Tamara Codor FURNITURE DESIGN
Some of the most innovative, beautiful, contemporary furniture designs are not mass produced, seen in design showrooms or retail stores. These works of art that happen to be furniture are developed by furniture designers who work with specialty crafts people to realize their own designs. INSTUDIO Design Directors were thrilled when they reviewed a portfolio [...]
The Art of Caryne Havican-Mender
Miami artist Caryne Havican-Mender creates artifacts pulled from the urban landscape. She finds discarded man-made objects in abandoned houses, junkyards, and flea markets and allows the viewer to re-discover the discarded in her works of art providing hints of traditional art subject matter such as landscapes, as well as contemporary abstract works. The art is [...]
INSTUDIO Directs Design at MISSION PICTURES
The unassuming vine covered building at 1500 Seventeenth Street on the northwest corner of Arkansas looks plain on the outside but it is the home to three creative businesses. Buddy Rhodes is an artist and the innovative design force for concrete products. INSTUDIO Design Directors/Artists develop their ideas for art and interior design projects. MISSION [...]
Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
San Francisco Design Directors Samuel Lewis and Stephen Kladder of INSTUDIO while visiting Grand Rapids, Michigan over the holiday break spent an afternoon at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Recognized as one of the finest sculpture parks in the country and named one of the top 30 must-see museums in the world by [...]
The Octagon Dining Table is an Award Winning Design
Hickory Chair Furniture Company announced the winners of its Centennial Design Challenge in the January 2012 issue of ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST magazine. INSTUDIO interior Design Director Samuel Fleming Lewis of San Francisco was the proclaimed winner of the design professional category with his Octagon Dining Table. Hickory Furniture Company was founded in 1911 in Hickory, North [...]
Thinking about New Interior Design?
Design takes time. Thoughtful planning opens the doors to great design. When contemplating a new style for your living or work space INSTUDIO Interior Design Directors suggest that you contact a designer for a consultation long before you think your project will actually begin. An interview with a design expert can help you flesh out [...]
Ask INSTUDIO Interior Design Directors
With the changing light and climate we plan to spend more time at home during the fall season. The winter holidays are rapidly approaching and often thoughts are geared towards entertaining family and friends. This brings to mind starting a few decorating and design projects to make ourselves and our homes a bit more inviting, [...]
Atmospheric Paintings add Splendor to Decor
Selecting art that you enjoy is one of the best ways to bring your personal style and taste into your decor. INSTUDIO interior Design Directors recently accompanied clients to San Francisco’s Naval Shipyard for Open Artists’ Studios in the quest to acquire art for their home. Seeing where art is created, meeting artist and viewing [...]
When He Likes Design as Much as She
While watching HGTV television programs the Interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO often hear the phrase “happy wife, happy life” when men defer all of the Interior design decisions to their spouses. Most men will settle for a comfy chair for themselves in room of her design. A “man cave” in the basement or garage can [...]
LOOK!
If you are ready to start your interior design project, it is also the time to open your eyes and starting looking at everything around you. You never know what might be a cue for your inspiration, but if you are not observing you might just miss it. A common characteristic of artists is that [...]
Artists are Opening their Studios
Year round artists are busy creating interesting works of art behind closed doors in lofts, warehouses, garages, basements, spare bedrooms, workrooms and anyplace that they call a studio. In San Francisco, Fall means “Open Studios”. INSTUDIO Design Directors look forward to this time of year because they can see new work by both well known [...]
Why INSTUDIO Designer Directors read Interior Design Magazines
Designers with a strong point of view can easily live without ever looking at a design magazine. Sitting down with a new magazine becomes a guilty pleasure that allows us to view the work of other designers whose aesthetics we admire. The pages actually become a community of creativity, rooms, products and homes that we [...]
KARTELL Masters Studied
INSTUDIO clients sometimes request that the Design Directors provide them with internet design sources for furniture. One of their bookmarked favorites includes Kartell. The Italian company is known for their fashion forward innovative contemporary furnishings, accessories and lighting utilizing technology, plastic materials and star designers like Philippe Stark. Whenever possible the Design Directors like to [...]
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 [...]
Collaboration Makes for Better Design
Good design is most often the result of a collaborative effort. The Design Directors of INSTUDIO find that their best designs emerge from the process of exchanging ideas, modifying design plans, and generally engaging in an interactive dialogue around a project. A kinetic design process feeds the creative thought process and the result is a [...]
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 [...]
Vintage Books & Interior Design Solutions
The Interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO enjoy finding and foraging through small vintage bookstores for books on art and design. Vintage design books like the fifth edition of the 1919 book “The Practical Book of Interior Decoration” published by J. B. Lippincott Company offers a view of the evolution of Interior Design & Décor. The [...]
STOP by INSTUDIO, the art of design the business of living
The Design Directors of INSTUDIO hope that the new STOP sign at the intersection of 17th & Arkansas will encourage those in need of Interior Design Direction to stop by INSTUDIO to talk about Design. We like visitors & are always in the creative mode. As artists & designers we never stop talking about design. [...]
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 [...]
A Recycled Paper Lantern
When INSTUDIO design directors Samuel Fleming Lewis and Stephen Kladder moved into their 1500 17th Street design studio in San Francisco about a year and a half ago, the designers were hands on in every do-it-yourself design process. They painted the walls with Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray, installed Tandus modular carpet and outfitted the walls [...]
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 [...]
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Who Recycles Best of All?
Recycling centers across the country offer low cost materials to artists, crafters, and creative decorators. All of the interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO not only offer design services but produce art & craft projects when not developing design for clients at the office/studio. While visiting the architectural material recycling center Building Resources in San Francisco, [...]
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 [...]
