Each fixture is 12″ in diameter and  has one rechargeable AA 1.2V battery for the solar cell driven power, no electrical hookups required.  The lamp is LED with a  life time approx. 20,000 hours.  When the battery is fully charged, the product will shine for approx. 9 hours.  Recharging time is 8 hours in direct sunlight.

Go to the Ikea website and check it out!  These are perfect for Wilmington!

” In 1889 Frederic Schumacher came to New York with a French textile company called Passavant & Co. Once there, Schumacher decided that he liked the United States, with its new mansions crying out for decoration; that same year he bought the Passavant inventory and opened F. Schumacher & Co. at 22nd Street and Broadway on Manhattan’s Ladies’ Mile. In relatively short order it became one of the city’s leading textile suppliers.

It was Frederic Schumacher’s nephew and heir, Pierre Pozier, who most likely brought the first fashion luminary into the F. Schumacher fold.

Just before 1930, Pozier, who, throughout his career, worked half the year in Paris and who had commissioned as well as designed fabrics in the Art Moderne style, asked Poiret to create the first designer collection for the firm.

Using his signature bold colors, Poiret came up with simple Modernist images for his fabrics. He used shapes to project color in the way that his contemporaries, the Cubist painters, did. As Poiret once said, “There is only one place where you can put a splash of color. Here or there is not good enough; it has to be precisely placed.” (In the early 1970s F. Schumacher reissued Poiret’s designs, using the colors of the day—pinks and lime greens—but it is his original designs, with their juxtapositions of strong, simple colors—oranges and mauves—that survive in the archives.) …

…One indissoluble tie between fashion and interior design is that they both require taste to be appreciated. Architecture, which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called “frozen music,” is of course the envelope for interior design and the necessary setting of the streetscapes and landscapes in which we all live. It is always thought that a totally integrated environment includes architecture and interior design, working in harmony. Thanks to F. Schumacher’s imaginative efforts over the years, we know that the third component of that integrated environment is the design sense that comes with fashion.”

Paul Poiret was a French designer, 1876 – 1944.  He was a principal figure in the Art Deco movement, known to have “liberated women from their corseted past”.  He loved “bold fantasy and brilliant color… and the simplicity of repeated imagery”.  He later founded an art school where “…young women were encouraged to design in total creative freedom.  Poiret’s students took trips to the botanical gardens, the aquarium, and the countryside, where they made sketches of plant and animal life to use in their designs.  From these, textiles were produced for fashion, upholstery, curtains, wallpaper, carpets and all types of home furnishings.”

To read the complete article, here is the link:

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/resources/features/2008/05/schumacher_article?currentPage=2

For further information on Poiret:

http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3258792.pdf.bannered.pdf

What more needs to be said?  

I ate Chinese food recently with my kids and this was my fortune.  

We could not have said it better at Big Sky!

…though we have lots of great projects to share with you that reinforce that idea.

Maharam has introduced a new line of large scale digitally printed wall installations.  They’ve collaborated with up-and-coming artists as well as established artists to bring us their “Maharam Digital Project.”   Also, from Maharam, are some fantastic new contract fabrics that absolutely pop with color. These new fabrics are “modern interpretations” of folkloric motifs updated with strong color combinations.

Lightening up the commercial furnishings industry is Arcadia with their new “Islands Modular” furniture. Minimal in design and light in scale these pieces mix and match to form endless seating opportunities for public areas, lobbies, and waiting rooms. Just imagine these pieces upholstered in a bright leather or one of the new Maharam fabrics…the possibilities are endless.

Maharam Digital Projects

Maharam Fabrics

Arcadia Islands Modular

]]> http://www.bigskythinkbigblog.com/2010/01/bright-spots/feed/ 1 http://www.bigskythinkbigblog.com/2010/01/color-of-the-year/ http://www.bigskythinkbigblog.com/2010/01/color-of-the-year/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:35:18 +0000 admin http://www.bigskythinkbigblog.com/?p=200 Here it is the moment we have all been waiting for….the color of the year for 2010 has been determined!  The winner is Turquoise.

(according to http://www.kbbonline.com – Kitchen & Bath Designs) 

This is also supported by fashion writer Samantha Critchell, see the article below from Yahoo’s headliner today.

NEW YORK – If color is any guide, we’ll be moving into vacation mode in 2010 with the world awash in tropical turquoise, forecasters say.

Turquoise was selected as the color of 2010 by Pantone, a company that supplies and tracks color for fashion and home decor, among other industries. Fashion insiders agreed the color is on the rise.

“Turquoise is universally appealing. It puts everyone in the same state of mind — on vacation,” says Jane Schoenborn, design director at Lilly Pulitzer. “Turquoise for us is a really big color. A lot of times it’s transporting, whether you’re actually going to a resort destination or not.”

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, says there was no runner-up to turquoise in her mind because people crave escapism and freshness after a tough year. The shade is on the cusp of blue and green, which makes it both inviting and serene — characteristics associated with blues — and invigorating and luminous, which comes from green, she says.

“Transporting” was a word many used for turquoise, a shade that takes designer Tommy Hilfiger to the beach, especially the Caribbean, St. Tropez, France, or Southern California, which served as the inspiration for his newest collection. In jewelry, he thinks of the American Southwest, or Central or South America.

“The women in my life wear it on vacation and it looks great with a suntan at the beach,” Hilfiger says.

Interior designer Charlotte Moss says she turns to turquoise to liven up a look that otherwise seems stilted or conservative — and it pairs nicely with a wide range of colors more typical to home decor: gray, navy, black and white. “We’re looking for things that are that are flexible and more universal, and that is turquoise,” she says.

Pantone’s color for 2009 was mimosa yellow, intended to carry a hopeful, optimistic message. Eiseman says the public is shifting gears as the economy shows some improvement: They are ready to fantasize a bit about the beach resort.

***

I have to say I agree.  After going to Bermuda recently after Christmas I am still having flashbacks of the turquoise water color.  Here are some pictures of the water…wow!   Why not design into your home or office colors that you love and that make you feel great.  Now you have the official reason to do just that.   Tropical… beautiful… turquoise.  Oh the beach.

We offered our decorated Christmas tree to New Hanover Regional Medical Center again this year.  This year it is adorning the lobby of the Oncology floor.  It was a very special day for us to be able to assemble it again.  It was especially fun for me since my mom came up to help us with the installation, more elves!!

Thanks to all of our friends who spent their time making ornaments last year, this year they are being enjoyed by others on the 10th floor of NHRMC!

Enjoy the brief images from construction to completion and if you’re in the area please check out the newest addition to Brunswick Forest.

It is saddening to learn that the Plantwall is purely conceptual, however, I am confident that this great idea will be developed into a real product soon.  In the meantime, there are some local resources that are familiar with green roofs and walls.  Mott Landscaping, in particular, is one company that stands out.  Steve Mott has installed and educated others about this innovative design solution. 

However you choose to incorporate plants into your interior, make sure you do it!  The health benefits and aesthetic properties are sure make a significant impact on the end user of the space.

***

We had a great day!  Here we are with Carter Dickinson w/ KB Stephens.  Carter reps a lot of great lighting lines including new LED technologies.  They were a HOT topic!  It was great to be a part of the CFGBA & Greater Wilmington Business Journal Expo and to showcase many of our fabric, wallcovering, tile and  flooring lines that have recycled content and that implement environmentally responsible manufacturing processes.