Esoteric Survey

Last November I went to the Don S. Shoemaker exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City Don Shoemaker was born in Nebraska. He fought in WWII and moved to Mexico in 1947. Shortly after, he started a furniture and craft business in Señal SA in Morelia, Michoacán and lived there until his death in 1990. The museum worked with Don's grandson, Stanley Shoemaker. This would explain the substantial ephemera stash they had on display. The piece on the right is a lamp. A painting by Don In 1975 the Museo de Arte Moderno included work by Shoemaker in an exhibition on Mexican design. This photo comes from Karen Goyer, who has written a pretty scathing review of the 2016 exhibition. She says there are numerous fakes in the exhibition. It's a pretty widely-known fact that people are reproducing Shoemaker designs and they include fake labels. There are a few shops in Mexico City that are f...

Fiber Ettore Sottsass It was a slow weekend

You would think that if a house like this, by an architectural master like Richard Richard Neutra, were for sale, the seller might want to mention it. Source: Julius Shulman, © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) In this case, it isn't. This is also the only photo of the house shown on the MLS. Unfortunately, this is another case of expensive real estate and a small home. The property is being marketed as a $10.5 million "development opportunity."  Source: Redfin The zoning is LAR1 and the slope is something fierce, so development is limited to one dwelling unit and would be very tricky.  Source: Google via  Redfin However, this view has me nervous about the fait of the little architectural gem.  Source: DNA  ( This is from an old listing of the property) That listing actually showed the house, which appears to be in excellent condition. Source:  DNA The house was bu...

The Steel Pavilion by Kunio Maekawa is one of the few original Expo 70 buildings still standing. It now houses a museum dedicated to Expo 70.  A piece of the Expo 70 Tower by Kiyonari Kikutake (below) sits near the building. Expo 70 Tower Kenzo Tange's vision for the Expo master plan was a futuristic aerial city that was based on the Metabolism movement. He worked with a dozen architects; including Fumihiko Maki, Noboru Kawazoe, Koji Kamiya and Noriaki Kurokawa. Takara Pavilion by Kisho Kurokawa Source: Archpaper Toshiba-IHI Pavilion by  Kisho Kurokawa A model is on display. Those planters look like the same ones used at Kisho Kurokawa's  Nakagin Capsule Tower . I have no idea what this is.  Takeshi Otaka designed the  cherry blossom used as the symbol of the Expo. The identity guidelines were on display. Sori Yanagi stools are used in an area playing period footage of the expo. Despite the music,...