La Vie En Rose

Dwell on Design Day Trippers

A+R's Taylor Cumbie fronts the pop-up.

What recession? That's what many of us wondered during the last hours of the Dwell on Design weekend at the L.A. Convention Center. Some 15,000 visitors toured the hall--and it's quite possible we spoke to every one of them as they popped into our temporary shop in the lobby.
We were so slammed, in fact, that I had no time to shoot the main show floor, and Andy and I scarcely got a few minutes in to scout a few young designers featured in the DesignBoom section.

Under the umbrella banner of the Dwell Store, A+R shared real estate with Flight 001 and Skylight Books and bonded over the invasion of design fans who turned out over the three-day event.
A+R pals JC Obando and Michael Cioffoletti came out early Saturday to catch Andy on a design innovation panel, while others arrived later in the day, including Bryan Rabin, interior designer Bret Witke, Lisa Edelstein and jewelry designer Michael Schmidt. Sunday was another day of surprises, from Kathleen and Dave of Meow to Will Koppelman. We also loved meeting Peter and Roz, parents of Eli Bonerz of PAD, whose newly release spun aluminum planters were also quite a show hit.
We were also thrilled to see A+R designers Kelly Lamb (she of the amazing new geo-birdhouse now in our Venice store window); Dominic Symons and Allan Kiesler (the innovative creatives behind Blue Lounge whose new desk we premiered at the show), Chris Stiles (who's followed up his bones salt and pepper shakers with new shakers in the form of spinning tops was another show debut), Peter White (whose Le Petit Dejeuner tray is also an A+R launch), Enrico Bressan of Artecnica and Jeff Liu of Mollo Space.

Thank you all for swinging by!

Geo-birdhouse designer Kelly Lamb

Michael Schmidt and the Studio Job skeleton mirror.

Designer Peter White with Michelle and their little cutie.

Post-panel: Keiko Shinomoto of Tortoise with Andy.

Jobim Handel-Scott (in air) and his parents, Ruth and Lloyd.

Gordon Bowen and Kate Mayfield

Peter and Roz Bonerz

Olivia Anderson-Kempe

Michael Cioffolotti checks out the Muuto Work Lamp.

New to U.S. and A+R: Tea and espresso sets, and Le Petit Dej tray.

Iggy Pop: "Rock is the Worst Form of Music"

Troubadour Pop

Long live the King of Punk. And he's living quite well these days in Miami. He's also banging the drum for his new musical deviation, the most punk of all sounds: Jazz.

Great Q+A in New York Mag about his new album, his new home and what irritates him.















Photo: Xavier Martin

Dwell on Design '09

Install starts today on our pop-up at Dwell on Design '09. A+R is one of three shops invited to do this, and we'll be sharing the selling stage with our pals at Flight 001 and Skylight Books, as well as hawking Dwell T-shirts and notebooks. This is the second year DOD has taken place in L.A., and the second time they've invited us to participate in this showcase.
Andy will also be speaking this Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Design Innovation panel with two of our favorite fellow design shop owners, Fitz of Fitzu and Keiko Shinomoto of Tortoise.
Note the codes in the image above for entry discounts.
Drop by the convention center and say hello. We'll be there through Sunday when it all packs up until next year.

"Little Murders," Lots of Laughs

Marcia Rodd, Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland in "Little Murders"

Award-winning art photography of shit, unchecked murders by a pathological citizenry, government wiretapping, urban pollution and the little (or, well, major) madness it all incites might all seem like contemporary matters. But it’s really fodder, both hilarious and horrifying in the wildly absurd and brilliant 1971 film “Little Murders.”
We caught a revival of it last night at the cozy Silent Movie Theater here in L.A., with the film’s writer Jules Feiffer and leading man and producer Elliot Gould making surprise appearances, and, following the screening, sharing their experiences in getting Feiffer’s original play to celluloid.
Feiffer’s acerbic commentary cuts from his cartoons for the New Yorker, Playboy and The Village Voice (a decade run that earned him a Pulitzer) to screenplays such as "Carnal Knowledge" and "Little Murders" (for which he received a WGA nod for his adaptation). We were treated to his Oscar-winning animated "Munro" before the movie, and if you can find a copy of it, do.

Before there was a film, "Little Murders" was a failed novel and then a failed play, in 1966, shuttering after a week of performances, Mr. Feiffer recalled. It found an audience and, not long after, new life in New York when the Royal Shakespeare Theater group took it up in London. While Gould and his producing partner Jack Brodsky went after Jean-Luc Godard to write the screenplay and direct it, buzz from Alan Arkin’s directorial staging stateside got him the gig, thankfully. Arkin also appears in front of the camera, in one of the more memorable moments in a film packed with wickedly indelible monologues and scenes. Donald Sutherland’s turn as a reverend is fantastic.

In fact, the entire cast in this hyper-colored, hyper-real movie is pretty damn terrific. Loved the costumes and sets, too (both are great references for wardrobe stylists and interior designers).
The copy we viewed last night was a bit worse for wear in places. But Gould pointed out to a remastered DVD that finally emerged a few years ago. As much as we laughed through the film, it’s definitely a disturbing story and not for everyone. But in the realm of black comedies, it tops the list.

All Laced Up in Esquivels

George Esquivel holds a women's oxford. Note the fine bronze piping.

Shoes are no more a mad obsession for women as they can be for men, as fully on view at the little soiree Andy and I hosted for George Esquivel Thursday night.
From wardrobe stylist Miles Siggins to new media brand strategist Will Kopelman to fashion-art photographer Mike Rosenthal, there was much sole-ful longing going on at Esquivel’s Third Street salon in mid-town L.A.

Some 150 steps go into crafting each pair of his bespoke brogues and boots, in the highest tradition of those made in Italy and the UK’s North Hampton and all made in George’s studio just an hour south in Orange County. To George, and his many fans, who include The Killers and pro basketball players including size-19 star Yao Ming, quality is about the people not the place.

Vidal Sassoon's Etienne Taenaka

Even a Paris-based designer such as Tim Hamilton seems to think so, having rung up George just the day before with a major order for some two dozen pairs of sandals for his runway show in Paris. And he needed them in less than a week. (“I should be working,” George sheepishly whispered during the party.) When his Italian shoe factory flaked, Tim got a tip about Esquivel and the buzz surrounding the line, and called.
The hum includes a feature in the June issue of Vogue, and style.com’s recent shout out proclaiming Esquivel’s women’s oxfords the “new flats.” George’s women’s collection might be a capsule compared to the men’s, but it’s a striking one and even has a new convert in Dita Von Teese, who popped in pre-party with someone else in mind and was soon

Miles Siggins

New fan Ashley tries one on for size.

contemplating a pair for herself, even though she’s rarely if ever out of the highest heels.
Arianne Phillips and Raven Kauffman were similarly gobsmacked with the quality (Raven works with Italian factories on her couture bag line, and couldn’t believe what George was pulling off so close to home), as were Lisa Bush and Scott Vineberg of Mona Moore, a trove of bleeding edge shoes (Demeulemeester, Van Noten, Rick Owens), and who also know their way around a great pair of lace-ups.
In the end, in fact, it wasn’t a man who scored the night’s complementary pair of Esquivels. Andy stirred the box of cards, and I chose the winner: Tasha Nita Adams, a fellow fashion writer and natty gal-about-town. Guess, in the end, when it comes to a to-die-for pair of shoes, the cosmos always favor the ladies.

Andy and me with Shelly and George Esquivel

Wardrobe stylist Michael Cioffoletti

Architect Barbara Bestor

Dapper Karl Sanders

Generation Next: George's son in boots by dad.

Hudson Valley: Dia:Beacon

Drawing Series—Composite, Part I–IV, by Sol LeWitt

It’s not that we didn’t expect to see Chuck Close at Dia:Beacon, the contemporary art showcase on the banks of the Hudson River. We just didn’t expect for the artist to roll up to the table next to us outside the café there, waiting for his egg salad sandwich.
But it seemed like a serendipitous start to an electrifying afternoon. Dia is a nonprofit art foundation based in New York City with site-specific projects around the U.S. And the Riggio Galleries at this site comprise of a 300,000-square-foot, former box-printing facility and another expanse of surrounding park. The six-year-old museum was engineered by then Dia diretor Michael Govan—the boy wonder who, thankfully, is now spreading his magic at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Artist Robert Irwin oversaw the master plan of the landscape and brick building, and it’s a serene setting to spend a few sunny hours even just reading at one of the café tables or, inside, plopped on one of the several cushy grey sofas, getting lost in the work on display.
There’s much to love at this Dia, the cavernous, naturally lit space notwithstanding.

Among the most mind-blowing is the collection by Sol LeWitt. Once a draftsman for architect I.M. Pei, his geometric and line drawings in graphite and colored pencil are as playful as they are profound and put him among the champions of Conceptualism and Minimalism. This exhibition disappears, literally, this November, so if there’s anyway to experience it, do. These are the last LeWitt personally chose since he died some eight months after the show opened. Once the walls are painted over, this installation no longer exists.

North, East, South, West, 1967—2002, by Michael Heizer

For us, other standouts: Michael Heizer’s North, East, South, West, four 20-foot deep, steel-encased holes in the ground that had me personally clinging to the wall for a while; the loft filled with sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, including (of course) her colossal spider. I also really liked Dan Flavin’s “monuments” to V. Tatlin, a series of Mercury fluorescent tubes arranged in graphic configurations; Andy not so much.

As for Chuck Close, while none of his work currently hangs on the walls at Dia, we saw plenty of him throughout the place, including within one of the narrower channels inside Richard Serra’s Doubled Torqued Ellipse, an awkwardly tight moment that he poked at, joking, “This is one way to get personal with the work.” And the artist.

Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipse II,Double Torqued Ellipse+Torqued Ellipse I

Photo Credits:
LeWitt: Estate of Sol LeWitt/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Exterior: R. Apodaca
Heizer: Tom Vinetz
Serra: Richard Barnes

Hudson Valley: Supping at Tavern

Andy reviews the chalkboard at Tavern

Our friend was not so much suggesting, as begging us to go. Forget that we couldn’t fathom getting back into our rental car after an afternoon cruising along Route 9; forget our host’s tips for the Tuscan and French bistros on Main Street, near our B&B here in Cold Springs. We absolutely, unquestionably had to try Tavern, literally eight minutes away in nearby Garrison, repeated our friend, Jennifer Brandt-Taylor, a former fellow Angeleno-now Hudson Valley local with her husband Nic Taylor. It’s so romantic. It’s their favorite. It serves locally grown fare.
Those two words were all it took to get Andy in the driver’s seat. Locally sourced anything has become as familiar a menu staple as bottled water and sea salt. But given the option for a meal offered with regard for the ingredients as much as the prep, well, we took the (organic) carrot.
Tavern is at Highlands Country Club, a former members-only sprawl complete with a fleet of golf carts. A grand ballroom with an even grander chandelier belies it name, more suited to the connected cozier, darker pub with its rustic communal tables and library wooden chairs, and where we planted ourselves for the evening.
Eric Gabrynowicz, a former sous chef at Union Square Cafe in Manhattan, arrived at Tavern in late 2007. He makes delicious use of the harvest from the two-acre farm that is a sister property of Highlands, as well as sourcing fruit from nearby Hepworth Farms and cheese and ice cream from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy.

Toasty cornbread and soft apple butter. Mmm.

The sheep’s milk blue cheese in our salad, served with spicy leafy greens from the next door fields and cranberries and white balsamic were a great start with Doc’s pear cider (the list of beers and wines are mostly from New York state).
Nearby Blooming Hill supplied the Jerusalem artichokes for the perfect soup, and Andy’s thick heritage pork chop hailed from Glynwood Farm. Mouthwatering as that slab was, though, it paled against my tender braised short rib from Cedar Farm, topping a fluffy bed of memorable English Pea mash.

Food of the gods: Short ribs on English pea mash.

We probably should’ve, could’ve stopped at that second course. But we didn’t. We shared a wedge of cheesecake drizzled in bourbon syrup, then finished our hot drinks outside by the fire. Even as the sprinkle turned into something more, it was hard to imagine getting back into the car and leaving.

Tavern at Highlands Country Club 955 Route 9D, Garrison. 845-424-3254.

A Prized Pair: Casati Eyes and Esquivel Soles

Karl does Casati for Chanel Cruise 2009

No sooner had I received word from my boy Albert Yeh at Esquivel Shoes that the Vogue editors had declared George Esquivel’s natty lace-ups for women the new flats, when the next email up on my iPhone was news that Vogue editor Sarah Brown had wrapped up her bulletin on the influence of Marchesa Luisa Casati on Chanel’s Cruise 2009 by citing the new tome out this fall on the icon.
It’s always a thrill to receive promising news from friends, especially those so committed and talented at what they do. But I got goosebumps at these back to back emails.
George Esquivel and his crew put out a striking collection of shoes, cobbling old world craftsmanship right here in SoCal.
(I’m ahead of the curve on today’s posting thanks to the butter soft white leather and patent oxfords George made me that I've been strutting around in these last weeks.)
And, on the East Coast, my pals Scot Ryersson and Michael Orlando Yaccarino had the vision and patience to be guardians of Casati’s legacy and are behind this fall’s book, "The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse." Since introducing them to my Abrams editor a year ago, the pair have been on a wild ride--not in the least getting Karl Lagerfeld to contribute sketches to the project.
On either coast, couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys…and it’s only just begun...

Photo Credit: top, Chanel; bottom, A. Yeh

Tonight: Cuba in L.A.

Mike is an old, young colleague of mine and, sadly, we're going to miss the opening tonight since we're flying home. The show alone deserves a visit. Coupled with the Ever fashion show and live performance by El Mysterioso, it's a lot of bang for your Thursday night. Let me know what you think.

Giants Among Us: Storm King Art Center

Storm King Wall by Andy Goldsworthy

While Richard Serra makes helluva convincing grounds for experiencing sculpture in confined spaces, the stupendously vast 500-acres of lush woodlands, grassy fields and rolling hills that serve as stage for the 100 or so mostly modern sculptures of the Storm King Art Center make for a satisfying argument that three-dimensional works need space to be.
We spent the better part of a vibrant Sunday taking in the collection--including Serra's "Schunnemunk Fork," four enormous plates of eroding steel jutting from mounds on a 10-acre corner of the grounds. We walked between Maya Lin's massive "waves" of grass-covered ridges, carefully man-made to resemble the grand scale of oceans waves; and sprawled under a couple of Mark di Suvero's monstrous structures, barely able to take in the feat of engineering and art under the blue sky. The 2,278-foot ribbon of stones, found around the property and stacked without mortar by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, is poetry.
The literature on this place likes to tout that it's a museum without walls. Not a bad way for all art should to be considered.

Ancient pillars in the distance of modern monuments.

A peek at Alexander Calder.

Mozart's Birthday by Michael di Suvero (foreground)

Half Dollar Butterfly Chair by Johnny Swing

Andy under Black Flag by Calder

One Night Only: Thomas Voorhies at the Garage

"Untitled," 2009

Garage gallerina (and A+R regular) Ali G is hosting a one-night exhibition and sale this Saturday for Thomas Voorhies. The Highland Park-based painter and RISD alum puts to linen the people and places surrounding his studio-home, culling beauty out of circumstances that are not knee-jerk beautiful--like the lonely, almost scarily lit stagnant streets around his 'hood.
All works come framed and around $400...a bargain. Invest now for the future.
There will be plenty of drink, and some cat called Turquoise Wisdom will be keeping speakers thumping.

Garage Gallery, 4341 Kingswell Ave., Los Angeles. From 8 to Midnight.