CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

© Serge Hoeltschi

Our latest interior feature is just AMAZING! We visited a Swiss-American Hollywood couple that found stylistically common ground at their new home. The owners fuse an ethnic-artisan style with a sleek ultramodern language and create the perfect culture clash. And the scenic views views over the Pacific ocean are simply breathtaking.

DESIGN HUNTING AT NEW YORK DESIGN WEEK

The group show "Inter-Connected by TOUCH" at the meatpacking district, curated by my dear friend Zoe Melo of TOUCH in Los Angeles, got great reviews! The ceramic collection by Brazilian designers Caio de Medeiros and Daniela Scorza for Estudio Manus is especially beautiful. Here they transferred illustrations they found in an album from 1648, documenting wildlife in Brazil, onto their porcelain and fabric designs.

J.F. CHEN, the pictures

© Reto Caduff
I am so excited about the pictures CUBE produced at vintage furniture and antique dealer J.F. Chen in L.A. They have a magic about them and perfectly capture the treasure island that J.F. Chen's showroom is! If you want to see more check out our website: www.cubeimagesla.com

Papa Stour's Bolt Hole, North West Highlands, Scotland

Papa Stour have recently refurbished a charming croft called Callakille, up in the North West Highlands of Scotland which is now available to rent. It is located 8 miles north of Applecross in one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland, with fabulous uninterrupted views over to Skye, Raasay and Rona.

This attractive little croft has been decorated to a high standard, with 2 bedrooms, a double and a twin, a well equipped kitchen and a snug living room with wood burning stove. It is a 2 hour drive from Inverness airport which has car hire companies.

www.wildernesscottages.co.uk

Emery et Cie, Paris

Eccentric Belgian architect and designer Agnes Emery presides over three shops—in Brussels, Paris, Antwerp—and produces a dizzying array of housewares: lyrical iron furniture, cement and ceramic tiles, her own paint range, fabrics, tableware, and rugs. We especially like her new line of pendant lights; go to Emery et Cie to see more.

Wallace K Harrison designed house restored

In the 1940s, the investor, diplomat and art collector William A.M. Burden and his wife, Margaret Livingston Partridge Burden, commissioned Wallace K. Harrison - the architect who was involved in the design of iconic works like Rockefeller Center, the Museum of Modern Art (of which Mr. Burden was president in the 1950s and '60s) and the United Nations headquarters - and the artist Isamu Noguchi to design a summer house off the Maine coast. The house, which was completed in 1947, became a 20th-century landmark, literally as well as figuratively - it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places - as well as a remarkable example, after a devastating fire, of how to restore a Modernist dwelling.

VITRAHAUS BY HERZOG & DE MEURON

In January 2004, Vitra launched its home collection, which includes design classics as well as re-editions and products by contemporary designers. It was created in order to target individual customers with an interest in design. As there was no interior space available for the presentation of the home collection on the Vitra campus in Weil am Rhein, between the border of Switzerland and Germany, the company commissioned the Basel-based architects Herzog & de Meuron in 2006 to design the 'Vitrahaus'. It has been 16 years since the last building - the Vitra Design Museum - by architect Frank Gehry was built on the Vitra campus. now, on time and on budget, the 'Vitrahaus' has opened, becoming the newest addition to the site. The concept of the 'Vitrahaus' connects two themes which are occurring in the architectural practice of Herzog & de Meuron: the theme of the archetypal house and that of stacked volumes. The five-storey structure is comprised of 12 'houses' - five houses are set at the base in which seven other houses are stacked upon one another. Each of the structural volumes appear as if they have been shaped by an extrusion press and are cantilevered up to 15 metres in some places. The floor slabs intersect the underlying gables, resulting in a three-dimensional assemblage or 'pile of houses'.

MICHELE OKA DONER

I had the pleasure to interview the venerable antiquarian and L.A. design stalwart JF Chen yesterday. He introduced me to some oeuvres of artist Michele Oka Doner, and I am hooked. The internationally acclaimed artist's work whose prolific career spans four decades, is fueled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world, from which she derives her formal vocabulary. Her artwork has been acquired by major museums and private collections worldwide. Oka Doner is renowned for creating over thirty-five public art installations throughout the U.S. and Europe, including A Walk on the Beach at the Miami International Airport, Radiant Site at Herald Square, New York, Flight at the Ronald Reagan International Airport, SoulCatchers, Nymphenburg, Germany and many more.

MY FAVORITE IMM COLOGNE 2010 TREND: DISCIPLINE

Discipline preferes the original Bauhaus aesthetics and demands absolute perfection.
It is the new seriousness with which design is being scrutinised for values like sustainability and durability. More trends: http://www.imm-cologne.com/thefair/trends_2010.php

W Hotels to Name a 'Fashion Director'

Putting a new spin on the term "designer hotel," boutique chain W Hotels is hiring a fashion director to amp up its style credentials and its profile within the fashion industry.

After a two-year search, the chain is planning to announce next week—on Feb. 11, the opening day of New York Fashion Week—that it has hired stylist Amanda Ross in what is very likely a first for the hotel industry. W Hotels, which operates 36 properties worldwide, is a unit of Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Fashion directors are commonly employed by retailers to keep them on the cutting edge of design and on good terms with hot designers. They often maintain a high profile. Bergdorf Goodman's silver-coifed fashion director Linda Fargo, for example, is photographed and blogged about as often as many designers.

W Hotels wants in on that action. With Ms. Ross, the chain gets a veteran who has consulted for designers including Elie Tahari, Dennis Basso and Julien Macdonald—and who has ties in Hollywood. "She will definitely help us be more credible in our outlook on fashion," says Eva Ziegler, W Hotels' global brand leader, who adds that Ms. Ross will be expected to "associate us with the right designers."

Ms. Ross's duties will include working with designers to create staff uniforms and special collections to be sold at the hotels, as well as helping to style the look of the rooms, lobbies and other common areas.

Thanks to its celebrity associations and paparazzi-covered events, fashion has been a potent marketing vehicle for everything from bottled water to tennis star Roger Federer. Last September, W Hotels pressed to forge ties with music and fashion by hiring a music director, Michaelangelo L'Acqua, who has worked with designer Tom Ford and at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

ROCK RESORT, LAAX, SWITZERLAND

Domenig Architects used the view as their prime inspiration when creating the just-opened Rock Resort – which has 220km of these wonderful slopes literally on the doorstep. Aware that anything blocking the view would be an eyesore, the architects coated the facades of the eleven cube-shaped buildings with quartzite stone facades that reflect the surrounding mountain scenery. The complex, which is 90 minutes from Zurich airport, offers a 70-bedroom boutique, 160 apartments, 6 restaurants and 14 shops. All apartments get the services of the hotel including housekeeping, catering, concierge service and ski hire.
The interiors are slick, filled with Cassina furnishings and characterized with natural materials such as untreated gnarled oak and concrete. Integral wet rooms are equipped with a steam bath/shower with all fittings by Dornbracht. Domenig Architects have kept a strict environmentally friendly approach throughout the project, sourcing only local and natural materials, and incorporating a climate-neutral heating system.

OLEUM, BARCELONA. WHERE FOOD MEETS ART.

I've always loved the magic of places where gastronomical pleasures find their appropriate counterpart in design and art. The Restaurant Oleum in Barcelona serves its mediterranean dishes in the throne room of the Palau Nacional where KIng Alfonso XIII of Spain inaugurated the world fair in 1929. Today the palace is the Mueseu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya - and the restaurant's design a beautiful mix of original and new decor.

COPENHAGEN GETS BRIDGE BY OLAFUR ELIASSON

Acclaimed for his atmospheric, experimental artworks, but perhaps less so for his widely discussed New York City Waterfalls project last year, artist Olafur Eliasson has now turned his talents to a more functional architectural endeavor: creating a bridge.
Cirkelbroen (the circle bridge) will cross the Christianshavns Kanal in Copenhagen, allowing pedestrians to walk around the city's entire inner harbor for the first time, but, true to the Danish-Icelandic artist's practice of challenging viewers' perceptions, will cut a winding rather than a straight path.
Wow!

MARIO BOTTA STRIKES AGAIN!

Mario Botta's second museum in the US has just opened, bearing all the hallmarks of the world renowned Ticino architect.
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art – named after its benefactor, the Swiss Andreas Bechtler – is situated in the centre of Charlotte, North Carolina. Dare I say? It looks so 80ies!

Outdoor Fireplace by Haugen/Zohar Architects

I love winter - using leftover materials from a construction site, Haugen/Zohar Architects built this structure with 80 layers of pine (each made with 28 pieces of wood) that are connected with small oak separators. The result, especially at night, is both comforting and stunning.