Originally publishing by the New York Times
Various including…
After 17 years on 54th Street, the restaurant Aquavit is heading north one block to a space designed by the New York architect Michel Franck of Owen & Mandolfo in collaboration with Arkitema of Copenhagen. With white walls and dark wood floors, the 12,000-square-foot interior provides a minimalist setting for the restaurant’s Scandinavian cuisine and a passion for mid-20th-century Scandinavian design by the owner, Hakan Swahn, above center.
In the informal cafe, above center, where meatballs and gravlax are served family-style, Verner Panton’s colorful Cone chairs and bright Onion tapestry set a lively tone. In the bar area, above far right, the swooping ceiling of ash slats echoes the streamlined designs of Arne Jacobsen’s Egg and Swan chairs. Textured wall reliefs made from fiberglass molds are evocative of snow or an igloo.
In the formal dining room, above far left, Jacobsen’s high-backed Oxford chairs are paired with a stately Superellipse table by Bruno Mathsson and Piet Hein. The room also contains vintage items collected by Mr. Swahn, like salt and pepper shakers by Jens Quistgaard, and, on the walls, a New York touch: photographs by Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman. Mr. Franck also renovated Mr. Swahn’s apartment on Central Park South to highlight Mr. Swahn’s favorite Scandinavian objects, like Panton’s Fun lamp, left, which hangs above his own Superellipse dining-room table. Aquavit reopens the week of Jan. 10. It is at 65 East 55th Street; (212) 307-7311. KATHERINE E. NELSON
Wild Animals Hiding in the Walls
A new line of wallpaper by Wook Kim, a Brooklyn-based textile artist, uses oddly placed animals to play with the traditions of the genre.
In one example, above right, a baroque floral pattern unexpectedly entangles a screaming peacock. ”I devise a repeat,” Mr. Kim said of the convention of duplicating a pattern, ”and then I interrupt it to create a new focal point and add depth to the design.” The wallpapers are customized for specific spaces, so the animals appear only occasionally, creating moments of surprise for the viewer.
The designs also make reference to a wide array of decorative art traditions, including the Persian textiles quoted, or at least paraphrased, in the example above, and the East Asian motif of a koi, below right, floating sleepily in a luminous lily pond.
”I’m interested in how we formulate a conversation with the past in a way that is relevant and vibrant,” said Mr. Kim, who also teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The wallpaper is printed on 26-inch vinyl strips and comes with adhesive backing. (It is also available in a nonadhesive version.) Designs with custom elements are $24 per square foot; off-the-shelf styles, like the Arts and Crafts-inspired thistle pattern, middle right, are $20 per square foot. Available exclusively at Matter in Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-1150, and at http://www.wookkim.com. KATHERINE E. NELSON
Itching to Know How Ants Live in Outer Space?
A new high-tech ant habitat called the Antquarium features sheer plexiglass siding and a transparent blue gel developed by NASA scientists to aid in the study of ants under zero gravity. (The gel serves as both their home and their food.) The Antquarium is three and a half inches wide and five inches tall and comes with a magnifying glass and an ant trap for those enterprising enough to catch their own colony; ants are also available by mail. Available for about $30 at stores including F. A. O. Schwarz in New York, (212) 644-9400; the gift shop at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, (773) 753-6297; and http://www.hearthsong.com. KATHERINE E. NELSON
Expositions: Furniture of a Playful Stripe
Like the German economy, the mood at last week’s Cologne furniture fair, one of Europe’s largest, was on the upswing. Highlights included the Ideal House, an annual showcase organized by the German Design Council, which this year featured Hella Jongerius, formerly of the Dutch design collective Droog, and Patricia Urquiola, top right, a Spaniard who has worked for Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli. Ms. Urquiola presented several of her signature pieces, right, in playful states of disarray, unraveling the cane of her Flo easy chair and recovering her Bloomy armchair with funky patchwork. The fair’s top honor, the Interior Innovation Award for Best Item, went to the new Facett furniture line designed by two French brothers, Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec. To produce the quilted armchair ($2,470) and ottoman ($770), far left, the manufacturer, Ligne Roset, developed a technology that can sew 1,300 feet of thread in a perfectly straight line. (Information: 800-297-6738 or http://www.ligne-roset-usa.com.) Among the new talents introduced at off-site events held in conjunction with the fair is Heike Buchfelder, who uses 2,500 feathers in her ”kugel k2” lamp, top, about $2,600. (www.buchfelder-berlin.de.) KATHERINE E. NELSON
A trip to India inspired Sari Syvaluoma, a Finnish textile designer living in Norway, to create pillows that mix bold Marimekko-like patterns with the vibrant colors of the subcontinent. The hand-embroidered pillows are produced in a family-run mill in in northern India, a region known for its textile traditions. One of the designs, Fruity (left, $90), is made from a shimmering Thai silk and has a snowflake motif. Two other designs, Micro Chain (middle, $99), with undulating lines, and Juicy (right, $99), with a flower power design, are made of thick, raw silk with a matte finish. Each style is available in three color combinations; shipping and handling are extra. To order: http://www.sari-syvaluoma.com. KATHERINE E. NELSON
A Rain Forest in the Living Room
The retooled Atmosphere furniture line, available at the company’s New York store and new Los Angles showroom, is entirely made in Brazil, from materials that include white bull skin, seeds harvested by Amazonian tribes, and exotic woods like the deeply grained cabre?used in the Babalao cabinet, above ($10,890). The simple, modern pieces are the work of the Brazilian design team Gra?Kazan and Luiz M?o Moura and Atmosphere’s president, Shelley Badauy. The new showroom is at 8626 Melrose Avenue, (310) 854-9100. The New York showroom is at 121 Wooster Street, (212) 219-1110, http://www.atmospherefurniture.com. KATHERINE E. NELSON
Retail: Yin and Yang Open a Shop
Gordon and Himiko Joseph, above, are husband-and-wife product designers with very different sensibilities, and they recently opened a store called Lightbox in the East Village to showcase their divergent work. Mrs. Joseph, a native New Yorker, fashions ceramics into organic shapes reminiscent of puddles and teardrops. Her palm-size porcelain pieces, like the Ocha teapot ($120) and Tori sake cups ($12 each), right, come in a range of earthy colors from chocolate brown to robin’s-egg blue. Mr. Joseph, who focuses on lighting, prefers boxy shapes like those of his Tall Linear lamps ($89), also right, and favors the bold tropical hues of his homeland, Guyana. The couple also make furniture, including the wall units above. Lightbox, 222 East 10th Street, (212) 375-1076, http://www.lightboxhome.com. KATHERINE E. NELSON
katherine nelson journalist + editor 