Who cooler than Cortney and Robert Novogratz to bring the vibrancy of Brazil to life through their newest product launch at CB2! Last week’s opening of the “Brasil Collection” features the colors, energy and spirit inspired by their home in the rainforest.
But what about the sounds of Brazil? The Novogratz commissioned SOUNDWALL, the John Houshmand and Ed Potokar partnership, that brings music into the 4th dimension. A dramatic 10- foot ficus tree was installed in the storefront window. Nestled in the serpentine curves and vine ladened crevices of the tree are protruding branches that are individually programed joysticks. When manipulated they chime out with the music of marimba and bomba drums, flutes, along with clarinet and oboe-like reeds! The perimeter is constructed as if one was standing on a deck suspended in the canopy. Each post is topped with river-smoothed stones that also facilitate the melodic instruments of this musical culture.
Come stop in the CB2 SoHo store and be teleported to the lush Brazilian rainforest as you peruse the vibrant textures and patterns of the Novogratz’s new collection.
Now if only you had a caipirnha in hand!
CB2 SoHo
451 Broadway between Canal and Grand
New York, New York 10013
When we say custom we really mean it. Slab selection is a unique process at JOHNHOUSHMAND in order to give our customers truly one-of-a-kind pieces.
It begins after the client picks one of the over 200 pieces in our product portfolio. One of our awesome salespeople then discusses specifics such as wood species and dimensions for the piece. Once the salesperson receives the client’s specs he/she then talks to Jim, our production manager at our 950-acre facility. Jim will then go to our abundant library of slabs searching for the top four slabs that best match the client’s criteria. The client chooses from these four slabs and we can begin producing a distinctive piece suited just for them. Here are some photos of slab selection process for one of our No. 0187.1 Shazam low tables for a client.
Visitors are welcome to come by the shop to take a look around anytime. It is quite the operation and allows us to control each detail of a project. Plus, it gives our clients the opportunity to be creative and conjure up work that is like no other in our style. If by chance you find yourself in upstate New York one day, just let us know and we will give you a tour!
At JOHNHOUSHMAND we are continuously looking for unexpected beauty in trees, glass, and metal. One of our most recent sources of inspiration has come from a surprising place: underground.
The root of a tree is something that most people don’t think twice about, but we sure do. In fact, this Cherry Root Coffee Table (No. 164.1) is only the second root table we’ve ever made. This is a special piece as roots are particularly hard to find intact and in good shape for use as a base for a beautiful coffee table.
We love the dimensionality of the wood as it fuses with the glass from both sides. The ends of the roots have been given a new life as they pierce through the starfire glass to truly create a one-of-a-kind piece. From the ground, to our shop in Hobart, this root has already been on a quite a journey… the next stop? Back down under to a beautiful home in Australia.
A lot of people ask us about where we get our beautiful slabs of wood, and the answer really is all around. At JOHNHOUSHMAND we don’t harvest wood for our furniture but instead utilize trees that have been felled or damaged by storms, need to be cut down due to safety or otherwise. Hobart, New York really has become John Houshmand’s home and so he is on a first name basis with numerous members of the Catskill community who let him know if they know of any trees that need to be removed.
It’s inspiring to see every part of the process from helping out another in the community, to having some fun climbing the trees, to starting to the create the custom-made furniture that we love to produce.
Working with our friends in Nicaragua, we used an expert chainsaw craftsman to carve a dished tabletop, carefully arc-cutting the back to create an elegant shape from an otherwise cumbersome tree section….
Unique logs are hard to find, hard to acquire responsibly, hard to take down, hard to truck, and generally a serious logistical challenge. But when the wood Santa arrives, it is so very worth it. Here two large black walnuts on the doorstep after a trip cross country. They were sourced from a homeowner who needed to take them down for a new home construction on a tiny lot. Save….!
Sometimes the cycle of life is writ so large it makes your eyes pop… High in the Pacific Northwest a mammoth tree went into decline. Having lived at the confluence of two rivers, it grew to astounding proportions. The takedown history, and the resulting slabs, are also of astounding proportions. Each slab measuring 8′ WIDE by 10′ long, a book-matched pair will give you a 20′ long table fit for a palace, a government center, or a conference room without equal on the planet.
At John Houshmand, we believe in getting out of the office – way out. That’s why, in addition to our New York showroom in SOHO, and our state-of-the-art workshop in the Catskills of upstate, we also have a marvelous hideout called Tierra Adentro in Mexico. Located just seven miles north of the famous artist enclave of San Miguel de Allende, the house was designed by architect David Howell and it’s one of our favorite places to dream-up new furniture designs. The house is always available for rent when we are not using it. You can find out more about it here.
The OneTree Project was born out of an extraordinary sequence of events…a meeting between Eric Poncon and John Houshmand in New York where they found their paths in a curious parallel (and a promise to “do something exciting together someday…”), the devastation of 3 million acres of forest lands in northeast Nicaragua’s indigenous frontier region (RAAN), Poncon’s appreciation for the work at JOHNHOUSHMAND, and our mutual love for great design, natural materials, and a philosophically sound interface with reality. And we do mean reality. Nothing unreal about sending a lawyer into the Nicaraguan frontier to search titles for 24,000 acres of small property holdings, negotiating fair purchase of these lands, obtaining IFC assistance, setting up extraction teams and a 12,000 board feet per day sawmill facility, reforestation programs and much, much, more…
Poncon, with architect and designer Matthew Falkiner (Morgan’s Rock eco-hotel, Simplamente Madera furniture company, and more…) invited Houshmand down to the frontier to see firsthand the devastation and the operations, and plan a series of joint ventures which will include projects such as: The “Handshake Collection” of extraordinary pieces designed and fabricated in our New York facilities using amazing wood elements from the immense salvage operation; the “Deep Roots Collection,” designed by Houshmand and Falkiner and made in Nicaragua comprising high design values, affordability, and increasing the training and viability of the local milling and artisan woodworkers; the “OneTree Collection,” a project to put pieces of two giant trees in the hands of 10 Nicaraguan and American artists respectively, and the works to travel as bonding collections. Another germinating concept is another eco-hotel with cabanas designed by guest architects/designers, each getting one tree for their creation. Other projects include value added use of the wood such as wall treatments, prefab housing, gluelam beams, countertops, even balsa surfboards… All FSC certified, all returning profits to reforestation, social, and educational projects, some of which are already falling into place. More to come! There is much more to come as well as an audio slideshow of my most recent trip to the jungles of Nicaragua.
The OneTree Project was born out of an extraordinary sequence of events…a meeting between