Highlights from Paris - Maison et Objet 2012

I have just returned from Paris where I attended Maison et Objet. Maison et Objet is Europe's biggest décor show where I got the first look at the products, colours, and styles that will set the trends for the world for 2012 in interior design. 

      
The Spanish furniture Company Baltus regards the creation of a piece of furniture as a work of art. They create avant-garde pieces with simple geometric shapes in amazing lacquer finishes. Maison et Objet 2012

        A new line of bedding from Diane von Furstenberg. Maison et Objet 2012

Missioni - bright, colourful, and fun! Maison et Objet 2012

Ideel Contemporary Furniture incorporates salvaged antique teak ceiling beams and posts from Indian architecture into unique furniture pieces. Maison et Objet 2012 

An coffee table from Fendi that is lit with battery powered LED lights. Maison et Objet 2012

A TV incorporated into a mirror in the Fendi showroom. Maison et Objet 2012

Charlotte Moss and me at a presentation of her new line of fabrics for Fabricut. Maison et Objet 2012

A show stopping display by the Italian stone company, Antolini Luigi. The models were painted to blend into the slabs of granite and marble. Very evocative and very Italian! Maison et Objet 2012

   
Lighting by the German Company Anthologie Quartett. Maison et Objet 2012

I wish Kitchen Aid would offer sleek products like this for the North American market. Maison et Objet 2012

Hay Shop from Denmark – a climbing wall of towel rings. Maison et Objet 2012

 
Designed by the French designer David Turpin this contemporary styled Bluetooth handset has an integrated iPhone charging dock. Check out their web-site as they have some very innovative products. Native Union Maison et Objet 2012

From Tokyo porcelain cups by Ken Noborumurata. Maison et Objet 2012

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver. Here we write about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2012 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

The Essentials of Fabulous

I just returned from a ‘fabulous’ six days in New York. It really is a special time at Christmas with all the lights and excitement…..more of my adventures in a later post. I just wanted to share with you a must-get book for Christmas gift giving. I have just placed an order for a dozen to have on hand for last minute gifts for all the fabulous girlfriends, guyfriends, relatives, and for all the fabulous people you haven’t met yet.

“No one is born fabulous,” author Ellen Lubin-Sherman writes. “You have to decide to do it—to transform yourself into one of those amazing creatures that infiltrate our lives and ignite our dreams with their swagger, energy, pizzazz, and soigné charm.” The Essentials of Fabulous guides you to set yourself apart in this “whatever” world by paying scrupulous attention to detail. It shows you how passion, enthusiasm, attitude, superior manners, and a terrific personal style will catapult you right into the fabulous pantheon.

So I recommend that you definitely get a copy for yourself and while you are at it get as many as you can for all the fabulous people in you life.

Happy Fabulous to all of you!!

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver. Here we write about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

First Impressions

I was meeting with a client recently about a new home they are building and I was discussing my philosophy of the importance in creating an environment that nurtures and supports the needs and lifestyles of the occupants. There is so much more than meets the eye when designing a home. I am reminded by what I was taught by my feng shui instructor and mentor Grandmaster Professor Thomas Lin Yun: ‘when you enter a space it takes your body and psyche tens seconds to adjust to the space – either in a negative or a positive way.’ Our homes are living and dynamic vessels that either optimally support us, or support us in a diminished capacity. Is your home all it can be?

Photo: Patricia Gray Inc; Artwork: Martha Sturdy, Tom Burrows; Photography: Roger Brooks

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver. Here we write about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

A Perfect White Geranium

 

To my delight and surprise this morning I found this last perfect white geranium in my garden as the nights are turning cold and crisp and we are rapidly approaching winter. It is hardy and pure.

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver. Here we write about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

HOMEFRONT

In pursuit of happy endings……..

I have been published this month in HOMEFRONT magazine Pages 16 – 20. Thank-you to Homefront’s Editor-in-Chief, Caroline Tapp-McDougall and writer, Lindsay Jackson.

Photos courtesy Natasha Duff of Meade Design Group

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver. Here we write about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

5 iPad Apps for Interior Design

I got a new iPad this summer as a gift from dear clients on the completion  of their  home and it has changed my life and the way I do business. No longer do I have to carry around my laptop – the iPad does every thing  for me and more when I am out of the office that I used to bring my laptop for. With some clever apps I have a virtual box in my hands. These are some of the iPad Apps I am using that are proving to be indispensable:

1. Dropbox is a service that lets you bring all your photos, documents, and videos with you. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad. With the Dropbox app you can take everything that matters to you on the go. It is very easy to use – you just drag the file you want to transfer into the Dropbox folder on your computer and it almost instantly shows up on your iPad. Magic! You can share folders on line by giving others access by email. I have used it recently to transfer photos and drawings to a client and my contractor. It saves sending numerous emails and you can send high resolution images seamlessly.

2. Evernote turns your iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, you put it all into Evernote and it instantly synchronizes  between all your devices – iPad, iPhone and Mac or Windows desktop. No more having to plug your devices into each other.

3. iBooks is an Apple app that comes on your iPad. You can read books on it much like Kindle, but what I really use it for in business is downloading PDF documents such as CAD drawings, specifications, manuals etc. What makes the iPad so unique is that you can enlarge just the areas you want to see by dragging your fingers over the screen – it works like a magnifying glass. I recently downloaded the PDF of my camera & lens manual and it is now always with me.

4. Flipboard was named Apple’s iPad app of the year and rightly so. It is a fast, beautiful way to flip through the news, photos, videos and updates on social media sites. It is now my preferred way of bookmaking and browsing my favourite websites.

5. Microsoft Tag lets you instantly connect to a whole new world of information. there is not need to type long URLs, you simply scan the Tag. Microsoft Tag multicolored barcodes transform traditional marketing, such as print advertising, packaging, LDC displays etc. into live links that immediately access info, videos, and other material online.

*Best of all Dropbox, Evernote, iBooks, Flipboard and Microsoft Tag are all free iPad Apps
Check out my Post on 5 iPhone Apps for Interior Design

Please let me know what iPad Apps you have found helpful by leaving a comment here.

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Interior Design Russia

Well I have just been published in Interior Design magazine in Russia. We really live in a global world and it is exciting to be so connected by the internet, blogging, Facebook, Twitter and all the new and evolving forms of social media. For those of you who don’t read Russian I have included a translation to English at the bottom of this article. Click on the PDF icon. You can read the magazine here. It is very interesting to see what the design trends are in that part of the world. I think that they are very contemporary and ‘cutting edge.’ My article starts on Page 90. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

Click on the PDF icon to read the whole article with translation.

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Williams-Sonoma 5 Interior Design Blogs We Couldn’t Live Without

Thank-you Williams-Sonoma for picking this blog!
5 Interior Design Blogs We Couldn’t Live Without

By Jay Johnson
It’s easy to smell a phony when reading a blog; the words don’t ring true, they sound contrived, and the advice isn’t from the heart. But a great interior designer’s blog can be inspirational and helpful – and even funny. As bloggers, Irwin and I appreciate the extra work it takes to step outside of your everyday design projects and communicate to people you might never meet about what you love, what you hate, what resources you’ve just used on a job, and what elements of taste and style make you see the world in your own unique way. Here are some of our favorite interior designer blogs.

Patricia Gray This cleanly designed and beautifully photographed blog is the creation of a generous designer. Vancouver based Patricia Gray shares her keen eye for style, takes us on trips around the world (and points out her “favourites”), and points out the resources and materials that she enjoys using on a job. The latter is particularly useful for interior designers. It’s great to see a master designer work, look at resources as they appear in finished spaces, and get an analysis of why and how they function beautifully. You also get the bonus of a well-trained feng shui student, layered on top of the interior designer, and you can better understand why Patricia’s interiors exude calm, serenity, and strong flow.
Read full article

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Black and White Photography in Whistler

I have taken up photography. Is there ever a lot to learn. I started by taking a digital photography course at Emily Carr University. Then after much research and trial I decided on my camera and lens: a Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 18-200 lens with polarizing filter. I wanted to get a full format FX camera but decided to get familiar with a DX camera first. I got Photoshop CS5 and Silver Efex Pro 2 (a program that converts color digital photography to black and white photography) as well as several books that I downloaded to my iPad 2 (BTW I love my new iPad 2 which was a gift from a client – thank-you very much!). All of this because I have a very curious mind and a very curious eye. I love the fact that when I look through the view finder of the camera I see the world differently from the way I view the world of Interior Design through my eye unframed. Looking through the lens forces my attention down to a small and very refined focus. I am also a believer of the value of life long learning and the fact that the appreciation of different  art disciplines enhances and broadens our experience of life.


The above photo was taken at a client’s home in Whistler just before sunset as I was standing on the edge of the dock. I went there to take photos of the lovely views from their home of the dock and lake, with hopes of getting some good images to frame and hang in their just completed home in Vancouver. Somehow the color version looks nice in a smaller format for viewing on the internet or in the photo album, but when I thought about enlarging it to a frameable size it didn’t look like fine art. I far prefer to hang black & white photography on walls. I converted the digital color photograph to black and white photography with a software program called Silver Efex Pro2 and I quite like how the images below the water show up much clearer in the black and white photography then in the color version.


This image was converted from a color digital to black & white photography using a program called Silver Efex Pro 2.

These are some of the other photos I took.

Fresh fruit for our morning brunch. The sunlight was streaming in the window and this setting was calling out to me to take the photo quickly before 1. either the sunlight moved on or 2. we sat down and started eating. So much of photography I am learning is to seize the moment. Thank-you Nora for the delicious and beautiful meals you prepared.

 
The picture above and below were taken at sunrise in one of the most beautiful places in the world Whistler.

The morning dew.

I will leave you with a quote by the brilliant French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

“To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.”

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm in Vancouver writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Qualicum Beach Smiling Rock

I was visiting Qualicum Beach this weekend and someone put this rock down on the beach path. It put a smile on my face. Thank-you – whoever you are!

 
PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™