CULTURE, COMPOSITION, COLOR & COMFORT
Why does Buddha seem so serene? Is it secrets of relaxation and meditation? Is it the placement on a dark polished wood chest? Is it the warm glow of the lighting? Or does the juxtaposition of the abstract art beyond Buddha create a calming vignette that pleases the eye? These questions and many more will [...]
Africa inspires Samuel Fleming Lewis
INSTUDIO interior Design Directors are both artists and interior designers. Recently Samuel Fleming Lewis created twelve new linoleum block prints. Graphic patterns from African tribal textiles and wood carvings have long been an influence in his art. Samuel was first introduced to carving linoleum for prints in a high school art class. He often returns [...]
Contemplating New Interior Design?
Interior Design is more than just moving your furniture into a room and expecting it to reflect how you live and your personal style. How the furniture is arranged determines not only how the room is used but how we interact with family friends and pets. This is where a good furniture plan overrides design [...]
Be a Design Rebel with a Cause
Developing personal interior design style can be a rebellious act in that it takes strength of character to ignore design trends to create rooms that reflect who you are. Finding your style requires looking at furniture, art, lighting & accessories from various sources. While the internet and established furniture stores can provide foundation furnishings what [...]
Going Minimal
Made popular by Joseph D’Urso of New York City minimalist interiors made a statement in the 1970′s, and continues to be a noted interior design solution. Minimalism works great for lofts, small spaces and when you don’t have (or want) a lot of stuff. It keeps the look clean, and if done right, very interesting. [...]
It’s Abstract
Abstract art gives you glimpses. It frees the viewer to imagine, ponder and wonder. The black & white painting titled “Floppy Remorse” by artist Stephen Kladder is just such an abstract work of art. One can discern some text: but what does it say? Images can also be discerned, but what are they exactly? It [...]
FIT… Contemporary Sculpture or Lounge Chair?
Office furniture manufacturers often develop innovative products that could easily be included in residential design and décor. These pieces are seldom seen by residential consumers or designers because they are usually marketed to architects and business designers. INSTUDIO interior design directors noticed a window display at the Kimball Office showroom in San Francisco’s Financial District [...]
DESIGN PLUS CONSIGNMENT GALLERY
What happens to beautiful stylish well cared for furniture, accessories and lighting when a change in design style demands new furnishings or perhaps your existing pieces won’t blend within the new décor of a room? They go to a home furnishings consignment store like Design Plus that offers a responsible option for someone else to [...]
The art of trompe l’oeil in interior design
An imaginary window or view, a perspective that makes a room seem larger, additional people birds or animals in a room, realistic architectural elements painted on a wall, a realistic painted deck of playing cards that appear to be sitting on the table are all examples of trompe l’oeil. French for ‘deceive the eye’ the [...]
Experience Architecture & Design at the Museum
Furniture Design, Textile Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design & Lighting Design can usually be found at Museums of contemporary art. Curators of Architecture and Design focus their progressive thinking on practices across all design disciplines. Museums act as a time capsule for what was contemporary decades ago and what is considered cutting edge design today. [...]
Shelving Style
Shelving; you gotta have it. But, it doesn’t have to be mundane, it can make a statement. The Design Directors at INSTUDIO discovered some great wall systems by Flexform. They are distinctive, interesting, have great form, and most importantly, get the job done. Display, storage of items you need at your fingertips and a place [...]
Feng Shui inspires Artist William Rhodes
Artist William Rhodes Feng Shui Series brings together his journey as an artist. His dynamic works of art are composed of properties designed to create positive energy. Equally talented as an artist, craftsman and furniture maker his pieces in the Feng Shui Series defy such categories as painting, sculpture, furniture or accessory; the works are [...]
Orange You; Intrigued?
INSTUDIO Design Directors have been noticing orange in the homes of designers, as an accent color for interior design, in street graphics, as accessories, on both vintage and new upholstered pieces, as textiles and even as a fruit! There is always a good reason to add this lively color that knows no season to interior [...]
SWANK Venetian Glass Lamps from Dallas, Texas
INSTUDIO Design Directors can often be found searching local shops for interesting vintage lamps to complete design projects. Vintage lighting and lamps have individual styles that add unexpected shapes, colors or finishes to a room. In design that combines old and new furnishings Venetian glass lamps can look both contemporary and rare at the same [...]
COLOR! COLOR! COLOR!
Color is all around us. Nature provides an envelope of color when we are outside. All colors are found in nature. Color is also the envelope of our interior spaces where we live and work. The Design Directors of INSTUDIO are constantly aware of the envelope of color in the development of an interior design [...]
Developing Design with Color, Scale & Repetition
Artist Andy Warhol was a master of using color, scale and repetition for visual imagery. Although best known for his silk screened celebrity images, his knowledge of fashion, interior design, photography and film making were combined to make him a universal artist. What Warhol can teach us is how to use color, scale, and repetition [...]
Ingo Maurer Lighting, Sculptural Works of Art
Lighting by Ingo Maurer is experienced as art that provides illumination. He was always among the first to experiment with new lighting technologies that included cable & halogen, now with light-emitting diodes. His work can be described as artistic, sculptural, humorous, imaginative, futuristic, global & magical. By encouraging you to see light in a different [...]
INSTUDIO Design Direction SUMMER 2011
Summer brings to mind warm weather (unless you live in San Francisco), water, the colors of sand, blue skies, travel & outdoor living. INSTUDIO Design Directors are both artists & interior designers and for design inspiration we start our summer journey by looking through our studio window at lush green trees. Rather than relying on [...]
The Master Study
Artists will frequently study a great master by reproducing a master work themselves, thereby learning how the artist used composition, color, brush work, perspective, proportion, balance and interest to create their masterpiece. Many of the same tools show up in a well designed interior space: color, proportion, balance, interest and the overall “feel” (composition) of [...]
The Fine Art of Lighting Exhibited at ArtHaus
The interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO suggest keeping an open mind when considering resources for home design and décor. A shopping trip that leads you to all of the usual places for a particular item may leave you empty handed and uninspired. When looking for high quality unique lighting an art gallery may have exactly [...]
WORKING in SERIES
The interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO are both exhibiting visual artists and interior design specialist. Creating art alone in a studio environment can be an isolating experience. Sometimes professional artists take classes to develop techniques, themes, theories & ideas with like minded creative individuals. Artist/designer Stephen Kladder recently completed a course on developing works in [...]
Kuba Textiles as Natural Contemporary Art
Imagine having a fashionable wardrobe of special clothing that is handmade from natural fibers, each piece being artistically interesting, contemporary and detailed. An interesting wardrobe embellished with bold and graphic patterns. Wouldn’t you be tempted to proudly display your clothing on the wall as art? The Design Directors of INSTUDIO like to think globally when [...]
Doing Good While Preventing Furniture Rings
Beyond interior design, most of us are interested in other things like recycling, arts & crafts, unemployment, international style and protecting our good wood furniture from unsightly rings. All of our interest can come together with the use of coasters made from recycled tea bags. The earthy brown tea bags are enhanced by interesting motifs [...]
Portrait of a Lady
Randy Figures is an artist who has a passion for Victorian homes. The details and influences come from every architectural style of the past. His hand drawn pen and ink architectural rendering “Painted ladies on Guerrero Street” shows his devotion to architecture, art and design. Drawing houses since he could hold a pen, Randy recalled [...]
