January 2012
8 posts
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An Art Deco Masterpiece in the Bronx
Last October we shared a post from Art Deco Buildings on several Art Deco architectural details found in The Bronx. Scouting New York has recently discovered a masterpiece of an Art Deco apartment house in the Bronx. This building features an aquatic inspired exterior mosaic mural and two stunning Rene and CP Graves murals in the lobby.
Read Scouting New York’s post here.
For more...
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The Archtitect's Favorite Lawman
Source: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvumyfXBiI1qeyobp.png Photographers unknown.
Design and Desire is all about looking at the personal side of many of the Twentieth Century’s leading archtiects, artists and designers. So we could not pass up sharing this nugget posted on the Mies van der Rohe Society blog regarding the architect’s favorite television show, CBS’s...
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Remembering Architect Andrew Geller (1924–2011)
The man who designed the kitchen where Nikita Kruschev and President Richard Nixon held their famous “kitchen debate,” architect Andrew Geller, has died. Geller, who studied architecture at Cooper Union, designed the kitchen as part of the Leisurama house project while working for iconic designer Raymond Loewy.
Geller was also known for the modernist beach homes he designed for...
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Apple's Jonathan Ive Knighted
Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, Jonathan Ive, has been awarded Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in the New Year Honor’s list, as reported by BBC News. Ive is responsible for the design of Apple’s iMac, iPhone and iPad, among many other products.
According to BBC News, “The knighthood is the second time Mr. Ive has been recognized in the ...
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Silly Saturday: Mind Your Tone
This cartoon posted on artdepartmental’s blog made me laugh out loud! Thanks for sharing, Alison.
Liquid Angel, 2011. Source: http://www.wherethepunis.com/changing-tone-tone-dont-pun-378.html
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Darwin D. Martin House's Top 11 Events of 2011
As a new year begins, Eric Jackson-Forsberg, curator of the Darwin D. Martin House Complex remembers the institution’s top news and events of the past year. One highlight was a visit from legendary Taliesin photographer Pedro Guerrero and his wife, pictured below.
Read the post here.
Pedro Guerrero and his wife, Dixie (2011). Photographer unknown. Source:...
December 2011
5 posts
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Silly Saturday: LEGOmania
Happy Holidays to you all! Design and Desire will be back again in 2012 with more posts on Twentieth Century Design.
With Christmas at close hand we’re rerunning a Silly Saturday post on everyone’s favorite toy, LEGOS. This post orignally ran on January 15, 2011.
LEGOs - they’re not just for kids anymore! Former architect Adam Reed Tucker builds iconic skyscrapers out of...
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Lloyd Wright's Samuel-Navarro House
Design and Desire has featured the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his work several times. Today, however, we’re highlighting a Hollywood Hills home designed by his son, California architect Lloyd Wright.
Built in 1928 for Louis Samuel, personal secretary and companion to silent film star Ramon Navarro, the building has served as home for other notable celebrities. According to...
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Born to be Wild
Thanks to the Animalarium for sharing these great animal-themed travel posters. To view more, visit the blog. More terrific posters by illustrator Harry Rogers can be found on Airways Art.
Leo Pecchioni. Costa Viola Poster (1960) Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JU5_T-pXyaE/TcRcqgz3gfI/AAAAAAAAGTw/1S_jqS5B7Gg/s640/6+leo+pecchioni+1960+brandina.jpg
Harry Rodgers, Japan Poster, Qantas...
November 2011
6 posts
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Scarface Style: The World is Yours, So Dress Like...
To coincide with the September 2011 arrival of the Blu-Ray edition of Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1982), Clothes on Film has posted a tribute to designer Patricia Neal’s costumes. “[The] costumes are one of the most memorable elements, combining period accuracy with flamboyant creativity, especially wild Tony’s island shirts and the glitzy, sometimes stunning dresses worn by his...
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The Evolution of Apple Ads
Web Designer Depot takes a fun look back at Apple Computer advertisements over the company’s history. According to the site:
“Apple first started advertising its products in the late 1970s.
A wide variety of ads were shown in the 80s, some of which served to convince consumers that they should purchase a computer, and, specifically, an Apple.
These ads were text-heavy and light on...
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Jonathan Ive: The Designer Who Changed Our...
“With technology, the function is much more abstract to users, so the product’s meaning is almost entirely defined by the designer.” –Jonathan Ive Background: In the Land of Beige Boxes In the 1980s desktop computers were for the most part designed by engineers, and they looked it. During the 1990s desktop computers started to appear on desktops in companies across the world, but...
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Silly Saturday: Patron Saints of Graphic Design
Slightly blasphemous but nonetheless amusing are W. Lynn Garrett’s Patron Saints of Graphic Design. As a survivor of both Catholic school and art school, I hope these “saints” are watching out for me.
Thanks to Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design for sharing.
W. Lynn Garrett, Saint Typo (2003). Source:...
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Film Making Museum Coming to LA
Design and Desire is very excited to learn from SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site, that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is collaborating with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the development of a museum dedicated to film making. The article states that while there is no definite timeline, it is hoped that the project could be completed within three to...
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Beth Sholom Synagogue
Prairie Mod has recently posted a photographic virtual tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue in the FEATURES section of their site. See the tour »
Frank Lloyd Wright, Beth Sholom Synagogue (1954), Elkins Park, PA.
Want to know more about this masterpiece from late in the architect’s career? Outta The Way has posted an informative article on the Beth Sholom...
October 2011
6 posts
Larry Baranovic
Illustrator Larry Baranovic, who was most recognized for his automotive illustrations for the Chrysler Corporation, died in September 2010. Read a tribute to the artist and see more of his work on Plan 59 Pastelogram.
Larry Baranovic, Cover for the Chrysler 300C brochure (1957). Source: http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/300C.jpg
Happy Birthday to the Chrysler Building
“When the Chrysler Building opened to the public, its new tenants were greeted with a triangular grand lobby in the Art Deco style that was decorated in steel, granite and marble. There were 32 elevator cabs, each adorned with a different custom design.”
Read our post from 2010 on the rivalry between the building of Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.
William Van...
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Fuller and Noguchi: story of a friendship
Earlier this year Design and Desire posted an article on the artist Isamu Noguchi. We’d like to share a terrific interview with the former director of the Noguchi Museum, Shoji Sadao. Sadao discusses Noguchi’s long-lived relationship with Buckminster Fuller. The accompanying photographs are also well worth a look.
Thanks to Skibinskipedia for bringing this fine article to our...
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WatchKen Adam Interviews
Earlier this year, Design and Desire ran an article on renowned film art director Sir Ken Adam, whose credits include, Dr. Strangelove, Dr. No, Barry Lyndon and many others. If you enjoyed our post, Web of Stories has several dozen posted video interviews with Sir Adam.
In the clip here, Adam discusses the beginning of his career at Riverside Studios.
Read more about Sir Ken...
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It's All in the Details: Art Deco in the Bronx
Art Deco Buildings Blog has posted some fine examples of Art Deco architectural design in the Bronx. First off is the Herman Ridder Junior High School designed by Walter C Martin and dates from 1929-31. See more photos and read the entire post.
Tiles, Herman Ridder Junior High School, Bronx, NY (1929-1931), Walter C. Martin, Architect. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dct66/3151485905/
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The American Look
“The American Look: Fashions and Furnishings of the Arts and Crafts Era” features selections from the Sue Genet Costume Collection at Syracuse University and from Dalton’s American Decorative Arts. The show opens at the Warehouse Gallery in Syracuse, NY on October 15, 2011 and runs through November 11, 2011.
September 2011
7 posts
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Silly Saturday: 50 Reasons NOT to Date a Graphic...
As if ten reasons weren’t enough and one would need fifty reasons not to date a graphic designer, we’re sharing the fifty reasons that were originally posted on A Bourbon for Silvia blog. Thank you to @klad2688 of Kevin Lee Allen Design for bringing this hilarious post to our attention.
Some of our favorite reasons NOT to date a graphic designer:
7. You’ll come last out of the movies...
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Consumers Building, Chicago
Our friends at designslinger.com tell an interesting story concerning the Consumers Building (1913) in Chicago, IL by the architectural firm of Jenney, Mundie & Jensen. According to designslinger, the building “passed through several owners before being acquired by the Federal government, whose Federal Center complex sits right behind the Consumer. The government now maintains the...
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Vote for Pedro!
Last month Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal photographer, Pedro E. Guerrero, visited the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York. According to Mark Sommer’s article in the Buffalo News, Guerrero was impressed with the complex’s restoration: ” ‘Marvelous, absolutely spellbinding. It’s breathtaking it’s so beautiful,’ Guerrero said.”
Pedro E....
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax Research Tower
Life photographer, Eliot Elisofon’s photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Research Tower from November 1950 for Life Magazine are the subject of a recent blog post from our friends at Aqua Velvet. See more outstanding photographs and read more about the structure on the blog. Also a thank you goes out to Douglas Anders at the Frank Lloyd Wright Newsblog for bringing this...
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Audrey Hepburn’s Classic “Modern” Style
Actress Audrey Hepburn was one of the great movie trend-setters of the Twentieth Century. Today we’re sharing a post on Miss Hepburn’s unique style from Modernist Today:
“The classic timeless beauty of Audrey Hepburn, coupled with the elegant and modernist styling of her many fabulous costumes, are now being appreciated by a new generation. Many iconic images of Ms. Hepburn...
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August 2011
7 posts
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Graffiti Archaeology
Thanks to Scott Beale of laughingsquid.com for sharing a link to Daniel Feral’s diagram below and the link to a very interesting resource related to the street art of Graffiti. Graffiti Archaeology takes an evolutive look at Graffiti, specifically how art on particular urban exterior walls changes over time. The Graffiti Archaeology website describes itself as “a project devoted to the...
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John Lautner Goes to the Movies
If you’ve been following Design and Desire you know how much we love movies — especially design and architecture in movies. Needless to say we’re really excited to share this short film that was created to commemorate modernist architect John Lautner’s centennial this year. The film features Lautner buildings that have been used as settings in the movies. Included in the...
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Modern by Design
Nendo Collective, Visible Structures (2011). Photo by Masayuki Hayashi. Source: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/07/20/carbon_all02_custom.jpg?t=1311796714&s=4
National Public Radio’s Susan Stamberg reviews “Modern by Design,” an exhibition that was recently held at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The show features everyday Twentieth Century items that are...
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Silly Saturday: Design History Now On Sale !!!
While doing a recent Google search for “Design History” these ads displayed in paid search:
These offers may be just too good to be true, but Design and Desire, however, goes them one better — we give you design history for free!
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Elbert Hubbard: An American Original
Conformists die, heretics live forever.— Elbert Hubbard In the documentary, “Elbert Hubbard: An American Original,” which first aired on PBS in 2009, director/writer Paul Lamont presents Hubbard, a major figure in the American Arts and Crafts Movement, as a man of contradictions. Hubbard was devoted to art, yet motivated by business; interested in the welfare of the common man but his Roycrofters...
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A Brief Visual History of Vintage Typographic...
Thank you to Maria Popova of Brain Pickings for this review of Steven Heller and Louise Fili’s latest book Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design’s Golden Age . According to Ms. Popova their book is, “a treasure chest of typographic gems culled from advertising, street signage, type-specimen books, wedding invitations, restaurant menus and personal letters from the 19th to the...
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Delano Hotel, Miami Beach
This photo taken by Australian photographer David Thompson shows the Ritz Plaza Hotel (1940) L Murray Dixon, architect on the left, with Robert Swartburg’s Delano Hotel (1947) at Miami’s South Beach.
Photo: David Thompson. Ritz Plaza Hotel (1940) at left and Delano Hotel (1947) on right, South Beach, Miami, FL. Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3614/5823314939_5109aac784.jpg
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July 2011
15 posts
4 tags
Silly Saturday: Mid-century Modern Design Hits...
Who’s not feeling a little older? This hilarious cartoon shows even mid-century modern design is having a difficult time aging gracefully. Thanks to Core77 for sharing, and you can view the entire mid-modern design cartoon on their blog.
Craighton Berman. Cartoon (2011), originally posted on FueledByCoffee Source:...
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Mid-century Bathrooms
Check out mid-century interior designs and advertising illustrations in this slide show of retro bathroom designs from 1955 through 1960. Thank you to Fix A Faucet for the original post.
Robert Krantz, Kohler “Mayflower” Bathroom Illustration, 1959. Source: http://fixafaucet.com/retro_bathrooms/images/crop/kohler_bathroom_1959.jpg
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Dieter Rams: Good design is as little design as...
10. Good design is as little design as possible Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. According to an article on the Design Museum website, “As a smoker, Rams loved to design lighters as ‘small sculptural objects’ which should be ‘a pleasure to look at and to use.’ His chief challenge with the T2 was...
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Dieter Rams: Good design is environmentally...
9. Good design is environmentally friendly Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product. The AB 1 Alarm clock, like many of Dieter Rams’s designs, is compact and straightforward. There are no unnecessary parts or decoration that would have consumed extra...
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Dieter Rams: Good design is thorough down to the...
8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Rams talks about the design of the Braun SK 61 in this interview: http://www.vitsoe.com/en/gb/footer/transcripts/transcript-for-tva-talk
Dieter Rams & Hans Gugelot, Braun SK 61, a.k.a. Snow White’s Coffin, (1956) Source:...
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Dieter Rams: Good design is honest
6. Good design is honest It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Dieter Rams, Braun Electric Shaver, (1970) Source: http://designmuseum.org/media/item/4827/-1/103_7Lg.jpg
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Dieter Rams: Good design is unobtrusive
5. Good design is unobtrusive Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
Dieter Rams and Andreas Hackbarth, Desklight RHa, (1981-1984) Source: http://www.tecnolumen.com/images/DH_RHa_1_45_Desklamp.jpg
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Dieter Rams: Good design makes a product...
4. Good design makes a product understandable It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory. Need we add anything more?
Dieter Rams, Braun DR Coffeemakers, (1985) Source: http://www.austinlaverty.com/dieterrams/images/portfolioImages/bigDR.jpg
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Dieter Rams: Good design is aesthetic
3. Good design is aesthetic The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful. Braun LE1 Electrostatic Loud Speaker, based on a speaker designed by Peter J. Walker, was introduced by Braun in 1960. Rams was asked to design a case that would “match the special...