Playfully dubbed “planet Earth’s #1 accommodations site,” Booking.com has been an essential travel tool in Europe for over a decade, and it’s now quickly gaining momentum stateside with its unique approach to customer service and humorous…
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In many major cities, using bike messengers and services like Seamless can be a daily occurrence. Add in less-specialized services like TaskRabbit, and the odds of getting nearly anything delivered are in your favor. But for those…
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Maintaining a home is a long-term endeavor that’s not without some high costs. Purchasing a service that helps your loved one cover those costs and keep their home functioning smoothly and/or looking great is a gift that will usually be met with high doses of gratitude. I’ve shared five home maintenance services that when purchased individually (one time only) or in bulk (across several months), can mean a great deal to the person or family receiving them. For many of the services listed below, visit HomeAdvisor.com or Angie’s List to find a local provider.
If you want your gift recipient to unwrap something in addition to the service certificate, you could include a book like The Home Owner’s Journal by Colleen Jenkins or a nice tea your friend or family member can enjoy while not doing work around the house.
Whether you’re giving a gift to the unclutterers in your life or simply want to give something other than a tangible item, there are several options for presents that can be more than just a nice surprise — they can also help the recipient get stuff done. Of course, it’s important to be mindful of your budget as you think about the service you think will be most helpful to your friends and family members.
The full 2012 Holiday Gift Giving Guide.
Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.
A San Francisco hotel lobby houses a curious collection of furniture
Hotels may play to the boutique experience by furnishing the public areas with a sturdy mix of handsome tables and chairs culled from high-end shops like Design Within Reach, but few go as far as San Francisco’s Clift. The motley collection of designer furniture gracing the hotel’s immense lobby would more likely be found in a museum or private home than a stopping place for hundreds of travelers, wheeling their luggage with kids in tow. As Clift’s Vice President of Design Mari Balestrazzi explains, high-end furnishings are an important part of the hotel’s distinct charm. “We’re like an interactive museum,” she says. “The pieces are real and some are quite expensive but it would take the fun out of it if we didn’t allow our guests to really use the spaces.”
Conceived by Philippe Starck ten years ago, the diverse range of lobby furniture is not only intriguing to the eye, but it also keeps the space fresh from a design perspective. Upon entering the hotel, guests come across Roberto Matta‘s homage to surrealist artist René Magritte—a stool posed as a green apple in a black bowler hat—and to their right they’ll find William Sawaya‘s octopus-like Darwish chair, a bronze four-seater custom-crafted for the hotel.
Salvador Dali’s Leda table unites a cluster of chairs in the main area, including Michel Haillard‘s Horn Sofa and a plexiglass and bronze side chair, designed by Starck and developed by the famed French atelier Thierry Goux (now known as Rinck). A few feet away sits Crystal Farm‘s “Elk Gentleman’s Chair,” a rustic piece more traditionally placed in a cabin in the woods, but in a swanky hotel, manages to round out the lobby’s warm vibes.
To the right of Gerard Garouste’s 18-foot bronze fireplace, along the Brazilian cherry back wall, a gold-hued chaise perfectly juxtaposes a slightly gruesome Bronze Chair chair sculpted by Sawaya & Moroni.
Starck’s aptly named Big Arm chair—the focus of a city-wide scavenger hunt and a piece of furniture guests are encouraged to climb on or crawl under to see a “childish” design surprise—serves as a perfect contrast to the hotel’s “Angel Chair.” Though sitting in that chair isn’t forbidden, the “Angel Chair” is the only furnishing with a slight “do-not-touch” vibe. Vice President of Guest Experience Dave Freiberger explains that the beautifully ornate chair—positioned by itself near the lobby elevators—is the only one remaining from the original Clift lobby, designed in 1918. The leather chair features gargoyle-like lions and a cherubic boy carved into each wooden arm, recalling the hotel’s formerly lavish Italian Renaissance decor.
Home to one of California’s most expensive and unique collections of designer furniture, Clift stands out for staying authentic to its boutique hotel atmosphere despite its 300 rooms. Balestrazzi speaks to the choice in luxury over durability, stating simply, “We want our guests to feel engaged by their surroundings.”
A photographer brings old-world portraiture to San Francisco
From his airy studio in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission district, photographer Michael Shindler is quietly putting a little “soul-stealing” back into the act of picture taking. Asking his subjects to sit still for a one-off tintype portrait, Shindler began Photobooth—a studio, shop and gallery space—in late August 2011 as a way of putting tangible value back into the typically digital medium.
Shindler captures a person’s image directly on a tintype or stainless ferrotype plate, then exposes them in the adjoining darkroom using a mix of chemical solutions. Because there’s no negative, the image on the plate is the only record of the moment captured with each subject. The uniqueness of the image combined with the intimacy of when it was taken elevates the simple portrait into something much more.
Shindler spent several years honing his technique, essentially the culmination of meticulous darkroom experiments, before opening Photobooth. Citing landscape photographer Carleton Watkins as inspiration for a perfectly developed print, Shindler shares an attention to photo processing with the 19th-century photographer, but he assures us it’s people that interest him most. The tintype format allows him to draw out intriguing characteristics of a face with freckles, wrinkles and irises in high contrast.
Fueled by a passion for the hands-on process of developing wet-plate collodion prints, Photobooth adds a human touch to photography, one portrait at a time. Walk-ins are encouraged, and prices span $50-80 a photo, depending on whether you choose a tintype or the stainless steel, mirror-like plate.
See more images in the gallery below.
A slick Brooklyn barber shop offering services in a humble way
In recent years the men’s grooming culture has thankfully evolved, but with steep prices and an equally pretentious atmosphere many salons seem to cater more to the classy gent than the downtown dude. Steve Marks aims to change this with his relaxed Brooklyn barber shop Persons of Interest, an outfit offering solid cuts and sophisticated services but with simplicity at the forefront.
Marks first came upon the idea for Persons of Interest when he visited Sal’s, the original barber shop that occupied the space. Remaining unaltered for 27 years, the shop naturally captured the feel and design of a classic 1970s grooming station. Determined to retain that atmosphere, Marks went above and beyond to keep original features such as the classic barber pole, original chairs and the coastal mural on the back wall.
The attention to detail is also reflected in the level of service on offer. Walk in the door and Marks is the first to give you a warm greeting and a beverage (beer included) from the cooler. If the reading material or conversation isn’t peaking your interest you can always browse the classic suitcase filled with old passports and cash, on display in case someone needs to get out of town quick.
The talent with scissors is just as impressive as the space itself; all of the barbers in Marks’ shop are attentive and skilled, with conversation and advice to match. What they offer is very unique for the Carroll Gardens neighborhood—a high quality cut with no frills and a price tag that’s easy on the wallet. The shop got its name because Persons of Interest “sounds vaguely criminal, vaguely sinister” but you won’t find any shady dealings here. The real beauty of the barber shop is that it fills a gap for men who want a really good haircut ($40) without the glitz of a grandiose salon. To check out this slice of 70s, visit the Persons of Interest website where you can see a full list of their services, including beard trims and more.
poster design by Andreas BrændhaugenI’m really excited to present the lineup for this Spring’s David H. Liu Memorial Lecture Series in Design.
All talks will begin at 8pm in building 320, room 105. Every lecture is free and open to the public!
Andy Spade will be speaking on Wednesday, April 15th. Spade had over a decade of experience with top advertising agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, and TBWA/Chiat/Day managing accounts with companies such as Coca Cola, Evian, Reebok, Lexus, and Coach. He’s the branding and marketing man behind Kate Spade and Jack Spade (the companies that he and his wife created.) He has also been tapped to design the experiences of a number of companies including Delta’s Song Airlines and J. Crew retail experiment The Liquor Store. Spade’s latest project is Partners & Spade. It includes a highly conceptual retail experience in downtown Manhattan. Beyond all these business ventures, Spade is heavily involved in the art world. He is a patron to emerging artists, co-owner of a gallery, and curator of several exhibitions. Spade’s projects merge emotional branding, experience design, brilliant collaboration, and always a touch of surrealism.
Dr. Jonathan Cagan will be speaking on Monday, May 4th. Dr. Cagan is a co-director of the Masters in Product Development program at Carnegie Mellon and also the co-director for the school’s Center for Product Strategy and Innovation. He has the title of Barrett Ladd Professor in Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and holds appointments in the School of Design and Computer Science. He has expertise in product development and innovation methods for early stage product development. Both his design methods and computer-based design research have been applied in a variety of industries. Dr. Cagan is the author of two books: Creating Breakthrough Products (co-authored with Craig Vogel), and The Design of Things to Come (co-authored with Peter Boatwright and Craig Vogel). He has consulted with a variety of small and large companies in diverse areas on product development, brand strategy, and strategic planning. He is co-founder and chief technologist of DesignAdvance Systems, Inc., a company focused on developing CAD software for the early synthesis processes. Cagan teaches New Product Development at Carnegie Mellon and runs executive training sessions in small and large companies.
Alex Wipperfürth will be speaking on Thursday, May 21st. Wipperfürth is a partner at Dial House in San Francisco. He is the author of Brand Hijack, and the upcoming The Co-Creation Myth and The Fringe Manifesto. Dial House is part think-tank and part creative hot shop. The client list is diverse: from fringe (Napster, Doc Martens, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Jones Soda, Red Stripe, Altoids) to cutting edge (Current TV, New Yorker Magazine) to blue chip (Diageo, IBM, P&G/Clorox, Toyota, Coca-Cola). Projects range from innovative strategy, innovative research, meaningful creative expressions with DIY production to brand innovation. In earlier work, Wipperfürth had interviewed actual cult members and people in “consumer cults” (like Apple or Harley-Davidson fanatics) and made fascinating insights about their similarities.
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