DesignTripper.

Thank you Daily Candy for this tip on the travel blog Design Tripper. I love it! Blend Travel + Design and you’ve got a new fan! This blog is one of my new favorites. This team of bloggers searched out exceptionally well-designed vacation homes, cabins, inns, motels, hotels, even tents to rent, from California to Tuscany. The pictures are gorgeous and the details make you feel like you’re already on vacation. This weeks post is a eye-opener with a hotel called 40 Winks that is designed by London-based interior designer David Carter that features only two rooms for rent but an experience of true surreal charm.

London is Feeling Hot Hot Hot.

Red is the color of fire. The color of heat. The color of deep love. And now the color of London’s Serpentine Pavilion. It’s too hot not to post (rather say cool – but you get the picture). This temporary summer arts gallery pavilion opened in London’s Kensington Gardens early this summer. Masterfully designed by world-renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, it is the 10th commission and architectural experimentation in the Gallery’s annual series and the architect’s first completed building in the United Kingdom.

The building’s web site states that “the design for the 2010 Pavilion is a contrast of lightweight materials and dramatic metal cantilevered structures. The entire design is rendered in a vivid red that, in a play of opposites, contrasts with the green of its park setting. In London, the colour reflects the iconic British images of traditional telephone boxes, post boxes and London buses. The building consists of bold geometric forms, large retractable awnings and a sloped freestanding wall that stands 12m above the lawn. Striking glass, polycarbonate and fabric structures create a versatile system of interior and exterior spaces, while the flexible auditorium will accommodate the Serpentine Gallery Park Nights and Marathon and the changing summer weather.”

It reminds me of those cute colorful jewel tones transparent Amac plastic boxes with lids sold at the Container Store. I always am drawn to them but have no idea what to use them for. =0) Maybe these teeny boxes inspired Nouvel?!

Container Store Amac Boxes

All Serpentine Gallery photographs by: Philippe Ruault (found on Interior Design Magazine website)

Shabby Chic All Grown Up.

Looking through a website on installing water features in outdoor gardens, I was distracted by a banner ad for fine reproduction French furniture (and I typically never ever click on side bar ads!). Sweetpea & Willow of London offers an online retail store (plus international shipping from the UK) for quality, reproduction classic French furniture at unbelievably low prices. Now, I’m not a shabby chic kind of gal. I prefer more clean, comfortable and eclectic spaces, however, I find the designs showcased at this online store somehow deceptively familiar, pretty, a bit more grown up, and shall we say tres magnifique! Here I go on my France kick again. Whether gorgeous or too garish, I have bookmarked this site for future reference and possibly some minor shopping. Here’s what I would put into my shopping cart today.

The French Petite Bookcase is stunning! and is available in a slew of finishes. $3,400

The perfect Henley Strip Chair is pretty mix of modern and old classic with a burst of color., $550

This Classical White Carved Round Dining Table dresses up any meal. $635

I'm sure sweet slumber happens nightly on this distressed antique white Classical White Marianne Rattan Bed, $1,264

The faded appearance of this velvet and linen Union Jack Rectangular Cushion gives this accent pillow an airy brilliance!, $55

The Cherry Bombe Chest/4 Door Cupboard is ideal for dining room storage and is not limited to the lipstick red shown here. 22 other colorways are also available! $4,982

This set of Nickel Fire Tools is striking in design with a circular handle at tops that allows each tool to be stored beautifully! $507

Where Art Thou On the Wall.

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome London artist and typographer, Sam Winston. Sam has made a niche in decorative arts. His creativity evolves through silkscreen prints of various typfaces and strategic collages. The pieces below are collages of his Romeo & Juliet.

Romeo & Juliet Collage

Romeo & Juliet Collage

Detail of collage surface

Romeo & Juliet as a screen-print, follows three images that are actually large columns of text that contain the whole Shakespeare’s play. Instead of presenting the play in its chronological order, Sam divided the text into the three emotional states – Passion, Rage, and Indifference. This means that the works shown below have every line of each part of the play forming the art. Every single letter is cut out and put back together the create the image. Painstakingly brilliant idea.

Passion

Rage

Indifference

Super Contemporary.

This just in. The Design Museum in London, England is opening a new exhibit today called Super Contemporary that features 15 new art design commissions – some to be installed around the city. It runs through October so you Americans should be able to schedule a trip over the pond to take a look in between Big Ben and a pint of Guinness… or Harrod’s. The event is a culmination of creative freethinkers who want to make a difference in the world. The exhibition illustrates London’s pursuit of newer and better design output in the areas of architecture, industrial design, graphic design, fashion and communications.

A few of the exhibits are Bus Shelter by David Ahjaye; Gone with the Wind by Ron Arad; Listening Station by Barber Osgerby; Freedom Space by Neville Brody; Batterseaum by Nigel Coates; Rain it In by Paul Cockedge; London Transport by Tom Dixon; and a few others.

Design on a Shoestring.

I just read a fantastic article in the Home & Garden section of the New York Times. With a curving-upward-yet-slowly economy, learning that others are finding ways to get great interior design through creative channels is inspirational. I think the London home of graphic designer Russell Lewis and design store assistant Gemma Ahem is earthy pop eccentric. Their talents are visible in the choice of typography accents, painted walls, and European prints. With a pooled savings of just over $10,000, they managed to make major changes to their pad in just under a year. Read more…

Sliding House.

Imagine being able to pull a “blanket” over your house to keep out the light, to insulate, or to protect you and loved ones from outdoor elements. A firm in London called dRMM made this happen with layers of roofing and walls. Check it out here!

Painting the World White.

The London Associated Press reports that the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday the Obama administration wants to paint roofs an energy-reflecting white, as he took part in a climate change symposium in London. In an effort to cut greenhouse gases, there would be a consideration for an initiative in painting flat roofs a white color (a sloped roof would be hard on our eyes, lightening roads to a paler color (hmm, can Martha Stewart help us out with this one… perhaps Nantucket Shingle Grey?). Read more about it here.