Happy birthday again Gram

This was my Grandmother, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart and today would have been her 105th 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. Gram died 14 years ago but I swear she's still around sometimes.

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 Sarah, 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 now has a husband, a baby and another one on the way. Here she is.

This is Pauline, my great niece and Gevene's great-great grand daughter.

Pauline's going to grow up hearing stories about a great lady who was born in 1905 and I love that kind of continuity. I'm convinced that the dead live on when the living tell their stories and so long as I have breath in my body, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart's going to be around for a very long time.

Modenus is a new and exciting design resource

One of my great Twitter finds and friends of the last year is Veronika Miller. Veronika's an interior designer who's spent the last couple years developing an online design resource called Modenus. The site's been a beta for the last couple of months and Veronika's been kind enough to kick the tires and contribute a thing or two as she's brought her site to the ready for prime time state it's in now. Did I mention that it's free?

Here's an excerpt from the Modenus press release:

Modenus.com is a comprehensive product catalog and project management platform for the interior design industry launched this month. The catalog portion of the site is generally open to consumers and design professionals, but verified pros have the added benefit of getting access to a collaborative project manager, pro forums and trade only information posted by manufacturers.

The resource is the brainchild of Veronika Miller, who worked as a successful Interior Designer before turning her attention to digital media. She says designers need better tools to help them work profitably and efficiently  - especially now.

Speaking about the launch, Veronika Miller says:
“No one needs to tell interior designers that times are tougher. We are launching Modenus to help them make the most of challenging business conditions by offering them free tools to work more profitably, a platform from which to network with peers and meet potential clients and a curated catalog of products from the US, Europe and beyond, putting new and exciting resources at their finger tips.”

“But it's not just about Designers. Manufacturers are entirely free to engage with consumers and designers and can set up distribution channels that best serve their business model. Manufacturers can list showrooms, retailers, E-commerce outlets and even design studios that carry their products to provide the consumer with the most sensible avenue to specify or buy.”
“But our efforts won't stop at products. We want Modenus to be a bridge that connects designers and consumers across continents. So many design professionals are now prepared to consult virtually or to travel for a great job, why not shake the geographic restraints and use a platform like ours to find a designer, a client or a product anywhere in the world. Business isn't what it once was but that doesn't mean there aren't new opportunities.”

If you're a homeowner and you're contemplating a project, I encourage you to spend a little time with Veronika and Modenus. In a nutshell:

• Consumers will find amazing products, connect with designers and be inspired by daily design blogs. 
• Design professionals will explore new global resources, network with peers, feature their work and manage projects on the site's unique project management application. 
• Manufacturers will engage with consumers and professionals in discussion forums, showcase their product collections in the curated catalog and communicate with their followers via a direct news feed to registered users who have selected to receive more information.

If you're a fellow design professional, there's even more on that site for you.

Welcome to the web Modenus!

A bath for Delores Umbridge

If you're not a Harry Potter fan, here's Delores Umbridge.

Proving yet again that Italian doesn't always mean tasteful, Etrusca proves that there is indeed something for everyone.

Ouch! My eyes!

Great new patterns from New Ravenna Mosaics

It is no secret that I have a thing for marble, mosaics and anything made by New Ravenna Mosaics. Well New Ravenna just released some new mosaic patterns this week and I think they're spectacular. The pattern above and below is called Ganesha and it's shown here in honed Calacatta marble.

As is the case with the rest of their patterns, you can order any New Ravenna mosaic pattern in any stone or art glass color they have available. Trust me, the size of their materials library is staggering and they love made to order work.

The next pattern is called Jacqueline Vine and it's shown here in Thassos marble.

What's unique about these patterns is that they're all water jetted of course, but where they get interesting is that the grout lines are an integral part of the design. Jacqueline Vine gets a lot of its impact from the sanded grout that surrounds the pieces of Thassos. As stunning as it would look on a wall, Jacqueline Vine on a floor would be a real knock out.

Raj is shown here in polished Calacatta and honed Thassos.

I love how the two stones add a subtle tonal variation that accents the textures in the patterns.

It's a terrific, interesting effect. It's glamorous but not fussy and that's a tough act to pull off.

Finally, here's one of my favorite patterns from their extensive catalog. This is Octopus's Garden and I saw this one with my own eyes last April at Coverings 2010.

Octopus's Garden is shown here in a white art glass but as I mentioned earlier, it can be made with any of the materials New Ravenna can get their hands on.

Just as was the case with the Jacquline Vine, Octopus's Garden pattern is utterly dependent on the grout lines to define the shapes. Here's a close up of the seahorse.

There are a number of creatures in Octopus's Garden and you can mix and match them at will. Have a thing for seahorses? Then get it in all seahorses. Starfish? Sand dollars? If you can imagine it, they can do it.

Art and commerce can co-exist and New Ravenna Mosaics is living proof of that. You can find the rest of their collection on their website, but you'll only see these great new patterns here.

I love 'em all. Which one's your favorite?

Kitchens.com just unveiled idea boards for real people

The great site Kitchens.com rolled out a big new initiative, for lack of a better term, last week and I want to give it some attention.

Not all kitchen renovations are big-budget, high-end projects. The overwhelming majority of them aren't. But for the people in the middle, there doesn't seem to be anywhere to go for any kind of professional design guidance. That's unfortunate and the fault for that lies squarely with people like me and the industry we're part of.

Well Kitchens.com set out to begin to correct for that omission. In what is the first part of an ongoing project, Kitchens.com took three, well-designed, accessible kitchens and turned them into ten completely different kitchens.

Everything been done virtually of course but where it gets interesting is that each of the designs is shown in a nearly photographic rendering and there are at least five different perspectives of each design.

Then they took and found a source for every element that's used in each design. You can use these design boards for inspiration of course, but you can also use them to generate shopping lists.

It's a really great idea that's long overdue.

The images scattered around this post are some of the stills from Kitchen.com's new idea boards of course and I urge you to go see the whole project. It's quite a compilation. So kudos to the entire Kitchens.com team. real people everywhere are singing your praises.