Just doing what I do

LC Neill, Still River Studios

I wrote a post on 15 September and in it I told the story of a client who was panicking about a back splash that was being installed. She was regretting her decision to follow my suggestion and she had a melt down. It happens. Sometimes, people reach a breaking point and they can't handle any more renovation-related aggravation. I don't take it personally, and I see it as part of my job to walk people through episodes like that.

When I design a room, I see it as mine. It's my vision after all and since I'm responsible for it, I consider it to belong to me until it's completed. As the job progresses, I start letting it go and by the time I'm doing my final walk-through, I've let it go completely. That may sound odd, but that's the process I usually go through during the course of a renovation. I tend not to go back to see them after my clients have moved back in and settled their stuff into whatever it was that just got renovated. It's odd, I really lose interest in them as soon as they're not mine any more.

There are a handful of clients I've had over the years who have evolved into friends, but for the most part, I never hear from people again after I leave for the last time. That's OK too.

Anyhow, from time to time a client will reach across the distance I put between myself and their completed job. One such client was my hysterical homeowner from September 15th. I received this in the mail yesterday:

Dear Paul,

Thank you so much for my beautiful kitchen. I'm really enjoying everything in it. You wouldn't believe the people who've been in our home. My friends here ask if they can bring their friends or families over to see our kitchen. People from Pittsburgh, Ohio, New York and Canada have said it's absolutely beautiful. Most people said the design and cabinets are high end. My one friend said the back splash is to die for!!!

Thank you again,

I cannot tell you what a day brightener that was.

Win a George Nelson Ball Clock

I came across Lush Pad on Twitter yesterday. Lush Pad is a marketplace for Modernist furniture and furnishings. Got an original Hans Wegner chair lurking in the attic? Or maybe you'd rather buy a couple of original Bertoia stools. You can do both on Lush Pad. If you have a thing for Modernism, check out Lush Pad.

As an added incentive, in a contest sponsored by Modernism Magazine, Lush Pad is giving away a Nelson Ball Clock like the one pictured here. Though this clock's not an original, it's a licensed reproduction by Vitra and it normally sells for $355. All you have to do is tell them your favorite modern designer and you're in.

George Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1904. He's considered to be one of the founders of American Modernism and a lot of his iconic pieces, like the Ball Clock, are still in production decades after they debuted.

I came across this interesting history of the Ball Clock on Design Within Reach yesterday:

George Nelson often collaborated with other designers, and in the case of the Ball Clock (1948), Nelson was at a dinner party with Isamu Noguchi, Irving Harper and Bucky Fuller. As the story goes, they were all sketching and "we'd had a little bit too much to drink," said Nelson. In the morning, they saw a drawing of the Ball Clock on a roll of drafting paper. "I don¹t know to this day who cooked it up," said Nelson. "I know it wasn't me. It might have been Irving, but he didn¹t think so. [We] both guessed that Isamu had probably done it because [he] has a genius for doing two stupid things and making something extraordinary out of the combination. It could have been an additive thing, but we never knew."

So run on over to Lush Pad and enter for a chance to win this baby.

Sears' Blue Crew, the conference call

If you've been following the unfolding story regarding the Sears Blue Crew, here comes the last update for a while. However, just because I won't be writing Sears posts every couple of days doesn't mean this is over. Oh far from it. But before I get to that, if you need to get up to speed, click here, here and here.

Let me start out by saying that I am beyond impressed with Sears Appliances. I see them in a whole new light. I mean, how many members of the appliance industry would open themselves up to a panel discussion with a group of designers and architects who'd been hand picked by blogger who'd been done wrong? I appreciate the trust of Mike Léger from Sears particularly. I had no intention of having this be a finger pointing session but he couldn't have known that. So hats off to you Mike. Kudos to your whole team and your whole organization while I'm at it. You guys showed me a side to your company I never knew existed. Bravo.

I want to thank everybody from the designers and architects panel who agreed to participate in this conference too. So to Kristin, Susan, Kelly, Jamie, Ann, Mark, Rachele, Pam, Richard, Mike, Peter and Alex; I say thanks for your willingness to help turn a frustration into a path to a solution.

Our conference call yesterday last for an hour and it could have gone on for a few more if you ask me. This was not a sales job or an attempt to make customers out of us, rather it was an honest request for feedback. We covered a lot of bases and our allotted hour was up too soon. In moving forward from here, we're going to continue to meet and to come up with more ideas and solutions. 

We have a lot to learn from one another. We work different sides of the same industry. How few opportunities there are for these sides to interact hit me as I was calling into the conference yesterday afternoon. It was good to play a role in providing one. More please!

Happy birthday Gram

This was my Grandmother, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart and today would have been her 104th birthday. Of the many people who played a significant role in my life, none loom larger than Gevene. The older I get the more I see her in me. And the older I get too, the more I see just how great a thing that is.

She loved life and embraced it, warts and all, with a passion and an energy that makes me marvel even now. In the photo above, she's playing with her first great-grand daughter. Oh how she loved that baby. I remember when that photo was taken, I was standing right there. It really doesn't feel like it was very long ago, but I suppose it was. The baby in that photo got married a year ago and she and her husband are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a baby of their own.

Somehow, somewhere, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart is ecstatic.

I am shocked and appalled

By this.

This island made of Legos is making the rounds of the design blogs this week and it's being met with near-universal heaps of praise and squeals of delight.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. The trappings of childhood are best left behind in childhood if you ask me. This is not cute, this is not clever and this is not cool in any way.

I get it, the designers are attempting to be smart and stand out from the crowd. Maybe they're trying to teach some kind of a saccharine lesson about the virtues of simple mindedness. Again I say. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

But on a happier note, I found this story on a host of sites but in following the links back through a bunch of them I came across one of the best finds I've found in ages.

A commenter who goes by the name of Clarity left a comment a couple of weeks ago and her Google profile was a dead end. I'd resigned myself to not knowing who she is. Well, in digging around about this absurd island, I came across Kitchen Clarity, commenter Clarity's blog. And oh what a blog it is. Seriously, check it out. She has fantastic taste, isn't afraid to say what's on her mind and unlike me, can express herself completely in one or two paragraphs. Astounding! Check out Kitchen Clarity and tell her I said hello.

In the meantime, what do you think about this island? Is it as mortifying as I think it is, or does it have some hidden redeeming qualities I just can't see?

*All images by Goluza Photo for Maison Francaise.