Older’s Blade Runner-inspired furniture has an agenda

This blog post features an interview with Amy King Pope, the owner and creative force behind AKP Furnish & Design. Pope elaborates on the nature of her business, which primarily involves selling home goods such as furniture, lamps, rugs, and unique artwork. Beyond retail, AKP Furnish & Design also offers upholstery services, furniture construction, welding, and painting, aiming to fulfill diverse design needs at reasonable prices. Pope clarifies that while she is the singular owner, she collaborates extensively with a network of skilled artisans and craftsmen. This approach allows her to produce unique and artistic pieces, leveraging the talent of individuals passionate about creating. She characterizes the style of décor she offers as classic with an artistic twist, incorporating a "mid-century pop" that appeals to younger generations. She notes the resurgence of styles she grew up with, suggesting a blend of mid-century aesthetics with French and English antiques, emphasizing the importance of mixing different elements. Regarding her sourcing methods, Pope explains that she acquires goods through auctions and estate sales. Additionally, individuals consign items directly to her. She highlights that the trend of baby boomers downsizing provides a consistent supply of quality, pre-owned items. Her preference in décor leans towards continental pieces, specifically French and English items, often mixed with contemporary, high-quality sofas. She also expresses an fondness for chinoiserie and other decorative items. Conversely, Pope tends to avoid what she terms "brown furniture," referring to standard dining room sets and chairs. Her focus is on cultivating an eclectic look, selecting pieces that evoke joy or a sense of delight. She advocates for purchasing used furniture over new items from chain stores, citing several benefits. Firstly, it is an environmentally conscious choice, promoting reuse rather than new consumption. Secondly, it supports local artisans by providing them with work. Lastly, she emphasizes that used furniture often represents superior craftsmanship and durability, promising a longer lifespan compared to many mass-produced new items, while also offering a one-of-a-kind aesthetic. Pope expresses admiration for Richmond's design community, particularly highlighting the savvy and educated young talent from Virginia Commonwealth University. She observes their inherent ability to blend various artistic styles, a skill she considers a true talent. For those who struggle with this, she offers her expertise, underscoring her passion for assisting clients in achieving their desired aesthetic. The article concludes by providing the location and operating hours for AKP Furnish & Design, noting its availability on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with weekday appointments. #HomeDecor #FurnitureDesign #InteriorDesign #VintageFurniture #MidCenturyModern #Antiques #SustainableDesign #RichmondDesign #ArtisanCollaboration

Los Angeles is experiencing a vibrant surge in its home design retail landscape, with numerous new shops and pop-ups offering a diverse array of styles and unique finds. These establishments cater to a wide range of tastes, from minimalist modern and industrial chic to coastal elegance and vintage aesthetics, attracting both celebrity clientele and design enthusiasts. Cassina, an Italian furniture manufacturer, has opened its largest store to date in Los Angeles. This three-level space, designed by art director Patricia Urquiola, showcases modular works by Virgil Abloh and features its iMastri Collection, which includes timeless pieces resulting from collaborations with significant architects and designers such as Charlotte Perriand and Gaetano Pesce. The showroom is located at 145 N. Robertson Blvd. Olive Ateliers, a shop that has gained popularity through TikTok and Instagram, has become a favorite for home accessories, even attracting celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Elsa Hosk. Co-founded by Kendall Knox, Ben Knox, and Laura Sotelo, Olive Ateliers specializes in “objects with old souls,” such as worn Turkish vases and vintage Chinese elm benches. The store is situated at 1210 Mateo St. Inner Gardens, a long-established garden emporium known for landscape designer Stephen Block’s global finds and reproduction pots, has relocated to a former bank building in Culver City. The store's unique and serendipitous inventory appeals to high-profile clients including Spago, Soho House, Kelly Wearstler, Elton John, and Ellen Pompeo. Its new address is 4444 Sepulveda Blvd. Habitat Home & Garden, a family business with its third outpost in Malibu, emphasizes unique furnishings and one-of-a-kind designs that reflect the laid-back luxury of coastal California. The store, which includes rustic wood furniture, vintage rugs, and sun-bleached accessories, counts the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among its customers. It is located at 21249 Pacific Coast Highway. LDV, an establishment co-founded by Guido Callarelli and Birta Ólafsdóttir, now has a pop-up store near the West Hollywood Design District, allowing in-person viewing of its impeccably restored Art Deco and 1970s-era furniture. Previously, its inventory was available exclusively through an invite-only online platform. The pop-up is at 156 S. Robertson Blvd. Pop-Up Home, a furniture shop previously known for its roving nature, has found a permanent location in Melrose Hill. Founder Tricia Benitez Beanum curates a diverse collection that includes sculptural vintage furniture, 1970s studio pottery, and contemporary art from UNREPD, a gallery co-founded by Beanum that focuses on emerging artists. The store is located at 642 N. Western Ave. NB Shop, run by interior designer Natasha Baradaran, offers an experiential retail space that reflects her tactile approach to home and life, appealing to clients such as Heather and Christopher McQuarrie, Luis Miguel, and Kate Hudson. The shop, located at 725 N. La Cienega Blvd., features her Persian Garden textile collection, inspired by her Iranian heritage. The Expert, a design consultation platform co-founded by John Legend and Chrissy Teigen's interior designer Jake Arnold, has expanded with an e-commerce arm, Showroom, and a by-appointment warehouse in West Adams. The Showroom offers vintage pieces alongside Arnold's made-to-order furniture line. Appointments can be made via email. Flora Grubb Gardens, a well-regarded San Francisco garden shop known for its focus on sustainability and drought-tolerant plants, has opened a new location in Los Angeles, taking over the Marina Del Rey Garden Center at 13198 Mindanao Way. The Future Perfect, led by David Alhadeff, continues to elevate the concept of blending residence and retail with its fourth Los Angeles iteration. Now housed in a historic Beaux-Arts neoclassical home, newly landscaped by Art Luna, the space offers collectible contemporary design by appointment. House of Leon and Tappan Collective, run by siblings Jordan, Steven, and Chelse Neman Nassib, occupy adjacent shops on Melrose Avenue. House of Leon provides stylish and accessible furniture, while Tappan Collective showcases art from emerging talent, demonstrating how to integrate furniture and art seamlessly into residential spaces. They are located at 8200 Melrose Ave. Kalon Studios, known for its minimalist wood furniture favored by Kylie Jenner and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, has opened its first space at 3559½ Casitas Ave., Atwater Village, featuring a landscaped roof deck designed by Teremoto. Pierce & Ward, the interior design duo behind homes for celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Dakota Johnson, has opened their first shop at 1956 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, featuring their maximalist aesthetic softened by sage green walls. Maquette, a collective formed by interior designers Caitlin Scanlon, Abby Wolf-Weiss, and Julie Goldman, has transformed a bungalow into a retail and co-working space. Located at 507 N. Larchmont Blvd., the shop attracts clients like UTA’s Blair Kohan and CAA’s Risa Gertner. Cooper Reynolds Gross has partnered with Fred Segal to launch his first commercial furniture collection, “Feels Right, Feels Good,” at Fred Segal on 8500 Sunset Boulevard. Coup D’Etat, a San Francisco-based gallery, is opening a new location on Robertson Boulevard. It will offer high-end furniture, exclusive artist collaborations, curated vintage pieces, and a dynamic visual program, attracting renowned designers. Gilded Owl, a decorative arts gallery from Hudson Valley, has established a presence on Beverly Boulevard at 7282 Beverly Blvd., showcasing mid-century Italian furniture and collaborations like “The Pool Table Series,” appealing to patrons such as Kirsten Dunst. Seventh House LA, located at 7001 Melrose Ave. in a building designed by Frank Gehry, presents a collection of early 20th-century Art Deco, postmodern, and contemporary art furniture. Albertz Benda | Friedman Benda, a New York gallery, has an L.A. outpost at 8260 Marmont Lane, aiming to broaden the concept of art and design by incorporating craft, architecture, and technology. This addition is significant for the L.A. design scene, as noted by interior designer Oliver M. Furth. Studio Balestra, Adriano Balestra’s shop at 767 N. La Cienega Blvd., blends his Italian heritage with Japanese antiquities to create a unique wabi-sabi aesthetic. This compilation provides an overview of the burgeoning home design scene in Los Angeles, highlighting various styles, celebrity endorsements, and key figures driving the industry. #LosAngeles #HomeDesign #InteriorDesign #LuxuryFurniture #VintageDecor #Lifestyle #Retail #ArtAndDesign #CelebrityStyle

The author shares her long-standing admiration for faux-bois furniture, a type of garden furnishing crafted from concrete to mimic the appearance of wood. Her fascination began over a decade ago when she acquired her house in Maine, a residence built with hand-cut pink granite. She believed that incorporating these heavy, rustic, and artisanal pieces would introduce a whimsical element to the otherwise formal English antiques that furnished the house, complementing the handcrafted nature of its architecture. Her initial collection of early-20th-century concrete faux-bois pieces was sourced from various antiques shows, including the New York Botanical Garden show and the Lexington Avenue Armory Garden Antiques Show, as well as from dealers in Maine, Connecticut, and New York. The collection grew to include planters, chairs, benches, luncheon tables, and stands, strategically placed throughout her home and on the terrace. These pieces successfully softened the formal decor and frequently became topics of conversation, memorable for their unexpected weight. As her collection expanded, the author sought larger and more significant pieces. After finding a substantial faux-bois table at the Armory show for her "living hall" in Maine, she decided that its presence added a desirable gravitas to the space. Subsequently, her search for similar large tables led her to discover a newly made bench from Texas, crafted by a third-generation faux-bois artist named Carlos Cortes. This discovery highlighted the global tradition of faux-bois, which extends beyond France and Italy to Japan, Mexico, and Spain. Intrigued, the author contacted Carlos Cortes and visited his open-air atelier in San Antonio, which was formerly an automotive service station. During her visit, she shared photographs of her existing faux-bois pieces to convey her preferred style. Cortes demonstrated his crafting process, which involved simple materials like concrete, steel wire, and rebar, and basic tools such as sticks, coarse brushes, forks, and trowels. He explained how a wire form provides the structure, mortar fills the screen, and a paintbrush pushes concrete into the screen, while forks and trowels are used to carve intricate wood-grain patterns. The author commissioned two dining tables from Cortes, one large and one smaller, designed with pink granite terrazzo tops. These were delivered six months later. Impressed by their quality, she then decided to replace a formal skirted round table in her living hall with a giant rectangular faux-bois table and accompanying benches. This larger commission featured wood-grained cement for both the tabletop and the four bench tops. She set a deadline for the furniture's completion before summer. Upon delivery, the table base, top, and four benches, including the 1,200-pound tabletop, were admired for their beauty and immense weight. The installation required building a ramp over four stairs to maneuver the table into the living hall. Once in place, the pieces proved to have perfect proportions for the room. The inclusion of EZ Glide surface protectors on the feet allowed the heavy furniture to be moved easily across the smooth wooden floors. The completed faux-bois table and benches were deemed a masterful fit for the room. #FauxBoisFurniture #HomeDecor #ArtisanalCraftsmanship #ConcreteArt #InteriorDesign #MarthaStewart #HandcraftedFurniture #CarlosCortes

An exhibition showcasing the creative work of architect and furniture designer Usama bin Murad is currently on display. The exhibition features a diverse collection of wooden furniture pieces, set within a gallery that complements the rustic aesthetic of the art. The venue, situated at Chak Shahzad farms amidst lush greenery, creates an environment where the natural surroundings blend seamlessly with the displayed artifacts. The rustic walls of the gallery further enhance the presentation of the wooded creations. Usama bin Murad has named his pieces with a blend of creativity and classicism, inviting visitors to embark on a journey through different historical periods. Key pieces on display include the Renaissance end tables, Slate end tables, a Vintage Almirah, a Classical coffee table, and a Neo-classical leaf Coffee table. These items are designed to evoke a sense of medieval royalty, transporting visitors to an imagined castle setting, perhaps on the outskirts of Scotland. The outdoor setting at Chak Shahzad farms also provides an ideal backdrop for the Country Coffee tables, Country Kitchen island, and Garden Tables sets. These outdoor pieces are envisioned for relaxation, offering a perfect spot to read a book and enjoy a cup of tea on a sunny day. The exhibition also highlights intricately designed Renaissance Table lamps, featuring rot iron cases on marble bases with wooden slats, which serve as prominent statements. The craftsmanship and labor invested by Usama bin Murad are evident in each piece, reflecting a high level of precision and fine engineering. The exhibition demonstrates the designer's ability to seamlessly join disparate materials such as stone, iron, and wood, utilizing various forms of hinges. This meticulous attention to detail and material integration has garnered appreciation from both art enthusiasts and fellow professionals. This exhibition marks a significant return for Usama, whose first household furniture exhibition took place 25 years ago, establishing him as a regular feature for art lovers in Islamabad. His work has also received international acclaim through showcases in the Middle East. Due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Usama bin Murad had an extended period to refine his techniques and explore new formations. This additional time has resulted in an exhibition that offers more than just conventional chairs and tables, presenting a richer and more varied collection for discerning eyes. The designer’s signature style involves transforming rot iron, wood, and stones into unique pieces of art, which are commonly referred to as furniture. The exhibition is open for one week, providing a limited opportunity for the public to experience this collection. #WoodenFurniture #FurnitureDesign #ArtExhibition #UsamaBinMurad #HomeDecor #InteriorDesign #Craftsmanship #ChakShahzadFarms #FunctionalArt

The article critiques the furniture design aspirations of the fictional character Mike Lane, also known as Magic Mike, from the 2012 film of the same name. While Mike Lane is depicted as a talented exotic dancer in Florida, his ultimate goal is to become a custom furniture designer, utilizing upcycled materials found around the Sunshine State. The article acknowledges the commendable nature of pursuing such a passion but raises significant concerns about the aesthetic and functional quality of his designs, as briefly showcased in the movie. Upon reviewing screenshots of Mike Lane's furniture, the author expresses considerable doubt regarding their practicality and visual appeal. The first piece, a table, is questioned for its structural integrity and overall design, with the author even doubting its real-world existence outside of the film set. The second piece, also appearing to be a table, is described as looking like an impractical rendering of two pieces of junk supporting a transparent disc. Specific criticisms are directed at the perceived uneven angles and the unexplained method of affixing the glass surface without visible support mechanisms. The third design is dismissed entirely, with the author stating they wouldn't know where to begin in critiquing it. Despite the harsh assessment of his furniture designs, the article notes that Mike Lane demonstrates some understanding of classic design, as evidenced by his ability to identify a knock-off kitchenette set as potentially being a "retro" Heywood-Wakefield or Russell Wright. His personal apartment is also described as having a relaxed, beachy vibe with decor affixed casually to the walls, weathered leather furniture, and well-used Barcelona seats, suggesting a particular personal style that suits his laid-back persona. The narrative also touches upon the character's financial struggles and the setback to his furniture business aspirations within the film's plot. Mike Lane uses his savings, intended for his business, to bail out a friend's brother, delaying his dream. The article speculates on how this plot point might be addressed in the then-upcoming sequel, "Magic Mike XXL." Furthermore, the article highlights real-world merchandise related to Mike Lane's design ambitions, such as a prop portfolio containing images of his furniture designs, which was available for purchase. It also mentions that the actual "Vintage Medical Records Coffee Table" featured in the film's opening scene was once sold on 1stDibs, notable for its rotating feature. For fans interested in replicating Mike Lane's "warm industrial" style, Apartment Therapy had previously published a "get-the-look" guide. The article concludes by humorously suggesting that watching "Magic Mike" is a patriotic act, given a scene set on the Fourth of July, and playfully adds "Also, butts." as a final incentive. #MagicMike #FurnitureDesign #MovieCritique #UpcycledFurniture #ProductReview #FilmAnalysis #HomeDecor #CharacterAspirations #ChanningTatum