Trend of the Week: Cindy Says… Pattern Play!
Patterns aplenty: These days, being bold with a modern motif is the way to go…from the pincone-y exterior of an Australian medical institute to undulating waves of laminated glass in a LA office to fabrics that look like optical illusions. The images and patterns we use evoke emotion and help visualize our biggest ideas; plus, there are ENDLESS opportunities… so many ways to be creative! Time to play! For more, be sure to check out my Instagram, @thecindygram, and go forth and DESIGN!
1. HEALTHY DESIGN DOWN UNDER: Spiky on the outside, curvy and smooth on the inside. The exterior of the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute designed by our friends down under, Woods Bagot, was created to perfectly screen the inside from the powerful Australian sun. They used 3-D curved triangles on the surface to perfectly delegate the ideal amount of shading depending on the use of the rooms (like keeping the mechanical rooms coolest). Within, a spiral staircase curves its way up six stories using catwalks to link together labs and offices, creating a greater sense of unity in a 300,000-square-foot space. Photo: Peter Clark
2. UN-DE-FEET-ED: Altering visual perceptions of dimensionality, Chi Chi Cavalcanti of Cavalcanti Rugs and designer Natasha Phillips launched Optical Illusion, a family of dynamic rugs. All are flat-woven by hand from New Zealand wool and dyed in-house to ensure colors will withstand high-traffic commercial environments. Photo: Hendrik Schneide
3. BEVERLY HILLS FABULOUS: With Hall of Famer Hagy Belzberg you can always expect great things… like the 135,000-square-foot home for venture capital firm, Gores Group. A renovated 1960’s building, now graced with a seductive, undulating staircase and screen walls reminiscent of antique Italian marble facades, and a ground-up addition featuring this remarkable curvy, wave-like glass with dozens of patterns against stark limestone blocks—ALL hand-carved. Thanks Joan Behnke for collaborating on the interior design too. Photo: Benny Chan/Fotoworks and Bruce Damonte
4. PATTERN PLAY: Wowza! The art of ornamentation at a festival of human statues! She blends right into the colorful motif behind her… Thanks @bental777 for an amazing pic!
5. DOORS!…SCORE! 180 of them to be exact! And while Encore Heureux’s new structure, Pavillon Circulaire, implies a round frame, this temporary edifice is anything but. Rather, its name is inspired from cyclical economy: the idea of waste becoming a resource. This installation used 60 % repurposed materials—like these oak doors recovered from the renovation of a public housing project—and was erected in front of the Renaissance revival Hôtel de Ville, in honor of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Paris this year. A beacon of what is necessary for the future, the project itself is totally re-adaptable…in fact, after it has served its purpose in the square… it will be repurposed to be a local boules club! Full circle, indeed! Photo: Encore Heureux and Cyrus Cornut
6. GIVE A HAND TO MEMPHIS MOTIFS: The All Senses collection of ceramic mugs, plastic iPhone covers, paper notebooks, and cotton pillows by Pura Cal takes us back to the 80’s with Portuguese designers Joao Bernardes Vilela and Tiago Rodri who dabble in architecture, interiors, furniture restoration, AND run a shop in Lisbon that sells vintage and contemporary goods alongside their own quirky designs.
