05/21/09
The threat of bad weather wasn’t enough to keep a crowd from last Friday night’s grand re-opening of Andersonville Galleria. This unique indie-market/bazaar now offers three floors and more than 90 local vendors of art, fashion, sweet treats, and home décor. Some of my favorites included colorful hanging votives from City Scents; graphic silk pillows from Design Hut; organic hand-printed canvasses by Kuketa; and some fantastic chrome-plated log stools from Blue Bell Bazaar. If you missed the party, make the Galleria a must-stop on your next home-shopping foray through Andersonville, which we thoughtfully already mapped out for you in our March/April 2009 issue (check it out here).
—Adam Moroschan
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05/21/09
It’s summer, and that means finding reasons to head to Harbor Country. Two good ones in the next few weeks: an event called Revive Your Green Retreat on May 30 at Susan Fredman’s At Home With Nature in Union Pier, and the Heartland Alliance house walk June 6. At the Revive Your Retreat event, speakers throughout the day (including me, talking about green décor trends) will discuss the nuts and bolts of creating a healthy, environmentally friendly home. Learn about eco-color trends, composting, finding tax breaks and home loans for green homes, and creating a green wedding. For the kids: ice cream, and getting crafty with recycled materials. See the full schedule and RSVP on the site. The next Saturday, The Heartland Alliance Celebration of Home & Garden Tour starts at 10 a.m. and features seven impressive Harbor Country homes, from an antiques-filled Normandy-style house to a Hamptons-style cottage. Proceeds go toward the development of affordable housing.
—Jan Parr
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05/15/09
Zoe Ryan, the enthusiastic and talented design curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, gave me a brief tour of the department's new space in the Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing the other day. She and her colleagues have put together some terrific displays of functional art. I especially loved the exhibit of iconic seating by Ron Arad, Marcel Wanders, Konstantin Grcic, along with lighting by Ingo Mauer, among others (see it 'til January). Along with gorgeous flatware in one case were elegantly simple, reversible drinking glasses by an under-the-radar Chicagoan, Felicia Ferrone (more on her in the next issue of Chicago Home + Garden).
-JAN PARR
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05/11/09
Decorating is fun! Or so the legendary decorator Dorothy Draper reminds us. We were channeling Dot last night at Bedside Manor, where the linens boutique was welcoming its new partnership with Kindel furniture, and in particular, the Grand Rapid, Michigan company’s Dorothy Draper Collection. Draper’s painted chest was featured—in black and gold—in Vogue’s offices in the Sex and the City movie. Also shown here: the Dorothy Draper chair. The folks from Grand Rapids were in attendance to celebrate and tell their story—the firm was founded in 1912 and continues its commitment to traditional styles, with hand-carving, bench-assembly, and hand-finishing. See samples of Kindel’s furniture, available to order, in all Bedside’s locations.
—JAN PARR
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05/01/09
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Holy Hockneys, Batman—there are a LOT of mighty fine art events going on in the city this weekend! We have the Mart's trilogy of trade, Artropolis, consisting of the sprawling Art Chicago on the 12th floor, with modern and contemporary offerings (although I'm told that this year they've changed the floor plan of the fair so that it's not quite so sprawling…I was always wandering in circles, not sure how many booths were left to see), the NEXT show, on 7, which serves up more cutting-edge culture, and a grande dame of an antiques fair on 8, showing—you guessed it—antiques, from 100+ dealers. Wear comfortable shoes, please. But it's not all about the Mart this time of year—the international art world focuses on Chicago, and local galleries use that attention to showcase the finest fillies in their stable. Richard Gray has a terrific one-man Marc Swanson show in their John Hancock gallery (that's Swanson's twinkling taxidermy above) and dealer Aldo Castillo has curated the second coming of Chicago's only Latin American art exhibit ARTEahora at his River North gallery. And, as I mentioned last month, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will be bringing down the hammer on art and rare books from the collection of the recently shuttered Robert Henry Adams gallery, on Monday May 4. This Rudolph Weisenborn 1951 portrait is among the 285 lots, available for viewing now.
-BRADLEY LINCOLN
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04/30/09
Do you like antiques but don’t fancy living in a period piece? Wondering how to mix antiques with modern/transitional items? To the rescue: three talented local designers we tapped to do room vignettes at the International Antiques Fair at the Merchandise Mart. We challenged Gregory Jagmin of Jagmin Interiors, Julia Edelmann of Buckingham Interiors + Design, and Hillery Estes of Estes Interiors to design a foyer, a study, and a dining room on the spot at The Fair. Starting with a base of some modern furniture and accessories culled from The Mart's top showrooms, they shopped the Fair to create a mix that works for modern interiors. To see what they’ve come up with, visit the fair May 1–4 (preview night is tonight). And pick up a copy of our May/June issue, on newsstands now, to see a cool cottagey summer home Julia designed!
—JAN PARR
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04/01/09
The new creative director of Donghia, Chuck Chewning, has made his mark on the venerable brand’s showrooms across the country. We went to a party to celebrate the unveiling of the new Donghia in the Merchandise Mart (shown above). It’s a stunner. Each room is arranged in vignettes you’d see in a fashionable home. Chewning’s really brought the wow back.
—JAN PARR
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03/24/09
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Jill Dryer has a background in architecture and design (she worked at Architectural Digest for seven years), so it’s a no-brainer that elements of those worlds show up in her current work as a fine artist and illustrator. The Chicagoan will be having a one-night showing tomorrow from 6 – 9 at a loft space in the building that houses Avec, easily one of my favorite restos in the city (get the chorizo-stuffed dates and the garlicky whipped brandade, when you stop in for a snack after the exhibition). “My friend owns the building, and currently doesn’t have a tenant so she offered me the space,” explains Dryer of the somewhat unorthodox venue. “It’s a nice open white loft with wood floors, high ceilings, big windows…perfect for a show, and ideal for my purposes!” She’ll be showing paintings and prints from the series she calls “Design Meets Nature” and I call clever, colorful, and not a little silly. The lamps In “Flamingo” are Castore Suspension by Artemide, the cup in “Sandpiper” is Russell Wright, and, in one of my favorites, “Robinson Zanuso,” a bird perches on a Marco Zanuso chair in front of a Vernor Panton lamp. As a bonus, Jill’s design is well within reach—signed prints are $30, and original paintings under $1,000.
—BRADLEY LINCOLN
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03/12/09
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Interior designer Laura Soskin, whose home was featured in our magazine in Winter, 2006, loves a good vessel. She also loves collaborating with her many artist and designer pals. So she came up with a concept—an exhibit revolving around a huge 300-year-old Mediterranean olive storage-jar that for a long time stood in her dining room (see above). She asked 16 talented cohorts—her husband/artist Dave Soskin, sculptor Lucy Slivinski, lamp-maker extraordinaire Ted Harris, local shop owners Michael Del Piero of Good Design and Larry Vodak of Scout, to name a few—to create something, anything, inspired by this vessel. “The results are so diverse, it's amazing,” says Soskin. The show, called “The Vessel Magnifique,” opens this Friday, March 13 (reception is 7-11 p.m.) and goes through April 12 at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville. Check out the cool promo video one of the participants, artist Chuck Meyers, created for the show here. Of course, the original muse—the vessel magnifique of which we speak—will be present, in addition to a couple others that Soskin has picked up.
—Gina Bazer
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03/02/09
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I stopped by the “Kindred Spirits” event at the Thos. Moser showroom on Thursday night—it was nice to see a solid turnout on such a torrential evening, and the snacks and spirits were tasty. Andres Verzosa, a Maine gallerist and curator, was on hand to give a talk and slideshow on the work of the late artist Bernard Langlais, whose found-wood assemblages (think Louise Nevelson, only more rustic) and paintings are featured at Moser this month. The party was hosted by designer David Moser (son of the company’s founders, Tom and Mary), who also presented his new Kinesis chair and ottoman, pictured above. It comes in cherry or walnut, and swivels on a cast-bronze base that was inspired by the human hand—lighter patina between the stretched out “fingers.” I tested it out, and the sleek, organic design is a winner. So comfortable and enveloping, and the finish is beyond smooth. You can really see and feel the love that goes into all of the custom woodwork at this bi-level boutique, which is offering free delivery for all orders placed through March, and also discounting floor samples and a number of their most popular designs.
—BRADLEY LINCOLN
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