Summer in Berlin

We love Rosa Loy. She will be showing at the Schlechtriem Brothers Gallery in Berlin, Germany from May 1st to June 27th.

Ironwood Table

Friends of ours are selling this Andrianna Shamaris Ironwood table ($8,000) for $4,000 or best offer. Let me know if you're interested!

Another.....yawn.....painting.

Sea #5

Buy a house by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Click on the pic.

Nice Coffee Table

Super cute concrete coffee table from CB2! $349

Finally...

An original painting by Ariel Ashe on my art wall. Clockwise from top left: 17th Century Virgin by unknown; Restoration by Thomas Helbig, Lightning by Karl Haendel , Jardin de Rene by unknown; Cosmic Slop by Rashid Johnson, Sea 1 by Ariel Ashe, Untitled by Paul Moran, Untitled by Feliciano Carvallo.

After and Before II

A recently completed apartment in the Upper East Side

3:10 to Yuma

A recently completed section of the fence the United States is building along the Mexican border crosses desert sands between Yuma, Ariz., and Calexico, Calif.As Clinton Visits Mexico, Strains Show in Relations

After and Before

We have become quite experienced at designing small space kitchens!

It's Friiiiiiday.

Two paintings (by me).

See Lia!

Before ashe + leandro

my friend stefan and i both studied architecture together and right after grad school we worked in the same architecture firm.
while he was archiving his work this weekend he came upon this pic. it is a model he made of a park/plaza we both designed
for the headquarters of an office tower in the middle east. 'we should use this idea in the future' he says

Book Review 1: Loving Frank

frank, mamah and taliesin home in wisconsin

I picked up this book thinking it was the one about Frank Lloyd Wright and his group of students in Taliesi--a book allegedly filled with gossip about the architect’s manipulative third wife, their sex-starved daughter and the sexual romps of his apprentices after years of isolation in the countryside (who doesn’t like a good sex story.)

However, that book is called The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and The Taliesin Fellowship. And the book I bought was Loving Frank by Nancy Horan; a fictionalized true story about the love affair between Mamah Borthwick and Frank Lloyd Wright. Mamah and Frank fall in love when she and her husband commission a home from the architect in Chicago. They end up causing a giant scandal amongst the society people by eloping together. After a tormented yet romantic European adventure they move to Taliesin, the house in Spring Green, Wisconsin. You want to root for both of the characters throughout the story but unfortunately their selfishness gets in the way. About the guilt of leaving a husband she did not love Mamah thinks '...life itself is too short, so precious. To live dishonestly seemed a cowardly way to use up one's time...(life) had given her extraordinary gifts. (Her children) Matha and John were that. And then...life had bestowed her another kind of love that was both erotic and nourishing. To embrace Frank, to accept the gift, seemed to be an affirmation of life'

She can put it anyway she likes, but to acknowledge she was hurting her children, neither more than eight years of age in this case, by abandoning them to embrace this other gift life bestowed her, it’s hard to feel compassionate. She also carelessly wrecked her single sister's life by bestowing upon her the responsibility of picking up the pieces of her failed marriage and the care of her children.

Wright is not painted in the most likable light either. He consistently behaves as if he is above the common man and considers himself a genius, which considering the legacy he left behind we can agree he was, but he not only leaves his family behind but spins a giant web of debts. He believes that working with/for him is a privilege in itself. The author speculates that Frank's first wife, Katherine, may have been so difficult in granting him a divorce because she was afraid she was not going to see a penny from him.

The book itself is written well, a bit zappy at times; but it’s a love story after all. It best works when Mamah is reflective about her life choices. Other times it feels like connect-the-dots. The German Modernist movement of the early 20th century is explored in no more than a page!

The end was unexpected given I had not heard about their story before. All I’ll say is that I ended up regretting having judged them so harshly, and genuinely wished them happiness and peace after what they had put themselves and others through. They deserved each other, after all.

Anyone can be a fisherman in May.

I know it's not May yet, but It's Friday. I'm not going to tell you where this cottage is because I have it on good authority that it's located in the next best place on Long Island (okay, I told you that much) and I want first dibs on a house there. My friends Nick and Phoebe bought this fishing shack two years ago and transformed it over the winter. It's amazing what a new coat of paint and some blue trim can do for a place. avant/après

Peter Serling

Remember my Salon idea? (see side bar) Our office space at 55 Vandam is sort of like that now...though we all have our own doors. One of our neighbors is a photographer named Peter Serling. He knocked on our door last week and asked if he could take pictures of us in the snow. We said yes, obviously. I asked Rei how he was able to look so dramatic in all of his portraits, while all I could do was smile. He said he was acting out the characters from Lost. Why didn't I think of that?

Peter Serling

Give it to me straight.

All of Jeff Meyers' trickery is done inside the camera. No photoshop. He simply drops rocks, shells (and in this case a weathered brick) in front of the lens.jashemeyer@gmail.com

Bobcat in the backyard.

My parents had a couple of unexpected visitors last night in Placitas, New Mexico.
Photo by Tom Ashe (scary, dad!!!)

Chelsea Loft

A newly completed loft in Chelsea and a perro salchicha named Squid.

Other blogs blogging about us!

Desire to Inspire

Apartment Therapy

Remodelista

Last LA Post

Photo by Tom Ashe

Favorites from the Armory Show

doug aitken - 303 gallery
daniel archam - galerie emmanuel perrotin
katja strunz - the modern institute
patrick hill - bortolami gallery

At the flea.

Rattan cups from the 1960's at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market. $2 each.

Night Sky/LA

Fantastic House Series (we wish we'd had a part in)

Set and Costume Designer Robert Israel's house in Los Angeles.
His work has been seen at the Lincoln Center Theater, the Metropolitan Opera , the National Operas in London and Tokyo, the Paris Opera, Vienna and many other international locations. WE got to see his house.Linen Apta Chairs by Maxalto for B&B Italia and Eames Molded Plywood chair in Black.
Fireplace by Robert Israel.

It's Friday (and I'm actually AT the beach!)

MODERN in MALIBU Peter Morton's house on Carbon Beach, designed by Richard Meier. See Water Shed http://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/archive/home_mortonI liked this one:

I Heart LA.

A four inch tall dragonfly has been perched on my sister's screen for the past half hour. I love LA.

Hide and seek.

Kitchen box we designed for a Soho loft. White Corian countertop and integral sink, black mirror backsplash and floating metal shelves.

Surrendering to the landscape.

Outpost and Montecito Residence and Rolling Huts by Olson Sunberg Kundig Allen Architects.

"Last great sanctuary of Christendom"

This BEAUTIFUL photo was sent to me by friends honeymooning in Spain. Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia was designed by Antoni Gaudi in 1882. He worked on the church for over 40 years, and it remains under construction to this very day. This is a detail shot of the east side portal.

More Bello Monte

Bello Monte in Caracas here are two other great structures built in the 50's.
La Concha Acústica (The Acoustic Shell) by Julio Cesar Volante 1953-1954 and
El Club Táchira by Fruto Vivas 1955.

Corner Buldings

I took these pictures in Caracas for a paper on corner buildings. I think they are great examples
(all buildings built in the late 50's in Bello Monte, Caracas, Venezuela)