design we love | THE BADASS AND THE BEAUTIFUL The Corona Diaries: Designers Bring Color to Retail’s Darkest Days On a recent afternoon we found San Francisco’s Union Square nearly empty -- not a single pedestrian, car or bus -- the streets so eerily silent that all one could hear was the spirited chirps of sparrows. Yes, birdsong in the heart of the City. The crossroads of San Francisco's luxury retail is empty and forlorn, with hoarding covering virtually every storefront. Across the United States, vast swathes of urban downtowns are... read more ++ All You Need Is Love: Yves Saint Laurent’s New Year’s Tradition In France, as in other European countries, the New Year’s card is far more meaningful than the Christmas card. Where the Christmas card is vapid and vague in its wishes, the New Year’s card is solemn and sincere, a wistful hope that the great unknown of a new year will find us all together again. Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris Beginning in 1970, designer Yves Saint Laurent handcrafted a single image as a poster with simply the word... read more ++ PowerShop 6: Compelling Look at the Design Firms who are Changing Retail If 2018 seemed like a bad year for retail, 2019 hasn’t been much better: since June of this year, over 7,000 stores have closed in the U.S. alone. In the U.K., last year’s record number of store closures hit close to 10,000, with many proclaiming the “end of the High Street.” We know that online retail can't possibly maximize a brand’s ability to create immersive experiences, but the cost of building and maintaining sell-through with brick... read more ++ 100 Years Later, the Bauhaus Continues to Influence Design We take modernism in all its stripes for granted, whether it is watered down for the masses and sold at a Target or Ikea store, or a soaring testament to corporate power like New York’s Seagram building. A hundred years ago, a group of artists and designers believed that true design is an artistic and purpose-driven philosophy about humanity. The Bauhaus School began in 1919 in Dessau, Germany and continued in fits and starts through... read more ++ Rare Auction Showcases the Golden Age of Brand Iconography In June, 2018, RM Sotheby’s held the last of three auctions it conducted of the entire Dingman Collection of automobiliana and historical neon signs. In 2012, a similar auction they held generated $ 9.88 million in sales. While many will be there to purchase one of the 25 mint-condition automobiles in the collection, just as many will be out to secure one of the nearly extinct ribbons of electric light that once beckoned the American consumer, brand... read more ++ From Plain Jane to Esprit: The Making of a California Icon In the annals of iconic brand identity, Esprit is one brand that often gets overlooked, even though the recent renaissance for all things 80’s has certainly caused plenty of brands to help themselves to Esprit’s esprit. Founded in the late sixties by Doug and Susie Tompkins, Esprit was not originally destined for greatness, but some key players propelled the brand to unexpected heights. Susie Tompkins thought what the world needed was a line... read more ++ Why Florence’s Stazione Santa Maria Novella is a Deco Masterpiece Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station is rarely noted when anyone tells you they visited this legendary Renaissance city. For many, the station is a rather grey and cold contrast to the ecclesiastical glory of the famous church that lies just across the station’s ragged parking lot of cars, buses, bicycles, and scooters. Completed in 1935, the Stazione Santa Maria Novella is almost Stonehenge-like with its massive block of horizontal stone,... read more ++ Somewhere in Time: Eero Saarinen’s Soaring Symphony to Air Travel When the TWA Terminal was dedicated 54 years ago this weekend on May 29, 1962, it was in honor of the man for whom the airport was eventually named, President John F. Kennedy, who’s Birthday is also on that day. A futuristic airport terminal couldn’t have been a better gift -- not counting of course, having Marilyn Monroe sing “Happy Birthday Mr. President,” which she so famously did just ten days earlier. { "For Saarinen the future of... read more ++ Vilac’s Container Ship for the Baby Modernist It was only in the early part of the 20th century that there evolved an entire philosophical and psychological approach to the design of children’s toys. Most recently this was explored in the stunning 2012 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Century of the Child: Growing By Design 1900 – 2000. The idea that toys could be attractive, and even artistic is one that is distinctively modernist. By the 1920’s, German and Scandinavian designers, architects,... read more ++ The Cult of Jonny, Or Why I Learned to Walk in a High Heels It’s not often that a pair of shoes stops me in my tracks but Yves Saint Laurent’s now iconic Jonny Boot managed to do just that to me, back in the golden age of Tom Ford. When I first saw them they looked far too louche to be taken seriously. Uh.. are you wearing high heels? DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY: The Jonny Boot has the masculine swagger of a cowboy boot with a dash of 1970's androgyny (think New York Dolls.) It was... read more ++ Top