Design

Summer News & Notes

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In the Mix:
Dealer, Decorator, Designer

Evan Lobel has owned a gallery for fifteen years and sells some of the most venerable names in design. But in 2011, he became a designer in his own right when he released a collection of furniture called Night Star. His clean-lined commodes, tables, and upholstered pieces not only speak to Hollywood Regency style, but also explore the interaction of light and dark by juxtaposing materials. Radiant patterns pepper the collection, emblazoning the doors of a commode in hand-cut ebony, or the surface of a writing desk in pale, lacquered goatskin.
Lobel has a knack for wrestling unwieldy materials into complex arrange­­ments of pattern—take for instance his resin console inset with lacquered slices of bamboo—so it’s not surprising that he cites designers like Edward Wormley, Ward Bennett, and Karl Springer (whose works he has sold for years) as pivotal inspirations. It follows that every detail is executed by hand, including the exquisite tufting on a series of sofas and chairs mounted on carved mahogany pedestals. “It’s all about wonderful materials,” Lobel says. “And, of course, the best craftsmanship possible.”  lobelmodern.com

Michael Boyd debuted his new collec­tion, PLANEfurniture, at Los Angeles’s Ed­ward Cella Art and Architecture in April. Not surprisingly, planes and other geometries are central to the collection’s minimalistic, case-study feel. So are warm, sustainable materials (jute rope and plywood), striking primary colors (red), and “affordable” price points, all of which place the collection squarely in the wake of pioneering modernists such as Jean Prouvé, Donald Judd, and Gerrit Rietveld. Organized into four series named as sparely as the designs themselves—BLOCKseries, WEDGEseries, PLANKseries, and RODseries—the collection is at once pretentious and utilitarian, as comfortable in a gallery as it is on your patio. boyddesign.com

In Editions, her first collection of furniture, Liz O’Brien takes a stroll through decorative history, tweaking lines and techniques as she goes. Her Frances dining chair embodies Queen Anne style with sass, showing off cabriole legs and a plucky feminine shape. And her

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Design Days Dubai, the first-ever such show in the Middle East, drew twenty-two galleries to the largely unfamiliar turf (at least in the worlds of contemporary and collectible design) of the United Arab Emirates. The show, held in a tent in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest tower), attracted galleries from around the globe, of which only one (R 20th Century) came from the United States. With participants from Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia, the cultural mix was a rich one. The fair’s goals, said director Cyril Zammit, were to offer work by both established and emerging designers, opportunities for collaboration, and a platform to showcase work emanating from the Middle East. One scene-stealer came from Beirut’s Carwan Gallery, where the Viennese designers Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler (who work together as Mischer’Traxler) collaborated on-site with Beirut craftsman Roger Thome to create a console table from 650 pieces of wood. Plans are already under way for the 2013 encore.
—Beth Dunlop

Dolphin Promotions and 1stdibs.com launched the first of ten new objects and furnishings fairs, scheduled to open in cities across the country, right here in New York. On April 12 through 15, NYC20 drew thirty-six blue-chip dealers to a tent in Lincoln Center. Under a taut white ceiling a crowd of young collectors wandered through a maze of booths styled as retro-era vignettes. There were plenty of standouts. Paul Donzella showed a bronze console by Philip and Kevin Laverne that resembled a hunk of driftwood freshly hauled from the sea. And Downtown presented a host of works by seminal Mexican designers, including Arturo Pani’s feather-shaped fiberglass lounge chairs. But few things defined the atmosphere more vividly than the pop art minidresses at Katy Kane Vintage and Couture Clothing, projecting, like colorful talismans, the idea that our appetite for modernism is as robust as ever. The next stop on the tour was in Los Angeles, where the LA Modernism Show and Sale was open May 4 through May 6. Next up is San Francisco, September 13 to 16.
—Damaris Colhoun

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