I don’t normally post things like this on the blog, but I thought this chair was ridiculous and awesome all at the same time!
Category: Whimsy
By Melanie Carlson
Living with Mies Van Der Rohe
The New York Times created a fabulous interactive feature interviewing residents of the townhomes of Lafayette Park in Detroit. The complex was designed by a trio of world-class designers: Ludwig Hilbersheimer as urban planner, Alfred Caldwell as Landscape Designer and Mies Van Der Rohe as architect. Lafayette Park is arguably one of the best examples of successful multi-complex housing schemes in North America.
While some residents have a strong mid-century modern aesthetic and are aware of the significance of living in a building designed by Mies van Der Rohe, others were drawn to live there for the lush landscaping and the large floor to ceiling windows. Although each unit is identical to one another, the decorating styles are as varied and eclectic as the residents.
Category: Architecture
By Melanie Carlson
Mid-Century Modern Furniture Clipart
After all the great response we’ve had about our I Heart Mid-Century graphic, we decided to package up our modern furniture icons and sell them. We know how frustrating it can be to find good furniture clip art because we searched high and low for some decent graphics to use before we decided to hand draw them ourselves. The sets come in 4 different versions.
The Complete Mid-Century Modern Collection includes 101 of our furniture and decor vector icons. Furniture from designers included in this collection are Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, Harry Bertoia, Eileen Gray, Hans Wegner, Curtis Jere, Finn Juhl, Grete Jalk, Neils Moller, and many, many others… The complete set costs $46 so if you’re not interested in that, we’ve broken it down into smaller, more niche collections.
The Modern Collection set that includes 50 vector icons of the most iconic modern and mid-century modern furniture. You can get the Modern Collection for $20.
The Danish Modern Collection includes 26 pieces of classic Scandinavian designed furniture silhouettes. You can get the Danish Modern Collection for $16.
The Decor Collection includes 26 icons of classic vintage home accessories including a series of George Nelson clocks. You can get the Modern Decor Collection for $16.
Category: Lushpad
By Melanie Carlson
A Little Piece of Mad Men on LushPad
With the phenomenal success of Mad Men, it makes sense that it wouldn’t be long until something turned up on LushPad to quench the thirst of mid-century modern fans.
Peter Webb fell in love with one particular piece on Mad Men – the giraffe triptych in Pete Campbell’s apartment. After trying unsuccessfully to find out who the artist was and purchase an original for himself, he decided to make a limited edition of 5 hand crafted reproductions.
Luckily for us, he still has two triptychs available for purchase, and to make it even more tempting – you might be able to buy one for only $650 if you win our $500 mid-century modern shopping spree on LushPad sponsored by Modernism magazine.
Category: Lushpad
By Melanie Carlson
Palm Springs Modernism Week. There’s an app for that.
I was lucky enough to go to Palm Springs Modernism Week a couple of years ago and I had a great time. The parties were great. The art was great, and the architecture – well, it was amazing. There was so much to do and I was always feeling like I was missing out on something.
Fortunately for those lucky enough to attend Modernism Week this year, the Palm Springs Modernism Week peeps have made an iPhone app so you’ll be sure to not miss a thing while you’re there.
If I were going again this year – these events would definitely be on my list!
Lectures
The Architecture of Donald Wexler
Havanna Before Castro
Australia Modern
Albert Frey Lecture by Bill Butler
Events
The Modernism Show
The Shag Exhibit at M Modern Gallery
Palm Springs Mid-Century Modern Book Signing
Parties
Orbitini Hour at The Hideaway
Palm Springs Preservation Foundation Retro Martini Cocktail Hour
Films
Contemporary Days: The Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day
Desert Utopia: Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Palm Springs
Oscar Niemeyer: “Life is a Breath of Air”.
I’d love to hear reports from anyone who is going this year!
Category: Events
By Melanie Carlson
When bad things happen to good sites.
Hi All, as some of you may know, we had a malware attack yesterday and google in all their good sense suspended the site while we worked very hard to clear out the offending hacker script. Thanks to our wonderful programmer who stayed up all night to fix it, we’re now officially squeaky clean, and the chink in our armour has been patched so it doesn’t happen again. I thought I’d let everyone know that none of their information was accessed during the attack and no malware was activated because it had been placed on an obscure page on the site.
It certainly left me with a ball of stress in my stomach, so I’m thankful for everyone’s patience and hope it didn’t leave you too inconvenienced. Onwards and upwards, eh? 
Category: Lushpad
By Melanie Carlson
The Story of My New Old Fake Chair
About 5 years ago I was rummaging around a massively over stocked junk store and out of the corner of my eye I spied what I thought was gold… mid-century modern gold. After making the guy in the store climb up to the top of of what seemed like very precarious warehouse shelving to dig out this chair I was sure I’d found an original Folke Ohlsson DUX armchair. I was absolutely sure of it! The foam had disintegrated, the harvest gold upholstery was worn and ripped beyond repair. I didn’t care – I sat in it and it was heaven. I bought it for $200. Crazy, I know. But I was sure it was a DUX and I’d just found a fantastic deal.
I learned two things very quickly. Firstly, the chair is not by Folke Ohlsson. Even though the body shape is exactly the same as a DUX armchair, on closer inspection the teak frame gave it away. I was crestfallen, but still, I had the frame of a chair with fabulous bones, and it was incredibly comfy even though falling apart. I told myself it was still a deal.
Second thing I learned is that reupholstering a chair is not cheap. At all. Suddenly the deal wasn’t so much of a deal.
Resigned, but not willing to give up the chair, I put it in storage and always fancied there would come a day that I’d have it in my livingroom. Well, 5 years later thanks to my generous parents and a milestone birthday, my faux DUX was reborn. And she’s beautiful. And comfortable. And bright orange. And I don’t care now that she’s not the Real McCoy. My fake is still a shining example of a mid-century modern teak armchair.
Anyway, that was my biggest lesson–if you fall in love with a piece of furniture, don’t worry about a name, just buy it. However, I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t buy the Percival Lafer coffee table that was sitting next to it in the junk store. It was $60. There’s a regret I won’t soon forget.
Category: Collecting
By Melanie Carlson
Mid-Century Modern Desktop Wallpaper
…with a Valentine’s twist. I was sitting at home thinking about what I could do for all the wonderful LushPad readers as a heartfelt thanks for using the site. Seeing as we all appreciate good furniture in our home I thought it would be nice to make something to furnish your computer, Mobile Phone, iPhone or iPad. So here you go, be my Valentine and enjoy! Let the world know how much you love modern design!
If you’d like more mid-century modern wallpaper for your digital life, let me know in the comments below!
| Red Desktop Wallpaper 480 x 640 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1152 x 864 1280 x 960 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 |
Black Desktop Wallpaper 480 x 640 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1152 x 864 1280 x 960 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 |
| Red iPad Wallpaper 1024 x 1024 |
Black iPad Wallpaper 1024 x 1024 |
| Red iPhone Wallpaper 640 x 960 |
Black iPhone Wallpaper 640 x 960 |
| Red Mobile Phone Wallpaper 240 x 320 320 x 480 |
Black Mobile Phone Wallpaper 240 x 320 320 x 480 |
Category: Lushpad
By Melanie Carlson
The Story of Eames Furniture
This book blows wide open the myth of Charles Eames and the Eames Office. As one reviewer puts it, “It seems Saarinen, Bertoia, Ain and Albinson designed, refined and were given little if no credit for the entire line of furniture of the Eames’, whereas Charles Eames had his focus on women, photography (lots of close-ups), and basically taking credit for all the work done at the 901 Washington Blvd., Venice building.”
Both Marilyn and John Neuhart worked with the Eames Office in various capacities from the 1950s until 1978, the year Charles Eames died. During this time they had the extraordinary opportunity to work intimately with the members of the Eames Office and their iconic manufacturers.
Marilyn and John Neuhart absorbed their stories, and meticulously portray the history and development of Eames furniture in their book, The Story of Eames Furniture. The book is a firsthand account of the workings of the Eames Office based on the Neuhart’s recollections and of others who also worked closely with Charles Eames. Marilyn Neuhart – more familiar with the Eames’ than almost any other – spent the last 15 years compiling the stories, images, and recollections featured in the book.
Check out the Marilyn and John Neuhart interview about Charles Eames below, and if you’re as intrigued as I am about the book, you can pick up The Story of Eames Furniture at Amazon.
Category: Books
By Melanie Carlson
Eames Leg Splint Competition Winner!
It has been a lot of work sifting through all the entries, but we finally have a winner! The Modernism Magazine sponsored LushPad give-away for a rare 1943 vintage Eames Leg Splint has been won by Trevor Friesen of Surrey, BC.
Trevor’s interest in mid-century modern design has been a growing fascination for the past 10 years or so, beginning with the work of George Nakishima and the blending of Danish modern with Japanese aesthetics. From there he discovered Eames, Jacobsen and the other masters of design.
To find out more about the Eames Leg Splint and its relevance in design history, see the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art notation.
Also, don’t forget to check out our wonderful sponsor, Modernism Magazine. It’s a fantastic publication that we can’t wait to get every quarter, that is filled with great information and photos about 20th century modernist design.
Category: Lushpad
By Melanie Carlson
