Best Christmas Present

My Dad is virtually impossible to buy presents for, every year my sister and I agonize over what he might want, need, or even just laugh at. The problem is, he never reads any books, my mom already buys all of his clothes and accessories, and as for hobbies his is tinkering with his boat so your best bet would be some esoteric engine part. Thus, we are left trying to think of things that might at least make him laugh, and this year I think I nailed it.

For as long as I can remember, my Dad has been opining about a theoretical book that he would like to write. I think it began around the time that my sister was looking at colleges, and he would accompany on her on campus visits. Sitting in these admissions offices, what he noticed most were the pairs of daughters and mothers: while some mothers and daughters were virtual carbon copies, others looked like a Playboy Bunny accompanied by Jaba the Hut. What if, he mused, there were a book where one could look up their girlfriend and cross-reference her image with that of her mother, predicting how she might age in 5, 10, 15 years. Essentially, it would answer the eternal question of whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

Now he still hasn't gotten around to writing the book, but I have designed a cover for it whenever he does:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Spine

How to:

Choose a book to cover, I wanted a hard cover book so I picked an old one I don't read. Measure the height of the book, and then the length of both covers and the spine, then add a few inches to the length for the flaps. Make a photoshop document that is the height of the book and the length of the flaps, covers and spine altogether.

Now, picture how the jacket wraps around the book, the back cover is on the left, the spine in the center, and the front cover is on the right. Put some Guides into your document demarcating where the flaps, covers, and spine should be.

Now is the fun part! Use whichever images you want, and add some fun text. I googled images of actual books to get ideas on where the text should be. I also put an "Oprah's Book Club" sticker onto the cover and a barcode on the back cover for a touch of authenticity. Both were simply a googled, downloaded, and pasted in.

I printed it on a plotter at Pratt, so I didn't really have a choice but to use a heavier weight paper, but I would definitely recommend it.

Once its printed, just wrap it around the book, carefully creasing at the edges of the covers and spine.

Voila! A personalized book cover.

M(ad) Men Now

For the final Studio project of the semester, I designed an office space for a newly formed advertising and branding agency, focused on the needs of the Fashion Industry. The firm is comprised of 45-50 employees, and headed by 3 directors. The clients had selected a space in the Pepsico Building, at 500 Park Avenue, on the 10th floor and the Penthouse floor.  

In considering the needs of the modern workplace, facilitating communication was at the absolute core of my concerns. Inspired by a TED Talk on biomimicry, and the notion that we don’t need to remake the wheel when we can look to the highly evolved  design solutions in the world around us, I looked to a solution in neuroscience. 

Inside your brain, communication of information and ideas between neurons happens in spaces called synapses. Using a neuron as a model, I proposed that each of the directors were nucleus of their own departmental neurons, and what they needed was a “synapse space” where these different departmental "neurons" could communicate. 

In the final design, this synapse space became the Inspiration Library, a stair and bookcase combined unit, where ideas and people flow between departments (and floors). Here all the senses are stimulated into making new and innovative connections by books, iPods, DVDs, Materials, Artifacts.....

The Inspiration Library also offers an opportunity for the employees to personalize their workplace experience by changing the displays within the bookcase to reflect their latest projects or personal passions. It drew inspiration from the staircase at the Chanel Flagship in Paris. 

In planning the layout of the space, I treated the penthouse floor as the more "public" oriented (e.g. client reception, cafe, meetings with outside consultants) while the tenth floor was more "privately" oriented. Therefore the new business director and the departments that work most closely with them and with the clients, were located on the penthouse floor. The operations director and the creative director, and their associated departments, are located on the tenth floor.

Materially, I drew on the firm’s Fashion Industry clients to put together a conceptual palette in a leather and mirrored jewelry box, strewn with pearls, a sheer scarf, a ladies glove, and my tigers eye egg. This palette served as my guide in determining the finishes. 

Since the general public (aka my friends and family) can't really read floorplans or reflected ceiling plans, I'm going to skip them and jump to showing you perspectives inside the space:

View from Creative Department towards Inspiration Library and Focus Alcoves

View of Inspiration Library, into War Room

View of Inspiration Library Upstairs Where It Adjoins the Cafe and Reception

For furnishings, the Vitra Joyn system was selected for all workspaces on account of its clean, chic aesthetic and flexibility of use. For all communication and conferencing spaces the Vitra Medamorph system was used. The Vitra ACSU Storage system provided file storage as well as acoustic absorption, a major concern in the open workplace. 

Beautiful Redesigned Book Covers

I am swooning over these redesigned book covers....gorgeous.

I love the color schemes...the patterns...

Portfolio

As my semester coasts to a close I've started the process of documenting. Check it out, and help me out with any constructive criticism:

 

Dr. House

During college, my roommate used Dr. House as her subject for a long psychology paper- and in the process we watched every single episode at least once. So, taking a page from her book- I decided to use Dr. House as inspiration for the design of my new studio project, an office!

If you've ever seen an episode of House you know that there are two factors that are always present in his problem solving process. The first is the use of a dry erase board to brainstorm ideas. In a recent episode, House even found a way to turn a glass curtain wall into a dry erase board- flexible, dynamic brainstorming at its best. 

The other factor that is always present in House's problem solving, is seeking inspiration throughout the hospital. In almost every episode Dr. House ends up observing someone in the hospital and then bam, inspiration hits when he realizes that someones toupee has reminded him of a novel genetic disorder. 

Even out of the hospital context I think that these problem solving strategies are something that could be useful to think about in designing an office for any discipline. Brainstorming in a way that puts all the possibilities visually in front of you, and in front of your peers for input- and seeking inspiration through novel stimuli, are ideas applicable to a wide range of businesses. 

New Apartment!

At the beginning of October I moved into a studio apartment in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. I had a 45 minute commute last year to and from campus, and so I was looking for something more convenient, and my new 10 minute commute really fit the bill. 

I faced a big challenge that is a common one for urban dwellers - carving out space from a tiny apartment. My floorplan is 200 sq ft maximum, so it was important for me to create the feeling of different "rooms" while also making the space seem as large as possible. 

This is what my apartment loos like when you step through the front door:

This is my "reading corner" where two stacked Ikea units create a partition that divides the "bedroom" from the reading corner & kitchen:

The chair is an old one that my friend Hannah had in college and I inherited afterwards. A vintage lamp from my grandmother's house stands behind it. The display on the wall is crafted from two different Ikea shelves, as well as one of the Umbra invisible floating bookshelves that they sell at Urban Outfitters:

I have two reproduction Soviet Posters framed, and a Walton Ford reproduction print, all in brightly colored bold frames. 

I really love this invisible floating shelf, I went for a yellow theme, and then displayed an Annunciation Icon that I bought in St. Petersburg and my Tigers Eye "Golden Egg":

Seriously, how cool is this egg?

I hung a tapestry across the top of my Ikea four poster bed to create an intimate cozy niche atmosphere. The light fixture is a common paper lantern with a pink lightbulb, which I decorated with butterflies that I printed. It gives it a really cozy warm feeling. 

One of my favorite touches in my "bedroom" are these three hanging cubes I got from Target. I needed somewhere to put a glass of water during the night, etc, and I thought these were a really cute solution. I recently put a 8x10 picture of my boyfriend and me in the rear of the largest box and I think its a really neat personalization. 

With such a small space I knew from the start that mirrors were going to play a crucial role. I had an old mirror from my grandmother's house which I had spray painted silver. It was so heavy that I was afraid to hang it on the walls, but luckily I had an old easel that I could display it on. It stands next to this amazing mirrored end table that I found in Newport RI (its twin lives with my parents in midtown). On top of it is a lamp which used to belong to my grandmother.

 In order to multiply the natural light, and optically multiply the space, I created a wall of mirrors. I bought LOTS mirrored tile from IKEA and fitted the squares inside the molding on the wall facing the window. On the neighboring wall I made a gallery of black and white frames displaying pictures of friends and family.

I got this chaise lounge (with storage under the seat cushion) from Target! The half-round table is another inheritance from my grandma, the vintage reproduction fan is from Restoration Hardware and I got it 50% off because no one buys fans in October. The half-round table is another inheritance from my grandma that I painted black and topped with many glistening layers of clear polyurethane lacquer. the Eiffel Tower lamp is yet another great find at Target.

I really don't like the light fixture that the room came with. The quality of light it gives off is so harsh and cold that I literally couldn't stand it even the first night. But it looks hideous to have it sitting there on the ceiling even if I never have to live with that clinical hospital light it gives off. So I decided to disguise it beneath a hovering cloud of butterflies. They are strong on copper wires in a halo around the ceiling fixture, a few more settling each day as I slowly work towards obscuring it completely:

 These are just some silly self-portraits I took looking into the mirrored wall at the weird distortions that form:

Residential Redux

Today I presented the second Studio project of the semester, Residential Redux. It was, as the title suggests, a residential project for a fictional client family in one of the Meier towers on the Westside Highway:

Our pretend client had "purchased" the second and third floors of the north tower to house himself, his adult daughter, and her husband and two children:

 

And yes I stole the name of one of my Dad's best friends for the Grandfather, and used some names from the Outlander series (shoutout to James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser)

Here are my final plans, with most of the public activities of the household (cooking, dining, practicing piano) taking place on the lower level, and the more private activities (sleeping, bathing) on the upper level:

When you enter the apartment on the second floor (the lower level of the apartment) you experience a view corridor which highlights the grandfather's ceramics collection, displayed against the glass curtain wall:

There is a special reading chair where the grandfather loves to sit, from here he can monitor his grandson's piano practice as well as keep an eye on the happenings in the kitchen, living room, and dining area:

Flanking the opposite side of the apartment another view corridor is flanked by ceramics displays:

When an adult is walking up the stairs, upon reaching the landing they are able to get a glimpse down  this corridor through the grandfather's office and out to the balcony. If you are shorter than 4'6", you can't see the adults outside taking a smoke break, but if you're an adult like the children's mother, you can see your father and go out and join him for a nictoine fix: 

In a humorous nod to the serious display cases where the grandfather keeps his ceramics collection downstairs, upstairs in the family's suite the display cases house children's toys- and even the family cat: