Brick & Wonder Selects:
March Inspiration
The Best Paint
Until the leaves show in April we're a bit starved for color. So, we thought we’d start our March 'Selects' with the sophisticated, nostalgic and quirky palette from Farrow & Ball. In this New Yorker piece by Rebecca Mead (now transplanted to London), we get a humorous glimpse inside the near cult-like status of this paint among the well decorated, experience their private color consultant's delicate handholding, and discover the psychological toll it takes to achieve an Instagramable interior.
Staircase painted in School House White No.291, Bancha No.298, and Studio Green No.93.
Photographs courtesy Farrow & Ball
"Using the paint confirms both a customer’s fashion sense and his financial means. It’s like a designer handbag for your house." - The New Yorker
Forecasting the Look
On the more pop (and perhaps more garish) end of the color spectrum, massive stock photo library Shutterstock puts together a design and visual trend report every year based on all the image searches on their site. This particular report is lavishly produced for maximum visual and auditory overload. But do not take this forecast lightly; Shutterstock is a data behemoth whose community responds nimbly to the almighty search, of which their are a billion each month on the site. If that’s not a pulse, then I’m not sure what else is. It takes some time to load in your browser, but turn the 🔊 ⬆️ for this one!
According to Shutterstock one of 2019's trends is "built on principles of collage, and largely influenced by the invention of the photocopier, it's paper cutouts, noise and grain textures, and rough-edged layers."
Trust Me
TED talks and their ilk have reached cultural saturation point and developed into a posture that is effectively self parody. That doesn’t mean they can’t still be great. Rachel Botsman’s talk about the “Currency of Trust” takes advantage of that tension to discuss the deeply-subjective and contextual nature of trust in a funny, non-windbag way.
A Legacy We Love
Our friends at Heath Ceramics have always been on the forefront of what it means to be a progressive and holistic company. It also makes an amazing product. But naturally, thinking about leadership succession brought up a host of thorny issues. In this Business of Home story, we learned how an employee ownership plan cements their kinder and gentler legacy.
"Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey have transformed the company from a struggling legacy brand into a thriving enterprise that recently celebrated its 70th anniversary." - Business of Home
“It’s still a ways off,” Petravic tells Business of Home, “but at some point there’s going to be succession at Heath. And unlike a lot of businesses, we didn’t want the company to be sold off to the highest bidder."
Photography That We Love
Conceptual photographer Marleen Sleeuwits (she’s Dutch!) became fascinated by nondescript spaces after shooting in airports across Europe. "I like the tension between the beauty and the ugliness these interiors often possess.” she tells WePresent. The work has evolved rather eccentrically, to a point where she now builds elaborate structures inside nondescript spaces to create installations that are part optical illusion and part architectural marvels.
Interior #47
I trained as a photographer but more and more I feel like a construction worker
Interior #25
Interior #53
Marleen will have her work on display (and for sale!) at the AIPAD show in New York from April 4th to the 7th at the Gallery Sous Les Etoiles booth. AIPAD is short for the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, and the NYC event is always a great show.