inspiring...

inspiring...

i don't know if i was particularly inspiring but today i visited with the sophomore class of the interior design school at the university of arkansas...

their professor heard about me, what i'm doing now, and what my previous background is via mc wife...and she invited me to visit her class...

currently they are working on a design proposal for a new cafe/coffee and light foods venue at the university campus...

(pic of old main at the university of arkansas campus...via me via instagram...)

i visitied with the class along with a field expert form the hospitality sector, and together we answered questions form the students for an hour or so...

the questions were quite varied, and i was impressed by the thought processes of these second year students...they all seemed very clued into key issues such as meeting the clients need, created a functional space that;s user-friendly, creating the right ambience and how to research a project to include a suitable colour palette and material selection...

i managed to throw out some of my own experinces that i have encountered as a designer, as well as discuss various designers who i like to look to for inspiration...

and just in case any of todays sophomore class are visiting the blog and didn't catch what i said earlier...here's the list...

jaime hayon...marcel wanders...and cortney and robert novogratz...

i didn't reference philippe starck in todays class...but if you did come here to see some of the resources i spoke about...look at the websites on the right hand side of this post...

all modern office wish list...

mc wife and i are in the middle of turning our junkroom into a home office...

we have a few key pieces we need to complete the room, we really want our office to be fresh and modern, so while on a quest for suitable modern furniture - an additional chair, extra lighting...we came across these pieces...

completely fallen head over heels with this chair...

i want i want i want...

it's hard to beat the anglepoise lamp...

but then these guys are rather funky too...

manana floor lamp from design house sweden...rocks...!!!

plus there's loads more cool phunky furniture ideas for other rooms in the house...

the kartell - panier side table...again...i want...!!!

please do check out the website for a complete range of modern furniture products...

snowy interiors...

it's a snow day here in fayetteville arkansas...its 28 degrees farenheit out there...

and since i woke up this morning and looked out my window the concrete patio was visible and now its a big blanket of white so its fairly coming down out there....so much so that i can't make it to work...

so i got to thinking about cozy interiors influenced by the wintery hues and tones we often associate with the season...cool whites, soft greys, stark blacks, icey blues...

this image is very striking...i wish i knew where it was...

so dark and heavy...it's awesome...

i'm not so sure what makes plaid wintery but nonetheless...this room makes it into the post for the sheer cosyness of it all and the simplicity of the black and white bedding...

thanks for checking in today...hopefully this weather isn't too terrible for too long and i can make it into work tomorrow...

pics all courtesy of apartment therapy...

these are a few of my favourite things...

the cool hunter and jaime hayon...click here for the cool hunter post....

some building that i've never heard about, and maybe i should of got an overhaul...and here's the scoop...

by the late 1980's the praediniussingel building that had housed the groninger museum for 100 years, was too small for the musuem's modern and contemporary collections and exhibits....by the mid 1990's, new premises on the verbingdings canal in groningen were designed by the italian alessandro mendini and guest architects philippe starck, michele de lucchi and the coop himmelblau group...

anyways, that was all very important background info and maybe slightly too blahdy blahdy blah, but...since 1994, almost million people have visited, and you can imagine the wear nad tear that causes...so, the premises have now been renovated and new spaces by antwerp based studio job, spanish designer and personal favourite jaime hayon, and maarten baas have been added...

the info center by jaime hayon steals the show for me, and for tuija seipell it's "one of the coolest areas in the new building"...

i love the colour scheme, very understated and cool, while managing to be current and fresh...that's hardly easy to achieve...

polished copper is clearly all the rage right now...don't those pendants look amazing...

what maybe lacked lustre before seems to have it all back...i love the order of the ceiling lamp fixtures in the picture above...is that flooring original...??? surely, it has to be and it's been fully restored...???...!!! either way, it's such a statement...almost like a newspaper maze...

jaime hayon...you rock my design world...!!!

elvis is a rocking my kitchen world...

much to mc wife's disdain...i like to flaunt my love for elvis...

i have an elvis rug threwn across the back-seat of the car...other people have a plastic jesus on the dashboard...

which might i add is much to our darby's non-disdain...

anyway...when i visited graceland many years ago i picked up an elvis tin print which i never did anything with except take it the whole way to ireland to take the whole way back to the states...

but here...we found the perfect spot for elvis...rocking out on our kitchen wall...

tis a nice wee medley we have going on there...

mc sister-in-law got me this fantastic print for christmas...its from an art gallery we visited while in kansas city last november...

and the 'mc cusker' sign was a fab wedding present...

sometimes...

sometimes...

sometimes its mad busy and before you know it the week is gone form you and a body hasn't blogged, walked his dog every morning or replied to his mothers email yet...

me bad...

thinking creatively and innovatively (is that a word) about retail design...

this caught my eye...see more here...

ambition...

this one...

and this one...

although 2010 is going to pretty hard to top for me and mc wife i just like the typography and the sign...