Hasta La Ideas

Madame Clicquot’s former domicile gets a top-to-toe makeover

Housed in the former residence of Madame Clicquot herself, Hotel du Marc is a place to stay unlike any other. As if the historic setting in Reims, France wasn’t enough, Veuve Clicquot recently completed a head-to-toe renovation, updating the interiors and facade to create the kind of charming experience for which many hotels strive but few achieve.

The facade underwent extensive repairs—though WWI-era pockmarks left by mortar shells remain—and now sports a smart-looking new awning (made locally, along with other new features), but it’s the decor, a mix of antique pieces, custom art and other clever design elements, that makes for a visit not just comfortable but totally enchanting. The surprises begin right away when, greeting guests at the entryway, a grometrically mirrored installation in tribute to Issey Miyake’s “Pleats Please,” recasts a problematic space by containing a cloakroom with serious “wow” effect.

Stairs leading up to the rooms honor the famous chalk caves of Reims with an ombre carpet that fades from white to burgundy—for the Pinot grapes, of course. The vine-like balustrade, designed by Pablo Reinoso, also evokes the neighboring fields, culminating in the twisting and turning wood of the artist’s captivating site-specific sculpture at the top of the stairs.

From there, a hallway swathed in their trademark yellow, leads to a handful of spacious rooms, each featuring a design tied to a season as well as a place. Details such as Fornasetti plates (a favorite part of the “Rome” room where I stayed when Veuve Clicquot invited us to preview it last month), and bathroom tiles incorporating touches of gold into an anchor pattern inspired by the Veuve Clicquot logo, make the rooms as elegantly pleasant as the rest of the house.

Downstairs, a library, lounge, chef’s kitchen and other spaces for entertaining promise many occasions for enjoying the bubbles responsible for the whole affair. On our visit, the kitchen transformed from an afternoon hands-on cooking demo to a post-dinner screening of Lady Gaga concert tapes, to give you an idea. A formal dining room is literally the heart of the house, featuring woodwork taken from the castle of Eduard Werle (Clicquot’s business partner) around which the house was initially built. Formerly painted white, the wood was restored and painted black, nicely offsetting frescoes depicting scenes of life in Champagne.

A cellar stores wine used in the house, as well as rare bottles, still wines and (eventually) Andree Putman’s 2005 writing table for the brand. The feature also allows the building to have a Canadian well, which keeps the building 13 degrees cooler in the summer as well as providing heat in the winter, part of the winemaker’s ongoing efforts to be environmentally conscious.

Alas, this kind of experience does not come without exclusivity; staying at the Hotel du Marc is by invite only. For more photos, however, check out Notcot’s coverage.

Earlier this summer, electronics accessory company Incase announced that they were launching a line of headphones to complement both the gadgets that need them and their existing portfolio. Seeing as Incase has become all but synonymous with laptop bags and cases, the announcement marks a new direction for the Southern California-based company, and the initial teaser shots definitely whet our appetites for more details.

We had the opportunity to talk to Joe Tan, Chief Design Officer, and Markus Dieble, VP of Design, about the design process behind the new collection.

I know one of Incase’s primary goals was to strike a balance between aesthetics and comfort. Can you elaborate on this process?

For us, functionality takes priority. When we set out to design our line of headphones, we wanted to elevate the listening experience by focusing on the right acoustics and creating a high level of ergonomic wearing comfort.

To keep the focus on producing this listening experience, we set out to create the most minimal aesthetic that further emphasized and complemented our focus rather than detract from it with unnecessary details. In our product development cycle, we go through a repeated exercise and process of aesthetic reduction, which, in this case, has resulted in a timeless simplicity and a seemingly effortless aesthetic that we are very excited about.

To maximize the wearing comfort, we looked closely at the human anatomy, specifically the ear and ear canal shape and how our ear tips and pads would interface with them. With unique ear tip and ear cup shapes that match the human form and by incorporating memory foam into the build of the ear cups, we were able to increase the pressure dispersion at the various touch points, resulting in a better and more comfortable fit and an improved acoustic experience as a result of minimizing the sound leakage.

From L to R: The “Pivot,” “Reflex,” and “Sonic”

How did you arrive at the choice of materials?

Since we are introducing a completely new family of products, we wanted to create some sense of continuity and consistency with the rest of the Incase product line. This was achieved through our design language and approach, but also through careful editing of materials and finishes.

We’ve chosen some materials and finishes that were already part of the Incase design language, such as the soft-touch finish and coated canvas textile. We then combined these familiar materials with completely new ones like memory foam, microsuede and woven mesh (found on our ear cups), which creates a completely new tactile and sensory experience.

The “Capsule”

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Our rare look inside three of Ferrari’s most exclusive facilities

After making the trip to Maranello, Italy to check out Ferrari’s new Jean Nouvel-designed production facility and restaurant a year ago, we were lucky enough to be invited back for this year’s World Design Contest in July 2011.

This time we toured the amazing V8 production line again, but also had the rare privilege of seeing many of the standout cars in Ferrari’s extensive vintage collection, as well as getting an exclusive glimpse inside the
FXX, Forumula 1 Clienti, and
Classiche garages.

The FXX garage houses and maintains a few dozen independently-owned Ferrari FXXs, the $1.8 million non-street-legal versions of the Enzo. These superior limited production cars are significantly modified specifically for racing. Storing your FXX here gives you access to Ferrari’s private track—so private we weren’t even allowed to photograph it.

Every year Ferrari produces between three and six Formula One race cars. At the end of the season, Ferrari keeps one, putting the rest up for sale to private clients. Like for owners of the FXX, with the Formula One Clienti garage you get storage, maintenance and access to the track—providing you have the funds of course.

For the classic car connoisseur, Ferrari also offers complete factory renovation and restoration assistance in their Classiche garage. Here the brilliant craftspeople will restore your vintage Ferrari to its former glory. Every little detail is remanufactured to its original specs in order to receive a proper Ferrari seal of authenticity.

For more exclusive images from our trip check out the gallery below.

All images by Evan Orensten

This year’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for corporate and institutional achievement was given to furniture design company, Knoll. The award is a timely vindication for the design-focused company, which continued to invest in design even as the economy tanked (Knoll stock price in the first quarter of 2009 sank to just over $5; shares are now over $20.)

Andrew Cogan, left, has been CEO of the East Greenville, Pennsylvania-based company since 2001. I talked with him about the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation, and he described how Knoll has learned to evolve and adapt along with the market even as it continues to emphasize the importance of design to the bottom line (“Workspaces,” top, are a new introduction designed by famed New York-based company, Antenna.) An edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Helen Walters: Can you describe the research process at Knoll?

Andrew Cogan: Florence Knoll started the Knoll Planning Unit in 1946. She was well-known for trying to understand the problem clients were trying to solve for, particularly as they were moving into the modern workplace. She spent time studying what was going on in an office, how people interface with each other and equipment and tools. And we continue to do that to this day. We’re very client-driven. We engage with a range of individual clients, looking at all the problems they’re solving and we think about how furniture can play a role in that. We also do research on a broader level, so we think about a topic such as office seating and spend hundreds of hours filming people in office chairs to see how they sit and move, and that gives insight into designing products. Then we also do third party trend research looking at trends in the workplace. We bring all those insights together into our product design process.

Can you give an example of a client-based project?

We recently did a major program with eBay. They were trying to go to a more collaborative environment, with a lower height horizon, so we looked at how our products could facilitate that. It evolved into a very particular solution of a collection of products that met their needs, both in how they’re working today and how they want to work down the road.

What does “lower height horizon” mean, and what are some of the other office space trends you’re watching right now?

The lowering of the horizon is driven by social issues, of people wanting to collaborate and see what’s going on more. It’s also driven by environmental issues. LEED certification calls for more natural light to reach the core of a space and high panels interfere with the penetration of light, so we go lower. That trend is coupled with miniaturization and the mobility of tech. People are spending more time online and doing email and less time on the telephone, so you can create a smaller, more efficient environment. People don’t want to feel like they’re at some big dining table getting work done, so within a space you have different levels of privacy, adjustability and enclosure.

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Patricia Urquiola is easily one of the biggest names in furniture design today, known both for her uncanny design sensibility and her disarmingly effusive personality. Urquiola’s signature aesthetic is that she does not impose one on her work; instead, her consistent output—for the likes of Moroso, B&B Italia, Flos, Foscarini, Kartell, Axor, etc.—is characterized by a strong sense of pattern, form and material.

Luminaire and B&B Italia were kind enough to host the esteemed designer for a lecture at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art on the occasion of NeoCon 2011. We had the opportunity to chat with Urquiola in anticipation of the talk and concurrent exhibition at Luminaire.

Core77: I’m sure most of our readers are somewhat familiar with your work, but how did you get your start?

I completed university at the end of the 80’s, and then I worked for Magistretti and another part of the company that was called De Padova; that was my early work.

And you started your own studio around 2001?

Yes, about 2001… Ten years ago, more or less.

Why did you want to do that?

I thought, because I was raising a family, I could work in a group, with others; I thought that having my own studio could be possibly less comfortable. But then a moment arrived [around] 2000, when I understood that it was really a possibility and a logical reality. In that period, I began to work with Patrizia Moroso and we did two projects that were quite interesting while I was working with Piero Lissoni. But I was working part-time in the studio. And I understood there was a credibility.

But I don’t think it was such a big deal to have my own studio or not to have it. I’m quite sociable, working with others, and I would work well with others in other companies. [At some point], you understand that you need to have your own studio and you decide to open it, but there are many ways to work in this discipline—inside a company, with a group of architects and designers…

When you are young, you don’t know very well if that’s the only way is to be you, [to have] your name and your studio.

Installation at Luminaire Chicago

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