THE BLOG

JOHN HOUSHMAND DESIGN

Hyatt Regency Atlanta Front Desk

· How to Talk Like John, Uncategorized, Video · , , , , , ,

The Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia, originally designed by Atlanta architect John Portman in 1967, is undergoing a transformation. This award-winning luxury hotel was the first contemporary atrium hotel in the world and at the time of opening was the tallest building in Atlanta.

JOHNHOUSHMAND, in conjunction with tvsdesign, a design firm specializing in architectural, interior, sustainable and urban design, had the pleasure of designing the two-fold black walnut bell and reception desks, black walnut console tables with glass legs, and valet stand at the Hyatt Regency.

NOW SHOWING at 31 Howard Street: 103.3 in the flesh

· Features, Furniture Designs

For the first time on any stage, The Silver Bullet Dining Table debuts in the white metal spotlight at our NYC Showroom.

The Silver Bullet [chêne argent] once again pushes the envelope of sustainable natural beauty by casting the high character grains of an oak slab into aluminum, perched on two stained black walnut legs.

Come meet the Silver Bullet in its luminous splendor at the 31 Howard Street showroom. There you will discover its preserved grain texture, explore the contours of its live aluminum edge, and experience its refreshingly cool touch. You’re welcome to linger as long as you like; we won’t tell your dining table.

No. 0201: The Hard Working Lazy Susan

· Furniture Designs · , ,

One of JOHNHOUSHMAND‘s most recent creations – No. 0201 – a mulberry lazy susan with blackened steel legs is bound for the tropical climates of Acapulco, Mexico. While our pieces are always enviable, we never imaged we would actually be envious of one!

Though it’s hardly surprising this particular dining table is bound for a more luxurious, slower paced life, as the design itself is ideal for lazy Sunday brunches and quiet family dinners. The heavy, circular Mulberry top was put together from five pie cuts of a live-edge slab, giving the impression of a massive 6-foot wide end grain plug. The hidden lazy susan armature was placed in the center with a satin stainless steel disk. This concave area was then filled with an acrylic pour, at which time an additional Mulberry center medallion was affixed.

The curved, blackened steel legs – set into the top asymmetrically, provide a stable but whimsical finish to the piece.

JOHNHOUSHMAND Lazy Susan Table, Mulberry and Blackened Steel Legs

BABAKUL at Fred Segal

· Architectural Designs

We were thrilled when our friends and colleagues, Bob & Cortney Novogratz of Sixx Design, requested our help to create the interior of the new Babakul store at Fred Segal, Santa Monica, CA. For this project we definitely gleaned some of the creative, SoCal energy present in the apparel designs of Kym Gold (former co-owner of True Religion Brand Jeans) and Sophie Wizmann, co-founders of the new women’s brand – Babakul.

JOHNHOUSHMAND Babakul Bleached Spalted Maple Microslab Sales Island with Live Edge Slab Top

The word “Babakul”, meaning “Hippie” in French, inspired the design motif which is an organic and free-flowing blend between vintage and modern, with the JOHNHOUSHMAND elements appealing to Babakul’s natural aesthetic. Our bleached, microslab, live edge, Sales Island is piled over with tropical flowers, quartz necklaces, and an exotic goldfish who bubbles along happily in its new abode.

JOHNHOUSHMAND Babakul Black Walnut Live Edge Library Shelving

We also like to think that our work for the store gives a nod to the omnipresence of strong female power – from co-founders Gold & Wizmann to Debbie Harry & Bonnie Parker – whose images grace JOHNHOUSHMAND‘s Bungalow Shelving.

JOHNHOUSHMAND Babakul Birch Tree Clothing Display Sculpture

The birch tree Garment Rack was created over the course of a weekend, when John personally chopped down and cobbled together this decorative alternative to traditional clothing display.

The whole project came together in only 3 months, inclusive of the design phase through to production and installation, culminating in the well-attended opening on December 9th. To read more about this great new line in a great new space check out the links below!

Babakul on JOHNHOUSHMAND
Babakul & Sixx Design in WWD
ApparelNews.net
Laurie Hasson – Babakul Opening Party

Babakul – 310-578-5600 – 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90291

Making Waves – Hong Kong, 2011

· Furniture Designs · , ,

Leave it to JOHNHOUSHMAND to figure out that casting a wood slab into acrylic would make for a natural, organic, diffraction grating! The clear acrylic transmits light perfectly (a giant fiber optics transmitter). But all interruptions – that means each and every natural grain, inclusion, and pocket in the wood –  catch the light and “pop” it.

Reception Desk No. 0199 - Spalted Maple with Illuminated Cast Acrylic Apron

This became the brainstorm for our latest creation – a reception desk developed specifically for the new Kerry Properties Tower in Hong Kong’s bustling Quarry Bay district. The fascia is as linear as a Mondrian painting, but the apron has the serpentine lines of a Fibonacci curve or golden spiral.

JOHNHOUSHMAND‘s reception desk is composed of three distinctive parts: a spalted maple facia, a solid slap top, and an undulating cast acrylic apron lit by eco-friendly LED lights.

The facia consists of a seemingly random plane of intersecting, rectangular pieces, whose varying depths and thicknesses creates a veritable living topography. These disparate pieces are unified by the simplicity of the unadorned maple slab countertop. However, the cast acrylic apron is unquestionably the show-stopping element.

At once stark and opulent, we feel this piece captures the fascinating dynamism of Hong Kong.

JOHNHOUSHMAND presents:2 Fold Cast Aluminum Desk

· Furniture Designs · ,

We love our clients and not just because they have excellent taste (cough, cough) – but particularly because each one puts their own unique spin on their JOHNHOUSHMAND custom design. Digital media executive, entrepreneur, field hockey star, and techie Christine Hunsicker was the first client to purchase our innovative cast aluminum desk (seen below).

This piece was installed last year in Hunsicker’s downtown NYC loft apartment; a space that oozes effortless style from floor to vaulted ceiling. Pairing the desk with a burnt-tangerine, Scandinavian wood chair, a vegetable-dyed, Cubex lounger, bespoke JOHNHOUSHMAND “Bungalow” shelving, high-gloss floors, and a mountain of books (all actually read!) Hunsicker curated an environment where any creative would feel inspired. It is no surprise that the President/COO behind Right Media, the online exchange scooped up by Yahoo! Inc., would be able to “optimize” the impact of such divergent items. (Nerd joke alert). Plus, the way the light from Hunsicker’s two-story glass wall plays on the super-reflective surface of our cast aluminum table really highlights our handiwork!

JOHNHOUSHMAND 0048.3 2 FOLD CAST ALUMINUM DESK

JOHNHOUSHMAND & Sixx Design present: the HARVEST BASKET

· Architectural Designs, Audio Slideshows · , , , , , ,

This week JOHNHOUSHMAND & Sixx Design put their creativity together to exponential effect in creating a MICROSLAB HARVEST BASKET. This functional sculpture was specifically envisioned for a Sixx Design segment on an upcoming Rachael Ray Show Thanksgiving Special and is perfect for playtime and adult entertaining alike.

JOHNHOUSHMAND was first approached by our friends in design, Cortney and Robert Novogratz of Sixx Design, with an open proposition: create a structure on their elegant Manhattan patio that would celebrate the coming Thanksgiving festivities. Taking into account the West Street Townhouse’s narrow front entrance, this was no simple task, as the materials would have to be snaked in through the front door and up the stairs.

JOHNHOUSHMAND‘s solution to the dilemma was to use an assortment of flexible Spalted Maple Microslab panels and good old packing twine to “engineer” an intersecting basket / hut. The first piece was a pure sine wave that arced under the basket and over the hut… pure geometry heading towards pure artisanship.

With the help of Sixx Design’s seven energetic children and a Japanese hand saw, we created a final product that can be enjoyed best by those with that rarest of qualities: an active imagination.

To fuel your own creative bug we recommend Sixx Design’s BRAVO show 9 by Design with clips available on Hulu.com, and their fantastic website – make sure to check out their Projects Page HERE.

Dining Table SALE

· Furniture Designs, Uncategorized · ,

I’m not talking about hate… I’m talking about eight. Dinner at eight! Let’s eat!

-Firesign Theatre

Dining tables are a cornerstone of the JOHNHOUSHMAND series. It is where we explore and refine many of our core design concepts, where we test the interaction between materials, and where we debut new developments in an already nuanced collection.

Perhaps this is the case because the dining table is also, in many ways, the cornerstone of the home. It is where we come to eat, to work, to play, and to gather together in celebration with those people closest to us. We believe the elegant yet bold style of our dining tables offers the perfect destination for these varied activities. Simple enough to be inviting, but dynamic enough to draw you in.

This holiday season JOHNHOUSHMAND is offering a DINING TABLE SALE so you can entertain in style, and enjoy those memories for years to come.

You can view all DINING TABLES HERE.

TRUMP Hollywood Beach

· Architectural Designs, Features, Furniture Designs · , , , , ,

One of the most touted new architectural developments this year is the South Florida, Trump Hollywood. In true Trump-fashion, this striking, 41-story, beach-front tower is ultra-luxury all the way.

The building boasts unobstructed ocean views, Miele kitchens, marble baths, home theaters, private elevators, a clubroom, a cigar lounge, cabanas, tennis courts, and climate-controlled fur storage (in case you get chilly while sun bathing). However, JOHNHOUSHMAND‘s admittedly biased favorite of all the amenities, is a communal wine cellar/wine tasting room that features our own palatial Floating Log Dining Table.

Trump Hollywood BeacH Wine Tasting Room by JOHN HOUSHMAND

Working with renowned design firm Yabu Pushelberg, JOHNHOUSHMAND conceived a piece that reflects both the cutting-edge opulence of Hollywood Beach, while also offering warmth and intimacy. The 12.5-foot-long / 3-foot-wide table top is a bisected, black walnut log, sanded and polished to reveal the natural luminosity of the wood. This majestic trunk “floats” above 4 vertically mounted, translucent, glass-pane legs.

In truth the Trump Hollywood boasts a full-scale art collection of which JOHNHOUSHMAND is only one member. Nevertheless, amid a robust, building-wide exhibition that includes Mary Judge, Barbara Cole, and Daniel De Azoulay – we like to think our Dining Table stands out among the rest.

Apparently, Modern Luxury Magazine (the headquarters for style-savvy taste-makers) agrees as they featured the Floating Log Dining Table in their coverage of Trump Hollywood HERE.

MIDNIGHT Installation at Union Square

· Architectural Designs, Events · , , ,

The JOHNHOUSHMAND team was up late this weekend installing the Abraham-May Architects‘ innovative architectural structure “LOG”.

As we described in the last post, “LOG” is a re-imagining of the traditional Jewish Sukkah for the international architecture and design competition Sukkah City 2010, now on view at Union Square Park, NYC.

We arrived in the middle of Saturday night, amid eleven other construction teams eager to put up a truly dazzling display of vision and acumen. It took 20 men, a 3 ton crane, a good amount of klieg lighting, and about 6 hours of intense labor to put together this deceptively complex fabrication. The mood was palpably one of excitement, as you can see from our home-made video below:

A soon as the sun rose, the park was swarmed with crowds eager to view this hand-picked selection of architecturally abstract naturalism.

If you haven’t already stopped by, we encourage you to do so, as this showcase is ONLY on view until this evening – Monday, September 20th (when we get the pleasure of taking it all back down again).

VOTE for your favorite Sukkah HERE.  The winning design will be on view for one week, through September 29th.