Esoteric Survey

 Past as Prologue: The Last Decade of Furniture Design by Ray and Charles Eames (1968–1978) explores the final years of Eames furniture.  A couple weeks ago when I was in San Francisco for the Heath market, I was able to check out the latest exhibition by the   Eames Institute . It's being held at the Transamerica Pyramid Annex Gallery. In the late 1960s, with the post war housing boom fading, Herman Miller made the decision to turn their focus to office furniture.  “Only innovate as a last resort,” was an Eames mantra. Robert Propst's Action Office 2 line of modular panels brought Herman Miller into the corporate cubicle world. This brought along a number of developments to meet the needs of the office workers who would be spending long hours at their desks. Source: Eames Institute The  Eames Intermediate Chair was released in 1968. It was built off the Aluminum Group and Time Life chairs previously developed. The EC127 was introduced in 1972 and evolved f...

 David Tisdale PicNic (1986) in anodized aluminum.  I went bike riding instead of picking this weekend so that's it. I might do the same next weekend too. Image: davidtisdaledesign.com Image: 80s style : designs of the decade by Bangert, Albrecht

  Inside the Design Center at Mingei International Museum There is another Dave Hampton curated exhibition coming up at Mingei. Todd Pitman and I are also lending a hand. Ilse and Lloyd Ruocco’s Design Center, located in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, was a foundation for the modern design community of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Inside the Design Center brings to life a vignette of mid-twentieth century interior, lighting, and furniture design, featuring pieces by significant California designers, manufacturers, and craftspeople as selected by Ilse Ruocco for her 1950 showroom. This exhibition offers an immersive, revelatory window into San Diego’s culture of modernism through the lens of architecture, design, interior decorating, home goods retailing, landscape architecture, graphic design, and photography. Historic images of the Design Center set the backdrop for over 30 original pieces of modernist furnishings. Works by designers such as Ray Eames, Charles Eames, Greta...

Eugene Weston table for Modern Color Inc. This is cheating a little because I owned this table before but got it back in a trade.  Soleri bell, Richard Fisher and a crucifix. 

I tagged along with  arquetipo_de_cambio  again on her latest trip to Tijuana.  We visited the two campuses that make up the La Esperanza schools of Tijuana. Some of the buildings were designed by James Hubbell and built with his help, along with many other volunteers over the years. They adhere to Hubbell's style of organic architecture. The school was founded in 1989 and the campuses are both located in Colonia La Esperanza in Tijuana. The Jardin de Niños La Esperanza kindergarten and Colegio La Esperanza elementary school offer arts-based programs combined with academics.  As described on their website: The La Esperanza schools were founded to create a social institution in an unorganized, unincorporated, unrecognized yet highly populated area.  The recognition that Art and Music are elements that transcend class barriers led The Americas Foundation to create beautiful school architecture that everyone would appreciate and value.  Famous artists like Jam...