Traditional Home Magazine: Features Inson Dubois Wood Chinese New Year at Holiday House Designer ShowhouseNYC

Museum quality art adorns the walls and creates a great backdrop for a 18th Century style Dragon by Lladro,

This is the same exact room ( used in a Vogue photo shoot ) just before Inson Wood lacquered it in 5 layers of Moore Benjamin Morrocan Red Paint and added the Christopher Hyland Custom Trim and window fabrics. Note the faux crocodile ceiling treatment.

Traditional Home Magazine, February/ March 2012 issue featured designer Inson Dubois Wood's room at Holiday House NYC in Leonard Blavatnik's triple wide former Woolworth Mansion at 2 E. 63rd street explored an interpretation of Chinese New Year for its theme. The Decorator show house's most show stopping room used dramatic Chinoiserie- style Pelmets, or structured pagoda shaped valences with Christopher Hyland tassels, reminiscent of the lanterns often used during the Chinese New Year.  Doors, windows, and walls are painted red to bring in the good luck and usher in the year of the Dragon - a symbol of prosperity and good fortune for all. The room became the penultimate destination for many, mixing styles from Louis 16 to edgy modern and helped raise an all time show house record in contributions for Susan G. Komen for the Cure to Breast Cancer - Ecomanta

For the whole article go to  www.traditionalhome.com

How to Decorate for the Chinese New Year - Holiday House NYC Inson Wood and rooms by 20 top interior designers in New York City.

Chinese New Year Decorations - The structured valances or "Pelmets" with classic "Frogs" represent the knotted tassels and lanterns of the festival of lights - a common theme in Chinese New Year.  Jeff Koons Puppy welcomes the visitor perched on a modernist coffee table made of Brazillian wood and crystal. The actual lantern is by Herve Van der Straeten.

This Chinese New Year rings in the Water Dragon - Inson Wood uses a blue ceramic dragon to usher in the New Year.   A  Larry Zox painting from Stephen Haller Gallery sets the stage for dramatic color.

Custom trim by Christopher Hyland represents the tying the knot - a symbol of stability and prosperity in Chinese Feng Shui specifically emphasized in the Chinese New Year.  

Morrocan Red by Benjamin Moore provides a dramatic color for the Chinese New Year.  Red and Gold are important signifiers of Good Luck - especially on doors and windows.

Chinese New Year emphasizes the new bold patterns with the zebra pattern on the chair and the silk Chinoiserie by Christopher Hyland promote health and prosperity. 

Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon. Inson Wood uses a lizard skin desk by Ruhlman designed in 1927 as an anchor point. 

Chinese New Year's Festival of Lights - imported from Paris - the adjustable custom floor lamp by Maison Charles has a stunning fabric shade.

Inson Wood uses a Jeff Koons Puppy to anchor a painting by Guggenheim and MoMa canon Larry Zox.

Inson Wood and Sara Gore of NBC News

Inson Wood shows us how to decorate for the Chinese New Year with a subtle interpretation of the holiday that affects nearly half the worlds population  - from China to Thailand.  For his non-literal transformation - its all about the details.  A Benjamin Moore deep chocolate Moroccan Red lacquer paint on the walls, crown, wainscot and windows and doors sets the drama. A bold Chinoiserie hand embroidered and painted silk wall paper by Fromenthal adds further detail and intrigue.  More modernist furniture by Moura Starr create a rock star glam that is both fresh yet sophisticated.

The opening night at Holiday House NYC 2011 to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure, was a magical experience with a huge turnout nearly doubling last years event in this 75 ft wide townhouse owned by Leonard Blavatnik.  NBC's Sarah Gore, CBS Maurice Dubois, Editor at Large - Tori Mellott  and CNN's Deb Feyerick were all there for the opening night in the showhouse sponsored by Traditional Home, Benjamin Moore, Lladro, and Sferra.  20 of New York's Top designers were featured, but one of the undoubtably most show stopping rooms was the Chinese New Year theme by Inson Dubois Wood.      

Throughout the space are subtle uses of the golden section, triangulation and enfilade - techniques typically used by classical architects of the Beaux Arts school. But the true complexity of the design came from its use of layers at both the compositional level and in the micro details.  Hand stitched leather, embroidered silk wall paper, and hand chased bronze furniture and lighting adorned the room contrasted with Abstract Modernist sculpture by Zimmerman and Jeff Koons.  The delicate balance of styles had a fresh and sophisicated presence, while upon closer inspection the details were unparalleled from a Sultanabad pure silk Persian rug to the limited edition Lladro porcelain dragon that sits perched ready to ring in the new year of the Dragon.  Other focal points were the powerful MoMA caliber art - with pieces by Larry Zox and younger artists such as Ron Erlich Michael Dickey. Pollaro supplied the museum quality Ruhlmann pieces.  - Ecomanta

HERZOG & DE MEURON: VITRAHAUS

Only in Europe could such an outlandish minimalist maximalist piece of conceptual architecture be executed and realized in its original state.  Architects Herzog and Demeuron, guest professors at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and world renown Starchitects have come up with the vernacular as folie.  The ideas was to make a house for Vitra's collection.  They came up with a series of structures that represent the House as modern folie. Given the chance to do anything you want - one might have tried more outlandish things, however this tongue and cheek, Haus to house Vitra's furniture collection seems quite dynamic. A series of interesting forms frames several living rooms and creates a vignette of spaces allowing the viewer to see several arrangements of their collection.  - Ecomanta

Photographs are by Iwan Baan.

Inson Wood Selected as Avenue Magazine's Distinguished Designer of 2011

Zaha Hadid Goes Organic - Roca London Gallery

Zaha Hadid has crossed all barriers and created a tour de force showroom for Roca London Gallery.  Formerly the architect was known strictly for her architectural accomplishments and specifically for the outer shell that wrapped her magificent structures - the Diva has now shown ultimate skill in creating a dynamic space for Roca.  The paired down organic minimalist space has  broken all barriers with hardly a trace of a 90 degree angle to be seen.  It is as if the DNA has been utilized in every aspect from desk, to bench, to light fixtures including wall mounted sconces that again reappear as integrated light coves that manifest as integrated pendant/ chandeliers.

PHOTO CREDITS: LUKE HAYES

Steven Holl - MIT Students Residence

The undergraduate residence is envisioned with the concept of "porosity." It is a vertical slice of city, 10 stories tall and 382' long, providing a 125 seat theater, a night café, and street level dining. The "sponge" concept transforms the building via a series of programmatic and bio-technical functions. The building has five large openings corresponding to main entrances, view corridors, and outdoor activity terraces. Large, dynamic openings are the lungs, bringing natural light down and moving air up. Each of the dormitory's single rooms has nine operable windows. An 18" wall depth shades out the summer sun while allowing the low angled winter sun to help heat the building. At night, light from these windows is rhythmic and magical.

http://www.stevenholl.com/project-detail.php?id=47&worldmap=true

Steven Holl is one of America's top ranking architects.  The dormitory at MIT shows a impressive in its sheer scale. The fenestration is unique in its massiveness and relentless grid like nature - yet there is something a bit reminiscent of early Italian modernism as seen in Casa Del Fascio yet on a bigger scale.  The rigidity of form is relieved with playful cutouts that occur in a seemingly random fashion. Perhaps one of the most interesting moments occurs on the interior in the student lounge with an organic light well that contrasts beautifully against the cellular nature of the rest of the building.  The concrete floors and ceilings are a bit cold - but the painted windows adds a bit of play.  - Ecomanta