Christmas presents

This year for Christmas I knitted everyone something. These are some examples.






we knit. alot.

Foreign magazines

Inside out is by far my favorite magazine. It is an interiors magazine from Australia. The magazine is about "inspiring homes with heart" with design solutions and decorating ideas. The magazine has good quality pictures of environments that are inspiring. The geography influences what appears in the magazine. Much of their articles and pictures include environments that reflect the laid back Australian culture and innovative style.

PingMag is an online design magazine. It is based in Tokyo. The magazine includes ideas and inspirations from designers around the world and locals. PingMag focuses on product design, packaging, architecture, web design, typography, illustration, photography, fashion, programming, graphics, art, crafts, etc. Tokyo is advanced in technology, therefore the magazine is an insightful window into electronics and entertainment and design.

Inside Switzerland magazine is a magazine observes Swiss culture, design, business, fashion, art and events. The magazine takes part in design fairs. Their interior issues focus on solving design problems. They also have a design focus on going green and bringing the outdoors inside.

10 graphic media/designs

Kenneth Anger is the author of Hollywood Babylon. It is an offensive book which features shocking images of actors and actresses that have committed suicide or murdered. The book is about scandals that happen in Hollywood. The cover of the book is just the beginning of the best kept secrets in hollywood supposedly.


Hipgosis was a british art design group that produced this album cover for pink floyd and other rock bands during that time. Pinkfloyd had asked their friends Thorgerson and Powell if they wanted to do their album artwork for their second cd and they did. They later became Hipgnosis later.



Everyone has seen the album covers for the beatles cds. This album cover made abby road a must see attraction for music lovers. Lately it has been a trend to use graphic media to use as advertisement. For example, Mr. Clean uses takes a spin off of the abbey road concept.


Craig Butler is a graphic designer who has been working on a project called "the greatest album covers that never were." Butler and other graphic designers agree that album covers are beginning to be a lost art.


Maurits Cornelis Escher is one of the most famous graphic artists. He is known for his impossible structures. His work includes scenes of ascending and descending, relativity, transformation, and metamorphosis. He has also made lithographs, woodcuts, wood engravings, drawings, illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps, and murals.


Sadik Karamustafa is a Turkish graphic designer. He owns his own design studio and teaches at a University in Istanbul. He is known for his personal poster exhibition which has been selected for many international collections.

Sustainable design

According to IA Interior Architects, sustainable design is the opportunity to improve productivity in the workplace and the quality of life.

Dwell magazine put out a green design issue for the November 2007 issue. In an article entitled "Sustainability 24/7," Sam Grawe rants about how tired he is about sustainability. Yes, he supports sustainability and saving the planet but I guess what hes trying to say is that people should just start taking action and stop talking. He also thinks that sustainability is a fad (like acid wash pants). Sam makes a good point, "Takling environmental issues through design is at the very core of what we believe makes good design good, not a self-congratulatory cross-marketed issue theme."

10 Designers

Thomas O'Brian is a designer who is known for his knack for warm modernism. He is the owner of Aero Studios. He as a line called Vintage Modern just for target stores. As a designer Thomas likes to take vintage artifacts and produce it in a modern style. He takes things that are old and new and puts them together in a traditional and elegant fashion that creates an atmosphere that is familiar.

Ron Dayan is a successful designer who is known for designing for the rich and famous. He has appeared on tv shows such as Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, Good Morning America, and Style on CNN. Dayan uses an interesting method of designing for others much like Sherlock Holmes. Dayan explains, "I actually use Holmes' methods of detection in my design process, to discover what the client would love to be surrounded by, and need now, and years from now. I often do this without even asking the client any questions, simply observing, listening, and being in tune with their signals."

Frank Gehry is an architect from Toronto whose success began to take place during the 70s. Gehry designs "functional scultpures" as opposed to buildings. His work that is displayed in museums all around the world include his drawings, models, and designs for furniture, and interpretations of fish. In addition, Gehry often works with performers, painters, and sculptors.

Frank Loyd Wright is a famous American architect. He has designed furniture for many including the Chicago School, the Arts and Crafts culture, Art Nouveau, the Avant-garde, Japanese traditions, etc; although, he was not as innovative in furniture design as he was as an architect. Wright created a new concept called "organic architecture" where building materials were limited to what was found in the area.

Lois Sullivan is known for his idea of the importance of function. Sullivan was named "Lieber Meister" from Frank Lloyd Wright, who he had admired. Sullivan is known for his work in large commercial buildings. His design for houses was left to his staff- which includes Wright.

Le Corbusier was a pioneer of bringing funtion into design. He was born in Chaux de Fonds in 1887 and died in Roquebrune-Cap Martin in 1965. Influenced by the industrial revolution, he used materials like chromed aluminum for construction. In Villa Savoye, he takes the idea of funtion and brings it into the concept of life. Le Corbusier removes any decorative element from his furniture designs that are not relevant to the structure of the work.

Salvador Dali was born in Figueres in 1908 and died in 1989. He was a close friend of interior designer Jean Michel Frank. Frank was well known in the 1930s in Paris. The two worked together on projects. He produced furniture such as outdoor peices for his house. He also produced mundane items, including handles and faucets.

Josef Hoffman is an Austrian designer who introduced the Vienna Secession. This movement rejected the styles of the past and the ornamental details that came from nature. His inspiration came from abstract geometrical forms. He used cube-shaped or elongated rectangles in furniture. Some of is furniture designs include small spheres in contrast to the straight lines. Much of his work has been on show in exhibitions.

Alvar Aalto is a Finnish architect that is very influential to modern architecture. Some of his work includes organic buildngs that use material that were fragmented or included curves. He made the stool with three legs. His contribution to the modern movement was modest, but very important.

Charles R. Mackintosh was born in Glasgow in 1868 and dien in London in 1928. He is one of the founders of Art Nouveau. He is also the representative of the Glasgow School. He is strong in his furniture designs. His best furniture design was for the Glasgw Tea Room and other private houses made between 1901 and 1911. After 1923 he stoped being an architect and started to paint watercolour.

Review of design firms/organizations

Sheffield School is a creating design school. On their website they also have links to articles about some good designs and tips. They also have a link directing you to the "designer monthly," which has not been updated since August. The overall quality of the website is mediocre, but it is easy to navigate and is well organized.


HGTV decorating design ideas is a good website. There are alot of link that organize the site and make navigation easy; however, it can be overwhelming when there are too many options to choose from. They even have a link to their blog, which is really cool to look through because they have cute things for sale. The website has links to articles for each week. And it can also be interactive because the viewer has the opportunity to vote on their favorite designs.


Interior Dezine is a low quality website. There are way too many advertisements that it makes my computer slow. there are no links that I even trust to open and only one picture to look at that is relative to the page.


Eastern Corner has a fairly low quality website. However, there are many links to choose from. I first found this website while I was searching for the top ten design firms and they had a good list of them. As I was navigating through their site I saw that they are also an online catalogue which includes items that are influenced by european and eastern countries. They also have links to articles about interior design, which i am partial to their articles over their products.


IA Interior Architects has a great website. The whole site is aesthetically pleasing. When the page first opens the page loads in a really cool fashion with sound affects that isnt too over the top but it is impressive. When you move your mouse over a link there is also sound effects. The page is well organized and it very to the point. There enough pictures, sounds, and information to make you want to stay and navagate the page.


Fitch has a very impressive website. It is clean and also uses interesting color. The graphics are well done. On the main page there is window that previews a slide show with pictures of their work and clients. There are links that take you to where you can learn more about the company, but not much else.

The NBBJ website is the best one I have seen. The back rounds are all relative pictures to what you are navigating on the page. There is also interesting text that pulls you in. The menu is usually hidden but easy to pull down when you need to use it. The pictures are very interesting and all have an interesting perspective. I love it.


SCR Design Organization's website is very clear on what their goals are. Featured on their main page is their motto: We bring two rarely heard phrases to every project: on time and on budget." There website is limited to information about the company and not much else. They are clear about their service and they also have a link to case studies.

HOK has a good webpage. The opening page provides a slide show of their work. The photos are taken at an interesting perspective. The back round is a gray color that is neutral and works with all the colors in the pictures. There is also a pop of red that they use in their logo.

Perkins and Will has an good quality website that also provides a slide show on the main page. Also on the main page is the company news. They are informative and organized on their web page. On the site there are links to direct you to more information about their goals and company. One of the links is a link to sustainable design.

10 Buildings

Peter Gluck built and designed these houses in Aspen Colorado. Mine waste is buried under the parking lot and the steps go up the mountain. Fourteen spaces are located around the parking lot and the balcony is there to create a raised communal courtyard to view the coartyard.


Perrault designed the E. facade of Le Louvre in 1667-1670. It was built to show that France was a strong and stable nation. During this time the French were into traditional styles, straight lines, and control, as opposed to Italian Baroque. So Le Louvre was built to emphasize the kings control over everything.


The San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane was from Borromini in 1665-1676. It is composed of undulating curves and ovals. Organic shapes were a characteristic of the Baroque period. On the inside there were white and gold colors. Triangles put together make squares, and squares and circles together are from the classical period. People would go to this church to get fresh water which is symbolic to the "living water."


The Temple of Zeus is located in Olympia, built in 470. The stylistic period is classical/ transitional. On the west pediment there was a scene with Lapiths and Centaurs. It was loaded with complicated statues. The building and the statues were built separately and attached seperately. The scene is a narrative. There was alot of negative space, which was a characteristic of the time period.


The Laon Cathedral was built in 1160 in Laon, France. It consists of 4 part nave elevation: arcade, gallery, triforium, and clerestroy. There are sexpartite vaults. it has been remodeled on the east where the choir has greatly explanded. The square base holds the transverse arches. On the floor there is a pattern of alternating squares and octagonal bases.


The Chartres Cathedral was built during the High Gothic period in 1194-1220. It is located in Chartres, France. It is also the first high gothic building. Each bay consists of three parts, the arcade, triforium, clerestory. There are quadripartite vaults and flying butresses which helps support open space. The towers do not match. The arcade and clerestory is taller. This cathedral was built to symbolize spirituality.


THe Villa Savoye from le Corbusier, who is Swiss. This house was built in 1929. le Corbusier said "I want to make a machine for living." And thats what he did. During this time the machine was first introduced and everybody wanted to be a part of it. Even the ramps on the outside of the house were borrowed from ships.


The Bauhaus from Gropius, Germany, 1925-26. This building has a machine aesthetic. There is a steel frame structure. The walls are membranes, or infill. The walls are independent from the structure, called a curtain wall, they are nonsupporting.


This is the Robie House from Wright built in 1907-08. It is located in suburban Chicago. He built it for the new American family. The house is very horizontal. He even goes so far to where he puts a colored filler inbetween the horizontal bricks on the outside. On the inside the fireplace pins the house together in the middle. It united the house. The latin word for fireplace is "focus."


The Crystal Palace was from Joseph Paxton in England. He had alot of experience building greenhouses, as you can see in this building. It is made out of iron and glass. Both materials are products of the industrial revolution. Charles Dickins says that the building is not art or architecture because there is no style.