Strange Closets

I’m still processing the splendor that was the Winnetka Modernism show. After a hectic couple of weeks, I spent Sunday evening going through some papers and was happy to be reminded about Rita Bucheit’s interesting color algraphs (which are printed from a prepared aluminum plate rather than a lithographic stone [distinctions distinctions]). Using vintage wallpaper [...]

I stopped in at Mecox Gardens the other day, and I was floored by their front window. Ken and Brad help run the joint and they’re visual display deities. Having said that, the dynamic duo is working with unbelievable raw material, including Knoll chairs originally designed for IBM, a set of vintage French dining chairs [...]

Publish Post I had the pleasure to meet Brad during one of my lunchtime Mecox Gardens excursions. But when he’s not helping Mecox clients find the perfect piece to complete a room, he’s a working artist. I am especially attracted to his portraits, which have a thirties, post depression-era ambiance. A graduate of the School [...]

This year’s Neocon and Fine Design Residential Furniture show, which ran from June 9th to 11th, gave me an excuse to wander around the Merchandise Mart while deluding myself into thinking I was working. More than 1200 showrooms and exhibitors presented the latest in corporate, hospitality, retail, government, healthcare and residential furniture and products. I [...]

While covering River North last week, I came upon a store that I’d never seen before, Raul Carrasco. With stores in Miami and Chicago, Raul Carrasco offers custom furniture, a wide array of accessories (including many collected from Raul’s global expeditions) and lighting.

Calling Golden Triangle a store is like calling Chicago a village or Disney, a carnival. Yes, the furniture, sculpture and accessories are stunning on their own, but like living cells, they serve as building blocks of a more complex organism. Doug VanTress, one of Golden Triangle’s owners, believes that design (whether it be the wood [...]

Mecox is a few short blocks of my office, and apparently near enough that my terrestrial body has been ensnared by its gravitational field; every couple of weeks, I skip lunch, opting rather to embrace the shop’s pull. The 2 level, River North space is packed full of beautiful objects that quickly cycle in and [...]