evelyn ackerman/RIP

I got the sad news Wednesday evening that designer, Evelyn Ackerman had passed away. I had the pleasure of photographing Evelyn and Jerry Ackerman's home for my book Handcrafted Modern. To say it was a wonderful two day shoot is a bit of an understatement. At one point I was shooting in their hallway and peeked in their living room to see them sitting on the couch looking at the new Ikea catalog that had just arrived. They weren't shopping though, they were observing where design was going and discussing the products from a design standpoint. The looked at it for at least a 1/2 hour. It was great.
At the end of my two days, Evelyn and Jerry took me to their favorite noodle house on Sawtelle in LA. It was the perfect way to end the shoot.
Evelyn's tapestry designs are among my favorite from her catalog of work and probably what she is best known for. There is an optimism and lightheartedness to them that always makes me smile. I also love the wood "tiles" in these pics (a couple outtakes from my shoot at their home). The ones in their kitchen are signs of the zodiac. Wish I owned one for my sign (I'm a cancer).
Evelyn, you will be missed and lovingly remembered.

bruno mathsson office/sweden

A quick shot I took yesterday of the Bruno Mathsson office in Varnamo, Sweden. I was shooting his house there for the new book and at lunch I made a quickie trip to the Mathsson Design Office. The company is still run by the sons of Mathsson's original business partner - another family run, multi generational business! Much like Mathsson, who was the 6th generation in a family of cabinet mankers. You cannot tell here, but the IBM typewriter matched the color of the chair exactly! So good!

handcrafted modern/irving harper

In light of the article in the NY Times T Design section this weekend, I thought I would post one of my own images from Irving Harper's home. This one is not in my forthcoming book, Handcrafted Modern, but you see some of my favorites of his paper sculptures in the window. He also made the "blind" at the top of the window out of paper and thin wood dowels. I came away a bit in awe of the patience making these sculptures would require.