Love Lost, Love Found: An Objet d’Art’s Powerful Sentimental Value
What Inspires Me: “In my home I have a boat. It was made by an artist named Cathy Rose. The boat signifies everything I can love in an object. It was crafted by hand. It contains the spirit of the human heart. My solace is water and the boat symbolizes adventure. In very tiny letters, [...]
Alejandro Vigilante: Artistic Intersection of Pop Culture & Internet Communication
“Art is communication, Internet is communication” – Alejandro Vigilante, Founder, i-Art Movement Alejandro Vigilante, the Argentine-born, banker turned jet-setting artist, is the driving force behind an exciting and vibrant art movement called “i-Art” that melds iconic pop culture with the fast and ever-changing world of Internet communications. Alejandro at work in his studio. Renowned design [...]
Deborah Osburn: Embracing the Art of Tile
Inspired by People: Each month we seek out inspirational figures in the world of design – those with an unwavering passion and quest for discovery, creation and exploration of beautiful decorative design. This month we bring you our interview with the fascinating founder and creative director of clé, Deborah Osburn. Deborah combines a fine [...]
Karen Thompson: Flora and Fauna
Butterfly Be very careful if you decide to embark on a DIY project. It could change your life forever. In 1987, fashion designer Karen Thompson was restoring her home and taught herself the ancient craft of mosaics. It became her career, replacing fabric and buttons with ceramic and glass. Working with a vast range of [...]
Visual Poet: An Intimate Glimpse into the Artistic Genius of Architect Alberto Alfonso
Leonardo DaVinci, the great Renaissance inventor, artist and visionary once wrote ‘Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.’ Nearly 600 years from DaVinci’s birth, a modern interpretation of the Renaissance man, who encapsulates those same artistic values, emerges in the form of Cuban-born, Tampa-based architect and artist, Alberto Alfonso. [...]
Ilana Shafir: Spontaneous Mosaics
Mosaic Garden and House. Born in the city of Sarajevo in 1924, now the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ilana Shafir knew from an early age she was an artist, though her parents were less than enthusiastic. As Shafir remembers, "In those days to be an artist was not a proper career choice for a [...]
Mark Bulwinkle: Tile Stripped Bare
The Vacationers. At first glance the artistic world of Mark Bulwinkle appears happy. Animals cavort, flowers bloom, a boy has hearts for eyes, the sun shines. The cartoon like images seem to be laughing at us, as if there is some private joke incised into each of them. Upon closer inspection, an energy emerges with [...]
Jacqueline Moore: A Painter’s Tale in Tile
Portuguese Tile An art history scholar and painter, in 2009 Jacqueline Moore found herself “anxious, afraid, stunted in creativity and at a crossroads.” The journey that began in England and had brought her to Southern California, led one afternoon to a garden in Montecito. She was strolling amidst lush plantings, breathing air fresh from a [...]
ALSIO Design, LLC: Spatial Patterns
Visualization of Proposal for the MTA. Bobby Silverman thought he wanted to be a social geographer, the study of spatial patterns, investigating how and why we live and work where we do. On the way to getting his degree, he took a detour to Japan. There he witnessed the daily use of beautiful handcrafted objects, [...]
Art of Board: From Tailslide to Tile
Art of Board Kitchen Backsplash (detail) – tiles cut from old, discarded skateboards. Scratched, dented, smashed, and abused, what to do with skateboard relics that are too damaged to carry their intrepid riders? Rich Moorhead appreciated the dense 7-ply laminated maple, the graffiti inspired graphics, and turned up tails. Where others saw broken sports equipment [...]
Wall Decor by Jennifer Khoshbin
Black and White Wallpaper – Handmade Wilderness ProjectChrysanthemum – Handmade Wilderness Project Pomegranate Wallpaper – Deer’s Head “Division” “Dressed Pest” Available at Ruby’s Lounge – Jennifer’s etsy store. Design Resource: Jennifer Khoshbin
Marie Gibbons: Tactile Memory Tile
Installation: “Natural Desire to Climb” Jack and the Beanstalk could do worse than to depend on the “Natural Desire to Climb” series of tile by Marie Gibbons to reach his lofty treasure. Inspired by the exhibit titled Ladders, for which the series was intended, the 5” square sgaffito tiles offer a toehold into the imaginative [...]
Susan Tunick: The Color of Clay
Ceramic artist Susan Tunick has a penchant for scale and surface. All of her creations, site-specific sculptures, mosaic murals and individual bricks and tiles are testaments to architecture. The surfaces are intricately laced, lush in color and texture. Studying architectural ornamentation has given Tunick a heightened awareness of edges, shadows and context-both physical and historical. [...]
Bella Vista Tile: Material Alchemy
“Cascade Dream”. Lisa TeviaClark has immersed herself in the material language of her medium. For the past thirty years she has experimented with clay and the alchemy of heat, salt, ash, minerals, and glazes. With her husband James Clark, she established Bella Vista Tile in 2003, as both a limited production studio and a [...]
The Bearable Lightness of Being: Jasna Sokolovic
“Two Birds in Cherry Tree” Jasna Sokolovic left her native Yugoslavia in 1994, venturing to Granville Island, Vancouver. Her architecture studies in Sarajevo, the war torn capitol, came to an end, but her education resumed in Canada, where she focused on ceramics. In clay she found it possible to meld her interests in architecture and [...]
Resplendent Decay: The Enigmatic Tile Sculpture of Jason H. Green
Ornament Now 2006, Installation of exhibit at Fosdick-Nelson Gallery. Distant memory, sensuous undulations, fragments of time… The visual poetry of Jason H. Green’s tile speaks in a language of patience and introspection. There are echoes of paradox in his art. Decorative surfaces suggest the vernacular of architectural ornament. They combine with the methodical application [...]
Every Tile Tells A Story: the Illustrative Art of Barbara Schmidt
Coverings Select 2010 Award Winner - Barbara Schmidt’s “Lotus Hand” tile (dimensions: 6”X6” ) Stained in sepia tones and washed in soft muted colors, the carved relief tiles of Barbara Schmidt speak of a time when fairy tales, myths and nursery rhymes were the predominant literature offered to children. The characters Schmidt carves in porcelain include [...]
The Secret Life of Raindrops: The handmade ceramic tiles of Leah Shafir Zahavi
Garden at Night (Dimensions: 24.8” x 31.8” ) Mosaics by Ilana Shafir, integrated with Inspiration Pieces by Leah Shafir Zahavi Leah Shafir Zahavi grew up in Ashkalon, Israel. As a child exploring this 4,000-year-old city on the Mediterranean, she breathed deeply the aroma of almond trees, listened to the receding echo in the rhythmic arches [...]
The Soul-stirring, Mesmerizing Artwork of Ann Marshall
I attend many art shows, meet with a wonderful selection of talented artists, and have an inbox overflowing with requests by artists and artisans for review of their work. From all those exposures, some truly artistic gems surface that capture my heart, soul and imagination. Ann Marshall is one of those creative finds whose artwork [...]
The Lyrical Fusions of Paola Orsoni
Paola Orsoni at work in her studio. Italian artist Paola Orsoni creates lyrical fusions of terracotta, glass, and metal. She has harnessed the disruptive process of hot and cold to cajole the marriage of unlike materials into vibrant splashes of radiant color and dynamic texture. “Dripping” tile. Created entirely by hand in her Milan studio, [...]
Ellen Blakeley of Ellen Blakeley Studio
Many of us walk by shattered glass strewn across sidewalks without giving the glass shards a second thought – other than swerving to avoid stepping on them. California based mosaic artist and principal of Ellen Blakeley Studio, Ellen Blakeley, on the other hand, sees a pool of glistening, broken glass as an artistic inspiration. Meredith [...]
Sessantuna by Gaetano Pesce for Cassina
Sessantuna is the design concept of renowned Italian artist and designer Gaetano Pesce. It’s an idea that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, Gaetano Pesce and Cassina join together once again in developing a new project. Rather than resulting in a simple a piece of furniture, this represents a way of conceiving [...]
Hugo Franca – R 20th Century Gallery
One of my favorite artists/designers/visionaries, Hugo Franca, has a few beautiful pieces at R 20th Century gallery. I’ve picked some of my favorites from the exhibit to share. "Phenyo" coffee table in pequi wood. Designed and made by Hugo Franca, Brazil, 2010. 59" W x 17" H x 39.5" D "Zanta" bench in pequi [...]
Tile As Textile
The Tale of Two Tile Makers Luigi Priante and Jorge Simes create individual works of art, each tile a hand crafted innovative expression of design. They explore the essential properties of leather and glass, and expand both with their own elegant interpretations. By manipulating their materials and applying an uncommon aesthetic, their tiles retain the [...]
Annette Taylor-Anderson of ATADesigns
Founder and surface design specialist, British born, Annette Taylor-Anderson set-up ATADesigns in 2005. She is renowned for her bold statement graphic designs as featured in the press and magazines, both in the UK and Internationally; Her designs break the boundaries of tradition, in true London style. Over the last few years, she has developed cutting-edge [...]
Mosaic Art with a Mission: Piecing Together Hearts & Souls in Haiti
“Not all places and people have financial capital, but everyone has creative capital.” — Laurel True Laurel True is a mosaic artist with a mission: to create economic opportunity and pride in community through mosaic art. In a paper presented to the International Conference on the Arts in Society in Venice in 2009, Dr. Randy [...]
Regina Garay of Garay Artisans
Regina Garay launched Garay Artisans, an Orlando, Florida-based decorative painting and faux finishing firm, in 1998. The company is owned by Regina and her brother Jason Rosales, and since its launch has grown into a respected and creative team of decorative artisans. Their fresh approach brings a client’s vision to life, marrying masterful techniques with [...]
Andre for Fendi: Graffiti Artist at F Factory Miami Design District
World renown graffiti artist and DJ, Andre, captivated the crowds at the Design Miami 2009 satellite exhibit, “F Factory (Fendi)” with his real-time artwork rendering on three needle-point panels and personalizing a DIY (also needle-point) Fendi bag.
Kristen Stein of Studio Artworks
Kristen Stein is an award-winning Contemporary Artist living in Suburban Philadelphia. Kristen’s works are currently available on a variety of online venues, boutiques and galleries throughout the US. Her art has appeared in numerous printed media including posters, books, CD Covers, calendars and program covers. She is the author/illustrator of the children’s books “The Vegetarian [...]
Profiles in Art & Design Compilation
Photo: Design Miami 2009 “Designer of the Year” : Maarten Baas exhibition. Artists Ellen Blakeley of Ellen Blakeley Studio Eleanor Moreton Designers Francois Azambourg Maarten Baas Mattia Bonetti Galleries & Exhibitions Call Out to the Americas Exhibit Design Miami 2009 Donzella 20th Century Exhibit at Design Miami 2009 Irwin Feld Design Maarten Baas Designer [...]
