I spent most of the day at the World Market Center in
Las Vegas looking for new trends and captivating new products. This seasons show was markedly toned down due to the
economy but one standout was the
Tozai Home showroom.
Dressed up in what I can only assume is an homage to designer Tony
Duquette the showroom was a rich collage of color and texture highlighted by
malachite wallpaper and
faux coral everywhere.
Brightly colored pottery mixed with blue and white porcelain set the tone throughout the showroom.
A fabulous set of chairs covered in velvet leopard print where the focal point of the main window.
While
Tozai does
not carry any products
designed by
Duquette they are
certainly in love with his aesthetic. They are the distributor on the West Coast for designer John
Derian one of my
fav's.
Here a table is set with one of
Duquettes signature
malachite patterned table cloths. His love of richly colored and textured surfaces prompted him to master the art of eclecticism. Mixing almost any material, pattern, period, etc. to great effect. His interiors where at once complicated yet at the same time comforting.
Over his long
career he designed theatrical costumes, jewelry, movie sets, hotels and just about everything else you could think of. Here is a beautiful brooch he designed in his signature colors.
Duquettes own residence "
Dawnridge" in Beverly Hills was a
testament to style and dramatics. I've always loved this view looking down a long hallway to a somewhat satirical mural of a manservant at the end, ready to cater to the viewers every need. Fantasy seemed to be a way of life for the designer.
The design of his Malibu, California Ranch showed his deep love for
Chinoiserie and high drama. Sadly it was destroyed by fire in 1993.
The recently released, self titled biography of
Duquette, written by his long time creative partner Hutton Wilkinson, has been a rousing success. It's influence has been seen across the board in the design and retail marketplace with many a shop window styled to reflect his designs.
He says his objective in writing the book, which he also says was very difficult to get published due to an overall lack of interest by many publishing houses, was to chronicle the genius of his mentor and to show his talents to the world. While these kinds of books inspire many creative individuals and help to mold their own design signature, one famous design icon has taken it a bit too far.
Apparently, Wilkinson is suing fashion designer Michael
Kors for using
Duqettes name and images from the book without permission to promote
Kors new line of resort wear. It will be very interesting to see what the outcome of this lawsuit is.
I don't know the details but it is an age old question. Where does inspiration end and
plagiarism begin?
I got a fantastic surprise in the mail today - the first test strike offs of my fabric designs from Adaptive Textiles. It is amazing how quickly they can produce the finished product once they receive the art work. These are very rough - first test efforts printed on a fine cotton sateen. They don't look half bad if I do say so myself.
Now, I will be working on color variations and backgrounds. I have to say, this is the most fun I have ever had at work. I'm hooked!
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The first set of designs is representative of the patterns that I used in illustrating the window treatments in my first book. They are tentatively named after my daughter ( Angelica) and my sisters. I haven't thought of a name for the whole collection yet - any ideas?d.jpg)
Here several individual motifs are combined together to form a stripe. Backgrounds will be added later. ( once I figure out how to produce them!).JPG)
One of the biggest challenges is to design motifs that can be linked together or grouped effectively in repeats on the face of the fabric. This one was particularly challenging and took quite a few tries before I got it right..JPG)
I am already seeing a trend in the shapes and motifs that I am drawn to, I tend to group things symmetrically which is a hard habit to break. I have to work hard to fight my basic impulses or everything will turn out looking exactly the same.
This is a fun damask pattern. I have to figure out how to produce a washy looking background. That is my next challenge. Ink Jet printing is very different from silk screening or hand blocking ad I am trying to produce patterns that are uniquely suited to the process.
A fabulous set of chairs covered in velvet leopard print where the focal point of the main window.
The design of his Malibu, California Ranch showed his deep love for Chinoiserie and high drama. Sadly it was destroyed by fire in 1993.
I adore the painted finish and decorative scenes painted on this lovely bed frame. The aged finish is fantastic.
This style is the precursor to today's upholstered, arm chair style headboards.
Lesson Number One: Everything is always harder to do than it looks.
Lesson Number Two: It takes at least 10 or 15 try's at creating different color combination's in Photoshop before you find one you don't absolutely hate.
This Studio 3.0 rendering of one of my drapery designs using the rough fabric mock up was made by the super talented Casey Green of Minutes Matter. It is great to be able to visualize the pattern in use as you are designing it.
