Mad House: Don Draper’s New Apartment

Posted on March 30, 2012 by michaelsmith

We’ve always been fans of Mad Men’s taste in interior design, but Don Draper’s home usually left us a bit disappointed. The dashing ad man first lived in a “creaky house” in Westchester that reeked of suburban complacency, and then his post-divorce West Village rental was downright depressing.

But now season 5 finds Draper in a home truly fitting of a 1960’s advertising executive. The Upper East-Side deluxe apartment is a large open space “rich with texture (walnut veneers, glass cloth wallpaper) and defined by a sunken living room” with custom-made mid-century modern furniture (now where have we seen that before?) according to Steven Kurutz of the New York Times. The kitchen area (and that lamp) predicts the spring’s Tangerine Tango trend with electrifying orange cabinetry.

The show’s production designer, Dan Bishop, found inspiration for the apartment in the interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright and the white-glazed brick, post-war apartment buildings of the Upper East Side.

Not surprisingly, Draper’s apartment is hip, modern and bold – everything the ad man himself tries to be. Considering the legions of fans and imitators the show has garnered in the fashion world, is it possible that interior designers will start taking the Mad route, too?

Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/AMC

Furniture as Traffic Cop and Host

Posted on March 29, 2012 by michaelsmith

The other day, we stumbled upon this article which personifies furniture as both the “traffic cop and host.” The article’s author, Philip Schmidt, elaborates, “it directs movement through the space and invites people to sit, lie down, cozy up or maintain a comfortable distance.”

This statement cuts to the heart of not only the importance of furniture, but also its importance to a sensible interior design process. Colors and patterns are great, but furniture is so much more. It combines “function, texture, style and form,” to create the myriad passages and pathways of a home while directing the movement and interaction of guests and residents.

Furniture is not just decoration; it’s an instrument of comfort and style, driven by practical function. To help your interior reach its full potential, you need great furniture.

Start with Contempo.

Pictured Above: Chrystie Wall Unit and Adrian Loveseat

Sound and Smell – The Other Side of Interior Design

Posted on March 28, 2012 by michaelsmith

Keep a mint cache in your home for a fresh scent

Interior Designers often only focus on feeding two senses, sight and touch. Throughout the web you can read swarms of design blogs extolling the benefits of certain fabrics or color combinations, but not a thing to suggest humans actually use five senses. So why do we ignore the other three? Well, taste is obvious; we don’t eat furniture (yet!). But why leave out sound and smell?

Sound and smell can be important parts of interior design, not only for personalizing a space but also creating the kind of atmosphere you’d like to come home to: a place of leisure, rest and serenity.

What kind of area do you live in? If you live in the countryside and you enjoy falling asleep every night to the sound of chirping crickets and hooting owls, read no further. But if you’re from the noisy ol’ city, a little sound therapy might be just right for your home. Add moving water in some form, such as a small fountain or fish tank. The relaxing sound of fresh water will help mellow your nerves after a hectic day and can help relax you later at night.

As far as scent is concerned, there are a wide variety of options available to homeowners looking freshen up their rooms. Candles are great, though if you’re not a fan of fire, try fragrance sticks. Or go the all-natural route and fill your home with flowers (a solution that looks great and smells fresh). Keeping other fresh smelling plants such as mint around the home could also help.

Of course, sounds and smells are slightly more tricky to pinpoint on an individual basis than visual symmetry, so think about your own personal preferences. What sound and smells relax you? Do any bring back great memories or conjure romantic images? Think about it and let us know what kind of sounds and smells you’d like to experience at home.

Photo Credit: Federico Stevanin

Remembering Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Posted on March 27, 2012 by michaelsmith

“Our built environment is meant to be lived in. Mies’ buildings, beyond merely affecting our lives, endow them with greater significance and beauty. His buildings radiate the confidence, rationality, and elegance of their creator and, free of ornamentation and excess, confess the essential elements of our lives. In our time, where there is no limit to excess, Mies’ reductionist approach is as pertinent as ever. As we reduce the distractions and focus on the essential elements of our environment and ourselves, we find they are great, intricate, and beautiful. Less is more.”

- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Society

Today, Contempo Space honors the life and work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the brilliant German architect who, along with Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, pioneered modern architecture. Our design philosophy owes an inestimable debt to the clarity, simplicity, freedom and rationality of Mies Van Der Rohe designs.

Below please find a small collection of photographs of Mies van der Rohe designs accompanied by a brief commentary. Hopefully, these may help illustrate his insurmountable influence on modern architecture and design.

Barcelona Pavilion

“Artistic expression is a manifestation of the unity of design and material. This once again underlines the necessity of incorporating works of sculpture (or painting) creatively into the interior setting from the outset. In the great epochs of cultural history this was done by architects as a matter of course and, no doubt, without conscious reflection.”

- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Photo Credit: Hans Peter Schaefer

Neue Natoinalgalerie Berlin

“Of all Mies’s buildings, [the New National Gallery] is his most classical in feeling. It is a temple to art on a man-made acropolis. The museum is, however, a product of its own time…. As in Mies’s other buildings, the New National Gallery’s qualities as a space are the product of the technology and materials of the twentieth century working in conjunction with his idea of an architecturally defined spatial continuum.”

- David Spaeth

Photo Credit: Harald Kliems

The Seagram Building, New York

“Skyscrapers reveal their bold structural pattern during construction. Only then does the gigantic steel web seem impressive. When the outer walls are put in place, the structural system, which is the basis of all artistic design, is hidden by a chaos of meaningless and trivial forms…Instead of trying to solve old problems with these old forms we should develop new forms from the very nature of the new problems. We can see the new structural principles most clearly when we use glass in place of the outer walls, which is feasible today since in a skeleton building these outer walls do not carry weight. The use of glass imposes new solutions.”

- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Farnsworth House, Plano, IL

“The Farnsworth house is Mies’s summary statement of those spatial and architectural concerns he first realized in the Barcelona Pavilion, and which he further developed in the Tugendhat house…. However, contained in what is a pure expression of its age is another vision, that of a transparent house in a verdant landscape.”

- David Spaeth

Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL

“The essence of space is not determined by the mere presence of limiting surfaces but by the spiritual principle of this limitation. The true task of architecture is to let the structure articulate the space; it is not the building that is the work of art but space.”

- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Photo Credit: Joe Ravi

Modern Furniture Designer Contempo Space Connects with Consumers, Designers and More At Architectural Digest Home Design Show 2012

Posted on March 26, 2012 by michaelsmith

This past weekend, March 22-25 2012, representatives from Contempo Space attended the 2012 Architectural Digest Home Design Show. Showcasing innovative new room divider and custom wardrobe solutions, Contempo Space connected with consumers and colleagues in the interior design field.

Passaic, NJ March 26, 2012 –Every year Architectural Digest, the leading international Interior Design authority, hosts the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in Manhattan, gathering thousands of designers, architects and consumers to view the latest innovations in architecture and design. This year, representatives from Contempo Space were proud to be exhibiting their latest room divider and wardrobe closet products.

At Booth 511 Contempo Space demonstrated the state-of-the-art new features of their latest designs. With two extraordinary products on display – Contempo Closet’s Custom Wardrobe Collection and the Bronson Room Divider from Contempo Wall – the show’s attendants were dazzled by the sleek modern edges, creative finishes and innovative engineering prowess of Contempo artisans and their progressive approach to modern design fundamentals.

Attendees stood rapt as the Bronson Room Divider’s swiveling centerpiece and elegant finish grabbed eyes and boggled minds. With a flick of the wrist, the Bronson’s centerpiece rotated a full 180 degrees and back again, letting a flat screen TV and a bookshelf trade places with nothing more than a light touch.

The two products also revealed Contempo Space’s latest developments in LED lighting technology to scores of trade show attendees. The lights illuminated dark wardrobe spaces and garnished the fine-tuned geometry of the brand’s modern furnishings with a vibrant accent.

“It’s a real privilege to come to shows like this because we get to witness how designers and consumers react to our products, firsthand,” says Contempo Space design consultant Gary Flax. ”We’ll use this feedback to further adjust our design choices and craft furniture solutions that continue to not just look great, but provide a suitable response to the modern consumer’s ever changing needs.”

Contempo Space, with family brands Contempo Wall, Contempo Closet and Contempo Sofa, specializes in custom home furnishings, including wardrobes, home entertainment centers and wall units. Design consultants and craftsmen work with customers to create the perfect piece for any space, hand-crafted to meet a customer’s specific needs. Contempo Space will even take the extra step to deliver and set up furniture onsite, leaving the customer free to sit back and enjoy.

For more information on products and services, visit ContempoSpace.com. For further updates, follow Contempo Space on Twitter via @ContempoSpace and at Facebook.com/ContempoSpace.

Place Identity and the Psychological Implications of Interior Design

Posted on March 26, 2012 by michaelsmith

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately felt like you didn’t belong? What about a setting where everything seemed to exactly in its right place? How did it make you feel? Were you comfortable and pleasant or did you feel a sense of deep unease and angst?

Regardless of how you felt, your feelings may have been due to the interior design.

According to a new article by What Is Psychology, studies have shown that interior design has several observable effects on emotional balance and communication. In the article, titled “3 Room Décor/Interior Design Tips for Improving Interpersonal Communication,” the blog’s author cites various studies which examine the importance of color, furnishings and the presence of natural elements (plants, pets, flowing water) to personal comfort and open communication.

A 1996 study by B. Manav entitled Colour Research and Application concluded that colors such as black & grey “tend to evoke negative feelings such as anxiety, boredom and sadness.” Brighter colors on the other hand, such as green, elicit “positive emotions such as happiness” as well as “confidence, relaxation and comfort.”

A 1976 study by Chaikin, Derlega and Miller examined the effects of two dramatically different furnishing styles. Researchers noted that when interviewed in two rooms with contrasting furnishings and accessories (one room filled with decorations, cushioned chairs and a rug vs. a bare room with cement block walls and straight black chair) interviewees in the highly decorated room nearly always responded that they felt more comfortable, and conversations with their interviewer grew more intimate.

These results could be explained through a concept known as place identity, which states that a person incorporates their understanding of space into an understanding of themselves. People react more positively to environments which fulfill their social and psychological needs.

As a person matures, they come to associate various experiences and memories (positive or negative) with the settings in which they took place and the design of these spaces. Various experiences mold a person’s perception of space, which ultimately leads them to form preferences for broad types of physical settings, normally in no way that he/she might be aware.

The results of 1976 study combined with this understanding of place identity would suggest that the majority of the interviewees were accustomed to comfortable, decorated spaces whereas bare, sparse spaces were intimidating or unaccommodating. This may explain negative reactions to other typically bare spaces such as police interrogation rooms, hospitals and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

This model would suggest then that human reactions to various types of spaces vary across cultures based upon the customary design of home interiors. According to this logic, would people who grew up in sparse environments feel cluttered and crowded by heavily decorated interiors?

To the best of our knowledge, the jury is still out on exactly why different settings produce different emotional reactions. But if you have any knowledge of the matter or would like to add to the conversation, please feel free to leave a comment and give us your perspective.

Photo Credit: Ambro

Allergies: Scourge of the Spring

Posted on March 23, 2012 by michaelsmith

Spring sprang early this year, and with it that seasonal scourge of allergies. If you’re going to be allergy-prone this season, try out these tips below to keep your home allergy proof and help stop the sneezes.

Keep your windows closed overnight. The highest outdoor pollen counts usually occur between 4am and 10am. While it may be tempting to let the cool night air in while you sleep, giving the pollen allergens all night to attack your system will leave you sneezing in the morning – not a pleasant way to start the day.

Also, consider switching to a lighter fabric for your drapes or curtains. Open windows, even during the daytime, can let allergens in and heavy draperies will catch them. At very least, try to purchase washable drapes.

Invest in a strong vacuum with a HEPA filter. A HEPA filter will trap smaller particles, like allergens, much better than a standard vacuum filter.

If allergies are a real problem in your home use as little carpeting as possible. Hardwood/tile floors are easier to clean, and won’t trap dust and pollen like carpets or rugs. If you must have carpeting, try to vacuum at least once a week.

Follow these tips and your home should be allergy proof to some extent, but bear in mind, fully allergy-proofing your home would require you to pretty much live in a bubble. Do you know of any other ways to help keep allergens out of your home?

Photo Credit: David Castillo Dominici

Modern Furniture: Contemporary Solutions for Contemporary People

Posted on March 22, 2012 by michaelsmith

We dedicate a lot of time on this blog to discussing modern furniture, its benefits and uses, but we’ve never really discussed exactly what modern furniture is.

Although we’re all-around furniture & design experts, here at Contempo Space we focus on one particular design style called ‘modern.’ So what makes furniture modern?

Modern furniture is influenced by modernist art and architecture, a movement that began in the 19^th century in Europe and still retains a significant influence over art & design today. It’s a broad term that essentially referred to the rejection of classical and enlightenment ideals in an effort to “Make it New,” as poet Ezra Pound famously declared in 1934.

Fun Fact: Modernism was the first art movement to be marked with the term Avant-Garde, which was previously used in military and political contexts.

Mondrian Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow

Many forms of modern design bare a technical and philosophical similarity to the work of artists such as Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and the De Stijl movement, whose paintings and architecture emphasized the harmony of simple straight horizontal and vertical lines and rectangular forms. Much like how the Dutch movement’s simplicity was a drastic departure from romantic and impressionist styles, modern furniture was also a dramatic departure from much of the work preceding it. Rich fabric patterns and intricate carvings gave way to “the glittering simplicity and geometry” of visually light furniture.

Modern design principles also took tremendous influence from Edo Period Japan. As Japan began trading with the west in the late 19^th century, Japanese furniture, specifically Tansu cabinetry, was greatly admired throughout Europe due to its striking simplicity and lack of ornamentation, two features that would become pillars of modern design.

The most important principle of modern design is its lack of interest in maintaining a connection with tradition and history. Almost all Western architecture and design up to the late 19^th century “sought to convey an idea of lineage,” however modern design, most likely as a result of increasing technical innovation and the political/social upheaval of early 20^th century Europe, was fixated on newness, originality and ultimately speaking to the needs of the present while still pushing towards the future.

And at Contempo Space, we’re happy to continue that, err…traditional lack of tradition. We believe in technical innovation to provide for the needs of today while leaving room for whatever may come tomorrow. We craft furniture that speaks to present times and present needs, both in terms of function and aesthetics.

Simply modern. That’s Contempo.

Pictured Above: The Tristan Home Entertainment Center

Keep Your Home Cool

Posted on March 21, 2012 by michaelsmith

The weather has taken an uncanny turn upward this March, so why not start preparing for a warm summer now? Follow some of these tips and keep your house cool without running up the energy bill with the A/C.

Keep windows, drapes, blinds, and shades closed during the warmest parts of the day. Keeping sunlight out will lower the temperature of your home dramatically. Also consider buying light colored drapes or window dressings that will reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it.

Open your windows at night to let in cooler air. Close up the house in the morning to keep it in. Beating the heat is all about keeping hot air out and cool air in. The temperature always goes down at night, so try to let some of that cool night air in your house to trap it the next morning.

Keep hot or heat generating appliances and electronics off during the daytime. Any appliance that you leave running during the day is bound to generate extra heat. Try plugging all your appliances into a power strip for an easy shut-down before you head out for the day. Also, avoid showering and using the washer/dryer during the day. These appliances produce steam and will only heat up your house even more.

If you can afford it, try installing light-colored roofing. This will reflect light and heat instead of absorbing it.

Finally, insulate your home. A well-insulated home can stand up to the elements in the summertime, keeping hot air out and cool air in.

Do you have any techniques for keeping cool when the weather gets hot? How do you stay cool?

Photo Credit: Digital Art

Urban Playground: How Modern Designers Are Making Public Furniture FUNctional

Posted on March 20, 2012 by michaelsmith

Public furniture by traditional standards is purely for function. There’s a bench; you sit on it. End of story. But why can’t that bench be more than a bench?

What if public furniture was fun? Could visually appealing and interactive public furniture make dull activities like waiting for the bus a little less humdrum?

We touched upon the importance of public furniture on our sister blog Contempo Sofa a couple weeks ago, but, according to Web Urbanist, several designers have taken the issue much further. Throughout the globe’s urban areas, designers are bringing a sense of playfulness back to public design – a belief that their work is not simply meant to be used, but enjoyed.

Take for example, the ChitChat. Created by Dutch Designer Teun Fleskens, the ChitChat concept “encourages conversation with humor – and good looks.” Half bench, half balancing act, the ChitChat forces strangers to interact in order to remain balanced.

It’s a unique social experiment, one which suggests that social barriers will dissolve once two or more people are faced with a common problem.

While the ChitChat offers interaction, other pieces, such as The Loop Bench, encourage introspection. Built from galvanized steel, the Loop Bench has all the regular features of a usual bench – feet, a plank and a back, however its structure twists and turns like a roller coaster, inviting visual stimulation.

The labyrinth like structure wraps pedestrians in a public space that somehow feels cut off from the public. It creates a microcosm of absurdity and intrigue within the urban landscape, offering an escape and an inspiration. The Loop Bench was built by Jeppe Hein.

Skateable Benches And combining the two concepts of interaction and introspection, some pieces ask the viewer to think and play. The Skateable park benches of London blend function, form and rebellion into a piece that speaks more about misconceptions regarding public space than the need for a seat.

“By virtue of its status as misuse of public space…skateboarding is exceptionally good at drawing attention to the quietly exclusionary nature of modern public space,” says designer Tom Hawes.

“Older children and young adults are either not considered in urban planning or outright excluded from public spaces. Skateboarders add value to many unused public spaces.”

Although the benches are designed to fit into the traditional view of London public space, their function invites modern critique, a comment on the need for public spaces to respond to the uses of the public. By redesigning public space to fit modern usage, urban planners can breed an environment of diversity, acceptance and innovation, instead of alienation and criminalization.

As modern life evolves, it remains vitally important that architecture and public space change with it, to reflect not only the pragmatic transportation and commercial needs of a populace, but also the social and psychological changes it might undergo.

People don’t change architecture. Architecture changes people.

Images via Web Urbanist

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