Design Milk recently featured our Arenal rug in their creative process column, Deconstructed. We truly love to see inspiration in action, so we’re especially honored to be a part it this month. Read all about the inspiration behind the unique Arenal rug by clicking here.
Named for the crown jewel of Maine’s outdoor playground, the new Acadia area rug design features a subtle blend of colors in a state of the art construction that allows Acadia to live inside or outside to fit your lifestyle. The lightweight, machine-woven construction and UV stable material makes the Acadia durable and portable, ideal for the outdoor spaces you enjoy all summer long.
Solid and classic,
Congratulations to interior designers Michael Cox and Sheilah McFadden of Foley & Cox on their work being included in the Hamptons 50 issue of Luxe Magazine this month! Thanks for making our Double Bonfire table a part of your project, which was made right here in our Maine furniture studio.
What a beautiful home!
Courtesy: LUXE INTERIORS + DESIGN
Thanks to Scott Nash, who gave us a peek into how he sketches his favorite characters, made us laugh with the story about his dad’s hairdo, and some of his favorites for our Stories in the Studio on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came out during the East Bayside Block Party to join us. We hope you had as much fun as we did!
Keep an eye out for our next event.
Thanks to Lark Hotels for featuring Angela’s designs in their latest issue of On A Lark, featuring the custom Ocean stair runner at their Camden, Maine property, Whitehall.
One of our favorite parts of summer is the annual changeover from warm to cold beverages when its time to relax. We’ve been known to get a little creative with our drink concoctions (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions) at the social gatherings we host in the Studio Showroom. Using fresh ingredients and unexpected flavor combinations, we like to make it memorable.
Need some new go-to beverage options to wow your guests this summer?
Summers in Maine hold a special place in the hearts of locals and visitors alike. Our state’s slogan says it all, “The way life should be,” and tourists worldwide tend to agree.
For Mainers who live here year round, summer is welcomed later than most places, but the bounty of its possibilities are more than worth the long winter’s wait. For those “from away” as we say, it represents a place to cool off at camp in the summer,
Maine illustrator Scott Nash is stopping by the Studio Showroom at 11AM on July 7, 2018, to read some of his classics to children of all ages. All are welcome! (Be sure to bring your own books for autographs, as we won’t have any on hand for sale.)
Then after Scott’s reading, you can check out all the other cool stuff our neighborhood is up to. Events are also happening at Abigail Gray Swartz,
The bonds between the moon, the natural world and human kind here on earth cannot be broken. It’s a connection that is mutually dependent– and as ancient as the universe itself. Their connectedness has inspired people for millennia and affects our everyday world and lives.
Since our earliest days, people have tracked the seasons through the lunar cycle, naming each moon with natural annual occurrences it was associated with. Some of the more common moon names used by Native and Colonial Americans were adopted by the modern calendar and continue to be used today.
Maine has an ever-changing landscape. Not only because we have vivid seasons that are in constant motion, but we also have great tides that act like theatrical curtains that open and close, revealing a show of wonderful surprises below the surface – but all on it’s own terms.
“I had naively originally thought Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture was unique to Philadelphia’s LOVE park. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The original image was designed for the Museum of Modern Art as a Christmas card image in 1964. It was made into a colorless Cor-Ten Steel sculpture in 1970 and was shown in New York.”
Thanks to all of you who came out on Saturday! We really enjoyed hosting all of you and hearing all about Chris Van Dusen’s process behind his fun children’s books. Seeing the original artworks that went into the creation of each one was a real treat! We hope all those young enthusiastic faces went home just as inspired as we were.
If you weren’t there, can you guess which book incorporates our classic Kenga rug design and Mica pillows into the scenery?
Recently I created Inspired space, a series of curated storyboards to show the pieces from our collection that speak to one another, grouped by their similar essence. Each design builds upon the next guide to help you coordinate your decisions, to help make your room come together flawlessly, to make it instantly achieve the vibe you’re looking for, but most importantly– to make it feel like home.
Here are a few of my favorite Inspired Spaces.
In honor of Mothers Day, we asked our team members what designs reminded them of their moms and why.
“Canopy reminds me of my mom. Thinking of her whimsical leaves and branches lovingly protecting me as I explore the world. Whenever I look up she is always there, always present, casting her dancing shadows over my heart.”
– Carrie Powers, Manager of Finance and Administration
Seaweed Man from Larch Hanson on Vimeo.
Low tide is one of my favorite things about Maine. The rich colors and textures that are unveiled as the tide sweeps out appear like secret treasures. The palate of the ocean floor changes with seasons in the same way the foliage on trees and plants do. The seaweed starts to glow this time of year. It looks like rich honey blanketing the floor or flowing in shallow waters.
Young women by the Canellopoulos penthouse pool, Athens, July 1961.
Summertime in Maine is full of tradition, boating, parties and swimming in beautiful places. Slim Aarons captured summertime leisure in exotic places better than anyone. Thank you to Photographer’s Gallery for the biography. Images from Everyday I Show.
“Increasingly heralded for his influence, Slim Aarons established his place in the Pantheon of great postwar photographers.
Who doesn’t love a roadtrip? We post a lot about Maine. We love living here and appreciate the natural beauty around us every day. But there are many parts of the country that are incredibly beautiful, inspiring and certainly worth being on your list of places to explore and experience. The Northwest is one of those places. In summertime, the wildflowers carpet the landscape and the mountains hold court as they do every season.
Queen Mary’s Dollhouse
As designers, we often make models of our ideas to better understand the scale and to view from all angles. I grew up with dollhouses and always loved redecorating and imagining how a family might live in the space. The idea that you could see a cross section of what everyone was doing inside was always fun to contemplate.
The idea of Queen Mary’s dollhouse caught my attention.
Alexander Calder has been one of my favorite artists for as long as I can remember. I love the primary colors he uses in his paintings and the bold, pure shapes in his sculpture. When Sherwood and I stumbled upon an installation of his Cirque Calder in New York years ago— we fell in love with Calder and his playful, clever imagination.
Thank you to SuperRadNow for the article.
One of my favorite exercises to do in the studio is to design plants, trees and creatures for a new landscape. I call this landscape Happiland; it is a land I imagine, where the vegetation and the creatures all coexist in a very peaceful way. They need and appreciate each other and more than anything, they celebrate life together and share in the care of the land, air and sea around them.
Many of us dream of living a life completely filled with art, craft and creative projects around every corner. Bernard Langlais did just that. He turned his property in Cushing, Maine into a giant sculpture park and studio full of his beautiful wooden creatures and modern paintings. My mother was great about taking me to see art whenever we were on the mainland. She introduced me to the work of artists such as Louise Nevelson and Bernard Langlais,
Jean Dubuffet (1901 – 1985) resisted authority from an early age. He didn’t see the art world in the way that society saw it at the time. He was greatly influenced by Hans Prinzhorn’s book Artistry of the Mentally Ill and found the art of the insane and of children to be far superior to the works considered to be great by critics, museums and collectors. He coined the term Art Brut,
I have a dream of filling the nine rooms of Villa la Banane with friends and relaxing on the furnishings of some of my favorite designers- Charlotte Perriand, Jean Royere and Pierre Jeanneret. The interiors and furnishings are exquisite and hold a long history of glamorous international parties and getaways. The design is timeless and a perfect combination of mid century French design and Caribbean luxury.
“There are places you don’t happen upon just by chance.
We all have our favorites. India Mahdavi is mine. Or at least one of my most favorite favorites. She was born in Iran and spent her first one and a half years there, before traveling with her family and living in the United States, Germany and France. Her worldly influences are evident in her interiors and furnishings. I find her style to be feminine, confident and just perfect in an unpredictably surprising and inspiring way.
The concept of designing a house to meet the individual needs of the owner or oneself is a fascinating and luxurious idea. Designing how you want to live at home to the tiniest detail is a rare opportunity. Whenever I have the opportunity to peel back the layers of this in process it is an interesting study not only in design, but in individual style and human behavior. In the case of Villa Mairea,
It’s hard to compare anyone to Ann Margret. She’s in a league of her own. It’s nearly impossible to take your eyes off of her — even when she is co-starring alongside Elvis. It isn’t simply her beauty that shines. Nor is it her acting or dancing talent. I think what shines brightest is her spirit. She’s happy, positive and appreciating every moment. Two of my favorite Ann Margret movies are Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas.
