i am so jealous of Wakako’s home, which you can see in full at her house tour. she has a blog called Modern Findings that details her love for mid-century modern design, something that is clearly reflected in this beautiful space.
all images by Modern Findings
i was browsing through my brother’s huge collection of architectural inspiration when i came across the Raymond Loewy House designed by Albert Frey. Raymond Loewy was an industrial designer notable for his work on the coca-cola bottle, the shell logo, the lucky strike pack and many other iconic designs. he even appeared on the cover of Time in 1949. so i guess it goes without saying that such a brilliant creative mind would live in an equally brilliant creative home.
Designed by Palm Springs architect Albert Frey, built in 1946-47 as a bachelor retreat, and expanded later when Loewy got married. Loewy’s home is a typical Palm Springs modernist villa with a low-slung pavilion and plenty of glass providing striking views of desert, mountains, and the pool and garden… making the private oasis complete. Loewy despised “bad modern” design, especially furniture, so the size, shape, and rooms of the home and furnishings were kept simple and spare. It is a demure house of small size but generous impact.
quote & images courtesy of Faustian Urge
i haven’t been able to get the home of famed Danish furniture designer Børge Mogensen out of my mind all week. i keep going back to Bo Bedre to look at all the rooms and oooooh over the light, the furniture & all the wood detailing. the kitchen is over 50 years old and the cabinets look like they were installed yesterday. in the future when i wince at the price of a beautiful piece of furniture or get quoted something crazy for custom cabinetry i’ll remember this house and how quality keeps for decades. might have to steal his framing idea, too…
all images courtesy of Bo Bedre
these days there’s plenty of fantasising about my new (imaginary and still undiscovered) place going on, which means i’m browsing a lot of websites related to furniture, lighting and all sorts of other fancy designers things that are all completely out of my price range. that’s why it’s called fantasising, guys.
one of them is Gubi – a Danish company that was established in 1976 who has the production rights for various products by design icons from the thirties to the present day. you can browse this collection in their beautiful publication Design Icons Through Time (they also have a magazine and some nifty posters available for download)
The Grossman Collection design by Greta Grossman
The most iconic products Greta Grossman designed in the 40’s and 50’s were the Grasshopper floor lamp and the Cobra floor and table lamps. In 1950, the Cobra lamp won the Good Design Award and was subsequently exhibited at the Good Design Show at the Museum of Modern Art.
The Pedrera Collection designed by Barba Corsini & Joaquim Ruiz Millet
in 1955, Barba Corsini, a leading functionalist architect, realised his contemporary vision through his renovation of the loft space and the furnishings he custom designed for “La Pedrera”. Antoni Gaudi, who originally designed “La Pedrera”, is generally considered the great master of Spanish Modernism but his unique body of work cannot be defined by any single style or simple classification.
The Semi Collection designed by Bonderup & Thorup
The Semi lamp was designed in 1968 as a product of the creative partnership between two architecture students, Claus Bonderup and Torsten Thorup. Reacting against the ‘cosy era’ that was dominating Denmark at the time, Bonderup and Thorup wanted to create a lamp that incorporated sharp, clean lines and a geometric shape. Their design was submitted for a competition at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and won first prize.
The Adnet Collection designed by Jacques Adnet
In 1950, Adnet formed a partnership with the French fashion house, Hermes, where he developed a collection of leather-covered furniture and interior accessories, including a distinctive leather mirror with brass hinges. Besides the remarkable leather and brass details, the Adnet mirror is also unique as the strap that holds the mirror is in direct proportion to the dimension of the mirror.
