color inspiration

here is the potential color palette of the retail space i'm working on at the moment. i'm thinking white, ivory, gold, what victoria's secret refers to as "whisper pink," muted olive, lavender, with a mix of light and ashy medium woods, and some highly polished stone to give it that snooty, sleek, high end retail appeal. and texture too, mmMm. check out that first picture! i also ran into the following quote and found it very inspiring... so true, jim, sooooo true.


"there are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes;
it's what we do with them that's important."
- jim rohn



* the second image is of stella mccartney's NYC store i believe (which i'm going to see this friday!) and the first i pulled from my computer, so i'm not sure where i got it anymore, sorry!

michael soriano

onarios design creative director michael soriano has recreated a lounge in california that exudes a laidback, earthy, quirky, preppiness that i just love. many gold stars for the harry potter book props too!









"Michael Soriano completely reinvents the downtown urban lounge with his botanical chandeliers, thick 50 year old wine vines, 12 foot natural wood candle lit tasting table, and semiprivate plush sitting rooms."

* for more of michael soriano's projects click here.

spool chair by keisuke fujiwara

i can't even imagine how long this must have taken... but i'm thinking when i move, and become desperate for more furniture, i could do this over an old chair! it'd have to be with yarn though because, let's be honest here, i don't have the kind of patience to do it with thread.

fujiwara threaded over a thonet chair. good choice, man.

* via dezeen

wallter

wallter, a husband-wife team in california, has a series of absolutely lovable wall art pieces and bedspreads. what is so great is the use of the wooden wall art pieces as an abstracted ceiling medallion, with a similar texture mimicked on their bedspread below it.





oh, and check out those coordinating pillowcases!

* found via design sponge's interview with the couple posted today.

yes, please

can i live here? oh Spring, hurry up and come to Boston. this greyness is starting to get to me.

* via audrey hepburn complex

more stella love

the interiors of stella mccartney's stores aren't the only stunning detail of the space, the clothing is pretty fabulous too! i especially love her 2010 resort line. surely adding this to the inspiration files for the upcoming project. you can always count me in if there are stripes, bows, and sequins involved! what's also great about her line is that she uses sustainable fabrics - 15% of the line is partially or 100 percent organic. this stemmed from maternal influence (her mother was a vegetarian) as well as growing up in the country with her family.











as you can see i'm having trouble choosing my favorite. the closest i'll get to one of these beauties though is by visiting her NYC store, which i hope to do one of these upcoming weekends. research :)

* images from style.com

stella mccartney

one of my absolute most favorite things in the world is when we start a new project in class. i get the same first-day-of-school excitement all over again and would gladly skip all the way to school if it was physically possible. yesterday was one of those days and although the excitement was squashed by an awful workout before class, i woke up this morning oozing happy.

for this assignment we are designing a retail store (the actual site given to us was from a project my teacher did for the natick collection) - which is the direction i wish to go after graduating - so i'm ready to stir up some fabulous crazy design here. to start the project we have to observe a high end women's wear brand, catalog their inventory, visit their stores, see how they merchandise, handle lighting, scope out traffic patterns, etc. after some serious brain searching (trust me, it's a mess in there) i remembered i had seen this flagship retail store design for stella mccartney a couple months ago and the design is right up my alley. needless to say, i'm modeling my project after her brand and the design created for her milan store by london studio APA.
















unfortunately, flying to milan to observe the space in person is a bit out of reach on a graduate student's salary. bummer! the space is quite stunning though. some of my favorite details are the visually textural herringbone flooring, the brass handrails, the sculptural clothes hanging rails, and the bright pops of felt inside the plinths. i would never have thought to pair all of the strong geometrical elements with the delicate fresco ceiling. it definitely gives an air of femininity to the space.

* via dezeen and APA