Scenes from my little Catskills Cottage!
Happy Holidays from all of us at Pioneer… Which is just me. LOL
I was honored to be invited to create an exterior installation for the 5th Annual Kingston Design Connection’s Showhouse. The one catch was, I couldn’t attach anything to the vinyl siding that could cause damage. Once again I found myself having to defy gravity and make magic.
I thought this project would be a great opportunity to collaborate with my long-time design partner, Buddy Valentine, who’s recent work has been creating incredible yarn patchworks. I initially took inspiration from classic window details and treatments. Translating these shapes into yarn forms for the exterior of the house. Buddy I were then worried about the long yarn strands tangling so we ended up changing the concept to smaller sized checkerboard pattern in lively colors. The colors were derived from the Ukrainian Flag, the transgender flag and since it was for October - orange for Halloween.
The secret ingredient that keeps the panel intact are siding clips used for hanging Christmas lights. The best find of my life.
Enjoy the following galleries showing the transformation form our first ideas to the finished product…
Our initial inspriation photos…
Our first design direction - more like curtains on the outside and our color pallet…
After being fearful of tangles, we moved into this direction… A checkerboard pattern. And then went into production. We had 25 total panels to make.
Next, the installation with ladders and a wonky scaffold. Did I mention I’m scared of heights?
And the final product…
Photos by Phil Mansfield
A huge shout out to my fave design stars Susie and Heidi Bauer of Rock Scissor Paper who recently turned me onto the gloriously Post-Modern (PoMo) design of the 1984 LA Olympics by the very colorful Deborah Sussman. I'm obsessed - I wanna go back to the 80s. I mean 1984 with Marylou Retton? C'mon Mar... And guess who else came on my radar in 84? Yup, Madonna!!!
While I was visiting my bonus mom Anne in MI last week she took me to Andrews University (a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, MI) and treated me to a day at their brand-new fitness/wellness center - The Andreasen Center for Wellness designed by Design Collaborative. I was obsessed with the cool lobby furniture, the salt water pool and their "healing center" - I mean, the steam room has a sparkling ceiling.
