David Chipperfield @ Design Museum.

“With a style that is restrained, quiet and thoughtful, David Chipperfield is of one of Britain’s leading architects. He has a huge international reputation and completed buildings in China, Japan, Italy, USA, Spain and Germany. Chipperfield produces subtle and sophisticated buildings, from museums to homes, with an acute sensitivity for materials and a powerful awareness of their environment.” – Design Museum

As I said before, I’m a big fan of the Design Museum.
“David Chipperfield – Form Matters” is amazingly well interpreted. The space is so perfectly curated that I ask myself if it was David himself who designed the exhibition.

It’s very challenging to design a gallery space. More than technical issues such as light or enough space to walk around the art or design work, there are little details that really matter. It's important to understand the potential of every surface in a gallery, weather vertical or horizontal. And again, I was extremely amazed with how Design Museum satisfied my curiosity. The idea to design on the clean white walls the buildings perspective was genial. We can admire David’s precise architecture through models and a different perspective drawing at the same time – it’s total engagement.

The exhibition inclues homeware David Chipperfiled designed to Alessi.

Museum of Modern Literature
Marbach am Neckar, Germany, 2002 – 2006
Winner RIBA Stirling Prize 2007

The following photographs were taken when I went to Berlin last March.
Building extension by DC
Am Kupfergraben 10
Berlin, Germany, 2002 – 2007

Architectural details.

"All my life I have sought the simplicity of a single line." - Antoine Watteau

You can read “Perfect Weekend by David Chipperfield” at How To Spend It, the magazine by Financial Times.

This exhibition made me pick up my last university project and develop it further, which I plan to publish soon: “Challenge the common practice of art display”.

Perfect Paper.

I love books. I believe I’ve more books at home than any other objects, if I can call a book an object. Well, I can argue it’s an object of inspiration, knowledge and even an object of decoration like a Chanel or a Cartier table book.

The last one I bought is a preciosity. The content is rich and the design very attractive. It’s called Perfect Paper. It’s “a book of work in paper by today’s artists, architects, illustrators, graphic designers, industrial designers, fashion designers and photographers with varying intentions, processes of making and aesthetics styles.”

It has 4 chapters: Illustrative Paper-cuts, Arty Objects, Interiors & Installations and Papering the Body. It includes projects by Holly Ormrod , Jordy Yu Fu , Publique Living , Sounds of Silence, Tokujin Yoshioka Design and Violise Lunn just to name a few.

When I came across to this book, “In Praise of Shadows” by Junichiro Tanizaki was constantly in my mind. He writes: “Paper, I understand, was invented by the Chinese; but western paper is to us no more than something to be used, while the texture of Chinese paper and Japanese paper gives us a certain feeling of warmth, of calm and repose. Even the same white could be as well be one colour for Western paper and another for our own. Western paper turns away the light, while our paper seems to take it in, to envelop it gently, like the soft surface of a first snowfall. It gives off no sound when it is crumpled or folded, it is quiet and pliant to the touch as the leaf of a tree.”

All the projects featured in Perfect Paper you can see and feel every word Tanizaki’s describes about Chinese and Japanese paper.
They’re both books to have, to read over and over again and to give to special people in your life.
If you're in London, you can find both books at Victoria and Albert Museum Bookshop

Javier Mariscal @ Design Museum.

When it comes to exhibition design, Design Museum in London is one of the best. The space is always engaging, communicative and very inspiring.
“Mariscal - Drawing Life” is another perfect example. This exhibition is on for another week, until the 1st of November.

“I don’t think that it’s good idea to explain what is behind the drawings, to analyse them or try to justify them with theories. Nor do I think there is anything to understand; they can simply be looked at and enjoyed. Interpret them in the most personal way possible.” – Javier Mariscal

“Mariscal - Drawing Life consists of thirteen installations that explore the way in which Mariscal sees the world, and the ways in which he uses drawing.” – Design Museum

Shower Tunnel - An installation of 640 illustrated ideas that represent Mariscal's visual language from 1970 to 2009.

Editorial Curtains - Composition made using the instalments published by Editorial Salvat of the 'Diseño con Mariscal' encyclopaedia, designed and directed by Estudio Mariscal.

Letters Wall - A typographic composition built using original pypefaces by Mariscal.

Visual Identities - A collage made from deconstructing the visual identities for post-production and FX company, Framestore; the bank, Bancaja and the America's Cup sporting event.
Editorial Curtains - Composition made using The New Yorker, El País Semanal and Apo magazines published between 1990 and 2004 with covers designed by Mariscal.

Interiors & Other Interventions - A video-collage made using images of the Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, the Metropole cafeteria and the Splash & Crash bar, the Ikea restaurant, the H&M shop and artistic interventions.

Interiors & Other Interventions.

Interiors & Other Interventions.

Joie de Vivre - A visual allegory of the joy of living (Barcelona, 2009) represented as an installation of fragments from the Mediterranean coastline.

(My note: the rug was designed by Mariscal to Nanimarquina , my very favorite rug company)

Señor Mundo 'Chapel' - An installation with 225 illustrated messages from Sr. Mundo that were published in El País newspaper, 1994.

Photographs by Eliana Tomás.

Consultoria em Design de Interiores. | Interiors Consultancy.

Do dia 15 ao dia 26 de Dezembro vou estar em Portugal. Pode contactar-me através do numero +44 77677 222 97 ou por email para tomaseliana@gmail.com se estiver à procura de Personal Shopper ou Consultoria para Interiores.

From the 15th until the 26th of December I’ll be in Portugal. Feel free to contact me on +44(0) 77677 222 97 or email me on tomaseliana@gmail.com if you’re looking for Interiors Personal Shopper or Interiors consultancy.

Lighting by Aureliano Toso (Italy). Bedside table by Adal Biaccio (Spain). Rug by Nanimarquina (Spain). Organza by Aldeco (Portugal). Bespoke mirror by Eliana.

Windows Styling by Eliana Tomás

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My Favorite Wall.

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Pavilion of Art Design London.

"A designer can never be original. Everything I use or apply comes from the existing world. I simply give it a personal touch but I don’t invent anything. A designer’s greatest achievement is to change the perspective of things a little" – Jurgen Bey


Carpenters Workshop Gallery London UK

Vincent Dubourg
Nouvelle Zélande
2009
Steel
Edition of 8 + 4AP

Recomended Books:
"Limited Edition - Prototypes, One-offs and Design Art Furniture" by Sophie Levell
"Design / Art - Limited Editions" published by Stichting Kunstboek


Todd Marrill Studio Contemporary New York City USA

Joseph Walsh
Formations Dining Table
2009
Burr Olive Ash and Olive Ash
Edition of 12 Unique Variations

Recomended Books:
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Inside Out.

Berlin is a city full of beautiful and inspiring surprises. The following photographs are a good example of it.
A few years ago I did a project for college about the Serpentine Gallery and the Summer Pavillion (London). The main concept was to link the central room inside the gallery with the pavilion.
The reason why I’m mentioning this is because my first concept was to turn around the inside walls to the outside, which is exactly what this german façade looks like.
What was once an interior space is now facing a central square: plaster wall details, lamps, a fireplace and the mirror above it. Everything is behind a glass wall in a very unaesthetic stainless steel frame lightened in bold colours, but it was a very nice viewpoint. I look at these photographs and I see different momentums in architecture and interiors, somehow compatible. We all have seen projects like this one. But above all, what triggers my creativity is the “inside out”.
These photographs together with my first one at Rebirth challenges what means inside, outside and in between. How can I use this inspiration in my interior design projects? Do you find it inspiring?





If you click on each image you can see the details. They look to me Baroque Interiors.

PS – When I took these photographs I didn’t have a tripod. Apologies for the out of focus. Hope you still enjoy and get inspiration from them.

Rebirth.

All these photographs have been inspiring me lately.
Rethink. Restart. Rebirth.
Get inspired.

This is one of the most beautiful dead spaces I've ever seen. To see the clouds through the non existing roof from the outside is so inspiring. Beautiful different point of view.

This house is abandoned. And they say it has bad spirits. And I say I want to give it life again.

Pigeon coop. A space where pigeons gather. An animal space I want to understand to develop my skills as a spatial designer.

Small windows. Small door. The advertisement of Singer, a stereotypically domestic woman’s product. What story has this space to tell? How can it be reinterpreted?

A church in the middle of nowhere. What could it be now? Reinterpret a spiritual space? Leave it as it is? Or give it some life, real life? How many stories can a space like this could tell us?

A gate seems to me always a fragile structure, although very intimidating. Makes me to stop. Makes me think twice if I really want to go through. Should I then redesign a gate?

By the way, I would love to put my hands on all these spaces as the existing start to reuse them.

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Inspired By Light Installations.

My favorite type of art, if I can say that, is spatial installations. I find them extremely inspiring to start an interior design project. And today I’ve been digging in my art photos archive to find inspiration on lighting. Found these ones that I truly love. I’ve taken these photographs in Lisbon and London between 2006 and 2008.
Hope you find them inspiring too.

Carnaby Street. London.

James Turrell installation.

Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon.

Tate Modern. London.

Reflection on the glass wall looking down to the Turbine Hall.

Tate Modern. London.

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Inspired By Paris.

Cliché: Paris Je t’aime.
But the truth is that I really love paris. It’s bright, clean, busy, noisy, chic, inspiring, smelly and of course extremely beautiful. The vibe is so good. I feel good!
At the moment I’m working on a concept “inspired by paris”. The following photos are part of it. Enjoy it.

When I was a kid, way before being teenager, I wanted to be a ballerina (bailarina in portuguese). And this photograph makes me feel like dancing. It inspires me. I think about mirrors, wooden balustrades, tulle, light, big windows and space, lots of free space.

I love classics. And that goes from furniture, to clothes, and of course cars. I love cars. A car is just a power identification tool. I own this car, therefore I am. It tells a lot about the owner. And this Citroen is just stunning. Well, I love all Citroen Classics.

And look at this view: the colour and how beautifully polished it is. I can imagine who owns it actually. I wonder if the owner lives in this beautiful and classy building where the car is parked, because they really go well together.

This perspective is very inspiring. I want to design stripes (again) but in a different perspective and different thicknesses. This photo gives me ideas for horizontal and vertical stripes for a 18th century apartment...

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Photography by Eliana Tomás.
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