Nestled atop Cortez Hill stands the historic ‘El Cortez’, San Diego’s leading landmark since its grand opening in 1927. From its opening through the 1950s, it was the most glamorous apartment-hotel in San Diego, hosting multiple U.S. Presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford, as well as entertainers like Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. Today, the historically significant ‘El Cortez’ combines a contemporary high-rise lifestyle with the lure and attraction of old world charm.

While the building’s exterior is Spanish Renaissance style, owner Sasha Favelukis of Sequoian Investment Inc. considered modern Australian design team Pauly De Bartolo and Ivan Rimanic of De Bartolo + Rimanic Design Studio (DBRDS) a natural choice for the remodel of his 600 square foot condominium. To maximize space in the 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom small home, an ‘Australian-inspired’ custom kitchen was designed to provide additional depth of storage as well as a linear bench which runs the length of the kitchen, dining and living area to maximize storage and provide window seating.

The kitchen is clad in white oak to impart a textural balance between the dark wood floors and the white walls and features. A white modern interior allows the space to evolve from bright and clean during the day to evocative and golden in the evening, capturing the dynamic view of the San Diego skyline at night.

To reflect upon the history of the space in an otherwise modern interior, a wall featuring period-style moulding and a soft grey color was designed for the bedroom.  All of the design elements were hand selected to provide a cohesive, relaxing and unique feel for this modern living space. The only original elements are the bathtub and bathroom floor. To make his design vision a reality, De Bartolo reached out to the team at Hold It Contemporary Home to supply all of the furniture, artwork and accessories.

Through minor, non-load bearing interior modifications to the converted hotel rooms, DBRDS transformed the feel of the condominium into an open floor plan, allowing for flowing space and more natural light. The General Contractor on the project was Alan Loghman of Pacific Design & Construction. Read more …

No, there’s nothing wrong with your screen – this intricate wooden cabinet was actually carved to resemble an image error. The ‘Good Vibrations’ storage unit by designer Ferruccio Laviani combines traditional Oriental craftsmanship and design with the visual effects of a digital or analog glitch.

Glitch art plays on the psychological effects that come with looking at these images, whether they were created accidentally or intentionally, inviting us to take a deeper look at technological mistakes. Also referred to as ‘databending’, glitch art can be strangely compelling.

Using a traditional method and an imaginative perspective, South Korean designer Xerock Kim takes leftover tree bark and puts it to good use by covering this cabinet with this oft-overlooked element. Called “Accumulation,” the cabinet’s tree bark skin was naturally dyed using a traditional method found in Korea, and then adhered to its surfaces.

Source: Treehugger

One of the most unusual new products from the Las Vegas World Market comes from the POLaRT outdoor furniture collection! Often described as fun, urban-chic design, POLaRT is a unique expression. POLaRT comes from the artistic way in which the company uses polymers. This outdoor armchair is definitely a statement piece!

Mike McAllister, Managing Partner, takes you behind-the-scenes as we get ready for another trip to Las Vegas Market! At right, Mike snaps a pic of A Kanjanakaset, Buyer, considering new products. To follow Mike, A, and Dwayne Lutridge, Design Consultant, LIVE at Las Vegas Market, simply “Like” our Facebook page! On January 28th and 29th, our team will be posting status updates, photos and video throughout the day!

“We are off to another market tomorrow morning.  5AM wake up, 7:15 flight and on the World Market Center Las Vegas show floor by 9AM. We have been attending the LVWM two times a year since 2005.  Three buildings and 5 million square feet of furniture and accessories.  Less than 10% of what is shown is contemporary, and less than 1% will even be considered to be part of Hold It Contemporary Home.  So you can imagine it is like finding a needle in a haystack. Looking forward to keeping you up-to-date!”

In his debut as a furniture designer, the actor is presenting about a dozen pieces—tables, chairs, and one rather fantastic bed—alongside 45 or so works by his collaborator, Frank Pollaro, whose New Jersey firm is noted for its impeccable reproductions of Art Deco furnishings. The unveiling, which will take place November 13 through 15 in New York, has been years in the making. “I’ve been doodling ideas for buildings and furniture since the early 1990s, when I first discovered [Charles Rennie] Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright,” says Pitt.

By now, Pitt’s passion for architecture and design is well established, evidenced by his Make It Right foundation, which enlists prominent architects to create quality affordable housing in post-Katrina New Orleans, as well as by his high-profile collecting of modernist and contemporary furniture.

Who said a bed is a bed? What about a great living space? This is what ENSEMBLE is all about. Thanks to its ingenuous steel channels system, you can move backs and night shelves all around the bed perimeter to create a tête-à-tête, a chaise or a nice corner to isolate yourself. All this in the wink of an eye. Playing Scrabble will never be the same! No more closed doors, the bedroom comes back on stage.

Korean design studio THE:ZOOM recently introduced their ZIP:PER collection. In the designers’ own words, “Zippers are usually sewed on fabrics. We put them on the hard furniture to give a new shock. The exaggerated zippers make the furniture witty and humorous.”

Source: Contemporist

The Reese Bench and Reese Console features simple yet elegant modern design and a beautiful brushed stainless steel finish.

Spanish studio A-cero designed the B&N House project. The architects ave turned an existing house into a contemporary two-story home in Madrid, Spain. A-cero designed almost every single detail: from the unusual structure, to the interior beams and panels adorning the living area and the furniture that blends chromatically with the whole house concept. Everything respects a very modern line, even the bedrooms which are designed to be a little bit warmer than the rest of the house.

Source: HomeDSGN Read more …