January

For our last blog post in January, we are leaving you with our favorite White Images.  Stayed tuned this friday, Febuary 1st.  We are starting the month off with Red! 

Alexander McQueen

As the month of January comes to an end, we can not forget to post on the true "Original"- Alexander McQueen.  

If you did not see the Savage Beauty Exhibit at the MET, here are a few pictures and quotes we will never forget-

"[This collection predicted a future in which] the ice cap would melt... the waters would rise and... life on earth would have to evolve in order to live beneath the sea once more or perish.

...Humanity [would] go back to the place from whence it came."

"There is no way back for me now.  I am going to take you on journeys you've never dreamed were possible."

"I want to be honest about the world that we live in, and sometimes my political persuasions come through in my work.  Fashion can be really racist, looking at the clothes of other cultures as costumes. ...That's mundane and it's old hat.  Let's break down some barriers."

"It's important to look at death because it is a part of life.  It is a sad thing, melancholic but romantic at the same time.  It is the end of a cycle- everything has to end.  The cycle of life is positive because it gives room for new things."

"[I try to] push the silhouette.  To change the silhouette is to change the thinking of how we look.  What I do is look at ancient African tribes, and the way they dress.  The rituals of how they dress... There's a lot of tribalism in the collections"

"My friend George and I were walking on the beach in Norfolk and there were thousands of [razor-clam] shells.  They were so beautiful, I thought I had to do something with them.  So, we decided to make [a dress] out of them... The shells had outlived their usefulness on the beach, so we put them to another use on a dress.  Then Erin [O'Conner] came out and trashed the dress, so their usefulness was over once again.  Kind of like fashion, really."

"It needs to connect with earth.  Things that are processed and reprocessed lose their substance."

"Beauty can come from the strangest of places, even the most disgusting of places."

"It's the ugly things I notice more, because other people tend to ignore the ugly things."

"Birds in flight fascinate me.  I admire eagles and falcons.  I'm inspired by a feather but also its color, it's graphics, its weightless and its engineering.  It's so elaborate.  In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to women."

"Remember Sam Taylor-Wood's dying fruit?  Thing rot.... I used flowers because they die.  My mood was darkly romantic at the time."

"I especially like the accessory for its sadomasochistic aspect."

"Let me not forget the use of my own hands, that of a craftsman with eyes... that reflect the technology around me."

BE an ORIGINAL!

Creative Ads

Last but not least... one more original ad we love.  

Here the World of Interiors uses Shopping Bags to display the Wallpaper. 
Be an original! 

Creative Ads

Today we are spotlighting another favorite, original Ad from The World of Interiors.  Here the creative magazine uses Laundry Bags to display fabrics.
Embrace originality!

Doors

The month of January is often thought of as a time to "Open New Doors" and try something new.  Here are a few photos we have collected through the years of Doors we love-

Creative Ads

If you are not familiar with The World of Interiors, they are always displaying new product in an original way.  As you know, we are spotlighting "originality" this month.  Here The World of Interiors displays their favorite fabrics with Potato Sacks.

Stay tuned for more of our favorite ads this month!

Andy Warhol

Highlighting another original, Andy Warhol defines the term originality.   Above, we found this great picture of him with Michael Stipe, one of our local favorites.  
Here are a few of our favorite quotes from Warhol-

Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?

It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor’s finger.

Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again.

People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly.

-Andy Warhol 

Downton Abbey

DOWNTON ABBEY RETURNS

As you saw from our last post, the new series of Downton Abbey starts this Sunday.  Make sure to check out the new season and get inspired by the set design!

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

May this year bring everyone happiness, peace and prosperity!

To celebrate the beginning of 2013, here are a few images we feel set the tone to our start this year.

 

ORIGINALITY is what we are kicking off with this year. 

We are celebrating those who don’t simply sing someone else's song, but who create their own voice. 

 To honor those people, designs, thoughts and directions that are original, here are two quotes from two of our most favorite originals around,

Greg Tankersley and Bobby McAlpine 
of McAlpine Tankersley.
Look for their comments in the current issue of House Beautiful.

 "I like to be overwhelmed in small spaces.  So in my lake house, I hung an enlarged Map of the Lake instead of a mirror.  Who cares what you look like at a country home?  Ego and vanity should be left in town." Bobby McAlpine

"In the powder room of my 100-year-old house, I installed a single slab of onyx for the floor and then under-let a single circle right below the wall-hung lavatory- my subtle salute to Saturday Night Fever" Greg Tankersley

 

Looking at our January Calendar, here are a few highlights we have so far-

 6th- Downtown Abby

21st- MLK Jr. Day

30th- New Shipment Arrives