the 1730s. Flock papers were durable and so although they were relatively expensive, they were good value for money. The flock papers had an advantage over textile wall coverings in that the turpentine in the adhesive used for fixing the flock kept them free from moths. The trend remained strong until the Victorians came along. Their penchant for sanitation and, therefore, scrubbable wallpapers, spelled the end of flocking.

This colorway comes with a coordinating velvet stripe.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s it was rediscovered as a nouveau-riche glamour paper. Think of Vegas in the ’50’s and you get the idea. A mafioso’s idea of classy.

I never thought I’d be so attracted to something I used to laugh at, but these are really beautiful. It’s one of those things that has to be done with high-end, quality materials or it just doesn’t look right. Nobilis certainly has gotten it right. They’re owned by Zoffany.